Chapter 14
After we ate dinner together like that.
Just as I was about to send Hyunwoo home, Haru suddenly called.
“Hello.”
[Seolhwa, Seolhwa, guess where I am right now?]
Haru jumped straight into a quiz.
This wasn't unusual for Haru, so I was used to it, but by now, I wished Haru would at least return a greeting.
“Uh.... A café?”
[Wrong! The answer is a coin karaoke room!]
Hearing the word karaoke, I could faintly hear singing through the phone.
...I wondered how she expected me to deduce it was a karaoke room from that alone.
[If you're free, do you want to come too? I'll pay for you.]
“You'll pay? Then I have to go.”
I'd actually been wanting to sing a little and relieve my stress, and she'd pay for me too?
There was no way I could refuse.
“Sure, I'll go.”
[Great! Then I'll send you the location over KakaoTalk, so take your time getting here!]
Haru hung up right after saying that, and a little later, the location was sent to me via KakaoTalk.
The coin karaoke room where Haru was waiting was about ten minutes from here.
If it had been lunchtime, I'd have collapsed before getting there, but fortunately, the sun had set and it was evening.
I should be able to make it with the stamina I had left.
“...That's what Haru said. What are you going to do, Hyunwoo?”
I asked Hyunwoo, who was standing there blankly after checking the location on his phone.
Normally, Hyunwoo would go, but he was tired today, so maybe he would refuse...?
“Should I go too? If they're paying, I have to.”
Hyunwoo said he'd tag along because they were paying.
That's my friend all right.
======
The coin karaoke room we eventually reached after walking and walking.
It was still early evening, but people bustled about, and singing could be heard from all over.
The soundproofing isn't very good....
“Let's see.... Room 104.... Here it is!”
Looking at the KakaoTalk message Haru had sent, I found the room she was in and went straight inside.
There, Haru was singing energetically, while Juhyeok sat there with a vacant look, as though despair had swallowed him whole.
“Today, too, the goddess of victory is~ on my side alone.... Oh, Seolhwa's here? Hyunwoo came too?”
“Yeah, we happened to be together.”
“So I invited him. But, more importantly....”
I looked at Juhyeok, crumpled up in the corner, and spoke.
“...Why is he like that?”
“Ahaha, it's nothing. He just lost a bet.”
Aha.
Now the pieces finally fit together.
I'd been slightly bothered by the fact that Haru was paying without even making a bet, but now I understood.
Haru and Juhyeok had clearly made a bet over a game, and Juhyeok had been utterly crushed, making him today's designated payer.
And Juhyeok was like that because his mental state had shattered after his total defeat.
It was a rerun of a scene I'd seen countless times over ten years, so it no longer surprised me.
“Damn it, damn it, damn it.... I was confident today.... Why is Haru so good at League, Duel, and Overwatch.... Damn it....”
Juhyeok muttered from where he'd holed up in the corner.
After losing that badly, you'd think he would have stopped betting by now....
The gap between Juhyeok and Haru's skills was like the gap between Bronze and Grandmaster.
It was impressive that he had the guts to keep challenging Haru when he had absolutely no chance of winning....
“Well.... As you can see, he's like that, so I was singing by myself. That's why I called you two.”
“Go easy on him. Is bleeding him dry for ten years really fun?”
“I always give it my all, no matter who my opponent is. Even if it's Snow Seolhwa.”
“Huh? Me?!”
Haru suddenly declared that Haru would give it their all against me.
Ah, no. Before the mutation, Haru used to beat me pretty often, but was it really fair to beat me in my current form too...?
That's too cruel to such a weak, tiny Snow Woman!
“All right, then. I can go first, right?”
Meanwhile, Hyunwoo had already grabbed the microphone, entered a song, and was getting ready to sing.
Haru and I sat down to look for songs to sing.
A few seconds later, the intro began to play, and Hyunwoo started singing.
“Let's love recklessly~ Burn up even the lies and turn them into dreams~”
A slow but lively accompaniment played, and Hyunwoo sang along to it.
“...He sings well.”
I had been absentmindedly choosing a song, but when I focused on Hyunwoo's singing, I realized he was quite good.
He sings well, looks decent, and studies well too.... I'm getting a little jealous....
What in the world can't he do?
“Dating.”
“Oh, right.”
“Hey, you out there, you're being noisy.”
Despite our interruptions, Hyunwoo sang all the way to the end, and then the score displayed on the machine was—
[96 points! You could become a singer!]
“Ah, what a shame.”
Ninety-six was an extremely high score, but Hyunwoo himself seemed a little disappointed by the result.
...I've never even scored over 90.
“All right, I'll sing next!”
I still hadn't picked a song and was tapping away at my phone when Haru went ahead and entered one.
Unlike Hyunwoo, who listened through the intro, Haru skipped it and went straight into the song.
You can really see their personalities in moments like this.
“Let's make this moment shine! YES! So many memories, in the dazzling~ light of today~”
Haru sang a song from an anime movie from a while ago.
Haru gave a perfectly competent performance.
[87 points! You sing really well!]
“Ah.... Maybe my score's low because it's been so long since I last sang.”
Eighty-seven was also a fairly high score, but Haru seemed disappointed and couldn't take their eyes off the monitor.
...Isn't 87 a high score?
“Seolhwa, aren't you going to sing?”
Since I still hadn't chosen a song, Hyunwoo asked me.
“Hmm.... I'm still choosing a song....”
Normally, I'd already have entered a song and started singing by now, but today I was having trouble deciding what to sing.
Since my voice had gotten higher-pitched after the mutation, I wanted to try singing something different from what I used to sing....
“Should I go with this....”
After deliberating, I entered the song, and the accompaniment began to play.
The two of them recognized the song from the accompaniment and spoke in alarm.
“Isn't that song's key high? Can Seolhwa sing it?”
“Maybe Seolhwa can sing it now? Seolhwa's voice has changed, too....”
Sure enough, the song I'd chosen was rumored to have a high vocal range.
It was a song I hadn't even dared attempt when I was a man, but....
If I can do it now...!
======
[28 points. Oh dear.... That's too bad.]
I failed.
“Ahaha.... Seolhwa, don't be too sad.”
“Y-yeah. That song is difficult to begin with.”
The two who had scored 96 and 87 tried to comfort me as I despaired over my score of 28, but it only felt like mockery and made me even more depressed.
...I'm the only one who can't do anything.
This useless, short Snow Woman can't do anything at all....
“Come on, forget the last song and make up for it with one you can actually sing, okay?”
Haru said that as Haru held the microphone out to me.
“...Hoo.”
Then I took the microphone and shouted.
“I'll break 80 points today!”
======
“This is insane.... How many songs did you guys sing?”
Several dozen minutes later.
It was then that Juhyeok, having finally come to his senses, saw the card notifications and fell into despair.
[67 points! Try a little harder!]
“Tch....”
Even though I sang as hard as I could, I still couldn't break 80 points.
Isn't this machine being especially harsh on me...?
“Hey, Seolhwa. Give me the microphone. I feel cheated too, so I need to sing a song.”
Juhyeok, who had done nothing but lose money and hadn't sung a single song until now, took the microphone with feverish eyes and immediately entered a song.
“One more time, give me gale-like courage! So I won't yield even to the raging waves—ee!!”
The song began with tremendous shouting.
The sheer volume radiated the passion of someone determined to vent all the stress of today's losses.
It failed as music, though.
“Haa.... Why can't I break 80 points....”
“Maybe you're just off your game today. Don't worry about it too much.”
Lee Hyunwoo, whose average score was 92, came over to comfort me as I drooped from my string of low scores.
“But somehow, with only me getting a low score, it feels like I'm losing....”
“It's not like we were actually betting, though.”
Hmm.... There has to be one.... A song I can score over 80 on, too....
But I'd already sung both my usual songs and songs suited to a woman's voice, so what was left....
“...Ah! Hyunwoo, Hyunwoo!”
“What?”
“Do you want to try a duet with me?”
======
“-I'll run while holding you in my arms! To youuu!!”
[82 points! Your shouting is incredible.]
“Phew.... That's better.”
Juhyeok finished with 82 points and looked satisfied. I tugged on Juhyeok's sleeve and spoke.
“Juhyeok. Give me the microphone.”
“Huh? You already have a microphone. Are you going to use two?”
“No, I won't do anything that stupid.... Give it to Hyunwoo.”
When I pointed at Hyunwoo, Haru exclaimed in surprise.
“Huh? Are you doing a duet?”
“Yeah. If I can't do it alone.... I can borrow someone else's strength.”
It did feel a little like cheating....
As long as I break 80, who cares!
The result is what matters in this world.
“Seriously....”
Hyunwoo looked dumbfounded, but still took the microphone and prepared to sing.
I'd memorized this song so I could sing it with my girlfriend once I had one....
But I'm a woman now, so who cares! Just sing it!
When we entered the song, a gentle intro began to play,
“I still sometimes remember the waterside I looked out at that day....”
I began singing too, slowly reciting the lyrics in time with it.
“How many more times will I be able to see the same flames with you? I wonder what I can do for your smiling face....”
Hyunwoo also focused properly and sang along with me.
““A light that seems as though it might disappear when I draw a breath
is surely still left inside my heart...!””
Then, as we entered the duet's highlight—the harmony section—we sang in perfect sync.
As I sang, at some point I stopped caring about the score and found myself simply enjoying the song.
““I wished this night would go on....””
And so Hyunwoo and I sang an exciting duet.
The score came out to 79 points.