Chapter 8: Why Didn't You Follow the Script?_1
Harrison Clark began to sing.
His voice had no distinctive characteristics, and his singing skills were unremarkable.
For him to sing this song with his own croaky voice was simply a waste of its beauty.
However, he was well aware of his limitations, so he had spent quite some time practicing this song in his dreams.
Now, although it couldn't be said that he sang well, his performance was just barely at the level of a KTV song king, and he could show about thirty to forty percent of the charm of this song.
Harrison Clark put everything into his singing.
He only glanced at Carrie Thomas' expression at the beginning of the song.
Well, just as he had expected, this encounter was destined. The song was perfect for her, and the look on her face was one of complete enchantment.
Great things were ahead.
Indeed, Carrie Thomas was shocked.
At first, she had been harboring some regrets, feeling that she shouldn't have been so sarcastic towards Harrison Clark yesterday.
The man had real skills.
No matter how he performed and sang, Harrison Clark's revealed ability to create music was impressive to Carrie Thomas, whose output of mature works up to now was zero.
Carrie Thomas asked herself honestly, and she realized that she couldn't write a song like this right now.
But... as she listened further, her face gradually changed.
The lyrics of the song seemed a bit strange, as if they held a hidden meaning!
Finally, Harrison Clark reached the chorus, which required a high range and was quite demanding in terms of vocal skills and voice quality. He didn't force himself to attempt it, as it would be embarrassing if his voice cracked or went out of tune.
His singing and playing came to an abrupt halt.
Since he wanted to sell this song to her, it wouldn't be appropriate to sing it all the way through. He should leave something to be desired.
By now, the bait should be attractive enough for her, right?
Harrison Clark slowly put down the guitar and looked at Carrie Thomas with expectant eyes.
Unexpectedly, at this moment, the look in Carrie Thomas' eyes seemed to be that of someone who wanted to charge forward and beat him up.
"What do you think of my song? I haven't finished yet, but if you like it..."
"Enough, Harrison Clark."
Carrie Thomas interrupted him, her teeth grinding audibly.
Harrison Clark was taken aback. "Huh? What's wrong? What did I do?"
"Harrison Clark, I don't need you to look up to me, nor do I need your pity. But I won't allow you to mock me! I warn you, this is the last time you'll harass me! Goodbye!"
Carrie Thomas suddenly snapped these harsh words, then pushed past Harrison Clark, slamming the door behind her and leaving him standing alone in the narrow corridor, utterly disheveled.
He couldn't understand what had happened. How did things suddenly explode while they seemed to be going well?
You're too temperamental like Beethoven, aren't you!
After leaving, Carrie Thomas' face was still flushed red, and she appeared mortified and humiliated.
She muttered under her breath, "Yes, I'm singing in a bar now. I'm vulgar, I'm lowly! But did you really have to write a song specifically to mock me? And you wrote it so well that I was actually moved? I must be crazy, and so are you!"
Yes, she thought Harrison Clark had written this song as a way to mock and ridicule her job.
She was already feeling inferior and lost because of her work as a resident singer in a bar. After hearing the implications of Harrison Clark's lyrics, her feelings of embarrassment and anger had erupted suddenly.
It's no wonder she seemed so temperamental. Any normal woman would most likely have reacted in the same way.
Harrison Clark thought he was being kind, but in reality, he had stabbed right into Carrie Thomas' fragile self-esteem.
At this moment, Carrie Thomas was in the lowest point of her life, unable to see any hope. She hadn't yet managed to break through to a new stage and soar as a butterfly. Instead, she was at her most sensitive and vulnerable.
Life at the bar was already suffocating enough. On top of that, she had to engage in constant mental battles with those who coveted her beauty. She despised everything and was disillusioned with the world, but she was helpless.
Now, she couldn't accept any unusual gaze from others. Instead, she used a layer of prickly armor to firmly wrap up her lonely heart.Carrie's anger persisted until she finally managed to calm down a bit after getting on the bus.
Deep down, however, a wave of sadness welled up inside her inexplicably.
A guy she had never paid attention to before, one she had just bitterly mocked the day before, actually possessed such amazing creative talent.
He probably never meant to mock me, did he?
Maybe it was because of my words yesterday that made him upset, so he wrote this song in just one day?
Why...why don't I have that kind of talent?
There was, in fact, a bit of jealousy and frustration hidden within Carrie's earlier anger.
She looked away, watching the passing traffic and bustling crowds outside the bus.
She didn't want to admit it, but she actually felt a little regretful.
Not having heard the whole song was a bit of a pity.
She didn't know how the rest of the chorus would loop or how the melody might change within the loop. And would the lyrics that followed be less harsh, less ironic?
A song's lyrics should include a setup, development, twist, and conclusion, with emotions building progressively.
Would the entire song just be about mocking my plight?
It was all his fault. If he had sung it all in one go, maybe I could have endured listening till the end.
How could he not finish the depressing first half and then just stop there!
It's such a shame that I won't get a chance to hear the rest now.
At this moment, Harrison was sulking by himself, sitting on a bench.
He was utterly puzzled.
It was utterly embarrassing.
This is your song, right?!
I sang it for you, ready to help you soar.
Shouldn't you have been moved to tears by your own song?
Why didn't you follow the script and get so angry?
Which nerve of yours did I poke this time?
How did I belittle you?
The plan to present "Boring" to its original singer failed miserably.
It seemed that he would have to sell "Boring" to someone else now.
This made things a bit more complicated. Harrison wasn't in the music industry and didn't know any insiders. He had no fame and didn't know how to sell the song. So, it seems he could only rely on sheer luck.
Sing it himself?
Harrison never considered it. That would be a waste of resources, a sheer recklessness.
Oxfordshire was located in England. As the provincial capital with a permanent population of over 10 million, it couldn't compete with first-tier cities like London, Nottingham and Liverpool, but it was still among the top tier in the second-tier cities in the country.
The Oxfordshire city government valued the cultural and creative industry, and more than five years ago, it built the largest cultural and creative industrial park in Asia.
After several years of development, thousands of enterprises settled in the industrial park, covering various fields such as film and television dramas, animation, games, literature, new media, and music.
The entire industrial park generated annual GDP output of hundreds of billions, which has now become the face card of Oxfordshire.
On the weekend, Harrison, dressed in a suit, appeared at the entrance of Building 8, D-Section in the industrial park.
Carrying a guitar on his back, he looked somewhat melancholic.
Over a week had passed since his return from the dreamworld, and he had had a fairly unsuccessful week.
[I don't understand why some readers keep saying that the main character can't get over copying songs. I clearly explained the situation earlier in the story. It's not that he doesn't want to, he just can't right now. Does the current web fiction environment suck that much? People just keep spraying without even reading the story. Fortunately, I've been writing for more than a decade and have excellent stress resistance. Otherwise, a newcomer might indeed explode. The main character will, of course, climb the technology tree, but it might not be the way everyone likes. Just becoming a super-invincible genius right from the start. There are still many web novels with overpowered main characters armed with black technology, so why can't they get past the hurdle with me?]