DLMS 37

chapter 37

During lunch break, I slipped out of the lecture hall.

The person who called me was Lee Jong-in.

Not long ago, I had asked him for a favor.

Today, he finally called to say he’d handled it.

We met in front of the department building.

When I came down to the first floor, I found him waiting at the entrance.

“Hey!”

As soon as he spotted me, Jong-in tossed me a canned coffee.

I caught it without much trouble.

[Ugh, is this some cheesy youth drama or what?]

Apparently, the demon thought the scene looked awkward.

“Thanks. I’ll enjoy it.”
“Yeah. Come on, let’s sit over there and talk.”
“Sure.”

We headed toward a bench in front of the building.

I took a sip of the canned coffee.

Jong-in pulled out a cigarette and lit it.

“Haa…”

Watching the smoke scatter into the air, I asked first:

“How did it go?”

Instead of answering right away, he took a sip of his own coffee and then handed me his phone.

I checked the screen and hit play on the video.

It was footage of me singing at Hongrae Room the other day.

About three minutes later, a satisfied smile spread across my face.

“Damn, this is great…”
“Pretty solid, right? Enough for what you need?”
“Perfect. Thanks so much, Jong-in.”
“Eh, it was nothing.”

Recently, Jong-in had posted on a Facebook tip-off page asking if anyone had footage of Yoo Jae-hee.

A few days later, someone contacted him.

That’s how he ended up with this video.

Originally, I had planned to try and get it myself.

But I had no idea how to go about it, and it felt overwhelming.

When Jong-in offered to help, I asked him instead.

“So I can use this however I want, right?”
“Yeah, I got permission. I’ll send it to you. Use it however you like.”
“Man, thanks. Really.”
“Buy me food.”
“Of course. I’ll even buy you drinks.”

[Hah, you two are getting pretty close, huh?]

I wasn’t as close with him as I was with Seol-hee, Tae-hoon, or Im Tae-hyun.

But as the demon said, I’d grown a lot friendlier with Jong-in.

At first, the demon hadn’t liked him much.

But since the demon understood human nature—how people judge others too quickly—he let Jong-in’s past missteps slide.

Now, Jong-in and I were cooperating well enough that the demon didn’t complain about him anymore.

“Well, good luck with it. If you need anything else, just ask.”
“Yeah. Where are you headed now?”
“Home. Gotta fill out more applications today.”
“Entertainment companies?”
“Yep. Gotta keep at it until I land something.”
“Alright, work hard. Hope it goes well. Call me anytime if you need help.”
“Thanks. I’ll head out then.”

After chatting a bit, Jong-in went home.

[So, are you gonna upload that now?]

Yeah, I need to do something with this.

[But where are you gonna post it?]

Huh?

[…]

Uh… well… my Instagram?

[Who’s gonna see it there?]

I-I guess I’ll have to ask Tae-hoon about that…

I had been planning carefully up until now.

But I’d overlooked one thing.

Suddenly hitting a wall, I headed back to the lecture hall to get advice.

Back in class, I showed the video Jong-in had given me to Seol-hee and Tae-hoon.

“No way. It’s real? Why’d they cut you out?”
“I don’t know yet.”

I also explained the suspicions surrounding Hongcha.

“Wait… maybe those casting rumors are actually true?”
“Yeah, it’s pretty fishy…”

They pressed me about whether the casting story was real.

But I felt it was still too early to tell them everything.

Since it was lunchtime, the classroom was nearly empty.

Still, just in case, we kept our voices low.

“So what are you gonna do with this?”
“That’s what I’m not sure about. How should I start? I was thinking Instagram or Facebook, but Instagram probably has more reach, right?”
“Yeah. Posting it on Insta with hashtags would be best.”
“But if I upload it, who’s even gonna see it?”
“Want us to help?”
“How?”

Unlike me, who barely used social media, both Seol-hee and Tae-hoon had tons of followers.

Seol-hee had once trained to be an idol, so she wasn’t just good-looking—she was stunning.

Naturally, that meant lots of followers.

As for Tae-hoon, he just had tons of friends to begin with.

With their help, the video might spread further.

“If you upload it, we’ll repost it.”
“Seriously? You’d do that?”
“Of course. It’s nothing.”
“Yeah, I’ll help too.”
“Thanks. Really.”

[Heh-heh-heh. You were waiting for them to say that, weren’t you? Acting all modest like a sly fox.]

No, I mean… I wanted their help, sure. But it felt wrong to just grab at it without hesitation.

Truthfully, if they hadn’t offered, I’d have looked for another way.

After all, this could turn into a fight with a well-known YouTuber.

That could get risky.

But if it came to that, I was ready to protect Seol-hee and Tae-hoon no matter what.

“So should we post it now?”
“Yeah, go ahead. We’ll even help with the hashtags.”
“Oh! And hyung, you should start being more active on Instagram! Stop just posting random landscape pics. What are you, an old man?”
“Old man? I just don’t know what else to post!”

Tae-hoon smirked as if mocking my protest.

“Sir, we’ve officially decided to call you ‘uncle.’”
“N-no way!”
“C’mon, even just post your meals on your story. You’ll get the hang of it.”
“Instagram is hard…”

Seol-hee scolded me, but she wasn’t wrong.

SNS really was the best way to get noticed.

“…Anyway.”

I fiddled with my phone, then paused.

“Uh, guys.”
“Yeah?”
“I just realized I’ve never actually uploaded a video on Insta before… How do you—”
“Give it here.”
“Hyung, unbelievable.”
“What? Why?”
“Nothing. Just… if I had your face, I’d post every day. What a waste.”
“Seriously, unbelievable.”

[Hey! They’re totally dissing you!]

I know…

[Like, really mocking you.]

Y-yeah, I get it!

I was trying to promote myself.

But there were way too many things I didn’t know how to do.

“I really don’t know a lot, huh?”
“That’s fine. These are easy things you’ll pick up fast. And it’s normal to get help with stuff like this.”
“Yeah. It’s not like we’re being forced. Okay, done. It’s uploaded!”
“Whoa, let me see!”

Tae-hoon showed me the post.

Naturally, the video was me singing.

Below it was a short caption:

—Happened to catch a performance in Hongdae.

The hashtags were in the comments.

“Why’d you put them in the comments?”
“Hyung, you don’t clutter the caption with hashtags.”
“O-oh, right…”

I suddenly felt like such an old man.

So this is what a five-year gap feels like…

“Alright, now we’ll repost it.”

Both Seol-hee and Tae-hoon reposted it to their feeds.

They also shared it on their stories.

“Wow, I feel more secure already.”
“See? Especially with Seol-hee’s followers, this’ll spread well.”
“Thanks, guys.”

I realized I’d been saying “thank you” to them a lot.

Sure, I’d helped Seol-hee by writing songs for her and shared lecture notes with Tae-hoon.

But this felt like something else.

[You’ve got good friends. Treat them well.]

Of course.

Since I’d never had many friends before, Tae-hoon and Seol-hee were precious to me.

I wanted this plan to succeed, if only to repay their kindness.

Up until now, I’d never thought much about SNS.

I didn’t really know why people used it.

Honestly, I thought it was a waste of time.

But today, seeing how many followers Seol-hee and Tae-hoon had—and how they used them—made them look impressive.

Not just the numbers, but the way they leveraged them.

People who had strengths where I was weak always looked cool to me.

Meanwhile, Hongrae Room’s scandal would soon be exposed by Im Tae-hyun’s newsroom.

I planned to use that issue to promote myself.

For days, I couldn’t focus on anything else.

Even so, during the day I still had to study for exams.

And at night, I never skipped songwriting.

After finishing my daily routine and coming home, I dove back into composing.

My long-term goal was to create a new genre—music only I could make.

But for the two performances scheduled this summer, I first needed recognition.

To grab attention, I had to perform songs the public already found familiar.

[For your new genre to take off, you need allies—fans.]

“You mean fans, right?”

[Exactly. So why don’t you write the song I suggested? It’d be perfect for gaining fans.]

“Ugh, no way!”

[Why not!?]

As soon as I started composing, the demon and I began bickering.

I wanted to create a trendy track—the kind I was best at.

The demon wanted me to go retro.

“Of course I know retro works. But I don’t want to do that right now.”

[But retro vibes are so good…]

I was set on making trendy pop, my strongest suit.

But the demon kept pushing for nostalgic retro sounds.

I could do it if I wanted, sure.

But that wasn’t what I wanted to show right now.

“That’s just because you’re old.”

[Hey, that’s harsh.]

“Yew! Siyeeoh eweld fwool yeshh~?”

[Wow… Yoo Jae-hee’s gotten cheeky, huh?]

“Hahaha! Look, I like retro songs too. But I don’t think they’d work well on stage.”

[Why not? You’re good on stage.]

“The vibe you’re talking about means I’d have to move around a lot. That’s too hard.”

[Then practice it.]

“Later. I don’t have time now.”

[Excuses, excuses…]

“Didn’t you say I should make the music I want to make? Those were your words.”

[Hmph. Fine. You’re always like this.]

“Ugh, your tone is the worst.”

I ignored him and kept working.

Honestly, his constant interruptions while I was focused irritated me.

But I was getting more used to perfect pitch now.

The notes the demon muttered didn’t clash as badly with the instruments in my head.

And I didn’t want to snap at him either.

[Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey!]

“Oh my god, what now?”

[Your phone pinged. You got a notification.]

“Ugh, seriously…”

Because I had headphones on, I hadn’t heard it.

“Who’s bothering me now?”

I checked my phone.

—1 message request.