Act 7: Lightly 9
Lee Suh-ah looked forward with her chin resting on her hand.
“Chi son–! e che faccio…”
She could see Jo Yunjae singing at the front. It was still in the first half, and was where the high notes were starting to appear.
While analysing the sound, she softly closed her eyes.
‘Not good.’
That was her evaluation.
Although it was a bit too early to give a judgment, there was already way too many evidence to back it off.
First, lack of practice. She could feel from just listening that he hadn’t sung the song much and plus, the distribution of breath was awkward and it was as if she could see the unstableness of the sound.
They were all things that happened due to a lack of practice.
“Ehew…”
Well, she knew this would be the case the moment he chose the song.
Che gelida was an extremely hard song after all, and it was something students would learn after entering university. It was a song that could only be sung after 6 years of building up the groundwork throughout performing arts middle school and high school.
‘And he’s trying to sing that after only two months of entering a performing art high school so…’
Clicking her tongue, Lee Suh-ah shook her head. From what he had said, it seemed like it hadn’t even been that long since he started practising that, so what was his basis for performing that here?
Probably that Kim Wuju was the only one that could sing this song out of all high school freshmen.
Glancing to the side, she found Kim Wuju listening to the song with a happy expression.
“Haa…”
Lee Suh-ah heaved out a deep sigh.
That was how the gifted were.
Things that had been built up through the efforts of a normal man could be done casually by a genius with him taking further steps in comparison. If Kim Wuju had sung this song, it would’ve been so good that it would be impossible to compare.
A breath which Jo Yunjae gathered after digging out everything from within his stomach would be the same as Kim Wuju’s one breath.
A resonance that Jo Yunjae formed after using all the resonating chambers inside his body could be made by Kim Wuju opening his mouth once.
The voice which Jo Yunjae optimised after continuous research was something Kim Wuju had been born with.
That was the cruel wall called talent.
“…”
Well, he had to get used to it.
Although Jo Yunjae was also an extremely good, talented guy, Kim Wuju was just otherworldly. He was a genius that had brought Lee Suh-ah to despair several times throughout her middle school days – a genius she gave up on overcoming.
‘It’s Kim Wuju so… it can’t be helped.’
When her thoughts reached that point, a strange resonance dug into her eardrums.
“L’anima ho milionaria–”
“Uh…?”
Lee Suh-ah flashed her eyes open and stared at the front.
Jo Yunjae – he was still singing. He stood there staring at herself without much change from before.
But something was different; that fact definitely reached her through her skin.
‘What is it? What in the world…?’
In confusion, she quickly re-analysed the sound.
Pitch – it was still unstable.
Vocalisation – it was still shaking.
Resonance – it was still repeatedly being flattened.
‘Uuun…??’
Lee Suh-ah made a dumbfounded expression.
It was strange.
No matter how she thought, nothing had changed physically but the atmosphere of the song had changed drastically.
Although somewhat awkward, it touched her heart… as if she could feel the emotions with her skin. The words that came out, word by word, seemed to stab directly into her heart without going past the brain.
His emotions that described ‘being poor yet being full of dreams’ was resonating throughout her body sharply.
‘Why is this…’
Her eyes that had been blankly staring at Jo Yunjae’s face suddenly overlapped it with a memory of the past. The opera she had been brought to by the school during middle school – Jo Yunjae seemed similar to that old male actor she had seen back then.
“La spera—-nza!”
The old wrinkled face of the opera singer appeared blurrily before soon vanishing.
“…!”
Coming to herself, Lee Suh-ah quickly glanced around. The song had long ended, and Jo Yunjae had already returned to his seat, seemingly having already received feedback.
‘Ah. I should’ve asked how he did that just then!’
After stamping the ground with her feet, Lee Suh-ah bit her lips.
Maybe, maybe it was her mistake? Was it just because she felt strangely emotional today?
As if to answer that query of hers, it was Kim Wuju’s turn to sing.
‘This time…?’
She who had been staring forward with anticipation soon dropped her head.
No.
That feeling from before didn’t hit her. She only felt that he was good at singing and the feelings that had echoed her heart directly were no longer there.
Lee Suh-ah contemplated.
‘What was that?’
Jo Yunjae. How was he able to put so much emotions into the song?
A song which even that monstrous genius, Kim Wuju couldn’t sing and a feeling she couldn’t even feel from that oppressive wall blocking her from the front.
…Jo Yunjae, a student who wasn’t even a teacher had achieved that?
“…”
Her heart that had been filled with ashes caught ablaze once again.
‘After learning that… would I be able to surpass Kim Wuju?’
*
“Haa…”
Sitting back on my seat, I heaved out a deep sigh.
Ah. I couldn’t tell because I was way too absorbed in my singing, but it seemed to have been worse than I thought and I received quite the feedback.
Although focusing like that was good, I was too immersed in my emotions and couldn’t focus on the technical part of it… well, I guess it wasn’t a song of my league in the first place.
With a regretful heart, I thought back on the evaluations.
“…It seems like your analyses on the pronunciation aren’t done yet. Especially when going over from ‘u’ to ‘a’, you got that wrong quite a lot.”
“It was good but I think you need to practise a bit more.”
“Mhmm… the song selection was good but… next!”
The feedback that came storming down felt bitter and because they were correct, they hurt even more. But it was weird that Lee Suh-ah didn’t say anything…
Anyways practice. I need to practise.
Calming down my heart, I vowed when something warm touched my hand.
When I raised my head up, the small face of Han Dasom filled my gaze – her gently risen up lips, circular eyes and long, slender eyelashes.
With a flinch, I pulled my head back when Han Dasom opened her lips.
“That’s strange…”
“…What is?”
A faint smile appeared in her eyes.
“The evaluations were a bit weird. Yunjae’s song… I really, reaally liked it, you know…?”
After staring at that face for a bit, I smiled. It felt like my heart was being warmed up.
“What, are you trying to cheer me up? Thanks. But it’s true that I need to practise more.”
“I wasn’t though…”
*
After that, the presentations were done in order and we shared feedback.
The clean, perfect song of Kim Wuju; Jun Shihyuk’s powerful song; Han Dasom’s warm song; Lee Suh-ah’s elegant song and Song Mirae’s charming song.
Listening to all that… was really too good for the ears.
They were all good, and just listening to them overflowed me with things I could learn.
For that song, it’s better to sing like that;
You can use that technique easier by opening the mouth wider and;
Making mistakes like that suppresses the overall feeling of the song huh…
Indirect experiences were really nothing to scoff at and it was especially so when they were coming from geniuses. Like that, I was absorbing information like a sponge with a smile when the study lesson came to an end in a flash.
A sigh left unconsciously.
“Haa… I need to go to the dorms soon… I want to practise more…”
“…Do you like practising that much?”
“Yeah… Oh, but I would attend this and listen even if I had to pay, you know?”
“…”
I was watching Song Mirae’s face that seemed to be somewhat turned off, when a nervous Lee Suh-ah entered my sight from behind her.
‘Nervous’ and ‘Lee Suh-ah’ – they were quite the paradoxical words. Thinking that, I stared at her when she opened her mouth.
“Hey…”
“Un?”
After glancing at Song Mirae a bit, Lee Suh-ah slowly walked up before whispering softly.
“Come outside for a bi…”
“Outside? Why? Just say it here.”
“If I tell you to come, just d… huu…”
After flaring up a bit, she gave a deep breath in and out before forcibly raising her lips with the same angry eyes.
This… she looked like Jigsaw…
“I have. a. favour to ask… can you come outside for a bit, please? Yunjae?”
Blinking my eyes, I tilted my head.
A favour?
*
After dragging me out from the practice room far enough, she dropped my sleeve.
“What is it? And why not just say it back there? Why so secretive…”
Lee Suh-ah glared at me before clicking her tongue.
“Why so many words? Are you still a man?”
“Woah… that’s being sexist you know.”
“Whatev…”
Suddenly, she flinched and stopped there before stealing a glance at me.
“Whatev?”
“No, no. So… so… sorry… uut, so…! Please, I have a request.”
“What request?”
She heaved out a sigh and silently turned her gaze towards me. I could see the black pupils filled with a sharp gaze soon encompassing a serious light.
“You. How did you do that when you were singing back then?”
“’How’?”
“That… you did something in the middle. It was all over the place at the start before suddenly changing after you did something. What did you do?”
It was more like her words were all over the place, and I couldn’t really understand her question.
When I was singing?
I blinked my eyes and reflected.
Hmm… I don’t remember doing anything in particular. I just sang but…
Ah, I guess I did get absorbed into the song more than other songs because the lyrics seemed to be talking about me.
Was she talking about that? Tilting my head, I opened my mouth.
“Our family isn’t very well off financially so I could really empathise with the lyrics. Is that what you’re talking about? But what was different? The other kids didn’t say anything really.”
Confusion flashed through her face.
“What…? The other kids didn’t say anything?”
“Yeah. I just got criticised about my lack of practice on the techniques.”
Lee Suh-ah suddenly seemed to have come to an understanding as she opened her mouth slightly.
“…Ah. Empathise…”
“Empathise?”
She was still talking about things I couldn’t understand. I silently observed her and when she came to herself, Lee Suh-ah smiled awkwardly and changed the topic.
“Nothing. In any case…! That… do you think I can do it as well? How do I say it, embedding emotions?”
That was quite the literal name.
“Um… For that song just then, it wasn’t really intentional so I’m not too sure how it works. I also did put emotions into my other songs as well.”
“But still somehow…”
“I don’t know. I’ll try practising it but… although I don’t exactly know what you are talking about, it wouldn’t come out immediately.”
“…I see.”
Heaving out a sigh, Lee Suh-ah tapped the ground with her foot before turning around.
“?”
I stared at the back of her head with confusion when Lee Suh-ah suddenly started typing something after taking her phone out.
Uuung. I could feel a vibration.
…What in the world was she doing?
I heaved out a sigh myself and took out my phone as the previous messages I sent her entered my sight.
…
[Let’s practise]
[Oi]
[Oiiiiii]
[Reply after reading my messages–]
The messages that had never gotten a reply back despite having been read. Underneath those, there was a message that had just arrived.
[Lee Suh-ah: Okay haha…]
With a dumbfounded expression, I stared at the back of her head and saw it flinch.
“What is this?”
“…That… you wanted… to practise together. Let’s do it.”
Barely holding back the laughter that was about to sneak out, I played dumb.
“Oh~ Practice? I thought you were busy though? You ignored my messages quite hard, didn’t you?”
“…I’m not busy anymore…”
“Noo. I can’t dare to hold back our Miss Lee Suh-ah who has no free time. I’m sorry for bothering you so much~ Then, see ya!”
Suddenly turning around, Lee Suh-ah screamed.
“I said let’s do it!”
I could see Lee Suh-ah’s face that was full of anger and… ah, this was so interesting. When would I ever get to tease Lee Suh-ah if I didn’t right now?
Feeling quite happy, I gazed down at Lee Suh-ah with an arrogant look and raised the corner of my lips.
“‘I said let’s do it~’? Did you perhaps just yell at me?”
“…”
After lowering her head and trembling, Lee Suh-ah opened her mouth.
“I’m so…”
“What? I can’t hear you properly.”
“Sor…”
“Speak louder please~”
Lee Suh-ah suddenly shot her head up.
“So… son of a bitch! You were the one that wanted tooo…!”