Chapter 15
The door creaked open, and someone cautiously stepped inside. Short black hair, a slightly small frame, and dark clothes overall.
“Tiger-nim!”
Hyeona greeted her, and she stepped inside timidly, as though she had heard what Myeongjeon had said. The other two, however, seemed not to know why Myeongjeon had made such a remark.
“Ah, um, I’m Yoo Seoha…”
“Hello~ I’m Choi Iseo~.”
“Ah, yes. Hello.”
After returning Iseo’s greeting, Seoha stared intently at Myeongjeon. Myeongjeon understood the meaning of her gaze all too well and let out a quiet laugh.
‘Does she mean the bassist is merely average, and I’m the only one worth noticing?’
Having once lived that kind of calculating life—amazingly, the people who live that way never think of themselves as calculating—Myeongjeon could see straight through Yoo Seoha’s thoughts.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Ha Suyeon.”
Suyeon held out her hand. Seoha instinctively tried to take it with both hands, then stopped herself.
“Um, the guitar… You’re the person who just played the guitar, right?”
“That’s right.”
“You’re incredibly good. When did you start learning guitar?”
“Who knows…”
Myeongjeon briefly wondered what to say about when they had started learning. Should they say they had been learning for decades? Or that it had been less than a month? Either answer was true, and either answer would be impossible to believe.
‘When you put it that way, there isn’t much difference.’
“It hasn’t been long.”
Myeongjeon tossed out the answer lightly. Seoha thought, How could that possibly make sense?
‘How could that make— No. It might actually be true.’
She was a drummer, so it was a different field, but she had an ear capable of recognizing good guitar playing. And to her ears, that performance was at a level only the master guitarists of bands with decades of history could display.
That kind of performance could not be achieved through ordinary effort. It was the sort of playing that people called geniuses needed decades of work to accomplish. Yet it had come from the fingertips of a high school student.
How could she possibly accept this?
It made no difference whether Suyeon had been playing for one year, three years, five years, or even ten. Playing like that was impossible with any of those lengths of time. It was not a level one could reach simply by possessing ordinary talent and letting the years pass.
Under ordinary circumstances, if the performance had merely been a little better than her own, Yoo Seoha would have burned with jealousy. Because that was a level she could reach.
Since it seemed attainable, she would envy it, disparage it, and burn with passion to reach it.
But what if it was a level like this? Could she even feel jealous?
There could be a room-bound keyboard warrior who envied a wealthy college student wasting away their youth. No, that was actually a fairly common type of person: someone jealous of what they could have had but did not.
But was there anyone who genuinely envied Lee Jae-yong? Anyone who thought that man’s wealth should have been theirs? Many people might say so, but that was closer to an ideological claim than jealousy.
That was why Seoha did not feel jealous.
Instead, she wanted to ascend with Suyeon.
Her own talent was meager by comparison. Still, with someone like Suyeon, she could surely work alongside her and leave her name in music history.
‘How could I mess with her…?’
Myeongjeon’s thoughts, however, were entirely different.
They had wanted to form a band from the start, and although they were not completely satisfied, the current members were good enough. They had no intention of breaking up the band.
There was also the keyboardist, who was supposedly more skilled than them… And according to Hyeona, the lineup would clearly improve with this kid.
But before that, it seemed all right to play a little prank. Besides, since she aspired to become a professional, working her hard and improving her skills might be better for her, too.
“Then let’s get started. You said you were Seoha, the drummer?”
“What? Ah, yes.”
“Get on the drums. Let’s have you play for an hour straight, without a break. If things don’t line up in the middle, I’ll stop you, point out what isn’t matching, and have you go back in. I may sound a little aggressive, so keep that in mind.”
* * *
“Drums! You’re out of sync again.”
“Drums! No, you’re supposed to adjust as you play together. Why are you going off on your own?”
“No… We’re supposed to be rehearsing together, rehearsing. Not playing four solo performances.”
“No, they can’t keep up…”
“Of course they can’t keep up! They’re beginners, aren’t they? Then you need to adjust your playing to them, so why do you keep rushing ahead on your own? I’m adjusting to them too, so how are we supposed to play like this…”
“Ha, this is driving me crazy.” The mutter was just loud enough to carry, and Seoha flinched. Myeongjeon shook their head and left the room, saying, “Let’s take a break.” Glancing discreetly back, they saw Seoha looking slightly pale, with Iseo following close behind her.
“Suyeon, what’s wrong with you~? I mean, you’re playing fine…!”
“I know.”
Myeongjeon instinctively tried to take out a cigarette and put it between their lips. But there was no cigarette to be found. They exhaled deeply and took a can of coffee from the vending machine.
“For one thing… What if I weren’t very good? Then she would’ve just found fault with us and gone home. And we would’ve let her vent her frustration at us, then gone home with nothing but hurt feelings.
“And even setting that aside, it’s better to humble someone who takes pride in their skills beforehand. We’re practicing as a band, not just putting four soloists together. What do you think is the reason I’m adjusting my playing to yours right now?”
“Even so… I feel sorry for her. It’s one thing to treat her that way over something that hasn’t even happened.”
“Let’s just let it go~,” Iseo said. Myeongjeon tilted their head slightly.
‘She has a point.’
Her actions made it obvious that Seoha had intended to do that. But if you asked whether she had actually done it or not, all Myeongjeon could say was that she had not. Could they tell someone, ‘You had such a devious thought, so take your punishment,’ over something they had not done?
Of course, they could. But unless it was some great treason, it was not something worth hounding her over this severely.
“Well… should I?”
“Yeah. Don’t go that hard~ Huh? She’s still your older sister, isn’t she? A year older. If you hound her like that, it’ll be incredibly humiliating for someone older than you to be treated that way by a younger sister.”
“Isn’t it humiliating in the first place to act that way toward your younger sister?”
Iseo burst out laughing. Myeongjeon downed the canned coffee in one gulp and tossed it into the trash can.
“Anyway. I’m not going to end it right away. I have something in mind.”
Whether in a band or anywhere else, Myeongjeon had spent several decades dealing with people. They knew at a glance how to handle a teenager like that.
“Don’t worry. If things go according to my plan, everything will probably work out.”
* * *
“Are you okay?”
“…No.”
Seoha lowered her head and sighed. Hyeona approached again and asked if she was all right, but Seoha waved her away.
‘Does she know what I was trying to do?’
Seoha had been unable to enter confidently because she had something to feel guilty about. And the guitarist’s gaze when they first met had been quite cold. The intensity of it seemed to say, ‘How dare you?’ and Seoha had no choice but to shrink back.
And the criticism continued.
If the guitarist had simply been giving unsolicited advice without knowing anything about drums or bands, Seoha would have immediately argued back.
But that was not the case.
Every time she made a mistake, the guitarist stepped in without hesitation and criticized her. Nothing being said was wrong, and nothing the guitarist said was unjustified, so Seoha could only accept it.
The people who had gone out for a break returned, and the rehearsal began again. So did the criticism.
She was scolded to play properly, told that the drums were not laying down a foundation and that was why the performance was not working. Pointing out someone else’s mistake was useless. Faced with the ideal that one had to know how to adjust to others as well as play well oneself—and the skill that perfectly embodied it—Seoha was completely defeated, both logically and technically.
The two who had gone out for a break left again. Seoha raised her head to look at the ceiling, then let her drumsticks fall limply.
No one had ever treated her this way. Everyone around her had been awed by Yoo Seoha’s talent.
That was why Seoha had never had reason to be criticized. If someone could not match her, it was that person’s fault for being unable to keep up with a genius drummer. A genius drummer was at fault? Then were they going to find a drummer instead?
The fact that drummers were difficult to find, combined with Seoha’s talent, had created a monster of an inflated ego.
As a result, Yoo Seoha believed that her talent reached the heavens, and that an amateur band could never contain her. Even when skilled musicians invited her to join their bands, she rejected them all because they fell short of her standards.
And today, she had met a guitarist made for her. If it was that person, she could form a band with them. It did not matter that the guitarist was younger than her. What did age matter?
The problem was that the guitarist was driving her harder than anyone ever had.
Yoo Seoha sighed deeply again. That gaze. A gaze that seemed to say, ‘I know what you were trying to do.’ And then there was the criticism.
‘That person must not like me.’
For some reason, Seoha’s eyes began to sting with tears. She wanted to be acknowledged by that person. If someone with such incredible skill acknowledged her, and then asked her to join a band, she felt it would be the greatest happiness in the world.
‘But it doesn’t seem like that person has any intention of acknowledging me…’
She could tell just by looking at that gaze. It was the gaze of someone with no intention whatsoever of acknowledging her.
‘I should tell her I can’t do this.’
No doubt that person would finish the rehearsal and kick Seoha out. Otherwise, why would they hound her like this? Rather than endure all that criticism only to be told unilaterally that they could not work together, it would be better to be the one who ended things, even if she had to take the abuse.
Seoha stood up, leaving her drumsticks on the chair. Hyeona, who had been looking at her phone, flinched, but Seoha paid no attention. She would talk to the kids who had gone outside, pack up her things, and go home. She felt like she might cry, but… she would cry at home.
She left the practice room and headed outside. While searching for the kids who had gone out, she heard two people talking.
“Don’t be so hard on her.”
“Well…”
One voice was slightly high, while the other was low and subdued. From what she had heard earlier, the latter sounded like the guitarist. Seoha unconsciously hid behind the wall and listened closely.
“You don’t like her playing?”
“No.”
Then why? Seoha, her mind full of questions, barely managed to keep herself from rushing out. The conversation wasn’t over yet…
“At that level, she has to be the best among the three remaining members. The same goes for you, Iseo, and you, Hyeona.”
“Then why are you doing this? Drummers are hard to find. If you keep talking like that, she might leave.”
“That’s true.”
A brief silence followed, then the low voice rang out again.
“She’s good. That’s precisely the problem.”
“Huh?”
“The better someone is, the more consideration they need to show. There’s no point playing solo while thinking, ‘I’m the only one who’s good~.’ What good is it if the parts don’t fit together?”
So that was it. Seoha’s head drooped. For someone at that level, being as good as Seoha was nothing special… Thinking that, Seoha was about to step forward.
Until she heard what came next.
“If we’re going to do this together, I want to do it with her, too. She’s good, and it looks like she has room to grow.”
“Then why…”
She could not hear the rest clearly. The only words she caught were, ‘I want to do it with her.’ The voice echoed in her head, and she went back into the practice room.
* * *
“So…”
“Enough. Let’s go back in.”
Myeongjeon smiled and headed back toward the practice room. Seeing Suyeon act that way, Iseo tilted her head, wondering what was wrong with her.