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As soon as I gave my consent, Hyeon-su smiled brightly, clearly pleased.

“First, let’s listen to the tracks for the album, and you tell me what you think, okay?”

“My ears are a bit picky, you know.”

“Doesn’t matter.”

Just look at that confidence! Who would think he was a senior in high school?

But wait… isn’t he still a student?

“Hey, aren’t you going to school?”

“Huh?”

Hyeon-su looked flustered, his smile faltering at my question.

What the… Being a student and all.

“How long has it been since you stopped going to school?”

“Uh… about a week.”

I felt a pang of sadness at that.

Thinking back, high school memories are really precious.

“If a student doesn’t go to school, that’s a problem. You should be going every day and enjoying that atmosphere, you know?”

My lecture-like words made the expressions of those around me twist awkwardly.

Now that I think about it, I’m the youngest one here after Hyeon-su.

“Hmm… what about you, noona?”

“Me?”

“Yeah.”

How was my school life, you ask?

I intended to give a casual answer, but Hyeon-su’s expression was surprisingly serious.

“I’m a bit curious about that too.”

Even A-young chimed in, and it seemed the other band members were all ears, curious as well.

Well, I guess I am a bit exceptional, right? But it’s not like that girl version of Kim Soo-hyun had anything special to boast about.

“I was just quiet. You know, sleeping in class all the time.”

“Really? You, Soo-hyun?”

A-young looked at me in disbelief.

I suppose it is quite different from my current image.

What can I say about the male persona and how during those days, girl Soo-hyun was just a nerdy otaku more interested in 2D than in reality…?

Based on my experience living as a girl named Kim Soo-hyun, in such cases, all you need is to drop a couple of words.

“I’m pretty, aren’t I? Just standing still makes me a queen, so why bother?”

At that statement, A-young’s mouth fell open while the surrounding male band members cleared their throats awkwardly.

“Wah.”

Hyeon-su looked at me, seemingly impressed by my response.

“I just got inspired.”

“If it’s about being narcissistic, could you please stop?”

“That counts as inspiration too.”

This insane inspiration junkie… why do I see Moon Chang-sik in Hyeon-su?

Surely fields vary, but those who succeed young tend to have some quirkiness, don’t they?

“Anyway, school… I’ll think about going tomorrow.”

“Sure, you might find some inspiration there.”

“That’s true.”

I felt relieved Hyeon-su didn’t seem to be avoiding school or anything.

You never know; he might be getting bullied or something.

It’s impossible to imagine that from how he looks now, though.

“But the graduation isn’t too far away, huh?”

“Right? Including winter break, it’ll be over in no time.”

“Besides, if you’re in your final year, you won’t have classes after the university entrance exams, right? So, it’s practically done.”

Suddenly, memories of my own senior year came flooding back.

The male side of me, who had already secured a spot in a prestigious university.

Back then, life was blissful…

I remember using the infinite allowance glitch and just having a blast.

But Hyeon-su is working on an album in an underground workshop during such a time.

With that thought, as a life senior, I couldn’t help but offer advice.

“Working is great, but take some time to have fun. You’re young, after all! At that age, everything is an experience.”

“…How old are you again?”

“I was born roughly 700 days before you.”

At that, Hyeon-su looked at me incredulously.

“I hear people say to row your boat when the tide is high.”

“That’s true.”

Hmm… that’s indeed a valid point.

Perhaps that advice is more suited for Hyeon-su, as he seems to have ample motivation to keep moving forward—some great talent fueling him.

“But you’re not going to row forever, are you? It’s okay to take it easy.”

Hmm… Am I propagating lazy habits of an adult?

“Permanently… Understood.”

Still, it feels like I’ve given at least a bit of help.

“Now, show me one of your songs.”

Well, let’s tuck away the chit-chat and focus on the main goal: listening to the candidate songs for the album.

“Is all of this music?”

But wow, there were quite a few candidates.

Didn’t he say just a few songs earlier?

There’s no way it’s just that amount!

About twenty songs?

I mean, just these tracks could easily fill two albums!

“It is a bit much, but please listen at your leisure.”

“Alright.”

If there are 20 songs and each is about 3 minutes long, that adds up to an hour.

Thinking about listening to that all in one go… I’d need to grab a chunk of time for this.

“I’ll just play one for you first.”

With that, Hyeon-su connected his phone to the speaker and started playing the songs one by one.

The first track was a bit up-tempo.

True to band music, the lively drums and guitar caught my ears while the bass scratched at them.

And before I could fully get used to the sound, Hyeon-su’s vocals swept in like a wave of admiration.

Has he gotten even better than before?

Moreover, since it was a song he wrote himself, you could feel the understanding of the piece right from his vocals.

Well, I may have over-explained it with my lacking knowledge, but to sum it up—it’s a good song.

Really good.

“Wow, this is great! We need to put this one in!”

I thought that, and relayed my enthusiasm to Hyeon-su, but A-young giggled and said,

“There are 19 more good songs.”

“What?”

“Just listen.”

Still, this one seems to be in the top three, right? Even when compared to the songs from Hyeon-su’s previous albums, it’s definitely more pleasant to my ears.

Of course, that’s not to say the other songs were lacking.

It felt like they lowered the depth and expanded the width.

To simplify, it really resembles a song leaning towards mainstream appeal.

But A-young wouldn’t boast without reason, so I shut up and listened to the other songs.

After about four songs, I realized A-young wasn’t talking nonsense.

Moreover, I completely understood why the featuring list was so long.

These people weren’t just making suggestions because they liked Hyeon-su.

They knew too.

No, they probably know better, since they are the ones making waves in the industry.

They’re clearly confident that Hyeon-su is on the rise, so they want to include their names.

It’s a common enough thought that everyone has—wanting to elevate their stake in a planned success.

Hmm… Upon further reflection, Hyeon-su seems to glow.

His light blonde hair even shimmered under the lights.

“What’s the title of this album?”

“Oh, this album?”

Hyeon-su, wearing a wry smile, glanced at the track list before responding.

“‘Reality.’”

“Oh, I see.”

The last one was ‘Fantasy’.

Now, this one’s ‘Reality’.

What’s next, ‘Future’?

Anyway, having listened to some good music, I started wanting to share my song, too.

Already in my phone is my ambitious new track titled ‘Turning Point’, produced in collaboration with our composer.

“Do you want to hear my song?”

“Your song? Oh, the one with Kang Woo-hyeon?”

Hyeon-su recognized it immediately upon hearing the word ‘song’. Seems he remembers what I said last time.

“Yep, it’s finished.”

Since the composer said I could share it with friends, I’m free to play it.

Besides, I even performed it at the filming location. The composer doesn’t seem to worry about leaks at all.

In fact, he might think of leaks as marketing.

“Soo-hyun, you composed a song?”

“I didn’t compose it; I just did the vocals.”

“Oh… play it already.”

“I’m excited to hear it too.”

Well, if you’re that eager… it’s only fair to return the favor.

It’s not a burden.

After all, it’s a good song.

So, I too connected my phone to the speaker and started playing my song.

Now that I think about it, this feels like a musical exchange.

I have just one song while Hyeon-su has a stack of twenty.

And just like that, my song filled the underground workshop.

The melody, which I had heard countless times while practicing, felt so familiar and comforting, filling the space, and the band absorbed the song in their own ways.

Meanwhile, Hyeon-su…

He was sitting there with his eyes closed, not quite sure how to react.

But I’m sure he’s enjoying it.

As the song finished, all eyes turned towards me.

Those looks… What’s that about? “Was he this good?” they seemed to wonder, making my shoulders rise.

Especially Hyeon-su’s eyes seemed to shine oddly.

“You’ve improved a lot, huh?”

Hyeon-su’s first statement wasn’t about the song, but rather a compliment directed at me.

“I recorded it while receiving tons of feedback.”

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say the person I was before recording ‘Turning Point’ is completely different from who I am now.

After all, look at the time and effort that went into this!

“Well then… I think I’ll revise the song for the featuring.”

“What?”

“Thanks! I think I got inspired. As expected, the skills of Kang Woo-hyeon are clearly on another level. There’s a depth that’s different from someone like me.”

Wait, what? Revise?

I grew slightly anxious and asked,

“Is it okay to ask how you’ll modify it?”

“Huh? Sure, it’ll be a lot harder to sing, but it’ll sound much better, right?”

Ah…

Just as I thought.

But what can I do? I brought this upon myself.

…And if the song gets better, then that’s even better, right?

Mmm… yeah, yeah….

It’s surprisingly true that I’m making it harder for myself….

 

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