EP

‘Making an EP is all well and good.’

But what should I make? That was Myeongjeon’s biggest concern at the moment. Of course, they had plenty of songs already written. The songs they had written while performing, applying for support programs, and so on were more than enough for an EP.

However, rather than recycle their old songs, Myeongjeon wanted to write new ones. They wanted it to feel like announcing the beginning of the band.

The problem was that, for that very reason, they had no idea what kind of songs to write.

There were plenty of things they could do. Blues, hard rock, psychedelic, alternative, prog, and all sorts of other things… If this were ‘Seo Myeongjeon,’ perhaps it would be one thing, but as ‘Ha Suyeon,’ it would be quicker to ask what they couldn’t do than what they could.

But what did they actually want to do?

Myeongjeon felt uncertain at that point. What do I want to do now? ‘I,’ with Seo Myeongjeon’s playing ability and Ha Suyeon’s genius… What kind of songs should I write now? What kind of music should I play?

Where should I go?

* * *

Lunchtime.

“Want to go eat outside? Mom’s Touch.”

Myeongjeon quietly stared at Dain, who had made the suggestion. What on earth had happened to the world? What was it—‘back in my day,’ or something? Anyway, when I was young, going outside during lunch? It would have been unimaginable.

“The school lunch is good too, so why go out? It’s pork cutlet today. There’s no need to go out of our way.”

“Why not~? Your big sis will buy it for you. Hmm?”

At Myeongjeon’s counterquestion, Suyeon clung to them, acting coy and pestering them. Chaerin clung to them too. Myeongjeon waved them off and looked at the girls.

‘Aren’t they tired of this?’

They could just eat inside. It wasn’t as though the school cafeteria was running out of food. It wasn’t even serving something like spicy glazed pollock nuggets—Myeongjeon liked pollock, but there was no way they could like the pollock served in this school cafeteria.

“Fine.”

Seeing that the girls didn’t look like they would back down, Myeongjeon sighed and nodded.

Even so, they slipped out through the back door with a cardigan draped over their shoulders, if only out of courtesy. Dain and the girls, however, subtly headed outside while proudly displaying their school-uniform tops emblazoned with the school crest, accompanied by exaggerated movements and giggles as if they were saying, ‘We have to hide!’

“Ah! We’re late because of Yeonsu!”

When they arrived at the hamburger restaurant, quite a few of the girls were already there. Dain let out that exclamation, then went to the table and plopped down with exaggerated movements that screamed, I’m mad.

“Just order.”

“I’m getting a Thigh Burger~ And extra fries.”

“You want me to buy it?”

“I’ll get it. Yeonsu, what are you having?”

Chaerin said this from where she was already standing in front of the kiosk. Myeongjeon said they would have a Thigh Burger too, then sat across from Dain. Dain, who had been lying facedown on the table, let out a muffled laugh.

“Why?”

“Just because it’s fun.”

“What’s fun about it?”

Myeongjeon thought there was no way they could understand a high school girl’s sensibilities. Was it the thrill of doing something forbidden? The guilt that came from it? Even so, this hardly seemed like a particularly outrageous act. Was eating hamburgers outside during lunch really that much fun?

“Oh, Gwonji! Long time no see~”

While Myeongjeon was folding their arms and pondering in an effort to understand the sensibilities of the young, someone approaching them called out a greeting. It was Gwon Jihye, who had often picked fights in her curt manner.

“Yeonsu.”

“Why?”

Dain and the girls greeted her cheerfully without a second thought.

But Myeongjeon felt like asking, Why is she doing this again? Every time they ran into her, she seemed to pick a fight and make snide remarks. Was she like the villain in some old animated movie? Was that the role she was going for?

“Are you still doing music?”

“I am.”

Unlike the girls, who had expected the mood to become friendly, a slight tension hung in the air. Gwon Jihye plopped down in Chaerin’s seat, where she had been hovering around the counter waiting to collect the food.

“Do you plan to keep doing it?”

“What, did you think I’d do it for a while and then quit? Do you want me to stop making music?”

At that answer, Jihye snorted and stood up. Myeongjeon had no idea what she wanted, but Jihye didn’t seem inclined to explain.

“I’m off. I’ll contact you later.”

“Yeah, okay~”

And with that, Gwon Jihye disappeared. Myeongjeon looked at Dain, unable to understand what was going on, but Dain merely let out another muffled laugh.

“What is it?”

“I’ll tell you later~ Let’s eat our burgers.”

Instead of answering, Dain brushed it off and bit into the hamburger Chaerin had brought over. The girls wore happy expressions. They dumped the fries onto the tray, dipped them in ketchup, and chatted endlessly about nothing in particular.

Without joining in the conversation, Myeongjeon rested their chin on their hand and looked around the restaurant for a moment. Perhaps because it was near a school, every customer was a student. They were all eating and chatting with the girls they had come with, their faces bright with enjoyment.

“Suyeon. Aren’t you going to eat?”

“I am.”

They pressed down on the hamburger so it would be easier to eat. Then they bit into the slightly squashed burger.

The combination of instant sauce they would once have found revolting, an almost excessively fried chicken cutlet, bread, and everything else. These were things they had hated just as much when they had first become ‘Ha Suyeon.’

But now it went into their mouth without a hitch. In fact, they preferred these strong, stimulating foods to the bland beef soup or porridge they used to eat.

“You’ve got sauce on your cheek.”

“Huh?”

Around their third bite of the hamburger, Suyeon said that and wiped Myeongjeon’s cheek with a tissue. Seeing the girls’ inexplicably broad smiles gave Myeongjeon a strange feeling.

* * *

Three of them were enthusiastically dancing to choreography Myeongjeon had no idea when they had practiced. Holding an iPhone camera, Myeongjeon was recording the girls’ dance. Chaerin suddenly stumbled while dancing energetically.

“Damn it! Ah, Chaerin~! What the heck~!”

“Ah, I keep getting this wrong. Why is it so hard? This part didn’t seem that difficult.”

“You should’ve practiced before coming, you idiot.”

Leaving the girls to mercilessly scold Chaerin for messing up the move, Myeongjeon stopped recording. They were filming because the girls had asked them to, but why on earth were they doing this?

“Why are you doing this?”

“Huh?”

“To upload it to TikTok?”

Myeongjeon asked the girls. The trio fell into thought, their expressions turning contemplative. Suyeon was the first to speak.

“That too, and we’re also thinking of performing this at the festival… But more than anything.”

“More than anything?”

“To be honest, if not now, we won’t be able to do this anymore. Don’t you think?”

“Huh?”

At Dain’s words, Myeongjeon reflexively asked what she meant, because they didn’t really understand. The other girls seemed to feel the same way, as they too asked in exactly the same tone.

“Well, I guess it wouldn’t really matter when we did it. But things like this—you can’t do them unless it’s now. Once we go to college and enter the job market, we won’t have time for anything, and we won’t be at the age to do this anymore…”

“Is that so?”

Myeongjeon turned those words over in their mind. If not now, never. It seemed possibly true, yet it also seemed possibly untrue.

“I don’t think that’s true~”

“It is. It’s totally true.”

Leaving the trio to argue over whether it was true or not, Myeongjeon fell into thought.

Things from childhood definitely have a different… ‘density’ from what comes afterward.

This exact moment. Things that weren’t anything special became fun and happy when done together with friends. Only a few insignificant years when viewed across an entire life… yet a time one would remember and reminisce about again and again throughout that life.

That was why it was a time to be enjoyed as much as possible. So that if the rest of life became difficult, they could endure it with those memories. So that if the rest of life was happy, they could use them as fuel to take one step farther.

‘That’s it.’

“Hey, start already. I’m going to record you.”

“What’s with the sudden change?”

Myeongjeon cut off the girls’ pointless bickering. Though they asked what this was all of a sudden, the girls took their places again, started the song, and began dancing.

The girls danced along to the song. There were parts where they made awkward mistakes, and parts they interpreted well. Parts they did however they pleased, and parts they followed properly.

At the pace these girls were practicing… there was no way they could ever produce a performance resembling the original song. That took sufficient time, practice, and more practice.

But that didn’t matter.

What mattered was not the result, but the process.

That I, you, and we were doing it together.

That was the heart of it.

* * *

[Today’s practice is canceled]

[Why? Did something happen?]

[Something important came up just now]

[It’s nothing bad]

[I’ll tell you separately later]

After receiving a reply that they understood, Myeongjeon closed KakaoTalk. They didn’t like changing their schedule at the last minute like this. Unless something as serious as a parent’s funeral came up, they generally followed through on all their plans.

But this time… even if it wasn’t quite as urgent as a parent’s funeral, it was urgent enough.

“I’m not going to eat dinner tonight.”

“Why? Did something happen?”

“I just thought of something. Please don’t open the door. I think it’ll break my concentration.”

After informing Ms. Lee Hyein in advance as well, Myeongjeon closed the door. Their mind felt ticklish, as if an idea were just about to emerge.

‘The concept… Let’s go with that.’

They might get criticized for following a trend. Or if someone knew ‘Seo Myeongjeon,’ or knew ‘Ha Suyeon’ as ‘Seo Myeongjeon’s’ disciple… they might wonder why this person was doing something so strange.

But surely that was all right?

No one could grow old without first being young. That made it a time everyone had lived through, and therefore one that could not help but resonate with everyone.

It was ordinary to the point of being clichéd… but that was precisely why there was nothing wrong with invoking it once again.

And for people in this age group, it was the most fitting subject imaginable.

‘Come to think of it, there’s a suitable reference for producing an EP, too.’

The Japanese band… Silent Siren. Their age range was a little different, but their setup itself was a good fit. A four-member girl band that included a keyboardist.

As for the lyrics, well. Should I leave them to Iseo? Myeongjeon could handle the melody and arrangement themself.

They tried making a melody. What kind of feeling should it have? A fresh melody like a single cloud floating in a blue sky, the sort of thing that came to mind when one thought of youth? Wasn’t that too simplistic an interpretation?

They thought of the sky at lunchtime today. It had been a little gloomy, and though it hadn’t rained… there had been quite a lot of clouds drifting across it. Even in that dim atmosphere, the girls had moved about quite cheerfully.

Let’s do it that way.

They didn’t want it to feel too cheerful. So, in a minor key. The tempo slightly slow.

The guitar would play the main melody. The bass would play a rhythmic, J-rock-style line at a lower volume. The drums would have a bouncy sound. The keyboard would evoke a wistful feeling, as if heard from a little distance away. So that the people listening to the music could reminisce about their past selves.

And finally, they played the video of the girls dancing today. The conversations they had exchanged while playfully bickering with one another between moments when they messed up the dance.

They would turn those conversations into background white noise and add them in. As if walking home from some high school. As if writing a page of youth, with the girls’ voices drifting in the background.

As for the title, well. While wondering what to call it, Myeongjeon thought of a single sentence.

Return, my gray days.