Chapter 12
Myeongjeon installed something called Discord at the kids’ request. He couldn’t understand why he needed to install such a strange program when there was already KakaoTalk, but he figured kids these days had their own culture and decided to accept it.
After installing Discord and entering a channel as instructed, he found two people there: [Seibin (❁ᴗ͈ˬᴗ͈)◞] and [Somat]. Seeing Iseo constantly call someone Bin-nim, he figured Seibin had to be Jeong Hyuna. And Swordmatstar… Somat. Was that Iseo?
[Ha Suyeon : I’m here.]
As soon as he sent a chat message, a reply came flying back a moment later.
[Seibin (❁ᴗ͈ˬᴗ͈) : Our Suyeon-nim is hereee]
[Seibin (❁ᴗ͈ˬᴗ͈) : Why’d you get here so fast? I thought you’d be late[ ]
[Seibin (❁ᴗ͈ˬᴗ͈) : Good grief]
[Seibin (❁ᴗ͈ˬᴗ͈) : Rushing around like that is so bad for your health~~~ Enjoy your life, woman]
The messages suddenly came pouring in one after another as soon as he typed. Faced with content he could barely understand, Myeongjeon hesitated for a moment.
Was this really the same person? Had he come to the wrong place?
Myeongjeon looked over Iseo’s message once more. He had definitely entered the right channel.
[Somat : Is Suyeon here?]
[Ha Suyeon : Yep.]
[Somat : What is with the username Ha Suyeon…? Pick something else.]
[Ha Suyeon : Do I have to make a different one?]
[Seibin (❁ᴗ͈ˬᴗ͈) : No need for that;; Somat-nim, what’s wrong? Suyeon-nim’s true self is what matters~~~~!!]
Myeongjeon twisted a lock of hair around his finger.
When he had met her at the café earlier, he had thought she was difficult to deal with… but online, she seemed even more impossible. Looking at Jeong Hyuna, who seemed to have become a completely different person, Myeongjeon felt a faint headache coming on.
[Ha Suyeon : By the way, what’s “Suyeon-ss”? My name is Ha Suyeon.]
[Somat : ????]
[Seibin (❁ᴗ͈ˬᴗ͈) : Oh my goodness oh my goodness;;; Suyeon-nim is freaking adorable;;; Is she always like this???]
[Somat : Please calm down.]
“Freaking adorable”? “Good grief…”? At that point, he gave up on trying to understand her. Anyway, this was different from him. This must be what the MZ generation was like.
But there weren’t really any memories of kids like that in Ha Suyeon’s memories. Maybe only this kid was unusual.
In any case, he had to accomplish the purpose of turning on the computer and installing this program, so Myeongjeon began tapping on the keyboard.
[Ha Suyeon : Could I get the performance samples you mentioned yesterday?]
When they parted yesterday, Myeongjeon had designated a song and asked for two versions of a performance. The first was a solo version. The second was a version for a band.
[Seibin (❁ᴗ͈ˬᴗ͈) : Ahhhhh right, I almost forgot! I’ll send them in a sec.]
Then there was no reply. Had it been about five minutes?
[Seibin (❁ᴗ͈ˬᴗ͈) : 11212111_1.wav 11212111_2.wav]
Two files appeared.
The reason he had specifically asked her to send two files was to find out her current condition as a keyboardist.
The things he had done while playing guitar for decades were too numerous to count on both hands. One of them had been band consulting, where he used his experience as a session bandmaster to advise amateur bands.
Based on that experience, the problems pianists generally faced when first getting into band performance could be divided into roughly two categories.
First, they tried to do everything by themselves. That was because the piano was an instrument that could do everything on its own. But that versatility was poison in a band. Trying to do everything alone ruined the harmony.
Second, they did not think about producing a diverse range of sounds. Synthesizers could produce an infinite variety of sounds, but because of their mindset from their days as pianists, some of them struggled to make flexible choices about sound.
Would Jeong Hyuna be dealing with either of these two problems? It would be best if she wasn’t, and if she was… it would depend on the severity, but either way, it would be a headache.
He would have to take care of the bass while also taking care of the piano. Maybe it would be better for him to leave after all.
And what he heard was… a sound with a lightly modified preset, played with a fairly decent rhythm. Her arranging ability and technique for a solo performance, as well as her keyboard playing, all seemed quite good.
[Somat : Holy crap, amazing]
[Somat : Isn’t this way too good??]
[Seibin (❁ᴗ͈ˬᴗ͈) :
ㅋ
ㅋ
ㅋ
ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Thank you, thank you~~₩~~]
‘Pretty decent.’
He did not show it, but Myeongjeon thought Hyuna played quite well. The fact that she clearly performed the role required of her in both the solo and band versions made her seem genuinely talented.
If the kid handling the drums was also good, they would have to try playing together to know for sure, but it seemed like they could reach the level of being able to perform three or four songs, however clumsily, within a few months.
Of course, that was only at a student’s level. Besides, Iseo’s skills would need to improve for that to happen. Quite substantially, too.
[Ha Suyeon : Seems okay.]
[Ha Suyeon : When did we say we’d meet the drummer?]
[Seibin (❁ᴗ͈ˬᴗ͈) : This weekend~~~]
[Somat : The weekend.]
[Seibin (❁ᴗ͈ˬᴗ͈) : Horang-nim said weekends are the only time they can make it, so sobㅎㅎㄱㅎㄱㅠ퓨ㅠㅠ퓨ㅠ퓨]
[Seibin (❁ᴗ͈ˬᴗ͈) : I miss Horang-nim waaaah]
[Seibin (❁ᴗ͈ˬᴗ͈) : Somat-nim, haven’t you met Horang-nim?]
[Seibin (❁ᴗ͈ˬᴗ͈) : Drums. Freaking insanely good.]
The chat continued after that, but Myeongjeon couldn’t understand even half of it. His brain lost its way in the stream of messages that seemed almost like a code.
* * *
In the dim room, one monitor had two websites open at once, while the other was cluttered with Discord, Hangouts, and various other programs.
Hyuna ran a hand through her hair as she looked at Discord. Contrary to what she had feared, the audition—or whatever it was—seemed to have ended without any problems.
‘I was so worried.’
Somat-nim had said Ha Suyeon’s guitar playing was so incredible that even “incredible” did not do it justice. Hyuna had never actually heard her play before… but Somat was not the sort of person to make things up, so she had to be good.
But Ha Suyeon, huh.
Somat and Hyuna attended different schools, but Somat and Suyeon were in the same class at the same school. That meant she was a first-year at Hanseung High, but had there really been someone there who played guitar that well?
In Korea, if there was someone who played an instrument well, rumors spread somehow or other. Could someone Hyuna had never even heard of really have appeared out of nowhere?
[Jinseoya]
[Why?]
After thinking it over for a moment, Hyuna decided to ask her friend who attended Hanseung High. If she knew, it would be good because Hyuna could hear the rumors, and if she didn’t, that would be good too because it meant the girl was harmless.
[Do you know a first-year named Ha Suyeon at your school?]
[Why all of a sudden?]
[You know Somat-nim, right?]
[Turns out she’s at Hanseung High.]
[Yeah.]
[But she said that person plays bass, so we got to talking about music]
[Then she suddenly said she wanted to start a band]
[She said she’d found someone who absolutely shreds on guitar and asked me to form a band]
[I went to see her yesterday and holy shit]
[Freaking. Beautiful.]
[But I never heard there was someone at Hanseung High who played guitar]
[That’s why I’m asking]
[Her name is Ha Suyeon?]
[Yeah, she’s a first-year at Hanseung High.]
[ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]
[?]
After hearing the name, her friend suddenly burst out laughing. Hyuna had no idea why she was acting like that. After flooding the chat with ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ, her friend finally began typing properly again.
[Our friend is screwed]
[Why???]
[If it’s the Ha Suyeon I know, she’s a total delinquent]
[She slapped a third-year senior girl and drinks and smokes]
[???]
To Hyuna, Ha Suyeon did not look like that at all. She seemed a little blunt but was polite—a normal high school student who was slightly obsessed with music.
[You know those kids who made the news recently after getting drunk, riding kick scooters, and cracking their heads open?]
[That was Ha Suyeon]
[I heard she woke up after being in a vegetative state]
[???]
[And I never even heard that she played guitar]
[She plays guitar well?]
[Yeah, Somat-nim said she was practically pro-level]
[??? Then it must be someone else]
[Ha Suyeon was famous for drinking and hanging around with guys, so she wouldn’t have had time to practice guitar or anything lol]
“Eek—” Hyuna let out a small gasp. A delinquent! She wondered what an “iljin” was supposed to mean in this day and age, but regardless, it was only natural to be wary of getting involved with those kinds of “bad kids.” That was why she had always tried to avoid having even the slightest connection with people like that.
More importantly, she supposedly hadn’t had time to practice guitar? Then what was the story Somat-nim had told her? Had he lied even though he had never seen her play? Hyuna casually sent Somat a DM.
[Seibin (❁ᴗ͈ˬᴗ͈) : Somat-nim, do you happen to have even a video of Suyeon-nim playing? I kind of want to see it.]
[Somat : Ah, hold on a sec.]
[Somat : I don’t have a separate video, but]
[Somat : I have something I recorded when we practiced before. I’ll send you that, at least.]
What arrived through KakaoTalk were two videos recorded at Somat’s practice room, which Hyuna had visited before. They were guitar performances lasting about four minutes.
And the moment she heard those videos, Hyuna was shocked.
‘How can a high schooler play like that?’
She might have stayed shut in and played nothing but piano, but as an aspiring arts university student, she still had a rough understanding of other people’s skill levels.
Take guitar, for example… If you searched online cafés, open chat rooms, and places like that, you would find people carrying guitars around and saying they were aspiring arts university students. There were YouTubers, too, as well as people who only uploaded performances before disappearing.
Everyone’s skill level varied wildly. Some people were far more famous than their skill warranted, while others were the opposite. But if you took an average, you could roughly guess what level someone of a particular age would be at.
Irregulars who ignored age brackets—commonly known as “geniuses”—were hard to come by. Those who were praised for playing well were, at most, only one or two years ahead, or perhaps four or five. They were not usually at a level that deviated drastically from the average.
True geniuses did not appear often, and if one did, they could not help but become famous. They knew they were good, and everyone else knew they were good, too.
But here was a genius who had not become famous.
Hyuna got goosebumps at the realization.
She thought she had a fair amount of talent as a pianist. She was becoming increasingly convinced that she could never beat the “real” ones, but she still had not found the resolve to turn back after coming this far, so she was continuing down that path…
She thought she could easily outclass the people online who said things like, “I think I have musical talent?”
But could a true genius really be like that?
A performance that flowed without a single break, despite the crude quality of a phone microphone.
Even though it was a song she had never heard before, the tempo and pitch she wielded at will never felt unpleasant. It felt as if she had taken possession of the song itself and was swinging it around.
That was not merely a matter of being good. Even to Hyuna, who knew nothing about guitar, it looked like the level someone called a “genius” could reach only after playing guitar in earnest for decades.
‘But this person is a delinquent?’
Her friend Jinseo was not the type to lie about something like this, at least.
Then she really was a delinquent. Had she practiced until she could perform like that while drinking and smoking, even hiding it from other people?
‘Is she superhuman?’
In any case… Hearing that Suyeon was a delinquent had made Hyuna want to quit, but the instant she heard the performance, that feeling vanished.
But what if Suyeon acted all sweet now, then lost her temper and started laying into Hyuna whenever she got angry? What if, despite being a year older, she didn’t care and just tried to hit her?
It was a night that left her thinking deeply in more ways than one…