Calculate the probability of receiving a cat-ear headband from a little kid while preparing for a busking performance.
It’s probably harder than winning the lottery.
“Is this for me?”
“Yeah!”
More than that… I’m the fox mask, so why?
From behind, where he’d been plucking his bass strings, Kwon Taejin’s shout rang out.
“Kitty’s over here~ That one’s a fox, a fox!”
“Not a cat?”
“Nuh-uh, that’s a fox mask.”
I don’t know when he’d come up beside me, but Taejin leaned his head in.
“Give it to kitty hyung~”
The kid puffed out both cheeks and shook his head stubbornly.
“I’m the kitty.”
Is this the same punk who asked why he was a cat on the day we got the masks?
The little kid looked back and forth between me and Taejin, then yelled at Taejin:
“You look mean!”
“P—Pff… hahahahaha!!!”
I couldn’t hold back my laughter either. Suddenly turned into a mean-looking cat, Taejin crouched to meet the kid’s eyes.
“Then do I look like a tiger?”
“No. You look like a lynx.”
“Ha… You don’t get it. This fox hyung here looks a hundred times scarier than me, okay?”
“Told you. He’s handsomely scary, and you’re just scary.”
“Mr. Dog-Mask, please be quiet.”
The kid’s guardian rushed over, cold sweat beading, and explained:
“Oh my, my child’s favorite animal is a cat…”
“Were you trying to give it to your favorite hyung?”
“Uh-huh! He is a cat!”
So you mixed up fox and cat?
“If you like cats, you should like kitty hyung the most!”
“He’s not a cat!”
Taejin palmed his forehead and went back to his spot. I almost burst out laughing again at his mutter.
“Is my mask too plain or what?”
Unexpectedly great result. He’s outright identifying himself with the mask now.
What if he gets sad later when I say we should take the masks off?
Cha Seonjae wiped tears as he patted Taejin’s shoulder. Go Hangyeol had fully turned his back, but his shoulders were shaking. Without context, it’d be easy to mistake it for a touching moment.
I bent down and brought my face close to the kid. Clumsily, he set the headband on top of my mask.
“Thanks for the headband.”
“I asked Mom to buy it so I could give it to you!”
“Wow, did you say, ‘Thank you, Mom!’?”
“No?”
“That won’t do—make sure you do it later, okay?”
“Okay…”
I whispered to the slightly crestfallen kid:
“And next time, bring a cat headband for kitty hyung too. Kitty hyung is super sad right now.”
“I’ll think about it.”
His refusal to say anything he didn’t mean was adorable.
Thanks to him, not a trace of tension remained. Taejin declared to me with grim resolve:
“I’m going to get a headband from that kid no matter what.”
Calling him childish… I probably shouldn’t.
When the unscripted little mishap passed, only laughter was left behind.
“Three minutes till we go live.”
“Okay.”
Before I knew it, it was showtime. I wiped the smile from my face and headed for the mic.
***
“All things street-busking! This is Street Busker! I bet a lot of you have been looking forward to today!”
Yoon Jaejin angled his mic toward the crowd.
“Plenty of you made it out here in person! And in chat, I already see tons of people shouting that name. Then let’s get right to it! The buzzed-about band—Blank!”
“Hello, we’re Band Blank!”
“Woooo!!”
A palpably hotter response than the first show. As my heartbeat quickened, the anticipation swelled with it.
“I hear you even changed out your instruments for today’s stage.”
Since the instruments we’d used before had already been shown in the video, we couldn’t use them for live shows until we revealed our identities on the audition program.
Of all things, we went and customized them…
Given the situation, we swapped everything for brand-new. The members objected at first, but when I said I’d buy them with my own money, they welcomed it with open arms—especially Taejin.
“The video on our channel has already topped 500,000 views. Are you getting calls, feeling the popularity?”
“Mm, our acquaintances still don’t know it’s us. And we don’t wear masks in daily life, so no one recognizes us.”
“Ah~ what a shame, isn’t it? Fame like this isn’t easy to get again, you know? This is the perfect moment to reveal your faces… don’t you think, everyone?”
Jaejin deliberately thrust his mic toward the audience to stir them up. Naturally, a crowd that was curious about our identities would sway.
Persistent, aren’t we.
“Well, we’re not interested in fame that fades quickly.”
“…Sorry?”
I put on an exaggeratedly flustered face at Jaejin, who blinked in confusion.
“Also, wouldn’t that be boring? This is only our second stage. Oh—unless today’s our last? I thought we were performing every other week.”
A murmur rippled through the crowd.
“What?”
“The announcement definitely said…”
The chat was probably blowing up too. As it stood, that would make Street Busker the liar.
“Th—that can’t be! You’ll keep coming on, right? R-right?”
I smiled as I watched fluster make his words trip.
“Right? It’s just—you were asking us to show everything today~”
“J-joking, right! Then, shall we watch the stage now?”
“Shall we?”
If he pushes the line any further, we’ll stop coming and find another path.
Passing by me, Jaejin begged over and over:
“You know it was a joke, right? I just wanted to get a reaction out of people—really, a joke! Don’t take it to heart, okay?”
“Of course~”
I could only root for him not to be as foolish as those old folks who slit open the goose that lays golden eggs.
“Today we’ve prepared a stage with a slightly different mood than last time. Please listen closely.”
I turned and met each member’s eyes in order. Nods. Ready.
Hangyeol’s hands rose slowly over the keyboard. Then he laid down the first melody.
Tok, tok.
A delicate, crystalline sound like water droplets falling. At that signal, I slowly gripped the mic stand.
[Beneath the moonlight, cold and white,
one lonely flower
blooms in beauty]
With only keys and voice filling the intro, the restless venue grew quiet. Right on cue, the moon’s silhouette bled faintly through the darkened sky.
I lifted my left hand halfway and stirred my fingers as if touching the surface of a lake. On that cue, Seok Dojae’s powerful drums came in, adding a heavy tension to the plaintive mood.
[A petal that fell
on the river’s skin,
the love-letter I left last night,
rides the wind to the place
where you are, and sets off on a long road]
To prepare this stage, we watched the film with the members five times. Naturally, the scenes played back in my head.
The protagonist, exiled on false charges, longs for his beloved and sends his letter across the lake. The ink on the torn paper bleeds as it skims the wind. White peach blossoms scatter over a lake gone black. The protagonist watches in silence, and…
Like a fool, he wants to believe the letter can reach her.
Suddenly I remembered Hangyeol sitting next to me during the screenings. Five out of five, he cried. Even now he was sniffling here and there.
I listened to the keyboard’s notes—like raindrops suddenly lashing down.
Then Cha Seonjae’s guitar and Kwon Taejin’s bass joined. Over the current that had been flowing gently, Seonjae’s electric guitar scraped in, sharp as thunder and lightning. As the atmosphere rose, I slowly built my own emotion. The section with only the members’ instruments began. I closed my eyes and pictured the next scene.
On a bridge under driving wind and rain, the letter vanishes without a trace. He laughs like a madman, then sobs out loud, and at the end—he’s empty. A man standing blankly, soaked to the bone.
When the surging instruments all cut out, only Hangyeol’s keys remained. This time the tone was rougher, like falling tears, but steeped in ache.
[If there’s one thing I could wish,
let me carry a single petal
into your sleeping dream.
I’d wish for nothing else.
If ever the day comes when it reaches you,
please tell her, “I’ve been well.”]
Swept up in the storm of feeling, my final note trembled without my noticing. Hangyeol’s short solo followed. I pressed my lips tight until the last note fell. Guess masks do have their perks.
“…Thank you.”
Breaking the silence, I spoke. Only then did applause ring out from all sides.
***
The nerve on that brat… ‘Not interested in fame that fades quickly’? He’s gotten way too full of himself!
Smarting with wounded pride, Yoon Jaejin watched Blank’s stage with the mindset of let’s see how good they really are.
But by the time the stage ended, he was raking his hair in irritation.
Damn it, it’s better than last time!
Viewer count and donations nearly doubled.
—They just made a whole movie in one go;;
—That’s my all-time favorite film ㅠㅠㅠ I kept seeing the scenes during the performance and cried
—Rabbit looked choked up ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
—Fox must have a seriously wide musical spectrum. Last time was pure power vocal, and now he can sing this tenderly too
—Gilker, bow to Blank for real
—Bowing isn’t enough, send them gifts every holiday
—It’s great that it’s not just the vocal—every instrumental member gets a moment, too
He didn’t want to cede the initiative to a kid who was obviously still young. He also hated how the guy slipped past his tricks with the composure of someone on his second life.
But it was far too attractive a band to give up on pride alone. In the end, Yoon Jaejin ground his teeth.
Yeah. To survive in this filthy Witube jungle, you’ve gotta endure at least this much.
He caught the fox-masked man as they finished filming and were about to leave.
“A—about earlier… I was out of line.”
“Oh~ you mean asking us to reveal our faces?”
A flinch.
Jaejin swapped expressions in a flash and cranked his “gift of gab” to max.
“You know—people are curious. I just wanted Blank to get an even bigger reaction, for folks to recognize you more! You’re still good to keep appearing, right?”
“Hmm…”
While the fox mask pretended to think, Jaejin felt his blood run dry.
“Then please, from here on out, never again say you want our faces revealed… or show interest in those kinds of externals.”
At the little curl of his smile, Jaejin faltered. Even hidden by the mask, something about him pressed down and wouldn’t be concealed.
“O—of course!”
Behind the fox-masked man, the others in masks poked their faces out the van window.
“See you in two weeks!”
“Catch you next time!”
“Good-bye!”
After the car pulled away, Jaejin muttered under his breath:
“Gonna have nightmares, damn it…”
Judging by the car they rode, trying to lure them with money wouldn’t work either.
***
The day after the busking performance—Sunday morning, for once with no practice.
I was sleeping in for the first time in a while when my phone went off loud enough to rattle the room.
“What…”
Should’ve turned on Do Not Disturb. Too late for regrets.
—[Hey, Choi Juyeon!]
Kwon Taejin’s voice boomed bright even in the morning.
“I’m still young—use your indoor voice.”
—[Did you see the video online? It’s blowing up!]
“…Video? Blowing up?”
What the hell is going on?