Chapter 2

I stood frozen, blinking in disbelief.

A strange hologram was floating right in front of my eyes.

“Did I push myself too hard?”

I rubbed my eyes.

I thought I was hallucinating because I was exhausted from moving.

But I wasn’t.

No matter how many times I rubbed my eyes, the hologram remained.

In fact, more windows kept appearing.

[Composer ‘Yoo Tae-oh’ can now use the Status Window.]

[Ability Levels can now increase.]

[Special Achievements can now be obtained.]

More holograms continued to appear one after another.

I could only stare at them blankly.

What is all this?

It felt as if I had suddenly become a character inside a game.

I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

“I can use a Status Window? What’s that supposed to mean?”

The moment I said that…

Ding!

A large window appeared before my eyes.

[Composer Yoo Tae-oh’s Status Window]

Occupation: Composer

Lyric Writing Level: E

Composition Level: E

Arrangement Level: F

Achievements: None

“What… what is this?”

A blue window floated before me.

It was literally called my Status Window.

Inside it were categories related to my work as a musician.

Lyric writing.

Composition.

Arrangement.

Each one had its own level.

“…”

I stared at the Status Window with my mouth slightly open.

Then I quietly thought about what all of this meant.

“So… does that mean I’ve actually become a game character?”

I went over everything that had happened.

And I reached one conclusion.

I had somehow gained the ability to grow as a musician.

Just then…

“Ahhh! Daddy! There’s a bug in here! It has sooo many legs! I’m scared!”

Sion screamed from the small bedroom.

I had been standing there in a daze, staring at the Status Window, but I immediately ran toward her.

Yeah…

Leveling up? That’s impossible.

As I ran, I convinced myself.

This had to be an illusion.

The stress from the divorce and the move must have made me hallucinate.

It had to be.

Because there was no way someone’s musical ability could improve simply by leveling up.

That was impossible.

As time passed, I slowly adjusted to life after the divorce.

Although Sion and I now lived in an old two-bedroom apartment, it didn’t feel that cramped with just the two of us.

Of course, there was still something that worried me.

I was afraid Sion would feel the absence of her mother.

She did ask about her from time to time.

And every time she did, I somehow managed to cover it up with another lie.

I knew those lies couldn’t last forever.

Still, whenever I looked at Sion, I reminded myself to stay strong.

I was her father.

Now I had to raise her on my own.

No matter what happened, I couldn’t allow myself to fall apart.

But even as I tried to stay steady…

There was one thing that kept shaking my resolve.

The Status Window.

On the day I moved, I had awakened and received it.

The window that displayed my composition levels and achievement list.

It never disappeared.

No matter how much I rested…

No matter how well I slept…

It remained.

Almost as if this leveling ability was actually real.

“Ah! The bread-bread bus is here! Bread-bread bus!”

On a cool morning, Sion pointed into the distance while holding my hand.

Sure enough, a yellow bus was slowly approaching.

Screech.

The kindergarten bus stopped, and the teacher stepped out.

After greeting both of us, she stood beside Sion and smiled.

“Sion, shall we say goodbye to Daddy?”

“Yeees!”

“Good girl. Now say it together. ‘Daddy, I’m off!'”

“Daddy, I’m off~!”

Sion bowed politely together with her teacher.

I smiled warmly and bowed back.

After Sion climbed onto the bus, the yellow bus slowly pulled away.

“Daddyyy! I’ll have lots of fun today! See you later~!”

She waved enthusiastically from the window.

Sion was always so cheerful.

I smiled and waved until the bus disappeared from sight.

Once it was gone…

I let out a long sigh.

“Whew… I should head to work too.”

After sending Sion to kindergarten, I made my way to work.

My workplace was…

Arme Entertainment.

One of the countless entertainment agencies in South Korea.

Small, but precious to me.

I entered my tiny studio.

“…Sigh.”

I let out another sigh inside the studio, which was barely bigger than a tiny dorm room.

It wasn’t because the room was small.

I was already used to that.

“What am I supposed to do?”

The problem was…

I had nothing to do.

Literally.

Even though I was officially employed as a composer at Arme Entertainment, I had no work.

It wasn’t that the company had no artists.

There was one group left.

Rose Gold.

The only girl group under Arme Entertainment.

But they had already debuted ten years ago.

They had long passed the so-called seven-year curse that most idol groups couldn’t survive.

These days, they couldn’t even get invited onto music shows anymore, let alone variety programs.

In reality, they were practically retired.

Which meant…

I had nothing to compose for.

“There used to be plenty of groups to write songs for.”

A few years ago, I never had this problem.

Back then, even a small agency like Arme Entertainment managed several idol groups.

There were solo singers too.

But as the company declined, they all either left or retired.

In the end, all that remained were the veteran idol group Rose Gold and a handful of trainees.

“Should I just quit being a composer and do construction work? …No, I heard food delivery is what people do these days if they want to make a living.”

Maybe it was because I had mouths to feed.

I found myself thinking about jobs outside of music.

If I were still single, I probably wouldn’t have thought like this.

I could have survived on instant noodles.

But I was a father in my thirties.

I couldn’t afford not to think about earning money.

“…Forget it. I still have enough savings to survive for a while. I’ll just write music.”

I shook my head and pushed those thoughts aside.

I could manage for a few more months.

For now, I’d focus on composing.

There wasn’t anyone to give my songs to at the moment.

But if I kept writing, surely someone would need them someday.

I turned on my computer and opened my sequencing program.

The familiar black screen filled with MIDI tracks appeared.

It was a song I had sketched out earlier.

“No… let’s start fresh.”

Since I’d gotten divorced, I decided to begin with a clean slate.

I opened a new project.

From among countless virtual instruments, I selected a drum kit.

Then I grabbed my MPC controller, covered with square pads, and started programming a beat.

♪ ♩ ♪ ♪ ♩ ♪ ♪

The kick drum repeated.

Then the snare.

Then the hi-hat.

As I built the rhythm, I gradually felt my mood improving.

Yeah…

Nothing helps me forget my pain like composing.

Ever since I was young, music had always helped me escape my suffering.

The pain of having no parents.

The pain of being poor.

The hardship of becoming a composer.

And now…

The pain of divorce.

Whenever I felt lonely or miserable, I listened to music to forget.

Now…

I was forgetting by creating it.

“Okay. The drums are good enough.”

After finishing the dance-style drum track, I moved on to the next step.

The chords.

I loaded one of my favorite virtual instruments and began pressing the keys on my MIDI keyboard.

♪ ♩ ♬ ♬ ♩ ♪ ♬ ♬

I experimented over and over, searching for chord progressions that matched the beat.

The lively rhythm blended naturally with the chords.

Together, they created a melody that sounded surprisingly pleasant.

Just then…

[Composition EXP has increased.]

[Composition Level has increased.]

Ding!

Messages suddenly appeared before my eyes.

At the same time, a golden light briefly burst from my body before fading away.

“What the…”

The holograms had appeared again.

Scratching my cheek, I opened my Status Window.

[Composer Yoo Tae-oh’s Status Window]

Occupation: Composer

Lyric Writing Level: E

Composition Level: D

Arrangement Level: F

Achievements: None

“My level really went up?”

My Composition Level had risen from E to D.

The hologram hadn’t been lying.

My level had actually increased.

“It definitely went up…”

But…

I still had no way of knowing whether my actual composing ability had improved.

“Should I test it?”

The drum beat was finished.

The chords were finished.

Now it was time to write the main melody.

The top line.

The most important part of any song.

And right now…

I was going to test whether leveling up really had any effect.

“There’s nothing to lose.”

As he spoke, he loaded up a synthesizer.

It was one of the most popular instruments among composers because it was trendy and easy to shape into different sounds.

“Let’s see…”

After everything was ready, I gently placed my hands on the keyboard.

It was time to find out whether raising his Composition Level had truly changed anything.