Chapter 67
Chapter 67
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 68
Chapter Title: Tech House Visions
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House was a brand-new genre born after disco—the music that defined the club scene back when drugs were running rampant—faded into obscurity, pioneered by a DJ named Frankie Knuckles.
In its early days, house's father, Frankie Knuckles, blended soul, funk, and jazz. But these days, it had evolved by drawing inspiration from countless other genres while inspiring even more in return.
That gave rise to dozens of subgenres under the house umbrella.
Ellis had zeroed in on tech house for Hadass's new album concept.
It was a fusion of techno and house that had taken Korea by storm in the 2000s, thanks to a famous ad featuring a female actress.
A close cousin was deep house. While deep house layered in techno but kept the heavy weight of jazz and soul, tech house leaned harder into the upbeat, addictive vibe of techno.
Truth be told, those genre lines had blurred to the point of meaninglessness by now.
Deep house, itself a house offshoot, had spawned over ten more house variants. Unless you were a real expert, you'd be hard-pressed to tell if something was tech house or a deep house subgenre.
But the key was that no matter how it evolved, it never lost the foundational mix of funk, jazz, and soul that Frankie Knuckles started with.
In that sense, Hadass's debut track Fly High—which was rooted in jazz—could almost pass for house.
The main difference? Back then, Yeonwoo had no clue what house even was.
But the Yeonwoo of today was different.
Over the past year, he'd dived into music every single day, so digesting Ellis's tech house concept was no sweat.
He could whip up a full track in just five minutes if he wanted.
Not that it was hard.
Exaggerate a bit, and wasn't modern music just slapping trendy beats onto money chords ripped from the internet?
Some folks even joked that kids making music these days weren't artists—they were factory managers.
Anyway, that's how Yeonwoo always kicked off composing in a new genre.
He'd start by piecing together addictive beats floating around online onto money chords, just like everyone else, and dissect the track inside out.
"Wow, that song's amazing. Who're you giving it to?"
Lost in his composition, Yeonwoo snapped his head around at the voice from the side.
Yi Si-eun was peeking in through the open door of his studio.
He'd left it open since he wasn't sure when she'd show up, and sure enough, she'd let herself in.
"You're here, noona?"
"Yeah. Where's CEO Jiyeong?"
"She stepped out for some work stuff."
As he said it, Yeonwoo dragged the track into the trash.
"Eek! Why delete it? You just made it!"
"This was just practice."
Yi Si-eun couldn't wrap her head around it. A track this good, and he was tossing it as mere practice?
"This was just me cobbling together other people's stuff. Time to make the real thing now."
With that, Yeonwoo turned his gaze.
"Ready to practice?"
"Yeah."
Yeonwoo stood, left the studio with Si-eun, and started pulling out cameras, tablets, phones, and stands in the booth.
As he set up the stands and mounted the phones and tablets, Si-eun asked,
"But why go to all this trouble to help me?"
Ever since they met, she'd been coming to SSHIN's studio every day.
And like now, they'd set up a bunch of phones and cameras, then she'd practice singing in the booth while staring right at them.
It was Yeonwoo's fix for her stage fright and camera shyness.
He hit record on the last phone and said,
"I love your voice, noona. I want everyone else to hear it too."
"Oh..."
"But if you can't sing because of nerves, and no one gets to hear it, that's a shame, right?"
"So that's why all this..."
Si-eun trailed off.
She wondered if her voice was really that special.
"It's important to me. Since you're the one singing my songs."
With that, Yeonwoo nudged her into the booth.
Inside, Si-eun stared out.
Two of the five recording devices had their flashers on, signaling they were filming.
Her chest tightened, her mind going blank.
-Noona.
Yeonwoo called from outside, pressing the talkback button.
Si-eun looked at him and quickly recalled the Ye-eun theme he'd made for her.
She'd listened so much that just imagining it played in her head.
*I'm Ye-eun.*
With the theme as her cue, she slipped into self-hypnosis and started singing.
Across from the booth, Yeonwoo nodded along as yellow and blue fairies popped into existence with her voice.
He could really hear how much she'd improved.
At this rate, Yi Si-eun the singer was nothing to worry about.
Yi Si-eun the actress? Eh, that was out of his wheelhouse.
Sure, this training might help her acting too, but honestly, Yeonwoo didn't sweat the details.
Music was his only focus.
After sending Si-eun off and soaking in her practice session, Yeonwoo dove back into work.
Inspiration for tech house tracks flooded his mind.
The fairies, thrilled about this new genre, kept piping up with ideas.
*Eh, isn't what you just made kinda predictable?*
*Don't get mad. Okay, how about I throw down some chords, and you build from there?*
*Grandmother Fairy, you're pushing jazz too hard. This is house. Jazz is in there, but it's not the star.*
*Shunji Grandpa Fairy, quit obsessing over the cash.*
He wove in their suggestions, refining the song bit by bit.
Then a sudden thought hit him.
"Kids, think Hadass noona can actually sing this?"
The fairies, chattering excitedly and conjuring sounds, froze.
"Kids?"
They avoided his eyes.
Yeonwoo eyed them suspiciously, then shrugged.
"Eh, I didn't worry about it either. And they can handle this much."
To be honest, tech house didn't demand super high notes.
It was Yeonwoo's tricky rhythms and fast beats that made it tough.
But he figured Hadass could pull it off.
Compared to Game Changer—their second full track—it was way easier.
"Gotta ask Wakana noona for an AI vocal guide."
With the track done, he'd make a guide and send it to Ellis.
* * *
Engineer producer Fujii Wakana, freshly arrived from Japan, was living her best life.
What were her dreams again?
Aside from hitting every K-pop idol concert, it was all about food.
A whole Dongdaemun chicken, gamjatang, haemul pajeon, cereal yogurt—the stuff Japanese folks loved.
Koreans didn't eat whole chickens as much as she'd thought—plenty had never even heard of it—but shops were easier to find than back home.
Gamjatang and haemul pajeon? On-demand delivery anytime.
Cereal yogurt? Every corner store stocked it.
But what made her happiest was chicken and beer.
How could a country deliver top-tier chicken every day?!
Beer too.
Okay, Korean beer wasn't her taste. But it had a dream partner: soju.
Like Son Gokū and Trunks fusing into Gotenks, mix them into somaek, and boom—strongest drink ever.
Best part? Stuff yourself sick and still not top 30,000 won.
At a yatai or izakaya, you'd drop that on a small karaage plate, nanban chicken, and a highball or two.
"Ka-chin desu ne..."
Insane value.
So she indulged in chi-somaek daily.
Though the chicken was starting to wear thin.
No biggie.
Korean delivery apps offered infinite snacks.
"How about mixed grilled gizzard today?"
Nah.
Something more Korean.
"Jokbal... jokbal... Jokbal?"
Right, she'd had it in Japan but never here.
Pricey, but the pics looked drool-worthy.
She ordered jokbal.
To wash it down proper, she checked her kimchi fridge—no need to restock soju or beer.
She plopped at her computer till it arrived.
Rare for a Japanese engineer, she loved PC games too.
"Solo queue till it gets here?"
In the land of games, Faker's Korea.
Tougher than Japanese servers, sure—a wall she couldn't climb.
But that fired her up.
"Huh?"
Her drive fizzled at the sudden KakaoTalk ping.
She was Japanese.
She chatted with friends on LINE.
KakaoTalk meant 100% work folks.
Well, just Jiyeong and Yeonwoo, but they were the bosses.
No ignoring that.
Still, her fingers checked it anyway.
Even if it was weekend work, she couldn't say no.
Why?
"Yeonwoo-kun..."
Couldn't keep her cute little boss waiting.
*[Hadass new track. Make a Vocaloid guide pls, noona.]*
And delaying his song for "work"? Criminal.
Had to savor each one fresh.
Yeonwoo's tracks were special.
"Snack's not here yet... wanna preview?"
She played it, and her ears perked up.
"House? Tech house?"
Genre nailed.
But the chords, beats, melody—all fresh.
Awkward or weird?
Hell no.
Yeonwoo's gift: making the new addictive.
She fired back instantly.
*[Boss!! Song's amazing. :D Making it now and sending!!]*
Typos from excitement? Whatever.
She set her phone down, looped the track, and booted the AI vocal program.
Hadass, so AI girl group vocals, right?
Still...
"Isn't this kinda tough?"
Sounded tricky to her. Even pros might struggle, splits or not.
"Eh, not my problem."
She was just the engineer.
Make the guide as ordered. Done.
Let Hadass sweat the rest.