Superstar From Age 0

Chapter 19

After feeding Seo-jun some baby food and playing with him to his heart’s content, brown Black gave him a bath.

The bath was not smooth either.

There was a commotion, and Brown Black, who were all soaked, came out of the bathroom and laid down their bedding in the living room.

Choi Si-yoon and Kevin brought Seo-jun’s crib from the master bedroom and placed it on one side of the living room.

They originally planned to sleep together on the same blanket, but Choi Si-yoon objected to Seo-jun’s smaller-than-expected appearance.

“What if we squash Seo-jun?”

Brown Black and Seo Eun-chan nodded in agreement, as if they hadn’t thought of that, at Choi Si-yoon’s words full of worry.

That’s how Seo-jun ended up sleeping in a crib surrounded by wooden rails.

“I’ll go now. Call me anytime if it’s urgent.”

“Yes, thank you for today.”

“You can call me even at dawn. I’m not worried because Brown Black seems to have studied a lot and played well with Seo-jun, but still.”

Kim Hwa-ryeon, who got on the elevator, massaged her stiff shoulders. It was a tough job to help with the filming for three days and two nights after taking a vacation from the hospital.

Really, if it wasn’t for her hyung… She wouldn’t have wasted her precious vacation on chicken and pizza, and begging her to help him.

“Well, at least Seo-jun is nice and Brown Black seems to have learned a lot, so it’s easy to work.”

Kim Hwa-ryeon pressed the button to go to the first floor with a smile.

Seo-jun’s eyes widened.

‘Hmm. What should I do? I can’t sleep.’

The lights in the living room were off and only a weak orange light was on.

Brown Black changed into their pajamas and leaned their chins on the crib rails, looking at Seo-jun.

Seo Eun-chan yawned silently and picked up the camera.

“Seo-jun is not sleeping?”

“Si-yoon, how long has it been?”

Choi Si-yoon looked at the schedule and the clock and answered Park Seo-jin’s question.

“Thirty minutes.”

“I thought he would sleep well. He’s not sleeping?”

Kevin tilted his head.

The baby, who had been reliable at mealtime and naptime, was not sleeping.

“Hmm. Should we do that?”

“Shall we?”

Brown Black, who had been looking at each other awkwardly, nodded.

They had prepared something for three days before filming.

They wondered if they had practiced in vain because Seo-jun slept well, ate well, and pooped well.

“We practiced for this.”

Fortunately or unfortunately, they could show it because Seo-jun was not sleeping. Park Seo-jin smiled and the rest of the members giggled.

‘What’s going on?’

Seo-jun couldn’t fall asleep easily after spending a day differently from usual.

He was trying hard to sleep. But he couldn’t get the funny faces of his hyungs out of his head. Hehehe.

But the hyungs, who had been different until now, were looking at Seo-jun with calm faces.

[Your bond with the target increases.]

Hmm hmm hmm–

Kevin and Choi Si-yoon opened their mouths first.

A low but soft humming sound flowed into Seo-jun’s ears.

[Orchestra Conductor’s Connection-Lowest Level- is activated.]

Without the conductor Seo-jun’s will, the skill was activated by the music of the connectors.

On top of that, hwang Ye-jun and Park Seo-jin’s voices blended together.

“Mom went to the shade of the island-”

“When she went to pick oysters-”

The heads of Brown Black, who were singing and harmonizing, shone brightly. Two numbers sparkled.

‘What? This is…’

Park Seo-jin, who was singing, flinched at his own voice, which was so different from the practice.

He was singing like usual.

He had practiced this song dozens of times.

But it was different.

He felt like he could sense the emotions, feelings, and hearts of the other Brown Black members who were singing with him. And they seemed to feel his heart as well.

Seo-jun stared blankly at the numbers of ‘connector bond’ that were rising along with the beautiful singing.

The numbers glittered and rose higher and higher.

Before registering the skill, seo-jun was shocked to find the book [Spirit of the Baton] in the library. It shouldn’t have been there.

It was a skill that almost ruined a world. Even though it was originally a light attribute, it should have been corrupted into a dark attribute skill.

Then Seo-jun, who had a light attribute, wouldn’t have been able to learn [Orchestra Conductor’s Connection].

But the book was here in the library. In the library full of books that Seo-jun could learn from. Seo-jun had looked at the epilogue.

The epilogue was written as a side story.

At the moment when [Orchestra Conductor’s Connection] was about to be corrupted into a dark attribute, the tree of spirits, which was barely breathing, squeezed out its remaining strength.

The tree hated the traitor, but loved the traitor’s ‘musical talent’.

The spirit of the baton, who was a traitor, hated it, but the tree of spirits couldn’t bear to throw away this amazing skill that would develop the music it loved, so it fought for it.

‘Maybe it cursed a lot.’

In the end, the tree of spirits, which suffered the most damage, used its remaining power to stop the corruption of the traitor’s skill. But even the tree couldn’t stop the skill rank from falling.

The tree cried as it watched the skill rank drop.

[Orchestra Conductor’s Connection] dropped from the highest to the lowest.

The music talent increase that was 10 times changed to 1.3 times, and the number of connectors that was 30 decreased to 4.

Also, the simple condition that could be used by holding hands changed to a difficult condition that required slapping the target’s cheek with both hands.

The skill survived as a light attribute with the tree’s terrifying love for music.

‘The tree’s obsession with music… Scary.’

That’s how [Orchestra Conductor’s Connection] was activated here.

The tree’s obsession with music, which even cherished the traitor’s skill, was great, but Brown Black’s desire was also great.

Brown Black sang the song without being surprised by their sudden rise in skill.

The numbers glittered more.

‘Scary hyungs.’

But the song was beautiful. Seo-jun closed his eyes and enjoyed the song in his warm blanket.

[Orchestra Conductor’s Connection] was not a skill that simply increased the musical skill of the target with friendship.

Based on the bond between the connectors and the conductor, their thoughts, perspectives, and goals for music.

Everything had to come together for the musical skill to increase.

‘But it’s very easy to lower it. It’s very easy if you have different thoughts and perspectives on music. Even when I changed my mind alone, the bond became negative. But… It’s very hard to raise it.’

[Orchestra Conductor’s Connection] was a double-edged sword. Seo-jun gave [Orchestra Conductor’s Connection] to Brown Black, whom he met for the first time, because the skill could be used for good or bad depending on their efforts.

‘I can’t give it to you for free, even if you’re my hyungs!’

That’s what he thought as he handed it over, even though they were good people now. He didn’t know what the future would bring. If they had any bad intentions, seo-jun would come and take it back, or make them go bankrupt.

He thought it would take months for them to understand and trust each other’s thoughts!

But Brown Black had sung only one song – a nursery rhyme, at that – to activate [the connection of the orchestra conductor].

‘Amazing…… Haa…….’

Seo-jun, who was lost in thought, slowly fell asleep.

Brown Black forgot that they were singing a lullaby.

When the nursery rhyme ended, Park Seo-jin started singing their new song without realizing it.

Hwang Ye-jun, Kevin, and Choi Si-yun also sang their parts earnestly.

It was different, really.

Seo Eun-chan barely held onto the camera. He had noticed something different since they started singing the lullaby they had prepared.

It was a nursery rhyme that they had practiced hard in the practice room, in the dorm, and in the car, saying they would play it for Seo-jun. Seo Eun-chan had heard it enough to get sick of it.

‘It was just a normal nursery rhyme back then…….’

It changed completely. He didn’t know what had changed. The voice, the rhythm, the way of singing seemed the same. But Brown Black’s song made Seo Eun-chan’s heart beat faster, even though he couldn’t read the music.

“Wow…….”

When Brown Black sang their song, seo Eun-chan shivered as if he had been struck by lightning.

This was it.

This was what had been missing, what they had been lacking.

He clenched his hand unconsciously. He felt something hard in his hand.

It was the camera. He had been filming the floor all along.

Surprised by the camera, seo Eun-chan quickly lifted it up and filmed the four men who were singing with bright smiles.

He hoped that this beautiful song was being recorded well on the camera.

Brown Black looked at each other’s faces.

They saw each other smiling and singing, and thought, they feel the same way as I do.

They were excited.

They had fun.

They were happy.

They felt each other’s music and their own music.

It seemed like all the problems they had been worrying about were solved.

Their hearts beat fast without rest, and their breaths were short, but they couldn’t stop. They felt anxious about the passing time.

“Huff- Huff-!”

The small midnight concert ended after they sang all six songs that would go into their album.

Brown Black, who had sung with all their strength, collapsed on the living room floor. They gasped for air.

“Wow, shit. That was crazy.”

Hwang Ye-jun, who had stretched out on the floor, was the first to speak. His heart was still pounding.

It was a perfect song, something he would have only sung in his dreams.

He had sung it a few minutes ago, but his heart still fluttered when he thought about it.

He became a singer because he wanted to sing songs like this.

Hwang Ye-jun let out a tear.

“I got goosebumps.”

Choi Si-yun, who was more of a dancer than a vocalist, had sung a more passionate song than any other vocalist.

He had always liked dancing more, but……. Wow……. He couldn’t believe he could sing a song like this……. He felt so emotional that he got goosebumps.

“[That was insane. Really.]”

Kevin breathed heavily. He had changed all the rap parts and sang them differently.

He had spent days and nights writing the lyrics, but the ones he changed in 30 minutes while singing the song suited their music much better.

He had always been worried about his talent among the many rappers in LA, but today he gained confidence.

‘I can do more!’

“This is our music.”

Park Seo-jin, the lead vocalist, could feel the members’ emotions more than anyone else as he had the most parts.

He wondered what kind of idol singer he would be.

He agonized over the genres of many songs.

And now, the leader of Brown Black made a decision.

“Let’s make music that conveys our feelings to others.”

“Wow, shit. You want to do this again?”

Hwang Ye-jun sat up and looked at Park Seo-jin’s face.

“I don’t think I can do this twice. Seo-jin hyung.”

Choi Si-yoon straightened his body, which was stretched out as if he had danced a lot.

“Me too. My heart is still pounding…”

Kevin said, rubbing his hand near his trembling heart.

“We can do it again since we’ve done it once.”

His words were gentle, but Park Seo-jin’s face was not.

The members realized that their leader was quite Spartan when they saw his bright smile.

The days of practice ahead were engraved in their minds.

“Oh, oh. Seo-jun is sleeping!”

Hwang Ye-jun barely remembered Seo-jun in his fading mind.

Oh, right. We were singing a lullaby!

At Hwang Ye-jun’s words, brown Black belatedly and quietly gathered around the baby crib.

“…Our song. It’s not dance music?”

“It must have been very loud.”

“He sleeps well.”

“Seo-jun is cute.”

Seo-jun slept well amid the noisy idol songs.

***

“Wow… Who is it?”

The man in Seo-jun’s downstairs apartment exclaimed.

He opened the window to ventilate, and he heard a song he had never heard before.

It seemed like an idol song, with fast music and rap.

He was annoyed and wanted to yell at them to be quiet, as he had to go to work early tomorrow morning.

“Should I go up and ask?”

He loved the song. He sat on the balcony with the window open for almost 30 minutes, even with the cold wind of winter.

“It didn’t show up on the phone’s song search… Is it an indie singer?”

The man sneezed loudly as he looked at the search window that said ‘not found’.

“Achoo! Oh, I can’t catch a cold!”

He had left it open for another 10 minutes, hoping to hear the song again, but they seemed to stop singing.

“Ugh! I have to sleep.”

The man closed the window tightly, getting up with his frozen body.

Not only there.

The houses next to Seo-jun’s were all busy trying to find out the singer, admiring the song they heard for 30 minutes.

But it was impossible to find Brown Black, who had not yet debuted.