Chapter 139
Chapter 139
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 140
Chapter Title: Recording Star
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After Olivia Snow moved in next door, the Yeonwoo family's mornings started with her visits.
Olivia Snow, who let herself in through the front door like it was her own home, sprawled out on the sofa as if she owned the place.
"[Sis, you should at least say hi when you get home!]"
At Yeonwoo's nagging—embodying perfect manners incarnate—Olivia Snow waved hello to Jihoon, who was preparing breakfast [Jihoon handled most mornings and evenings], then blew a kiss from her hand to Heo Ok, who was checking news articles on her tablet in one corner of the sofa.
She even blew one to Yeonwoo the same way.
Yeonwoo recoiled at the gesture, but Olivia Snow found it adorable and jumped up from her seat to lunge at him.
"Eek!"
As Yeonwoo freaked out, Olivia Snow burst into giggles and plopped back down on the sofa.
"[Oh, right. The bed and sofa finally arrived at my place.]"
"[Why'd it take so damn long for a bed and sofa?]"
"[They're expensive? This is actually super fast.]"
"[Got it.]"
Yeonwoo shrugged it off.
"[Alright, enough chit-chat. Let's eat.]"
At Jihoon's words, Yeonwoo and Olivia Snow shot up from their seats and sat at the table.
Jihoon, setting down the soybean paste stew, stuck out his tongue watching the two.
He had no idea how people around Yeonwoo all turned out to be such voracious eaters, and totally sincere about it.
No, considering they'd been on extreme diets before coming to Korea, was it contagious from Yeonwoo?
The two waited for Heo Ok, then devoured breakfast like they were possessed the moment she picked up her chopsticks.
"[Where's Aunt Jiyeong?]"
"[Auntie's on a business trip. She's in Japan prepping for idol production and went to a meeting.]"
"[Japan or Korea, she's dead serious about idols, huh?]"
"[Yeah.]"
After breakfast, the whole family headed out for a walk.
Walks had become a family routine since Jihoon took paternity leave.
Olivia Snow had dismissed the apartment complex as a rundown neighborhood at first, but now she was starting to think it was pretty nice.
The massive complex was laid out like a lush park, perfect for enjoying nature.
Sure, she could soak in nature anytime in her homes in New York or LA, but Korea felt different.
Plus, her American homes were all her domain—experienced in the backyard—while this was firmly outdoors.
In the US, strolling peacefully like this meant worrying about safety, stumbling on syringes in parks now and then, and above all, dodging paparazzi.
But not in Korea.
Reporters occasionally popped up to snap her and Yeonwoo, but compared to the US, they were angels.
Korea's public mostly respected privacy too (truth be told, Yeonwoo's fandom terrorized [?] reporters uploading his private life without permission, and public opinion soured on those ignoring a minor's privacy, so they'd quieted down).
And right now was spring.
With cherry blossoms in full bloom, the complex—planted heavily with cherry trees—was a stunning sight, like a flower-viewing festival.
Olivia Snow loved the snow-like flurry of petals.
She planned to plant a ton of cherry trees in her garden back in the US.
They'd just looped the complex, chatting about this and that.
Suddenly, Yeonwoo stopped walking.
As everyone's eyes turned to him, Yeonwoo spoke.
"[Gotta record Star today.]"
"……Oh!"
Yeonwoo had smoothly finished recording even with Isshun and completed all setups centered on the grand piano in the studio, then gone a full week without recording.
No one knew why.
Family and those around just chalked it up to a genius's whim.
Anyway, recording the last track, Star, would basically complete the album.
And he was doing it today.
"Dad, I'm heading straight to the studio!"
"Alright, I'll walk you there!"
"[What's that? Talking about something without me?]"
"[I'm going straight to the studio.]"
"[Oh? Then I'm coming too!]"
At Olivia Snow's words, Yeonwoo gave her a stern look.
"[I'm saying it knowing you won't listen if I tell you not to come, but if you follow and distract or make noise, I'm kicking you out right away, got it?]"
"[Okay! I have that much sense! You know I do!]"
Did she, really?
Yeonwoo tilted his head but headed into the studio with Olivia Snow anyway.
As always, Wakana was there for work, diligently editing Yeonwoo's YouTube videos.
When idle, she devoted nearly all her time to video editing.
"Wakana sis! I'm gonna record!"
"Piano? I'll get it ready."
While Wakana bustled about checking setups for recording, Jaehoon arrived.
Reading the situation, Jaehoon realized what Yeonwoo was up to and headed back out.
Off to buy snacks for Yeonwoo during the performance recording.
Olivia Snow spun around the grand piano, checking it out.
"Yeonwoo, ready!"
"Let's start then."
Yeonwoo nodded, sat at the piano, closed his eyes briefly, and took a deep breath.
Olivia Snow smiled at how cute he looked.
His chubby cheeks in front of a piano several times his size—why was it so adorable?
Then, Yeonwoo opened his eyes.
The usual cute, pretty Yeonwoo was gone.
His sharp gaze emanated the aura of someone steeped in music for years.
Olivia Snow flinched and hurried out of his sight, sitting on the sofa.
Even being nearby felt like it'd get her scolded for distracting.
Amid that, Yeonwoo signaled Wakana with his eyes; she nodded, and in that instant, his hands danced over the keys.
Like a shooting star streaking down, then swiftly portraying stars embroidered in the night sky at a rapid tempo.
Yeonwoo, who made others' songs brutally hard and demanded beyond limits, was just as strict with himself.
The score alone was dizzyingly complex, packed with high-level techniques.
But did it lack emotional depth?
Absolutely not.
Yeonwoo's piano fused Heo Ok's technique and emotions advised by Himari.
Plus knowledge from countless pianists' videos and scores, and his own growth through repeated performances.
His playing now overwhelmed Olivia Snow and Wakana into holding their breath.
Undeniably, it was piano purely Yeonwoo's.
Finishing the about-five-minute piece in one go, Yeonwoo took a short breath and looked at Wakana and Olivia Snow.
"How was it? [What'd you think?]"
"Best as always."
"[Whoa…… wow…… my god…… the world…….]"
Wakana, somewhat immune, just gave a thumbs-up, but Olivia Snow was speechless.
'Is he really this good?'
Olivia Snow watched every one of Yeonwoo's videos without missing any.
But seeing his piano live like this was a first.
And the performance shattered her expectations.
She hired sessions for her own concerts and recordings too.
With titles like Grammy's darling, Melboard's queen, every musician was a US name-maker.
Olivia Snow's ears and experience were top-tier, yet she'd seen few who played piano like Yeonwoo.
Sure, better pianists existed.
She'd even worked with some.
But Yeonwoo was only eight.
An eight-year-old delivering near-top-US-pianist level—how could she not be stunned?
"[You really are…….]"
Still at a loss for words, Olivia Snow wondered if he was a messenger from the god of music sent to earth.
What couldn't he do with music?
Oh, singing?
No.
Did he really suck at singing?
Or had he just never tried, so who knew?
Suddenly, Olivia Snow wanted to hear Yeonwoo sing.
'Bet he doesn't suck—he's just never done it.'
If so, the god of music must adore only Yeonwoo, showering him with everything, she thought.
But she couldn't ask him to sing right then.
Yeonwoo, replaying his recording, felt unsatisfied and geared up to redo from the top.
"[Nah, why not cut and paste?]"
"[Piano doesn't work like that. No, I hate it.]"
Like a movie, Yeonwoo aimed for a one-take recording.
No edits for his piano performance.
He wanted listeners to hear it raw through the album.
Yeonwoo started over.
He devoted the whole day to piano recording.
Wakana diligently filmed him from behind.
For YouTube?
Sure, but these shots seemed perfect as album teasers too.
Thus, all recordings for Yeonwoo's debut mini-album Star wrapped up.
Of course, not the end.
Mastering, marketing prep, teasers before release, jacket shoots—not to mention, since it's physical, ordering albums.
Mountains of work, but Yeonwoo's main tasks were mostly done.
Post-release, he'd just need jacket photos at most.
Yeonwoo felt relieved.
But anxious too.
He and the fairies were dead certain it was the ultimate collection of top tracks, yet as his own project, he couldn't guarantee success.
Maybe because this was him truly debuting to the public.
So, he replayed finished tracks endlessly, tweaking with Wakana through edit after edit.
Olivia Snow watched, then returned to the US for work; spring passed, summer neared—in June.
Only in June did Yeonwoo hand over the completed album to HQ.
Meanwhile, HQ had finalized production, jacket shoots, and marketing based on advance listens.
" Gotta do the jacket shoot?"
Yeonwoo frowned at his aunt's plan to feature his face on the jacket and teasers.
He'd heard these shoots took hours of misery.
"Yeonwoo, wanna sell one more copy?"
"Yeah."
"Then we shoot. Teasers with just your face will have crowds buying up the album?"
"Ah, then yeah, gotta do it."
One more sale meant yes.
The avatar of Datemura Shuji, fairy of capitalism, applauded Yeonwoo's decision.