Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Because I ended up crying, the song ended without being properly finished.

Still, since I showed everything I had to show it doesn’t matter... like hell.

Damn it, it’s embarrassing.

Why did I cry?

Since I was deeply immersed I don’t even know exactly what I thought.

But what’s certain is, my thoughts were in the past.

Which is now becoming the present.

“Um, Seoha, are you okay?”

Lee Doyoung seemed a bit surprised seeing my tears, and offered words of comfort.

Funny guy.

Even though he doesn’t know why I cried.

“Wow shit. If I sang as well as Cha Seoha I think I would’ve cried looking in the mirror too.”

Heo Junseong nodded his head.

It looks like comfort but it’s probably sincere.

Even funnier guy.

“Do you often cry on stage too?”

Kim Jihu asked worriedly, but that would be worry that if it happens often it’ll ruin the stage, not worry about me.

Not even funny guy.

Anyway, I need to get out of this situation quickly.

“I don’t cry. Absolutely don’t cry. A man cries three times from birth, today is the third.”

“...Are you a bit crazy?”

“Anyway, how was the song?”

“I want to join the band. I want to put my playing on your song.”

Kim Jihu said while looking straight into my eyes.

Without a shred of hesitation.

As expected, Kim Jihu who can be endlessly honest when he’s honest.

“Me too, I thought that too.”

“Uh, um, me a little too?”

Lee Doyoung and Heo Junseong add on not to be outdone.

My heart eased.

As expected, we seem fated to do music together.

From that day on we equipped the instruments each of us needed in the school practice room and started practicing in earnest.

The first thing we had to do was confirm each other’s skills.

“Who goes first?”

“From the youngest.”

“Youngest?”

“Ahem, Confucianism is strict, wouldn’t the one who joined last be the youngest?”

At Heo Junseong’s words Kim Jihu insisted on deciding upper and lower by mock exam scores and there was a fierce clash.

For reference I was on Heo Junseong’s side.

If by mock exam scores I’m the youngest.

Absurdly Lee Doyoung was on Kim Jihu’s side.

Damn it, the guys who study well seem to lack empathy ability anyway.

They can empathize with my grades too, right?

After a long verbal fight Heo Junseong said he would take the lead as ‘senior’ and picked up the guitar.

“Watch well.”

He particularly stuck his gaze into me and said that, then Heo Junseong catching the guitar tone.

Huh, this tone?

It’s the guitar tone of that song.

The very song he played for demonstration at Hyun’s Resonance last time.

Of course there are many songs with the same guitar tone but Heo Junseong’s expression was clearly one of intending to play that song.

The familiar guitar riff that popped out like that was as expected.

I thought he would select a flashier and more stimulating song, so it was unexpected.

This guy is trying to show off not his current skill but the short-term growth range to me. That is, the amount of effort.

Only a few days have passed but it’s definitely better than last time.

There was leeway in the movements and rather than playing from memory he was entrusting his whole body to the rhythm.

Yeah, this is playing.

I wanted to see a more technical performance but this isn’t bad either.

Imagining how much Heo Junseong gritted his teeth and practiced these few days, somehow a thought that he was admirable arose.

“Good, better than before.”

“Is that the end?”

“Then what? Want me to pat your butt too?”

“...Will you?”

“...Get lost.”

“It’s a joke, don’t get serious.”

As expected Heo Junseong has good emotions.

A feeling like the protagonist of an aggressive and belligerent boys’ manga.

Band is important for each other’s harmony but exceptionally guitar has to have a bit of a standing-out taste.

If looking for a flaw, it’s about being easy to get excited?

I’ll have to slowly correct it.

Because we have no intention of ending as a neighborhood band.

After that I moved my gaze to Lee Doyoung.

“Doyoung, you have to show your playing too.”

“Yeah, but compared to you guys it’ll be far lacking.”

“Possibility is more important than current skill. Look at Heo Junseong. Until a few days ago he was a mess.”

“Hey, a mess, it wasn’t to that degree.”

Heo Junseong refuted but Lee Doyoung nodded and seemed to have regained a bit of confidence.

“Then I’ll try.”

The song Lee Doyoung selected was Mice’s.

It wasn’t a surprising selection.

Among people who play bass there probably isn’t anyone who hasn’t played this song.

The bass used in the intro of this song is made of 16-bit mixed with open strings so matching left and right hand timing is tricky.

Thanks to that Lee Doyoung had to digest the performance with difficulty.

He couldn’t follow the original song’s speed but he tried not to make mistakes while paying attention to each note.

Lee Doyoung who continued the meticulous performance finished the performance shortly.

“Hmm, a bit regrettable, Lee Doyoung. You’ll have to practice more.”

Heo Junseong’s evaluation was ‘regrettable.’

“No, it’s not regrettable.”

On the other hand Kim Jihu seemed to like Lee Doyoung’s performance.

Then what about me?

“Very excellent.”

As expected, Lee Doyoung.

“Is that so? The sense of speed is a bit regrettable.”

Heo Junseong’s opinion wasn’t wrong either.

Actually if doing band ensemble you have to take care of the sense of speed.

But Lee Doyoung is a member who isn’t complete right now.

A person who takes care of the basics is much more promising than a performer who gives up detail for speed.

And after a certain point he grows at a frightening speed.

Heo Junseong evaluated looking at the current appearance and Kim Jihu and I saw the possibility.

“Playing delicately is good when looking far. Heo Junseong, didn’t you practice like that when you were young too?”

“Um, thinking about it, yeah.”

“Anyway, you did well Lee Doyoung. Looking forward to the future.”

“Yeah, thanks.”

Lee Doyoung scratching his head seemed to think it was regrettable himself too but that’s only the current appearance.

He’s an artist whose future is sincerely anticipated.

Ah, but it’s not something to end with praise.

“But Doyoung, there’s a serious problem.”

“Huh? What?”

“How many kilos are you?”

“Huh?”

“Height and weight.”

“I’m 174... 69 kilos.”

“For you to become perfect you have to go down to 64 kilos. Body fat rate below 15%. It means reduce fat and increase muscle mass.”

“...Is that important?”

“Very important.”

“Why?”

“The first gateway to becoming a freaking awesome bassist is body fat rate below 15%.”

“...?”

Kim Jihu interjected.

“Did you lose your right mind in exchange for getting singing skill?”

“I won’t respond to baseless tabloid negatives.”

“...?”

“Alright, next. Kim Jihu, it’s you.”

The gazes of the three people including me turned to Kim Jihu.

“What should I show? Guitar? Keys?”

“Will you show with keys?”

Kim Jihu becomes our band’s keyboardist later but he can handle various instruments so his utility is good.

Among them his main is keyboard so there was a need to confirm that skill now.

Kim Jihu stood in front of the synthesizer.

He indifferently pressed the keys and rummaged through sounds, and seeming to have found it he loosened his fingers.

Soon the performance started and a song of unknown identity was played.

Kim Jihu picking ownerless chords with a mysterious-sounding synthesizer.

Then he started unpacking that chord bunch and playing.

Various arpeggios and tensions instantly embroidered the practice room.

Finally Kim Jihu tidied the progression and connected to a song we all know well.

Something Doomed’s song.

.

Tremendous development.

This song called the textbook of melodic speed metal is not a song that can be played with ordinary skill.

And the extreme of unfolding flair.

He even played the following guitar solo part with synth.

“Wow, good...”

Lee Doyoung was covering his mouth with both hands in admiration.

On the other hand Heo Junseong only nodded because he knew Kim Jihu’s skill well.

As expected, good.

“Is this enough?”

“Yeah, watched well. It was a precise performance.”

Kim Jihu’s performance itself has nothing particular to correct.

But I anticipated there would be difficulty when matching harmony because the independent and cold-hearted side is strong.

Let’s think about that part while doing ensemble.

Like this the characteristics of the three people were well organized.

The four of us sat gathered in a circle in the middle of the workroom.

“Alright, now that we know each other’s skills well there’s something to do.”

“What?”

“Performance.”

“Huh?”

“I’m a person who thinks practice without a goal can’t give full power. Let’s perform exactly ten days later on Saturday.”

“Where?”

“Banwol Park busking.”

“Goal?”

“Goal point?”

At Lee Doyoung and Kim Jihu’s words I smirked.

The guys who study well may lack empathy ability, but the power to achieve goals seems certain.

“SNS.”

“Huh? Let’s film a video and upload to SNS?”

“No, the goal is to make someone who sees our performance mention it on SNS.”

“Uh...”

“It’s okay but the difficulty is a bit high?”

It’ll probably be a not easy goal.

Seeing busking on the street is a common thing.

However, the busking remaining in the heart and mentioning it on one’s own SNS is by no means easy.

“How is it?”

“I like it.”

“Seems fun.”

“Seems doable.”

Satisfactory answers poured out, and I opened my mouth.

“Let’s each bring two or three lists of songs we want to play. We’ve seen each other’s skills, so we got a sense of what kind of variation it is, right?”

Everyone nodded.

* * *

Mandela Effect’s.

SUN’s.

Mice’s.

There were a few other songs but these were the three songs we ultimately selected.

is Heo Junseong’s selection, is Lee Doyoung’s.

is Kim Jihu’s.

To be honest, for us who are a band that just formed it was a not easy challenge.

Ensemble isn’t all following the score well together.

That’s the most basic of basics, and the act called not ensemble but performance.

Ensemble is the work of creating a new world.

If you give 100 musicians the obvious sentence ‘warm melody,’ 100 interpretations come out.

Someone will say the hot feeling of warming the body is warm, and another will accept lukewarmness amid coolness as warmth.

Narrowing the gap of those interpretations and appreciations, and building one large house.

Sound generated by vibration resonating.

Rhythm implemented by time gathering.

The song completed by adding blank space there.

The sublime act of creating one world with music born from these elements gathering.

That was ensemble.

In that sense this selection had quite an interesting point.

First, the songs each brought well reflected the owner’s taste.

But there are tricky elements for the other members to digest.

is a difficulty Heo Junseong can sufficiently play, but a quite troublesome song to express.

The rustic flame man Heo Junseong has a tendency to run wild when playing, but it’s a song that can only be expressed if he perfectly discards that.

Lee Doyoung is a bassist who thoroughly pursues supporting role, but is a song where all instruments need to take a bold stance.

Up to here is okay.

It’s a level that can be done if you close your eyes tight and practice.

The problem is.

“Can we do this?”

“I think it’ll be fun but will it be difficult.”

A song whose taste lives only if it has to be particularly perfect.

Should I say it’s a selection like Kim Jihu?

We who are an amateur band will definitely make mistakes.

Will Kim Jihu shout ‘wrong answer’ seeing Heo Junseong and Lee Doyoung’s mistakes and run alone?

Or will he create incomplete change together.

I don’t know well.

It was something to watch.

Various emotions mixed like anticipation and worry made me interestingly.

Anyway, in this sense we selected the songs the members brought, but something is a bit strange.

“Why are you guys following so obediently?”

“What?”

“No, you’re following what I selected without complaint.”

“What, so what. I wanted to do that song too?”

Ignoring Heo Junseong’s grumbling reaction I looked at Lee Doyoung, but unexpectedly the answer came from Kim Jihu.