Chapter 195
Chapter 195
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 196
Chapter Title: Studio Wonders
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“Wow, look at this gear…….”
The Rooftop Room Band couldn’t close their mouths as they entered the recording studio.
It was because high-end instruments they’d never even touched were welcoming them.
“This... this guitar is on my bucket list.”
Kim Sungjin stared at the dream guitar right in front of him with trembling eyes.
“P-PD-nim. Can I play this guitar?”
“That’s why I brought you here. Play it as much as you want.”
With Yeonwoo’s permission, Kim Sungjin grasped the guitar with hands shaking as much as his eyes.
“Ooh, this feel.”
Kim Sungjin grinned happily at how it fit perfectly in his hands and lightly plucked the strings.
“Man, the sound is definitely different. It’s unreal.”
Kim Sungjin spoke with a genuinely moved expression.
“Play something properly for us.”
“Shall I?”
Kim Sungjin nodded and began playing the guitar.
He swept across the strings with a zing, then launched into an energetic rock-style performance.
The Rooftop Room Band was basically acoustic pop or indie pop at its core, so this was a performance they rarely saw, but in fact, Kim Sungjin had come from a rock band.
That meant his most confident guitar playing was, naturally, rock.
Having a long-craved guitar in his hands for the first time in ages, he threw himself into the rock performance with total abandon.
Yeonwoo watched Kim Sungjin quietly.
Blue fairies were constantly spawning around him, the band’s guitarist whom Yeonwoo had his eye on.
But no yellow or green fairies appeared during this rock performance.
His personal taste might be rock, but ultimately, it meant this person suited the music the Rooftop Room Band pursued the most.
Yeonwoo stepped back slightly and called for Kang Jihe.
“Noona.”
“Hm? Oh, yes. PD-nim.”
“Does that guy originally like rock?”
“Yes, he’s in the terminal stage of rock syndrome. Even now, whenever he gets bored, he throws a fit about quitting to do rock. To be honest, if PD-nim hadn’t scouted us this time, he might’ve quit.”
That meant if they got too comfortable, he might step up to do rock again.
This band was perfect as a trio. By Yeonwoo’s standards, losing or changing even one would leave it lacking.
What could be done to prevent defection?
After pondering, Yeonwoo came to a decision.
‘I need to nip it in the bud.’
Crush it so he could never dream of rock again.
“Whew, this guitar is amazing. What do you think, PD-nim?”
Yeonwoo looked at Kim Sungjin, who had finished playing and was fully immersed in his own performance.
“Compared to your usual playing, rock doesn’t suit you that well.”
“What? My rock? I might be playing tame here, but I came from a rock band, PD-nim. I’m full of rock spirit.”
At Kim Sungjin’s words, Yeonwoo held out his hand.
“Let me have the guitar.”
“Huh? Oh, sure.”
The moment Yeonwoo took the guitar, Kim Sungjin’s expression turned strange.
Yeonwoo’s technique followed the unique style of Wes Montgomery, the GOAT of jazz guitar, but there was no way he, a modern person(?), would know that.
He’d probably just assume Yeonwoo didn’t know how to play properly and had some weird basicless technique.
But it was the technique of a guitarist who dominated an era, and within it breathed the guitar of the greatest guitarist ever, Jimi Hendrix.
Even if he couldn’t recognize Yeonwoo’s unique technique...
“......Huh......?”
The moment Yeonwoo’s rock performance began, anyone could tell his guitar was no joke.
As the playing continued, they realized the footwork was different, and soon they felt a wall from the guitar of a child not even 10 years old.
Even the other members, who didn’t play guitar well but had long band experience, felt the same.
After demonstrating the skill gap and finishing, Yeonwoo said to Kim Sungjin.
“How was it?”
“Uh...... um...... You play incredibly well. Incredibly...... no, insanely. No, why do you play guitar this well?”
“I like that guitar. I’ve been playing since I was 6.”
At Yeonwoo’s words, Kim Sungjin muttered to himself, *I’ve played for 20 years......*, with a self-loathing expression.
Yeonwoo said to him.
“You say you like rock, but this style suits you better than rock. Like clothes that fit you perfectly?”
“R-Really?”
“Yeah, this suits you more than rock. And originally, I picked you, noona, and the others because you’re Rooftop Room, right?”
“Y-Yeah, that’s true.”
Yeonwoo nodded and looked at Kang Jihe.
“Noona, play some piano too.”
“Yes! I’ll play the piano faithfully as a Rooftop Room member! I don’t pursue any music other than Rooftop Room!”
Kang Jihe said that and sat at the keyboard.
The studio had every session a band could need, but since a grand piano wouldn’t fit, it was substituted with a keyboard.
In fact, Kang Jihe played keyboard more than piano on stage anyway.
“Here I go!”
She shouted energetically and playfully, but the moment her hands touched the keys, her expression changed.
Even she, who seemed lighthearted, became utterly serious in front of her craft.
She freely demonstrated a Rooftop Room-style performance—acoustic pop, that is.
*Yes, this is it.*
Watching blue, green, and yellow fairies spawn rapidly, Yeonwoo nodded in satisfaction.
But there was still room for improvement.
“How was I?”
“You’re all good, noona, but you’re too focused on feel. That’s fine for solo playing or onstage improv ad-libs, but if it becomes a habit and gets fixed, it’s not good.”
Kang Jihe played piano with feel, but it felt locked in.
Her personal feel would throw off the beat or pop in ad-libs as if it were natural.
It could make for great shows depending on the situation, but if it was always like this, they couldn’t create perfect songs.
“Oh, I know that, but once I get into it, I can’t control myself.”
“It’s good to enjoy the stage, but being strict with yourself is important too.”
With that, Yeonwoo pushed Kang Jihe aside and sat at the keyboard.
“But your acoustic pop playing was good, noona.”
Yeonwoo said that and began demonstrating an acoustic pop performance.
It might be a genre he was trying for the first time, but there was no awkwardness at all.
His head already had songs in their style made for the Rooftop Room Band.
All that was left was to pull the songs they’d made in the fairy world into the real world with the fairies’ help.
A familiar genre flowed from Yeonwoo’s hands, but it was an unfamiliar song.
The Rooftop Room Band watched Yeonwoo’s playing as if entranced.
They knew Yeonwoo’s piano was something else.
They’d seen him play plenty on YouTube, and no matter what anyone said, he was on the level of performing with the world’s Himari.
But seeing it live up close was different from videos.
And what about the song flowing from his hands?
They knew it was a song they’d never heard before, and they could guess it was one Yeonwoo had made.
It had to be—they’d never made it themselves, yet anyone could tell it was pure Rooftop Room.
It was like saying this song showed the direction their music world should go, their ultimate goal.
Yeonwoo stopped playing and looked at them.
Reading their expressions, Yeonwoo said.
“You’re right.”
“Huh? Right about what?”
“This song. I made it for the Rooftop Room Band.”
“Oh......”
“T-This one?”
“Yeah. But you have two choices.”
The Rooftop Room Band swallowed dryly and looked at Yeonwoo.
“First, take this song as is, write lyrics, and release it.”
“And the second?”
“Dissect this song, study it, and make your own as the Rooftop Room Band.”
Take the easy path, or the one that leads to growth.
As their gazes met at Yeonwoo’s question.
As if reading each other’s minds, they aligned opinions with just eye contact and said almost simultaneously.
“The second.”
“We’ll study it if you give us this song.”
“We have to go with the second.”
Yeonwoo nodded at their words.
“I knew Rooftop Room would say that.”
All their released songs so far had been self-composed by the three of them putting heads together.
Sure, they got help from friends or colleagues sometimes, but they never handed it all over—they always made it together.
Same now.
It was a tempting song, but they wanted to study it and grow rather than take it as is.
“I’ll send you the song file right away. Oh, and one more besides this. I made this thinking of a genre that might suit Rooftop Room singing it, so feel free to reference it or ignore it.”
At Yeonwoo’s words, the Rooftop Room Band nodded with moved expressions.
“Thank you, for going this far.”
“No need to thank me. If Rooftop Room Band does well, our company does too.”
“Y-Yeah. Um, we’ll compose it...... but...... could you...... produce it for us?”
“I can do that anytime. I’m the chief producer, after all. Oh, one sec.”
Yeonwoo checked his smartphone and said.
“I think you guys would benefit from a big workspace, so I was thinking of letting you use the one I used to. That okay?”
When scouting the Rooftop Room Band, Yeonwoo hadn’t sold his grandmother’s building but planned to let them use it as a workspace.
“That’d be great for us. We were paying to rent a practice room every day anyway.”
“It’s in Bucheon—okay with that?”
“Our company’s around here, so we were planning to move to Bucheon anyway.”
“Me too.”
“My family home’s in Incheon, so I was gonna move back there.”
Hearing them, Yeonwoo said.
“I can turn the second floor into a dorm too. You can live there if you want.”
“Wow...... this much......”
Seeing Lee Jihoon’s touched expression, Yeonwoo said.
“Unlike other singers, I basically scouted you guys without any investment. So this is using that money for your convenience. No need to feel burdened.”
That was true.
With Lee Si-eun or Black Pearl, he’d paid signing bonuses and had expenses, but the indie Rooftop Room Band was basically free.
This level of investment wasn’t much for Yeonwoo, who recognized their value.
“Then I’ll have the second floor remodeled into a dorm. Oh, the third floor’s ready to use right away—it was my old workspace. And......”
Yeonwoo looked around the room.
“Take all the instruments here. I’ve barely used them once or twice, so they’re basically new. I’ll have them moved for you.”
At those words, all three covered their mouths with both hands, tearing up.
Treated this well.
“Um...... PD-nim.”
“Yes?”
“W-We pledge our full loyalty.”
“For real, we’ll bury our bones in this company.”
“If you want to use us, call us anytime, day or night.”
Yeonwoo ignored the loyalty and bone-burying talk, but his eyes lit up at the offer to use them.
“You said anytime...... right?”
The three, who had been moved, shivered at Yeonwoo’s sharply gleaming eyes.
Among them, Jihoon thought.
*What’s this? This feeling like we’re about to become music slaves?*
......It wasn’t a feeling. That was exactly the plan.