The Song That Moved the Legend
“Checkmate has advanced to the next round!”
79 to 20.
An overwhelming margin.
I bowed to the judges and descended the stage amid thunderous applause.
At that moment, the sound director approached as if he had been waiting.
“I’ve prepared the MR. If you check it, I’ll start the in-house rehearsal right away.”
“Yes, thank you.”
I nodded quietly.
Meanwhile, on stage, the identity of Record Boy was being revealed.
Musical actor Ahn Hyung-joon.
Honestly, I didn’t know who it was.
The expressions on the celebrity judges’ faces were similar.
The general judges looked just as unfamiliar.
An awkward ripple of applause followed the unfamiliar name.
I might be able to do that too…
I, too, was a face unfamiliar to the public.
Even if it had buzz, it wasn’t enough to reach all ages and genders.
So I had to change that.
To remain a name that people could never forget through the stage.
That was why I was standing here now.
My gaze drifted to the other side of the stage, the raised platform.
245th King, Entic Boss.
An intense presence.
A singer with a solid, deep resonance.
This song will decide it.
The next stage wasn’t just a simple third round.
Victory would lead straight to the King stage.
In other words, whether Netflix’s entertainment production happened or not depended on this one song.
Let’s do our best.
That was the talent I had chosen for this.
Following the sound director, I moved and put on the professional monitoring headset.
External noise was blocked, and the MR of For Myself began to flow.
I hummed along, shaping my voice.
…Better not to stray from the arrangement—stay as close to the original as possible.
What I needed to focus on now was the expression of the lyrics.
As I said.
Without ignoring the notes, but murmuring them like whispers.
I needed to convey true emotion.
This song was one where sincerity and appeal came before technique.
…At the very end, give a slight variation only to the closing part.
This seemed acceptable.
And a very small difference might decide the winner or loser.
This was, after all, a competition.
In the meantime, recording was briefly paused.
Rest time.
Following the host’s guidance, the judges stretched and left the studio.
At that moment, the director of the supporting cast’s urgent voice rang out.
“Checkmate, in-house rehearsal is proceeding!”
***
Legend Shin Jae-ho.
He rarely appeared on broadcasts.
As he had aged and time had passed, he had grown more flexible.
In his younger days, he had been a lone wolf who lived solely for music.
And his essence remained unchanged.
He had simply compromised with reality.
“…How’s your body? Yeah. I’ll head over right after recording ends. Rest well.”
Through the phone, his wife’s voice faintly echoed.
Shin Jae-ho’s expression briefly darkened.
Recently, the hospital visits had increased.
Despite standing by his side for thirty years, the one who had made him feel most alone was himself.
Concert must be canceled.
This year marked his thirtieth anniversary debut.
The commemorative album was nearly finished, and a nationwide tour concert had been in planning.
But his heart remained complicated.
Forcing the concert felt impossible with his wife’s condition so precarious.
At times like this, he couldn’t find the courage to leave her side even for a moment.
Shin Jae-ho lay deeply on the chair.
Physically, emotionally—everything was nearing its limit these days.
Closing his eyes and taking a brief breath, music seeped into his ears.
Fortunately.
The stage that Checkmate had sung echoed in his ears again.
“…It wasn’t bad.”
Shin Jae-ho hadn’t really liked Masked Singer.
He believed a song was an expression that included face, expression, and the air of the moment.
Nevertheless, Checkmate’s stage had been acceptable.
No, quite good.
The timbre wasn’t extremely unique, but there was resonance.
It felt like the living timbre of singers from the past who had found and trained their own voice.
Not a mass-produced vocal, but one that had survived in its own way.
Curious who it is.
It had been a very long time.
A young singer who sincerely conveyed emotion had entered his eyes.
Knock, knock.
A knock on the door.
“Teacher, recording will start soon.”
Shin Jae-ho quietly stood up.
Leaving the waiting room and walking down the corridor, someone approached and greeted.
“Hello, senior. I’m Yeop, main vocalist of Monster Group.”
From the young voice, it seemed like a young junior who had just joined the Masked Singer judges as a fixed member.
Still, thinking he was polite, he lightly approached.
“Yeah, nice to meet you…”
A sharp smell pierced his nose.
…Cigarette?
Shin Jae-ho’s face twisted.
Of course, smoking wasn’t bad.
But for a vocalist, smoking to the point of damaging the body wasn’t pleasant.
It would eventually harm the throat.
He turned his head without a word and quietly headed toward the studio.
Sitting down, the staff approached and helped him put on the microphone again.
At that moment, the whispering from the adjacent seat reached his ears.
“I heard? Checkmate said he didn’t prepare a song.”
“Really?”
“They didn’t prepare the song thinking the production team wouldn’t come.”
“…Does that make sense? With that skill?”
Shin Jae-ho’s eyebrows twitched.
He says he didn’t prepare a song?
No matter how it was entertainment, this wasn’t the case.
The production team’s inexperience.
Checkmate’s irresponsibility.
Either way, it didn’t look professional.
He shook his head and sat down.
Disappointing.
The slightest bit of favor he had felt for Checkmate moments ago vanished instantly.
“Right, the next selection for Checkmate is that song.”
“What? Really?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
The two men subtly checked Shin Jae-ho’s reaction.
Feeling that gaze, Shin Jae-ho closed his mouth without saying a word.
After a while, the recording start signal fell and the lights turned on.
Host Kim Woo-jin stood in the center of the stage.
“Next stage, let’s proceed with the third round. Indeed, who will challenge for the King! Starting with the first stage.”
The lights turned off again.
A brief silence.
And on the stage that lit up once more, Checkmate stood there.
Ding, ding-ding.
Through that short gap, the intro flowed out.
A gentle, low piano sound.
An extremely famous famous song.
Just the intro alone made the celebrity judges push their chairs back and stand up.
“Eh, eh? This song!?”
“…What? Really? Is it really!”
“Right now, Mr. Shin Jae-ho is here, and you’re choosing this song?”
All the celebrity judges’ gazes fixed on Shin Jae-ho.
He remained quiet, but his expression was coldly hardened.
My song.
Just hearing the intro flowing out, I could tell.
It was his song, For Myself.
The first emotion that came was bewilderment.
Without any prior preparation, and even pulling out this song right in front of me.
Did my song look easy. Or…
Shin Jae-ho couldn’t erase the disappointment.
If it had been a prepared song, he would have been happy instead.
Because it was a junior singer who had shown a stage worth expecting.
But the situation now wasn’t like that.
Was it lacking manners?
Was it excessive confidence?
This didn’t sit well with him.
Even if it was a song permitted to anyone, this way wasn’t right.
Especially in front of him.
An irresponsible impromptu song.
That was an insult.
Especially, placing his most precious song in front of him.
Moreover, For Myself was not just a hit song.
It was the song that had made him, who lived as a rocker, stand before the public.
It was the condensed essence of his life, pain, choices, everything.
…Hah.
Shin Jae-ho pressed the complex emotions deep into his chest.
The cold gaze began to change.
Now it was the gaze of a censor.
If it didn’t meet the standards, no emotion would be shown—a cold look.
At that moment, Checkmate’s voice flowed through the microphone.
-How did our connection come to be separated.
“…!”
The first verse.
It was just a verse, but Shin Jae-ho’s eyes shook.
The resonance that poured out as if spitting.
The lingering echo of the lyrics murmured like ruminating.
It wasn’t just a song.
“Ah…”
“What, what. What am I going to do.”
“…Already moved.”
Actually, the Masked Singer celebrity judges’ reactions often became targets of mockery.
Because it was too exaggerated and overdone.
But it couldn’t be helped.
That was the role given to them in Masked Singer.
But today, it was subtly different.
There was no feeling of forcibly squeezing out emotion.
It was as if everyone was mesmerized by something.
In the rising emotion, it headed to the chorus of the first verse, the climax of the song.
The most famous part of this song sung by countless singers.
-The breath about to burst and the shaken eyes were all of me
“…!”
Shin Jae-ho’s lips trembled slightly.
It was an unprepared stage.
No expectation.
Yet, the sound bursting out now far surpassed his expectations.
Explosive emotion.
The tremor contained in the word breath.
The breath in the shaken eyes.
It contained a cry but didn’t squeeze it.
A high note with sadness forcibly suppressed.
…This, I know.
Shin Jae-ho quietly closed his eyes.
At first, he tried to look at it as if censoring.
But now, he wanted to fully appreciate this song.
The fact that it was an impromptu stage even disappeared from his mind.
…I want to listen to the end.
A memory never spoken aloud.
This song containing emotions not explained to anyone.
The curiosity of how this person would express the lyrics he himself wrote.
Without mistake, but differently in his own way.
And the second verse arrived.
The end of the song.
The emphasis of the story this song wanted to tell.
-If I can stand as myself, let me go
His voice didn’t roar.
He was enduring.
Like a lie in the lyrics.
Even though he couldn’t live without you, pretending to leave.
Rather, even lower.
Even smaller.
Checkmate sang with suppression instead of a cry.
Not even one swallowed breath, but it echoed as a heart-wrenching longing.
What was surprising was that while doing so, he maintained a high vocal range.
Not just singing high notes, but a mix voice mixing chest voice and falsetto.
…He knows how to use his voice.
That meant he knew how to move a person’s heart.
The unprepared stage he had worried about.
Its regret had long since vanished.
As a professional, it might be disappointing, but singers speak with songs and prove with stages.
Checkmate did that.
The emotion and resonance Shin Jae-ho felt now was the evidence.
After the song ended, the lights gradually dimmed.
On the darkened stage.
Everyone was silent.
No one moved their hands first.
No one tried to breathe first.
After a while, the silence that enveloped the studio collapsed all at once.
“Wow!”
“What the… really…”
“This… this is…”
The celebrity judges just spat out admiration, and no one completed the sentence.
The expression was filled with emotion lost for words.
It was the same for the general judges.
The afterglow of a short silence.
Swoosh.
Within it, someone quietly stood up from their seat.
All gazes in the studio turned to him.
Legend Shin Jae-ho.
The most demanding and strict person.
And Checkmate, who sang an unprepared song in front of him.
In the heightened tension.
He quietly clapped his hands.
Clap… clap clap.
Standing ovation.
Slower than anyone.
But with more sincerity than anyone.
Everyone was surprised by this sight.
They had done many competition entertainment shows, but this was the first time standing up from their seat and clapping.
They all knew the meaning of this applause.
Respect.
Recognition.
And emotion.
At that moment, as if promising, all viewer judges stood up from their seats.
The applause sound grew, filling the entire studio.
An emotional stage.
A moving moment.
In the ten-year entertainment Masked Singer this year, a legendary stage worthy of mention.
In the minds of everyone present in this space, one common thought arose.
The next 246th King is Checkmate.