Chapter 97: After the Concert

He didn’t make a big fuss when stepping onto the stage.

From the beginning, it was Rage’s concert.

In other words, it was a space filled with people who came to see Seolhwa.

Thinking that, he carefully started to sing.

—Wish everyone was perfect as you~

At the same time, he added a bit of vocal technique.

Then came the erupting cheers.

—Waaaah!!!

He glanced at the audience, but no one seemed to be holding up a phone.

It seemed Seolhwa had given them a heads-up beforehand.

Relieved, he continued singing.

—But you got my heart black and blue~

He was scheduled to sing two songs at Seolhwa’s concert.

One was entirely in English, and the other was entirely in Korean.

The song he was singing now was the one in full English.

Ah—

He wrapped up the chorus and stepped back for a moment.

Then a short break came.

“Hello, everyone!”

Seolhwa greeted her fans with a bright smile, clearly happy to see them.

—Waaa!!

The audience went wild at her words.

Her popularity really hit home.

Up until now, he had only seen comments online, but he hadn’t realized so many people liked her this much.

“I’ve just been releasing albums from home all this time, but I thought it would be nice to meet you all at least once, so I put together this concert…Thank you so much for coming.”

As she spoke, Seolhwa bowed her head politely.

By the way.

“There are a lot of female fans too.”

There were many women in the audience.

Concerts like this usually draw a lot of fans of the opposite gender.

Thinking how interesting it was, he watched Seolhwa chatting with the crowd.

“I’m… honestly not really the type for the stage.”

Seolhwa scratched her head shyly and continued.

“But I’m happy to share the songs I made with you.”

—Waaaah!!

—Damn it!!

Cheers erupted from all around the audience.

Instead of saying anything, I turned my head slightly and smiled quietly.

Considering all the effort Seolhwa put into preparing for this, she absolutely deserved the attention.

She had worked so hard, after all.

“So I practiced a ton to wrap up today’s concert nicely… and I’m glad it went better than expected. If I’d messed up, I probably would’ve felt pretty bad.”

As Seolhwa said that, she began to talk briefly about the album.

“By the way, I didn’t think this album would get so popular. I didn’t make it with mainstream appeal in mind. I just made something for those who usually listen to my music. I had no idea it would become a hit like this.”

I was a little surprised too.

I never imagined it would blow up this much.

‘Well, the quality was pretty high, I guess.’

I’ve never worked on music for very long, so I wasn’t sure, but I had done everything I possibly could.

I also spent a lot of time thinking about how to make it sound good.

Just as I was marveling at it all.

“When I make albums, I usually don’t get help from anyone, you know? But for this one, there’s someone I worked with the whole time.”

At Seolhwa’s words, the concert hall began to buzz.

Looking amused, Seolhwa glanced around before speaking again.

“The person sitting over there, singing earlier, they’re the one. They also worked on the cover of my first album. We got to know each other while working on some projects, and ended up making this album together.”

As Seolhwa said that, every gaze turned toward me.

Thankfully, I had my hoodie zipped all the way up.

If I hadn’t, I probably would’ve died from embarrassment.

‘Thank goodness.’

Thinking that, I picked up the mic and responded briefly.

“I’m the one who worked on this album with her… I go by Gut.”

Saying my stage name out loud myself was so embarrassing.

Online would’ve been fine, but saying it in front of a crowd like this…

I guess I’m just not used to it.

As soon as I said it, the cheers erupted again.

—Wow!!!

—You’re so handsome!!!

They couldn’t even see my face properly, so what were they calling handsome?

‘Seriously, thank goodness I’m covered.’

With that random thought, I answered sincerely.

“This album… I mean, Midnight Blue. The two of us really put our hearts into making it. So I hope you all enjoy it.”

Just as I was about to put down the mic.

—Make an LP version, please!!!

A request he hadn’t expected came from the crowd.

An LP?

That wasn’t something he could decide on his own.

As he stood there, slightly flustered by the request.

“Ah, an LP? Hmm…”

Seolhwa dragged out her words for a moment, pretending to think, then turned her gaze toward me and spoke.

“I’ll try to release one soon. Judging by the response, it seems like a lot of people want it.”

The look she gave me definitely felt like a silent request to help with the LP too.

‘Well, it’s not like working on it together would be a bad thing.’

It’d be a bit much if it were a full album again, but helping with an LP release—especially just the design—was doable.

“Let’s aim to release an LP soon, then. And shall we get started again? Looks like everyone’s feeling better now.”

With that, the talk about the LP ended, and we resumed the concert.

The concert continued, and at last, it was time for the final song.

The last song was the biggest hit from Seolhwa’s album.

“Alright, this is the final one…Everyone knows this song, right?”

—Yes!!!

Seolhwa began hyping up the crowd.

At the same time, voices began filling the concert hall.

It was loud, so loud that if someone only heard the sound, they’d believe it was a concert by a major pop star.

“Even if one day you forget me—!”

The moment Seolhwa’s voice rang out, voices from the crowd burst forth, singing along.

No need to point out who started it, everyone came in at the perfect timing.

—Wow!!!

A mix of male and female voices in the cheers.

And the explosive roar of the crowd continued to swell.

“…Incredible.”

She hadn’t been like this back when they first met.

Somehow, over time, her popularity had soared, to the point that she could now hold a concert like this.

He stood by and watched, impressed.

“Midnight Blues…”

As she sang the final lyric, the entire concert hall erupted with cheers so loud they could tear your ears apart.

It was truly an unbelievable sound.

“And that’s all for today—this was Rage.”

With those final words, the brightly lit stage slowly began to dim.

Then, the audience slowly began to file out.

‘That was fun.’

As he was thinking about how enjoyable it had been.

“Ohh…”

Seolhwa let out a deep sigh as she walked over to him.

“Ugh… That was seriously exhausting.”

She really did look worn out.

It made sense.

Singing non-stop for three hours was no small feat.

“You did great. Get some rest today.”

“Yeah… I think that’s the right call.”

Just as they were chatting.

“Jaehun, how about going out for a group dinner?”

The guitarist from the band that supported the concert approached and asked.

Judging by her expression, she looked really excited.

No one makes a face like that unless they’re genuinely looking forward to something.

“Hmm…”

He glanced at Seolhwa, then looked back at the guitarist.

“Well, it depends on how Seolhwa’s feeling. You up for it?”

Seolhwa quickly waved her hand.

“Of course!!!”

“…Didn’t you say you were tired?”

“Come on, that’s that. This is this. We should still celebrate.”

“Yeah, fair point.”

It would feel kind of strange to skip out on a dinner after such a big event.

As the mood turned more positive, the guitarist looked even more excited and asked again.

“Then I’ll go ahead and make the reservation, okay?”

“Ah, yeah, sure.”

With that, the guitarist walked off, and the two of them sat down to chat about the concert for a bit.

“How was the live performance? Was it okay?”

“Yeah, you did great. I mean, shouldn’t I be the one worried about my live, not you?”

“Oh, come on, you were great.”

“Then that’s a relief.”

He would’ve felt a little bad if his live singing hadn’t come across well.

Thinking he was glad it turned out fine, he brought up something he’d been curious about.

“So, about the LP—what was that about? You looked at me when you said it, so I nodded, but I wasn’t sure.”

“Oh, I was going to ask you to handle the design. You’ve got a better sense for that kind of aesthetic.”

He’d never made an LP in his life.

It would actually be weird to know someone who had.

But still.

“If you want to hand it over, I’ll give it a shot. Sounds like fun.”

He accepted right away.

It really did seem like it would be fun.

And it was a field he’d never tried before.

Just as they were chatting—

“Alright, let’s all head out! We’ll take care of cleanup later!”

Led by the guitarist, they all headed to a nearby Korean BBQ restaurant together.

With no idea what kind of night awaited them.