My Fired Uncle Is a Genius Guitarist? - Chapter 31

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Potter

◈ My Fired Uncle Is a Genius Guitarist? ◈

Chapter 31: I Was Just Asking

──────

I left the waiting area and stopped at the corridor leading to the lobby. I pulled the mask and cap from my pocket and put them back on.

“Why are you putting those on again?”

“We’re still inside the building. Too many people are watching.”

“You already told Kang Taeo everything.”

“Only him.”

I cut off Cha Sion’s objection and started walking again. The lobby was crowded with other teams coming down after the awards ceremony and audience members who had not managed to leave yet. It wouldn’t hurt to stay careful until the day was over.

One side of the lobby was especially noisy. The Noise Line kids were surrounded by audience members, taking photos with them. Park Taegeon still looked expressionless beside Kwon Jaemin, who held the winner’s trophy, but he did not exactly push away the fans holding phones out to him.

“Must be nice. You get to do things like that when you win.”

Yun Taerin slowed down and glanced over at them enviously.

That was when it happened.

“Excuse me, you’re Black Rabbit, right?”

“You were really great. Could we take a picture with you?”

Two men who looked to be in their mid-thirties approached us. Yun Taerin’s face brightened at once.

“Yes! Of course! Somi, Sion, come here!”

The three girls stood side by side, and I naturally stepped over to awkwardly take my place beside them.

The man holding out his phone waved his hand, looking deeply embarrassed.

“Oh, sorry... Just the three of you.”

...What?

“And, sorry, could you take this for us?”

Before I knew it, a smartphone had been placed in my hand.

On the screen, the three girls were making V signs with the two unfamiliar men between them. I remembered my older sister’s harsh assessment when we filmed the Preliminary Round video. She had said a potbellied middle-aged man would only get in the way of a picture with three high school girls.

The audience saw it exactly the same way.

‘...Maybe I should just take the phone and run.’

My finger felt a little heavy as I pressed the shutter.

When we left the building, cool night air washed over my face. After spending all day soaked in the heat from the lights and amps, it was refreshing.

“Uncle.”

Yun Taerin, who had been walking ahead, slowed down and came up beside me. She looked oddly hesitant.

“We had a meeting earlier.”

“About what?”

“The prize money. You take four million won. We’ll take two million each.”

I stopped walking.

“When did you decide that?”

“Earlier. While you were talking inside.”

“W-Well... while we were waiting by the door...”

Bae Somi confessed in a shrinking voice.

So these kids had been pressing their ears to the door, eavesdropping, and holding a meeting about splitting the prize money at the same time.

“You had your ears on the door while holding a meeting with your mouths?”

“Anyway! The three of us decided, so just take it.”

They decided it among themselves and simply informed me. It brought back painful memories from my previous life, and I gave a hollow laugh.

“Forget it. We agreed to split it four ways.”

“No. You paid for the rehearsal room all this time.”

“And you made all the songs, Mister. Both Footsteps and RUN. We only received them and performed them.”

“S-Sion wrote the lyrics, but... I still think Uncle should take the most.”

The three of them took turns pressing their case. They clearly had expected me to refuse. Yun Taerin scratched the back of her head and added,

“Honestly, I don’t have the right to say this when I originally tried to cut you out, Uncle, but we can’t accept an even split with a clear conscience.”

She remembered that she had tried to cut me out, too?

I looked over the three girls’ faces for a moment.

Even if I insisted, it would only weigh on their minds. I nodded as though I had no choice.

“...Fine. But only this once. From next time on, we split it four ways. No exceptions.”

“Why? We can keep doing this.”

“Once songs start selling and we put out music, I’ll make the most money as the composer anyway. I don’t do business at a loss.”

“...That’s true.”

“Right, right! Our genius composer uncle!”

Yun Taerin made a fuss as she lightly patted my arm. Who had she gotten that shameless charm from?

I shoved my hands into my pockets and led the way.

“But I’m buying meat today.”

“Really?! Beef?!”

“The limit of what you can get from my generosity is pork.”

“Uh... Wait, I’ve heard that somewhere. Wasn’t that about vegetable kimbap?”

“It applies to meat too.”

“Tch. Still, meat is meat! Somi, Sion, Uncle says he’s buying us meat!”

Yun Taerin cheered, but within a few steps, she was already thinking of ways to spend her money.

“What should I do with two million won? Buy clothes? No, I need to replace my phone too.”

“I-I’ll save mine first...”

“What? You sound like an old person. What about you, Sion?”

“I haven’t thought about it yet.”

“Stop counting your chickens. The prize money hasn’t even been deposited yet. And they’ll deduct taxes, so it’ll be a little less than two million.”

“Taxes? Why are they taking taxes from my money?”

“That’s just how it works.”

“Tch. It’ll still be at least 1.5 million, right?”

“S-Should I tell my mom before it comes in...?”

“Hey, Bae Somi. You worry about that after it gets deposited.”

While they chatted, I took my phone from my pocket and called my older sister. She picked up before the second ring.

“You should’ve called when it was over.”

“We just got out. You’re still nearby, right, Sis?”

“In the parking lot. Where are you taking the kids?”

“To eat meat. You should come too. I’m buying, so don’t feel bad about it.”

“You’re buying? The sun must be rising in the west tomorrow.”

“Don’t come if you don’t want to.”

“Who said I wasn’t coming? Send me the address once you pick a place.”

As soon as the call ended, Yun Taerin held out her phone. There was a highly rated pork rib restaurant five minutes away on foot.

When it came to this sort of thing, she was more reliable than anyone.

As they neared the alley with the barbecue restaurants, Cha Sion felt a brief vibration in her pocket.

“Go in first. I’ll be there soon.”

After sending the other three inside, Cha Sion moved to a corner outside the restaurant. She took out her phone and turned on the screen.

It was from her father.

Dad> Sion, I narrowed down a few of the schools we talked about last time. I sent them by email, so look when you have time.

Dad> It’s not urgent, so take your time. And don’t stay out too late.

Two messages arrived one after the other.

Cha Sion automatically moved her thumb over the keyboard. She was about to type her usual short reply.

‘Okay.’

But this time, her finger stopped over the send button.

Cha Sion stared silently at that one word on the screen, then pressed backspace and erased it.

She shoved the darkened phone back into her pocket.

When she raised her head, she could see inside the restaurant through the window. Yun Taerin was excitedly talking with the menu open, while Bae Somi waved her hands beside her. Mister was taking off his red padded jacket and hanging it over the back of his chair.

Until today, all she had needed to think about was the finals.

And now the finals were over.

Cha Sion took a small breath, opened the restaurant door, and went inside.

The restaurant was filled with smoke from grilling meat and lively noise. As soon as we sat down, Yun Taerin opened the menu and rattled off an order at top speed. She was trying to add pork jowl to the pork belly and pork neck, but I cut her off.

“Hey, pork jowl is cheating.”

“It’s pork! And it only costs a thousand won more!”

“Pork belly and pork neck taste better.”

“Come on, Uncle. I want pork jowl too.”

“Ahem. Fine. Order it, then.”

“Yes!”

By the time the order was done and our water cups were filled, my older sister arrived.

“Sis! Over here!”

“Auntie!”

“Hello!”

“Wow, there are so many people. Congratulations on second place, everyone.”

After taking off her coat, my sister sat across from us and looked me up and down.

“You’re still wearing that? The competition is over.”

“Oh, right. I forgot.”

I took off my mask and shoved it into my pocket.

Then my sister looked at Cha Sion.

“You were way better in front of an audience than when you filmed the video. You were flying up there.”

“Is that so?”

Cha Sion replied calmly as she set out the utensils. She still did not change expression even when praised.

Her ears did look a little red, though.

The drinks arrived first. Cola for the kids, beer for my sister and me. Yun Taerin raised her glass of cola high.

“All right! To Black Rabbit taking second place!”

“Congratulations!”

“Congrats.”

“Next time, let’s earn the right to eat beef!”

“Do we get beef if we win?”

“Th-Then Noise Line must be eating beef right now.”

“Let them. They earned it.”

“What about us?”

“We’re eating pork.”

“Tch. Next time, we’re definitely eating beef.”

Our glasses clinked brightly, and soon meat went onto the grill. The girls’ eyes sparkled at the sound of it sizzling.

“I’ll grill it!”

“I-I think Taerin will burn everything...”

“Give me the tongs.”

When Cha Sion held out her hand, Yun Taerin obediently handed them over.

“About that beef talk earlier. We need to practice more before that.”

Yun Taerin blinked at me.

“But we did well today.”

“You did. That’s why you came in second.”

“Then what were we lacking?”

I put down my chopsticks and thought for a moment.

“Playing.”

“...I’ll admit that. Still, our songs were really good.”

“They were. But we chose RUN because it was within the range you could confidently handle right now. I thought it was better to nail what you could do than force something difficult into the set and fall apart onstage.”

Cha Sion and Bae Somi listened quietly, holding the tongs and their chopsticks.

“Noise Line did the opposite. They pushed through with their playing ability. They picked something difficult, then pulled it off on the actual stage.”

They had been like that from the Main Round onward. The four of them had carried a song that ran at full speed from beginning to end as though they were one body.

“That all counts in a live show. Having a good song isn’t enough, and singing well isn’t enough either. In the end, people look at whether you can put on a complete performance.”

It went quiet for a moment. Yun Taerin tapped her empty plate with her chopsticks.

“...Then we just need to practice?”

“That’s right.”

“Okay. Then next time, we really win.”

“I-I’ll practice more too.”

Bae Somi nodded faintly. Cha Sion flipped the meat without saying anything, then casually added,

“Me too.”

“Good. Then I’ll start by losing weight.”

“Yeah, that one’s pretty urgent.”

Yun Taerin snickered and put more meat on the grill.

By the time we had finished about one platter, my sister suddenly asked,

“By the way, why did Kang Taeo call you? Taerin was making such a fuss in the group chat. Don’t tell me he really called because he wants to buy a song?”

I could see Yun Taerin and Bae Somi perk up while chewing their meat. She had been eavesdropping at the door, holding a meeting, and sending messages too? Did she have separate hands for everything?

I hid my expression and picked up my water glass.

“Nothing’s decided yet. I need to send the demo first, then we’ll talk again.”

“So things really are moving along? Does he recognize you?”

“He did.”

“Really?”

Yun Taerin, who had been listening in, suddenly jumped into the conversation.

“What do you mean? How would Kang Taeo recognize Uncle?”

“Well, he...”

“It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.”

When I firmly cut off my sister, she closed her mouth and said nothing more.

Yun Taerin asked in frustration,

“What is it?”

“Eat your meat before it burns. If you don’t eat it, I will.”

“Hey! That’s not fair.”

I shoved a piece of meat into my mouth and hurried her along with my chopsticks. Yun Taerin immediately rushed toward the grill to compete with me.

Thank goodness she was simple.

After we had eaten plenty and the grill was starting to empty, Yun Taerin put down her chopsticks and muttered,

“Ah, but what do we do now? We kept saying finals, finals, and now that it’s over, it feels kind of empty.”

An odd silence fell over the table. Bae Somi, who had been chewing her meat, carefully opened her mouth after reading the room.

“Um, then... what do we do at our next rehearsal?”

No one could answer immediately.

We had run toward one goal, the finals. Now that the goal was over, none of us knew what would happen to this band.

“Mister.”

Then Cha Sion, who had quietly been eating meat, suddenly spoke.

“What I asked before.”

“What?”

“I asked if you were going to quit after the competition ended.”

Cha Sion looked at me without wavering.

Had she still been holding on to that question from back then?

I put down my water glass and met her eyes directly. Cha Sion did not back down.

“The competition is over.”

The table fell silent. Yun Taerin, Bae Somi, even my sister stopped their chopsticks and looked at me.

Only the meat on the grill sizzled.

I looked over their tense expressions one by one, then spoke calmly.

“There won’t be any rehearsals for a while.”

Yun Taerin’s eyes widened, and Bae Somi’s shoulders twitched and froze. They must have taken it to mean I was quitting.

Even Cha Sion’s expression stiffened visibly.

“W-What do you mean, Uncle...?”

“I’ll be busy for a while. I need to write songs.”

I turned over the remaining meat on the grill and continued casually.

“I need to polish the song for the demo, and I need to write new ones for you too. So get plenty of rest in the meantime. Catch up on your studies or practice playing, whatever.”

It took them a few seconds to understand what I meant. Yun Taerin’s mouth slowly fell open, and Bae Somi stared at me blankly.

I put the last piece of meat into my mouth and added as though it were no big deal.

“I’ll contact you about the next rehearsal.”

A brief silence.

Then,

“What the heck! You scared me!”

Yun Taerin slammed the table.

“I thought you were quitting! You totally sounded like you were quitting!”

“Quiet. Eat your meat.”

“Th-Thank goodness... I thought my heart was going to drop out...”

Bae Somi rubbed her chest.

I looked at Cha Sion. Her rigid shoulders had relaxed just a little. She turned her gaze toward the window and muttered,