Ch.7575. Unrequited Love

A club room is not a space that one visits only for practice.

People with free time between classes.

People who drop by simply because they’re bored with nothing to do.

People who come to try playing instruments on their own.

First-year students no longer had any reason to visit the club room, but Taeho, who loved socializing, often came to the club room even when there was no practice.

“Oh? Hello, Suhyeok-hyung!”

“Taeho. Hi.”

Taeho greeted Suhyeok warmly as soon as he entered the club room.

Suhyeok was now used to his juniors.

Especially Taeho, whom he had often taught guitar, was one of his most comfortable juniors.

“What brings you here?”

“I was just chatting with Hana noona and Kang-hyung.”

“Not going home?”

The clock showed 7 o’clock.

Even if classes had ended, they would have finished quite a while ago.

“I just lost track of time talking with the seniors. I should probably get going soon… Oh! Right. Suhyeok-hyung!”

“Yeah?”

Taeho, with his bag over his shoulder, fiddled with his phone as if something had just occurred to him.

“One of my female classmates wants to DM you. Should I tell her it’s okay?”

“Why would your classmate want to DM me?”

“She saw our performance, and she kind of likes you. She asked me to check with you.”

Certainly, Suhyeok on performance day looked completely different from his usual self.

His outfit was coordinated by Hana and Soeun.

His hairstyle was meticulously styled after looking up references online.

Since he wasn’t speaking, there was no way to tell if he was a loner or whatever.

If one only saw that edited moment, Suhyeok might have appeared quite charming.

“Picture.”

Surprisingly, it was Hana who responded.

Sitting on the sofa waiting for Suhyeok to talk to her, Hana threatened Taeho with a terrifying expression.

She looked ready to blackmail him if he didn’t comply immediately.

“What?”

“Let me see her picture.”

“…You, noona?”

“Ah! Hey! Let me see too. What kind of girl would like someone like Lee Suhyeok?”

Hana had spoken to hide her true feelings, but her words once again stabbed Suhyeok’s heart.

Right…

Only weird girls would like someone like me…

Even Nayoung, who immediately came to mind, didn’t seem like such a great person.

Suhyeok gave a bitter smile.

“Hmm…”

Not bad.

That was Hana’s overall assessment.

If she had to compare, the girl’s looks seemed slightly below Nayoung’s.

Sigh… seriously…

Why does Lee Suhyeok have so many girls around him?

Kim Nayoung, this unknown junior, Park Juyeon… okay, let’s exclude Juyeon.

What she had witnessed at the gym seemed more like Suhyeok’s doing rather than Juyeon’s.

“But what happens if she DMs me?”

Suhyeok asked, scratching his head.

He knew that he wasn’t the type who could smoothly carry on a conversation with a girl he didn’t know at all.

It was clear that whatever attraction she had due to her fantasy would quickly disappear.

“Well, that’s for you and her to figure out. But her personality is nice! And while the photo is edited, it’s pretty close to how she looks in real life.”

“No, no. Don’t do it. Lee Suhyeok doesn’t have time for dating.”

“Why? Does Suhyeok-hyung have a girlfriend?”

“No? We’re entering a competition, so it’s not possible until then.”

Taeho was about to argue that Soeun was dating despite that, but he had to back down.

Hana was giving him a look that promised destruction if he said one more word.

“Ahaha… Taeho. Tell your friend I appreciate her feelings.”

“Lee Suhyeok. Why say you appreciate her feelings if you’re not going to accept them?”

“It’s just a figure of speech.”

The perceptive Taeho could tell that the way Hana looked at Suhyeok was quite different from how she looked at friends.

Were the rumors among the first-years wrong?

During the after-party, there was talk that Suhyeok had something going on with Juyeon.

This seemed to require cross-verification among the members.

“I see. If you have a competition, please invite me! I’ll come cheer for you!”

“Really? For real?”

Hana, who hadn’t expected much, quickly changed her attitude toward Taeho.

“Hey, hey, hey. Then take some pictures of us that day!”

“Of course. I am the best cameraman, after all.”

“Nice~ You’ve got the right attitude! Taeho!”

Hana laughed like an old-timer and slapped his back repeatedly.

“Anyway, practice well, hyungs and noonas. I’ll be going now.”

As soon as Taeho left, Hana’s ideological verification time continued.

“Lee Suhyeok.”

“Yeah?”

“A person has only one body.”

Suhyeok wondered what she was getting at.

Kang, sitting on the drum chair, showed no sign of removing his wireless earphones, as if he couldn’t care less about the two of them.

“So?”

“Multitasking is actually a concept that doesn’t exist. It’s just the brain quickly switching between two different tasks.”

The direction of the conversation became increasingly mysterious.

“What’s your point…?”

“In other words, you can’t prepare for a performance while dating!”

It was nonsensical reasoning.

There was no way a dating ban could be established based on multitasking or whatever.

“Ahaha. Don’t tell me, Hana, are you worried I might start dating?”

It was a cruel question.

The person she liked was right in front of her, yet she was telling him not to date.

“…Yes.”

I don’t want to see you dating someone other than me.

What was omitted was their true feelings.

Their thoughts ran parallel once more.

“So don’t do it.”

“Even without you telling me, I just can’t.”

Just as Hana was about to say something in response—

“Hey guys~”

Soeun and Juyeon entered the club room.

In Soeun’s hands was a pizza box.

To those who hadn’t eaten dinner yet, she became nothing short of a Santa Claus.

“Wow. What’s this? Sudden pizza?”

“There was an event in my department today, and since I’m a work-study student, they said I could take the leftovers.”

Work-study student.

An abbreviation for a student on a work scholarship.

Soeun was also working at the department office.

“Really?”

“Yes! But it’s a bit cold, so it might not taste as good?”

“No way! Do you know how much this costs to order these days!”

Even Kang, who had shown no reaction, suddenly stood up from his chair after smelling the pizza.

“Pizza is pepperoni pizza!”

“This is all that was left anyway. Let’s eat and then start.”

“No, let’s talk while eating.”

The reason the 23rd generation gathered today.

It was to establish the direction for their new original song.

“Hmm… so what do you want to do this time, Hana?”

“I was thinking…”

Hana took a sip of cola from her paper cup and declared.

“This time, I think we should write the lyrics first.”

“The lyrics first?”

“Yes.”

“Blue Dawn” was a song where they completed the session and then added the melody.

Hana wanted to try the opposite route this time.

Writing the lyrics first.

This meant determining the message first and then creating music to match it.

“But what kind of lyrics… what do you want to try?”

“For a competition, passion is the way to go!”

Kang gave a thumbs up.

“Isn’t passion good?”

Hana nodded halfheartedly.

Honestly, she wasn’t thrilled about it.

“Passion is not bad. If you have more detailed ideas, feel free to bring them.”

The more ideas, the better.

But the best would be lyrics that could showcase the band Spirit.

They had only one chance.

They needed to express themselves in just one performance.

“Does anyone else have anything?”

Hana looked at Suhyeok and Juyeon.

“I… um…”

Juyeon actually had something in mind.

“What is it, Juyeon?”

“It might sound a bit too serious…”

“I actually prefer serious. I like serious things.”

Hana welcomed seriousness if it could become an artistic source.

“I was thinking about a story about… identity.”

“Identity? What kind? Like sexual identity?”

“Just that we all… live as we are…”

Identity was a topic Juyeon had been thinking about while doing her broadcasts.

How different were the broadcaster ‘Yeoni’ and the human ‘Park Juyeon’?

In the broader sense, they shared the same body, but Juyeon’s attitude toward them was different.

Juyeon wanted to be like ‘Yeoni.’

The image of longing for not someone else but her own half-self seemed both strange and poignant.

‘The me I want to be’ and ‘the me that cannot change’

She couldn’t openly share the story, but it felt like it could be a good theme.

“Hmm… it’s hard to get a feel for it just from that? It would be good if you could write more details too. Even if it’s not lyrics, write out the content you want to convey in prose.”

Hana wanted to hear everyone’s opinions before deciding.

“Soeun unnie, do you have anything?”

“I… um… how about something like ‘Hot Night’? It might be similar to what Kang mentioned about passion.”

For Soeun, the keyword for Spirit was ‘fun.’

Youth (青春)

Weren’t they a group gathered to make music together in this green spring?

If there was a value they should deliver, she firmly believed it was entertainment.

“Okay… so far we have mostly upbeat song ideas? Hey, Lee Suhyeok. You throw something in too, finally.”

A story to infuse into the music.

The moment that made his heart race the most.

Suhyeok’s mouth produced a topic that defied everyone’s expectations.

“…Would a song about unrequited love be too much?”

The members looked at Suhyeok with different expressions on their faces.