Chapter 98

Chapter 98. Oh, No! My Bach Teacher!

Ever since Do Jun-hyeok left the country, Anna had been going to her schedules with Jin-hee.

She had gotten the opportunity to appear on 〈K-Hip-Hop Star〉 thanks to Do Jun-hyeok, so it was disappointing that he wasn't there.

Part of her wanted to show him how well she was doing in real time.

At the same time, the thought was embarrassing.

So Anna decided to quietly accept the lonely situation.

Around the same time, PD Kim Gyu-sam had extremely high expectations for Anna.

Kim Gyu-sam was a veteran producer who had continuously planned and directed hip-hop programs, beginning with 〈Give Me the Money〉 and later producing Season 3 of its female-contestant version, 〈I'm Pretty Rapstar〉.

Among them, 〈I'm Pretty Rapstar〉 had been particularly successful.

That was because the conflict among female rappers between the mainstream and underground scenes, including idols, tended to be even sharper than among male rappers.

Season 1 had focused on discovering hidden rap talents and putting them through a competition.

Season 2 recruited many skilled rappers from idol backgrounds, creating a competition filled with strong visuals.

That was when the show faced fierce criticism from rappers.

Their complaint was simple.

People who weren't even real rappers were coming onto the program and muddying the hip-hop scene.

The season Anna had appeared on in the past was precisely that controversial Season 2.

Ironically, that criticism was what made Season 3 a huge success.

When conflict between the mainstream and underground scenes reached its peak, the program became the battlefield where the two sides clashed.

And now Kim Gyu-sam was preparing a newly branded program, 〈K-Hip-Hop Star〉, designed around an even more calculated conflict structure.

If it succeeded, he planned to make Season 2 a male version again.

The conflict between mainstream and underground rappers that had caught fire during Season 3 of 〈I'm Pretty Rapstar〉 gradually cooled as the years passed.

There had been one major diss war in the meantime.

But almost every rapper around had participated in that battle, so there wasn't much left to dig up anymore.

If 〈K-Hip-Hop Star〉 tried to repeat the same old conflict using familiar names, people would obviously call it boring.

That was why Kim Gyu-sam was focusing on Anna.

An assistant director who had been talking with him spoke up.

"Among the rappers who passed the first round this time... what about Kaiser?"

"Kaiser? But she came from a major agency too. Doesn't that make her a weak representative for the underground side?"

"She came from one, but she never debuted. She spent some time as a trainee, then quit and left."

Anna had received a lot of attention during the diss battle in Season 2, but she'd been eliminated while preparing the third performance.

She had gone out around the middle of the competition, so she hadn't done particularly well or particularly badly.

But she was definitely not an obvious or overused contestant.

She had taken plenty of attacks for being an idol rapper, yet afterward she'd stayed out of the major diss wars.

These days, her image as an idol was far stronger than her image as a rapper.

If she came onto the show and proved her skill...

She could become the new rising force leading idol rappers.

"Kaiser is insanely good too. Her voice is intimidating. During the big diss war, she said it was childish and refused to participate, but if you listen to her songs, her lyrics are vicious. She's definitely a championship contender."

Compared to Maralak, Kaiser had been far more active in the underground scene.

She frequently collaborated with successful producers and remained musically active, but almost never appeared on television.

If not for Kim Gyu-sam's hip-hop programs, viewers probably wouldn't have seen her on TV at all.

"I saw her in the first round. She was even better than I expected."

"Then let's do this. Idol versus underground again. Put Maralak on the idol side and Kaiser on the underground side. If we edit them against each other, we can revive the same tension we had in Season 3."

The assistant director couldn't hide his excitement.

In the end, they decided to go with that plan.

Still, Kim Gyu-sam had one concern left.

Anna's skill was undeniable.

Universe simply hadn't released a proper solo rap track for her yet, so the public hadn't fully heard it.

But judging from recordings posted on Murim.com, she had already reached a level where she could stand against Kaiser.

She had even earned some recognition in the underground scene.

If the program recorded her properly and gave her enough support, she could turn into a monster.

The problem was Do Jun-hyeok.

From what Kim Gyu-sam had heard about 〈Rebooting〉, the man was practically a producer killer.

And Kim Gyu-sam had been manufacturing conflicts through editing since Season 2.

There was no way Do Jun-hyeok wouldn't make him nervous.

My ears weren't itching.

Apparently nobody was cursing me behind my back.

Even someone as ignorant about cars as me had assumed there would be some kind of airbag problem.

So I thought that if I opened the hood, I'd at least be able to identify something suspicious.

I was wrong.

I could barely tell where the engine compartment was.

I had no idea where anything related to the airbags might be.

For a moment, I even considered smashing something at random out of frustration.

But even if that somehow triggered the airbags, it wouldn't prove anything.

If they deployed, the crew would simply replace them.

And the replacements might work perfectly.

After spending several days watching for an opportunity, I eventually brought an actual mechanic with me and inspected the vehicle.

When I told him I wanted to check the airbag sensor, he didn't open the hood.

Instead, he pulled up the flooring between the driver's seat and passenger seat.

There really was a component there.

He called it the airbag control unit.

It detected impacts and sent the signal that triggered the airbags.

He removed the component and said he'd test it.

The next day, he told me he'd checked the circuits and electrical operation of the sensors.

There was nothing wrong.

Damn it.

If the sensor itself had been defective, this would've been simple.

Now things had become complicated.

Since I kept looking anxious, he offered to replace it with a more sensitive sensor.

But if the original sensor was already responding normally, then it shouldn't have caused the problem in the first place.

Making it more sensitive probably wouldn't change anything.

"Come meet him. This is Mr. Shalon, one of the investors. 〈Furious Drive〉 wouldn't exist without him."

Eventually, November 16 arrived.

More precisely, it was the night of November 15.

And I still hadn't solved anything.

"I heard you're thinking about entering the film business in Korea. I've been keeping an eye on Korean cinema, so I'm looking forward to seeing what you do. I'm even considering creating a division that imports Korean films. That makes you a potential future client of mine, CEO Do Jun-hyeok."

Shalon smiled as he spoke.

Sorry, but this wasn't the time to smile.

Your investment money depended on whether those airbags worked.

Were you getting your smiling done in advance before you had to cry?

"You must have high expectations. You even secured a location on this scale."

"Ah, yes. This is your first time here, isn't it? This is a film set."

"What?"

Shalon gestured toward the entire city around us.

I'd assumed the area was so quiet because the production had filed permits and blocked off the roads.

But this entire enormous place was a set.

Never underestimate America.

Shalon added that there was a CG studio right next door, which made production extremely convenient.

I had no idea how big an advantage that really was.

But at least this didn't look like the kind of place where endangered narrow-mouthed frogs would suddenly appear.

"I heard there's a driving scene today. You're not doing that part with CG?"

"You already heard about it? No, we'll be driving the vehicles for real. It's somewhat dangerous, but there won't be an accident."

According to Shalon, the scene involved the protagonist's car and Brandon Parker's villain vehicle charging toward each other as though they were about to collide, then narrowly swerving past on opposite sides.

From a distance, it would probably look like two vehicles speeding past each other in opposite lanes.

Apparently the actual choreography put them much closer than it appeared.

Near the Starius, the director of photography and several camera operators were rehearsing the camera movement.

They had laid down a long rail system, so as long as the angle was adjusted properly, filming should go smoothly.

"And this is Revick, who handled the OST for this scene. Best Rap category at the Gram Awards, Best Collaboration at the BIT Awards, Top Artist at the Music Awards, Best Track of the Year at the Hip-Hop Awards..."

"You can stop there. Dae-hun and I are already close friends. Right, bro?"

Revick interrupted Shalon.

Shalon had almost as many words as he had money.

Revick said he'd stopped by to see what kind of atmosphere the scene had.

If necessary, he intended to revise the song to match.

It was touching how hard everyone was working.

Too bad an accident was still going to happen.

I checked the news just in case an article about faulty airbags had suddenly appeared.

Nothing.

In the distance, I noticed someone from Chebrolet's American headquarters too, so I approached him with Shalon.

He said he hadn't come for any official business.

Still, he'd probably stopped by to maintain a good relationship with the film crew.

"Has that vehicle gone through any separate safety inspection? I heard today's driving scene is unusually dangerous."

The Chebrolet representative had been smiling while talking with Shalon, but his expression stiffened slightly at my question.

"Ah... Our vehicles are safe even in normal consumer versions. There isn't anything particularly different just because this one is being used for filming."

"I see."

Even I didn't know what I was trying to accomplish by asking that.

Even if they'd done a special safety inspection, the airbag in the future still wouldn't deploy.

"All right! It's time! We're starting the shoot!"

Time was up.

This was bad.

Argh.

Brain, full power!

First of all, I'd brought all three of my Starius vans with me.

If I suggested swapping the film vehicle with one of mine, I could at least slightly increase the odds of the airbags working.

The production vehicle had a 100-percent chance of failure.

Mine should theoretically be safer.

But I still didn't know what would happen.

If my replacement vehicle failed too, then I'd be the one blamed.

I'd lose the upgrade.

And I'd become the fucking Asian who killed Brandon Parker.

I couldn't just lie down in the middle of the set and refuse to move until they canceled filming either.

Should I crash into the car first?

To prove that the airbags didn't deploy?

No.

Sure, it might prove something.

But I'd be deliberately destroying a vehicle that might not even have a real defect.

And I'd probably end up dead myself.

Then I spotted the Weimarch that Park Gwang-cheol's staff had brought while I was driving earlier.

It was a sleek luxury sedan.

And it looked extremely safe.

The situation was urgent.

But I had to think calmly.

Could I use that Weimarch?

Yes.

Let's use it.

I immediately walked over to Park Gwang-cheol.

"Wow, Mr. Park Gwang-cheol. That car is yours? You drive something really nice."

"What? Ah, my hyung apparently bought it after his succession as chairman was confirmed. It's pretty good."

Thank you, Gwang-ho.

"That car is actually my dream car. Could I drive it once?"

"What? CEO Do Jun-hyeok has a dream car? You should've told me! Want me to just buy you one?"

"No. I only want to drive it once today."

Gwang-cheol handed me the key, telling me not to interfere with filming.

Then, because I didn't want anyone accusing me of tampering afterward, I went to the props staff and asked for the Starius key.

I needed the Starius running when I tested it.

Otherwise, I wouldn't know whether the airbags were supposed to deploy.

I started the engine.

Set the parking brake.

Then got back out.

With the Starius running, I climbed into the Weimarch.

There had to be a smarter way...

But I didn't have time to keep thinking.

I was running out of time.

Still, this method would definitely prove it.

I might immediately end up behind bars afterward.

But at least I'd have a perfectly valid explanation.

I took one deep breath.

Then I brought the Weimarch DS8 Zeppelin to life.

The dashboard lit up.

The Starius sat directly ahead of me like a locked target.

After confirming its engine was running, I demonstrated something for Gwang-cheol.

Just how hard I could stomp on an accelerator when I wanted to.

Full-power frontal collision.

BANG!

The instant the cars collided, screams erupted from every direction.

I could hear them clearly enough that the Weimarch's windows must have shattered too.

But I couldn't confirm it.

The airbags exploded into me with so much force that I immediately lost consciousness.

And when I opened my eyes again...

I was lying somewhere I couldn't believe.

Judging by how it felt, roughly an hour had passed since I crashed into the Starius.