GBAS 36

As soon as he got out of the capsule, Hyunwoo snatched the phone from the side table and dove onto his bed. Tucking a soft pillow behind his lower back, he leaned against the headboard. Through the long curtains on the opposite side, the bright sky was visible.

What time is it?

Muttering, he turned on the screen to check the clock. The current time was 2:13 PM.

After checking the time, he started to feel hungry. While there were plenty of people who skipped meals to play games, Hyunwoo was the type to eat three meals a day if possible. No matter how much the capsule provided minimum nutrition, it was only to help maintain metabolism; it didn’t prevent muscle loss.

Hyunwoo opened a delivery app and ordered two rice bowls from his usual snack bar. The estimated delivery time was 40 minutes from now. I’ll just watch the video Harim sent, take a shower, and then have lunch.

Now, the messenger window Hyunwoo had just seen in the game was displayed on his phone screen. They must have had so much to talk about; he’d only looked away for a moment, but the conversation about Jooin’s concert had already been pushed far up the chat history.

After finally finding the video Harim had sent again, Hyunwoo clicked the thumbnail without delay. The video downloaded and immediately filled the screen.

“…This is the first time I’m seeing him like this.”

The video started in the middle of a performance.

That’s! Your! Opi! nion!

He’d forgotten he had the volume turned all the way up. Startled by the blaring sound that filled the room and the dozens of voices that burst out with it, Hyunwoo frantically pressed the button on the side with his thumb.

It was much better after adjusting the volume. His toes started tapping on their own to the rhythmic band sound flowing from the speaker.

It’s my freedom, why force your rules on me
With that, you can’t handle my resolve

Judging by the camera angle, which was pointed up from below, it seemed the person filming had secured a spot at the front of the stage.

The person in the center of the video wasn’t Jooin, but Hyunwoo recognized him easily. It was because he was a figure who frequently appeared in Jooin’s profile pictures.

The highlight came quickly. The vocalist threw the pick he was holding into the audience and slung his guitar around his back. Then, he gripped the microphone with both hands.

I hate it (Hate it!), hate it (Hate it!)

I hate it (Hate it!), hate it (Hate it!)

I hate it (Hate it!), hate it (Hate it!)

The fans’ seemingly rehearsed shouts interjected between the vocalist’s voice, which he spat out like a scratch while shaking his head so violently his face couldn’t be seen. Even though the vocalist wasn’t playing the guitar, the melody still sounded rich. The vocalist, who had been trading words with the fans one by one, smirked.

Soon after, the song’s signature guitar riff laid down a sticky groove, and the vocalist hit the climax.

I’ll do as I please, Well, That’s Your Opinion!

“Guitar solo!”

As the vocalist shouted, looking to his left, the camera angle shifted at the same time.

Soon, only Baek Jooin, fully focused on his guitar solo, remained in Hyunwoo’s hand.

“Ah…”

Hyunwoo, hunched over as if he could enter the small screen, let out a sound of awe.

His fingertips, moving of their own accord, turned the phone’s volume to maximum. The cheers mixed with the sound of the performance and the shaky video seemed to prove the heat of the venue.

The playing continued at a speed too fast to even write down, but Jooin’s hands in the video looked so serene it was as if he were just stroking the guitar.

As if sensing Hyunwoo’s regret, the camera, which had been capturing Jooin’s full body, zoomed in. Now, the screen was filled with Jooin’s two hands.

Every time Jooin plucked a guitar string, goosebumps rose on Hyunwoo’s arms. His whole body tensed at the rhythm that felt like it was rolling over his skin. Hyunwoo, who had forgotten even to breathe, focused all his senses on his eyes and ears.

On the black guitar, a pair of white hands fluttered like butterflies.

The hand holding the pick short plucked and rubbed the correct strings without a single error, while the left hand, with its prominent knuckles, pressed the correct frets and then lifted without hesitation, creating clean notes.

This was on a different level from what he’d seen in the game. This was the ‘real thing’.

Until the storm-like performance ended and the screen faded to black, Hyunwoo couldn’t even blink.

“…”

This won’t do.

Hyunwoo, sitting there clutching his powered-off phone, pulled over the tablet he had set up by his headboard. He found the file in the gallery synced with his phone and played the video.

That’s! Your! Opi! nion!

The same scene was replayed numerous times on the tablet.

👾🎮

YouTube really did have everything.

He’d only searched the band’s name, feeling it was a shame to end with just one video, but a flood of videos featuring Jooin poured out. Clicking on one of them led to a string of related videos.

Starting with a video from several months ago, Hyunwoo, buried in a sea of material, frantically went through Jooin’s traces. The small spark ignited by Harim’s video had caught onto a pile of dry straw and began to burn fiercely.

From band performance videos to short interview clips on a magazine channel introducing indie bands. He was so absorbed it was as if he wouldn’t miss a single frame.

After burning brightly like that for a good while, Hyunwoo suddenly lifted his head. It was because of the rumbling sound coming from his own stomach.

“Huh?”

Hyunwoo’s eyes, having discovered something, calmed down. He turned over the phone he had set aside and turned on the screen. The display lit up, showing the time.

“What? Ten-thirty?”

He had only intended to watch a few videos, but eight hours had already passed. The sun that had been high in the sky had long since vanished, and in the pitch-black room, only the light from the tablet illuminated Hyunwoo’s face.

The hunger he had forgotten rushed in all at once.

“Ah, right. My food…”

The rice bowls he had ordered for lunch would be sitting cold outside his door by now. But Hyunwoo only rubbed his growling stomach and shifted his position, not getting up. It was because he had found a video that would be perfect for the finale.

Just this one. I’ll get up after just this one.

He tapped the tablet screen, and the paused video began to play.

Until The Last Bullet

Bite the Bu, bu, Bullet

On the dark stage, a voice flowed out first without any accompaniment. A strange tension could be felt among the breathless audience.

“Hey!”

At the vocalist’s signal, the lights turned on, and the instruments began to play all at once. This song was a hard rock genre. Everyone on stage, without exception, shook their heads to the rhythm.

Don’t let your guard down, until the very last moment
Until you land that one thrilling punch

As the verse began, the camera, which had been filming the whole stage, zoomed in sharply, filling the screen with Jooin’s upper body. It must have been an old video, as Baek Jooin’s face looked a little younger than it did now. Hyunwoo, who had been intently admiring it, suddenly tilted his head.

“…It’s a bit different.”

The last video he played had incomparably better quality than the ones he had been watching just before. A stable aspect ratio and even some atmospheric color correction. It had the scent of an unknown expert.

He minimized the video from full screen, and the title of the video appeared along with the channel information. Judging by the profile picture, the uploader of this video seemed to be a fan of an idol singer. Fittingly, this video alone boasted a clean title among the other disorganized ones.

[4K] 220718 <Club Marble Festival> | Kirina (麒麟兒) – Bite The Bullet | Lead Guitar Focus

Opening the video description, it was stated that this was uploaded as a test shoot. Discovering the sentence written at the very bottom, Hyunwoo let out a small laugh.

If anyone knows this guitarist’s name, please leave a comment 🥺

Scrolling down a bit further, amidst the comment section covered entirely in English, Korean comments mentioning Jooin’s appearance caught his eye.

‘Baek Jooin is pretty, that’s for sure.’

Hyunwoo nodded his head repeatedly as he read down the comments. His fingertip stopped again on a comment where video timestamps were written in detail. The comments, marked down to the second, were overwhelming.

He chose the one with the most asterisks and pressed it. The screen moved up, and the video began to play.

Ta, Take a deep breath

Let ’s count one, two, three!

oh oh oh

1 second. The Baek Jooin in the video looked to be in an exceptionally good mood. 2 seconds. He spun around to look at the drummer. 3 seconds. It wasn’t clear what they talked about, but his body, swaying to the beat, looked excited. 4 seconds. He turns back towards the audience. 5 seconds. The Baek Jooin on stage looked like the happiest person in the world. And then.

“…”

Ready! Set! Action!

Baek Jooin, who always averted his gaze before it could meet the camera, this time looked straight into the lens. And with a bright, beaming smile, as if something was just that amusing.

“…Holy shit.”

A gaze from a stage several years ago flew through time, and his heart felt like it had dropped to the pit of his stomach.