Chapter 50
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 50
Chapter Title: Back to Vocal Training
-----------------------------------------------------------------
After many twists and turns, the final team selection for the comprehensive evaluation was complete.
Five Musical Department students who had joined as actors in Director Yoon Jong-hoon's production.
Lee Do-hyun, Moon Woo-hyuk, Song Ha-na, along with Do Kyung-in and Park Ji-young.
Plus five students from other departments who took on staff roles, making a total of ten people on the team.
Cheongyeom Arts High's system was special.
Excluding general subjects, all class time went toward preparation.
Until the comprehensive evaluation, all vocal, acting, and dance practice sessions converted to comprehensive evaluation rehearsal time.
One-on-one mentor lessons switched to optional as well.
That's why, during comprehensive evaluation season, quite a few skipped their one-on-one lessons.
Some were genuinely busy, while others just used it as an excuse.
I couldn't do that.
Sure, I was on the genuinely busy side, but I had no intention of making excuses either.
My vocal technique and vocals still had a ton of areas to polish and refine.
To work on that, I decided to seek out Ji-woong.
When I said I wanted a lesson, he replied right away.
Come to the practice room.
"Haven't arrived yet?"
I arrived at the practice room door for my session with Ji-woong and peered through the small window on the door.
I'd been swamped since Monday.
Team formation for the comprehensive evaluation, meetings about the play with my teammates.
It had been exactly a week since the dance test last Thursday—the first time I'd set foot in the practice room since.
Of course, I'd kept up the personal training Ji-woong assigned me every day during that week.
It hadn't even been that long, but it felt like forever, making me hesitate awkwardly for no reason.
"What are you doing? Not coming in?"
I jumped at the voice behind me and turned to see Ji-woong.
We saw each other morning and evening during homeroom, but actually talking like this felt like ages.
"Man, what a weirdo. Who does one-on-one lessons during comprehensive evaluation season?"
Ji-woong grumbled as he opened the practice room door.
Something's off. He looks a bit out of breath.
"Teacher."
"Yeah."
"You're wearing mismatched slippers."
Ji-woong paused on his way in and glanced down at his feet.
A brief silence passed between us.
"It's fashion."
"Yes, sir."
I barely held back a laugh.
He must've rushed over here, my dear mentor.
As I stepped into the practice room, the familiar smell welcomed me after so long.
Even on days I didn't come, Teacher must've been here every day, so maybe it was his scent.
Nah, probably just dust.
I was sniffing the practice room air intently when Ji-woong recoiled in disgust.
"This is a 40-something bachelor's hideout. Don't savor it with such a happy face—it makes me uneasy."
"What's wrong with being a 40-something bachelor?"
I was 33 with no girlfriend myself.
No time for that, no thoughts of it either.
Probably the same even in my 40s.
Feeling a strange camaraderie, I asked what was so bad about it.
Ji-woong gave me a weird look, then sat down.
"Your comprehensive evaluation team turned out okay?"
Ji-woong asked, though he already knew the gist from hearsay.
With teachers and the director chattering nonstop in the staff room about how stacked Yoon Jong-hoon's team was, it was impossible not to know.
"Ah, well, Teacher... it's Moon Woo-hyuk."
I found myself excitedly spilling about the comprehensive evaluation.
How heavy-hearted I'd have felt if Woo-hyuk had dropped out as is.
But even so, there was no helping it—that dilemma had me suffering.
No idea why I always rambled so disjointedly in front of Ji-woong, but nothing came out organized.
"So, in the end, I ended up as the male lead. Woo-hyuk's on it too, though."
Ji-woong quietly listened to my scattered chatter.
When I finished and he said nothing, I worried I'd talked too much.
"Yeah. Good work."
Just then, Ji-woong placed his hand on my head with a thunk.
My worries vanished, replaced by a soft, fuzzy smile.
"Good work? It's fun—all of it."
Feeling embarrassed for no reason, I slipped out from under his hand, laughing.
Ji-woong chuckled at my goofy grin, then pulled out a score folder.
"Yeah, at your age, everything's fun. Shall we start?"
With the chit-chat wrapped up, practice began in earnest.
"Here."
"Yes, sir."
I took the score from Ji-woong.
No lyrics—just singing on "ah."
I'd seen it plenty since regressing, so it was familiar.
Just a bit different in melody from last time.
I hummed the tune to myself while reading the score.
"For now, we'll keep up the training method from before."
"Yes."
I nodded right away.
I accepted all of Ji-woong's methods without question, listening intently.
At his gesture to stand, I rose with the score in hand.
At his "start" signal, I opened my mouth wide.
"Ahhhh."
"Thicken the vocal cords, widen them—think that way. More, more. Yes."
What we were doing now was low-register scaling.
Low-note training built elasticity in the vocal cords, strengthening them.
Teacher said mastering lows was key to highs.
Back then, I'd have dismissed it as bullshit philosophy.
Now, it was the truest wisdom.
To fix my weak vocal cords, we skipped high-note training and repeated lows only.
For a while, only my "ahh" echoed in the practice room.
"Drop it sharply there."
"Ahh, ah."
The low notes flowed much more steadily than at first.
My low range had widened too.
I could wield lows more freely now.
Daily practice had me instinctively hitting them without blockage.
"Breath's short. Inhale more, more."
As I breathed in, I felt my lungs expand.
Ji-woong watched my midsection intently, then suddenly clenched his fist in the air.
"Stay! Hold it, feel it!"
"Ah—"
Now we were training to focus entirely on the sensation, maintaining the lung expansion.
It felt totally different from right after regressing.
I could expand my lungs at will, and the full inhale felt natural, not awkward.
He's doing great.
Ji-woong watched his student, whose skill surged with every session, in wonder.
Do-hyun was inhaling with all his might for diaphragmatic breathing. Ji-woong slowly gestured.
"Pause, exhale. Inhale again."
"Ahh, ah."
Do-hyun followed his hand signals for scaling, his face serious.
Going forward, it would be about how long this amateur could maintain the sensation.
With his quick recovery—finding it again even if he lost it midway—it shouldn't be too hard.
His low-register technique had visibly improved.
They repeated it several times.
"Okay, stop."
At Ji-woong's word, Do-hyun cut off mid-note, looking regretful.
"I could do more."
"Kid, I said save your throat."
I really felt how much healthier my throat was than at first.
Compared to pre-regression, my young, robust vocal cords were incomparable.
At this rate, I could sing all night without tiring.
Proudly rubbing my throat, I heard Ji-woong's sharp tone.
"Get cocky now that it's better, and you're done for."
"Haha, got it. No cockiness."
Having badly hurt myself from cockiness before, I dropped my hand at once.
Ji-woong smirked at his obedient student.
Ji-woong knew it too.
It was obvious he wasn't straining like before.
Previously, this much would've made his throat uncomfortable—no sign of that now.
Such rapid progress was astonishing.
Ji-woong pointed to his diaphragm as he moved on.
"Like I said before, you can't lower the diaphragm voluntarily."
He pressed near his solar plexus and looked at Do-hyun.
"Expand the lungs first."
Ji-woong inhaled deeply—his belly swelled visibly.
"Then press the diaphragm down with the lung expansion."
His finger slid downward in sync with his swelling belly.
Do-hyun eagerly inhaled, mimicking him.
Ji-woong watched closely.
What a fascinating guy, on reflection.
Different from other talents.
Many talented kids slacked off or got complacent—Do-hyun didn't.
Whatever he did, he went all-in, no laziness.
Not long ago, the PE teacher had bragged about Do-hyun's fitness test scores.
The guy always griped about lazy kids with big egos being hard to wrangle, but his face lit up mentioning Lee Do-hyun.
"How long you maintain this—that decides win or lose."
Ji-woong exhaled with a whoosh.
Do-hyun exhaled too, glancing at him as if to check.
Ji-woong nodded yes.
He'd wondered if Do-hyun requested a one-on-one during evaluation season because of Moon Woo-hyuk.
Maybe teach him something flashy like highs to show off.
But no.
Most kids neglected basics during evaluations, chasing glitz like highs.
Do-hyun treated this time as precious, training diligently.
Hard to believe he was just seventeen—such steadfastness.
Ji-woong watched Do-hyun earnestly mimic what he'd just shown, then suddenly asked.
"You don't want to do highs?"
Do-hyun, checking his lungs and diaphragm with his fingers like Ji-woong and inhaling, looked up at the question.
What was there to say? Of course I did.
Of course I wanted to check results ASAP.
But having learned the hard way that rushing was poison, I was just waiting.
"Teacher will allow it when the time comes."
Infinite trust.
What had he done to earn such faith?
Ji-woong felt grateful toward his student.
But his personality wouldn't let him voice it warmly.
"Minimum three years."
"Pardon?"
"Minimum three more years of training."
Truth be told, at first sight of Do-hyun, he'd thought three years for real.
But at this pace, it wouldn't take that long.
Still, to prevent any complacency ruining him, he said three years.
"If it ends before then..."
At this rate, he'd run out of things to teach before three years.
If that day came, he'd say it was time for a better teacher.
"Even thirty years is fine."
"...What?"
Ji-woong frowned in shock, staring at his student.
"Wonder if thirty years would even cover it."
No matter how closely he looked, Do-hyun meant it.
He'd nearly shown an unworthy side to this student who thought so highly of him.
"Yeah. But..."
Ji-woong picked up Do-hyun's comprehensive evaluation script and placed it on his head.
He decided not to say more on it.
"Focus on interpreting that script for now. Vocal practice ends here today."
For a moment, I guessed what he'd swallowed.
But I didn't say it either.
"Yes, sir."
I just smiled and took the script from Ji-woong.