When she was little, there had been a time when she listened to the songs on the tapes her grandmother liked so much that the tape would stretch, all so she could sing along with them.
It was not because she liked those songs.
Lee Sol had been young, so she had liked it much better to sing and dance along to the pure, delicate girl idol groups that came on TV.
Still, her grandmother had looked happier when she listened to songs she was familiar with, so there had been nothing else Lee Sol could do.
Maybe that was why.
“The song itself sounds old-fashioned.”
“The song itself sounds old-fashioned.”
“The song itself sounds old-fashioned.”
Those words were quite a shock.
It’s not even that he said I’m bad at singing…
Lee Sol’s head was filled with nothing but Hyunseung’s words.
That said, it was not a problem worth despairing over.
This much is nothing.
That was how Lee Sol pulled herself back to her feet.
“As expected, our unnie is the best!”
“This is seriously amazing!”
“Unnie, you were so cool!”
For the sake of the members who were relying on her, too.
“This is our last chance.”
Forgetting even her pain, Lee Sol went back to the beginning and started studying vocalization all over again, and to get rid of the “bending,” she repeatedly sang children’s songs she had not even sung when she was little.
When that did not work either, she sang those children’s songs in staccato, cutting them off note by note.
“Unnie, what are you doing right now?”
“Pfft!”
“You’re not actually singing Jingle Bells, are you?”
The members burst out laughing, saying she looked ridiculous, but she did not even have time to laugh along with them.
Of course.
She knew it would not work if she alone fixed herself well, but she did not want to let a hard-won opportunity simply fly away.
“Gahyeon, when you start, can you try singing with the feeling of pushing a little more breath in?”
“Okay, I’ll try it again!”
“Yujin, I think you’re a little lacking in emotion. Put in as much feeling as you can…”
“Could you maybe sing it just once for me, unnie?”
“Seulgi, they say your pronunciation gets better if you do it while holding a pencil in your mouth. Want to try?”
“Okay, unnie!”
Scolding them, coaxing them, she continued practicing over and over.
Since there was no extra time to be given, all they could do was sing as much as possible within the time they had.
Stubborn to the point of seeming dumb.
That was the only thing Lee Sol had that she could put forward.
“I’ll always be here, so you just have to come. I’ll run if you call, so you just have to stand there.”
Now the die had been cast. No one knew what result would come of it.
As desperate as she was…
It was an opportunity she had obtained by being not just brazen, but rude.
She hoped for a good result.
But if…
If the result was not good…
“Being a singer… I really have to do it, right?”
Even then, she would not be able to answer her grandmother’s question.
Tremble.
Only after the backing track had fully ended did Lee Sol slowly open her eyes.
What kind of expression are they looking at me with?
The moment she opened her eyes with that thought, she met HS’s gaze.
But she could not tell what he was thinking.
“Uh…”
It was not only HS who was looking at her.
Vincent as well.
And their CEO and the members were all staring at her too.
“Th-the song is over…”
Lee Sol opened her mouth, shrinking back a little under the attention focused on her.
Even in the middle of that, all kinds of thoughts flooded her head.
Was it too much like a children’s song?
Or…
Had the bending been too much again?
Even while practicing, she had kept recording herself and listening back, then listening again, but it had been hard to judge objectively.
So now, it was difficult for her to understand the meaning of all those eyes fixed on her.
That was when.
Clap, clap, clap!
All of a sudden, their CEO, Sung Wooyoung, started applauding.
“CEO…”
Smiling as if he could not see anything around him, he kept clapping until his palms turned red and swollen.
His expression was telling her.
I’m truly sorry.
It seemed he had kept in his heart what he had said before, when he told them they should stop and give up.
Clap, clap, clap!
He kept applauding as much as he felt sorry.
“Hold on.”
And the sound of that applause stopped only after HS opened his mouth.
“Overall, you’ve improved, but the harmony between the instruments is pretty bad.”
At those words, Lee Sol let out a small sigh.
“Ah.”
They had practiced with the goal of improving each person’s individual skill, so they had not thought about the group’s overall harmony.
Idiot, idiot.
Just as Lee Sol, unable to come up with even a single excuse, was only biting at her poor lips.
“But your group name is 4WAY, right?”
“Huh? Ah, yes…”
“If each of you has a different way, then there’s no choice but to bring each of them to life.”
“Th-then!”
Before Lee Sol could even ask back with eyes gone round as lanterns, HS continued speaking.
“I’ll have your plane tickets canceled and your hotel checkout extended, so come back to the studio again in a week.”
At the same time, the atmosphere in the room instantly turned festive.
“Kyaa! Unnie!”
“We did it!”
“I’m proud of you, girls.”
The 4WAY members and their CEO hugged one another, comforting each other with tear-damp voices.
“Looks like my work is getting pushed back again.”
At that moment, Vincent took off his headset and muttered in a voice tinged with laughter.
Soon.
HS gave an instruction to the assistant standing guard by the door.
“Michelle, go with them and help extend their hotel checkout.”
“Yes, I’ll do that.”
Lee Sol had fixed and overcome her injury and her flawed vocalization, but there was still one thing she had not managed to overcome.
“Eek!”
Her fear of Michelle.
Hyunseung immediately began working on 4WAY’s new song.
In truth, if he were looking at only Lee Gahyeon and Kim Yujin, it was a job he would never have started.
However, he had thought that the instrument called Han Seulgi had quite a usable voice and power.
And above all, the instrument called Lee Sol was rather interesting.
Like a weed, perhaps?
A weed that would never bend, no matter how many times you stepped on it.
No.
She only looked like a weed, but inside she was solid and stubborn, more like a rock, solid enough to look dumb.
Yes.
Even though she had never once had proper vocal training since birth, she had strong volume and an open voice.
And just from the fact that she had corrected a habit in such a short time, she was more than enough to draw his interest as an instrument.
Tap, tatatatak, tap.
In that case, there was no choice but to increase the weight of the usable instruments, lower the weight of the so-so instruments, and maximize their strengths.
Tap, tatatatak, tap.
At present, that was likely the only way, and the only road, for 4WAY to survive.
Tap, tatatatak, tap.
It was while he was deeply absorbed in working on the song.
Knock, knock.
He heard a familiar knock.
By now, hearing the sound alone made him feel as if he could already see neat, orderly Michelle.
These days, I hear she spars in judo with Executive Director Park.
“Come in.”
Thinking he had to make sure he did not end up getting grabbed by the sleeve by her, he answered.
“Sir.”
Soon, Michelle entered after opening the door, looking like the type who would walk around with a copy of The Principles of Mathematics tucked under her arm.
“What is it?”
He had already instructed her not to come looking for him when he was working unless it was something urgent.
Since Michelle followed instructions sharply, the fact that she had come meant it was definitely urgent.
“It is regarding people from Korea claiming to be your ‘friends.’ They have come to see you.”
Friends, out of nowhere? Had things gotten so bad that now people were impersonating his friends just to ask for songs?
“Ha…”
Hyunseung let out a sigh and ran a hand back through his hair, but Michelle added on like a robot reciting programmed language.
“However, as there is not just one or two of them, I first had them wait in the lobby.”
Had a whole group come this time?
“Let’s go down.”
He really needed to put out an article soon.
If anyone came looking for him to ask for a song…
He would ruin them, by any means necessary.
Step, step.
Hyunseung moved forward, resolved to drive the nail in firmly this time.
.
.
.
It was around the time he set foot on the stairs leading to the lobby.
“But the lobby is really antique and stylish!”
“It really does feel like we’ve come to some giant mansion.”
He heard familiar voices from somewhere.
Huh?
Hyunseung hurried down the stairs, and when his view opened up, he saw the faces of the people standing there.
They were… his “Korea instrument collection.”
“Hyunseung!”
Lee Hyoeun, the first to spot him coming down, waved and ran toward him.
“Stop.”
Hyunseung raised a hand and stopped her.
Michelle, who had been walking one step ahead of him, had immediately dropped into a stance that looked ready to flip Lee Hyoeun over at any second.
“Michelle, you may step back now. They’re my instruments visiting from Korea.”
“Yes, understood.”
Michelle did not ask back even at the word “instruments.”
To begin with, she was not the sort to question what he said.
That was why she was convenient.
Leaving Michelle behind, Hyunseung slowly walked toward them.
“Teacher.”
To be exact, he was looking for Moon Beomjae.
“What brings you here…”
The other instruments, he could imagine dropping by anytime to torment him or be a nuisance, but Moon Beomjae had been unexpected.
“It’s gotten hard to even get a look at your face now, CEO Min.”
Instead of answering, Moon Beomjae added with a sly smile.
“It was a long trip, and I’m terribly tired. Would it be all right if we moved somewhere more comfortable and talked?”
Because Hyunseung’s studio had suddenly become crowded with people, it was no different from a marketplace.
Including Moon Beomjae…
Seo Jini, Kang Hajun, Jung Arin, Lee Hyoeun, and Yoon Jaeyi.
Except for The Moon, almost everyone was there.
“Composer, no, that’s not right! I should call you CEO now, right?”
“Wow, Hyunseung, you being a CEO really feels strange somehow!”
Jung Arin and Lee Hyoeun chattered away, echoing each other with “Right, right.”
“Honestly, Track 3 was made with me in mind, right?”
“Hajun, I clearly said I was already practicing that…”
“I, I, I’m fine with any song at all…”
Kang Hajun, Seo Jini, and Yoon Jaei immediately started bickering over the songs.
“4WAY?”
At that moment, Jung Arin quietly read aloud the words written on the memo pad.
“The group I decided to give a song to this time.”
Hyunseung gave a rough explanation as he closed the memo pad.
“Ah, the group’s name is 4WAY? I’ve never heard of them.”
“They only decided on that group name this time.”
“I guess there are four members. But it feels a little strange.”
“What does?”
“You know how people say names have a way of coming true. I’m worried they’ll all go their separate ways.”
“Anything’s better than becoming a panty thief.”
At those words, Jung Arin shouted, “Composer!” with a face that instantly turned red as if it were about to burst.
“Anyway, what exactly made you all come here so suddenly?”
Leaving Jung Arin behind, Hyunseung asked Moon Beomjae.
“We were worried about you, but we couldn’t get in contact with you, so we all ended up coming.”
At those words, Hyunseung let out an “Ah,” remembering the countless messages he had ignored so far with hazy, unfocused eyes.
Probably.
Part of it was because of the songs, but it seemed they had also been worried because of the news about Daniel.
If it were Moon Beomjae…
Through an incomplete song, he would have grasped even his state of mind. Yes, if it was him.
“It’s a truly unfortunate thing. To have heaven steal away such a genius musician.”
“I feel the same way.”
“But he would have thought himself fortunate.”
“Huh? Fortunate for what…”
“Because he confirmed that a genius like you exists in this world.”
Just as expected, Moon Beomjae added in a voice that suddenly settled low and firm.
“So don’t waver.”
He was human. How could he not waver?
In truth, even if a person wavered, a song could not be allowed to waver.
That one very short sentence burrowed into his chest with razor-like precision.
“You’ll remain in this industry for a long time yet, and for just that long, you’ll have to send many people off. So you need to become stronger.”
“I understand very well what you mean, Teacher.”
“More than anything, aren’t there many instruments by your side too?”
Moon Beomjae gently patted his shoulder with his rough hand.
“You even have instruments who will come running all the way from Korea like this.”
Then, with a wink, he gestured with his eyes toward the kids lined up behind him and watching the situation carefully.
“That’s true. I forgot for a moment, but there really are a lot.”
Hyunseung followed his lead and wore a quiet, faint smile without a sound.
Then…
“Well, speaking of that…”
Suddenly, Moon Beomjae leaned close to his ear.
And in a secretive, precarious little whisper, he quietly murmured.
“That Track 5… would it be all right if I sang that one?”
No matter what, it seemed that in front of Hyunseung’s songs, no one could hold out.
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