CHAPTER 06
“…Wow.”
Hyunji was the first to let out a gasp, and it echoed through the practice room.
“Seol! You must’ve practiced a lot over break!”
She looked at me with shining eyes.
“I can’t believe you sight-read that perfectly. That’s amazing.”
“That’s not freshman-level.”
Soyeon and Dayeon clapped with their hands together.
“And you didn’t miss a single note.”
“Donghyuk’s arrangements are always hard. Everyone struggles with them.”
They all stared at me as if I were something fascinating. I scratched the back of my head awkwardly.
‘Is it really that impressive?’
From my perspective, it hadn’t been that difficult.
After all, I had spent over ten years in front of an instrument.
But maybe my hand movements were too flashy for a freshman.
“I didn’t see you in the practice rooms during break, so I wondered what happened. Did you secretly go into seclusion training or something?”
“Something like that.”
I brushed it off vaguely.
Hyunji knew my skill level from the semester, so the change must have seemed strange.
“Thanks to you, the arrangement really came alive. What do you think? It’s good, right?”
Donghyuk asked proudly from the side.
“Well… the technical difficulty is high, but since you played it so smoothly, the song suddenly feels much more convincing.”
“I think it’ll be very hit-or-miss.”
“Professor Baek Gahee would probably hate it.”
They each took turns giving their opinions.
“Seol, what did you think?”
“Me?”
“Yeah. You played it yourself, so you’d know best. What did you think of the arrangement?”
What did I think?
Well, obviously…
‘It’s a mess.’
It felt like it was dressed up with unnecessary decoration just to look fancy. But if I said that honestly, it might hurt his feelings.
As I hesitated, Donghyuk couldn’t hold back and jumped in again.
“Oh! What if we try this?”
He grabbed his guitar again.
After tuning quickly, he slightly modified the first bar of the original melody and played it.
“Oh, that’s nice.”
Soyeon reacted immediately.
“Breaking up the rhythm a bit and rearranging the harmony makes it much easier to listen to. Or how about this?”
Dayeon lifted her violin and added a different melodic line.
“That’s good too.”
“What if we slightly increase the tempo here?”
As they went back and forth, the melody gradually improved compared to Donghyuk’s original arrangement.
“Seol. Can you try playing it again like this?”
“Yes, of course.”
“It’ll take time to rewrite the sheet music. Um… could you just adjust it a little improvisationally to match the new arrangement?”
They just wanted to test the feel, and for music majors, it wasn’t a difficult request.
“Sure.”
“Alright, let’s go.”
Donghyuk counted again.
One, two.
Once more, the piece flowed smoothly across the keys. At first, I faithfully followed his original sheet music.
‘From here.’
Donghyuk began playing the guitar slightly differently from what was written.
I followed him, deepening the bass with my left hand while letting my right hand fill in light, bouncing harmonies.
Short presses and lifts of the pedal breathed life into the melody.
The guitar and piano intertwined and clashed, yet rolled together like perfectly matched puzzle pieces. Donghyuk looked briefly surprised, then grinned.
He looked like he was enjoying the ensemble.
As the guitar surged toward the climax, I released the harmony a beat earlier, making the melody shine even brighter.
♩♪♬♪……
I pressed the final chord gently and lifted my foot off the pedal.
The same silence fell again.
“…Wow.”
Soyeon muttered blankly.
“Hyunji, where did you find someone like her?”
“The accompaniment makes it so much better.”
“Earlier, the guitar and piano felt slightly disconnected. Now it really sounds like one complete piece.”
Hyunji spoke quickly, and Dayeon nodded in agreement.
“You improvised that arrangement? The level of completion is insanely high for something done on the spot.”
All I had done was tidy up the chords and refine a few notes like I always did. Their reactions almost embarrassed me.
Everyone was staring at me.
I felt awkward.
“I just thought it would sound better this way. Did I overdo it?”
“No! It helped a lot.”
“So this kind of progression works too. Definitely.”
It must have been skill far beyond freshman level.
‘I should tone it down next time.’
It had just felt so good to play the piano again that I hadn’t held back.
“So that’s how you can arrange it. I learned a lot.”
Donghyuk grinned.
“If we revise it like this, it’ll be much better. Then here, we press down firmly, and here we explode—”
As he muttered and made adjustments, the quality of the piece clearly improved.
He was the type who could understand two or three things from hearing just one. I had thought he was just all flash and no substance, but he was more capable than I expected.
“Ah, I wish Seol could accompany us at the actual transfer exam too~.”
Donghyuk said casually, trying to sound friendly.
“Right? Even if our arrangement skills are lacking a bit, maybe we could cover it with technique?”
“That’s impossible.”
“I’m just saying.”
Laughter filled the room.
“Alright, my turn now?”
Soyeon stepped forward with a smile. I searched through the stack and found her sheet music.
“If I’d known this would happen, I would’ve made the accompaniment harder. At least to dazzle people with flashiness. Anyway, take care of me?”
She winked and picked up her flute.
“Okay, let’s start!”
The flute rang out softly, and the piano followed.
It was short, but a well-made arrangement.
After that, we went through everyone’s pieces one by one, performing and giving feedback.
Each time, the songs changed slightly. At one point, Dayeon even asked me directly, “How do you think we could arrange this better?”
Each time, I simply shared the ideas that naturally came to mind.
Gradually, the way they looked at me changed—like they were witnessing something extraordinary.
“Wow, it’s already this late.”
“Seriously. I didn’t even notice time passing.”
By the time I closed the piano lid, it was already dark outside.
Everyone busied themselves packing up their instruments.
Since I played piano, I didn’t have anything to carry. I was just about to leave when Hyunji approached quietly.
“Seol. Thanks again for today. It really helped a lot. The accompaniment and the arrangement.”
“It wasn’t a big deal.”
“It was impressive.”
Hyunji gave me a strange look. Maybe the experience of ten extra years felt like a wall between us.
“You must’ve practiced a lot during break. …You’re planning to transfer, right?”
At that, the others jumped in.
“What? Seol’s transferring too?”
“With piano skills like that? That’s kind of a waste.”
Donghyuk and Soyeon had somehow positioned themselves on either side of me.
“Your arrangement skills are as good as your piano.”
“That’s true.”
“Come to think of it, your friend is in composition, right? The one you’re always with. What was her name… Moon Arin? Right?”
At Hyunji’s question, I curved my lips into a small smile.
“Yeah.”
“So you’re transferring because of her?”
“Something like that.”
Donghyuk made a big fuss.
“You’re transferring because of a friend? Seriously?”
“Not just because of that. But similar.”
Before my regression,
I never even got to properly prepare for the transfer exam.
Moon Arin had told me.
That my skills weren’t enough yet. That she would help me instead, so I should start by making practice pieces.
She said if I worked hard, I’d improve.
I believed her completely.
But no matter how many drafts I made, all I ever heard was, “It’s a little lacking.”
Time passed like that. I didn’t transfer. I just took a leave of absence.
When I lost my hearing, I fell into despair and eventually dropped out.
That was probably when it began.
‘When I became Moon Arin’s shadow, living like a machine that produced songs.’
All the theory in my head had been learned indirectly through her.
I had never received proper education.
‘That’s one reason I want to properly study composition.’
And more than anything…
I was curious about Moon Arin’s expression.
If I successfully transferred, what kind of face would you make?
‘At this point, you haven’t committed any crimes yet. You haven’t made me lose my hearing. You haven’t stolen my songs.’
You haven’t even heard my first original piece.
So then—
Would you truly be able to congratulate me?
When did you first decide to take everything from me?
The key to uncovering your true feelings was now in my hands.
