Chapter 4.5 - Sorrowfully 5

Lee Suh-ah slowly looked up to the stage and there stood Jo Yunjae giving a bow in the midst of a downfall of claps. She could hear compliments from all around and see smiling faces as well as nodding teachers.

As expected of Jo Yunjae.

He was indeed good. Those subtle expressions that could shake people as well as his analysis skills that allowed a full manipulation of that skill. Just as she had viewed since the start of school, he had the talents to be a great opera singer.

On top of that he was good at studying, so to Lee Suh-ah who was aiming for the first place, he was the greatest foe. Thinking up to here, she took out a notepad and wrote ‘Jo Yunjae!’ before circling it several times for emphasis.

I must stay vigilant.

As she was nodding, a question appeared in her head – a question on the one thing that she couldn’t understand. The basics, his physical capabilities were growing too fast. The speed was faster than she had expected and was enough to make him get decent marks at the first Improvement Concert.

I must really study hard for the mid-sem exams then… she bit her lips when a voice rang past her ear.

“He’s great yeah? Yunjae.”

“…”

When she flicked her head, she saw Kim Wuju staring directly at her with his eyes closed. Being a little startled, she flinched back before realising it.

“Wh…at is”

“He’s good at singing.”

Because she had panicked a little, a strange voice came out and being a bit embarrassed by that, she replied indifferently.

“Hmm. Not that good. This time he used a few cheap tricks to sing softly but what about other songs? If there was a song that had to be sung loudly then his body would be insufficient…”

“That’s why he’s amazing.”

Turning his head, Kim Wuju faced towards the stage. Although he shouldn’t be able to see, it felt like his eyes reflected Jo Yunjae leaving, and Kim Wuju opened his mouth.

“Didn’t you find it strange? That development speed. Great expression skills that even the body can’t follow and high-level theory, sight-reading and music dictation abilities… those are all skills that require lots of experience. However, his body was untrained. How could this happen?”

Stopping for a bit, Lee Suh-ah contemplated.

That was true.

Even if expression abilities could be born with, theory and SRMD was definitely in the realms of practice. A guy who studied theory that hard and polished his melody had a body that had never been trained?

It did not make any sense.

While Lee Suh-ah was in a deep thought, Kim Wuju opened his mouth from her side.

“High skill level but low physical abilities. To connect these two, there is only one theory that makes sense. He also had some sort of accident – an accident that forced a stop on his practice. For example… right, an illness or a physical disability.”

“…!”

Her eyes met the firmly shut eyes of Kim Wuju. Lee Suh-ah’s confused brain quickly operated to write a theoretical scenario.

Jo Yunjae who had gotten into an unfortunate accident while singing. He had tried his best to rehabilitate but there was a problem with his body. And after that accident, he entered Future Arts High with that body and was trying whatever he could to reach the current place.

Lee Suh-ah asked with a frown.

“Then he was originally extremely good but became like that after an accident?”

“That’s what I think. Perhaps his original skills are…”

Kim Wuju thought deeply before shaking his head.

“I can’t guess. Maybe he was better than me? At least I can’t make those kinds of expressions.”

“What…?”

“Is that too much? Haha, well he would at least be a lot better than right now.”

Lee Suh-ah made a teary face for an instant.

Ah, at least Kim Wuju was bad at theory. Jo Yunjae, that guy looks like he’s better than me at theory and now is better at singing as well? At this rate, keeping the first place is…

Lowering her head, she heaved out a deep sigh.

“Ehew…”

Hearing the two’s conversation with a dumb expression, Jun Shihyuk raised his head to stare at Jo Yunjae.

“What?”

‘He wasn’t a lazy bum but was sick?’

*

Did I sing well? I don’t think I had any obvious mistakes.

Going through my memories, it didn’t seem like there were too many issues. Raising my head I could see the audience.

“…”

The accompaniment that had been racing towards the end had finally come to an end. Silence sank for a while and I closed my eyes.

My head that had been swallowing all the lights felt warm, and the throat that had been trying its hardest ached slightly. Massaging my throat for a bit, I once again opened my eyes.

I could see the 200 people sitting in their seats and hear the rounds of applause they started giving off. Glancing at the people swaying like the ocean waves, I felt my lips raising themselves up.

There was also Noh Jusup waving his hand desperately, Han Dasom raising her hands up to say hi, Lee Suh-ah with a somewhat blank expression and Jun Shihyuk having a conversation with Kim Wuju.

Overall, the response wasn’t bad, no, it was actually better than I thought. At the very least, everyone within my gaze was clapping.

I could feel the thumping heart relax. There was only Chloe and I on top of this wide stage and over 200 people had invested more than 5 minutes of their time for us and were giving us cheers.

“Ha…”

I remembered their eyes from before the song. Their eyes that had been sunk within their own worlds had been changed by my song, and moved their hearts.

A sharp thrill spread past.

Ah, I couldn’t stop my smile. The adrenaline wreaked havoc through the veins and blood reached into my head. While I was standing there blankly, I found teacher Kwak Jungsoo standing afar and lowered my head.

Thank you teacher, thanks to you, I was able to stand on the stage once again.

Clap, clap, clap.

After my bow, the clapping sound increased for a bit before eventually dying down.

It was time to leave.

Glancing at the bright stage with a somewhat regretful expression, I slowly walked back towards the waiting room. Quickly tidying up the music sheet, Chloe followed with an excited expression.

[Today was good! Wasn’t it way too different from last week’s practice?]

“I fixed it a bit from the lesson. Our miss accompanist did great today as well, no?”

I threw my hand out and Chloe matched it with hers with a high five. While chattering, we returned to the waiting room and gathered the students’ eyes.

“…”

It somehow felt a lot quieter. I’m sure some of them were talking before I went up the stage, so why’re they like this right now?

While I was standing there blankly, the helping teacher next to me opened her mouth.

“Opera department student Song Mirae. Please enter.”

Song Mirae walked past. Ah right, she was straight after me, I thought, while feeling slightly embarrassed and returning to my seat.

Soon from a distance, I heard Song Mirae’s song but it didn’t really enter my ears. Perhaps I was still excited but the memories from the stage kept on repeating in my head. My fingers and toes were constantly tingly.

Let’s calm down a bit.

Only when I massaged my throat, my arms and legs did the nervousness start to leave me. A long sigh escaped.

After waiting inside the waiting room for a bit, going back up to the stage for a group farewell greeting and taking a group photo, the long Improvement Concert had finally come to an end.

Inside the rowdy Future Hall, Noh Jusup approached while waving his hand.

“Hey Jo Yunjae! Did you take some medicine or something? I thought I was hearing things when I heard you sing. Why are you so good?”

He started the conversation with a joke but I could hear the proud emotion embedded into that as well as a boastful tone.

With a grin, I replied.

“I’m telling you, it’s the chocolate.”

“No stop with that… chocolate thing. But seriously you were never that good during our choruses either.”

“I’ve been practising.”

“How much did you practise…”

When he remained baffled, Han Dasom opened her mouth from the side.

“Yunjae… he stays inside the practice rooms everyday.”

“I also go there everyday though?”

Han Dasom stared at Noh Jusup with a deploring gaze.

“You… play around in the practice room but Yunjae doesn’t even answer calls and only practises.”

“Really?”

Wearing a face that said that he was hearing it for the first time, Noh Jusup tilted his head. This guy, he’s not even interested in what his friend is doing. I shrugged my shoulders when Han Dasom quickly added on.

“He also practised with me everyday so… I knew Yunjae would do well.”

“Uh… thanks”

I scratched the back of my neck with some embarrassment when Lee Suh-ah who had been standing off awkwardly to the side opened her mouth.

“…It was good. Do you want to take a photo as a commemoration? Also…”

“Take! Take!”

The excited Chloe joined from the side and the five of us took a photo. After that, we talked about the concert and joked around a little when two shadows entered our surroundings.

“Yunjae you were here.”

“Ah, teacher hello.”

It was teacher Kwak Jungsoo. A little startled I gave him a bow and noticed that teacher Ku Mingi was waving his hand from behind as well.

I gave another bow.

Teacher Kwak Jungsoo gave a compliment with a calm expression.

“It was good. As practised… no it was better than what you did during the practices. Did you really not learn opera acting before? It appeared like you had lots of experience standing on stages.”

“That… no.”

“Is that so?”

“…”

I felt a little sorry that I had to cover it up whenever we were talking about things like this. If I said I returned from the future, would he believe me? While I was thinking of that, teacher Kwak Jungsoo gave a smile and said a few more words along with ‘well done’ before returning.

And the leftover person…

When I turned my head, I saw teacher Ku Mingi with a wide smile.

It seemed like I was seeing him a lot these days.

He opened his mouth.

“Thank you for the performance today. In fact the topic ‘love’ is quite common and yet at the same time, it’s quite hard to express but… it was an interesting analysis. Innocent yet passionate… Was there an experience or a motif that helped you?”

“A motif?”

Was he asking what I was thinking of while singing?

Being a little curious as well, the kids gathered their eyes as well. Smiling a little, I replied.

“Nothing in particular but… uh, there are those days right? Days when your voice comes out really nicely. On those days I would feel extremely happy… so I thought of that… and also when it doesn’t come out nicely, it would feel like my heart is being torn apart…”

It sounded like nonsense but teacher Ku Mingi gave a nod and replied.

“I think I understand. In any case, you mean that you love singing right?”

With a stop, I met my eyes with teacher Ku Mingi.

He was right.

Then, the teacher made a serious expression.

“Sending such a student over to the conducting department makes no sense. I’ll take care of the thing regarding the conducting department so student Yunjae can just practise diligently.”

“Ah… yes.”

Well, not like I would’ve gone there even if I was told to. I nodded with a somewhat blank expression when teacher Ku Mingi glanced at the surroundings before continuing.

“By the way, is your throat okay?”

“Throat? It’s perfect.”

After scratching his chin for a bit, teacher Ku Mingi opened his mouth.

“There’s this student from the composing department who I know, and she’s saying that she needs a performer to perform the song she composed. She asked for me and… seeing student Jo Yunjae’s performance today, she really liked it apparently.”

Making a circle with his fingers, teacher Ku Mingi smiled.

“Of course, she said she has the intention to use some money when calling a performer for the first time. Any thoughts?”

While blinking my eyes, I thought for a bit.

Composing…

Now this was a first as well. To think that composing department students would come to me… they would usually be heavily inclined towards students they know or ones with great skills. And I was neither.

I had never worked together with a composer during my entire life.

Do I really have to do this… was what I was thinking, when teacher Ku Mingi slowly approached. Stepping towards me while ringing his footsteps, he stood before me and glanced down,

And whispered.

“Student Jo Yunjae, during last week’s Improvement Concert, I coincidentally saw you staring at student Kim Wuju and Lee Suh-ah. It gave me the impression that your eyes were on fire.”

“…Sorry?”

Due to the sudden words, I stepped back a little and saw his eyes that seemed like they could gaze through me. He opened his mouth.

“To be completely honest, your performance this time was really good. It was good but… compared to those two students, it was lacking. It’s due to the physical difference that you were born with, but that is merely an excuse. In the end, that means that your unique advantages couldn’t overwhelm those two.”

“… I’m aware.”

I heavily nodded my head as it was true.

Lee Suh-ah and Kim Wuju.

No matter how I utilised this young body to the best of its abilities, there was a significant difference to them in terms of specs. Songs that I had to put my all into could be done by them naturally. And with that remaining breath, they would express in a fancier, more brilliant way.

The resonating chambers, muscles, timbres they were born with and the strength of the vocal cords…

All of this was the cruel physical wall placed between opera singers. Unless they could get enough skills to break through such a wall easily…

As I was deeply thinking, teacher Ku Mingi lowered his upper body and matched his mouth with my ears. Then, he slowly pushed words into my ears.

“Don’t you actually want to win? Against those two.”

“…”

A chill travelled up my spine. While I was frozen solid, teacher Ku Mingi opened his back straight and changed his expression to a bright smile. He then continued his words with a lively tone.

“In any case, personally, I would like to recommend you cooperate with the composer. The song analyses done through student Jo Yunjae’s talents – of course they’re close to perfect but wouldn’t it still be different to the analysis told personally by the composer? As you converse like that with composers and give opinions, I’m sure you’ll reach a higher level in terms of analysing songs. That’s what I think.”

“…”

As I was stuck in a deep thought standing still, teacher Ku Mingi took a step back.

“Think of it for a bit, and if you’d like, come to the staff room. Once again, thanks for the performance.”

“…Thank you.”

Walking past, he lightly tapped my shoulders.

“Take care of your throat as well.”