After eating baby food and playing to his heart's content, Brownblack bathed Seojun.
The bath wasn't entirely smooth either. After a bit of a commotion and getting completely soaked, Brownblack came out and spread out a futon in the living room.
Choi Siyun and Kevin brought Seojun's baby crib from the bedroom and placed it in a corner of the living room.
Originally, they had planned to sleep together under the same futon, but Choi Siyun objected when he saw how small Seojun was.
"What if Seojun gets smothered?"
Choi Siyun's worried words made Brownblack and Seunchan nod in agreement, realizing they hadn't thought of that.
So, Seojun ended up sleeping in the baby crib, surrounded by wooden railings.
"I'll be going now. Call me if anything urgent happens."
"Yes, thank you for today."
"You can call me even in the middle of the night. I'm not worried because you guys played well with Seojun and studied a lot, more than I expected."
Kim Hwaryeon, in the elevator, rubbed her stiff shoulders. It was a tough job to take a leave from the hospital and help with the filming for two nights and three days.
Really, if it weren't for her brother... If it weren't for the three days of chicken, pizza, and the effort she put into serving Kim Hwaryeon, she wouldn't have used her precious leave like this.
"Well, Seojun is also well-behaved, and Brownblack has studied a lot, so it's easy to work."
Kim Hwaryeon smiled and pressed the button for the first floor.
Seojun's eyes widened.
Hmm. What should I do? I can't fall asleep.
The lights in the living room were off, and only a dim orange light was on. Brownblack, in his pajamas, leaned on the crib's railing and looked at Seojun.
Seunchan yawned silently and picked up the camera.
"Seojun isn't sleeping?"
"Siyun, how long has it been?"
In response to Park Seojin's question, Siyun checked the schedule and the clock.
"Thirty minutes."
"I thought he would sleep well. He's not sleeping?"
Kevin tilted his head. The baby who had a clear schedule for meals and naps wasn't sleeping.
"Hmm. Should we do that?"
"Should we?"
Brownblack, looking awkwardly at each other, nodded.
Before the filming, they had prepared something for three days. They thought it might have been unnecessary practice because Seojun slept, ate, and pooped well.
"We practiced for this kind of situation."
Fortunately or unfortunately, they could show it because Seojun wasn't sleeping. Park Seojin smiled, and the other members also grinned.
What's going on? After a noisy day different from usual, Seojun couldn't fall asleep easily.
He tried hard to sleep, but... Hmm. The funny faces of his older brothers kept coming to mind. Hehehe.
But those older brothers were now looking at Seojun with calm faces.
[The bond with the subject is increasing.]
Hmmmm--
Kevin and Choi Siyun were the first to speak. A soft but gentle humming sound flowed into Seojun's ears.
[The skill 'Orchestra Conductor's Connection - Lowest Rank' is activated.]
Without Seojun's will as the conductor, the skill was activated by the music of the connectors. On top of that, the voices of Hwang Yejun and Park Seojin joined in.
"Mom, under the shade of the island—"
"If we go to dig for clams—"
The heads of Brownblack, who were singing and harmonizing, glowed. Two numbers sparkled.
'Huh? This is... '
Park Seojin, who was singing, shuddered at the difference from the practice.
He was singing in the usual way. He had practiced this song dozens of times.
It was different from usual.
Somehow, he could feel the emotions, senses, and hearts of the Brownblack members singing with him. And they seemed to feel his heart as well.
Seojun stared blankly at the numbers of 'Connector Bond' rising with the beautiful song. The numbers sparkled and kept rising.
Before registering the skill, when Seojun found the book of [Spirit of the Baton] in the library, he was shocked. It shouldn't have been there.
It was a skill that almost destroyed a world. Even if it was originally light-aligned, it should have degenerated into a dark-aligned skill.
If that were the case, the light-aligned Seojun couldn't have learned [Orchestra Conductor's Connection].
But the book was in this library, filled with books that Seojun could learn, a light-aligned library. Seojun read the epilogue.
The epilogue was written as a side story.
At the moment [Orchestra Conductor's Connection] was about to degenerate into a dark-aligned skill, the spirit tree, barely alive, squeezed out its strength.
Even if the sinner was hated, the talent for 'music' was loved.
The spirit of the baton, a traitor, was so hated, but the spirit tree couldn't bear to throw away this incredible skill that could advance music. The spirit tree must have gnashed its teeth.
'Probably cursed a lot.'
In the end, the spirit tree, which suffered the most, used its last bit of strength to prevent the skill's degeneration. However, it couldn't stop the skill's rank from dropping.
The tree could only weep as it watched the skill's rank decrease.
[Orchestra Conductor's Connection] dropped from the highest rank to the lowest.
The 10x increase became 1.3x, and the number of connectors decreased from 30 to 4.
The simple condition of holding hands changed to the difficult condition of slapping the subject's cheeks with both hands.
The tree's terrifying love for music allowed the skill to survive as a light-aligned skill.
'The tree's obsession with music... Scary.'
Thus, the [Orchestra Conductor's Connection] that survived was activated here.
The tree's obsession with music, which regretted even the traitor's skill, was impressive, but Brownblack's desire was also great.
Brownblack didn't flinch at the sudden improvement in their skills and continued to sing the lullaby. The numbers sparkled even more.
'Scary older brothers.'
But the song was beautiful. Seojun closed his eyes in the warm blanket and listened to the song.
[Orchestra Conductor's Connection] wasn't a simple skill that increased the subject's musical skills through mere friendship.
It was based on the bond between the connectors and the conductor, their thoughts, perspectives on music, and the ideas they pursued in making music.
All of these had to come together for the musical skills to improve.
'But it's incredibly easy to decrease. If the thoughts and perspectives on music are different, it's very easy. Even when I alone changed my thoughts, the bond became negative. But... Increasing it is incredibly difficult.'
[Orchestra Conductor's Connection] was a double-edged sword. Seojun gave it to Brownblack, whom he met for the first time, because the skill could be used for good or bad depending on their efforts.
'No matter how much they are my older brothers, I can't just give it away for free!'
Even if they were good people now, the future was uncertain. If they had bad intentions, Seojun would go and retrieve it, so he thought.
I thought it would take months to understand and trust each other!
Brownblack had so many conversations about their musical worldviews that they activated [Orchestra Conductor's Connection] with just one song—a lullaby, no less.
'Impressive... Sigh...'
Seojun, lost in thought, slowly fell asleep.
Brownblack forgot they were singing a lullaby.
After the lullaby ended, Park Seojin unknowingly started singing their new song.
Hwang Yejun, Kevin, and Choi Siyun also sang their parts enthusiastically.
It was really different.
Seunchan was barely holding onto the camera. From the moment they started singing the lullaby they had prepared, something felt different.
It was a lullaby they had practiced diligently, telling Seojun in the practice room, dorm, and car. Seunchan had heard it to the point of being tired of it.
'It was definitely a normal lullaby back then...'
It had completely changed. He didn't know what had changed. The voices, rhythm, and singing method seemed the same. But Brownblack's song made Seunchan's heart race, even though he couldn't read music.
"Wow..."
When Brownblack sang their song, Seunchan trembled as if struck by lightning.
This was it. This was what he had felt was missing and lacking.
He unconsciously clenched his fists. He felt something hard.
It was the camera. Realizing he had been filming the floor, Seunchan quickly lifted the camera and captured the four men singing and smiling brightly.
He hoped this beautiful song would be well recorded on the camera.
Brownblack looked at each other. Seeing them singing and smiling, they thought, 'They feel the same way I do.'
They were excited.
They were happy.
They were joyful.
They could feel each other's music and their own music. All the things they had been struggling with seemed to be resolved.
Their hearts raced without pause, and they were breathless, but they couldn't stop. They were anxious about the passing time.
"Huff—Huff—!"
After singing all six songs for the new album, the midnight concert finally ended.
Brownblack, who had sung their hearts out, collapsed on the living room floor, panting heavily.
"Wow, man. Crazy."
Hwang Yejun, lying flat, was the first to speak. His heart was still racing.
It was a perfect song, something they could only dream of singing. Even though it was a song they had sung a few minutes ago, just thinking about it made his heart race.
He became a singer to sing such songs. Hwang Yejun shed a tear.
"That was goosebumps."
Choi Siyun, a dancer who was more lacking in singing than vocals, but at that moment, he sang a song that was more moving than any vocalist.
He always preferred dancing... Wow... I could sing such a song... The emotion welled up, and goosebumps appeared.
"[Crazy. Really.]"
Kevin panted. He had changed all the rap parts while singing the six songs.
The lyrics he had agonized over for days and nights, but the lyrics he changed in 30 minutes while singing fit their songs much better.
He had always struggled with his talent among many rappers in LA, but today he gained confidence. I can do more!
"This is our music."
Park Seojin, the lead vocalist, who had the most parts, could feel the members' emotions even more.
He had wondered what kind of idol singer he would become. He had struggled with many genres of music. And now, the leader of Brownblack had come to a conclusion.
"Let's make music that conveys our current emotions to others."
"Wow, man. Do this again?"
Hwang Yejun sat up and looked at Park Seojin's face.
"I don't think we can do this twice, Seojin."
Choi Siyun, who had stretched out his body as if he had just finished a dance, straightened up.
"I also... My heart is still racing..."
Kevin, rubbing his chest where his heart was pounding, said.
"Since we've done it once, we can do it again."
His words were gentle, but Park Seojin's face wasn't.
Seeing his bright smile, the members finally realized their leader was quite strict.
The days of practice ahead were etched in their minds.
"Oh, oh. Seojun is sleeping!"
In his dazed mind, Hwang Yejun barely remembered Seojun.
Oh, right. We were singing a lullaby!
At Hwang Yejun's words, Brownblack quietly gathered around the baby crib.
"Isn't our song... dance music?"
"It must have been really loud."
"He's sleeping well."
"Seojun is cute."
Seojun was sleeping soundly amidst the noisy idol songs.
* * *
"Wow... Who is it?"
The man living below Seojun's apartment was amazed. He had opened the window to ventilate when he heard a song he had never heard before. It seemed to be an idol song with fast music and rapping.
He was already annoyed because he had to go to work early the next morning, but he was about to yell at them to be quiet.
"Should I go up and ask?"
The song was so good that he had been sitting on the balcony, listening to it for almost 30 minutes in the cold winter wind.
"It doesn't even show up in the song search on my phone... Is it an indie artist?"
The man, looking at the search bar that said 'No results,' sneezed loudly.
"Achoo! I can't catch a cold!"
He kept the window open for about 10 more minutes, hoping to hear the song again, but it didn't seem like they would sing anymore.
"Ugh! I need to sleep."
The man, who had frozen, got up and firmly closed the window.
This wasn't the only place. The neighbors adjacent to Seojun's house were all amazed by the song that had been playing for 30 minutes and were busy trying to find out who the singer was.
However, it was impossible to find Brownblack, who hadn't even debuted yet.