Ch.4141. Lyrics

After completing the song, Hana had recorded Suhyeok’s performance.

Even after returning home, she replayed Suhyeok’s solo several times.

Suhyeok wasn’t well-versed in theory.

He probably didn’t even know what scale the song was composed in.

But he had done it.

More precisely than her.

More powerfully than her.

Basically, the lines Suhyeok had created were based on the pentatonic scale.

That much she could understand.

After all, the pentatonic scale is quite famous, and when you copy enough music, they all start to feel similar.

However, what surprised Hana was that there were notes in between that weren’t part of the pentatonic scale.

She grabbed her guitar and tried to play the notes Suhyeok had played.

“B Ionian mode…”

Mode scale.

Of course, anyone who copies enough music could naturally figure this out, but considering how few songs Suhyeok actually knew how to play, this wasn’t a natural progression at all.

She watched the video again and again.

Hana practiced and copied Suhyeok’s solo.

When she succeeded in matching the tempo with Suhyeok in the video, a smile spread across her face.

So this is what it feels like to create music together as a team.

Creating and performing an original song had been on Hana’s bucket list, and she felt her heart swelling with warmth.

After recording all the new solo notes on her computer, she watched Suhyeok’s video one more time.

“…By the way, we need to do something about that bangs before the performance.”

More than his hair, Hana just needed an excuse to call Suhyeok over.

* * *

“Ho-honestly, I think our generation has it too tough!”

“That’s true.”

“It’s weird how they slap this strange ‘MZ’ label on us and lump all our characteristics together!”

Inside Juyeon’s room.

Rarely, she had a visitor today.

“But should we write lyrics about that?”

“…Hana said bands should point out social issues.”

Hmm… is that so?

Suhyeok scratched his head as he leaned against Juyeon’s bed frame.

Juyeon had contacted Suhyeok on Saturday morning.

There were two main purposes.

First was selecting songs to perform on the broadcast.

Second was to work together on lyrics for one of Hana’s songs.

Since they had agreed to do both anyway, Suhyeok didn’t mind meeting up, though he still wondered if they really needed to meet at Juyeon’s house.

Juyeon munched on the donuts Suhyeok had brought.

“Are the donuts good?”

“Mmm.”

“That’s good.”

Juyeon was a sucker for sugary bread.

Last week, he had been dragged over almost like a kidnapping.

So he hadn’t had time to prepare any gifts.

Since he had only brought cake when visiting Hana’s place, today Suhyeok had prepared a box containing six donuts.

“Hmm… but Sueun noona did say it would be good if we wrote about what’s inside us.”

In Korean popular music, the most common theme is love.

That’s true for K-pop and ballads alike.

It would probably be faster to find songs on the popularity charts that weren’t about love.

But Suhyeok and Juyeon were kids with absolutely no experience to incorporate “love” into their lyrics.

They were humans who had no expectations about dating in the first place.

People who default to thinking “Who would ever like someone like me?” are more common than you might think.

And that was too personal an area to simply dismiss as “wrong” or “bad.”

“What if we include something everyday that people can relate to?”

After pondering Juyeon’s words, Suhyeok blurted out:

“Everyday?”

“Yeah. Like how we spend our days.”

“But I just stay in my room?”

“Then we write about just staying in your room.”

Since it was obvious they wouldn’t be able to write a single line if they aimed for a universal masterpiece, the two decided to go with whatever came naturally.

“What do you do in your room?”

“Think, I guess.”

“About what?”

“About how there’s no hope if things stay like this.”

Suhyeok couldn’t help but laugh at Juyeon’s answer.

He thought they were similar, but to be this identical.

“Should we write that then?”

“Like, ‘I am hopeless~’?”

“If we write it like that, it’ll probably get rejected, so let’s make it sound more sophisticated.”

“…That’s hard.”

Suhyeok gripped his pen and scribbled what came to mind in his notebook.

[I have dreams, but none of them seem like they’ll come true.]

“How’s that?”

“That sounds good?”

“Great. Let’s keep adding more like this.”

A truly rare scene was unfolding.

The two were actively expressing their opinions.

These two, who would normally clam up in terror when asked for opinions in band or team projects, were chatting away just fine when it was just the two of them.

“I… I! I’ve just gotten older without accomplishing anything!”

“Should we write that down too?”

“When I was younger, I thought I’d become like Hana…”

Good at talking, incredibly pretty, becoming a supreme beauty who gets asked for her number everywhere!

Of course, none of that happened.

“I… um… honestly, until I joined Spirit, I felt like every day was exactly the same. Should we write about that too?”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Since joining here, we do things together, practice together, but before that, I was always alone.”

“But you said you were in a band before.”

Juyeon tilted her head.

It wasn’t something he wanted to bring up, but somehow he felt he could open up to Juyeon.

Suhyeok reluctantly opened his mouth.

“It was a mess.”

“What was?”

“Just everything. The kids weren’t interested in their instruments, obviously didn’t practice together. It was a band in name only.”

“Then why did you join?”

“I didn’t know. That it was that kind of place.”

Juyeon sensed Suhyeok’s mood suddenly dropping.

“Um… but… now you’re part of Spirit, Suhyeok.”

“That’s right.”

“Hana, Sueun unnie, they’re all nice, and Kangi… despite how he looks, he’s nice too.”

“I know.”

For once, someone was trying to comfort him.

Why was he being so indifferent?

Knowing her comforting technique was terrible, Juyeon decided to try something bolder.

“Still, if you ever feel lonely, or… something… um… bored or whatever.”

Juyeon’s deep brown eyes met Suhyeok’s.

“…Call me.”

Suhyeok couldn’t help but laugh at Juyeon’s line that sounded like it came straight out of an anime.

“I will.”

Juyeon’s face turned bright red at Suhyeok’s mocking laughter.

Realizing how incredibly cringeworthy her words had been, though she didn’t mention it explicitly, she jumped up and dove onto the bed.

“I want to die.”

“Don’t die. Who would I call when I’m bored then?”

“You die too and come to hell with me.”

Juyeon wasn’t even sure what she was saying anymore.

Finding her quite adorable, Suhyeok took out his phone.

“How about we send this to Sueun noona for review, saying we’re thinking of writing about this theme?”

“Sounds good.”

“She’ll probably approve since we did it sincerely, right?”

After sending the message, they spent time selecting songs for Juyeon to perform on the broadcast.

The songs Suhyeok brought were…

“Hey, Suhyeok.”

“Yeah?”

“Isn’t this just copied straight from the popularity charts?”

“But… um… I thought these would be good for catching viewers’ attention since people know them well.”

It wasn’t entirely wrong, but more importantly, Suhyeok had zero interest in music outside of rock.

He couldn’t possibly give Juyeon songs sung by scruffy old men with scratchy voices.

“Ugh… let me play the songs I thought of.”

Juyeon sat at the computer and played her playlist.

The first song was a pop song featuring acoustic guitar sounds.

It had the kind of vibe that might have been popular ten years ago, but the voice would suit Juyeon extremely well.

The second song was EDM, with a strong tropical feel.

While Juyeon could probably sing it well, both the lyrics and concept seemed quite disconnected from her image.

It was about a woman seducing a man on a summer night.

“Juyeon.”

After listening to both songs, Suhyeok stared at her.

“Yes…?”

“I think you should just choose yourself?”

Do you really need my help?

You seem to be choosing well on your own.

“Oh. No? I can’t choose well?”

Juyeon worried that if things continued like this, her time hanging out with Suhyeok would disappear.

She didn’t want that.

She wanted to keep…

Talking and hanging out together like this…

-Bzzzz

Just then, a phone vibrated.

Suhyeok’s expression changed curiously as he checked his phone screen.

“What is it?”

“Oh. Sueun noona replied.”

Suhyeok held the screen up to Juyeon.

Juyeon read the reply aloud, word by word.

[Hey kids~ Should we make some edits before Hana sees this?]

It seemed their strategy wasn’t going to work on Hana.