Chapter 63:

Chapter 63:

Chapter 63

It was truly a day when everything went wrong.

Mrs. Kim Deok-soon rummaged through her closet, grumbling.

What a terrible day it had been.

Theyre raising the rent again, those bastards.

She threw the thick blanket on the floor, cursing the landlord who wanted to increase the rent for her restaurant.

Just take whatever they give you.

She rubbed her sore back, cursing the customer who had asked her to remake the soybean paste soup five times for no good reason.

Who do they think they are, the owners of this place?

She found the old radio behind the spot where the blanket had been, and remembered the staff at the temple she often visited.

She had gone there to pray for her grandsons success.

But they had been rude to her, saying that her donations had decreased lately.

All of this had happened in one day.

Sometimes there are days like that.

When luck is so bad that everything goes wrong, it goes wrong all day long.

Her stubborn mouth was set in a straight line.

I should just take the bad luck for him.

If she had a son-in-law, he would have scoffed at her for believing in such nonsense, but Mrs. Kim Deok-soon was sincere.

She thought that whenever something bad happened to her, she was taking the bad luck for her grandson.

Thats why she quickly calmed down.

When things went wrong, it meant that something good was happening to her grandson.

It had been like that when he first topped that chart thing and was so excited, or when he said some weird bread name as his acceptance speech on a music show.

She had also had some minor mishaps that morning, like dropping an egg or something.

Then maybe today there was something good too.

She nodded her head, thinking that good things are good things, and looked inside the closet.

There was an old radio in the corner, but she hesitated to reach for it.

It wasnt because she was short or couldnt reach it.

It was because of the owner of the item.

Myeong-eun loved it so much.

The old radio was something her daughter had used before she got married.

She felt a pang in her chest when she thought of taking out something her daughter had used.

She should just install the program on her phone like Woo-ju told her.

But the smartphone was an unfamiliar and mysterious world to her, so she eventually decided to take out the radio.

Ah, look at the dust.

She wiped the dust off with a wet tissue and plugged in the cord.

Then she pressed the power button with a nervous heart.

She was worried that it wouldnt turn on because it was so old, but it worked fine except for a slight crackling sound.

She tuned the frequency and a cool voice came out.

-Did you have a wonderful day today? Well, then, lets start Jang So-wons Wonderful Night!

She recognized the voice.

It was the woman who had been on the show with her grandson for a month.

She looked very fierce, but.

Her grandson said she was a very kind and nice senior.

Its still an hour until he comes on.

She heard he was going to be on with other singers.

They must not be bad people if he didnt say anything.

She shook her head.

She didnt know about that.

He was always quiet about that part.

Was it in elementary school?

Some crazy kid who was jealous of her popular grandson picked a fight with him, and in the end, he taunted him for not having a mom and dad.

He had a big fight because of that, and even when his parents came to school and made a scene, he was quiet.

He said he didnt want to worry his grandmother, even at that young age.

How much harder would it be for him now that hes grown up and entered that dirty and nasty world of those people?

He didnt show it, but she was always worried about him.

Thats how parents feel.

I shouldnt have turned it on so early.

She got up, feeling restless.

She did some work when she felt uneasy, following the philosophy of Seon Woo-ju, which she didnt need to say who had taught her.

She swept the room she had used in the morning again, mopped the floor, and gave some food to the stray cat that had been coming to play lately.

She was busy for a while.

Finally, it was 9 oclock.

I turned off the fan, worried that it might drown out the sound, and sat in front of the radio, waiting for my grandsons voice to come on.

-Hello! We are New Black!

There was applause after their energetic greeting.

-Im Woojoo, the leader and lead vocalist of the group.

-Im Ri-hyuk, the main vocalist.

I heard their familiar voices one after another.

Then.

Something sneaked in through the gap of the open door.

Ugh.

The cat that came in hesitated.

That darn thing came in again.

I waved my hand to shoo it away, but the cat only gained confidence and entered brazenly.

There were dirty paw prints on the floor that I had just cleaned.

I was about to curse and chase it out when.

Meow.

It came closer and flopped down, showing its belly. I missed the timing.

She licked her lips several times and then pointed at the radio with a stern expression.

Im letting you off today because of this. Next time, there wont be any soup. Nabi, you promised to come in only for today with this granny, right? You understand?

Meow.

She ignored the cat that cried out quickly and focused on the radio.

While he was singing of longing, his voice was penetrating.

As if to express his gratitude.

He still thinks

The night sky you looked at

That night sea

As they approached the chorus, the two voices came together.

It harmonized and became one voice.

If there was such a thing as color in the song, she thought the color that was flowing out of the radio now would be very pretty.

That night sea

Your scent

That night sea

Your voice

After the chorus, this time the humming of the universe tickled the ears pleasantly.

Mrs. Kim Deok-soon snorted.

She looked down and saw something round looking at her.

Grandma, Im not crying. Nabi, youre shedding fur.

Something warm pressed its head against her leg.

At that touch, Mrs. Kim Deok-soon recalled the old days when she hugged her grandson tightly and fell asleep.

As she was doing that, she seemed to hear a hallucination.

Surely only the lyrics were coming out of the radio, but it seemed like she could hear her grandsons words in it.

Thank you.

And I miss you.

She swallowed her saliva without saying a word.

I dont know what to call this feeling that I have at times like this. Maybe Ill never know, even at this age.

Its a mix of complex emotions: pride, compassion, gratitude, affection.

She looked at the radio.

She couldnt see his face, only hear his voice, but it seemed to convey his emotions more vividly.

Unlike TV, where he just spoke one-way, radio felt like he was communicating with both sides.

Maybe thats why her daughter always had the radio on. She wondered.

As she thought that, her eyes moved to the frame on the desk.

An old and faded photo.

She stroked the face of her daughter, who was smiling with a bouquet of flowers.

She smiled and said, Your son has grown up well, Myeong-eun.

As the gentle guitar sound played, Mrs. Kim Deok-soon looked out the window.

It was a bright moonlit night.

Truly, it was a song that suited this ambitious time.

***

Somewhere in Gunsan, someone was listening to the song with tears in their eyes.

The warm atmosphere of Night Sea touched the listeners emotions at this late hour.

A truck driver heading to Gyeonggi-do tapped the steering wheel unconsciously to the rhythm of the song.

Someone who was going up the escalator at the subway station leaned their tired body on the handrail and smiled.

The owner of the supermarket who was listening to the gentle guitar performance looked at the moon outside the window and thought about going back to his hometown for the next holiday season.

A student who was solving a workbook at home took off his earphones in the middle of the song and went to see his parents who were watching TV in the living room.

Meanwhile.

The DJ and the production staff who were watching the two singers who were singing Night Sea on the spot had a soft smile on their lips.

***

He plucked the last guitar string and finished the song.

Whew.

His eyes were dry.

He felt a sudden wave of fatigue.

He came to his senses and realized he was back in the radio booth.

It had been a long time since he was so immersed in a song.

He felt a pleasant sense of relief and looked at the main vocal who was fidgeting next to him.

They exchanged smiles.

You did well.

You did well too.

They didnt need to say it out loud. They knew.

It was the first time since their debut showcase that they were so absorbed in a song.

He honestly didnt know how the song would be evaluated.

The A&R team said it was good, but he and Ri-hyuk were doubtful.

When they worked on the song for a week and listened to the same song hundreds of times, they couldnt tell if it was good or bad.

But.

Even if the reviews were not good, he didnt care right now.

He felt the same way as when he finished the performance at the end-of-year evaluation, or when he successfully completed the live without accompaniment at the debut showcase.

The feeling that they connected with each other while singing.

It was a valuable experience that he couldnt exchange for anything.

He and Ri-hyuk looked at each other for a while and then turned their eyes to the monitor.

Huh?

The chat room was quiet.

No comments were coming up, and he tilted his head at the strangeness.

Jang So-won, the senior who was about to react, also narrowed his eyes at the chat room where not a single comment came up.

Then, he saw the production staff behind the glass window.

Among them, a middle-aged man sitting on a chair raised his thumb.

As if to praise them.

They nodded and smiled back.

But then, the engineer bent his thumb down.

What?

He wondered if it was some kind of new diss, but soon he realized it was a gesture to look at the monitor.

And he and Ri-hyuk widened their eyes.

What?

They realized why the chat room was quiet.

It was lagging.

The chat room that had been silent until a moment ago exploded in front of their eyes.