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Chapter 9
1. Hit the Road, Jack (8)
Judging by the way he spoke, the shop owner clearly thought:
“You just guessed and got lucky, right?”
He probably wanted to enjoy watching me stammer awkwardly while trying to cover it up with lies.
Come on now.
I’m a man over seventy years old.
You barely look over fifty. In my previous life, you would’ve been much younger than me.
Young enough to be my son.
I answered calmly.
“You can tell from the beautifully stretched overtones, the distinct contour of the sound, and the thickness of the tone. Since the sound in the midrange is especially powerful, it seemed like it used a Macassar ebony fingerboard. To create a tone that rich, it would need a laminated body structure made with top-grade exotic woods, and there aren’t many models like that. Also, judging by the deep low end, it sounded like it used original JJ and HB soapbar pickups. Among basses with that kind of setup, the one with the closest sound is the BSR 5TNE. I was just thinking out loud.”
The entire shop went silent.
Not only the owner, but even Hyunwoo’s eyes widened.
Then he burst out laughing.
“Holy crap. You sounded so serious I almost believed you. Hahaha.”
Hyunwoo waved his hands at the owner.
“My friend’s jokes are a little extreme. Please understand. He’s normally not like this.”
“……”
The owner stared at me suspiciously.
“Wait here.”
He entered the room where the bass guitar had been playing earlier and whispered something to someone inside.
Hyunwoo jabbed me in the side.
“Hey, you guessed, right? But did you actually practice answering like that? You sounded like a total expert.”
I shrugged.
Listen here, kid.
My hearing developed abnormally because I couldn’t see.
Do you think it’s easy for a blind Black musician to reach Billboard number one?
After a moment, the owner came back out.
“Think you can get this one right too?”
It felt like he had gone inside to coordinate something with the other person.
But why should I dance to his tune for free?
“If I get it right, is there a reward?”
The owner laughed in disbelief.
“What do you want? More importantly, are you actually confident you’ll get it right again?”
“You seem pretty sure I won’t.”
“Obviously.”
I gestured toward the MIDI equipment Hyunwoo was holding.
“If I get it right, will you discount my friend’s purchase?”
“……”
The owner glanced at Hyunwoo and smiled.
“Sure.”
Since ancient times, you should never trust a businessman’s vague promises.
You need to pin down exact numbers so they can’t change the story later.
“How much?”
“Ten percent?”
“That’s stingy.”
“How much do you want?”
“Thirty percent.”
I intentionally started at thirty percent planning to settle around twenty.
But the owner took the bait immediately.
“Deal.”
He clearly believed there was no way I could answer correctly.
Well, of course.
I was a high school student in a school uniform, not some professional musician.
Nobody would expect me to identify instruments just by hearing them.
Hyunwoo’s mouth dropped open.
“Sir? This thing costs 1.1 million won. If you discount 330,000 won, won’t you lose money?”
The owner rested his hands on his hips.
“That’s only if your friend gets the answer right.”
Looks like I’m saving him quite a lot.
I smiled.
“Let’s begin.”
The owner held up two fingers.
“You’ll hear two bass sounds. One is a Precision Bass, and the other is a Jazz Bass. If you correctly identify which one is the Jazz Bass, I’ll give the discount.”
A simple fifty-fifty game.
Ordinary people usually can’t tell the difference.
Visually, they look completely different.
The Precision Bass has a traditional body shape, while the Jazz Bass has smoother curves and a slimmer body with a longer lower section.
The owner called toward the inside room, and a sound played.
To make it harder, they didn’t even perform a melody.
Just a single low note.
A moment later, the second sound played.
When compared side by side, the difference was obvious.
Hyunwoo tilted his head in confusion.
“Sir, you didn’t put amp effects on them, right? That’d be cheating.”
The owner snorted.
“You think I’d pull tricks on a bunch of high school kids? It’s a clean tone.”
Then he looked at me.
“Alright. Fifty percent odds. Easy, right?”
I crossed my arms and smiled.
Honestly, I recognized the first guitar instantly.
“It’s boring if I just guess. Like you said, anyone could pick one out of two.”
“Oh? Then?”
“Even if I get it right, you’ll probably say I guessed.”
He didn’t answer, but judging by his expression, that was exactly what he planned.
“The difference between the two basses lies in the thickness, solidity, and precision of the sound. The first one is the Jazz Bass.”
The owner’s eyes widened.
Hyunwoo looked back and forth between us.
“That’s right?”
Before the owner could respond, I added,
“The first one is a YAMAHA TRB1006J model, and the second is a 1964 Fender Precision Bass. That should prove I didn’t just guess.”
At last, shock appeared on the owner’s face.
He clearly hadn’t expected me to identify the exact models too.
Honestly, I even wanted to mention the production year of the Jazz Bass, but personally I never liked Yamaha basses enough to study them that deeply.
I looked at Hyunwoo, who kept glancing between me and the owner in disbelief, and laughed.
“Looks like you just saved 330,000 won.”
***
“Holy shit. You actually got it right?”
Even after leaving Nakwon Arcade and heading toward a tteokbokki restaurant, Hyunwoo still looked completely stunned.
Honestly, it was embarrassing.
A seventy-year-old man getting baited into showing off because of a challenge from some fifty-year-old shop owner.
What exactly have I been doing with my age?
Maybe entering a young body gave me some weird competitive spirit.
As we walked, Hyunwoo bumped my shoulder.
“Seriously, how’d you do it? Wait, can you actually play bass? You never mentioned that.”
“I can’t.”
“You can’t? Then how did you identify it just by sound? You guessed, right? You totally guessed.”
Well, here’s the thing.
When professional musicians say someone can “play” an instrument, it usually means they’re skilled enough to make a living with it.
I can play.
Just not at a level where I’d earn my living from bass specifically.
‘Though I was obsessed with bass for about five years in my previous life.’
I spent over fifty years as a professional musician.
Did he really think there was any instrument I couldn’t at least handle?
“Yeah, I guessed.”
“You bastard! I knew it!”
Sure. Believe that if it makes things easier.
Honestly, I was tired of explaining anyway.
Hyunwoo nodded like everything finally made sense, then suddenly asked,
“But how’d you guess the exact models?”
“I guessed.”
“No way someone guesses that accurately.”
“I peeked inside when the owner entered the room.”
“Ooooh! Damn. Quiet cats jump onto the kitchen counter first, huh? You sneaky bastard.”
Technically, I was lying now, but Hyunwoo seemed completely convinced and stopped asking questions.
“Hey, thanks to you I saved 330,000 won. Buying you tteokbokki isn’t enough. Today your big brother’s buying something expensive.”
“What are you buying?”
“Meat. Let’s eat meat.”
“Know a good place?”
I saved him 330,000 won, so getting treated to meat seemed fair.
Searching through Minjun’s memories, I estimated it’d cost around 50,000 won for the two of us.
Hyunwoo led the way.
“There’s a place I sometimes visit with some band hyungs I know. Follow me.”
“You’re in a band?”
“Sometimes I work as a guest DJ. I’ve also helped produce albums for some older guys.”
“What kind of band?”
“Modern rock.”
Oh?
So Korea has bands too.
Following Hyunwoo outside Nakwon Arcade, I saw rows of food stalls lined along the dark streets.
Even though it was still early evening, the area was packed with people.
Smoke rose from the stalls where food was grilling, and delicious smells filled the air.
Distracted by the food aromas, I looked around at the various dishes being sold when suddenly my ears twitched.
From somewhere far away—
Music.
The same kind of music I used to hear in underground bars back in America.
Jazz.
I looked around and asked,
“Do you hear music?”
Hyunwoo pointed toward a nearby bar.
“You mean that song playing from the speakers outside?”
He meant the hip-hop music blasting from one of the bars.
I shook my head.
“No. Not that. Jazz.”
Hyunwoo tilted his head.
“Jazz? I can’t hear anything. In a noisy place like this?”
“I definitely hear it.”
Adjusting the MIDI equipment in his hands, Hyunwoo replied,
“Seriously, what are you hearing? Ah! There is a jazz club around here though.”
“Where?”
“Second floor of Nakwon Arcade. The entrance is outside.”
I followed the direction he pointed.
Above the stairs leading to the second floor was a sign:
“Paradise Lost.”
Lost Paradise.
Not a bad name.
“Is it expensive?”
“Huh? If you don’t drink alcohol and just order beverages, it’s not too bad.”
“They serve food too?”
“Yeah.”
“Let’s go there.”
Without waiting for Hyunwoo’s answer, I immediately started walking.
“Hey, idiot! We’re wearing school uniforms! Where do you think you’re going? I know graduation’s close, but are you crazy?”
Completely captivated by the thought of jazz, I ignored him and climbed the stairs.
The entrance opened directly into the counter area.
The owner sitting behind the counter looked me up and down.
“Here for a part-time job? Sorry, but we sell alcohol, so we don’t hire minors.”
I looked past him into the club.
The interior was decorated like a stage hidden deep within a forest.
The place was larger than I expected.
But there were barely any customers.
Probably because it was still early, only two tables were occupied despite there being around eighty tables total.
Was jazz really this unpopular?
“We’re customers. Two people.”
Hyunwoo rushed in behind me.
“Hey, we can’t come in here.”
The owner immediately changed expressions after hearing the word “customers.”
“Why not? We’re officially registered as a regular restaurant, so minors can enter. Just no alcohol.”
Hyunwoo’s eyes widened.
Apparently he didn’t know that either.
Of course jazz bars are legally regular restaurants, kid.
Places with indoor no-smoking policies are usually classified that way.
You saw the no-smoking sign at the entrance, didn’t you?
Though honestly, it seems like every restaurant in Korea is non-smoking anyway.
An employee guided us to a table.
Probably because we were wearing school uniforms, they seated us in the corner instead of near the stage.
But music is something you listen to, not watch, so I didn’t care.
Awkwardly sitting down, Hyunwoo spoke.
“Wow. First time coming here in a school uniform.”
“You’ve been here before?”
“Yeah. I snuck in wearing regular clothes with some older guys I know. The owner’s obsessed with music, so the sound system here is amazing. Sometimes I come cleanse my ears. There are a few more places like this around Hannam-dong and Itaewon too.”
This kid’s pretty wild.
If he came in regular clothes, he definitely drank alcohol too.
Careful, kid.
Keep that up and you’ll end up like me in my previous life.
