Chapter 100 : The Lively Reactions
Chapter 100: The Lively Reactions
Sierra was bustling as always.
In front of the main gate, a line of audience members stretched out, and the staff were busy managing the crowd.
Whenever I saw that kind of scene before my eyes…
It was more dazzling than I could ever imagine.
People filmed vlogs, chatted with their friends, or listened to music alone to endure the boring wait.
The atmosphere around Sierra hadn’t changed.
Just one thing had.
That was my appearance when I came to work.
Now I—
“Oh? Blackhole’s here!”
“Please look this way just once!”
—walked leisurely through the front gate.
For a while, my commute had been no different from a spy operation.
I’d slip in like a cat, nimble and unseen.
Disguised under a pressed-down cap and an awkward suit.
Always thinking about how not to stand out.
Then one day, a thought suddenly crossed my mind.
Maybe this was just excessive self-consciousness.
It’s not like I was some famous celebrity.
I was just a DJ who performed joyfully in a club.
‘…Wasn’t I overreacting?’
No one was out to harm me.
No one was trying to devour me.
Now I could say it confidently.
They were people who came to see DJ Blackhole… my fans.
On my way to work,
I waved my hand as hard as I could toward the audience.
Even if they couldn’t see my face under the mask.
“Whoa! You’re early today!”
“Why do you always wear hoodies?”
“It’s chilly—be careful not to catch a cold!”
Hearing those kind greetings made my steps lighter.
It was only a brief moment, but sometimes we shared thoughts about the previous performance.
Especially the ending song.
The ending song was always the peak of lingering emotion.
It had rained lightly during the last show.
I had finished the performance by soaking the crowd in that mood.
Calm and delicate.
It felt nice to enter through the gate and still hear their reactions.
“What was the last song in the previous show?”
“I’ll tell you! The original was Return to Oz. Should I DM you the link?”
The reactions I heard in person were incomparable to the comments on YouTube.
Just hearing feedback like that was enough to make me feel at ease through the next performance.
“I’m looking forward to today’s setlist!”
“I ate a full meal before coming!”
“Wheee—Hold the beat!”
By now, I’d seen their faces so often they felt familiar.
I replied with a smile and quickened my steps.
But right as I turned away, I heard a commotion behind me.
“What’s this? It’s so cute.”
“A gift? For us?”
“You’re giving these to everyone? Wow.”
“Shh! Quiet first, shh!”
Even the audience members seemed to have become quite close to one another.
It felt good.
And how could I respond to that?
With a perfect performance, of course.
‘Today’s track will be flawless too!’
Muttering my tracklist to myself, I went down to the club.
Someone once said this.
A DJ is a shaman—a sorcerer.
At first, I just laughed.
What nonsense. A sorcerer? This wasn’t a game.
But lately, I’d started to understand what that meant.
A DJ leads the atmosphere not with words but with sound.
I believed that connecting and persuading through the flow, rhythm, and groove of music itself—without words—was an art.
Of course, there were DJs who spoke often and well.
Festival-type DJs like Martin Garrix or Steve Aoki.
They used the mic mid-track to engage with the crowd, and their sets came with prepped stage performances.
But the only words I ever said were—
“Hold the beat.”
Only that signature sound.
“Waaaaah!”
Along with the pouring cheers,
another performance came to an end without a hitch.
The lights slowly dimmed, and I began tidying up the stage when—
“Hm?”
A small stir broke out among the audience.
At first, I thought it was just the usual cheering.
But no.
“Hold the beat!”
“Blackhole!”
Something about the audience’s tone was different from usual.
Playful, even cute.
I slowly turned my head to look that way.
“Whoa…”
My breath caught.
In one corner of the crowd—
In the dim shadows where the light didn’t fully reach—
Someone had raised their hand high.
On their wrist… something pink shimmered.
It wasn’t a Sierra entry wristband.
It was unmistakably—
‘…A rabbit bracelet?’
The rabbit that Han Yujin had drawn.
It was as if that little thing had popped right out of the picture.
I didn’t know whether it was just coincidence or if they had taken the idea from the Seo Rabbit mask...
Among hundreds of waving hands, that bracelet alone stood out.
Ssshhk—
I brushed my nose with my index finger.
Come on, really. Who comes up with things like that?
And then came the cheers.
That one bracelet worked like a signal.
The lights became two, then three…
Pink rabbit silhouettes floated up one after another into the air.
The audience waved their hands toward the stage—toward me.
Dozens of sparkling rabbit bracelets rippled before my eyes like a wave.
The entire crowd had turned into a sea of pink rabbits.
“Whoa… rabbits.”
I muttered unconsciously, and with that—
“Kyaaaaaa!”
The crowd screamed again.
Thump, thump, thump, thump.
My heart pounded like a kick drum.
“Hooah…”
It was a feeling I couldn’t put into words.
The tension at my fingertips as I gripped the fader.
The quiet stillness in the moment I adjusted each EQ knob.
And the certainty that all that focus hadn’t been wasted.
The flow I had created remained within the audience, and that emotion returned to me intact.
“Waaaaaaah!”
The cheering didn’t stop.
That night, for the first time,
I truly felt that the audience and the stage were moving in the same rhythm.
A thrill rushed all the way up to the top of my head.
The vivid shiver, so intense it was almost frightening, ran down my arms and reached the CDJ.
‘It’s a shame to end it here.’
I glanced at the time.
The night was still long.
I couldn’t break the atmosphere now.
‘If it’s this track…’
I didn’t want to force anything.
Just for tonight, I wanted the flow itself to carry everything for me.
No explanation, no prior notice.
That was why I chose this song.
‘With this mood… it’ll work.’
I slowly pushed the fader up.
Then grabbed the mic and whispered in a low voice.
“Stay in the loop.”
Kim Minsoo, trying to look composed but barely suppressing the urge to scream along.
And beside him, Yoon Seonghan, the man who had planned tonight’s event, watched the stage together with him.
Yoon Seonghan asked,
“Looks like Taeyoon’s enjoying himself, right?”
“Can’t you see his eyes? They look a little watery, don’t they?”
Kim Minsoo patted Yoon Seonghan’s back excitedly as he talked.
“I wasn’t sure at first, but this reaction’s amazing. More than anything… that rabbit is so fluffy and cute.”
“What fur? You can actually see that?”
“Ever heard of the mind’s eye?”
Yoon Seonghan made a face of disgust.
Then he looked back and forth between Kim Minsoo’s face and the bracelet on his wrist.
That elegant rabbit LED bracelet shining brightly beneath his luxury jacket… actually suited him surprisingly well.
And to think he’d scolded others before—‘What kind of man wears pink?’—
Yet now he’d taken off his expensive watch and was treating the bracelet like a treasure.
Yoon Seonghan thought it showed just how much he cared about Taeyoon.
“The vibe’s good. Time to get ready. Sierra’s too small to contain Taeyoon now. We’ve got to prepare something bigger—something like the ocean, not a cup.”
“Are we finally going to see our CEO show what ‘money can buy’?”
While the two chatted leisurely—
“Stay in the loop.”
Taeyoon’s voice rang out.
“Huh?”
“What the—?”
The guy who only ever said Hold the beat—suddenly?
We hadn’t agreed on this at all.
But the audience didn’t look confused.
“Waaaaaaah!”
“Kyaaaaaa!”
They just screamed louder than before.
And then, the endless cheering—
stopped.
Like a lie, silence fell.
Because Taeyoon had put his headset back on.
“No way… an encore?”
Duk-duk-duk—duk-duk-duk—duk-duk-duk—
A familiar beat flowed out.
The moment the beat began—
“Wait, hold on. Taeyoon’s doing this?”
In an instant, the atmosphere of the club changed.
Taeyoon had touched the forbidden spellbook—
No, the forbidden track.
It was a track everyone knew, but not everyone could dare to touch.
Among professional DJs, they said, “Play that wrong once, and your whole set’s ruined.”
If your sense of timing slipped even a little, the kick and bass would collide like satellites, turning the sound into mush.
A kick that stood out, yet somehow felt off-beat.
A bass that drifted low, distorted in variation.
An uncertain structure and pattern.
Meaning—this wasn’t a track meant for mixing.
It was a track meant for transition—for risk.
“Let’s see how he pulls this off.”
“Let’s watch. It’s Blackhole, after all.”
Kim Minsoo paused, digging into his memory.
A month ago, he had seen Taeyoon clutching his head in frustration while playing this very track.
All he could do back then was quietly pat his shoulder in comfort.
But now—
Taeyoon was taking in this chaotic track with his entire body.
An intricately designed strangeness.
Not only did Taeyoon boldly control that strangeness—
“This won’t be easy.”
—he chose chaos over order.
And within that chaos, he built his own kind of structure.
In the midst of a tangled pattern, just as the hi-hat from another track slipped in—
“...Wait, he’s mixing here?”
Kim Minsoo unfolded his arms.
It wasn’t an artificial transition—it flowed naturally.
In an unpredictable rhythm, the sounds found their place on their own.
Then suddenly, a scratch from the next track burst out—
as if it had been there all along.
Swinging his arm, Kim Minsoo glanced around.
All the audience members—
they just stared blankly at the stage, waving their arms mechanically.
‘Yeah, it’s still too soon for them to notice.’
They were simply following the flow Taeyoon had left behind.
And then—
Right at the moment when the bass twisted and crossed—
“Holy—”
someone gasped.
“Wait, isn’t this <Dexter>?”
“What did you say?”
“Dex! Ter!”
A high-risk track meant purely for performance.
Yet Taeyoon had pulled off <Dexter> perfectly, leaving a blazing impression.
“I’m so glad I came tonight.”
Sierra had long since become a sacred ground for DJing.
Audience members who had set their phones down now lifted them again.
They couldn’t afford to miss this legendary performance.
The next morning—
Because of a single rabbit bracelet, SNS was overflowing with talk of Blackhole.
[ (Proof) Sierra went crazy—these merch goods are insane ㄷㄷㄷ ]
↳ ???? They just gave those away?
↳ What’s with the rabbit lololol
↳↳ What do you mean? It’s Seo Rabbit, of course hahaha
↳ Ugh… I’ve been going for three months straight and missed just today—why todayㅠㅠ
[ (Proof) Am I the only one who finds Blackhole’s pink rabbit adorable? ]
↳ I’ll buy it for 100,000 won.
↳ What even is that?
↳↳ It’s merch they handed out at Club Sierra. Normally they give a regular entry wristband, but today they made a special glowing rabbit version. The quality’s amazing—LED with on/off. Could sell for 30,000 won easy.
[ (Sound warning) Blackhole’s signature sound changed ]
It used to be Hold the beat~, but tonight it was Stay in the loop~—I nearly fainted;;
(short-form clip link)
↳ ...Been replaying this endlessly.
↳ His voice is seriously hot.
↳ Tonight’s performance was legendary. Sierra needs to move to a bigger venueㅠㅠ
↳ Lol it’s kinda cheesy but it suits him.
Inside a swaying van—
Han Yujin, scrolling through the news about Taeyoon with a satisfied grin, suddenly screamed.
“Kyaaaaaa!”
“What? What’s wrong, Yujin? What happened?”
“Rab… Rabbit! Rabbit!”
“What rabbit? Are you okay?”
Even at the manager’s question,
Han Yujin kept muttering, eyes glued to her phone.
“Ugh, if only today’s filming had ended earlier, I could’ve gone to Sierra. What a waste. Why don’t I have a bracelet? Whyyyyy!”
The commotion wasn’t limited to SNS alone.
The short moment when Taeyoon had played <Dexter> was enough to send hidden DJs into a frenzy.
[ Real-time Hot Keywords ]
DJ Blackhole
Sierra Blackhole
Club Sierra
DJing Video
.
.
[ Today’s Trending Video ]
[ BLACKHOLE – Live @ Club SIERA ]
No words needed. Just watch.
The masterpiece of Korean DJing!
↳ The tone’s absolutely perfect.
↳ I thought I was at Tomorrowland in Belgium ㄷㄷ
↳↳ What’s that, you nerd;;
↳ You’re asking that while watching a DJ video? lol
↳↳ So what is itㅠㅠ
↳↳↳ It’s an EDM festival. Held in Boom, Belgium.
↳ Lol I went to Tomorrowland last year, and this level of DJing is rare, seriously.
↳↳ No way, don’t exaggerate.
↳↳↳ I’m serious. At this level, he could headline.
↳ First time seeing him tonight—he’s insane. Doesn’t belong in Ilsan.
↳↳ Yeah, kinda weird he’s still there.
↳ I’ve been going to Sierra for a year—tonight was the best ever. My heart’s still pounding. That rabbit bracelet was god-tier, too.
↳↳ I’ve got to go see him...
↳ Hmm. Maybe? He’s handsome, but his DJing seems kinda average.
↳ Still, out of Korean DJs, Layer and Blackhole are the best.
↳↳ Yeah, but Layer’s still the top for now.
And so, Blackhole’s video continued to spread everywhere.