Chapter 43
Music director Kim Jaehun looked at the girl in front of him, thinking that he wanted to light a cigarette and hold it between his teeth. The girl was listening to the music with her eyes slightly closed.
At a glance, she looked like a middle or high school student… Judging by her appearance, she clearly wasn’t a high school senior or a college freshman. If she looked like that despite not being fully grown and still retaining a childlike air, then perhaps she could even become an idol… or an actress once she was old enough.
But you couldn’t make music with your face. More precisely, there were fields where you could get by on your looks, but what Jaehun needed right now wasn’t one of them.
‘Im Junhong, you fucking bastard… If you couldn’t do it, you should’ve said so. How could you stab me in the back like this? It’s not like I treated you badly.’
The drama’s schedule had clearly been proceeding smoothly. But everything had been completely derailed by a scandal involving one of the supporting actors. The actor had withdrawn, and they were now in a situation where they had to remove all the scenes featuring him and shoot them again.
The production team had suggested changing only the actor while leaving everything else as it was to speed up the work somehow, but the writer and the main producer seemed to have a completely different opinion. They would revise the entire story and delete all the scenes. It couldn’t be helped if they wanted to maintain the quality of the drama. They would just have to work harder.
That was fine. Who disliked working hard and putting in effort? The problem was that the music came in at almost the final stage… which meant that the amount of time Jaehun had been given to work was extremely limited.
‘That was why I called in any session player I could get my hands on…’
Im Junhong wasn’t a personal friend of his, but they had worked together several times, so they knew each other well enough for Junhong to do him a favor.
That was why he had asked him to come, but Junhong said he had another schedule.
Then someone else, perhaps? All the session players of a caliber worth recommending are busy, so I don’t think they’ll be able to go. Ah! I know someone cheap, decent, and skilled. It’ll be her first session, but I truly guarantee her ability… She’ll definitely do a good job. Is that all right? If Junhong recommended her, she should be fine. I’ll have one of the juniors contact her.
After that, he hadn’t given it much thought. Junhong’s skills had been proven, so surely anyone he recommended would be reasonably capable.
Then he forgot all about it. But when he saw the guitarist who arrived…
Seeing Jaehun’s expression grow increasingly unpleasant, the surrounding staff worried that the sparks would fly their way.
This girl would only hear, “If you don’t have the skills to do something like this, just go home. Fucking Im Junhong…” But weren’t they the ones who were about to get thoroughly chewed out afterward?
‘Damn it…’
‘What the hell? Is that bastard Junhong or Jeonhong completely lacking in responsibility?’
‘Isn’t she Im Junhong’s student?’
‘Did he maybe sleep with her or something? He’s pushing her so hard. Isn’t that illegal? She looks fucking underage.’
Amid the staff’s ridiculous thoughts, Suyeon remained still with her eyes closed until the music ended. The moment it finished, she played it again.
The only thing that had changed was the position of her hands. The hands she had rested on her thighs had gently come together and were gradually beginning to keep time with the beat.
It was only a few minutes, but even that seemed like a waste of time to Jaehun. He gestured to one of the staff members to quickly find a new person. As one of the staff quietly slipped away, Suyeon opened her eyes.
“What about the chord chart? I asked for it earlier.”
“This is driving me crazy…”
Jaehun reluctantly handed over the chord chart. Suyeon placed it on the desk, picked up a pen, and spoke.
“I’m ready. Let’s go.”
The music began. It was an OST in the style of a ’90s rock ballad, suited to the retro drama’s theme. A slightly rusty-sounding vocal murmured through the early and middle sections before exploding in the latter half.
As the staff peered over to see what she was doing, Suyeon wrote down this and that. They were flustered by her scribbling manner and the old-fashioned appearance of her handwriting.
“This should be enough. Is the composer here?”
As soon as the song ended, Suyeon set down her pen. Her attitude suggested that there was nothing else she needed to do.
“He just went out for a cigarette…”
“We’ll hear what he has to say when he comes back, and if there’s nothing major, I’ll start recording right away. Also, I brought an electric guitar because you told me to bring only an electric, but I think we’ll need both an acoustic and a nylon-string guitar. The MIDI currently in the song doesn’t have enough damping.”
Jaehun nodded at the staff member, thinking that he would wait and see how far this girl could go. She certainly spoke confidently, but could her ability actually back it up?
Then Suyeon took out a Fender. Seeing that, one of the staff members spoke up.
“But our Anderson…”
“This would sound better if we recorded it with a Fender.”
“Good grief,” Jaehun said, as Suyeon fussed with the Fender. Just then, the composer came rushing upstairs, apparently having heard the news while he was out smoking.
“What the hell? Where’s Junhong? He said he was coming today. And who’s this?”
“Our great Im Junhong sent her as a substitute. Huh? Mr. Park, she says she’s going to record. Says she knows how to play guitar.”
The composer stared at Suyeon as though the situation were absurd. Suyeon, who had been looking at the composer, said, “Do you have any opinions? I heard there might be parts you wanted emphasized.”
“No, uh… starting from the third bar of the D bridge, that’s where the buildup comes in…”
“Then I’ll add the drive from here… No, should I start it before that? Have it rise with a bam-bam-bam from here.”
“Hmm… Not from there. I’d like it to be a little shorter. Instead, have it climb faster.”
The composer had shown distrust the moment he saw Suyeon. But in response to her words, he soon began discussing with her how the song should be played. “So you want me to hold the low end and do something short, like tak-tak-tak?” “Ah… yeah, probably something like that?” Their opinions went back and forth as the discussion grew serious.
Around the time the staff’s looks began to change into something like, ‘Could she really do sessions? Is she actually not joking?’ Suyeon set down her pen.
“Okay. Let’s go in now. Driver!”
* * *
Suyeon sat with headphones on, looking at the sheet music.
“I’ll make a sound once. Is the effects output okay?”
“Sounds good~”
The suspicious looks directed at Suyeon gradually began to turn positive.
First-time session musicians—although people doing their first session wouldn’t even be brought into a recording at this level in the first place—generally don’t know what they need to do for a recording or what kind of performance they should add to it.
They simply came because they were told to come, then played the guitar several times while wasting time in response to comments like, “It might sound good if you played the guitar this way…” Before they could get a feel for what they were supposed to do, they somehow finished the performance and left. Most people were like that.
But Suyeon was different. Jaehun had heard that it was her first session, yet she came in, listened to the music, read the chord chart, created a line, and reflected the composer’s opinions as if she had been doing sessions for decades. He knew nothing about her career or anything else, but the way she was carrying herself certainly looked quite reliable.
“I’ll start with the chorus backing.”
The chorus, so to speak, was the climactic part of the song. Suyeon plucked the guitar a few times, then gestured for them to start the song.
The music began playing. Keeping time with her foot, Suyeon started adding simple backing. Strum, strum, strum.
And Jaehun listened to the guitar coming through the control room. Against the backdrop of the belted climax of the ’90s-style rock ballad, the backing sound gradually emerged.
It was nothing more than an ordinary backing strum, but Jaehun… felt a slight sense of incongruity.
Something that should have been there wasn’t… What was the problem? No, to be precise, there was no problem.
But there was supposed to be a problem. Why wasn’t there one?
“Seokjun.”
“Yes~ Just a second~ Yes?”
Suyeon was signaling that she had finished the chorus backing and was moving on to the next part. At her signal, Seokjun, who was handling the equipment, was about to play it again when Jaehun’s words stopped him.
“Play back what we just recorded.”
“Huh? It seemed like there wasn’t any problem…”
“No, play it back again.”
The playback button was pressed. The backing that came through sounded problem-free even to Seokjun. He seemed to think the same thing, as he looked at Jaehun with an expression asking what was wrong.
“Why is the balance perfect on all of this?”
“Huh? Oh, it is.”
It had clearly been recorded in a single take, and they hadn’t made any corrections. But the strumming that lasted several dozen seconds… was perfectly balanced from beginning to end, without a single rough spot, as though it had been corrected after recording.
“At this point, we could probably just put it straight into the song.”
“Go ahead with the next part for now.”
Jaehun said that, then stepped back slightly and stood behind them. The recording continued.
The arpeggio, the obbligato supporting the melody, the harmonies in the bridge, and all the other parts where another guitar came in.
Even while Jaehun and the composer stood in the control room and kept listening, the recording continued charging ahead without a single stop.
“Is this actually recording properly? Have we been hypnotized or something?”
The composer muttered. Jaehun looked at Suyeon through the control room window.
She repeatedly clenched and unclenched her fists to loosen her hands, then said, “I’ll set up for the solo,” and began adjusting the amplifier.
“Does this make any sense?”
“What?”
“For the recording to be going this fast.”
“Well… it is an uncommon occurrence.”
In response to Jaehun’s question, the composer answered that way, then spoke to Seokjun, who was handling the equipment. “What was that session player’s name again?” “I think she said it was Ha Suyeon…”
Jaehun tuned out their conversation as he thought.
Even if they brought in a skilled session player—say, Im Junhong himself, the person who had recommended the girl—the recording wouldn’t proceed this quickly.
It wasn’t that Junhong lacked skill. If he had, they wouldn’t have called him in the first place.
But could Junhong catch the composer’s requests, suggest elements that would fit the song, and record something of a quality that didn’t leave you thinking anything was lacking? Could he ‘capture the recording in such a short time’ like this?
Jaehun couldn’t readily answer, ‘Yes, he could.’
Because this kind of work required experience.
The purpose of a drama OST was to promote the drama. To fulfill that purpose, it had to have a familiar, easy-to-listen-to quality while also offering a distinctive atmosphere unlike anything that had come before.
At the same time, it had to follow the musical grammar of its genre, and in a situation this urgent, the musician had to create a performance that fit as soon as they heard it.
To accomplish something like that so easily, genius alone wasn’t enough. Experience was necessary, too. The overwhelming experience of doing this kind of work dozens, hundreds, or thousands of times and practicing endlessly until you could find the right answer the moment you heard the music.
‘But that girl is doing exactly that. Is she really someone Im Junhong recommended? I should buy her a drink.’
Thinking about how much time they had saved, Jaehun smiled. He had already forgotten that he had cursed Junhong as a fucking bastard and worse in front of the staff.
“I’ll go into the solo last.”
Meanwhile, apparently finished with the setup, Suyeon plucked the guitar twice and spoke. Then the music began playing.
Soon, accompanied by calm picking, a guitar sound began flowing from the speakers. It had a driven clean tone that was unmistakably a Fender.