WFBCAD 6

Chapter 6

Jake Trela.

A YouTuber who mainly operated in Hollywood, he had recently gotten exceptionally busy.

It was because his channel, which no one had paid attention to for nearly two years, was growing steeply these days.

‘Random Street Casting’

It was because the content of handing a guitar to random passersby on the street and watching them play had hit it big.

‘I have to milk it while I can.’

While pumping out Shorts through random street casting, Jake broadcasted the process live.

Thanks to that, his bank account balance was heading upward day by day.

However, today was different.

[A bit boring today.] [Is it because it’s Hollywood? Everyone just plays well.] [It’s kinda no-fun today.]

In truth, his content hadn’t gained popularity because of mysterious ordinary people who played the guitar well.

[0/10]

He would hand a guitar to ordinary people and pressure them to play.

Pushing a camera in front of them, while hype-men cheered them on.

Under such pressure, people played the guitar reluctantly.

There was no way a person handling an instrument for the first time could play well.

Most of the time, terrible sounds came out.

Then Jake would rate the ordinary person’s performance.

With a vomiting emoji, or an X emoji.

Or explicitly with a score.

[LOL he really sucks at playing] [LOL look at his face while playing.] [I guess not everyone in Hollywood is handsome.] [It actually makes me laugh, seriously.]

Even though they had merely played because they were pushed into it, the chat window was full of curses.

A trash dump where people comfortably poured out the stress they received while living life.

That was precisely Jake’s channel.

However.

‘Damn it, why is everyone playing so well?’

Jake knitted his brows.

Today’s success rate was terrible.

Every person he picked played the guitar amazingly well.

Thanks to that, people who came to release their emotions on bad players began to leave one by one.

‘I have to find one quickly.’

Jake looked around his surroundings to see if there was anyone suitable.

Right then, a man caught his eyes.

Wearing a scruffy hoodie with One Mart plastic bags in both hands, he was a tourist no matter who looked at him.

‘He probably came to sightsee Hollywood.’

There was no way a tourist could play the guitar well.

Furthermore, he was Asian.

‘Do they even have guitars in Asia?’

Smirking sneeringly on the inside, he grabbed the man.

Then as he handed over the guitar, the pre-arranged hype-men cheered.

As expected, the man could not overcome the atmosphere and sat on the chair.

Then the dying chat window regained its vigor once again.

[LOL can a yellow monkey even play the guitar?] [It’s already funny.] [Look at the posture he’s holding the guitar with. It’s obvious he doesn’t know how to play at all.] [Ah, isn’t there anyone who plays well?] [I came to watch someone who plays well.] [I’m betting $100 he plays badly, how about it?] [Add me too. $200.]

An Asian, and a man who looked like he couldn’t play the guitar at a glance.

Everyone poured out their feelings without hesitation.

However, Jake, that much of him, felt something strange and his face hardened.

‘His posture…… is good?’

Usually, people who don’t know how to play the guitar feel awkward even holding a guitar.

However, he was different.

He definitely had a professional aura.

‘Ah, oh no…….’

By the time he noticed it, it was already too late.

Because Kim Ju-hyun’s performance had started.

-Clang!!

The sharp guitar sound captured people’s attention in an instant.

His left hand holding the guitar moved rapidly, almost as if he were playing a violent piano piece.

He wasn’t just moving.

Like the restrained movements of a soldier, he held the chords perfectly without a single bit of disarray even at high speed.

‘Crazy.’

Jake was a musician too.

A musician whose dream was forcibly folded because he lacked talent.

Since he had handled instruments once, he knew very well how senseless this performance was right now.

‘He does two-handed tapping this well?’

Usually, with a guitar, the left hand holds the chords and the right hand plucks the strings with a pick.

However, the man in front of his eyes was different.

Both his left hand and right hand were holding chords.

That technique, which was difficult just to play, he was executing while adding tempo, pitch, and speed on top of it.

‘Even I’ve played the guitar for 10 years…….’

He couldn’t do this.

That wasn’t something that could be done just by effort.

An overwhelming talent.

Only people commonly called geniuses in society could perform at that level.

And the man in front of his eyes was playing like those geniuses with a smile.

[Wow…….] [Crazy. Is this guitar playing?] [First time seeing this kind of performance holy shit] [Wow…… only admiration comes out…….]

Even the viewers who showed sullen responses no matter how well a person played were bursting into admiration.

And then.

[LOL you were happy because he was Asian, right?] [This bastard tried to ruin another person and failed again.] [LOL look at his dumbfounded face.]

Chats directed at Jake began to rise one by one.

Right at that moment.

“It was fun. Well then.”

The man held out the guitar.

As Jake received the guitar in a daze…

-Swish.

The man disappeared like the wind.

“W-What the…….”

Jake looked at the distancing man with a blank face as if he had been hit.

It was a complete coincidence.

Both the fact that a live video of a channel she wouldn’t normally glance at popped up in Shorts.

And the fact that she accidentally clicked the video to play it while trying to skip it.

Yet to think she would hear a performance like this there.

Angelina.

She was one of the hottest top stars in America.

It was daily routine for her music video view counts to exceed 100 million, and her radio and concert schedules were organized with bookings set a year in advance.

However, she failed to fulfill most of those contracts.

‘What was I singing for?’

Both her vocal ability and the fans waiting for her remained the same, but Angelina herself had lost the reason to sing.

A massive empty space had formed inside her heart.

-Rustle rustle.

While tossing and turning in bed because sleep would not come due to a troubled mind.

She unconsciously turned on her tablet and surfed the web.

The live stream she discovered while doing so.

On the screen, a man was playing the guitar.

An Asian man wearing a scruffy hoodie.

“…….”

If it were usual, it was a video she would have just skipped past, but this time was different.

Without realizing it, Angelina fell into the video.

To be precise, into the man’s performance.

Unlike his scruffy attire, his performance was extremely sophisticated.

Fast chord progressions and two-handed tapping.

Even she, who had met quite a few musicians so far, had never seen anyone handle a guitar this skillfully.

However, that wasn’t the reason Angelina fell into the video.

‘This song…… what is it?’

It started at a fast tempo, but there was no impression at all of rushing hastily.

Rather, every single note dropped as if striking in its exact position.

Every note constituting the song was exerting its full role.

“This…….”

Angelina muttered unconsciously.

She couldn’t believe this song was a sound created with a single guitar.

Even while the rhythm and melody were separated, it was a mysterious music that sounded as one.

As if two people were playing.

‘The design is different.’

This wasn’t because the man’s playing skill was outstanding.

The design of the song itself far surpassed the category of ordinary songs.

‘Usually, an accompaniment is added on top of a melody in a song. Or vice versa.’

However, this wasn’t that.

The two started simultaneously and were completed simultaneously.

‘This is a first…….’

The song itself didn’t come into a familiar category.

Good, outstanding, genius.

It was somewhat lacking to sum it up with such words.

It wasn’t simply that the level was high.

A feeling that the standard itself was different.

For a normal composer to create a song like this, they would have to hold onto just one song for at least 10 years.

‘The person who made this song must have put in that level of effort as well.’

Yet a song like that.

-Thump thump thump.

The man in the video was continuing his performance as if it were nothing.

Not a single expression changed.

That was even stranger.

With a performance of this level, at least he himself had to know.

Just how senseless a song he was playing.

However, the man didn’t care at all.

He didn’t try to look good, nor did he try to show off.

He was just playing.

That fact hit strongly for some reason.

Angelina stared intensely at the screen like that.

Soon, the man handed over the guitar and hastily left the spot.

In front of the distancing man, the view of downtown Hollywood flashed past.

“…….”

The emptiness that was filling her head until a moment ago trembled ever so minutely.

“Phew……”

Kim Ju-hyun, who hastily left the spot, let out a breath.

‘As expected of America?’

This kind of assertiveness.

It wasn’t easy to experience in Korea.

To abruptly shove a guitar into his hands and order him to play.

‘More than that, it’s a relief nothing happened.’

Something felt a bit unpleasant, but maybe he was just a person with a bad impression.

Be that as it may.

‘The reaction wasn’t too bad, right?’

A moment ago, the song Kim Ju-hyun played was a song he played by improvising on the spot.

Because he played randomly as it came to mind, by his standards, the degree of completion wasn’t that high.

Yet people around were shouting and making a huge fuss.

‘I don’t know if it’s because they really liked it, but…….’

Still, it didn’t feel bad.

Letting out a short chuckle, Kim Ju-hyun raised his head.

Before he knew it, the house was visible.

‘What should I do when I go in?’

First, he should put the groceries he bought into the refrigerator.

After that?

‘As expected, my hands are itching.’

Perhaps because he played the guitar a moment ago, it was felt even more severely.

The thirst for music.

-Clatter.

Kim Ju-hyun entered the house.

He put the groceries in the refrigerator and sat on the sofa.

Looking at the TV blankly, in the end, he couldn’t hold it in.

“Hello? Oh, Joseph.”

[Kim. What’s the matter?]

“I have something I’m curious about. My adjustment period is one week, right?”

[Yes, that’s correct.]

“Can we reduce it to 3 days?”

[????]

Joseph asked back in a flustered voice.

[You’re asking to reduce it to 3 days?]

“Yes.”

[Not extending it?]

“Yes, is there any problem?”

If it were Korea, what adjustment period?

He would have gone straight into actual work right away.

Above all, 3 days was a long vacation by Kim Ju-hyun’s standards.

[No, there’s no problem, but…… I can’t believe you’re saying you want to reduce your vacation. General Manager Hannah told us to give you an adjustment period of at least a week…….]

“I think 3 days will be sufficient.”

[I’ll ask the higher-ups first.]

“Thank you, and I have another thing to ask.”

[Yes, go ahead.]

Kim Ju-hyun spoke in a low voice.

“Can I know who the singer I will be in charge of is?”

[Of course, I can tell you, but…… why?]

“I want to lightly make some sample songs while resting.”

When Kim Ju-hyun spoke like that, Joseph spoke as if he couldn’t understand.

[You’re saying you’re going to work while resting?]

“No. Just review a bit and this and that while resting?”

[People usually call that working, Kim.]

“Well, anyway, it’s possible, right?”

[……I will send it to you.]

Kim Ju-hyun snapped his fingers.

Then Joseph spoke.

[Just as I heard, you are truly diligent.]

‘This is?’

If it were Korea, he would have been fired long ago.

Asking why it takes 3 days to make a sample.

10 per day.

Because song samples were something produced as if stamping them out at a factory.

At any rate.

“So who is it? My assigned singer.”

[Ah, that is.]

Joseph paused for a moment and then spoke.

“[It’s Angelina.]”