Chapter 191
Chapter 191
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 192
Chapter Title: The Devil in the Recording Studio
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“Okay. But if I’m going to produce for you, you’ll have to wait a bit.”
“Huh? Why?”
“I have a prior commitment.”
“Is that prior commitment recording with someone else?”
“Yeah, oh—want to come watch for a bit and see my style?”
Jia answered Yeonwoo’s question right away.
“That sounds great. But is the person you’re recording with okay with that?”
“I’ll ask. Wait here for a sec. I need to go upstairs.”
“Upstairs?”
Yeonwoo nodded.
“Our place starts from the floor above.”
Why would someone with a recording appointment go home?
Still, since they were practically strangers, the members just stood around awkwardly in the office, waiting.
And after a short while.
Yeonwoo came back down.
Leading a blonde girl about his age.
The blonde girl spotted Black Pearl—no, Black Diamond—and shouted.
“Wow!! Black Pearl!!”
Jia tilted her head at the girl calling their old name so coolly.
“Huh? Where’d you see us?”
As Jia felt like the girl looked familiar, Yeonwoo spoke up.
“She’s the granddaughter of the person you’ll be recording with.”
“Granddaughter? Ah!!”
Now they got it.
She was the granddaughter of the person making waves in Korea—no, the world—with his recent visit.
“E-Elkind Logan’s granddaughter?”
“That’s right! You knew?”
“He’s famous these days.”
“I see. Oh, the one recording is Elkind Logan.”
She really did run in different circles.
They had experience charting on Melboard themselves and were on photo-op terms with world stars there.
But that was it—just pics at invited events or award shows.
They didn’t personally know a single world star.
But Yeonwoo?
He was practically living together and working on music.
Suddenly, the Yeonwoo they’d seen as just cute seemed different. More like... on another level.
[Oh, the girl group Mel likes is here.]
Right then, Elkind Logan finally made his appearance.
Black Diamond mostly did dance tracks as a group, but for solo activities, Harin, Miyu, and Luna went hip-hop.
And if you stretched the hip-hop genre a bit further, Jia dabbled in it too.
Now, the hip-hop GOAT stood before Black Diamond.
By the time they’d charted on Melboard and gotten Grammy invites, Elkind Logan was already the GOAT—skipping the Grammys because he didn’t want to go for family photo ops.
They’d never even met him.
“Uh, um... [Hello?]”
Jia froze before rushing a greeting, and the other members snapped to and bowed too.
[“Nice to meet you all. You’re one of my granddaughter’s favorite groups, so I’ve seen a lot of your videos. You’re good.]”
You’re good?
He said we’re good.
To us.
Black Diamond’s members flushed as they stared at Elkind Logan.
“[Um... PD-nim mentioned it, but... could we observe your recording, Elkind Logan?]”
[“Of course.”]
Elkind Logan readily agreed.
And so they all headed to Yeonwoo’s recording studio together.
“Oh, noonas, this is Fujii Wakana-noona. Our company’s top engineer!”
“Hello, I’m Fujii Wakana.”
“Wow! Your Korean’s great!”
At Miyu’s words—fellow Japanese—Fujii Wakana smiled.
“I love Korea. I’ve been practicing Korean hard.”
Then Miyu narrowed her eyes.
“Hmm... I catch a faint whiff of my hometown dialect in your accent?”
“Miyu-ssi is from Matsuyama, right? I’m from the Hiroshima area, so it feels similar.”
Matsuyama in Ehime Prefecture was on Shikoku Island below the main island, and Wakana’s hometown Hiroshima was in the Chugoku region at the westernmost end of Japan’s main island. They were super close by boat, with deep historical ties.
“Ah, that explains it.”
While Miyu and Wakana chatted and bonded, Yeonwoo took the main seat, and Elkind Logan entered the booth.
[“Once we finish this track, we’ll finally have all the album cuts recorded.”]
-Yeah.
[“Since it’s the last one, let’s wrap it today no matter what! How’s your condition?”]
-Perfect.
[“Great, we’ll finish by tonight.”]
As Yeonwoo spoke—English that Jia understood—she tilted her head.
“...Can’t finish one song in a day?”
“It’s just one track?”
At that, Fujii Wakana, setting up gear, spoke up.
“Everyone.”
“Yes?”
“There’s a devil living in our recording studio.”
They all blinked at the cringey, very Japanese line, puzzled.
Then recording began.
“Wakana-noona.”
“Yeah.”
Beyond the booth, Elkind Logan stood before the mic, taking a short deep breath as the backing track played.
Black Diamond and Amelia held their breath, watching intently.
As expected, GOAT was GOAT.
Even just standing there, his charisma was unreal.
The vibe said not to make a peep.
And in that tension, the moment Elkind Logan finally started rapping.
“Hold up.”
Yeonwoo raised a hand, stopping the music.
What?
As everyone wondered, Yeonwoo hit the talkback to Elkind Logan.
[“Logan, you’re about 0.5 seconds late. Isn’t Logan’s flow on the beat?”]
-[...Cut me some slack for 0.5 seconds.]
[“No way. Again.”]
Yeonwoo cut it sharp, and Wakana restarted the track.
This time, he listened longer before stopping again.
[“You said to really bring out the flow here. This is a studio recording, not live—why ad-lib off-beat?”]
-[Sorry, got hyped.]
[“Let’s go again.”]
Take after take.
After an hour of watching, Black Diamond was speechless.
No way.
What was this?
The mighty Elkind Logan, taking direction from a 9-year-old boy.
No, even before that—who was this 9-year-old telling off the mighty Elkind Logan?
Black Diamond, who hadn’t expected this level, could only watch silently, holding their breath.
[“I... wanna play with Woong-ie...”]
But Amelia, now just a regular 10-year-old girl, got bored and slipped out of the booth.
She liked hip-hop and her rapping grandpa, but after an hour, she sensed this session would drag on for hours more.
Black Diamond, mesmerized at first, started looking drained too—and by evening, they finally waved the white flag.
“Um, PD-nim, we’ll head out now.”
“Oh, sure? Oh, right—I’ll send the track, so noonas handle the lyrics. Pour your emotions into it. We’ll record as soon as it’s done.”
“Like today?”
The Black Diamond pushing for a quick comeback was gone.
Yeonwoo tilted his head with a creepy smile at their weary faces.
“That... depends on you noonas, right?”
His cute face suddenly felt chilling.
Jia laughed awkwardly and glanced at Wakana.
‘Our recording studio is home to a devil.’
Indeed it was.
* * *
As SSHIN shook up the ecosystem by signing big names and stirring the Korean music scene, Yuin’s digital single “Tempest” held the #1 spot on Melboard for 10 straight weeks.
Rising hip-hop star N. Howard backing Yuin and Elkind Logan made it seem like she was getting hip-hop cred, but inside the scene—Korea and even hip-hop’s homeland America—there was still plenty of talk.
Provoked or not, a slew of hip-hop heavyweights dropped albums or singles, but none topped the “Tempest” Yeonwoo and Elkind Logan created together.
It stung their pride.
No rapper could beat a track made by a mere 9-year-old.
But this wasn’t just hip-hop’s issue.
No singer could beat the 9-year-old’s track.
Over the past 10 weeks, stars galore had come back, but #1 stayed Yuin’s “Tempest”—rock solid.
Who were those stars?
Ones like Olivia Snow or Elkind Logan—shoulder-to-shoulder level.
The diva dominating film and music; the Grammy-sweeping monster dropping annual albums up to her 5th, everyone’s expectations on her; king of soul; queen of country—etc.
Stars who took Melboard Top 10 as minimum, #1 as given depending on quality.
Watching them scrap below, unable to budge Yuin, forced acknowledgment.
-Yuin’s a real genius
-Great albums all around, but “Tempest” makes you think Yuin’s track is the best
-I love “Tempest” so much I’m relistening to Yuin’s debut
-Me too?
-Me too
-Same
Plenty of talk and drama, but most were coming around to calling Yuin a once-in-a-century genius.
Even her debut album, whose popularity had faded, was climbing charts again amid the buzz.
-Last year she got snubbed at Grammys—possible this time?
-She’s gotta go. Nominating her last year but zero wins was overkill
-Racism, or just dismissing her as a kid
Truth was, Yeonwoo had nominations in a few categories at last year’s Grammys but took home zilch.
Talk exploded for a while, but Yeonwoo stayed mum instead of fanning flames, letting it die down.
But now, with “Tempest” locking #1, calls for Grammy wins were back.
Most said they had no clue why he didn’t get one before.
Yeah, two years straight like this? He deserves it.
But it felt uneasy.
Grammys gave him noms only for 16-week #1 last time—no wins. Would they award for just a digital single?
Racism? Dismissing him as a kid?
Past Asian winners suggested not racism, but the kid thing? Maybe.
Sensing it?
Yuin dropped a new album on the world.
Not under her name—but as producer.
[Elkind Logan breaks long silence with comeback album.]
[The foretold return of the king.]
[Album collab with the century’s genius—will it dominate Melboard?]
Elkind Logan dropped the album right after wrapping recording.
Spotlight fell on him, and on Yuin—who collabed on every track, composing and producing.