Chapter 1208: Soaring (8)

The 61st Grammy Awards came to a spectacular close.

After Cold and I won Record of the Year, the final award of the night, Album of the Year, went to singer-songwriter Mandy Spice’s 42.

“Thank you! Grammy!”

The singer who had received Album of the Year, known as the highest honor of all, smiled brightly in her gown.

Cheers.

Tears.

Applause.

Even after the ceremony ended with the Album of the Year presentation, the hall remained filled with heat and excitement.

“You bastard! I knew you’d do it!”

Hailey grabbed me in a hug with a cry of “My boy!” and grinned from ear to ear.

“I was the only one who recognized your true worth when no one else did. The more I think about it, the more incredible my foresight seems.”

“Thank you, Hailey.”

I smiled and asked,

“But you didn’t expect me to do this well, did you?”

“Of course not. Record of the Year at the Grammys… My God, what the hell happened in just two years?”

At that moment, Jiho poked his head in and placed a hand on my shoulder.

“Hailey, from now on, you’d better get in line before talking to our brother. This man is a Grammy-winning composer now!”

“Pfft.”

Hailey pointed at herself with her thumb, her face brimming with scorn.

“Three-time Album of the Year winner.”

“!”

“Come back after you’ve won Album of the Year, rookies.”

I burst out laughing at Jiho, whose mouth had fallen open, and Hailey, who laughed like a mischievous little kid because she found his reaction so amusing.

“Mommy!”

Just then, a little girl with a pretty hairpin came running over and threw herself into Hailey’s arms.

The members and I greeted her with bright smiles.

“Hi, Summer. It’s been a while.”

“Yeah!”

Summer shyly waved at the uncles(?) she hadn’t seen in a long time.

The last time we met, she had greeted us without any reservation, but for some reason she seemed a little embarrassed now.

Hailey picked up her daughter and patted her on the back.

“She says it feels a little awkward now that you guys have become insanely famous.”

“There’s no need for that.”

As I smiled at Summer, who had suddenly become shy around us, we also exchanged greetings with her husband, Chris Kyle.

“It’s been a while, Chris.”

“How have you been?”

We shook hands with the handsome actor.

He was especially pleased to see Jiho and struck up a conversation with him, probably because of Secret Agent 3.

After all, Chris was the actor who played the protagonist, Edwin Knight.

While the two of them discussed the movie shoot, Hailey asked us,

“So, what’s the plan for tonight? The usual ‘We don’t do after-parties~’ routine?”

“No.”

We pointed toward Cold Brown, who was being tossed into the air by a crowd of rappers some distance away.

“We’re going to Cold’s party.”

“Oh.”

“He said he prepared every kind of nonalcoholic cocktail for me. Apparently, the best bartender in Los Angeles is coming. Col… What was the place called again?”

“Coles?”

“I think that was the name.”

“It’s one of the best bars in Los Angeles. Their cocktails are great.”

At the mention of alcohol, the singer smacked her lips and said it had been a while since she’d wanted a drink.

Biju asked,

“What about you, Hailey?”

“I’m going to have dinner with my family. It’s hard to see Chris when he’s filming.”

That was unexpected.

She was usually the one shouting, “Drinks! Party!” after every awards ceremony.

Hailey declared proudly,

“I don’t attend parties unless I’m the star.”

“…….”

“And congratulating people who beat me for awards doesn’t suit my temperament at all. I hate the whole thing.”

It seemed this year’s results had left her dissatisfied.

Winning Best Pop Vocal Album alone was an incredible achievement, but for someone like her, only an award from the General Field seemed enough.

She shrugged.

“People talk a lot of trash about them, but the old geezers judging this place are surprisingly accurate sometimes. This album came out well, but it wasn’t good enough to win Album of the Year. I’ll just have to work harder.”

Hailey spoke as though teaching her daughter a valuable lesson, but the moment Summer looked elsewhere, she silently mouthed,

Bastards! I hope you go under!

……She truly never changed.

After telling Hailey we would see her again soon, we quietly left the venue as well.

We would all meet at the party in an hour anyway, and at the moment, it was physically impossible to get anywhere near Cold.

“Wow.”

Junghyun looked back and clicked his tongue.

“We can’t even approach Cold. I don’t think we could break through that crowd.”

“There are seriously so many people….”

His first Grammy at last.

As expected of someone who had built connections throughout the North American music industry for nearly twenty years, countless people had gathered to congratulate him.

Ri Hyuk said,

“It makes sense. He’s even performed at the Super Bowl halftime show, yet this is his first Grammy…….”

I couldn’t even imagine what that must feel like.

Biju tilted his head.

“Wouldn’t it be similar to us winning our first grand prize at an awards ceremony around our fifteenth year after debut?”

“Our fifteenth year would be….”

“2028.”

“…….”

Imagining us, having debuted in 2014, finally winning our first grand prize in 2028 made me dizzy.

There was no exact Korean equivalent to the Grammys, so it was difficult to compare, but that gave us a rough idea.

Jiho asked,

“By the way, how do you feel, bro?”

“Hm?”

“About winning one of the biggest Grammy awards! How does it feel? Like you’ve achieved every goal in life? Are you puffed up thinking, ‘I’m a Grammy winner now!’ or something……?”

“Uh….”

I scratched the back of my head.

“I’m incredibly happy, but I don’t really know.”

For the first five minutes, I felt as though I owned the entire world.

Once those five minutes passed, though, it became a quieter kind of happiness.

It was something I had felt for a long time, but I didn’t seem to be the sort of person whose happiness lasted very long.

Besides….

“I kept thinking it would’ve been even better if all of us had gone up together.”

“Exactly. When you were giving your speech, I saw Team Leader Na Sangyoon standing in the minion line, and I was so jealous. That should’ve been my spot!”

I laughed and nodded at Jiho’s words.

I was happy to have won a Grammy, but it didn’t seem to bring me as much joy as winning an award as a group would have.

Junghyun asked,

“Do you think we could make it up there too if we do well?”

“Hmm.”

To be honest, I had gotten carried away during the acceptance speech and declared, “Next time, I’ll return under NewBlack’s name! Heh heh!”

But looking back on it now, the path ahead seemed daunting.

Even Answer winning Record of the Year had only happened because so many circumstances had aligned.

-An artistic collaboration between two genres, jazz and hip-hop!

-The original song Answer was a response to Question by his late father, a genius jazz musician, and had even been performed at the Olympic opening ceremony!

-The previous year’s controversy over racism at the Grammys and the boycott by hip-hop musicians!

-The record-breaking success of Sound of the Sun and growing public sentiment that musicians who had long been neglected deserved recognition!

It felt as though we had only won after the situation reached a point where they could no longer avoid giving us the award.

Could NewBlack ever receive one?

They had twisted themselves into knots trying not to give an award to the king of hip-hop, who was already popular with the mainstream public.

What would they do with us?

We came from K-pop, which was considered even more marginal than hip-hop at the Grammys, and the ceremony saw us as a boy band.

Whether we could ever win there was a difficult question to answer.

Even the boy band that had driven the entire world wild in the 1980s had only received a single nomination, and that had been for a music video.

“We’ll have to try.”

No one could know the future.

“If I’d said a year ago that I was going to win a Grammy, who would’ve believed me? Everyone would’ve called me insane.”

“True.”

“I probably would’ve reacted like, ‘Even if it’s Wooju, that’s a little….’”

Then Junghyun said,

“If we win later, let’s say that in our speech. You know, that.”

“?”

“So this actually works.”

We burst into laughter.

While Ri Hyuk seriously contemplated how to express “So this actually works” in English, we entered the waiting room.

Pop!

“Waaaaaaaaah!”

“Congratulations, guys!”

Seokhwan, the managers, and our American agent set off party poppers and erupted into cheers.

We laughed and hugged the people jumping up and down as though they had won the award themselves.

Then the minions spotted the trophy sitting on the table and perked up.

“It’s the trophy!”

“A staff member brought it by a minute ago.”

“Wow. This is my first time seeing a Grammy trophy!”

While the members stared in fascination at the golden gramophone-shaped trophy, Seokhwan said to me,

“Congratulations, Wooju. Seriously.”

“Thanks, hyung.”

“And it’s already on the Grammy website.”

“?”

Our TF team leader showed me his phone.

It displayed the section of the Grammy website containing artist information, and my name was written there.

【 Artist 】 Woo-Joo

Wins: 1

Nominations: 2

I smiled when I saw the number one beside Wins.

When I raised my head, Seokhwan was wearing the same smile.

It wasn’t the happiness of a company team leader responsible for taking care of me.

It was the smile of a close older brother who had watched over me for a very long time.

“How does it feel?”

“The best.”

As I answered, I took out my own phone and typed into the search bar.

Instead of an individual photograph of me, the information page displayed a picture of the entire group.

【 Artist 】 The New Black

Wins: 0

Nominations: 1

I looked at the members giggling in front of me while holding the trophy, then turned my gaze back to the screen.

I smiled at Seokhwan.

“We’re going to get even busier than we are now, hyung.”

“…Busier than this?”

“Yeah. Because the road ahead is pretty long now.”

It was time to return to the starting line.

The after-party was being held at Cold Brown’s mansion in Los Angeles.

A lawn as wide as a soccer field.

A fountain spraying water.

Music was already flowing from the lavishly decorated two-story house, where the party appeared to be in full swing.

“Oh.”

As we got out of the vehicle and admired the magnificent house, someone looked around the neighborhood and spoke.

“Huh? Isn’t this that area? Near Ri Hyuk’s mother’s house?”

“I think so.”

“Wow.”

Ri Hyuk nodded.

“Instead of going back to the hotel later, let’s go to my mom’s house. She said it doesn’t matter if we arrive at dawn and told us to stay over while we’re here.”

“Is Yein there too?”

“It’s during the semester, but she said she came to see me.”

Wasn’t she at Brown University?

I thought it was located all the way on the East Coast, but it seemed she had traveled to the opposite end of the country to see her brother.

In any case, as we discussed visiting Ri Hyuk’s family later that night, we approached the main entrance to the party.

“Hey!!!”

A rapper enjoying the party in his stage outfit sprang to his feet.

“You’re here!”

“We made it.”

Cold Brown approached us with a radiant smile.

“Welcome to Cold House, my friends! Help yourselves to all the food and drinks you want. And Wooju, I prepared some very special cocktails just for you. They’re nonalcoholic, so relax and drink as much as you like.”

“Thank you.”

“Since you guys were coming, I decided to make tonight’s party a little more formal.”

Perhaps that was why it felt somewhat different from the after-parties we had imagined.

Everyone was still dressed in their awards ceremony outfits, sipping cocktails while elegant jazz music played.

“There are so many people.”

An enormous crowd had gathered to congratulate the hip-hop singer on his first Grammy.

It almost felt like the official Grammy Awards after-party.

In the distance, Album of the Year winner Mandy Spice was chatting with her friends, while Song of the Year winner Regina leaned close to a handsome actor, whispering something and giggling.

As the others picked up drinks and mingled with the crowd, Cold put an arm around my shoulders.

“Thank you so much, my friend.”

I had never seen anyone smile this happily before.

“Today will be a day I’ll never forget. It’s the day I finally achieved everything I wanted as a singer.”

“Congratulations from the bottom of my heart, Cold.”

I smiled and asked,

“Now that you’ve won a Grammy, what are your plans for the near future?”

“I’m going to rest. I’ll take a long, proper break. And if I have the time…….”

I wondered whether he was about to say he would make a new album.

Cold Brown’s eyes gleamed.

“I’ll enter politics.”

“?”

“That’s the only thing left for me now. Heh heh heh. I’ll become California’s first Black governor.”

“I-I see.”

“Of course, I’m half joking. For the time being, I should do a few more things that will help build my reputation.”

The incarnation of burning ambition for honor said to me,

“Anyway, I truly don’t know how to express my gratitude. Winning the Grammy today was the greatest gift of my life.”

Then, as though something had occurred to him, he said,

“Oh, right. Do you remember what I said about the Bugatti?”

“Yes.”

“I wasn’t joking. Do you want to take one from my garage?”

“Ah, but even if I accepted a car, I wouldn’t have any use for it….”

I remembered his earlier offer to give me a car worth seven billion won.

Cold said,

“Then should I give you something else? Something of similar value?”

“I’d certainly appreciate that.”

“Give me some time. I’ll think of an appropriate gift.”

I laughed and told him I would look forward to it, but someone called for Cold from across the party.

After saying we would talk again later, I joined the crowd.

I exchanged congratulations with Mandy on our respective awards and also greeted the band that had won Best New Artist that night.

“Congratulations on Record of the Year!”

“Sunny, do you have a moment? There’s someone I’d like to introduce you to today. This friend is also extremely talented…….”

“I actually cried when your father received his award earlier.”

Was it because I now carried the title of Grammy winner?

I wasn’t sure why, but everyone’s attitude seemed subtly different.

Even the people I had met earlier on the red carpet and inside the ceremony hall appeared to treat me with a little more respect after I won Record of the Year.

It could have been my imagination, but they seemed strangely kinder.

Only now did I begin to understand the prestige of a Grammy.

After talking with various people, I slipped away to a quieter area for a moment.

“Hm?”

A faint guitar melody drifted from somewhere.

It was coming from the staircase leading to the second floor.

“?”

When I turned the corner, I found a musician crouched on the stairs, playing a guitar with a gloomy expression.

“Kelly?”

“Hi.”

It was British singer-songwriter Kelly Nelson.

She was an up-and-coming musician who had swept the awards at the previous year’s Grammys and an artist currently receiving heavy support throughout the English-speaking world.

I asked,

“What are you doing there?”

“Composing.”

“Oh.”

I was about to join in, thinking it sounded fun, when she said,

“I broke up with my boyfriend recently. The bastard cheated on me.”

“Ah….”

“I thought coming to the party might make me feel better, but it hasn’t helped at all. I felt like I’d ruin everyone else’s mood if I stayed over there, so I escaped here for a while. There happened to be a guitar too.”

After I offered a few words of consolation, she shrugged, formed a chord, and began humming lyrics insulting her ex-boyfriend.

A sudden curiosity came over me.

I had heard that singer-songwriters in the English-speaking world wrote terrible songs when they were in love and successful ones after a breakup.

“How is it? Is the song coming along?”

“I don’t know. I feel a little stuck….”

As though a good idea had just occurred to her, she said,

“If you’re willing to do me a kindness, I’d love some advice from a Grammy-winning Record of the Year composer.”

“Hmm.”

I could certainly offer advice, but since this was a song attacking her ex-boyfriend, I didn’t think there was any need for me to get involved between them.

“I’m not sure.”

“That’s too bad.”

Kelly Nelson sighed heavily, brushed back her black hair, and said,

“Sorry. I kept you here too long. I’ll see you later.”

“See you.”

I turned away.

As the melody beginning with a C chord started behind me again, I narrowed my eyes.

But who was her ex-boyfriend again…?

-Bom Gam Za!

A potato suddenly popped into my mind.

Kelly Nelson played the guitar with a gloomy expression.

Bastard. Son of a bitch. Colin Evans, you piece of shit….

As she swallowed every imaginable curse and insulted her cheating ex-boyfriend through her lyrics, she heard something nearby.

Pitter-patter—

The sound of someone approaching with excited little steps.

When she raised her head, Wooju was coming back.

“Did you have something to say?”

“That line you just sang. Instead of going D minor, G, E minor, A minor, why don’t you try G, F, A minor, A minor? I think you might get a hit out of it.”

“……?”

“Try it.”

Kelly Nelson tilted her head, then changed the chords and played again.

Her eyes widened.

“Huh?”

It fit as perfectly as a tailored outfit.

The section she had been stuck on opened up with ridiculous ease, and just as Wooju had said, it felt as though a hit song might emerge from it.

“And one more thing. In the pre-chorus earlier….”

She nodded frantically as he offered several useful suggestions.

Was this the talent of someone who had won Record of the Year at the Grammys from the most marginal position imaginable?

As she stared at him in disbelief, Wooju grinned.

“Good luck, then.”

The Grammy-winning composer coolly disappeared after leaving those words behind.

Just as admiration escaped her without her realizing it—

“Hehehe.”

A strangely peculiar laugh came from the corner where Wooju had vanished.

…I must have imagined it.

Dismissing it as an auditory hallucination, Kelly Nelson gripped her guitar with a much lighter expression.

After making a few changes based on the feedback she had received from one of the world’s best composers, the song began flowing with astonishing ease.

Maybe…….

A faint smile appeared as she wondered whether she might have a song worthy of submitting to the Grammys next year.

What if she also added NewBlack’s leader to the credits as a producer or composer?

If the song succeeded and even won an award, her ex-boyfriend would absolutely lose his mind.

She laughed without realizing it.

“Hee hee.”

The singer-songwriter played the guitar with the manic enthusiasm of a madwoman.

It was the moment a new song worthy of challenging next year’s Grammys was born.