Chapter 60
The sun in Athens burned with a texture entirely different from Italy's.
The scent of olive trees mingled with the dry wind, along with the smell of marble dust drifting through the air. Breathing in that Mediterranean atmosphere, I sat beside Jia and once again found myself witnessing the mystery of the human body.
"Siyeon, try this! This is supposed to be real Greek yogurt. It's completely different from what we had in Korea!"
The spoon Jia handed me held a lump of yogurt so thick it was practically cheese. I accepted it and took a bite, sneaking a glance at her profile.
'…What on earth do you have to eat to grow like that?'
Jia's figure, visible beneath her thin sleeveless shirt, was surreal.
She was even thinner than Yu Seol-ha, but her chest was about the same size.
Compared to someone like Jo Nayeun, whose front was completely flat, she seemed less like a different species and more like an entirely different life-form.
I scooped up another large bite of yogurt with a serious expression.
“Unnie. If I eat a lot of that, will I grow taller?”
“Huh? Yogurt? The probiotics are good for your gut! Why, does our Siyeon want to grow up quickly?”
“It’s basically for dieting…”
Beside me, Saki scooped up some yogurt and made a disgusted face. Apparently, she wasn't particularly fond of Greek yogurt.
Honestly, I also thought Greek yogurt was inferior to regular yogurt…
‘This is tasty, though?’
Maybe it was because I was eating it overseas, but it tasted quite different from the yogurt I'd had in Korea.
After finishing our meal, we headed to Plaka, one of Athens's old neighborhoods. Amid the quaint souvenir shops, an old music store caught my eye.
Unfamiliar instruments hung all across the walls. Among them, one instrument resembling a guitar, with a long neck and rounded body, captured my attention.
"Oh, I've never seen this before."
When Lee Seunghyun-hyung reached out to examine the instrument with interest, an old Greek man with a thick white beard kindly handed it to him. But even he found the tuning and playing method unfamiliar, so he tilted his head in puzzlement and soon set it down.
I quietly stepped forward and picked up the instrument.
‘Eight strings…… A doubled-string configuration. Is it tuned C-F-A-D?’
In my previous life, I had once been a composer for a major entertainment agency.
Major agencies usually brought in several composers and had them work together in teams, even when creating a single song.
That was why people of various nationalities and styles gathered from all over the world.
Because major K-pop agencies paid a lot of money.
I had met a composer from Greece among them, and that person had once briefly taught me how to play that instrument.
I remembered the instrument's name was probably the bouzouki.
It was a traditional Greek instrument, wasn't it?
“May I try it?”
After a few attempts, I figured out the positions on the fretboard. Then I began playing the melody of the song I had used in Spain, rearranging it into a fast Greek-style rhythm.
“……Huh?”
Lee Seunghyun and Hanyul-hyung's eyes widened. The old music-store owner gaped at me, then crossed himself.
“God bless you... You really are playing this for the first time?”
I answered the old man's question while fingering the instrument.
“I’ve seen it on YouTube. The bouzouki has a nice sound.”
“Oh. Much obliged.”
By then, tourists had begun glancing over at us, curious about what was happening. Taking advantage of the moment, I carried the bouzouki outside and sat down on the steps in front of the store. Jia and Saki quickly clapped along beside me, keeping the rhythm.
A traditional Greek melody played by a small girl from the East.
Its refreshing tone, reminiscent of the blue Mediterranean Sea, was coloring Athens's weary afternoon with brilliance.
‘One way or another, I guess rowing really is in my blood.’
In its own way, this was an incredibly fresh experience, too.
* * *
I returned to the accommodation and stared awkwardly at the bouzouki sitting before me.
After finishing the brief busking performance, I went to return the instrument we'd borrowed. But the owner waved away the instrument I held out and refused to take it back.
According to the interpreter, the owner wanted to give me the instrument as a gift because I'd put on such a good performance. I felt happy, but at the same time, something seemed to tickle my heart.
To be honest, this instrument was a little awkward to use when making music.
Even though it had a unique sound of its own, my composing ability was naturally limited to the instruments I knew how to play.
No matter how hard I forced myself to use an instrument I knew little about, like the one in front of me… I would only end up with a poor result.
Since Athens was the final stop on our journey, our schedule wasn't particularly packed.
There was only one busking performance, and we planned to fill out the rest of the episode with a reasonable amount of sightseeing and mukbang.
That was why the producer rated the episode about my bouzouki so highly.
He thanked me for creating such an unexpected event.
Honestly, since it hadn't been intentional, I felt a little embarrassed even as I was being praised.
Still, in the end, I thought briefly previewing a new song like this might not be a bad idea.
Considering how long it would take for the edited version to air, I expected there to be a gap of about a month or two between its broadcast and the release of my album.
If that was the case, my album could enjoy some promotional benefits as well.
This time, I sang *Hello, My Four Seasons*, which could be called my biggest hit. Since it was busking, we left out the synths and arranged it simply in an acoustic version, but it had a certain charm of its own, which I liked.
Perhaps because it was our final busking performance, everyone ended up singing one song each, so it went on for quite a while. In the meantime, Saki also sang the solo song she'd wanted to release.
I played guitar as her session musician, and I was secretly pleased that it seemed to have turned into a pretty excellent performance.
The style itself didn't seem likely to become a huge hit, but she said it was a song she was satisfied with, so I let it go.
A popular song isn't necessarily a good song, after all.
“Siyeon, good work.”
“Hehe. Your performance was great, unnie!”
As I said that, I gave Saki a thumbs-up.
For a moment, I wondered if I was acting too much like an ordinary little girl… but then I decided it didn't really matter.
I was already completely satisfied with this life I was living.
* * *
I gained quite a lot from filming *The Orphan Plays Music Too Well* this time.
The biggest thing, of course, was the fact that I had filmed my first variety show. Unless I planned to lock myself away in a room composing, it was impossible to separate variety-show appearances from activities in the entertainment industry.
Even as the era shifted toward new media, the people producing the videos that ultimately drew high view counts there were still the production crews who had come over from traditional media.
The experience of filming with them would help me considerably in my future activities.
Another significant achievement was that I'd created quite a few songs worth using on my full-length album.
*platonic love story* was even good enough to use as the title track.
I felt that way myself, and the people around me had given me the same assessment.
“Siyeon. Be sure to keep in touch after you get back to Korea!”
Naturally, the connections I'd made this time were a significant gain as well.
People said you shouldn't choose your friends based on popularity or status, but in any case, since *The Orphan Plays Music Too Well* was currently the best variety show for singers to appear on, every single cast member held considerable power in this industry.
“Yep.”
Whether at year-end shows or award ceremonies, we'd probably have plenty of chances to see each other's faces anyway.
At least, that was what I thought.
“Come to think of it, Siyeon. What are the Blooming girls up to these days?”
Baek Yuyeon, who was close to Blooming because they had been contestants together on Singerstar, asked me that.
“Oh. The unnies? Those girls…”
Right now, they were probably paying dearly for going to Hawaii without me—although, technically, they'd invited me and I was the one who didn't go.
“They’re probably doing some grueling practice.”
* * *
The least skilled member of Blooming was unquestionably Kim Seol, the drummer.
She hadn't been particularly passionate about the band from the beginning, and fundamentally, she wasn't the type of person to devote much attention to doing anything.
As I'd said before, the most important instrument in a band's live performance was the drums.
“…Seol. Aren’t you tired?”
“I feel like I’m dying.”
“S-should we take a little break before continuing?”
Yu Seol-ha looked at Kim Seol's vacant eyes and prayed inwardly. Please, let's stop here and rest for a while.
But things in this world didn't go according to one's wishes.
“No, I think we can manage if we do just a little more… Let’s keep going.”
Beside her, Jo Nayeun was blowing on the hand that had been fretting the guitar strings to cool it down when she shouted in an urgent voice.
“H-honestly, I don’t think guitar and vocals are necessary for practicing drums…”
“What do you mean by that, Nayeun…”