RHCB ~ 10

Chapter – 10

An intense ensemble performance ensued. Lee Do-young’s bass rapidly churned out sixteenth notes, driving up the song’s sense of speed. The pre-recorded drum track blended toms and snares appropriately, unleashing a sense of grandeur and rhythm. And on top of that, Cha Seo-ha sang desperately and sexily, fully capturing the vibe of the original track.

“Wow, that’s so cool!” “Whoa, what is this song? It’s so good.” “My head is just—like this—headbanging!” “He looks like a madman.”

The audience members were enjoying the song in their own unique ways. To the general public who weren’t well-versed in rock, its level of fame was similar to their previous track, . However, had a relatively better sense of speed and a more hooking, impactful quality.

Smiles spread across the faces of the audience. Watching them, Lee Do-young also seemed to be regaining a bit of his confidence. But that alone wasn’t enough. After all, Kim Ji-hoo still wore an unsatisfied expression.

A bit more… ‘Immerse yourself a bit more, Lee Do-young.’

A moment later, all the instruments synchronized into the same rhythm, hinting at a major transition. It felt as though they were racing toward an entirely different world. A long, mysterious, and eerie sound effect was added, and soon, they plunged into the first chorus.

This is the last time I’ll abandon you and this is the last time I’ll forget you

Kim Ji-hoo’s piano joined in, bursting into a chorus with a mysterious atmosphere. In this chorus, Kim Ji-hoo’s piano took the lead, and Lee Do-young’s bass had to back it up heavily. It wasn’t bad. However, it wasn’t excellent either.

Of course, the audience seemed to feel differently.

“This is insane!” “What did they say the title of this song was?” “I don’t know, I can’t remember…”

As soon as the chorus hit, the cheering died down, and the audience began to murmur. They were reacting to the unique transition—and in a highly positive way, at that.

As expected of Kim Ji-hoo. It was an excellent song choice.

After the chorus ended, during the interlude, Heo Jun-sung’s guitar briefly played the main riff, transitioning back into the verse. The person who looked the most excited on stage was, without a doubt, Cha Seo-ha. Intense during the verses. Delicate during the choruses. Yet, wrapping it up with pure wildness. It was a song that truly made one crave to sing.

Cha Seo-ha was completely intoxicated by the music. Regardless of how the members’ chemistry was tracking, he looked like he was simply focusing on doing his own job perfectly. Naturally, the audience had no choice but to be completely captivated by him.

‘Is this right…?’ Kim Ji-hoo didn’t like that. ‘He’s definitely good, but…’

There was no room for doubt regarding Cha Seo-ha’s skills. Rather than just being the most outstanding among them, he was a guy who had already reached a far higher level.

‘But why isn’t he accommodating Lee Do-young?’

It had been the same during practice. While he threw all sorts of demands at Heo Jun-sung and himself, he strangely kept quiet when it came to Lee Do-young. In terms of current performance levels, Lee Do-young was the most lacking one.

‘Is he the hands-off type? Or the type to give infinite trust to those he’s close with?’

Kim Ji-hoo was slowly losing interest in the ensemble.

Then came the second chorus. Likewise, Kim Ji-hoo and Cha Seo-ha were flawlessly doing their respective parts. Heo Jun-sung was putting on a pretty decent show, while Lee Do-young was not bad, but still felt like he was just tagging along disappointingly.

This is my RULE!!

Cha Seo-ha gripped the microphone tightly with both hands and bellowed out the end of the second chorus like a roar.

Then came the interlude. Heo Jun-sung’s main riff played briefly, and right after, a solo section was scheduled where the guitar and bass had to unleash an intense dual performance. In just a few seconds. It was a part that would showcase itself in mere seconds.

Cha Seo-ha walked over to Lee Do-young with a relaxed, almost skipping stride.

‘Uh?’ Why is he suddenly coming toward me?

Just as this thought crossed Lee Do-young’s mind, before he could form any coherent judgment, he realized something was wrapping around his neck. It was Cha Seo-ha’s arm. Cha Seo-ha slung his arm around Do-young’s shoulder and dragged him toward the center of the stage.

No matter what anyone said, the star of this section was the guitar. However, for that guitar to truly become the main character, it required a fast-paced, relentless “sixteenth-note shredding” from the bass. In other words, Cha Seo-ha had suddenly thrust the leading role onto Lee Do-young without any warning whatsoever.

In a split second that didn’t even last a moment, tens of thousands of thoughts flashed through Lee Do-young’s mind. Can I pull this off? I don’t have star quality. What if I ruin this song?

Cha Seo-ha knew that Lee Do-young was a rare type of performer—one who lacked personal greed. To put it nicely, he had a habit of conceding the spotlight to his members; to put it bluntly, he hated taking full responsibility.

However, Lee Do-young’s true worth was unleashed when he became the final line of defense. When the team would crash and burn if he failed. So…

‘I—I have to do well.’

When he cast aside all other complicated thoughts and stood before that single imperative, he showed an unexpected side of himself. He possessed a far more solid foundation than he thought, and he was surprisingly strong in impromptu situations.

Lee Do-young lacked confidence. Because of that, he also lacked the nerve to run away right in front of the audience staring at him with shining eyes. If that was the case…

‘Ah, screw it!’

His only choice was to throw himself into the performance.

Cha Seo-ha’s arm slung over Lee Do-young’s neck dropped away. It wasn’t that Seo-ha let go. Lee Do-young had dashed forward on his own.

Enduring the heavy weight of the bass, Lee Do-young showcased a high-speed fingering technique. His gaze was entirely locked onto the strings, but it wasn’t a look of lacking confidence. It was the appearance of someone completely immersed in his own playing, his friends’ playing, and the music itself.

Even in the original track, this was a section that felt like falling headfirst into something. It was a solo part that wouldn’t be out of place if described as violent rather than intense. Lee Do-young was pulling it off perfectly.

When the section was just under halfway through, Heo Jun-sung thought to himself: ‘I want in on this.’

Thinking this was his cue, Heo Jun-sung rushed out with his guitar and stood back-to-back with Lee Do-young.

“Kyaaaaaakh!” “Whoa!!!”

The sensation of something touching his back instinctively made Lee Do-young twist his body to the right. Thus, with the audience to their sides, the two fell into a state of pure trance.

Sweat flew, and his right arm felt hot enough to burn. Even though it was evening, the summer heat tried its best to ruthlessly drain their stamina, but the two did not yield. They didn’t even register the exhaustion; they were simply overjoyed by this performance—by their perfect chemistry.

There were a few minor mistimings, but the sheer power of the performance was so intense that it felt like an intentional flaw. In the crowd, more and more people started screaming simply because they loved this crazy, endless-feeling performance.

Just as everyone was being completely mesmerized, the solo section came to an end. Heo Jun-sung struck a few final strokes, wearing an arrogant expression as if this was no big deal. Similarly, Lee Do-young exited toward the back with a sensory glissando and a bright smile directed at the audience. It was a departure made memorable by the stark contrast in temperature between the two.

And then, the final chorus resumed.

‘W-What on earth…?’ Kim Ji-hoo wondered what he had just witnessed.

“Ah!” For a split second, there was a mis-key on the synthesizer. It was his very first mistake since joining this band. Fortunately, it was a mistake the audience wouldn’t notice.

‘Incredible… Was this intentional?’

Clearly, it had looked as though Cha Seo-ha wasn’t trying to cover for Lee Do-young at all. Yet, at the crucial moment—at the exact timing when everyone would naturally assume the guitar was the main character—he had shoved Lee Do-young to the center of the stage.

No, he had pushed him off a cliff. Lee Do-young had no choice but to give it his absolute all, and in the end, he executed his role flawlessly. On top of that, Heo Jun-sung had created a brilliant two-shot. They shone.

Kim Ji-hoo suddenly found himself asking a question for the first time. Even if it were played with technically flawless precision, could it have shone brighter than that?

The final chorus concluded, leading into the outro, which maintained its intensity and heavy atmosphere until the very end. Watching this outro, Kim Ji-hoo could be certain. Lee Do-young was now entirely immersed in the music and had found his confidence. And the guy had undeniably grown.

“What an interesting bunch.” It had been a long time since he found something more entertaining than a flawless ensemble performance.

“Waaaaah!” “Kyaaaakh!” “You guys are so cool!”

As the stage for came to an end, a passionate roar of cheers erupted. It was the loudest cheer they had received so far.

“Thank you!”

Kim Ji-hoo found it amusing to watch Lee Do-young, who had suddenly awakened in an instant. And he thought Cha Seo-ha, who had drawn that out, was an even more fascinating guy.

Meanwhile, at that exact moment, Lee Do-young came to a sudden realization. ‘Performing… is so much fun…!’ He ended up having that exact thought.

“Everyone, this is our last song.” “Ahhhhh—!” “No way!” “Do more!” “Encore! Encore! Encore!” “Hahaha! We still have one song left, so we’ll take the encores later.”

The crowd had grown even larger than at the start. They say rock doesn’t work in Korea nowadays, but seeing an audience like this makes you want to hold onto hope, even if the numbers are small.

“Now, the next song… is……”

Come to think of it, the last song was that song.

“Ahem. Well…” 

“Hey, why aren’t you introducing the next song?” 

 “Ah, I will, just give me a second.”

As he hesitated to introduce ‘that song,’ Heo Jun-sung chimed in with a playful tone. “Oh, why? Is it hard to introduce because it’s an anime song you like?” 

“No! I told you, it’s not a song I like!”

A murmur rippled through the audience.

“Anime? Animation?” 

“I guess he likes animation.” 

“Ugh, he’s not watching some weird otaku anime, is he?” 

 “He doesn’t look like the type.” 

“You never know… they say a lot of people in music are geeks.” 

“Oh, that makes sense.” 

“I guess that guy is an otaku too.”

Damn it. He could hear everything.