Chapter 70. Second chance (1)

"Let's welcome our next performer! The singer who ruled the charts last month with her song 'Never give up', Lee Hyerin and accompanying her is the guitarist Kang Minyuk!!"

The MC of the program 'Music nights' said loudly in the mic and the audience cheered, standing before the stage. 

The popularity of Lee Hyerin had continued to rise everyday since her comeback, so there was a loud cheer from the audience. 

"I can't wait to see her performance!!"

"I hope she plays Never give up. It's my favourite song!"

"Mine too!! I play it on loop everyday."

"Do you know who this Kang Minyuk is? I searched him up, but there's no information on Google."

"Guess, he's a newbie."

"I thought Lee Hyerin would also come up with a famous guitarist since Kim Jisu was accompanied by Jaine."

Amidst the murmurs of the audience, Lee Hyerin and Minyuk appeared on the stage. With a sweet smile on her face, Lee Hyerin waved her hand towards the audience. 

She was nervous just a minute ago, but her complexion seemed to have changed after appearing on the stage. 

On the other hand, Minyuk was still stiff.

'Calm down! Calm down!'

Minyuk was constantly muttering that in his mind, but the pressure on his shoulders was just increasing every second.

It was not like he was afraid of playing in front of the audience. The pressure was because he was performing in a major program on a public network. 

It was world's apart from playing in clubs or bars. 

"I will be starting with my recent hit song Never give up. Hope you all like it!"

Lee Hyerin said in the mic and the audience cheered with claps and shouting. 

Minyuk takes a seat, as he wore a stiff expression. Signalling for him to start, Lee Hyerin threw a glance at him. His hands then reached out for the strings of the guitar.

Normally, he'd have felt a sense of calmness every time he held up his guitar while he strummed its strings, but this time, nothing like that happened.

Even so, Minyuk continued to play his guitar.

"Cry... I'm crying tonight…"

Lee Hyerin's bright voice resounded throughout the whole studio as she started the song off with a powerful tone. It was filled with so much strength and intense emotions. 

"Under the moonlight…"

"There's no one else, but me here…"

Every single person in the audience, one by one, started to calm down as they waved their glow sticks in the air to the rhythm of the beat.

Even though he was nervous, Minyuk didn't make any mistakes in the intro, but things quickly started to change.

Maybe it was because he was nervous, but he started sweating from all over his body. The sweat travelled to his neck area and it made him feel ticklish.

He tried to focus on playing the guitar, but the sweat and the ticklish feeling began to distract him. Adding it with his nervousness, a mistake was inevitable...

"Never give... uh..?"

The voice of Lee Hyerin suddenly came to a stop and she looked at Minyuk with a blank expression. It was the same for Minyuk whose mind has gone blank in a second. 

'I went off beat and made a mistake.'

Minyuk gulped and made an awkward expression realising that.

The thing which he was fearing from the start has come true. He had made a mistake and the audience were now looking at him in silence.

Their gazes felt like stabs to him! 

Minyuk lowered his gaze subconsciously and the silence in the audience burst out in the form of murmurs. 

"That guy made a mistake, right?"

"Yeah, he went off beat and ruined the performance. What's his name?"

"Kinyuk or something?"

"I'm feeling bad for Lee Hyerin. I was enjoying her song, but that guy ruined it. He can't even play the guitar properly. Why is he up on the stage?"

Minyuk felt like someone was stabbing a knife in his chest repeatedly. The murmurs continued to get louder and his confidence was quickly going down. 

Even Lee Hyerin who had several years of stage experience didn't know what to do. At that moment, Minyuk suddenly heard a familiar voice. 

"Minyuk!!"

He raised his head to see Lee Hyun who was somehow standing in the audience seats. His expression was calm and his voice has a soothing quality to it.

Lee Hyun again opened his mouth, seeing that Minyuk was paying attention to him. 

"Remember the words I told you before coming here. Don't panic and just start again!"

'The words?'

Minyuk thought back to the conversation he had with Lee Hyun earlier. One of Lee Hyun's sentences came into his mind.

'You once told me that the stage doesn't matter to you. Then, it should also not matter whether you are singing on a public network broadcast or not. Just remember what your dream is and show the audience that you are better than anyone else.'

He didn't know why, but thinking of those words gave him strength. 

He was thinking too much about it being a public network show. That made him nervous. He didn't think that he just needed to do what he was good at - playing the guitar and singing. 

"Let's start again."

After thinking about all that, Minyuk turned to look at Lee Hyerin and said. 

"Will you be fine this time?"

"Yeah, don't worry."

Lee Hyerin nodded hearing that and looked at the audience who were still murmuring. She then opened her lips.

"I'm sorry for what happened. It's the first time Minyuk is on a broadcast and he was a little nervous. Why don't we start again?"

The audience murmuring stopped after that and Lee Hyerin again signalled Minyuk to start who nodded his head and started strumming the strings with an unusual vigour.

The cooled atmosphere in the audience seats suddenly started to heat up as Minyuk finally started showing off his insane skills. 

* * *

"That's crazy... How can he play like that?!"

Kim Jisu who was spectating the performance from backstage exclaimed when she saw Minyuk moving his hands around the guitar strings like a maestro. 

She was feeling like angels were blowing horns for her when Minyuk had made a mistake and the whole performance was disrupted, but it seems like it was the exact opposite.

Shortly after that incident, Minyuk and Lee Hyerin again started the performance and this time, Minyuk was showing his true colours. 

Colours that seem too vibrant to Kim Jisu.

"I, I never thought he would be this skilled..."

Kim Jisu turned her head to look at Jaine who had his eyes widened. 

He was too in shock seeing Minyuk's true skills. The normal people would just think that Minyuk plays really well, but only a professional guitarist like Jaime can see the true skill of Minyuk.

"Is he really that good?"

Kim Jisu asked him and Jaime nodded his head. 

"Yeah, if we judge by just skill, then his skill level is easily among the best in Korea. I wonder where he learned to play the guitar... He didn't even go to a university."

Jaime wondered why Minyuk was still unknown with this level of skill. He was also sure that he would blow up after this episode of Music nights airs. 

"Um, Is he better than you?"

"Ah?"

Jaime opened and closed his mouth when he heard that question. Honestly, he didn't know how to answer as he wasn't sure.

In the end, he just replied, 

"I can't say for sure, but I think he's better than me..."

Kim Jisu's eyes wavered hearing that.