Moon Suyeon’s personal studio was a small room of about 3 to 4 pyeong in size.
There was no sofa in the room filled with electronic devices.
Should I call it a harsh environment with hardly any place to sit?
This… is a World Star’s studio?
“It’s just that more inspiration comes from working in tight spaces.”
“…Is that so?”
“Anyway, we have a separate recording studio for the recordings.”
Why do they all like cramped spaces so much as if they’re not cats inside a box?
Yang Yuli also said that a cramped tin room was good for working.
None of these martial forest brats seem to be in their right minds.
“By the way, where am I supposed to sit?”
“Hmm, here?”
“Then where will Suyeon Sunbae sit?”
“I’ll sit here?”
“My goodness…”
Since there was no proper place to sit, I asked where to sit, and the single chair that existed was pointed out.
She then said her place was on my knees.
When someone is so blatant and shameless, it becomes difficult to call them out.
Anyway, since there was no space to bring another chair, I just told her to do as she pleased.
It’s not like the world will end just because she sits on my knees.
“Heheh~ Good. So, the first track.”
Moon Suyeon, who was happily fiddling with the machines, having a good time sitting on my knees.
She then played a ballad composed by herself.
Though the studio was only as big as a mouse hole, the soundproofing and audio equipment were extremely expensive.
The sweet music that smelled of money was already soaking my ears.
“How is it?”
“Something…”
“Hmm.”
“Feels like the scent of the moon?”
“Mm, isn’t that right? Anyway, since Luna relates to the moon, right?”
“That’s right.”
They said this song being played for me now will be uploaded this winter as a single.
The title has not been decided yet, but the temporary title is ‘Moonlight Prelude’, right?
Since the lyrics are not ready yet, they are still worrying over it, but once the lyrics come out, they will finalize the title and proceed with the recording. It seems there isn’t much time left until the recording.
“By the way, have you heard this?”
“Yes, I listened.”
“Did you record this yourself?”
“Yes. I picked up a good one with the last settlement I received.”
In between the track, there was a sound of an instrument that was unfamiliar yet familiar.
As I guessed, it was probably a pipa.
It was an extremely niche instrument, but it was clear that the performance was live. Just in case, I asked, and as expected, she said it was her own work.
She said she bought a high-grade pipa with the last settlement she received.
“Look at this.”
“Wow… This is better made than I thought.”
“Yes, it was quite expensive.”
“Of course, it’s not a common instrument. Anyway, properly made instruments are always expensive.”
Then the pipa she mentioned she bought was shown, and just touching it a bit made it clear it was a finely crafted high-end item.
Any instrument with this level of quality should indeed be costly, so she must have suffered a pretty big blow to her wallet.
Of course, considering the fact that she has already released a regular album and held a concert, it probably wasn’t something for her to worry much about.
“Do you understand why I showed you this?”
“Somewhat. There are some empty spaces in the middle of this track…”
“Right, fill that space with a qixianqin. This time, let’s go oriental.”
“Um, do I really need to fill it?”
“Why?”
“Don’t you know how to handle the qixianqin too, Sunbae?”
Before Moon Suyeon’s awakening might have been different, but after the awakening, she is a great artist who is proficient in all ancient instruments.
Though her specialty is the pipa, her skill with handling qixianqin is not lacking at all.
Still, I wondered if there was any real reason she was asking me instead of doing it herself with the qixianqin.
“Hey, it’s not that.”
“What then?”
“For Siwoo to perform qixianqin live, you’ll need to be on stage, right?”
“Qixianqin again?”
“Yes, Siwoo will play qixianqin and I’ll play pipa.”
“Um… Are you really going to perform with pipa?”
“Would it be okay?”
“…It’s not bad but…”
Now you’re openly revealing your lecherous intentions.
It’s nothing particularly difficult, and standing together on a stage for a comeback or two wouldn’t be bad.
Moreover, standing on stage with a pipa instead of a guitar could also be a worthy topic of conversation.
Plus, ‘oriental’ is one of the materials that tends to go down well more often than not.
If Luna, styled in an oriental theme and holding a pipa, takes the stage, it would become legendary in some way.
Accepting her cute ambition of standing on the stage again with me would be the best course of action.
“And the next piece~”
“Hm? This is…”
Upon receiving my approval, Moon Suyeon, now even more spirited, played the next track.
This time it was a completely different type of dance track.
Though she has largely transitioned into becoming a ballad singer with this regular album, dance still remains one of her powerful weapons.
Therefore, preparing a dance track is not really strange.
Just that all of the dance tracks she handled so far were so different it was slightly shocking.
After all, her songs were generally centered around the core subject of the ‘moon’ in most cases.
Even her dance tracks usually had a somewhat heavy feel to them.
However, this track was very light and had a sprightly feel to it.
“This is your piece?”
“What do you think?”
“Hmm, I’m not sure how to put it. It’s a completely different feel from what we’ve heard so far.”
“Hmm… Actually, it’s not my piece.”
“Then?”
“Pentaring?”
“Ah, Pentaring? Are you really giving this away?”
“Well, we’re really doing it, not pretending.”
“That… ”
I understood, now that you mention it, this track is indeed very Pentaring-like.
During the filming, she wondered if there was anything she could give Ha Young instead of featuring her in the piece or doing a duet, and suggested she would give them a track.
I had just let it slide, but it seems she had been preparing it little by little since then and had it finished now.
“Is there a real reason to go this far?”
“Hey, but isn’t Ha Young one of Siwoo’s family?”
“…True, but…”
This favoritism for family is quite…
This woman is consistent in this regard; whether it was before or now, she can’t get enough of family.
That’s a kind of illness too, I guess. She’s been going to psychiatric treatment continuously, but I guess that aspect hasn’t really improved?
Thinking about it, it’s almost fortunate that this woman has no family at all.
If she even had distant relatives, they would probably be picked clean by her and only bones would be left.
Here’s an interesting fact: though she says she’s doing this for Pentaring, the way things look, it seems more like forcing them into something.
Still, if that’s what she wants to do, then she should do it.
“Then, instead of this…”
“Why?”
“Um, how about sending this along with a guide vocal? The composer probably understands the feel of the song better.”
“Ah, would that make it easier to sing?”
“Probably?”
“Hmm… Not bad. Let’s do that.”
Hmph, much easier to sing? When they receive a song composed by Luna herself and also have her perform the guide vocal, how on earth will someone like Moji be able to digest it?
No matter how much they sing, they will probably not be able to reach the level of the guide vocal, so they might end up tearing their hair out, maybe even mimicking The Scream by Munch.
The pitiful form of Moji in despair could already be vividly imagined.
“Um… that’s all.”
“Alright. Let’s send it then.”
“Just send it like this? Without contacting the company?”
“What contact? If they like it, they’ll figure out a way to use it.”
With that, she quickly finished the guide vocal and sent the track to the A&R person handling the collection at PMC via email.
“The PMC kids are quite serious about collecting tracks, so they won’t overlook this. If they like it, they’ll contact our company somehow.”
“Even so…”
“If they have better songs collected, that’s fine too. Anyway, since this was specifically made for Pentaring, I’m not thinking of using it elsewhere.”
This side of her attitude exudes such coolness.
“If you receive the royalties for the song, let’s use it to eat something delicious?”
“Hmm, sure.”
That natural transition to an after-meal arrangement.
When you think about it, she’s quite cunning like a fox.
By sending a custom-made track designed to lead Pentaring into the practice hell and success, the practice room date ended.
This was followed by a break room date.
Here, a slightly different story was shared.
The secrets of our old days in the martial forest that can only be discussed when there’s no one else around.
“So, Haomen is ruined?”
“Not quite ruined… but all the top brass was wiped out.”
“By the Orthodoxy?”
“Yeah, isn’t it silly how the Orthodoxy broke their promises to Haomen? Though to be fair, it was kind of self-sabotage for the Orthodoxy too.”
“Why’s that?”
“After that incident, when the bl**d Religion rose, there was a serious lack of information due to the absence of Haomen.”
“True. The Open Sect covering the Central Plains alone was quite impossible from the start.”
The first topic that came up was the Haomen after her demise.
The outcome was not good.
How could the Orthodoxy, who see the unorthodox sects as mere insects, have kept their promises to Haomen?
At the confused moment when the leader of Haomen committed s*icide, they ambushed the elders and eradicated them completely.
It was like “We have the Open Sect!” kind of vibe.
Still, since Haomen wasn’t an organization that could be simply cleared out by eliminating the top brass, they somehow managed to continue, though this event is widely regarded as one of the worst crises.
When Haomen fell, the bl**d Religion rampaged, and due to the lack of information, it became quite difficult to cope.
It felt quite typical for the Orthodoxy’s self-inflicted punishment.
“Well, if only the elders got wiped out, it’s fine. That’s more like cutting one’s losses, right?”
“True. Originally…”
“My mistake in trying to save Haomen by sacrificing my happiness?”
“Of course.”
“Good thing ‘me’ didn’t do that. Right?”
“If you had tried to do that again, I might have abducted you. Whether you remember or not, I don’t want to see you be manipulated like that again.”
“Aww, that’s a pity. You could have endured it. It was a chance to get kidnapped.”
“Are you really going to say that in front of me?”
Clearly, she’s doing better.
The fact she’s fine hearing the story about Haomen’s aftermath, and the relief that she is not regretting making the same choice again, shows that psychiatric treatment has had some effect.
“But, what did you let go of?”
“What do you mean?”
“The Hundred Knights or whatever. They were the ones who wiped out Haomen’s main branch, right?”
“Oh, those guys. They’re all dead.”
“Why?”
“Well, they had a final showdown with the bl**d Religion, and they were all lying there, poisoned by bl**d Poison.”
“Oh, bl**d Poison. So?”
“Should I overlook them when they are clearly praying to be killed? The inviolability between the Orthodox and the Heretics only lasted till the bl**d Religion was subdued, right? So, I swept them out and came back.”
“Hmm, you still took your revenge.”
“Kind of. They were the ones who planned the annihilation of the Haomen.”
Even though she said that, they were always grinding their teeth and monitoring Hundred Knights.
If they didn’t, they wouldn’t have caught the perfect moment just after subduing the bl**d Religion.
“Absolutely, that was done well. The ones who deserve d*ath must d*e~”
Thinking about it, it’s quite funny.
Nana, Heavenly Yuah, and Moon Suyeon, these three people, to put it bluntly…
In today’s standards, they’re all a bit mentally off.
Even for me, if my life span is 75 years, then the 50 years of martial forest life and only about 25 years here.
If you subtract the years of early childhood where there’s no memory, that’s just about 20 years.
Though there are order and civilization, essentially we’re closer to being savage martial artists.
When there’s a problem, we immediately resort to violence and are always thinking about how to use violence without any consequences.
We’re those kinds of warped beings who can’t easily choose the nonviolent option.
Even now, look.
The least martial arts-like among them, Moon Suyeon, applauds and rejoices at a story of massacre.
If Moon Suyeon is like this, how about me? Or even someone more extreme than me, like Heavenly Yuah?
Even now, Heavenly Yuah is acting somewhat normally because I’m her leash, but with the memory of Heavenly Demon awakened, one can’t predict when the reins might break.
“The moment I refuse, that leash will definitely break, won’t it? Heavenly Yuah, who chased me even after d*ath.”
In that sense, it seems like only we truly understand each other.
“It feels like choices don’t really have much meaning, but anyway, not considering good or bad…”
Not just me, but taking Heavenly Yuah and Moon Suyeon into account…
No matter how I think about it, this life seems to have gone horribly wrong.
