Legendary Superstar-Chapter 163: Having Fun

By the time midnight arrived, the restaurant was in a complete mess.

The tables that were once neatly organized were now crowded with empty dishes, half-finished drinks, and plates stacked on top of one another. The once neatly-dressed staff now had their ties loosened, sleeves rolled up, and some even had their jackets tossed onto the backs of their chairs.

Laughter echoed loudly across the restaurant, mixing with the occasional off-key singing that blasted from the karaoke screen that someone had set up in the corner.

They utilized the projector that they had used earlier for streaming the drama. Now, it was a whole karaoke with a mic that they also brought.

Several of the older staff members had already surrendered to exhaustion, their heads resting on folded arms on top of the tables. Some snored softly, while others just sat slumped in their chairs, still holding a shot glass limply in their hands.

"Yah, Manager-nim fell asleep with the chopsticks still in his hand!" Jihoon burst out laughing, pointing across the room where one of the managers was dozing off mid-meal, the chopsticks dangling loosely between his fingers.

Meanwhile, a small group of younger actors and staff members had taken over the karaoke screen. They sang freely, with no care for pitch or rhythm, just all feels.

Even Yura was having fun with them.

Yura was holding a microphone in her hand like her life depended on it. She was dramatically belting out an old K-pop ballad while the others swayed and clapped along her.

They were completely out of sync.

Her voice and the tone were off-key, but she didn't care one bit.

"♪ Because I'm your girl~ Because I love you~ ♪"

she wailed, stretching the last note into a pitch so high it could've cracked glass.

The others who were still awake and functional clapped and cheered her on with exaggerated enthusiasm, some laughing so hard they nearly fell off their chairs.

Yura wasn't even singing in the right tempo anymore. She'd slow down randomly, then suddenly speed up again, completely ignoring the rhythm of the background music.

She kept doing dramatic hand gestures like a diva on a big concert stage, tossing her hair and pointing to the crowd like she was singing to a stadium full of fans.

"Yura-ssi, one more! One more," someone shouted in between bouts of laughter.

At that moment, Jihoon stood up from his seat, swaying dangerously like a tree in a storm. His cheeks were so red, and his eyes were glassy. He looked like he was almost drunk already.

"I want to sing too!" Jihoon declared proudly, wobbling his way towards the center where Yura was still singing.

Before anyone could stop him, Jihoon grabbed another mic that was lying on a nearby table and started singing along with her, absolutely butchering the lyrics in his own way.

"♪ Because I'm your guuuuuurl~~♪"

Jihoon half-shouted into the mic, spinning dramatically on the spot and nearly tripping over a chair.

The room burst into laughter. It was even louder than that laugh they let out when Yura was singing alone.

Not satisfied with his solo performance, Jihoon suddenly turned toward the actor's table and spotted Minjae, who was sitting there, chuckling while sipping from his nearly empty beer bottle.

"Hyung! Hyung!" Jihoon shouted out loud, grinning mischievously. "Come here! You can't just sit there like a boring person!"

'Shit…'

Before Minjae could even react properly, Jihoon was already running toward him, grabbing his wrist and tugging him up.

"Jihoon. Go away and let me go," Minjae's forehead creased as he protested, but Jihoon was persistent, using all his drunken strength to drag him toward the karaoke screen.

Minjae stumbled a little as he got up, the world tilting ever so slightly under his feet.

Minjae was also starting to get into a drunken state. The alcohol that he had consumed earlier was definitely starting to kick in his body. He wasn't completely wasted, but he was light-headed.

After all, he'd been drinking not just with his fellow actors, but also with some of the senior staff who kept giving him some shots.

It was definitely hard, but fortunately, it seemed like his body had a good alcohol tolerance.

"Come on, hyung! Let's gooo!" Jihoon urged, laughing like a maniac.

" I'm warning you, Jihoon. Don't make me do something stupid," Minjae just shook his head in disbelief but the playful glint in his eyes showed he wasn't really mad.

He definitely didn't want to do anything for the night that he would regret early in the morning, but somehow, the alcohol was making him courageous enough.

It was as if, in the back of his mind, he also wants to have fun without worrying anything. Just lose himself a little and have fun.

With an exaggerated sigh of defeat, Minjae finally allowed himself to be pulled onto the tiny "stage" area in front of the projector screen. When they saw Minjae, the people who were still awake enough let out loud cheers and applause from their tables.

Yura immediately pointed at them in delight.

"Oppa!! The three of us should sing!"

Just then, the next song cued up.

It was a lively song that was just released a few years ago from one of the most successful Korean groups called BinBang.

As the music started, Minjae grabbed the mic reluctantly that Yura offered to him. He was already cringing in advance at what he was about to do.

He wasn't really used to singing, even if the last time he sang did surprisingly well.

As soon as the music blasted through the speakers, Yura and Jihoon launched into the song with all the enthusiasm of two toddlers on a sugar rush.

"♪NANANANAAAA~!♪"

"♪ NANANANAA~! ♪"

"♪Wow! Fantastic Baby!♪"

Yura screamed into her mic, bouncing on her heels as the cheerful beat sounded on the background. Her voice about three octaves off from the original pitch.

"♪I'm gonna dance, dance, dance, dance! Fantastic Baby!"

Jihoon followed with his own chaotic energy, slurring the lyrics slightly and throwing his free arm around Yura's shoulders as they swayed together, completely out of rhythm.

The loud, off-key screaming nearly assaulted everyone's eardrums. Some staff groaned dramatically and covered their ears with their hands, while others just laughed helplessly, banging their fists against the table.

"My poor ears!" someone wailed from the back.

"Call an ambulance!" another joked.

"Someone, stop them!"

Meanwhile, Minjae stood there holding the microphone in one hand, watching the two with a mix of horror and amusement. He swayed a little on his feet, feeling the alcohol effect making everything seem slightly fun.

At first, he just stayed there, grinning and shaking his head at the two's performance. His logical mind tells him to just stay quiet and let the two have fun.

But after a few seconds, as he watched Jihoon and Yura completely let go of themselves— laughing and singing without a care in the world, something inside him shifted.

'Ah, screw it,' Minjae thought and let out a sigh.

With a small, mischievous smile curling on his lips, Minjae lifted the mic to his mouth.

"♪ In this chaos, hey, it's the boss on display, hey♪"

"♪Shaking the ground, three minutes can't contain this raceway♪"

Minjae's voice was smooth, warm, and steady, slicing through the chaos like a beam of light.

It wasn't showy, but it was good. It was so good that the room, which had been filled with laughter seconds ago, suddenly quieted down a little. The laughter softened into quiet amusement.

They forgot that Minjae had a good voice.

Jihoon and Yura, who were still half-dancing, froze for a second and turned to look at him, their mouths slightly open.

Even if he was light-headed, Minjae's singing still carried a kind of sincerity that hit different from the playful yelling the others had been doing earlier.

It wasn't perfect.

Minjae stumbled over a word here and there, and you could tell he wasn't even trying that hard, but the natural tone of his voice was enough to make people stop and listen to him.

"Whoa… Minjae is gracing us again with hi s voice!"

"Minjae is singing!"

"Wake up, everyone!"

"I'll video this!"

"Someone! Please capture this!"

"Oppa, he's a cheat code! We can't win this!!" Yura was the first to recover. She grabbed Jihoon's wrist and whispered loudly enough for everyone to hear,

Jihoon just laughed, giving up completely. He raised his mic and started beatboxing horribly, while Yura tried to harmonize with Minjae, making silly ad-libs in the background to hype up everyone.

Minjae, who was still smiling lazily, kept singing anyway. He was a little off-beat because of the two, but he rolled with it.

His eyes were half-closed, but his voice blended naturally with the instrumental like he had a talent for it.

The staff members who were still awake clapped and bobbed their heads, some even pulling out their phones to record the moment.

"Yah, Minjae-ssi, just debut as an idol already!" Someone joked from the back, and everyone laughed and agreed.