CHAPTER 15
Click.
Click.
For days now, Min Chan-hyuk had been opening and closing the SoundPlace message window.
The message still showed “Unread.”
“…No, seriously. This guy uploads a track and doesn’t even check the response? Huh? Why won’t he even read my message?!”
Bang!
He slammed his fist on the desk.
In the meantime, the track’s views had slowly climbed to 56. The number made him even more anxious. What if someone else from the industry had already seen it?
“Should I have offered good terms first instead of asking for contact info? Tsk. But what’s the point of making an offer to someone who won’t even read the message?”
Using the inspiration he got from Min Chan-hyuk, he had already drafted a rough structure for a new track.
He’d even talked to a beatmaker and finalized the chord progression.
“If I could just lay that on top of this…”
Which meant—
If he couldn’t secure this source, the entire thing would have to be scrapped.
He only had one month left.
Every minute mattered.
The thought that everything might fall apart made his legs tremble.
“I’ll match whatever conditions you want! Just read the message already!”
He grabbed the monitor and shouted at it.
Meanwhile, unaware of his desperation, Yoon Seol was busy preparing for the new semester.
“Ready?”
Moon Ah-rin asked in a dramatic voice.
“Yeah.”
I nodded solemnly.
The clock on the PC café monitor read 57:59.
In front of us were three devices:
The PC café computer, my personal laptop, and my phone.
All three were open to the course registration page.
“Now!”
Click!
We pressed at the same time.
All three screens turned white as if buffering.
Refreshing now would push us to the back of the line.
“Oh! I’m in!”
Ah-rin shouted.
A moment later, my PC café screen showed a waiting number.
In the 1000s.
Not bad.
I watched the number steadily decrease.
When my turn finally came, I quickly registered for the popular major courses first.
All my target major classes are secured.
I even grabbed one of the easy elective classes everyone said was a free A.
Next, I tried to grab another major class with some seats left—
[Capacity exceeded.]
‘What?’
I clicked again.
[Capacity exceeded.]
No.
I hurriedly checked the remaining major courses.
Everything else was full.
Or the times overlapped.
The only one left was—
[The Aesthetics of Experimental Sound (Professor Cha Moon-ho)]
That was it.
The only major class that hadn’t even filled halfway.
Known for heavy assignments and harsh grading.
Also known for being… eccentric.
There was a famous story about him bringing a saw and an electric drill into class and telling students to listen to the sound.
“……”
I had no choice.
With a bitter expression, I registered for The Aesthetics of Experimental Sound.
“Whew! All done. Seol, what about you?”
“…I got everything except one.”
“Oh really? What did you miss?”
“.”
“That one’s supposed to be an easy class this semester. So what are you taking instead?”
“…It was the only one left.”
“What?!”
Ah-rin’s eyes widened.
She looked like she wanted to say something, then quickly tried to comfort me.
“Professor Cha Moon-ho is, um, unique… but he’s very talented.”
Her awkward praise made it feel worse.
“Ugh. I’m thirsty. That was stressful.”
“I’ll go grab drinks. Wait here.”
“Thanks! Get me any sports drink!”
“Okay.”
Since I was sitting closer to the aisle, I stood up.
I needed a walk anyway.
Holding back a sigh, I stepped outside.
“Ah.”
Only after leaving did I realize—
I hadn’t properly closed my laptop screen.
‘…It’s just five minutes. What could happen?’
Going back now would look strange.
I walked faster.
***
As soon as Yoon Seol disappeared from view, Moon Ah-rin calmly moved to the seat beside her.
She picked up Seol’s laptop, still open to the registration page.
The warm smile was gone.
Only a chilling, expressionless face remained.
As if she had done this dozens, hundreds of times before, she smoothly closed the registration window and began searching through the files.
[Mercury_guide.mp3]
The moment she found the file, she immediately played it.
♩♪♬♩
She held her phone close to the laptop speaker and recorded the entire thing.
Then checked to make sure it recorded properly.
Next, she opened the browser history.
Among the random pages, one address stood out.
SoundPlace.
She clicked it.
Auto-login.
Seol’s account was right there.
Only one uploaded track.
.
She didn’t bother recording this one.
It was already public.
She was about to finish quickly before Seol returned—
When she noticed a notification in the message window.
She hesitated.
Then decided it would be fine.
According to the history, Seol hadn’t logged in for four days.
The message had arrived three days ago.
There was no way Seol even knew it existed.
Click.
She carefully opened it.
Her eyes widened.
Hello. This is Min Chan-hyuk, producer at VTunes.
I listened to your uploaded track.
I would like to discuss contracting it as a source.
Please leave your contact information or email so we can discuss the details.
“VTunes?”
Even Ah-rin knew that company.
Like most in the industry, it was technically a small-to-mid-sized company.
But their artists were solid.
Especially Lee Ha-in, the soulful solo artist.
“Min Chan-hyuk…”
She searched his name on her phone.
The resume was impressive.
Most of VTunes’ hit albums had gone through his hands.
Even to someone unfamiliar with the industry, this looked like a huge opportunity.
“When did you even write something like this?”
She bit her lip.
Professor Baek Ga-hee personally calling.
Passing the notoriously difficult transfer exam.
And now a direct offer from the professional industry?
“Seol… how could you do this to me?”
She felt something close to betrayal.
Seol, who had always moved according to her lead, was suddenly acting on her own.
“I was the first one to recognize your talent. Only me.”
That was undeniable.
“So I deserve to share it too. If you shine, the one next to you should obviously be me.”
Her fingers trembled.
The image of Seol laughing and talking with someone else flashed in her mind.
Seol sharing that brilliant talent with someone who wasn’t her.
Her vision darkened.
“Haah…”
But she couldn’t show it.
She had invested too much time.
She couldn’t ruin everything over this.
If anything, she had to be calmer now.
Click.
She pressed “Delete Message.”
Then blocked Min Chan-hyuk’s account entirely.
Now there was no trace that he had ever contacted Seol.
She cleared her browsing history and returned the laptop to its original position.
Moments later, Seol came back with the drinks.
“Here.”
Ah-rin smiled brightly.
“Wow, thanks! I knew I could count on you. You always know exactly what I like.”
“Of course.”
Seol smiled lightly.
Ah-rin looked at her—
Then suddenly pulled her into a tight hug.
“What’s wrong all of a sudden?”
“Nothing.”
Ah-rin whispered softly.
“I just wish things could stay like this forever.”
Seol chuckled as if it were nothing.
But Ah-rin’s eyes shone like a predator’s.
