TGCSA 06

Episode 06

“…Wow.”

Lee Hyun-ji’s exclamation of admiration was the first to echo in the practice room.

“Seol-ah! You really practiced a lot during break!”

She looked at me with admiring eyes.

“I can’t believe you played that sight-reading right away. That’s amazing.”

“That’s not first-year level, is it?”

Han So-yeon and Yuda Yeon also clapped their hands together.

“And without missing a single note.”

“Everyone always struggles with Donghyuk oppa’s arrangements because they’re so difficult.”

Everyone looked at me as if I were some kind of marvel. Feeling a bit awkward, I scratched the back of my head.

‘Was it really that impressive?’

By my standards, it wasn’t a particularly difficult performance.

After all, I’d already spent over a decade in front of instruments.

But I guess for a first-year, my finger work was too flashy.

“I didn’t see you in the practice room during break, so I wondered what was up. Did you go somewhere for some secret intensive training?”

“Something like that.”

I vaguely dodged the question.

Since Lee Hyun-ji would know my skill level during the semester, this change must have seemed strange to her.

“Thanks to you, the arrangement really came alive. So? My arrangement’s pretty good, right?”

Choi Dong-hyuk also chimed in from the side, showing off.

“Definitely… aside from the high technical difficulty, the fact that you played it so smoothly suddenly makes the piece way more convincing.”

“I think it might be pretty polarizing, though.”

“Professor Baek Ga-hee would absolutely hate it, for one.”

They each took turns sharing their thoughts.

“Seol-ah, what did you think?”

“Me?”

“Yeah. You actually played it, so you’d know better. What did you think? Of this arrangement?”

What did I think?

Well, obviously…

‘It was a mess.’

It felt like it was all flash, loaded with useless embellishments just for show. But if I told him honestly, he’d probably feel bad.

As I hesitated, choosing my words, Choi Dong-hyuk couldn’t hold back and jumped in again.

“Ah! How about we try it like this?”

Choi Dong-hyuk picked up his guitar again.

After a quick tune, he played a slightly modified version of the first bar from the original melody.

“Oh, that’s good.”

Han So-yeon reacted immediately.

“Cutting the rhythm a bit and rearranging the harmonies makes it much easier to listen to. Or how about this?”

Yuda Yeon picked up her violin and added a different melody.

“That’s good too.”

“What about slightly slowing the tempo here?”

After several exchanges like this, the melody was much better than when Choi Dong-hyuk had first arranged it.

“Seol-ah Could you play it again like this?”

“Yes, of course.”

“It’ll take a while to rewrite the sheet music. Hmm… Could you maybe make slight improvisational adjustments on the fly to match the arrangement?”

We were just trying to get a feel for it anyway. It wasn’t a difficult request for music majors.

“Yes, I can do that.”

“Alright, shall we?”

Choi Dong-hyuk counted the beat once more.

One, two.

Once again, the piece flowed smoothly across the keyboard. At first, I faithfully followed Choi Dong-hyuk’s written score.

‘From here.’

Choi Dong-hyuk started playing the guitar in a style slightly different from the score.

Following him, I deepened the bass with my left hand and filled in harmonies that lightly bounced with my right.

The briefly pedaled notes breathed life into the melody.

Guitar and piano intertwined and collided.

They rolled together like perfectly fitting puzzle pieces. Choi Dong-hyuk shot me a brief, surprised look, then broke into a grin.

His expression showed he was enjoying this ensemble.

As the guitar surged towards the climax, I resolved the harmony a beat earlier, making the melody shine even brighter.

-♩♪♬♪…….

After softly pressing and releasing the final chord, I lifted my foot from the pedal.

And just like before, silence descended again.

“…Whoa.”

Han So-yeon muttered blankly.

“Hyun-ji. Where on earth did you find someone like this?”

“It’s so much better with accompaniment like this.”

“Earlier, the guitar and piano felt a bit disconnected. Just now, it really sounded like one unified piece.”

As Lee Hyun-ji rapidly shared her thoughts, Yuda Yeon nodded in agreement.

“Was that an improvised arrangement? For something improvised, the completeness is incredibly high.”

I had just organized the chords and tweaked the notes a bit, the way I’d always done. Their surprise was, in turn, surprising to me.

All eyes were on me.

I felt strangely embarrassed.

“I just… thought it might sound better this way. Did I play too much according to my own taste?”

“No! It was super helpful.”

“So this kind of progression works too. Definitely.”

I guess my skill level wasn’t matching a first-year’s.

‘I should tone it down next time.’

I hadn’t been able to control myself because it felt so good to play the piano after a long time.

“So you can arrange it like that. I learned a lot.”

Choi Dong-hyuk grinned.

“Revising it like this would be way better. So, press firmly here, and then explode right here…”

Watching him mutter and revise, the quality of the piece was indeed improving significantly. It meant he was the type who, upon hearing one thing, could figure out two or three more. I thought he’d just be smug about his flashy arrangement, but his actual skill was quite outstanding.

“Ah, I wish Seol-ah could accompany me in the actual composition exam too~.”

Choi Dong-hyuk subtly hinted, trying to act friendly.

“I know, right? Then even if my arrangement skills were a little lacking, couldn’t I cover it with technique somehow?”

“You know that’s not possible.”

“Just saying.”

Conversation laced with laughter continued.

“Alright, is it my turn now?”

Han So-yeon stepped forward with a smile. I rummaged through the pile of sheet music and found hers.

“Knowing this would happen, I should have made my accompaniment harder. At least trick the ears with flashiness. Still, please take care of it?”

Han So-yeon winked at me and picked up her flute.

“Alright, let’s go!”

The flute sounded softly, and the piano followed.

It was a short but complete arrangement.

After that, we spent time playing through each person’s prepared arrangement one by one and giving feedback.

Each time, the pieces changed slightly, and Yuda Yeon even asked me, ‘How could I arrange this to make it better?’

Each time, I offered up the musical ideas that came to mind.

The looks in people’s eyes gradually shifted, as if witnessing something wondrous.

“Wow. It’s already this late.”

“I know. I was so focused I didn’t notice the time.”

By the time we closed the piano lid, it was dark outside.

Everyone was busy packing up their instruments.

Since I played piano, I didn’t need to take an instrument with me. As I was thinking about heading out, Lee Hyun-ji quietly approached.

“Seol-ah. Once again, thank you for today. It was really helpful. Both the accompaniment and the arrangement.”

“It was nothing.”

“You were amazing.”

Lee Hyun-ji gave me a peculiar look. Perhaps the decade of experience I’d accumulated felt like an insurmountable wall to her.

“I guess you practiced a lot during break. …You’re planning to transfer, right?”

At that, the others who had been listening chimed in.

“What? Seol is transferring too?”

“With piano skills this good? That’s a bit of a waste.”

Choi Dong-hyuk and Han So-yeon had somehow appeared on either side of me.

“But her arrangement skills are just as good as her piano skills.”

“That’s true.”

“Come to think of it, you said your friend is in the composition department, right? The one you’re always with. Her name was… Moon A-rin? I think. Right?”

At Lee Hyun-ji’s question, I curled the corners of my mouth.

“Yeah.”

“So that’s why you’re transferring?”

“Something like that.”

At this, Choi Dong-hyuk made a big fuss.

“You’re transferring just because of your friend? Really?”

“It’s not only that. But something like that.”

Before the regression,

I couldn’t even properly prepare for the transfer exam.

Moon A-rin had said:

With your skills, it’s still impossible. Instead, I’ll help you out, so let’s start by making some practice pieces first.

If you work hard, your skills will improve, won’t they?

I believed her words implicitly.

But even after I made practice pieces, it was always just “a little disappointing.” So time passed without even transferring, let alone anything else, and I ended up on leave.

When I lost my hearing, I was in despair and just dropped out.

It probably started around then.

‘Living like a machine, churning out pieces, as Moon A-rin’s shadow.’

That’s why all the theory in my head was learned indirectly, through Moon A-rin.

I never received proper education.

‘So, I also have the desire to properly learn composition.’

More than anything…

I was curious about Moon A-rin’s expression.

When I succeed in transferring, what kind of face will you make?

‘You, at this point, haven’t committed any crime yet. You haven’t deafened me, you haven’t stolen my pieces.’

You haven’t even heard my first self-composition.

If so.

Can the current you genuinely congratulate me on my transfer?

When exactly did you decide to take everything from me?

The key to seeing inside your heart was now in my hands.