Open Mic (2)

“Let’s listen to what we just recorded.”

Myeongjeon said that and went into the studio. The kids followed him in with slightly intimidated expressions. Then the song began playing. To an ordinary listener, it sounded like a fairly smooth performance with no particular problems.

But Myeongjeon’s expression—and the other kids’ expressions—was different. Myeongjeon stared at the other three without saying anything, while the others subtly turned their heads and avoided his gaze.

“How’s the sound?”

“Uh… It’s not really coming together…”

“Why do you think this happened?”

The three of them couldn’t answer. Myeongjeon brushed his hair back, sighed once, and spoke.

“At first, just getting everyone to play together was difficult, and we had urgent things to do, so we let some things slide. The second song was the same, really. Besides, it was a cover, so we had a sound reference to work from.

“But now that we’re thinking about recording and performing a song you shaped and completed yourselves, it isn’t going as well as you’d hoped, is it? ‘I wish I stood out more. I want people to pay more attention to me.’ Are you getting shaken up by thoughts like that? Is that why you keep jumping out ahead on your own?”

The Myeongjeon of the past would have simply scrapped everything on the spot, but the current ‘Ha Suyeon’ didn’t think that was necessary. Even so, a sharp reprimand was still called for...