EP

“Honey. You need to eat.”

Hyein knocked on the door. But it did not open, and there was not even a sign of movement inside. The door had not opened even once since Suyeon had entered her room the previous night. Not even when it was time to leave for school.

‘I wonder if something’s wrong?’

Since being discharged, Suyeon had never once failed to wake up on time.

She always woke earlier than necessary, taking care of little things like folding her bedding and drinking coffee first. She opened the window to air out the room and cleaned various places with a broom. Then, when Hyein woke up, she ate the meal Hyein had prepared with her. That was how it had always been.

Had that routine been broken?

‘She asked me not to open the door.’

Had Suyeon stayed up late working last night? Was that why she was still asleep? But she had to get up now if she was going to school. Hyein hesitated for a moment, then grasped the doorknob.

If Suyeon was asleep, she could call the school and say that she would be late. Nothing would happen if she was tardy for one day. It was not as though Suyeon was going to attend college in the ordinary way, anyway…

‘Come to think of it, is Suyeon planning to go to an arts college?’

With that sudden thought taking her somewhere else entirely, Hyein opened the door.

And was horrified.

“Suyeon!”

Suyeon was wearing a headset and completely absorbed in the laptop screen. The dark circles beneath her eyes had sunk so low that Hyein wondered if she had really stayed up all night. Hyein rushed over and tapped Suyeon on the shoulder. Suyeon slowly turned to look at her.

“Ah, Mom. I asked you not to open the door…”

“Suyeon! It’s morning. Don’t tell me you stayed up all night?”

“Huh?”

Suyeon stared at the edge of the laptop with half-lowered eyes. Then her eyes flew open, and she looked utterly shocked. She moved the mouse around, immediately set down her headphones, and hurried into the bathroom.

“Suyeon, take today off school! You stayed up all night—what are you doing going to school? I’ll tell your teacher.”

“No, I have to go. I can’t miss school…”

There was a loud crash from the bathroom, followed by Suyeon’s scream. “Ack, it’s cold!” The girl who had always been calm and composed since the accident was acting like this today. But in a way, it also made her seem more like a girl her age, so Hyein smiled.

* * *

[Return, my gray days]

12,853 views / 1 day ago

This is a song that doesn’t have lyrics yet.

Thank you.

- Wow…

- This is the first time I’ve ever gotten choked up listening to a song on YouTube. I hope it gets beautiful lyrics.

- I think I understand what kind of feeling you were going for ㅠㅠㅠ The humming is seriously incredible.

- Why did I become this kind of adult? Why did I grow old like this?

ㄴ What the fuck are you carrying on about, lol. Is this middle-school syndrome?

ㄴ Please just move along.

ㄴ It’s because of assholes like you that the internet in this country is such a mess. These days, if someone gets even a little sentimental, you start yelling, “Is this middle-school syndrome?” Tsk tsk.

- Day 1 of praying for an official release.

- But doesn’t the song title feel a little old-fashioned?

ㄴ Hmm;; Is it that much?

- Is this person a professional? I came here through the algorithm, and this is seriously insane.

- There are only idol songs these days, so I’ve been really bored. Thank you so much for putting out a song like this ㅠㅠㅠ

[I’ve been kind of worn out from work lately, but listening to this song feels healing. I was so full of energy back when I was in school—how did I end up like this? I’ll be waiting for the day the song is complete]

[Cancel / Comment]

Sehyun typed out a comment, then hesitated over whether to press Enter. Wouldn’t it make him look ridiculously over-the-top? But wasn’t everyone else doing pretty much the same thing?

- I can hear kids’ voices, and judging by the effect of them fading away into the distance when they disappear, it seems like a walk to or from school. The “gray days” are probably childhood days that felt boring back then. The melody and humming make me reminisce about childhood, too.

He was already analyzing a song that didn’t even have lyrics. Compared to that, Sehyun was still relatively restrained.

Living with an otaku older sister and seeing all the ridiculous antics otaku got up to, Sehyun had vowed never to become like that.

She was practically an adult, yet she went all out over ticketing and bought merchandise. Shouldn’t she live her own life instead of worrying about someone else’s? They said worrying about celebrities was the most pointless thing in the world.

But that vow was shattered in the most miserable way. At Juhyeon’s concert, which he had attended with his older sister Seyoon, he saw a high school girl band. Juhyeon was the main act, but Seyoon and Sehyun had sat somewhere the band was clearly visible. And so… they could not help falling for them.

“Hey, did you hear that song?”

Just as Sehyun was debating whether to post the comment, his older sister suddenly appeared. She strolled over without a care in the world, saw the comment section, and began laughing.

“I was so full of energy back when I was in school, so how did I end up like this? Pffhahahaha…”

“What are you laughing at?”

After he struck her hard on the shoulder, Seyoon backed away with a cry of “Ow, that hurts!” Sehyun deleted the comment, then looked at his sister.

“Why all of a sudden?”

“So you heard that song too. It’s really good, right? I seriously cried. Look here. See how red my eyes are?”

“Why do I have to look at your eyes?”

The siblings called a temporary truce and decided to listen to the song once more. They wanted to share their impressions and come up with the best points for recommending the song to other people.

But the song would not play.

“What?”

They tried pressing the button several more times, but it still would not play. Then, when they refreshed the page… the only thing they saw was a message saying that the video had been made private.

“What the hell is going on with this??”

A few minutes later, the siblings saw a message posted in the community. It was an announcement that read, [I uploaded the video by mistake ㅠㅠ].

They regretted not downloading the video right away, but by then, it was already too late.

* * *

“Like I said before, I’m thinking of making an EP.”

It was the day of their regular rehearsal for the Paradox performance. But for some reason, Suyeon ended practice early and headed to a nearby café. The other three followed along in a little cluster, not knowing what was going on. Once they were there, Suyeon told them this and took a long sip of her coffee.

“An EP?”

“You don’t remember?”

“You did mention something like that once before…”

What was an EP? Iseo muttered to herself. It sounded like something she had heard before.

“An EP generally refers to a record with about four to seven songs.”

Seoha offered this explanation to the perplexed Iseo.

“Then is an EP not an album?”

“Strictly speaking, it’s a little different… Depending on the number of tracks, one to three is a single, while four to seven is an EP. In Japan, they also call it a mini-album. Eight or more is an album.”

“Does the number really mean anything? Aren’t they all just albums and music?”

“It does.”

Seoha pulled over a sheet of paper and began writing something. Saying that she was explaining the differences between singles, EPs, and albums, she continued jotting down various points.

“Overseas, an ‘album’ is what counts toward your regular career. The reason is complicated, but anyway, everything else is considered supplementary… so to speak, they’re treated like side stories.”

“Isn’t Korea a little different?”

“In Korea, both singles and EPs count toward your career. For example, let’s say, in the extreme, that we release two EPs and one single. In Korea, we’d still be seen as a band that had put out a decent amount of music. But overseas, we’d be seen as a band that had done nothing.”

“Why is that?”

“Well, those things aren’t really that important. Anyway, for this EP, I’m thinking of overseeing and producing the whole thing myself.”

Suyeon explained her reasons: there was not enough time, and accepting everyone’s opinions would make it difficult to maintain any consistency, among other things. The reasons were quite convincing, so Iseo and the others had no complaints.

“And one song is already done. I’d like you to listen to it.”

Suyeon held out a pair of earbuds. Iseo took them first and listened to the song.

And she was struck by two shocks.

First.

‘This…’

It was music that fit Iseo’s tastes perfectly. It even had the feeling of a Japanese animation or something along those lines. The quiet humming spreading through the song and the wistful voices of the children drifting in during each bridge evoked an indefinable nostalgia.

“The fact that it doesn’t have lyrics…”

“Yeah. I’d like you, Iseo, to write them.”

“Okay!”

Was Suyeon pleased with the lyrics Iseo herself had written before? At the thought that Suyeon was entrusting the lyrics to her again, Iseo nodded.

And second.

“Don’t you think the title feels a little too old?”

“Hmm?”

Suyeon was strangely startled by those words. Thinking that was a little odd, Iseo continued.

“Return, my gray days… Doesn’t it sound too much like ‘Come Back, Youth’ or something?”

“Is that so? I thought I’d given it a slightly Japanese-style title. I took the reference from that direction in the first place.”

Iseo thought there was some merit to that. Was it like [Boy, become a legend] or [Boy, come back to me]? Now that she said it, though, they were both about boys…

“But translated into Korean, it sounds too much like an old song. If you say 帰れ, 灰色の日々, it sounds kind of cool… but ‘Return, my gray days’ sounds like an older person reminiscing about their youth.”

“Then I guess we’ll have to change the name…”

Suyeon seemed to get flustered once again for some reason, then answered in a dejected voice. Was that the title her mother had come up with back then? If so, Iseo thought, this would be a total Talulah.

* * *

‘How are we going to distribute the record?’

It felt a little ridiculous to worry about this before even making the songs, but it was still an important issue. Creating something was not enough by itself. Other people had to hear about it, too.

And promotion was not the only problem; distribution was, too. If it was an EP rather than a digital single, the usual thing was to press physical copies.

But if they made the record themselves, they would have to buy CD cases, buy blank CDs and burn them, print and attach the artwork, insert the liner notes, and so on… They would have to do all of that individually, or contact a company that handled such work and negotiate a price.

They would have to go through all that… but when would they have time? They could leave it to a label. But then there were all sorts of problems with leaving it to a label.

‘So releasing an EP comes with these problems…’

The situation was a headache in every respect, and Myeongjeon could only clutch their head. Should they simply join a label? It would surely offer many advantages, not only for the EP but also for promotion and other matters.

‘But then again, there are all sorts of complications with joining one.’

Once they joined a label, they would inevitably be constrained by its musical leanings, and they would not be able to release records whenever they wanted. There were plenty of other problems, too.

Nevertheless, it was also true that joining a label would make things much easier, so Myeongjeon could not help agonizing over it.

“Suyeon. Let’s eat dinner.”

“Yes.”

Rather than sighing, they should do what they could right now. For example, eat dinner. Thinking that, Myeongjeon sat down at the table. The meat had been grilled to a tempting brown.

“Come to think of it, Mom mentioned this before.”

“Mentioned what?”

“An album. I asked whether you had any plans to make one.”

“Yes.”

“Do you still have plans?”

“Um… I do. I’m composing songs to make one, too. The reason I stayed up all night last time was to work on that song.”

Hyein’s face brightened at Myeongjeon’s answer. Before Myeongjeon could ask why, Hyein spoke first.

“That’s great. I bought a record label a little while ago. How about releasing an album through it?”

“…What?!”