Chapter 185 : He’s Someone Who Knows the Stage?
Chapter 185: He’s Someone Who Knows the Stage?
Music that resonates not in the ears, but in the chest.
DJ Guldan thought he had met a DJ who could finally say something halfway decent.
At first he was so surprised he couldn’t control his expression, but in the end he laughed.
Because of that rookie Asian DJ who casually pulled out his earpiece and said, “Shall we talk only through music?”
However, as the viewers’ reactions intensified and even DJ Koda began looking intrigued, it started to seem ridiculous.
He began to think all of this was simply an exaggerated DJ-style performance.
“So that’s what he was aiming for?”
Showy arrogance during a live setup wasn’t uncommon.
That attitude of saying “let’s talk with sound rather than words.”
It might look cool at first glance, but very few people could actually pull it off.
Especially a rookie who hid behind a mask and couldn’t even speak English properly.
“I came here excited because someone interesting had appeared for the first time in a while… but he’s no different from the others.”
Thinking that, Guldan leaned back into the sofa.
At least… he had thought so.
“Hold the Beat.”
The moment the signature sound echoed, he suddenly felt uneasy.
It was unmistakable confidence.
The slow, relaxed low voice had a clear charm that made listeners focus.
The eyes barely visible above the mask looked quite bold.
And besides—
“He’s someone who knows the stage?”
There was a strangely familiar raw energy about him.
For a flower raised in a greenhouse, he carried surprisingly sharp thorns.
You knew you would be cut if you touched it.
And yet, you still wanted to reach out.
A dangerous allure, like forbidden fruit.
“What the… what am I even thinking?”
His mind stayed calm, but his chest grew hot.
DJ Guldan’s instinctive curiosity had been triggered.
He couldn’t take his eyes off Blackhole.
His gaze resembled that of a predator watching prey—
or perhaps a beast measuring whether the other could become a hunting partner.
Not merely a look meant to devour,
but a dual gaze judging whether they could hunt together.
Noticing the strange atmosphere, DJ Koda and Jacob loudly jumped in.
“Oh, is Guldan scanning Blackhole right now? Is he nervous?”
“No way. There’s only one time Guldan gets nervous. When the beat collapses.”
Even when people said things like
“He’s like a dark warlock,” or “his mixing feels like sinister magic,”
Guldan had always thought fans were exaggerating.
But now—
“…What is that look?”
“He’s going to devour him.”
Seeing the scene, viewers became excited.
↳ Guldan looks terrifying.
↳ He really looks like he’s casting dark magic.
↳↳ Blackhole run!!!
↳ I’m glad I watched today.
↳ Blackhole’s structured flow vs Guldan’s wild unpredictable beats. Obviously the second one wins?
↳↳ Oh no… I can already predict the outcome.
↳ He really looks like an orc warlord.
↳ Plot twist: the one staring like that always loses!
↳ This is basically dark magic vs white magic.
↳ Blackhole! If you play it safe you’ll get crushed! Show us something!
After glancing at the chat, Guldan quietly lifted the corner of his mouth.
“That’s right.”
Even the viewers understood.
Aether Sound had called this a collaborative performance.
But that wasn’t correct.
It was clearly a competition.
As long as they performed in the same frame, it was an unavoidable war.
Beeeeee—
A sharp noise sound swept across the studio.
Boom!
Taeyoon’s first drop began.
“…Huh?”
As the sound settled in, Guldan turned his head again and looked at Taeyoon.
Seeing Taeyoon’s calm expression, he felt a strange sensation.
That wasn’t tension or fear.
It was certainty.
By the time he realized it, the one feeling tense was actually himself.
Beeeeee—
After focusing the audience with noise, the usual approach would be to follow with a rough kick and bass.
But—
“…!”
No.
Blackhole’s mixing was different.
An unusually clear and restrained tone.
He didn’t explode with emotion.
He calmly guided the audience.
Was this just a warm-up? Or an intentional flow?
Guldan couldn’t even guess.
One beat.
Two beats.
It felt as if his consciousness was being pulled along by the rhythm.
That was how delicately the audience was being controlled.
Yet the hands on the equipment were decisive.
The excitement that had been rising among the audience suddenly dropped sharply.
Inside the mask, Taeyoon smiled faintly.
“Just as intended.”
The first principle of Taeyoon’s DJing.
Never make the audience anxious.
The harsher the beat becomes, the more sensitive the listener’s hearing becomes.
The first beat filled the space while leaving room.
Then a clean sound swept away the layers of noise.
The chat.
The studio.
Both became quiet.
So as not to interrupt the performance.
DJ Koda began explaining in a whisper.
“He mixed two tracks. Lunatic Beat—Blackhole’s identity. And… hmm… the other track…”
He shrugged.
“Honestly, I’m not sure. I’ve never heard it before… wow, but they fit together perfectly. Usually in performances like this people use well-known tracks to raise the atmosphere.”
Jacob nodded beside him.
Both men, confident in their musical knowledge, couldn’t even guess the identity of the second track mixed with Lunatic Beat.
Then, as if waiting for the moment, the chat exploded.
It was the Korean viewers who had been quietly watching.
A familiar track? And it was K-pop?
They couldn’t stay quiet.
↳ Is that Avalanche? Or not?
↳ Correct! Avalanche by Signum!!!
↳ Snow rolling down! Everyone run~~~~
↳ Hearing Avalanche here is amazingㅋㅋㅋㅋ Signum hit the jackpotㅋㅋㅋㅋ
↳ It’s K-pop!
↳ I never thought I’d hear Avalanche mixed on Aether Soundㅠㅠㅠ DJing makes it sound insane.
Koda snapped his fingers.
“Oh! Right. It’s K-pop.”
“I’ve never heard it before. I’ll have to listen later.”
“Was Avalanche always like this? It’s normally bass-driven, but with DJing the feeling is completely different.”
The cold Lunatic Beat blended with dreamy, dark ambient drone textures.
Blackhole’s intellectual beat standing against Guldan’s wild style.
The repetitive melody of Avalanche dug persistently into the audience’s ears.
Soon the beat reached its climax.
There was no sudden twist.
It remained elegant.
Every movement ran toward a clear purpose and calmly completed the story.
↳ This is it!
↳ DJing can feel this comfortable?
↳ What skill is that???
↳ Wow. Avalanche is climbing the charts again right now.
↳ The effects are insane. How do you produce that sound from that melody?
↳ Simply god.
↳ Blackhole scares me. His mixing is predictable but never boring. It makes me look forward to it.
Blackhole’s turn ended.
Taeyoon adjusted his headset.
Seeing the stronger reaction than expected, DJ Guldan clenched his fist.
Now it was his turn to take the set.
Guldan forced a grin toward Blackhole and took over.
For a brief moment, he hesitated.
The guy he thought was a harmless flower had suddenly revealed sharp thorns.
Should he continue this restrained atmosphere?
Or flip the mood with his own spell-like DJing?
His hesitation didn’t last long.
“I can’t let him look down on me.”
He chose an opening that crushed emotions with distortion and multiple layers.
That was always his style.
He slapped the audience’s ears and dragged them into his beat.
As expected, the reaction exploded.
↳ Yes! That’s Guldan!!!
↳ Classic dark wizard.
↳ I feel hypnotized.
↳ This is what DJing should feel like.
↳ Guldan really came prepared today.
↳↳ Look at his expression. He’s serious.
↳ Even through the screen he’s terrifying. How will Blackhole respond?
While Blackhole guided the flow of the beat and pulled the audience along, Guldan shattered that flow.
If he were someone who got swept away by melodies, he wouldn’t even be here.
Guldan’s thick fingers slammed violently on the mixer.
Woooooo—
Even the bass that should hold the center leapt wildly.
The audience went wild at the stark difference between the two DJs.
Koda even jumped out of his seat.
“The viewer count is insane.”
“It’s 1.5 times the usual.”
“Is it because of Guldan, or Blackhole?”
“Who knows. Both?”
Jacob, watching the situation, spoke excitedly like a commentator.
“Now it’s Blackhole’s turn again. Aren’t you curious? Will he respond with an even more explosive beat… or run away?”
The moment he finished speaking—
Taeyoon’s second part began.
But something unexpected happened.
“…He’s entering like that?”
Blackhole didn’t retaliate.
Instead of fighting, he curved.
He slipped between Guldan’s rough rhythms and gently smoothed them.
Rather than responding to violence with violence,
he embraced everything, organized it, and introduced the next emotion.
Guldan felt unsettled.
“He’s unpredictable.”
More than anything, what made him uncomfortable was this:
The audience was reacting to the flow.
↳ Wow… I thought he’d respond with something more aggressive.
↳ It’s like… “You keep shouting. I’ll go my own way.”
↳ Only amateurs react to provocation. Blackhole is a master.
↳ Now let’s see how Guldan responds.
Guldan raised his hand again.
He couldn’t back down now.
A sharper drop.
A riff closer to dissonance.
And even complex loops layered on top.
He was testing Blackhole.
“How long can you stay calm like that?”
When Taeyoon took his turn again,
he responded even more calmly.
He didn’t reject Guldan’s aggressive beat.
He absorbed it and transformed it into something different.
He wrapped the violent sound gently,
and laid Blackhole’s own emotion over it.
The gentle synthesizer tones caressed the audience’s ears like a long breath.
Koda couldn’t hold back.
“This is insane!”
“Whoa, whoa.”
Jacob calmed him and analyzed the performance.
“He destroys it, and Blackhole rebuilds it. This is the essence of DJing.”
An improvised battle set.
The chat was exploding.
Too fast to even read.
↳ Is this really a dual set? Why are they fighting?
↳ Guldan is insane.
↳ And Blackhole is responding to everything… is that even possible?
↳ The world is amazing. Watching a legendary DJ battle while eating chips at home.
↳ This is Aether Sound!!!
↳↳ This is why I can’t quit watching Aether Sound.
↳ Fight! Fight more!
It felt like people were watching a martial arts match.
But Taeyoon was thinking something else.
“He’s being pulled toward me.”
On the surface it looked like a war.
Fierce and intense.
But Guldan’s sound was gradually becoming more refined.
Taeyoon realized something.
DJ Guldan wasn’t attacking anymore.
At first he had been.
But not now.
The image of Guldan’s thick hand flashed before him.
He offered his hand?
Then I should take it.
“Look. Even his expression changed.”
Guldan closed his eyes for a moment.
Then he smiled briefly.
His raw, wild sound softened and naturally blended into Blackhole’s mix.
Taeyoon took a small breath.
“Okay. Good.”
This wasn’t a battle.
It was a dual set.
Not trying to win.
But drawing each other out.
Instead of responding with aggression,
Blackhole had invited his opponent into his own music.
And that realization…
would drive Guldan even crazier.
---
Today’s performance could be summarized simply.
Guldan’s wildness.
Blackhole’s restraint.
The perfect combination of the two.
People’s ears were all similar.
The chat that usually argued endlessly—
Today achieved total unity.
↳ Guldan’s beat evolved after meeting Blackhole.
↳↳ I agree. Blackhole is taming the wild horse.
↳ Wow. A battle heard through the ears. Blackhole wins easily in my opinion.
↳↳ Did we watch the same thing? Nobody won or lost. It was just an incredible performance.
↳↳↳ Well… that’s true.
↳ I want to see them perform together live someday.
↳ It’s sad we’ll never see this video again.
↳↳ Why? There’s a recording.
↳↳↳ Guldan hates his recordings being shared.
After the performance ended,
Taeyoon put the translation earpiece back on.
The moment he did, endless excited shouting poured through it.
“Taeyoon, this is insane! The chat is going crazy! Do you know what they’re saying? They’re saying Blackhole defeated Guldan—”
Taeyoon frowned and removed the earpiece again.
He had just enjoyed a great performance.
Talking about who beat whom wasn’t interesting.
Just doing a dual set with a top-tier DJ was already an incredible experience.
When the noise through the earpiece finally faded,
Taeyoon put it back on again.
At that moment,
DJ Guldan stood in front of him.
“Uh… hmm…”
Despite his rugged appearance,
his awkward hesitation seemed surprisingly friendly.
See?
Even people who look like bandits aren’t necessarily bad.
Taeyoon gathered his courage and extended his hand first.
“That was a great stage.”
There was still no interpreter.
But Guldan understood immediately.
Language had already become irrelevant.
“…Huh.”
Guldan looked down at Taeyoon’s hand.
Complex emotions crossed his rough face.
Surprise.
Acknowledgment.
And something like awkward regret.
After a short sigh, he slowly raised his hand.
Then he carefully grasped Taeyoon’s.
For a moment, silence passed between them.
Then Guldan muttered in a low, firm voice.
“…You were better than I expected.”
Taeyoon looked up at him, confused.
Guldan turned his head and coughed awkwardly.
“Well… maybe we’ll meet again. Korea’s a bit far.”
After saying that,
he walked out of the studio.
Without saying goodbye.
As if he had never existed.
DJ Koda rushed in a moment later and slapped his forehead.
“What? He already left?”
“He just went out.”
“Oh. I was supposed to thank him.”
“Thank him?”
Taeyoon shrugged.
Koda explained.
“Guldan said it’s okay to release the video of your performance together. He never allows recordings to be released. But he said today’s performance should be seen by many people. Looks like he’s getting old… you should’ve seen his expression earlier. It was strangely sentimental. Oh, and this.”
Koda handed something over.
“What is it?”
“DJ Guldan’s mix tape. The only one in the world.”
“…!”
It was wrapped in newspaper, hiding the contents.
Even this style felt very Guldan-like.
Someday, when they met again,
Taeyoon wanted to respond with even more dazzling beats.
With that thought,
he headed toward the after-party.