Grammo looked like he was intoxicated. He was loving the excitement and fever that everyone seemed to have with his performance. This was the first time that people actually liked his music–a very special feeling that he didn't want to let go. Everyone was waiting to hear more, they were bobbing their heads to the beat, and everyone was dancing to the rhythm of his strums.
And when they started chanting for him to sing, he couldn't help but give in to what they wanted. The customer was always right, right? How could he deprive them of what they so desperately wanted?
He quickly forgot about Patty's advice of never singing. He was washed away by the flow of the crowd, and even he forgot that his singing was something that not everyone will enjoy. He forgot that even Fiends, who had supernatural hearing, hated his singing so much that they would be disoriented from his voice. He only remembered what the crowd wanted, and what they so desperately wished was for him to sing. So he sang.
"liKE tHe SuPRemiTy oF The BEinG
My vOiCe, eAch NOiSe, wE wiLL be BoYS
ThRoUgH ThE hEAveNs, wILL bE LEaKinG
TiMes wiLL gO BaCk"
Everyone pushed their hands against their ears as hard as they could. They wanted to block out the noise that hurt their eardrums because they were afraid that it would rupture their eardrums. At first, they just thought it was feedback from the microphone or the speakers, but when they saw Grammo sing, everytime he opened his mouth, the pain in their ears subsequently got more painful.
It was Grammo. His singing was causing them pain! They couldn't believe that such horrible sounds could come out of the guy who's guitar-playing was so good. It was the exact opposite of what they wanted. They thought that everyone chanted for him to sing because he was good at singing, but they were bamboozled. He was horrible!
And the fact that everything was broadcasted through the giant speakers on the stage only amplified the deafening out-of-tune singing that Grammo was shouting out loud. Those close to the stage immediately rushed away from the speakers, even pushing others just to get themselves to safety. This caused a little bit of a ruckus that was quite similar to how people reacted when they saw the Fiend.
"AHHHH! My ears!"
"Stop singing! Stop it, right now!"
"Oh Supremes why is it in my head?!"
At this point, Grammo sang his song with his eyes closed. He wanted to concentrate on making his voice as good as possible, so he was utterly dumbfounded when he opened his eyes. The dancing and partying was long gone. They weren't dancing to the beat anymore. They weren't even trying to listen to his music–they were actively trying to get away from him!
Why were they trying to move away from the stage? Grammo didn't know. In this high stakes and tense situation, he wasn't thinking straight. And what does he do in these kinds of situations where he couldn't think logically? He responds in the most crazy way possible.
nO MaTteR wHeRE yOu ArE
I wiLL ReAcH yOU, I WiLL rEAcH YOu
He started singing even louder, even leaning into the microphone! His response to people walking away from his music was to sing even louder to make sure that they could still hear him even if they moved away from the stage! That was absolutely crazy! It was so crazy that Patty started laughing at the absurdity of his friend.
"HAHAHAHAHA! That's how you react?! HAHAHAHAHA!"
Even though he didn't disagree with the people saying that Grammo was bad at singing, he still admired him for his tenacity and his crazy confidence in himself. Who in their right mind would respond like this? No one, only Grammo who had this unabated passion for singing no matter how much everyone hated what he did. It was an admirable feat.
But for the three people who started the whole chant for Grammo to sing, they couldn't stand the unperturbed confidence he had. Why wasn't Grammo demoralized from seeing everyone plug their ears in desperation? He should have stopped his performance and left the stage depressed and dejected to the point of never singing again? They didn't understand it. They hated it.
"AH! Why are you so stubborn?! Just stop!"
"Stop singing man! You're hurting my ears!"
"Just leave the stage!"
One of them picked up a stone from the ground and threw it at Grammo, hoping that a trend would start where all of the people in the crowd would start throwing stuff at Grammo to make him stop his singing.
Unfortunately for him, someone from the crowd raised his hand and caught the stone right in his palms. They looked down and saw that it was Patty, the guy who was with Grammo earlier, who caught the stone.
Patty may have failed at stopping them from starting a chant, he wouldn't fail this time. The crowd could leave and chose to not listen to Grammo sing, as it was within their rights, but choosing violence was not something that should be tolerated. Especially since Grammo didn't have a Teqx to protect him.
And to stop further attempts, Patty quickly turned the stone around and threw it back where it came from. The three of them were unprepared and it struck one of them directly in the ears. He immediately grabbed his ear in pain.
"Oh sorry? Does your ear hurt now?"
The three of them quickly got scared and left the venue. And with that, Grammo finished his performance, albeit most of the crowd already dispersed away from the stage. He strummed his last guitar chord, which forced the crowd to remember the good times and sound that Grammo had before he started singing.
Grammo heaved his chest up and down, exhausted from playing his heart out to the crowd, or whatever's left of them. He bowed at the judges and quickly left the stage.
Patty thought that they didn't have any chance at winning the competition, but suddenly, he heard some people murmuring and chatting to themselves.
"He's bad at singing, but…"
"Yeah, he's bad but…"
"I don't like his voice but…"
But–that was always the end of their opinions. He thought that the general consensus towards Grammo would be negative due to his horrible singing, but it turned out that the crowd seemed to have leftover appreciation for his guitar skills. Patty saw the general change in the crowd's reaction when people started flocking the stage again.
"His guitar skills were nice."
"I danced quite well to his beat and rhythm."
"I'm a guitar player, and even I can't play that well."
Slowly, people started to congregate and talk to each other. Everyone hated his singing, but that was quickly balanced out by his amazing guitar skills. It was a strange thing to see, since most of these people were on the verge of leaving the whole festival just to get away from Grammo's singing. But now, as the performance ended, they started to think to themselves.
Yes, Grammo was bad at singing but he's really good at playing the guitar. And isn't the whole point of this competition was to find who was the best musician?
"Hey, isn't the reward for this competition a Voice Box Teqx?"
"Yeah, it is."
"Isn't it a perfect match, then? If he gets the Voice Box Teqx, then he will fix his voice. And if he becomes an artist who has both tremendous skills at the guitar paired with an amazing voice, then wouldn't he become a superstar?"
"I agree with that."
"He should win the competition!"
The rest of the crowd agreed with the sentiment. They all wanted Grammo to win the Voice Box Teqx because he was the one who could make the most use out of it. He was the one who needed the Teqx desperately. Most of the contestants they heard today already had good singing voices, but they were bad at everything else. Only Grammo sucked at singing.
They all went towards the judges in the front and pleaded for them to give Grammo the win. It would be unfortunate for Grammo's talent at the guitar to be hindered by his out-of-tone voice. If he just fixed his voice, then he would be a force to be reckoned with. Nobody deserved that Voice Box Teqx other than Grammo.
The judges already had scores written on their papers. They conferred with each other to give the final verdict when all of a sudden, the door to their private booth suddenly blew wide open.
"Do you know who I am?" a youth in a school uniform suddenly appeared beside the judges. He had an air of arrogance that only inheritors would possess.
One of the judges recognized his face. "Sonny Sunverk is your father…"
Griff nodded in satisfaction. "That's right. Now, I have a little gift for you." He took out three black crystals from his pocket. These were Kores. They were so dark and opaque, meaning that it had a high purity percentage. "I have about 20% pure Kores for all three of you."
"What do you want?" the judges couldn't tear their gazes away from the Kores.
Griff smiled. "I just have a little favor."