I was a bit taken aback.
Of course, I had worked with Rage before, but I never expected to receive any earnings from it.
So, I quickly sent a reply.
[Me: I don’t think I contributed]
[Me: Enough to really impact the song]
[Me: You don’t have to send me a share of the earnings]
Not that I disliked the money.
In a way, it was passive income.
But.
‘I barely did anything.’
All I had done was make a few tweaks to an already finished track.
Creating a song from scratch was the hard part.
Editing something that was already made? That wasn’t nearly as difficult.
So, I felt a bit guilty about accepting the money.
If it had been entirely my work, sure.
But all I did was fine-tune something Rage had already composed.
A moment later, their reply came in.
[Rage: No, it’s totally fine.]
[Rage: We’ll be working together a lot more in the future anyway.]
[Rage: And honestly, you had a huge influence on the song, so there’s no reason to refuse it.]
“Hmm…”
They were being really insistent.
At this point, rejecting it again felt awkward.
If Rage, the person directly involved, was saying I deserved it, I didn’t really have a strong reason to keep refusing.
‘Well, I’ll just treat them to a meal next time.’
That should be enough to make it even.
Just as I turned off my phone and was about to head out—
Brrr—
A call from Rage.
“Hello?”
“Ah, Jaehun-nim. Are you busy right now?”
“No, I was just thinking about grabbing something to eat.”
“Then, could we meet up? I’m about to start working on the album again, and I’d love to hear your thoughts, Jaehun-nim.”
Hmm.
I didn’t really have a reason to refuse, so I agreed to meet up.
It would also be a good chance to congratulate them on the song’s success.
“Should I head to the studio?”
“Yes, that would be great!”
“Alright, I’ll be there.”
“Awesome!”
As for food, I figured I could just grab something simple at the studio.
Last time I was there, I noticed a lot of people eating inside anyway.
When I arrived for my second visit, the studio looked noticeably tidier than before.
How should I put it?
It felt more organized.
“Ahem, I upgraded some of the equipment. There were a few things I’d been wanting to get for a while.”
“Oh… No wonder it felt different.”
I had sensed that something had changed, and it seemed that getting new gear had prompted them to clean up the space.
As I was taking off my coat.
“…Should we introduce ourselves properly? I feel like we’ll be seeing each other a lot from now on.”
“Sounds good.”
There was no harm in exchanging names.
Especially since we’d be working together frequently.
“I’ll go first. My name is Seolhwa. Last name Seol, first name Hwa.”
“Oh.”
Seolhwa, huh?
It was a really pretty name.
And kind of intriguing.
“That’s such a unique name.”
“Right? I hear that a lot.”
“Uh… You probably already know my name, but just to formally introduce myself—I’m Lee Jaehun.”
“Ohhh.”
It almost felt like a formal self-introduction from back in school, making me a bit nostalgic.
Kind of funny, really.
Just as I was thinking that.
“How old are you?”
“I’m 23.”
As I said that, I suddenly felt the reality of the new year sinking in.
“Huh… seriously?”
“…Why?”
“I just became an adult…”
“…What?”
Did I hear that right?
They had just turned into an adult?
That meant when we first met, they were still a minor.
As I was processing that surprising realization.
“You can drop the formal speech!”
Rage—no, Seolhwa—spoke up.
“…Should I?”
“Yeah, totally! It feels weird hearing honorifics when we already know each other’s ages. It makes me uncomfortable, oppa.”
“…Alright then, I’ll talk casually from now on.”
“Yep!”
Even though I switched to casual speech, it still felt a bit awkward.
We had been using formal speech this whole time, so suddenly closing the distance like this felt… strange.
“Oppa, have you eaten yet?”
“Not yet.”
“Then should we order something? I haven’t eaten either.”
“If you’re ordering, that’d be great. I am kinda hungry.”
“Ooh… then let’s go with something simple—black bean noodles!”
“Uh.”
After ordering the black bean noodles, we pulled our chairs over to the computer and sat down.
Since the studio space was small, we ended up sitting a bit close to each other, but it didn’t really bother me.
We were here to work, after all.
“So, I’m starting on the album again, but I need to decide on a concept first. Any ideas? I don’t have anything in mind yet.”
“Hmm…”
An album concept, huh?
I listened to music often, but I had never really thought about album concepts before.
It caught me a little off guard.
“I think we should start by listening to your last album. That might help us come up with ideas.”
“Oh, good idea! Let’s do that.”
With that, Seolhwa played her previous album in the studio, and I started thinking about what theme would work for the next one.
If the goal was pure mainstream appeal, Seolhwa could probably handle it better on her own.
But from what I’d seen of her work, she wasn’t just chasing popularity.
Doom, doom.
As the bass vibrated through the room, I was deep in thought when.
“Oh! The black bean noodles are here. I’ll go grab them real quick!”
“Okay, go ahead.”
Left alone in the studio, I continued listening to the music.
That’s when a solid idea struck me.
“This is actually really good.”
“I just threw together some rough ideas, but I think this kind of concept could work.”
“Oh… I’m totally on board with this!”
Luckily, Seolhwa seemed to love it.
And just like that, the concept for her new album was set—pure 1960s music.
Lately, there had been a trend of recreating the sound of 1980s music.
So, in a way, this was taking a step even further back.
Not everyone could pull it off, but after listening to Seolhwa’s album, I felt like she could definitely make 1960s-style music work.
She was just that good—regardless of genre.
“Alright, let’s go with this, then.”
“Okay.”
“Oppa, could you make a few beats for me too? What I heard earlier was really good.”
“Hmm… I can, but I don’t know if you’ll like them.”
I could create some new beats if she wanted, but I wasn’t sure they’d meet her standards.
After all, I was just an amateur.
The beats in Seolhwa’s previous album were already at a professional level.
“That’s fine! I can tweak them as needed.”
“Alright, I’ll send them over. How many do you need?”
“Around… eight should be good!”
“Got it.”
With that, I stood up.
It was about time for me to start my stream.
No one would really complain if I skipped a day, but I had made a promise to myself.
Unless there was a really good reason, I wouldn’t take unannounced breaks.
I had seen way too many viewers get anxious over streamers who suddenly went on hiatus without warning.
“Oh! Take care, oppa.”
“Yeah, I’ll send you the beats soon.”
After saying that, I headed home.
Beep.
[The stream has started!]
Ahem.
“I’m a little late today… but you guys didn’t wait too long, right?”
Lately, I had been getting the feeling that my viewer count was increasing.
But surely no one was that eager for my streams.
Right?
As soon as I said that, the chat responded in their usual blunt manner.
[+HurryAndLeave: You messing with us? –]
[+HurryAndLeave: Stream on time.]
[We waited a long time…]
[You were a whole minute late, where’s your conscience?]
[Pepe: Be early next time. I’ll let it slide this once.]
“Hmm, I’ll try to start earlier next time. I just had a lot to do today.”
Normally, after the semester ended, I would just laze around in my apartment.
But lately, I had been so busy that I couldn’t afford to slack off.
[Where’d you go?]
[+HurryAndLeave: What kind of schedule are we talking about?]
[+HurryAndLeave: Explain yourself now.]
[You totally just overslept, didn’t you?]
[Pepe: We demand an explanation.]
Since my viewers seemed curious, I gave them a simple answer.
“Oh… I was helping out a friend who makes music. Just did a bit of work together.”
There wasn’t really a reason to hide it.
[+HurryAndLeave: Huh?]
[Did not see that coming lol.]
[Ohhh, that’s why there was a music stream option in those polls.]
[Look at this build-up lmao.]
[Pepe: Who is it?]
[They can’t be that famous, right? If they were, he’d have told us already.]
Anyway.
Now that I was live, I wasn’t sure what to stream today.
‘Is there anything fun to do?’
If something interesting popped up, I’d jump on it right away.
Just as I was thinking that.
Ding!
[Lusha has donated ₩1,000!]
Wanna play a round of Reore?
…An offer I wasn’t expecting.