GIJS

Chapter 29

Confucius Comes to Me

The meeting of Gunja and hip-hop seemed destined from the start.

The beginning of it all was when Taewoong, sprawled on the floor after a late-night practice in the training room, played a song.

At first, it sounded like a typical idol song, but halfway through, a completely different style emerged.

The sound was absent, the tempo fast, and the tone extremely aggressive.

At first glance, it resembled the 'aniri' (a free rhythm spoken part in pansori) of traditional Korean music.

"Taewoong, does idol music have aniri?"

"Huh? Aniri? That's not aniri?"

Taewoong explained that it wasn't aniri but 'rap.' Rap is a way to express the culture of hip-hop.

"Hip-hop."

The hip-hop culture, which Gunja explored out of curiosity, was indeed unfamiliar and strange.

A Confucian scholar should always be humble, upright, and considerate of others while cherishing his wife.

Hip-hop music, however, was about boasting oneself, flaunting possessions, countering insults with more insults, and even including outrageous lyrics like 'your women, my women.'

"···Such lofty and sacred lyrics..."

Just listening to more than two lines made Gunja's ears turn red and sweat bead on the back of his neck. For someone who had lived his life as a Confucian scholar, hip-hop music was an enormous stimulation and deviation.

But according to Taewoong, rap and hip-hop were indispensable elements in idol music. So despite his red face, he couldn't stop learning.

After all, is there any study that is purely sweet?

Every night, Gunja consistently immersed himself in hip-hop music. Whenever embarrassing lyrics came up, he would exclaim and wake up Yuchan, who was sleeping soundly.

After a week of immersing himself in hip-hop music.

Gunja no longer woke Yuchan. Instead, he even shook his head to the rhythm and enjoyed the music.

Rap and hip-hop.

Wasn't this actually great music?

He suddenly recalled the time he was transcribing lyrics for the first time. Back then, there were always people seeking 'etiquette' before the song started. Etiquette was a concept very familiar to Gunja.

Yet, in this hip-hop music, there seemed to be a lot more 'etiquette' than he had imagined.

No matter which song was played, at least three times, he would shout 'etiquette!' even while boasting. It was a declaration of his will to maintain etiquette while flaunting himself.

But it didn't stop there. 'Eff!' was even more frequent than etiquette. Gunja now understood why hip-hop music was so popular on this land.

But the appeal of hip-hop didn't end there.

Hip-hop, after all, was music that pursued agrarianism and contentment within nature's landscapes.

[SWAG!]
Sap.

Depicting a Confucian scholar enjoying the forests of Cheongsan (青山) while searching for tree sap.

[FLEX!]
Thick pleasure.

Recognizing that great joy does not come from wealth or power but from water.

[Check!]
Book.

Always seeking books shows that even amidst beautiful mountains and waters, the will to study is not abandoned.