"Whoa."
Kang Hyeon, the host of the street karaoke contest, was reacting with exaggerated gestures.
Having run singing content many times before, he knew.
A single verse was all it took to spot real talent.
But he was a broadcaster — so he played it up, keeping the energy going with practiced flair.
Murmur, murmur.
Lee Ji-hoon kept singing, pouring himself into every note.
A ballad by a Korean singer with a solid following in Japan as well.
By 2015 standards, it hadn't been out that long — but even in 2025, it was still the kind of song women would often mention as one they'd love to hear a boyfriend sing to them.
It was also a song Ji-hoon had sung plenty of times back in his Kabukicho days — for Japanese customers who were into Korean culture, and for homesick Korean women who needed something familiar.
How hard had he worked to forge his own weapon as a host?
His singing ability wasn't just a matter of natural timbre. It was the product of countless hours and just as many failures.
— Damn, he's good
— Absolutely killing it
— 1
— 1
— 1
— 1
— 1
— 1
— 1
— That voice tho
— Oppa I'm literally shaking ㅠㅠ
— ???
The rule was simple: type 1 if you thought the contestant was good, 0 if not.
But unless someone had come in specifically to spam zeros from the start, everyone was typing 1 — and honestly, if you had ears, the outcome was never really in question.
Ji-hoon stayed focused, letting the song carry him.
"Ha ha ha."
It was already a foregone conclusion, but Kang Hyeon kept up his exaggerated reactions anyway.
The crowd that had gathered around to watch felt the same way.
Every time Ji-hoon added a vibrato, the women in the audience covered their mouths and let out little sounds.
"Ahem, thank you!"
"Let's hear some applause!"
Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap!
"Waaaaaaah!"
The crowd erupted, clapping and cheering. It was a weekend in Hongdae — there were already plenty of people watching, and more had drifted over mid-song.
The high-pitched cheers of the women in the crowd dominated everything else.
"Wow, the chat is absolutely going off right now."
Kang Hyeon walked over and casually slung an arm around Ji-hoon's shoulder.
"You show up at a school festival with this and you'd bring the whole place down, wouldn't you?"
"Ha ha ha."
Ji-hoon laughed, a little sheepish.
'Thank goodness.'
He'd had confidence in his singing, but in the end, the verdict was never his to give. Still, the result had come down on his side.
If he hadn't been recognized here, it might have shaken his confidence in pursuing music content going forward — so this was a relief.
"Alright, let's keep this energy going!"
Getting eliminated meant you couldn't even finish your first song. Completing it meant you were the real deal — and naturally, you'd be asked to sing a few more.
"I'd like to try rewriting the ending of this novel. Here we go."
"The song selection is just too good, isn't it?"
A track that had been quite popular around this time.
Ji-hoon had chosen something he felt confident with, while also keeping mass appeal in mind.
The moment the song began.
"Whoa."
A genuine talent, drawing genuine admiration.
Kang Hyeon was reacting again, stoking the excitement.
— Legendary
— He's way too good
— Just give him the million won already
— I'm… taking notes
— I want to sing like that
The live stream's viewership spiked sharply.
The crowd around them had fully shifted into audience mode, soaking it all in.
"Thank you."
"Applause!"
Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap!
"Alright, great work today — hang tight for a moment."
"Sure!"
Ji-hoon stepped off the stage with a satisfied smile, and one of the staff members came over.
"Is there anything you'd like to drink?"
"I'm fine, thanks."
"What about ice cream?"
"…Well, in that case — ha ha."
It was still the height of summer.
Ji-hoon smiled with a quiet, slightly amused expression.
"What flavor?"
"Vanilla, please."
"Coming right up!"
The female staff member smiled and went off to get it.
Hongdae's signature soft-serve — the kind that stretched well past thirty centimeters.
It arrived quickly, and Ji-hoon stood there licking it at a leisurely pace, watching the contest continue.
"Next up!"
'Hmm.'
He'd been watching since the beginning, and his own performance had gotten the best response by far.
The system was to select one person as the day's top performer, plus two others. The winner took home a million won; the other two got five hundred thousand each.
Five hundred thousand was honestly more than enough — but the way things were going, could he actually take the top prize?
"Alright, Park Ju-yu, let's get started."
"Ahem."
"…"
Park Ju-yu — a woman who looked to be in her twenties, and likely the final contestant — cleared her throat.
'I like that song too.'
Coincidence, Spring.
It played often at the café where Ji-hoon worked part-time. He'd always found himself humming along whenever it came on.
The moment Park Ju-yu began to sing.
"Huh?"
Ji-hoon's mouth stopped mid-lick, the ice cream forgotten.
***
[Kang Hyeon's Street Karaoke — Insane Talent: Berklee-Trained Aspiring Singer vs. Vocal Beast First-Year High Schooler ㄷㄷ The Day We Made History.]
[Views: 1.02 million]
ㄴ No seriously the title isn't clickbait this time, this was actually legendary??
ㄴ The girl's singing — is that for real?
ㄴ 1:22:24 this part destroys me ㄷㄷ
ㄴ I actually think the guy sang better lol
ㄴ Same
ㄴ Tall AND a great voice, he must be insanely good-looking ㅠㅠ
ㄴ Does anyone know the male student's Facebook? Please share
ㄴ The fact that they blur his face so his part-time job doesn't find out is so funny ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
ㄴ Never seen this type before
ㄴ He's not there to promote himself, he actually came to compete
ㄴ On any other day the guy would've been a guaranteed first place, but he ran into a tough opponent
ㄴ But like, the girl is literally an aspiring professional who's already released music — the guy is an amateur in high school. Shouldn't first place go to him?
ㄴ Kang Hyeon is such a simp, makes sense tho
ㄴ It was genuinely close though
ㄴ It's decided by viewer vote, what are you on about
ㄴ How do you trust that when the chat was flying by that fast
ㄴ Can we stop arguing
ㄴ There are just so many talented singers in this country…
"Hmm…"
The lunch bell had rung, and students were streaming out of classrooms.
Ji-hoon turned his phone over in his hands.
(We'd love to have you back as a special guest sometime.)
He'd placed second in the street karaoke contest — prize money: five hundred thousand won.
He'd originally thought that would be a jackpot, but the response had been so good that he'd let himself hope for a moment.
'And then there's this.'
The number he'd received from Kang Hyeon's team.
Once the cameras were off, Ji-hoon had taken off his sunglasses and cap — and both the staff and Kang Hyeon himself had clearly taken a liking to him.
Three people had walked away with prize money, but only the winner, Park Ju-yu, and Ji-hoon had been approached about appearing in a year-end special.
'No.'
Ji-hoon shook his head to himself.
It might come in handy later, but for now — better not to think about it. Taking the easy road had a way of making things complicated.
And getting too entangled with people he barely knew might end up pulling him in a direction he never intended.
For now, he had fifty thousand won in prize money, plus his part-time pay had come in — enough to actually work toward something.
Ji-hoon decided to stay focused on the plan he'd already laid out.
If anything, this was a moment to come back to his original intentions.
There were plenty of talented people in the world. Plenty of hardworking ones too.
And in the middle of all that, he'd been recognized. Going forward, it would matter more to look toward the positive than to dwell on the negative.
"Oh? Ji-hoon."
"Huh?"
On his way back to the classroom after eating lunch alone, Ji-hoon ran into his classmate Ahn Jun-min. And a few other friends alongside him.
"You guys heading to play basketball?"
"Yeah."
Ahn Jun-min nodded.
'Hmm.'
Ji-hoon considered it.
There hadn't been any difficult classes this morning, so he hadn't planned on studying during lunch — and now here were his classmates, heading toward the gym with a basketball in hand.
"Mind if I come?"
"Huh?"
Ji-hoon was the one who suggested it.
Back in his host days, there had been a brief basketball craze in Japan, and he'd practiced a lot to use it for socializing. Even in his previous life, he'd occasionally joined friends for a game.
It was essentially the only ball sport Ji-hoon could actually play.
He'd never been good at soccer, but basketball was a different story.
He'd even secretly practiced his shooting form, inspired by NBA star Stephen Curry, who had been hugely popular in Korea around this time.
"You want to play basketball too, Ji-hoon?"
"Yeah? Is that a problem?"
"Oh — no, not at all."
Ahn Jun-min waved it off.
'What's that about?'
He seemed a little self-conscious about something, but he didn't look uncomfortable.
Ji-hoon was the type to act on instinct when the mood struck him — and right now, he felt like playing ball with these kids.
***
"Pass! Pass!"
A casual three-on-three with no stakes — just pure fun.
There were eight of them, but the airball-out rule kept things moving and made sure everyone had a good time.
"Foul!"
"How is that a foul?"
"Just ignore it."
"…"
Ji-hoon smiled to himself.
What a familiar scene.
When he'd been consumed by money, he'd deleted this kind of simple joy from his mind entirely. It wasn't exactly thrilling now — more like a quiet walk than anything else — but it felt like a reset of some kind.
"…"
Ji-hoon gestured, and Ahn Jun-min passed to him.
He'd set a screen, then slipped quickly into open space — a clean, well-timed move.
Whoosh.
"Hmm."
Ji-hoon pulled up from a bit of a distance and let it fly.
Swish—!
"Oh!"
"Nice!"
"What's with that form?"
"Was Ji-hoon always like this?"
His shooting form had changed. So had his consistency.
They'd played together before, and honestly, he'd never been anything special — but this guy had transformed just as much in his game as he had in his looks and build.
"Lucky shot, lucky shot."
"Lucky? Come on."
Someone next to him called him out for the false modesty.
"Huh?"
Just then.
Something that had no business being on a basketball court came rolling in — another ball, bouncing with enough momentum to clip Ji-hoon's foot and go skittering away.
'A dodgeball?'
Ji-hoon looked at it.
"Sorry!"
"Hmm?"
He turned his head, and a high school girl came running over.
"…"
The guys went quiet all at once.
When a girl shows up and every guy suddenly goes silent, there aren't many explanations.
Ji-hoon, on the other hand, calmly picked up the dodgeball and walked toward her.
"Here you go."
"Thanks — oh?"
"Yeah?"
The girl stopped in front of him.
She paused for a moment, looking up at him.
"…"
Ji-hoon kept his smile but let a flicker of curiosity cross his face.
'Though.'
She was pretty tall for a girl.
And the way her hair was tied back suited her perfectly — a genuinely striking face.
He quickly searched his memory from his previous life, but couldn't place her right away.
"Thank you."
"Oh — yeah, sure."
Ji-hoon was the one who ended up flustered as he handed the ball over.
"Ahem."
When the girl turned to go, Ji-hoon quickly looked away.
She wasn't wearing anything tight, but even from behind, it was clear she was built differently from most girls her age. Standing next to the group of girls she rejoined, the others looked almost like middle schoolers by comparison — she had that kind of overwhelming physical presence.
"Who was that again?"
"Huh?"
Ji-hoon asked Ahn Jun-min.
"That's Park Eun-jin from class four. You don't know her?"
"Oh, right."
He genuinely didn't remember, but Ji-hoon knew well enough that saying so would seem strange.
"Remember the sports festival? We were on track to win the overall championship, but class four took it because of her."
"I heard from someone that she played volleyball through middle school and then quit."
"She's just a freak athlete — there's no sport she can't do."
"…"
'Wait.'
Ji-hoon glanced over at the group of girls Park Eun-jin had returned to — and every single one of them was looking back at him. And giggling.
No matter the age gap, awkwardness was still awkwardness. Ji-hoon turned his attention back to the guys.
"Lucky."
"So lucky."
"Ugh."
"Huh?"
The guys had all deflated at once.
Ji-hoon smiled again, a little sheepish.