Hyung Jinwoo’s work spanned four days and three nights.
“Thank you for your hard work.”
“Yes, you as well…”
Because practicing and recording took place at the same time, delays were inevitable.
Besides, Hyung Jinwoo had rested for a long time, and his stamina was significantly lower than that of an average person, so it couldn’t be helped.
Furthermore…
Wasn’t the producer none other than Hyunseung? It was only natural.
“Let’s head out now. I’ll drive you home, sir.”
“No, I can go on my own.”
“If I let you go by yourself like this, I feel like I’ll get an earful from Teacher Moon Beomjae and Elder Baek Gyuho.”
Hyunseung held onto the repeatedly declining Hyung Jinwoo’s shoulder and added, “Don’t you remember how earnestly the two of them pleaded with me before they left?”
Moon Beomjae and Baek Gyuho.
The two had wanted to stay until the very end of the work, but due to personal schedules and company matters, they had departed one after the other.
And both of them had badgered Hyunseung until their lips were dry, insisting that he must drive Hyung Jinwoo home once everything was done.
“Understood, then.”
Refusing again would only put Hyunseung in an awkward position.
Hyung Jinwoo obediently followed Hyunseung’s guidance and soon climbed into the passenger seat.
Thud.
Once they were in the car, not much conversation passed between them.
There wasn’t really anything to talk about. Though they had so much they didn’t know about each other, that very fact made them all the more cautious.
At least, Hyunseung’s thoughts aside, that was how Hyung Jinwoo felt.
Right.
He had only recently learned the truth about Hyunseung being deaf in one ear.
Who was to say there weren’t other secrets as well?
He didn’t want to bring up just anything to make small talk, only to cast a pall over the mood. Besides, he didn’t have the confidence to read Hyunseung’s expressions and carry on a smooth conversation.
Still, even so…
Wasn’t it a bit too quiet? Perhaps because it was an expensive, high-end car, even the engine purred so softly that they could hear each other breathing.
“When will the song be released?”
Unable to bear it any longer, Hyung Jinwoo finally chose the safest, most natural question to ask.
“Mm, in about nine months.”
“That long?”
“Yes, it will take some time.”
Whether it was a relief or not, the answer was neither “in a month” nor “soon.” Because it was unexpected, the conversational floodgates opened.
“I mean, it’s not a full-length album, nor do I have to shoot music videos or cover photos like young singers do. Isn’t that a bit too late?”
“There are certain circumstances involved, so I ask for your understanding.”
“I see.”
However, the conversation stalled once more.
Silence.
He clearly lived a life thoroughly accustomed to silence, yet right now, he felt an itch to say something—anything.
“May I ask you one question?”
Turning his head toward the driver’s seat where Hyunseung sat, Hyung Jinwoo spoke up again.
“Lately, a lot of elderly gentlemen have been telling me they only want to ask one question. You really must ask only one.”
Judging by the shifted direction of the voice, Hyunseung seemed to be looking his way now.
Is it okay to ask this?
For some reason, the tension made his throat feel parched.
“I will.”
Though he had only heard it through his voice and couldn’t be certain, Hyunseung had responded to that matter quite calmly before.
Perhaps…
Perhaps he would answer as if it were no big deal once again.
“By any chance, when did your ear become like that?”
The question that had gnawed at his curiosity throughout the entire project finally slipped through his lips. Truly, he had wondered the whole time.
Was it congenital? Had it happened when he first started composing, or did it occur midway through his career?
He was desperately curious.
Of course, it would be shocking if it were from birth, and just as shocking if it had happened along the way.
“Mm…”
After Hyunseung let out a soft murmur, he gave a brief reply.
“It started a year ago.”
“Ah, that was around the time that fellow Moon Beomjae was making a fuss, saying you had suddenly vanished without a trace.”
“Teacher Moon made a fuss?”
“Do you have any idea how much he talks about you? Whenever he calls, it’s always about you.”
“I didn’t know Teacher Moon Beomjae thought of me that much.”
“And what about Baek Gyuho?”
“Aside from working together once before, I didn’t have much direct contact with him…”
“Doesn’t he manage Jayble? He blabbered every single detail he heard through Jayble down to the bone.”
Hyung Jinwoo chattered on continuously, determined not to let the newly opened conversation dry up.
“After working with you recently, he was even worse.”
A moment later, he added, “Thanks to the two of them making such a fuss, I ended up working with you like this, so I suppose I should thank them.”
He even voiced words that felt too embarrassing to say usually.
However, they were sincere. Though he hadn’t heard the final result yet, he was happy and grateful just to have sung after such a long time.
Soon, Hyunseung followed up as if in response.
“On the contrary, working with you was profoundly meaningful for me, Teacher.”
“Thank you for saying so.”
“I don’t know how this might sound to you, but working with you felt like a personal challenge.”
At that, Hyung Jinwoo arched an eyebrow. “A challenge?”
“Yes. Having lost hearing in one ear, I wondered: could I work with a veteran singer who is also deaf in one ear and still have my skills recognized as unchanged? It all started from that mindset and sheer stubbornness.”
“Well now, calling me a veteran singer stings a bit.”
“Still, thanks to you, I gained the certainty that it’s possible.”
“I believe so, too.”
With those words, Hyung Jinwoo beamed. Though he couldn’t hear the sound of Hyunseung laughing, he felt as though Hyunseung was smiling along with him.
The awkward tension that had hung in the car vanished completely.
In its place, a blossom of lively conversation bloomed.
“Come to think of it, it seems you haven’t properly told others yet. Do you plan to keep hiding it?”
“If possible, I hope the public never finds out.”
“If they knew, wouldn’t they praise your talent even more?”
“Humans are creatures prone to prejudice. While a song made by a half-deaf composer might sound amazing on the surface…” Hyunseung trailed off for a moment, then added firmly, “Even with the same quality, people might think it’s just not as good as when both ears were fine. That’s how people are.”
Hyung Jinwoo nodded in agreement. He could understand a hundred times over.
He wasn’t sure if calling it the same predicament was right, but either way… it was a fact that they had an impediment compared to ordinary people.
That was an undeniable truth. And an irreversible one.
Just then, Hyunseung added something unbelievable.
“More importantly, my hearing is gradually recovering.”
“Your hearing is recovering? Is that even possible?”
“Yes, I expect it to be fully restored within a year.”
“W-Wait, then was it just a temporary hearing impairment?”
“No, the auditory cells were completely destroyed.”
“What?”
“However, they are gradually regenerating now.”
Hyung Jinwoo burst into an involuntary, hollow laugh.
As far as he knew, once hearing died, there was no turning back. What on earth was he talking about?
Sure, leaning on medical technology like hearing aids or cochlear implants could resolve difficulties in daily life, but auditory cells regenerating on their own? That sounded like a pipe dream.
Right then, Hyunseung began to spin a tale that truly sounded like a dream.
“Don’t you want to hear your own song with two healthy ears?”
“Well, of course I…!”
“I will make it happen.”
“What do you mean?”
“Through surgery, I will restore your hearing.”
“I went to every famous university hospital out there, and they all waved their hands, saying it was impossible! How could you possibly—!”
Faced with such unbelievable words, Hyung Jinwoo finally raised his voice.
Yet, just like when he had come to persuade him, Hyunseung merely continued speaking in a calm, serious tone.
“Elder, since you trusted me and picked up the microphone again, how about trusting me once more and undergoing the surgery?”
“Are those two even comparable?”
“After all, you have nothing to lose, do you?”
Hyunseung’s words were just as sweet as the proposal to sing the song had been.
Right.
It couldn’t get any worse than an ear that couldn’t hear in the first place.
Even if his eyes couldn’t see, if only he could hear properly with both ears, that alone would be a miracle.
A miracle…
Could he really dare to hope for another miracle?
“If things go as I say, nine months from now, you will be able to listen to your song with both ears.”
Could he really believe that?
Though he hadn’t seen him with his own eyes, considering how deeply Moon Beomjae and Baek Gyuho trusted and cherished him, Hyunseung didn’t seem like someone who would make empty promises…
Just once.
Let’s trust him just this once more.
“Then, let me ask just one more thing.”
“You clearly said you’d only ask one…”
“Please. Just answer this one.” Hyung Jinwoo took a deep, steadying breath, then spoke in a rather wounded tone. “I’ve been thinking it was strange for a while now. Why is Moon Beomjae ‘Teacher,’ Baek Gyuho ‘Elder,’ and I’m just ‘Old Man’?”
“The drive is quite long. Why don’t you get some shut-eye?”
“Answer me, lad!”
Of course, he never did get an answer.
…
Meanwhile, Jayble was utterly absorbed in his work.
Thud!
Until Baek Gyuho barged in abruptly.
“Is there really zero chance?”
“Yes.”
“You don’t think there’s even a one percent chance?”
“Yes.”
“Not even a 0.001 percent miracle?”
“Yes.”
Just how many times was he going to ask this?
“I mean, you’ve never wanted to scout him before. What brought this on all of a sudden?”
“Until now, wasn’t he tied to an agency, or wasn’t he a CEO somewhere? But now he’s completely on his own!”
Shaking his head as if he were beyond help, Jayble drew a very firm line.
“Even so, it won’t happen.”
“Even if we offer tens of billions of won as a signing bonus, it still wouldn’t work?”
“Yes. Even if you offered several trillion, I doubt he’d come.”
In the end, Baek Gyuho let out a sigh so deep it threatened to pierce the floor.
“Haa…”
What on earth had gotten into him to make him pine like this?
If it was Hyunseung, he was certainly a talent worth that much.
In truth, there had been plenty of opportunities to bring him over before. He could have poached him anytime. Yet Baek Gyuho had never once shown any inclination toward recruiting Hyunseung.
Out of the blue, Jayble couldn’t fathom what had gotten into him.
“Just what kind of talent was he born with to produce such a song even after losing an ear?”
As if answering that unspoken doubt, Baek Gyuho muttered under his breath.
“Hold on, CEO, what did you just say?”
“How he could produce such a song?”
“No. What did you mean by ‘even after losing an ear’ just now?”
Thinking he must have misheard, Jayble asked again to be sure.
“Did you really not know that he went deaf in one ear?”
“No, not at all…”
“You worked with him recently, so I assumed you knew. Guess not.”
It was true.
Of course, when they worked together, there were times when Jayble thought Hyunseung acted a bit off. But he hadn’t thought much of it.
He simply figured Hyunseung was slightly stumbling after taking a long break. Even monkeys fall from trees, so Min Hyunseung was bound to have off days too.
That was all he had thought, but…
Deaf in one ear? Yet he could carry on working like that? When he hadn’t even seen him wear a hearing aid once?
“Well, Moon Beomjae didn’t seem to know either.”
Jayble couldn’t hear whatever Baek Gyuho was saying anymore.
His lips twitched into spasms as he tried to swallow down the hollow laughter that kept bubbling up.
“Ha, haha, hahaha…”
Just how vast was the gap in their abilities? If talent and skill could be measured in numbers, would their leading digits even match? Would they even share the same order of magnitude?
If they were ranked by tiers, how many tiers apart would they be?
‘Is it a gap I can even dare to quantify?’
Recalling Hyunseung’s demeanor during their recent collaboration, goosebumps erupted across Jayble’s forearms from an inexplicable sense of awe.
At the same time…
He felt he finally understood.
Why his girlfriend, Michelle…
Why she was Hyunseung’s fan.
Why she loved Hyunseung’s music so much.
And why she worked by Hyunseung’s side.
“I should get going.”
“Where to?”
“To see my girlfriend.”
Of course, that didn’t mean he wasn’t jealous.
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