A Chance Encounter
“Oh no… what should I do?”
“I understand…”
I lifted the item the church deaconess at my mother’s church had asked for.
*This is going to kill me.*
Using a body I hadn’t touched in years left every muscle aching.
In the bazaar, there were nothing but middle-aged women. They were ordering me around like a beast of burden because there was no one else to carry the load.
*Just hang in there a little longer…*
I could feel my mother’s shoulders rising high in the air from behind me.
“Oh~ You must have good strength for a young man~. Deaconess Chae must be so happy to have a handsome and reliable son like you~. Her eldest is a doctor, and the second is studying at Seoul National University, right? He’s smart and kind too! What’s your secret?”
“Ho ho ho. There’s no secret. The kids just grew up on their own. Everything is God’s blessing~”
“By the way, does Jo Yihan have a girlfriend? Do you know my sister Min-ju? She sings in the youth choir. She’s single, so I was thinking of introducing you. Ho ho ho.”
“Oh. If it’s sister Min-ju, I’m happy to~ Shall I give it a try?”
It was a slight flaw that I was trying to arrange a blind date without consulting anyone. But as long as my mother didn’t notice that I had somehow claimed the 3 crown kings, it was fine.
While I was carrying the loads diligently, the bazaar officially began.
“Huu…”
With my exhausted body, I left the church parking lot where the bazaar was in full swing and took refuge under a tree in the shade on a bench.
While I was blankly watching my mother work hard to sell household items at cheap prices, I suddenly felt a presence beside me.
“…”
“…”
A man in his late twenties.
His dark circles made him look incredibly tired.
Before I could feel awkward for staring too much, I nodded my head in greeting.
Nod.
He also greeted me with a nod of his head.
An awkward silence settled around us.
I turned my head toward the bazaar, but I didn’t know how to erase the awkwardness that had already begun.
*Just help my mother.*
Just as I was about to leave the spot, a middle-aged man with a gentle face approached us. It was the pastor of the church my mother attended.
“Hum hum. You must be the second son of Deaconess Chae. We heard you helped prepare for the bazaar.”
“Ah. Yes. Pastor. My name is Jo Yihan.”
“Daniel’s brother is there too. Was it choir practice today?”
“Yes.”
I thought he was just an outsider coming to see the bazaar, but he was a church member. Then he should have helped me earlier. I felt an unfair resentment for nothing.
“I heard you live in Seoul for studying. You study computer science, right?”
“Yes. Pastor. I’m attending the computer science department.”
“Hum hum. Impressive. Me, an old man, can barely use a computer, but you’re learning to make one. Hum hum hum.”
“Don’t praise me. Easy studies don’t exist. Just do your best every day.”
I was specialized in software, not hardware, but I just nodded.
“Hum hum hum. Is that so? You have a great mindset. Doing your best… Ah! How’s Daniel doing lately? Have the tasks he was working on been resolved well?”
“There’s something I need to tell you about that. I’m thinking of returning to the US.”
“Huh.”
A strange way of speaking that mixed casual speech with honorifics.
Listening to his pronunciation, he sounded like a Korean raised abroad.
*So that’s why his name is Daniel.*
The strange feeling lasted only a moment before I felt like something serious was about to be said, and I secretly tried to leave the spot.
“Daniel. Didn’t you come to Korea with great expectations? You haven’t even met your mother yet, and you’re leaving?”
“Kore a. It’s too hard. Things happen in California that you can’t even imagine. Mother gave up. Sorry, Pastor.”
“Huh… Daniel. It must be hard to adapt because there’s no friend to share your heart with. Oh. Right. How about the brother here, Yihan? You’re about the same age, so you’d make a good friend.”
Both their gazes fixed on me.
I missed my chance to leave.
“Me?”
“Why don’t you two talk for a while?”
“Yes?”
“It will be a good connection. Hum hum hum.”
The pastor left to check on the bazaar and left us alone.
“…”
“…”
An awkward silence hung in the air.
I had an extremely narrow circle of human relationships. I only met the same people I always saw, and new relationships were mostly just people I met through work.
It meant I wasn’t sociable.
*Pastor. Why are you giving me such a trial…*
I struggled to open my mouth while looking at Daniel staring at me intently.
“Daniel… is it? What’s your name?”
“Correct. You, Yihan?”
“If your Korean is difficult, you can speak in English.”
“Can you speak English?”
“Sure.”
His expression brightened slightly.
[You have no idea how much English this is. It’s so frustrating.]
[Um. I see.]
[Koreans are so weird. They can read and write English fine, but they can’t even say one word.]
It didn’t seem like he was ignoring Korea, but rather genuinely unable to understand.
*Yeah, right. There were a lot of people with English shock back then.*
Later, even kindergarten kids could do Pictionary, but at this time, when you met foreigners, many would leave by saying “I can’t speak English” just in case.
[That must have been hard.]
[It was hard. I couldn’t speak Korean at all when I first came to Korea. Among the languages I learned, Korean was the hardest.]
[That must have been hard.]
[Distinguishing between honorifics and casual speech is hard enough, and if there’s a dialect, I’d lose my mind. There are dialects in the USA too, but nothing like the Korean ones.]
[That must have been hard.]
[And Korean culture. It’s so angry. Especially the hyung-jong brother culture. I could understand if it was an elder like the pastor. But why do I have to be so polite to someone who’s only one year older than me?]
This guy talks a lot more than I thought.
The previous silence was probably just because his Korean was clumsy, and now he was pouring out words nonstop.
[Also, Korean studio culture is fucking bullshit.]
[Eh?]
[Is it right that juniors have to offer their creations to seniors? I don’t understand why he thinks my creation is his.]
Offering creations.
Just hearing that sent chills down my spine, and I suddenly became interested in Daniel.
[Studio? Can I ask what kind of work you do?]
[Of course. I write music. I compose.]
[Compose?!]
Goosebumps covered my whole body.
It was almost like the gift from God.
[Compose, huh. What kind of music…]
[Me? POP. Popular songs. Why are you interested?]
[Ah… POP…]
It wasn’t the genre I wanted.
[What’s with that reaction? You look disappointed.]
[If I caused any misunderstanding, I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to ignore you. I’m making games right now and looking for composers because I need BGM.]
[Background Music? Tell me more. So far I’ve only heard about me. Let’s hear about you too.]
He seemed interested because it was the same field of music.
[Um… This is secret for now. Absolutely do not let my parents hear it. It’s complicated.]
[Okay. I promise.]
[We’re making a mobile game. Solo development.]
[Solo development? Isn’t that amazing even if I don’t know much about games? I thought game development involved dozens or hundreds of people?!]
Daniel didn’t seem particularly interested in games.
[No. It’s not that much. There are quite a few people who develop solo. Especially people like me who develop with low capital.]
[Oh. I see.]
[Yes. Anyway, I’m making a game, but my music part is a bit weak. To put it simply, I’m an amateur in the amateur world. Do you know notes?]
[There are tons of people who can’t read notes, and it’s amazing that someone who isn’t even a major knows them too.]
[Haha. Thank you. So, I was looking for a composer to make the sounds needed for the game. But since the money available for outsourcing is small… It’s hard to find a skilled amateur. Haha. An amateur with skill? Even I think that’s thief-like.]
[Whoa. Really?]
Suddenly, he rummaged through his bag and pulled out a laptop.
[What are you doing?]
[I’m looking for a composer. Here it is. Composer. Let me play you my portfolio.]
[No. Daniel isn’t a pro, are you?]
[What nonsense. I’m still an amateur. I told you. The senior tried to steal my creation? In Korea, to make it to the major, you have to offer songs. That’s the custom. It’s so fucking bullshit that I was thinking of going back to the US.]
[Eh? Ah, setting that aside. You said you do popular songs, right?]
[Hey. Yihan. There’s no such thing as a composer. Just write music and see. Huh? If you write songs and add lyrics, that becomes POP, and if you use it in movies, it’s BGM.]
I had heard that the two fields had completely different approaches.
Popular songs were the main focus.
BGM for movies or games was the helper.
Songs used as BGM shouldn’t be too flashy like popular songs.
I was hesitant, so Daniel urged me on.
[Hey. Yihan. Just listen first. I have skill.]
[Okay. Let me listen.]
I put on the headphones he gave me and listened to the song that flowed out.
*Um… It’s not bad.*
I understood why he said he had skill himself. It was definitely addictive, popular-song-like melody. Especially in the hook part, it was somehow familiar…
*Eh?*
Wait, where have I heard this song before?
[Daniel. Is this your song?]
[Of course it’s mine. No, no, is it bad?]
[No. It sounds like a song I’ve heard somewhere…]
[What? Fuck! There’s no way. Where did you hear it?! Did you just mistake the melody line? Listen more carefully!]
I checked my head while watching Daniel get excited like he was going to grab my throat.
*Where did I hear this song.*
I remembered.
*Isn’t this a song that reached number one on the Billboard?*
I didn’t know the exact timing, but it was definitely a song I had heard before.
[Could you play another song?]
[No, where did you hear it?]
[Wait a second. While listening to another song, I’ll think it over.]
[Okay.]
When I listened to another song, it was clear.
The second song too, the third song too.
*Now I’m sure.*
I could confirm now. The reason I thought these songs were familiar was because I had heard them in the future.
[Wow.]
[Hey. Yihan. Did it come to you where you heard it?]
[No. Maybe I got lost in how good the songs are. This is my first time hearing them.]
[Really? I was unnecessarily nervous. I thought I had unconsciously plagiarized. I was about to throw this in the trash.]
[I’m sorry.]
[It’s fine. The songs are good, right?]
[Yes. Very good.]
There was no way songs that would top the Billboard charts in the future weren’t good. It seemed like I had met someone who would become quite amazing without me noticing.
[Huu. But it’s a little disappointing.]
[What? Is there a point in the song’s progress that bothers you?]
[No. That’s not it… It’s just that Daniel is too great a person for me to take on the job.]
[What? Then I failed the interview? The songs are good!]
[No. That’s not what I mean. If you have this level of skill, it should cost at least 1 million won per song, but I don’t have much money to spend.]
[Hahahaha! 1 million won? You rated me that high?]
Daniel’s reaction was strange.
1 million won per song would be little even for commissioning a skilled amateur, right?
[Hey. Yihan. You don’t know much about this industry, do you? You think composers get thousands of millions per song? That’s not true. There are composers who get hundreds of millions or billions for one song. But an amateur like me who can’t even make it to the major? 500,000 won is already a lot. 1 million won is almost pro-level commission fee.]
[Ah.]
I finally realized where this misunderstanding came from.
The Next, where I worked, was a big corporation. The composers I met while working? They were all pros in the pros. So their commission fees were high.
*Ah. I was too stupid.*
As time passed, prices would rise, so the gap between my perception and Daniel’s current industry perception would be even greater.
[Then… Could you take on a song for my game? I can’t pay 1 million won. I don’t even know how many songs I need yet…]
[Hmm. What’s the minimum length of the song? It doesn’t matter for BGM, right?]
[Yes. It can be short or long. As long as it fits the situation and mood.]
[Okay. Do you have the game made? I think I’ll get a good feeling when I see it.]
[It’s still in development, so… Shall I send you the planning document? There are background concepts for each stage, so you’ll understand when you see it.]
I sent him an email with my phone.
[Oh. Roguelike top-down shooting game!]
[Do you know what that is?]
[No. I don’t know what you’re saying at all. Roguelike is what? Top view is what? Shooting? What do you shoot?]
While he was reading for a moment, he stood up from the bench with a confident face.
[I’ll work and contact you. Give me three days.]
[Eh? No. This fast? We didn’t write a contract or set the commission fee?]
[Hey. Yihan. We’re artists. Inspiration struck. Contract? Commission? If my song is good, you’ll take care of me well, right. Then, I’ll go first!]
I stared blankly at him leaving with a light expression and light steps, as if the gloomy man had disappeared somewhere.
*Is this… right?*