Chapter 60: Midnight Blues

How confident must she be to release the album earlier than planned?

Finding it interesting, I sent a reply.

[Me: Oh, really?]

[Me: You must be pretty confident.]

I had a lot of respect for that kind of confidence.

Not that I was in any position to judge, though.

[Seolhwa: Yep]

[Seolhwa: When the album drops at 6 PM, make sure to listen to it with me.]

[Me: Of course.]

Even if she hadn’t said anything, I had already planned to listen to it.

For a simple reason.

I was directly involved in the album.

‘Hope it does well.’

Lately, Seolhwa—well, Rage—had been gaining a lot of popularity.

So, at least one song should make it onto the charts.

Considering the quality, it wouldn’t be surprising if it did.

Hoping for good results, I started checking today’s commissions.

There were definitely more requests than before.

And a greater variety, too.

A lot of people were asking for female characters.

That was a nice change.

I had been drawing only male characters for so long that mixing in some female ones would feel refreshing.

“Hmm…”

As I scrolled through my DMs, I debated which commission to take on.

‘This one looks good.’

One caught my eye-a female character from an anime.

She was famous enough that even people unfamiliar with subculture entertainment would recognize her face.

Thinking it would be fun, I got to work on the commission.

How much time had passed?

Before I knew it, I had completed the commission.

There were some tricky parts when refining the details, but maybe because I was drawing a female character instead of a male one, it felt much easier overall.

“Ugh.”

As I stretched, I realized it was already almost six o’clock.

It was nearly time for Seolhwa’s album release.

I started feeling nervous too.

Of course, a lot of effort had gone into this album.

Unlike usual, I had researched various aspects of music production, trying to contribute as much as I could.

But no matter how much effort we put in, there was no way to be completely at ease.

What we love and what the public enjoys aren’t always the same.

A melody that sounds beautiful to my ears might just be noise to someone else.

Feeling slightly anxious, I kept refreshing the music site.

Click.

Click.

I kept waiting for the album to go live.

And then.

“It’s up.”

The album had finally been released.

The title: [Midnight Blues]

Total tracks: ten.

A long tracklist if you wanted it to be, but short if you didn’t.

‘Wonder how this will do.’

With a mix of excitement and nerves, I hit play.

Drrrrrn.

As the first track started, a nostalgic trumpet sound filled my ears.

It was the perfect grand opening.

I had come across this sound while watching YouTube and suggested adding it.

Hearing it in the final version gave me a sense of satisfaction.

Amado~!!

“…This is good.”

The album’s quality was definitely high.

Seolhwa had an incredible instinct for making music.

But.

‘She put me in the featured credits?’

That, I wasn’t expecting.

I thought my contribution was just to add some extra flavor, but she had actually credited me as a featured artist.

LJ.

Finding it slightly surprising, I continued listening to the album.

How long had I been immersed in the music?

Last Year!

With Seolhwa’s signature delicate voice, the album came to an end.

I had been slightly worried about how the album would flow, since ten tracks weren’t too many or too few.

But in hindsight, that concern was unnecessary.

The album was perfectly structured.

“This is really good.”

It might even make it onto the charts.

There were plenty of great songs in it.

Thinking that, I sent a message to Seolhwa.

[Me: Just finished listening to the album.]

[Me: You really did a great job lol.]

[Me: This is definitely making the charts.]

Her reply came almost instantly.

[Seolhwa: Of course it will.]

[Seolhwa: Do you know how hard I worked on this?]

She wasn’t wrong.

After putting in that much effort, it should make the charts.

Feeling curious, I asked something that had been on my mind.

[Me: By the way,]

[Me: I was surprised to see my name in the featuring credits.]

[Seolhwa: I told you I was adding you to the song.]

[Seolhwa: Didn’t you hear me, oppa?]

I had heard her mention adding my voice,

but I never realized she meant officially featuring me.

[Me: No, I heard that part lol.]

[Me: Just didn’t expect to be credited as a feature.]

[Seolhwa: Hehe.]

[Me: Alright, I’ll wish for the album’s massive success. If it blows up, you better buy me a meal.]

[Seolhwa: Of course, oppa!]

Now I was curious about where she’d take me.

Would it be somewhere fancy?

That wouldn’t be bad.

Amused by the thought, I started my stream.

[Stream has started!]

As the notification popped up, viewers began joining in.

[+HurryAndLeave: hihi]

[Hello!]

[Ha]

[Yoddu hi lol]

[Welcome]

[Pepe: You really show up on time every day now.]

[Pepe: I’m touched.]

[Fact: I was always on time.]

It definitely felt like my stream had grown in scale.

The number of viewers joining right after I started had been steadily increasing.

‘At this rate, I might hit a thousand viewers instantly someday.’

Of course, that wasn’t guaranteed.

As I waited for more people to join, I casually started chatting.

“How’s everyone been? It’s almost the start of the semester.”

[+HurryAndLeave: I don’t go to college!]

[Why do you assume people go to college?]

[Bro.]

[Pepe: Did you mention this on purpose? Feeling guilty?]

[He’s just trying to provoke us, 100%.]

[How is this provoking anything, you lunatics? Lol.]

It really was almost time for classes to start.

I had already planned to gradually reduce my streaming hours.

‘Ugh, my head hurts just thinking about it.’

Balancing school and streaming was going to be a massive headache.

With that thought, I naturally opened the community forum.

“I’ll browse the forum for a bit, then we’ll do a poll to decide what to do next.”

[Forum time]

[+HurryAndLeave: Time to chat endlessly.]

[This is the best part of the stream lol.]

[Pepe: By the way, you seemed exhausted yesterday. Feeling better now?]

[Yeah, you were struggling hard yesterday.]

[Glim <<< This dude isn’t even human…]

[The forum’s gotten more members lately.]

[Let me in! Let me in! Let me in! Let me in! Let me in! Let me in!]

User has been temporarily muted!

[See, this is exactly why they’re not letting you in lol.]

Oh, right.

I had given moderation rights to two frequent viewers last time.

Wonder if they were handling things well.

Thinking about it, I started checking the latest posts.

[Title: Am I the only one feeling down lately?]

[Content: (Photo of Lusha staring blankly at the screen)]

“Yoddu said his streaming hours are going to decrease soon… It’s making me sad… What do I do? Should I just poop while walking down the street…?”

L: Absolute Lusha-tier post lol.

L: Pretending to be a Lusha fan while actually being a Yoddu fan while secretly being a general forum fan lol.

ㄴ: In the end, everything leads back to the forum posts…

ㄴ: Unbelievable.

L: But why would you suddenly talk about pooping in the street??

ㄴ: What a menace.

ㄴ: At least dogs are cute. This is just slander lol.

“…I feel like I keep seeing more and more filthy posts.”

I meant that.

Lately, the posts had been getting dirtier.

Personally, I found them amusing, but they also rubbed me the wrong way.

[+HurryAndLeave: Lol]

[It is hilarious though lol.]

[Cleanliness is key, praise be to Yoddu.]

[This is way too funny lololol.]

[Pepe: That Lusha pic is seriously unsettling every time I see it.]

[Lusha looks pretty in general, but zooming in like that makes her look terrifying…]

With that thought, I kept browsing the forum.

I planned to explore for about 40 minutes anyway.

Then.

[Just released! Rage’s album ㅋㅋㅋㅋ]

An interesting post caught my eye.

Since I often did song bracket tournaments on stream, it seemed like my viewers naturally brought music-related topics into the community.

“Let’s check it out.”

I was curious to see how people were reacting to the album.

[Title: Rage’s Album Just Dropped ㅋㅋㅋㅋ]

[Content: (Photo) What do you guys think?]

L: It’s solid.

L: Freaking amazing.

L: The sound quality is insane. AOTY (Album of the Year) for sure.

ㄴ: Ugh, stop overhyping it lol.

ㄴ: No, but seriously, it’s that good. Why complain?

ㄴ: Yeah, it’s just really good.

L: Who produced this?

ㄴ: Probably that same guy from last time—Gutt.

ㄴ: His name is dumb, but damn, he makes great music.

That last comment got on my nerves a bit.

Most of the comments were overwhelmingly positive, but still…