novelraw Chapter 299: Six-Person Birthday Party (2)
Chapter 299: Six-Person Birthday Party (2)
Baek Haewon shoved her fist into her mouth and cried.
The reason was simple. Because Spark was a harmonious family.
When all the members showed up on the livestream, Baek Haewon had simply been happy, going, ‘Wowww, all the boys are here!’ But once the letter-reading segment started, that was when she broke down in sobs.
How much the members cherished Kim Iwol was revealed in the letters. It was a deeply moving moment for Baek Haewon, who had no doubt that Spark was a family.
≫ Spark is a family, that’s right
If you pull out their family register, it will say they’re brothers. I saw it.
≫ Cheonghyeon, I’m crying too
Please hold onto Iwol’s time
I’ll age in his place
≫ Guys, your faces are already cinemaThe best cut and the highlight
Your narrative deserves a screenplay award, and your letters deserve a director’s award
Jeong Seongbin was happily busy celebrating, and Kim Iwol was busy being surprised with wide eyes, so the live was twice as noisy as usual. Still, Baek Haewon was just delighted. Because it wasn’t easy to see a disorganized Spark.
And then came the moment that made Baek Haewon’s heart explode.
『Here! The real gift!』
The precious baby anaconda-jindo-dog-chinchilla-harpy-eagle-black-panther came with a huge gift.
The gift turned out to be a bass guitar. Kim Iwol’s eyes rolled around in panic, not knowing what to do.
≫ Bass! Bass!
≫ Iwol, play the bass
≫ Let’s go, gift unboxing
≫ Of all colors, how did they end up picking something that whiteㅋㅋ
The comment section was instantly flooded with ‘bass.’ Baek Haewon’s comment must’ve been lost in the mix somewhere too.
『Hyung, they’re asking you to play the bass.』
『Huh?』
Kim Iwol’s eyes widened. Kiyeon, you’re truly the best monitoring agent.
『Uh, uh……』
While Kim Iwol fumbled clumsily, Park Joowoo suddenly appeared with an amp from who-knows-where. It was a birthday broadcast that you couldn’t take your eyes off of.
* * *
Won Chaehee hadn’t known Kim Iwol for long.
Even so, she knew well enough that it was rare for him to be this flustered.
Watching Park Joowoo plop the amp on the floor, Kim Iwol said he would do it himself and crouched down with his back to the camera.
Let it be repeated: Kim Iwol crouched down on the floor ‘with his back to the camera.’
This was an unprecedented event in Spark’s history. It was the kind of moment that made it clear to everyone that Kim Iwol was out of his right mind.
≫ A 183cm giant baby excited about getting a gift really exists
≫ Our Iwol has changed (POSITIVE)
≫ The day I see Iwol’s back instead of his fancam has come
≫ His sincerity conveyed through his back
Kim Iwol on bass was like a treasured intangible cultural heritage—he’d only shown it briefly a couple of times, and the rest was passed down by word of mouth.
Listening to just one instrument session for a long time was not Won Chaehee’s taste, but since the birthday boy was that happy, she could easily spare three minutes of a two-hour live.
『What… should I play?』
Kim Iwol said in a troubled tone, grabbing the neck. Then he plucked the strings with his bare hands.
‘Huh?’
Onscreen, his fingers moved with dazzling speed. It didn’t sound anything like those Insta clips Assistant Manager Cheon had once shown off, bragging about playing bass.
『You even tuned it? There’s almost nothing to fix.』
『Of course.』
On the phone screen, Lee Cheonghyeon gave a thumbs-up.
Kim Iwol looked at the camera and sat down on the chair again.
When he took off his cardigan to play, the white-haired Kim Iwol became one with the white bass.
When requests to move the table poured in, the members sent Kim Iwol over the table altogether. In an instant, the mood shifted into that of five friends attending Kim Iwol’s private recital.
『Joowoo, do you have a song request?』
Kim Iwol asked, glancing back. Park Joowoo, who had been sitting with his chin in his hand, said.
『…Any RoseD song is fine.』
『Hmm.』
Kim Iwol thought for a moment. Then he reached back and grabbed a black pick with his index and middle fingers as if to drag it over.
He tapped it against his thigh and then spoke a number, presumably the song title. Park Joowoo’s eyes lit up. It must have been one of his favorites.
『Want me to lay in the instrumental?』
『Yeah.』
A few more words were exchanged, and then Kim Iwol readjusted his grip on the pick.
A rhythmic drum and an electric guitar came in one after another…
‘Holy sh*t.’
…a heavy and clean, low-mid range bass sound overwhelmed the session and raced through the earphones.
Anyone long steeped in fandom culture developed an ear for these things. They became able to pick out like a ghost whether their kid had built a harmony, put in a backing vocal, or made a vocal mistake.
The only bass solos Won Chaehee had seen before were short highlights that surfaced in her algorithm feed.
They hadn’t given Won Chaehee much of an impression. The sharpness of sound always came stronger from guitar, and the reverberating thrum hit harder from drums.
Yet even to her ears, Kim Iwol’s playing was seamless and precise, without a single rough edge. At the same time, it was dazzling. It was a contradictory concept, but there was no other word that could properly express her current impression.
Which program was it again? She recalled a judge’s comment: that when a performance filled with technique still came across as simple and unforced, it meant the player was truly skilled.
Won Chaehee now understood the meaning of those words perfectly. It was comfortable to the ears, but you could tell just by watching Kim Iwol’s hands fly over the strings.
‘You call this a hobby?’
Not that he looked like the type to ever do a hobby half-heartedly.
The image of his long lashes lowered with the beat, overlapping with the taut bass strings, made Won Chaehee’s head ache. She was reminded again that human beings could suffer from being too happy.
She had been watching with rapt attention, so Won Chaehee had momentarily forgotten.
That Park Joowoo was a huge metal addict, and that the song Park Joowoo had chosen would by no means be simple.
Taking advantage of a brief pause, Kim Iwol put the pick in his mouth.
Then he started playing the bass with his bare hands. Blue veins bulged on his white forearm. Slapping and tapping raged on.
≫ UA close the shutters
≫ Wow
≫ Shredding???? Shredding??????
≫ Wow
≫ fml
≫ Woa
≫ Boves’ choice for the best birthday gift of 20XX
Long, white fingers like a perfectly sculpted statue, a gleaming new bass without a scratch.
Even the gray shadows that appeared and disappeared along the lines of his arm muscles and the veins that, once they had revealed their presence, made it difficult to tear one’s eyes away.
‘That’s awesome.’
Won Chaehee pressed a hand to her forehead. Her skin felt hot. It was like her system had short-circuited.
* * *
I liked the new bass. It had been a long time since I had played seriously, so I was a bit worried, but I was glad I didn’t make a mistake. If the synchronization had been 100%, my hands would’ve been as stiff as back in my office-worker days.
As I was wiping the pick and about to put the bass down, my eyes met Park Joowoo’s. The guy’s eyes were sparkling.
“God of rock, are you satisfied?”
“Totally…!”
“Hyung, you’re awesome!”
Being praised by you, Lee Cheonghyeon, who plays the piano like a virtuoso… that praise feels about as meaningful as being applauded for playing a recorder at a school talent show.
“There’s no other choice. Now that I know your skills, I have no choice but to cast you for a session.”
“There’s MIDI, you know.”
“And you know better than anyone why people still bother hiring live session players.”
I kept my mouth firmly shut. Lee Cheonghyeon cackled with laughter.
“When did you start playing the bass?”
Kang Kiyeon asked, unable to hide his surprised expression.
I felt the same way. What was I supposed to say here? If I said since I was twenty, they’d all know it was a lie.
“Since I was a student.”
I tried to be as nonchalant as possible and pretended to focus on putting the bass away. Never thought I’d be grateful for the long years of compulsory education in this country.
The birthday live ended in great success. I also gave a stern warning to everyone that going off-script without prior notice was the sort of thing that called for a written report.
All sorts of things were said about my birthday live. I had expected to some extent that the fans would be happy to see the members’ surprise appearance and the gifts, but…
≫ A current idol’s bass skills
≫ RoseD – 46610 Bass Live (Spark Iwol ver./1 hour)
≫ A current bandman’s reaction to Spark Iwol’s 46610
…something strange had exploded. I’d made videos like this before but I’d never been the one in them.
I felt like the whole world was lying to me. The 30-second video made by cutting the highlights had racked up massive views.
“Hyung, did you see this?!”
Lee Cheonghyeon came running, shouting from a distance. On the screen of the phone he was holding, a thumbnail of me with all the pixels broken, and a man in glasses watching it with interest, shone brightly.
The title was also flashy. ‘A professional bassist’s analysis of Spark Iwol’s bass performance.’ Why are you analyzing a total stranger like that, it’s scary.
“I haven’t seen it, and I don’t want to see it.”
“Why? It’s full of praise for you.”
“That’s why I don’t want to see it.”
“A pitiful soul who cannot accept a compliment as a compliment…”
Lee Cheonghyeon genuinely pitied me. He was misunderstanding. I was just embarrassed.
“Since you don’t want to see it, this Cheonghyeon will summarize it for you. ‘Is this person originally a bassist? The sound he’s making isn’t something that can come from playing for just a year or two, you can tell just by listening’…”
“That’s a summary? Sounds like a closed-caption reading service to me.”
It was preposterous. Only sighs came out of my mouth.
“But hyung.”
“What now.”
“How many years have you really played the bass?”
Lee Cheonghyeon asked a question that pierced my heart.