Chapter 186 : Billboard Top 100
Chapter 186: Billboard Top 100
The night view of LA swept past outside the window.
My body was here, but my mind still seemed to linger inside the Aether Studio.
It was something I had never even dared to imagine.
I had done a dual set with DJ Guldan?
Even just performing on the same stage would have been an honor, let alone a dual set.
My shoulders lifted on their own.
Holding the turntable with someone else was far cooler than I had expected.
Push and pull.
Maintaining that precarious tension while turning the knob…
It almost drove me insane.
There were no excuses, no distractions—not even an audience.
Mixing without reactions was surprisingly enjoyable.
Because I could focus every sense entirely on the tips of my fingers.
Lost in thought, I leaned back against the rear seat of the limousine Koda had arranged and admired the night scenery flowing between the skyscrapers of Century City.
It was intoxicating.
Perhaps the tension had finally faded, because my eyes slowly closed.
Just as I was about to drift into sleep, a voice startled me awake.
“...Right?”
It seemed CEO Kim Minsoo had asked something.
“Yes, that’s right.”
“You weren’t listening.”
“...Sorry. I was thinking about something.”
At my reply, CEO Kim Minsoo suddenly turned around and said,
“Taeyoon, you’re really amazing. Or should I say bold?”
“Me? I just did what I always do…”
“But the place changed. Staying that calm in a different environment isn’t easy.”
I slowly shook my head.
“I was nervous too. Very.”
“Come on, that’s a lie. If you were really nervous, you would’ve gotten dragged along when Guldan went wild. Maintaining your pace like nothing happened—that’s what’s truly impressive. Not just anyone can do that.”
Hmm. That was a little different from nervousness.
That was just how I was.
Once I made up my mind, no matter what anyone said or how people reacted, I simply walked my own path.
It wasn’t bravery or courage.
Every single day, there was always a beat inside me.
I simply trusted that beat and followed it until the end.
Because that beat had never once led me astray.
Not just today.
Every day, always.
That was how my performances unfolded.
“By the way, are we still far?”
It felt like we had been in the car for quite a while.
“Oh, we’re here.”
The car stopped in front of a rather dazzling-looking building, and we entered the restaurant.
Just as I was thinking it was a shame only the two of us were celebrating on such a good day—
An unexpected face greeted me.
“Oooooh! The man of the hour—Blackhole has arrived!”
“Huh? Hyung, why are you here…?”
“Thanks to you, Taeyoon, I even got to come to LA. Looks like I’ve made it in life…”
Gibong-hyung? Why was he here?
Wasn’t this LA?
---
“Cheers!”
Gibong-hyung downed the wine in his glass in one go.
“Keeeugh. This alcohol is sweet—so sweet.”
…He was drinking wine like it was beer.
Unable to contain my curiosity, I asked,
“But how did this happen? Why are you here? This isn’t backstage, right?”
To summarize the explanation that followed:
Gibong-hyung had been going around the company saying, “I want to go to LA too!”
When CEO Kim Minsoo heard about it, he simply said, “Then hurry up and come.”
“…Wow.”
“What, why are you looking at me like that?”
CEO Kim Minsoo took a sip of wine and avoided my gaze.
The world of KIM Entertainment was something I could never quite understand.
Maybe he noticed my puzzled expression.
Gibong-hyung spoke as if making an excuse.
“Taeyoon, I started writing songs again these days. Don’t you know about inspiration?”
“You have to come all the way to LA for inspiration to visit you? Isn’t it too far for it to reach you?”
“Hey! Inspiration gets bored staying in Korea too. Just accept it as it is. Ah! Right, after-party, after-party. If it’s just you and Minsoo-hyung, it’ll be boring. I figured it’d feel awkward with just the two of you.”
To some extent, he had a point.
With Gibong-hyung’s chatter level, he easily filled the space of three ordinary men.
Anyway.
We had the after-party.
Very enjoyable, very expensive, and very grand.
If I had to summarize tonight’s after-party in one sentence—
It was supposed to be a company dinner, but somehow it turned into a comment-reading session.
…That was probably the best way to describe it.
A comment-reading session happening inside a luxury steakhouse in Beverly Hills was a bit… embarrassing.
It all started with Gibong-hyung.
“Blackhole, the one who tamed the wild horse! Just who are you?!”
Gibong-hyung waved his tablet with a flushed face. It was quite a sight.
He poured out admiration at every comment.
As if he himself were the main character of those comments.
“Next! Blackhole is the ultimate existence. Not only does he absorb everything, he even absorbed Guldan. It was more intense than Ronaldo versus Messi.”
“Hyung, stop. This is embarrassing…”
“Hey hey, this one’s really insane.”
Ignoring my protest, Gibong-hyung turned the tablet toward me.
There was a comment with a huge number of likes.
– Wow, Guldan really learned a lesson here.
…Why did you even press the like button on that?
“Hey, stop manipulating the likes.”
“There are 9.7 thousand likes. How am I supposed to manipulate that? Anyway, you’re incredible, Seo Taeyoon!”
Now he was even clapping like a seal.
Was he here just to tease me?
But if I thought that was the end, I was mistaken.
CEO Kim Minsoo took over.
“I like this one. [ Guldan was attacking, but Blackhole was like ‘Yeah, I can’t hear your beat,’ and just kept his own pace. Blackhole is the Gandhi of the DJ scene. ]”
“…Gandhi?”
“Yeah. They’re calling it non-violent resistance DJing.”
“Hah, haha.”
I just laughed.
The two of them were enjoying it like it was their own achievement, so I couldn’t interrupt the flow.
“Watching it in video was nothing like the real thing. Guldan looks terrifying in person.”
“He does. Even his beats sound wild. I was scared myself.”
“When the first beat dropped, I was honestly worried. Taeyoon has a gentlemanly style.”
“Right. It was basically an open challenge, but the way you countered it was amazing.”
Wait.
As I listened quietly, the conversation was heading in a strange direction.
These people were seriously misunderstanding things.
“Wait, wait a second.”
I really wanted to correct this.
“Guldan… that person is actually very gentlemanly.”
At my words, CEO Kim Minsoo widened his eyes in disbelief, and Gibong-hyung set down his glass.
“I’m serious. What actually happened was…”
I began explaining while watching the live video uploaded on YouTube.
At first, it was definitely sharp.
He tightened the sound like he was pulling it inward, then crushed my kick drum with a precise filter cut.
It wasn’t against the rules. No one could complain. It was simply his unique method.
To listeners, it probably sounded like part of the mix.
They would’ve perceived it merely as a difference in sound texture.
But I felt it clearly.
To put it more aggressively, it was a threat that said,
“Let’s see if you can keep your composure here.”
After hearing my explanation, CEO Kim Minsoo spoke excitedly.
“Right! It was threatening. Even I got nervous watching.”
“Listen to the rest.”
At that moment, I realized something.
If Guldan wanted, he could have destroyed me instantly.
If he had unlocked the tempo lock and twisted the beat by force, I might have lost the beat entirely.
“Wasn’t that what happened? I thought that’s what he did.”
“No.”
I answered firmly.
Listeners might think he simply used flashy techniques.
But I knew the truth. He overwhelmed the stage purely with presence and focus, without using excessive techniques.
So what did I do?
I removed the kick and instead layered a heavy bass loop to maintain the tension.
I left the direct attack empty while preserving the weight.
If it seemed calm, that was a misunderstanding.
I was more tense than ever, calculating countless possibilities in my head.
After hearing my explanation, the two of them started seriously discussing it.
“So when the sound empties out, people think it’s calm.”
“Ah… I see. Taeyoon, were you basically warning him, ‘If you use dirty tricks, I won’t stay quiet?’”
Honestly, Gibong-hyung’s instincts were incredible.
The camera didn’t capture it clearly.
But the person standing next to him could tell.
In the video, Guldan flinched slightly and stepped back.
Guldan definitely knew.
He knew that I had noticed the trap and responded.
“How did you even figure that out?”
“Anyone who has done DJing would feel it immediately.”
And the reason this was impressive was simple.
A huge DJ like Guldan could have continued using borderline unfair techniques that a rookie like me wouldn’t dare counter.
For example, he could have forced a loop to buy time or overwhelmed me with his signature sound.
Many DJs actually do that.
Because it’s skilled and effective.
But he didn’t.
Instead, he anticipated my next track and connected the outro like a pass.
So subtly that only someone holding the turntable would notice.
“…That’s what really happened.”
After my explanation, CEO Kim Minsoo and Gibong-hyung simply shrugged at each other.
As if it were a story from another world.
Maybe my explanation was too complicated.
Anyway.
What happened today would remain a memory worth bragging about for a long time.
And it was also the moment I saw DJ Guldan in a new light.
In the scene, people called him ruthless, violent, even a tyrant.
But to me—
He was the most courteous DJ I had ever met.
Someday.
I wanted to meet him again on the same stage.
And if that day came when we stood side by side once more,
I would show an even better dual set.
---
Even after returning from LA, Taeyoon’s daily life did not change much.
He performed at Sierra three times a week.
On days without performances, he locked himself in the studio and worked.
What changed was something else.
After Taeyoon’s appearance on Aether Sound, many things had shifted.
The influence of the YouTube live broadcast was enormous.
[Aether Sound – DJ Showdown! Blackhole VS Guldan, Who Wins?]
[Views: 30 Million+]
In just one week, the video spread widely through music lovers’ algorithms.
One encouraging sign was that Korean comments had increased significantly.
↳ Seeing Blackhole like this feels fresh.
↳ I’ve never watched a DJ before but I’ve been replaying this for an hour straight.
↳ He doesn’t lose at all to that orc-looking guy. Their careers differ by three times lol.
↳↳ Orc-looking guy?? He’s actually a super famous DJ.
↳ The fact Guldan connected the mix without looping is legendary… but Blackhole noticing it is even crazier.
↳↳ Wow, so I wasn’t the only one who noticed that.
↳ There’s a reason he filmed the Orbit advertisement. KW Electronics really has good instincts.
↳ Looking for party members for Club Sierra (1/5). By the way, I’m a guy in my 40s lol.
↳ The sound design is insane;;; the timing when Blackhole removed the kick was crazy.
↳↳ Someone else noticed that.
There was another development.
When Blackhole mixed <Avalanche> during the dual set with Guldan, the original track suddenly gained massive attention in the United States.
↳ Oh!! Signum’s <Avalanche> entered the Billboard Top 100!
↳↳ Seriously?? All of a sudden???
↳↳↳ Yeah, Blackhole used Avalanche in the mix and it blew up. The music video views have doubled.
↳ I saw it reach No. 67 today. How high will it climb?
↳ Mixing K-pop like this?? That’s insane.
↳ What even happened? Can someone explain how Avalanche turned into this?
↳↳ He released the filter instantly, dropped the bass, and added delay.
↳↳↳ That sounds complicated but I get that it’s awesome lol.
↳ Master Blackhole, please accept my bow.
Because of this, even Signum’s fandom began supporting Blackhole—a rather strange phenomenon.
“Hmm…”
But these reactions were merely minor ripples.
At least to Executive Director Kim Jinsoo of KW Electronics.
[Orbit usage among women aged 10–40 increases — The power of advertising.]
[‘KW Electronics Orbit’ colors New York Times Square.]
[North American market — KW Electronics Orbit smartphone sales increase.]
[KW Electronics aiming to restore pride with new Orbit model.]
The market share of the Orbit Phone was rising significantly.
The response was particularly strong in North America and Europe.
The media constantly talked about KW Electronics restoring its pride or the success of a new marketing strategy.
But Kim Jinsoo thought differently.
There was a very clear formula in his head.
‘Blackhole’s influence = Increase in Orbit sales.’
Kim Jinsoo was convinced that all of this was the power of the advertisement model.
A faceless genius DJ, Blackhole.
The mere fact that such a figure used a KW Electronics product would become a cultural phenomenon.
And that prediction had proven perfectly correct.
Therefore—
“Feels like we’ve been seeing each other a lot lately. Nice.”
“Sit down.”
“You know, whenever you look at me like that, I get nervous.”
“Why?”
“I start wondering what kind of gift you’re about to give me this time.”
“A gift? Yes. A gift.”
Calling his younger brother Kim Minsoo and proposing such a project wasn’t strange at all for Kim Jinsoo.
“Minsoo.”
“Yeah?”
“Move into the hotel.”
“You’re telling someone who rejected an entertainment company to run a hotel? Management isn’t really my thing.”
“No, that’s not what I mean.”
Kim Jinsoo picked up the sake in front of him and continued.
“A Gangnam hotel. The club.”
“…What?”
Kim Minsoo suddenly raised his head.
He sensed this might become a very interesting proposal.
“You run it.”
“Freely? You know I’m picky about my taste.”
“But.”
Kim Jinsoo moistened his lips with sake and added firmly,
“The main character of every project must be Blackhole.”
“…Blackhole.”
“This isn’t just about changing one club.”
“Then?”
“It’s about placing Blackhole into a stable orbit.”
Executive Director Kim Jinsoo’s eyes held strong conviction.
“Right now is the time to concentrate all the attention on Blackhole in one place. The club is just the surface.”
“The budget?”
“As much as you want.”
Kim Minsoo smiled with satisfaction.
Kim Jinsoo—
If nothing else, he had an uncanny ability to recognize hidden value.
“Then I’ll show you properly. You know I spend money well.”
The brothers’ glasses clinked brightly in the air.