⊹ ࣪ ˖ ❝ K-Idol!Horangi ❞ ࣪ ˖
Note: So… as some of you guys may or may not have known, Horangi got into debt with a local crime boss when he was a compulsive gambler and had to flee his home and join the local military before his arc started as the “Horangi” we know now (taken from the official wiki fandom page). Now here, I’d like to expand and dive deeper on his double life as both a military contractor and an underground indie artist within the timeframe of his life.
𖧧 He’d be a soloist. A rapper to be specific.
𖧧 Picture the vibes of BewhY, Big Matthew from KARD, Felix from Stray Kids, Agust D, and so forth.
𖧧 He gives off those ruggish downtown boy vibes that’s usually known and could be told apart for the visuals, music style/aesthetic, and unique range.
𖧧 His fondness of implementing cultural elements whether lyric or beat-wise with modern music is quite conspicuous. He finds adding sounds of traditional Korean instrumentals in his beats and to add references of his hometown in his lyrics to be endearing and an integral part of who he is.
𖧧 He’s quite a small artist and a private one at that. Only wishing for his listeners to see him for his art and not as who he really is outside of that.
𖧧 (I’m still kinda unsure what his stage name should be. Should it be “Horangi” too? Or should he want to use another name instead?)
𖧧 His music journey started when he wanted to make some money while being caught in the deep end.
𖧧 When he had first started out, he found it overwhelming and impossible to put his voice out there within the voices of many groups and soloists already making it big.
𖧧 Horangi being Horangi, he pushed through the waters anyway and dared to publish his first practice beats on SoundCloud, not expecting much anyway.
𖧧 A first then became a second. A second merged into a third. It took the fellow a good while to finally include vocals into some of his songs as well as gaining a few listeners along the way.
𖧧 All this he did as a side hustle while planning to enlist in the Republic of Korea Armed Forces to flee from his home, his family, and the anticipating creditors.
𖧧 Timeskip to when he finally found himself and his life’s purpose as the current Horangi.
𖧧 Not long after, he joined KorTac as a contractor. That is when he met König.
𖧧 The two couldn’t really interact much. Or rather, wouldn’t. With König already having social anxiety and Horangi determined to succeed on his job, they could merely greet and uplift one another like ordinary teammates would.
𖧧 Such was the norm until one day…
𖧧 “Man, today’s been a blast! A blast yet exhausting day. An exhaustingly blasting day? Anyway, König, what do you usually do to wind down, big guy?”
𖧧 “Hm… I usually listen to some music.”
𖧧 “Oh really? What kind?”
𖧧 “Uh… metal and rock I suppose…?”
𖧧 *Gets flashbacks to his early days when he first started on his music journey*
𖧧 “You know, funnily enough, I just remembered that I used to make music before enlisting in the military.”
𖧧 “Yeah. It was nothing much. Just um… a side hustle, if you would call it. I wasn’t like a big artist or anything, just a small one. An indie artist if you will.”
𖧧 Horangi then endeavored to log into his old SoundCloud account… only to discover that he had around hundreds of monthly listeners and each of his few songs getting hundreds and if lucky, then a thousand plays.
𖧧 Not completely a 180° to when he first started his journey, but it was more than he had expected since the beginning of his career.
𖧧 He then endeavored to get back to making music during his time off, doing market research to find out what the listeners wanted, exploring alternative music genres, mashing up beats, expanding his vocal range, you name it, he was genuine and actively getting into it.
𖧧 Eventually, he became more confident in putting himself out there, and started posting his music on other platforms, building up his portfolio.
𖧧 And that’s when he began gaining recognition. He remembers the time he got his first comment leading up to his first fan mail.
𖧧 Horangi endeavored to bring it up again one day, “Yo man, remember that one time I mentioned that I was an indie artist?”
𖧧 “So you see… I’ve kind of gotten a little group of fans but, no labels have offered me to sign with them yet but could you imagine mate? I’ve got uh… what do they call it again? A ‘fandom’, so to speak?”
𖧧 “Uh-huh? And where are you going with this?”
𖧧 “All I’m saying is that I’m kind of famous now,” he grinned behind his mask. “You could um, probably give it a listen sometime, yeah? If you want, no pressure of course man.”
𖧧 “No guarantees though.”
𖧧 Yet he found himself going through pages dedicated by Horangi’s fans during his time off, his interest won over the fandom he had stumbled upon calling themselves FIERCE.
𖧧 He may had also given his music a chance. Perhaps once. Perhaps even twice. Perhaps he had lost count. Perhaps in his personal life outside the military grounds. Perhaps he had found himself unconsciously playing his music in the background while getting lost in his hobbies.
𖧧 Maybe, just maybe… Horangi may have reached an integral part of somebody’s life through his voice.