Direction

When they entered the rehearsal room, they found Seoha back to her senses and Hyeona looking at her with an expression that seemed to say, ‘Why is she suddenly acting like that…?’

“Then let’s try it again.”

And the ensemble began once more. Surprisingly, this time they seemed to be more or less in sync. The drums, which had been charging ahead on their own, had definitely become more stable.

When they reached the bridge and Myeongjeon glanced toward the drums, Seoha gave a resolute nod and a fierce look.

‘Still just a kid…’

Myeongjeon smiled and turned back to playing. Seeing the exact reaction they had expected, they were reminded just how much these were still kids.

It was one of those stories where someone was secretly acknowledging the other person all along… Their cold attitude was really meant to help me grow, and they actually recognized me! The sort of thing you would expect to see only in a novel.

Of course, it wasn’t something that happened only in novels. It was fairly common in real life, too.

For example, there were people like Manager Park, who would ride your ass like crazy at work, then ply you with drinks at a company dinner while drunkenly rambling, ‘Assistant Manager Kim, you know I care about you, right? I’m only doing this to help you grow.’

Most of those stories ended with, ‘Actually, they didn’t recognize or care about the other person at all. They just saw them as someone to exploit.’

‘Still, there’s never been a decent person who refused to acknowledge you to your face in the first place.’

Myeongjeon had won Seoha over in much the same way… but unlike those other people, they genuinely recognized Seoha. Strictly speaking, at least, Myeongjeon thought they were different.

“Now that we’ve played together a bit, our timing seems to work. The drums have also toned down that strong need to assert themselves… I think it’s fine. Anyway, if we keep going like this, practicing once or twice a week, we should be able to finish this song in about a month.”

“Oh~ Then are we practicing another song now? Should we decide in advance?”

At Iseo’s words, Myeongjeon cocked their head slightly. Choosing another song was important, but there was something much more important.

“Who knows? We have a lot to talk about, so let’s stop here for today and go to a café to discuss it.”

* * *

Myeongjeon set the tray down on the table with a clack. Their conversation, which had been lively until that moment, fell silent all at once.

“Then let’s start by deciding what needs to be decided.”

“No, before that…”

Seoha cut Myeongjeon off and pointed to the guitar in its case.

“That guitar, is it perhaps…”

“That’s right.”

Iseo and Hyeona looked at Myeongjeon as if to ask what exactly was right. Myeongjeon took a sip of coffee and spoke.

“A Black Strat. The 2008 model.”

“I knew it… With that appearance and that sound, it had to be that one… I mean.”

Seoha nodded repeatedly, as though her guess had been confirmed. The other two, however, looked completely lost.

“You don’t know what a Black Strat is? You too, Bin?”

“How would I know?”

“No, this is common knowledge.”

Seoha scratched her head and began to explain.

Commonly called the Black Strat, it was the signature instrument of David Gilmour, the guitarist of Pink Floyd. David Gilmour recorded Meddle, Live at Pompeii, Obscured by Clouds, The Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals, The Wall, and The Final Cut with that instrument. It was the guitar that carried Pink Floyd through its golden age.

“In 2008, Fender released that guitar as a signature model through its Custom Shop, and it was discontinued in 2017. If you want to buy one in near-new condition now, you’d have to pay at least twelve million won.”

At those words, the other two stared at the guitar as if their eyes might fall out. For some reason, Myeongjeon felt proud.

There really weren’t many people who recognized their guitar. It didn’t have any particularly distinctive image, after all. It was just a black guitar.

‘She may be arrogant, but she does seem to take music fairly seriously.’

That was what Myeongjeon thought. Of course, they had no idea what recognizing their guitar had to do with taking music seriously, but people tended to think whatever suited them, so there was nothing to be done.

“Could I take it out and look at it for a moment…?”

When Myeongjeon nodded, Seoha immediately pulled the guitar out and began examining it. Beside her, the other two stared with expressions that seemed to ask, Is this really a guitar worth over ten million won? Myeongjeon leisurely drank their coffee before speaking.

“For starters, the first song was chosen in a hurry, so it’s hard to say much about it… While deciding on the second cover song, I’d also like to decide a few other things.”

The three of them nodded.

“What kind of band are we going to be?”

“Huh?”

Unlike the other two, who looked at Myeongjeon as if that were a perfectly natural question, Iseo tilted her head.

“What do you mean, what kind of band?”

“Exactly what I said. What kind of band are we going to be?”

“A band is a band… right?”

Myeongjeon looked at Iseo, who had given that answer. Iseo darted her eyes around awkwardly before hurriedly saying,

“A band that plays band music?!”

“Then what is band music? I told you. What kind of band are we going to be?”

Myeongjeon cocked their head slightly and waited for Iseo’s answer. But Iseo still looked as if she didn’t understand, so they spoke again.

“For example, ordinary office-worker bands or school club bands sometimes end up doing nothing but covers. They practice covers, perform covers, and never release an album. They operate at the level of a hobby club until they eventually fizzle out.

“But some bands go further and create their own original songs. Someone writes a song, and the others build it out… something like that. They release albums, then eventually move into the mainstream. And then they become stars.”

“Um…”

Iseo was finally about to speak, but Myeongjeon raised a hand to stop her.

“That’s only a broad classification. Once you go further than that, the kind of songs you play becomes important, too. Rock? Metal? Pop?

“For example, will we play Muse or Queen, like ordinary university bands? Korean bands, maybe Yoon Do-hyun Band, Rumble Fish, or Guckkasten? There are plenty of other choices, too. Or will we play animation-related songs, like the one Iseo brought? There are many possible directions.

“But the songs we can play, practice, and perform are limited.

“Besides, when it comes to performing, consistency of genre is important. We can’t play an animation song and then suddenly perform a metal song at the next show.”

Iseo felt overwhelmed by the calm way Suyeon explained it.

‘…I’ve never seriously thought about any of that.’

Although she had asked Suyeon to form a band with her, Iseo had only vaguely wanted to start a band. And for some reason, she had assumed they would all play songs by the Kessoku Band she liked.

But that wasn’t the case. Now that she thought about it, Seibin, her fellow otaku… Even if Hyeona-nim was fine with it, Suyeon had said she enjoyed playing songs Iseo had never heard even once. And she had no idea what the person called Yoo Seoha liked, either.

“I can adjust to you. As long as you’re all committed to showing up for practice.”

Against that backdrop, Suyeon’s words gave Iseo courage. Basically, wasn’t she saying she would help Iseo play the music she wanted to play?

“Then…!”

“No, we’re not done talking yet.”

Myeongjeon cut off Iseo’s hopeful words. Ignoring the aggrieved look Iseo gave them, they continued.

“It’s also important to decide our performance schedule. When will we start performing? Where will we perform? How will we perform? We need to decide how many songs to prepare based on those things.

“For example, suppose we want to perform at a school festival. We practice our songs with that goal in mind. But our school festival is…?”

“In October.”

“October. Then ours has already passed. What about yours, Hyeona?”

“Ours is in December.”

“December. If we’re aiming for December, we’ll have two or three songs at most. That sounds like an appropriate amount for a school festival, but it isn’t enough time to raise the quality very much.”

“We’ll have to work pretty hard,” Suyeon muttered. At those words, Seoha’s face turned slightly pale.

“Are you going to perform at our school festival…?”

“No, that hasn’t been decided yet.”

Hyeona’s words had sounded slightly excited, but Myeongjeon immediately objected. Seeing Hyeona become a little crestfallen, Myeongjeon wondered, Is performing at your own school really that nice? I don’t think I’d like it much… But people’s feelings varied.

“We don’t necessarily have to perform at a school festival. We could participate in other events. Animation? If we play that kind of music, there are events like that, right? There should be plenty of places where we could perform.

“Even aside from that, we have tremendous rarity on our side as a four-member all-female band. So in my view, if we can raise our quality high enough, there will be no shortage of places for us to perform…”

* * *

Since it was difficult to decide everything that day, Myeongjeon exchanged KakaoTalk information with them and created a group chat. They would probably communicate through that chat from then on.

What kind of band would they become?

Myeongjeon was genuinely curious. Would this band remain like other school bands, a group that simply tried playing guitar a few times before fading away? Or would it last through college? Would it reach the level of a workplace band? Or go beyond that, to the point of releasing an album? Could they even walk the path of full-time musicians?

Honestly, any of those outcomes would be fine.

Life was long. One year was long, too. Even if they were enthusiastic now, they might get tired of this someday, be crushed by exam season, or abandon the band because of some other problem in reality.

These were the kinds of things that only hurt the person who attached meaning to them.

You could start assigning meaning once something worth assigning meaning to had actually come along.

“Um…”

“Hm?”

Myeongjeon turned to look at Iseo. Iseo had an unusually cowed expression.

‘With that fierce-looking makeup and an expression like that…’

Maybe she wasn’t cowed so much as she felt wronged. Though who knew what Iseo herself was feeling.

“Why?”

“The truth is, I hadn’t thought anything through.”

The sun had long since set. Under the black road lit by daylight-colored streetlamps, Iseo hesitated before speaking.

Despite asking Suyeon to form a band with her, Iseo really had no plan. She had simply watched Bocchi the Rock on a whim and wanted to start a band. So she began learning bass, and now she was in a band.

“But everyone else is taking this seriously. Whether it’s Bin… Hyeona-sunbae or Seoha-sunbae. You all know exactly what kind of music you like and what kind of music you want to make.”

“And?”

“I don’t. I feel like I dragged you into this just because I vaguely wanted to be in a band, so I’m sorry.”

Myeongjeon cocked their head slightly. No purpose? That didn’t seem right.

“One type of band is called a cover band. Have you ever heard of one?”

“…No.”

“They’re also called tribute bands. For example, Pink Floyd has Brit Floyd, and the Beatles have Britain’s Finest. There are bands like that in Korea, too. Queen has a tribute band called Yeongbuin Band.”

“The band’s name is Yeongbuin??”

Myeongjeon nodded. They spelled it 0vueen, or something like that.

“The reason I brought this up is that music can be enjoyed in many different ways. It’s fine to play only covers, and it’s fine to be a tribute band. The important thing is to do what you like, and by doing so, not give up on music. But…”

“But?”

Suyeon stopped walking for a moment and looked at Iseo. The strength in her direct gaze made Iseo freeze.

“If you’re going to continue with music… it would be good to study various things, too. Composition, songwriting, arranging, things like that.”

Iseo felt overwhelmed by those words. Composition? Songwriting? Arranging? They seemed far too grand for her to take on, and she didn’t know what to say.

“Could I… um, could I really do those things?”

“I’ve only ever seen one person who couldn’t.”

Suyeon’s face was lost in thought. She seemed to be thinking of someone specific, so Iseo couldn’t help asking,

“Who is it?”

“It’s a secret.”

Having said that, Suyeon broke into a grin. Iseo thought it was an incredibly refreshing smile.