Ch.9009. Seniors Fear Their Juniors.

Assuming vocals were out of the equation, Suhyeok had shown the most complete performance.

And that fact was utterly frustrating from Hana’s perspective.

Suhyeok’s backing seemed even more solid in contrast to the other session players’ performances that didn’t meet her standards.

It definitely wasn’t the movement of someone who had just learned it yesterday.

There was a relaxed confidence, as if playing something like this was as easy as chewing gum anytime.

Hana jumped up from her chair and approached him, still wearing her guitar.

“Just tell me straight! Why did you pretend not to know?”

“No… really… it’s my first time. I… practiced all night yesterday…”

Though his posture was shrunk like a guilty person, his eyes were pleading innocence.

Was Suhyeok’s claim actually true?

Hana found it hard to believe his achievement even after seeing it with her own eyes.

“Hey, Hana~ He didn’t do badly, he did well, so why are you making such a fuss?”

Seo-eun, sitting behind them, tried to calm her down with a playful tone.

“That’s right! Yoon Hana! You complained that I was too fast, but you just played along with my tempo!”

At Choi Gang’s factual jab from behind, an irritation mark appeared above Hana’s head.

“What, should I have played at a leisurely pace when the drums were speeding up?”

“When any song speeds up, it naturally gets more exciting!”

Choi Gang boldly asserted without even denying that he had sped up.

Suhyeok was secretly amazed at how someone could be so shameless after making a mistake.

“Shut up! We’ll speed up when we get on stage anyway, so we need to match the original tempo now!”

“Even karaoke is more fun at double speed!”

“No! The stage isn’t a karaoke room!”

Juyeon just watched the two bickering as if she was used to it.

In the end, it was the leader, Seo-eun, who stepped in to mediate.

“Alright~ Then Gang, try to play a little slower, and let’s go through it once more?”

The more Suhyeok observed, the more he felt that Seo-eun was a major pillar for this group.

What would have happened to the 23rd Spirit cohort without Seo-eun?

He felt that if she weren’t in this space right now, nothing would progress at all.

Following Seo-eun’s direction, Choi Gang gave the signal with his sticks again, and the members began playing to the drum sound.

Despite his earlier words, Choi Gang seemed to have taken note and maintained a tempo as close to the original as possible.

“That’s better than before.”

Hana nodded as if it wasn’t bad.

“But before going into the chorus, I think we need to coordinate that part between me, unnie, and Lee Suhyeok?”

“Ah, that part is a bit difficult. We’ll need to spend more time working on it.”

The practice session lasted about an hour, and by Suhyeok’s count, they had played through the piece about 10 times.

Still, it felt much less awkward than when they first started.

Suhyeok, who had initially focused only on not making mistakes out of fear, gradually adapted and began to hear the sounds of the other instruments more clearly.

“Whew! Shall we call it a day?”

Seo-eun checked her wristwatch and put an end to the long repetition.

-Dududu dududu dudungttak!

Choi Gang threw in a fill that would be suitable for rolling end credits, though it wasn’t for the ensemble piece.

“Ah! Gotta go destroy my lower body!”

He jumped up from his chair and seemed about to leave right away.

“Gang, we still have things to discuss~ Just a moment~”

“I’m losing muscle mass. Make it quick! What is it?”

Choi Gang, apparently in a hurry, stopped at the door and swiftly turned around on the spot.

“Now that Suhyeok has joined us, we need to set a schedule for supervising the freshmen, as we discussed. I wanted to talk about that today.”

Seo-eun took out her phone and opened a calendar app.

“Kids should be raised with a firm hand.”

“Should we call Jaejun oppa?”

The name Jaejun seemed to be like a bridle for a wild horse, successfully subduing the rampaging Choi Gang.

But there was someone even more perplexed than Choi Gang…

“…Supervising freshmen?”

Suhyeok, who was putting his guitar in its case, felt an earthquake in his eyes.

Teaching was definitely not something just anyone could do.

First, one needed the ability to judge what was right and wrong.

And explaining it in a way that was convincing without hurting the other person was also an absolutely required and extremely delicate technique.

For Suhyeok, who couldn’t even properly ask to change a wrongly served dish at a restaurant, this seemed far beyond his capabilities.

“Well, there aren’t many students with ensemble experience, so as seniors, we go and supervise them.”

Hana, sitting next to him, answered matter-of-factly, but Suhyeok was on the verge of fainting.

‘I heard that senior can only play one song?’

‘Seems like he was just randomly picked because they needed someone, despite being a transfer student.’

‘What’s this? He’s just like us except for being in a different year.’

If things continued like this, he would be the number one culprit in lowering the dignity of seniors.

Suhyeok, having mentally rehearsed the whispers of juniors whose faces he didn’t even know yet, drew his sword of decision.

“I’ll skip it for the sake of our cohort!”

Yes.

This was his noble sacrifice to preserve the image of seniors.

“Where do you think you’re trying to slack off, Lee Suhyeok!”

Hana immediately went into punishment mode as soon as he finished speaking.

“Hey, we’re all busy but making time for this, you know?”

“Yeah, Lee Suhyeok. Do you want to be remembered as an inferior man?”

Choi Gang looked down at him as if he were pathetic.

Feeling as if the stigma of “inferior” was being engraved on his forehead, Suhyeok trembled.

A lifeline.

In this wild club called Spirit, he needed someone to rely on, and the rope he grabbed was…

“…Juyeon, are you going too?”

The vocalist Juyeon, who seemed to have shy tendencies like himself.

Suhyeok believed that Juyeon would surely understand his feelings.

“If… if I go with Seo-eun unnie, I don’t have to say anything, so…”

Wow, she’s planning to go without saying a single word.

“Seo-eun noona, then maybe I could go with you.”

“No way~ Besides, this isn’t fixed; it rotates weekly depending on everyone’s available times.”

Although he was rejected as soon as he spoke, Suhyeok still wanted to go with Seo-eun if possible.

“Let’s see~ The freshmen practice at 5 PM on Tuesdays and 6 PM on Thursdays. Who’s available tomorrow? For reference, Juyeon and I can’t go, so we’re planning to go next Tuesday.”

“I’m available.”

Hana, with her hands on her hips, turned her head toward Suhyeok.

“Lee Suhyeok. Do you have classes tomorrow?”

“…No.”

“Then you come too. Choi Gang?”

“I have training.”

“Okay. Then you’re in too.”

A group of men bound one after another by Hana.

Seo-eun neatly organized the calendar according to Hana’s arrangement.

“Great! Then for this week and next week, we’ll go with this plan. Who’s eating dinner!”

7 PM.

It was indeed a time when everyone would be hungry.

“I have an assignment, so I’ll just go. Unnie.”

“Hana has an assignment, Gang is rushing off to exercise. What about you, Suhyeok?”

“I’ll eat with you…”

Seo-eun was the one he felt most comfortable with.

“Then everyone’s dismissed! I’ll talk about what we’re doing on Friday in the chat room~”

Monday: Ensemble practice.

Tuesday: Hana’s private tutoring.

Wednesday: Ensemble practice.

Thursday: Visit to juniors.

Friday: Mysterious social gathering.

First week after joining.

Suhyeok’s daily life had suddenly become filled with Spirit.

“Oh! The weather’s nice!”

Seo-eun, who had left the welfare center, stretched out as if she was in a good mood.

“What should we eat?”

Turning around to ask the two people following her, Seo-eun immediately realized she had misspoken.

Right.

Today was not a day to ask such an open question.

“Tteokbokki. Cheese rice. Udon. Choose one of the three.”

These people strictly needed options.

“…I’m fine with anything.”

Juyeon, trying to avoid even those choices.

Seo-eun looked at Suhyeok with eyes saying you’re my only hope.

“Let’s have tteokbokki…?”

Honestly, he didn’t care either way, but unable to bear the pressure, Suhyeok reluctantly made a choice.

“Great! Then let’s go to Wababak Tteokbokki near the back gate!”

Suhyeok, who rarely used the back gate, had never heard of the place.

The three people climbed up a slightly hilly road and exited through the back gate.

Wababak Tteokbokki was a tteokbokki restaurant located in quite a secluded corner.

“Oh my! Is that Seo-eun?”

“Hello, auntie!”

Seo-eun exchanged greetings as if she was delighted.

“Who’s that beside you? Did you get a new boyfriend already?”

“No way~ Of course not! This is our new guitarist who just joined.”

“Oh my~ You should get a haircut~”

Hearing the exact same words he’d heard from his mother during holidays, Suhyeok gave an awkward smile.

Having learned that asking these two would yield nothing, Seo-eun went ahead and ordered the recommended dishes.

The tteokbokki sizzled as it cooked on the hot plate.

Suhyeok’s mouth began to water.

“This place is seriously amazing. You know the fried rice is a must, right?”

Juyeon must have been hungry too, as she gripped her fork tightly while staring at the tray.

“Oh, right. Suhyeok.”

“Yeah?”

“Did I invite you to the combined first and second-year chat room?”

“No?”

Suhyeok hadn’t even known such a thing existed.

“Ah, I should have done that. I’ll invite you now~ Just a moment~”

Seo-eun put down the ladle and finished the invitation on her phone, causing Suhyeok’s phone to vibrate.

Curious about what it was, Suhyeok unlocked his phone and felt his breath catch.

[Hello~ oppa!]

[He’s here! God.Su.Hyeok! Greetings!]

[The veiled guitar god! Has appeared!]

[Hello~ (cute emoticon)]

“Ah.”

Instinctively, Suhyeok pressed the exit button.