The Song That Ruled the Square
The performance, held under a downpour that fell like a monsoon, ended in great success. Well, if you could call twenty or so soaked spectators and a completely muddled sound system a success. Still, both those of us on stage and the audience watching seemed to enjoy it in our own way, so maybe it really was a triumph after all.
Or maybe not. Whatever.
And astonishingly, the very next morning the rain stopped as if by magic. The moment I saw that, I wondered why on earth we had bothered performing in the park at all. But regardless, I picked up my guitar again the following day.
Unlike yesterday, this was a spot with heavy foot traffic and a large floating population. With countless people watching, I plucked the strings of my guitar.
I had prepared a total of four songs. Three on guitar, one on violin. None of them were particularly difficult pieces, which was exactly why the busking could wrap up successfully.
There were two busking performances scheduled in Barcelona. This was the first one finished. Since I had only participated as a session player this time without singing, it was now my turn to take the lead vocals.
“Just one song, huh…”
After finishing the busking, we went to a nearby place that sold pizza and pasta for a meal. For a brief moment I was completely absorbed in devouring the food, marveling at flavors you simply couldn’t get in Korea.
But soon enough, I couldn’t help but fall deep into thought about how best to make use of the single song opportunity I’d been given. Obviously I had already narrowed it down to two candidate songs. I wasn’t planning to use an original composition; I wanted to go with an English song that would feel familiar to Western ears.
Since the schedule was extremely tight and I needed to pick a song quickly and start practicing, I decided to simply spin a bottle of Coca-Cola and let fate decide.
“Coca-Cola is delicious. If it’s delicious, drink it again… ding-dong-da-dong, Doctor Perfect, tell me true…”
“Pfft! Hahaha!”
At the sound of laughter, I turned toward the door and saw Jia standing there. She had apparently been watching the whole scene from the side and was now struggling to hold back her giggles.
“…What?”
“Oh, no, it’s just… seeing you like that, you really do look like a little kid.”
“At my age, I guess I am a kid, aren’t I?”
I answered shamelessly, but I couldn’t hide the way my face flushed bright red with embarrassment.
No matter how much my body had become that of an elementary school girl, and no matter how much it felt like my mind was gradually assimilating to match… the mental damage of being seen acting like a real child was still devastating.
What’s more, Jia wasn’t even that close to me yet. We were still in that slightly awkward, not-quite-friends stage.
The thought that someone like her had witnessed me behaving that way made my face burn even hotter.
“Hehe. You’re so cute. Should I play Coca-Cola with you? I used to do it a lot when I was little…”
“You’re still little right now…”
“Compared to Si-yeon, I’m an old lady! A total grandma!”
Having debuted just last year, she was still only seventeen. Hardly an age that suited the word “old.”
“So why were you doing the Coca-Cola thing?”
“I couldn’t decide what song to sing, so I was trying to choose. Since you’re here, Unnie, why don’t you pick for me? I’ll go with whatever you choose.”
“Eh? B-but I’m not good at that kind of thing!”
With the mindset that refusal itself was a form of refusal, I immediately told her the names of the two songs I had been considering.
They were both incredibly famous pop songs, so of course Jia knew them well too. Despite her earlier claim that she couldn’t choose, she began seriously contemplating with a rather solemn expression.
“I think the second one would be better. Unlike the first song, it has a female vocalist, after all.”
She gave a perfectly reasonable answer.
“Alright. Then I’ll go with the first one.”
“Hey! Why?!”
It was a small act of revenge for her earlier laughter at my Coca-Cola ritual.
Viva la Vida by Coldplay. One of their biggest hits and easily one of the most famous songs of the 21st century. Even in this parallel world, plenty of famous overseas bands and artists existed, so I decided to select this song—which I had heard countless times in my previous life—for this busking performance.
Jia had protested that her opinion had been ignored in the process… but the opinion of someone who couldn’t even play a single instrument and thus couldn’t participate in the session was naturally given zero weight in the song selection.
The original song made powerful use of both vocals and instruments. However, since this was busking, that kind of full instrumentation was impossible, and my voice wasn’t suited to delivering such a powerful vocal performance anyway.
“Please play it like this.”
“Hmm? You arranged it already?”
“I tweaked it a bit earlier.”
Han Yul stared at me like I was some kind of monster. Since he was someone who wrote and arranged his own music, it must have looked monstrous to him that I could produce a decent arrangement in such a short time.
To explain from the conclusion, I had already done this kind of arrangement in my previous life. That was why I could recall those memories and finish the new arrangement so quickly.
Still, producing something this decent in just a few hours… even for me, it was only possible when my senses were firing on all cylinders.
“Your age is one thing, but… your actual skill is straight-up monstrous, isn’t it?”
“Hehe. Thank you. How’s the quality? Is it usable?”
Lee Seung-hyun, the keyboardist who had been quietly examining the sheet music beside us, looked up at my question and answered.
“You removed all the other instruments entirely. You killed the tempo too… It’s practically the complete opposite of the original. Still, it’s not bad.”
“Since we basically only have the piano as an instrument… Seung-hyun Ajusshi’s performance is the core of it all!”
“Using a chorus wouldn’t be bad either.”
“You mean to give it a more mystical feel?”
“Yeah. Our idol girls who can’t play instruments would just be standing there awkwardly otherwise. Giving them this kind of role seems like a good idea.”
That was true. Neither Saki nor Jia knew how to play any instruments. They could dance incredibly well instead, but that wasn’t exactly a useful skill for a busking stage. If they weren’t singing, they’d just have to stand quietly on the side and watch.
A chorus layered underneath would probably work nicely to create that slightly mystical atmosphere.
“Sounds good. Then shall we call the unnies and run through it together?”
The Gothic Quarter of Barcelona. The square, surrounded by a forest of stone buildings that had endured hundreds of years, was still holding the damp moisture left behind after the rain.
With the weather continuing to alternate between rain and clear skies, people carried umbrellas in their hands as they came and went, preparing for any sudden change.
Amid the constant flow of countless passersby, we began to play a lyrical yet dreamlike intro.
Lee Seung-hyun’s keyboard broke the silence, and a clear, transparent piano melody spread throughout the square.
Tap. Tap-tap—
I struck the body of my guitar with my palm to create a kick drum sound, then hit it again to produce a snare. When I looped the rhythm using the loop station, the footsteps of people crossing the square began to slow down one by one.
Since it was difficult to set up a full drum kit in this environment, I—the one singing—had to create the rhythm myself.
Many Westerners grew curious at the sight of an oriental child who looked like a doll playing an instrument, and they paused to listen.
“I used to rule the world…”
The moment I opened my mouth, the noise of the square receded like the tide.
My voice was the complete opposite of the band’s vocalist, Martin. Instead of a rough, powerful tone, a dreamy and pure sound—like walking through dawn mist—echoed across the square of Barcelona.
“Be my mirror, my sword and shield…”
The song accelerated as the keyboard notes began to beat like a heartbeat, and the center of the square had already transformed into a massive concert hall.
“And that was when I ruled the world…”
The couple pushing a stroller, the backpacking travelers, even the elderly local gentleman drinking coffee at a nearby café—everyone held their breath as if by some unspoken agreement and listened to the nine-year-old child’s song.
As soon as the first verse ended, the chorus came in. Although the girls had felt sorry for not being able to play instruments, their veteran idol instincts produced sensitive harmonies that added a mystical color to the song.
The “oh~ oh~” humming they produced created an eerie, sacred atmosphere, like an oracle echoing from an ancient temple.
At the climax of the song, all instruments stopped, leaving only my voice alone in the square.
“For some reason I can’t explain…”
I softly muted the guitar strings as I sang the final line.
“But that was when I ruled the world…”
Then I slowly opened my eyes, which had been closed.
Only then did I realize that a much larger crowd than before had gathered around us.
A brief silence.
Then, starting with applause from one middle-aged man, various cheers and claps rang out.
I looked at the scene and broke into a bright, happy smile.