Why Are You Lying?
Lee Suhyun wasn’t the type to buy and drink coffee by himself. Among all the beverages out there, he didn’t think it ranked particularly high in taste, and if he ever felt like having one, he usually just grabbed something from the convenience store. The place the two of them had stepped into was a café packed with women. After glancing around and observing, Suhyun noticed that while there were some men, most of them seemed to be accompanying girlfriends or dates.
“Didn’t you say you were having an Americano earlier?” Hana asked while looking at the menu. Suhyun nodded.
“Yeah.”
“Then I’ll have the Strawberry Delight Yogurt Blended.”
Strawberry Delight Yogurt Blended, huh. Figures, Suhyun thought. She drinks something as pretty as she looks.
Hana took the pager and sat by the window. She rested her chin on one hand and stared straight at Suhyun’s face, where his eyes were completely hidden behind his hair. His shaggy, somewhat messy locks looked a little stuffy. She couldn’t help thinking it would be nice if she could actually see his eyes.
“Your hair.”
“Hm?”
“How long have you been growing it out?”
It wasn’t exactly uncommon for guys to grow their hair long these days—people said it was in style—but it still wasn’t the norm for most men. Suhyun scratched his head awkwardly.
“Since I graduated high school.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know… I guess when I decided to join a band, it just felt like I should grow it out or something.”
Both Choi Kang and Lee Suhyun. Hana couldn’t understand why everyone seemed to have some weird obsession when it came to bands. And honestly, she thought both of their quirks were too distinctive to even tell them to stop.
“Hey. That’s not a thing. There are plenty of bald guitarists out there.”
“Y-yeah, but being bald is a bit much, don’t you think!”
“Can I record that and play it for Kang?”
Suhyun’s head shook violently from side to side like it had a motor attached. A small snort of laughter escaped Hana’s lips.
“So are you going to keep growing it even longer?”
“No. I think this length is just right, so I probably won’t.”
“What? So in the end you just grew it out because you liked the hairstyle.”
The pager buzzed. Suhyun went to pick up their drinks. Hana thanked him and took a long sip through her straw. The beverage had a soft pink hue mixed with milky tones—something Suhyun had never bought with his own money before. He figured that if it weren’t for Hana, he probably would’ve gone his whole life without even knowing the name of this drink.
“How was what I taught you today?”
“What exactly?”
“I don’t know… like, was the difficulty manageable? Or maybe there’s something you’d like me to do differently next time.”
There was no way he’d have any complaints. The mere fact that someone had set aside time just for him and taught him so kindly already made Suhyun’s chest feel overwhelmingly full. He had zero intention of criticizing Hana’s teaching style.
“No, it was all good. I’ll go home and practice more of what you showed me.”
“That’s a relief. Honestly, just with that, you should be able to handle the first verse of Standing Luxury, the song we’re practicing together.”
The parts of Hana’s recommended song that required other techniques were mostly in the latter half. And those sections actually had similarities to the solo lines Suhyun had been drilling for two years, so they might even feel easier.
“I’ll try to have it perfect by tomorrow.”
When Suhyun’s eyes filled with such firm determination, Hana smiled softly and nodded. But could he really pull that off in just one day? It was common knowledge that musical skill didn’t improve overnight.
“It’s fine even if you only get as far as you can. None of the others were perfect from the start either.”
“No, still… if I’m the only one dragging everyone down during practice, that’d be bad.”
Everyone seemed to believe he’d do well. Suhyun didn’t want to betray those expectations.
“Hana. Do you have anything else going on today?”
“After I finish this, I’ll go home and practice for tomorrow’s session. Then I have my part-time job in the evening.”
“If you’re busy, you can head out first.”
“It’s fine, it’s fine. I’ve almost finished this anyway, and since I have no classes today and came all the way out here, I wanted to talk with you too.”
At the word “no classes,” a question mark popped up over Suhyun’s head.
“You had no classes today?”
“Yeah. Tuesdays are always free for me.”
“Then… you skipped your free day just to teach me…”
A free day. An artificial holiday that only a lucky few college students who managed to snag the right schedule could enjoy. The kind of day that filled you with so much excitement the night before that you couldn’t sleep and just stared at your phone. And she’d given that up just for someone like him!
“Aww, it’s okay~ It’s better than not being able to teach you because I didn’t have time.”
Suhyun felt like he was going blind from the halo glowing behind Hana.
“Oh? I’m done.”
Hana, who had been thinking about chatting a little longer, checked her watch and slipped her phone into her pocket. She picked up the shredded straw wrapper piece by piece and placed them on the tray, then carried it to the return station before stopping at the entrance.
“Lee Suhyun. Thanks for the coffee! See you tomorrow?”
“Ah. Yeah.”
“I’m going?”
Hana waved and turned around. Left alone, Suhyun stood there blankly, staring at her retreating figure. It reminded him of waking up as a child to find an unexpected gift beside his pillow.
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
That should be enough.
Suhyun turned off the metronome that had nearly driven him insane. Dark circles had settled heavily under his eyes. Once a performance song was chosen, the standard procedure was for the whole band to practice it together. After returning home from the café with Hana, Suhyun had spent every moment except for meals glued to his guitar, repeating the same sections over and over.
To others it might have looked incredibly boring, but for someone who had practiced the same song for two straight years, this level of grind was as easy as flipping his palm. In fact, the feeling of challenging himself with something new felt almost refreshing.
“Alright… what time is it now…”
His mind was hazy. The original song’s backing rhythm kept echoing inside his head. After washing his face and changing clothes, he pulled on the gray sweatshirt he usually wore and covered his ears with headphones. He’d bought them after seeing an internet ad calling them the best value for money. He wasn’t sure about the value, but the sound quality was decent enough that he had no major complaints.
He slung his guitar over his shoulder and stood in front of the mirror just like that.
“Hmm.”
It was a pretty convincing guitarist look. Suhyun was quite pleased with how much he resembled the ideal image for someone in the central club.
As usual, Suhyun stayed tucked away in the corner until class ended, then headed up the stairs toward the student welfare building. The practice room was on the fifth floor. He had already memorized the passcode, so he didn’t need to check his phone. But today, there was no need for him to unlock the door.
Because from inside, he could already hear it.
Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump-thump-thump.
The heavy, low sound that anchored the band. It was the bass.
When he opened the door and stepped inside, he saw Juyeon sitting on the sofa looking at her phone and Seoeun practicing on her bass. The moment he entered, both of their gazes snapped toward the door.
“Oh! Hey, Suhyun!”
“Hi.”
Juyeon gave a small nod like a polite bow when their eyes met.
“Did you practice well with Hana yesterday?” Seoeun asked as she set down her bass and walked over.
“Yeah. Hana was really nice and explained everything clearly.”
“Oho~ Must’ve gone well then? Yoon Hana throws a total fit if you don’t play things right.”
“Really?”
“I’m just kidding.”
Seoeun lowered her voice to a whisper.
“But seriously, if you show up to practice on a day when Hana’s in a bad mood and you’re not prepared, you’d better be ready to get an earful.”
The gentle encouragement she’d given him yesterday overlapped with this new information, creating layers of confusion. A trickle of anxiety began to creep in.
Can I really do this?
The moment Suhyun swallowed hard, the door opened again. This time, Choi Kang and Hana walked in.
“Oh! Everyone’s here?”
Hana, guitar slung over her back, hummed cheerfully.
“Lee Suhyun!”
Choi Kang, once again in a short-sleeved shirt, marched right up until he was practically nose-to-nose with Suhyun, who was sitting on the sofa.
“…Yeah?”
“You watched the Ruka-tang clip from yesterday, right?”
The look on his face said that not answering might result in immediate execution.
“Ah. Yeah.”
Even though Seoeun had told him to ignore Kang’s nonsense, Suhyun figured it wouldn’t hurt to get a little closer to him. So he had forced himself to watch the VTuber video despite having zero interest.
“Impressions?”
“Uh. She was super cute!”
Suhyun gave a safe answer and tried to sneak a glance at the other members’ reactions…
“Ugh.”
It was a short but crystal-clear sound. Along with that clear expression of disgust came a piercing glare of contempt. An arrow of shame stabbed straight into Suhyun’s chest. He couldn’t meet Juyeon’s eyes.
Ah. So not everyone’s okay with it.
“Alright~ Since we’re all here, shall we start practicing?”
The small talk lasted only a moment. The members playing instruments moved to stand in front of their respective amps and began setting up. After tuning and adjusting volumes, Seoeun checked that everyone was ready and gave Kang a signal.
“Let’s run through just the first verse first!”
Click. Click. Click. Click.
The rhythm Kang created with his sticks was exactly the same as the metronome Suhyun had left running all night. Because of the nerves, cold sweat trickled down his forehead. But what overcame the tension was, as always, the overwhelming amount of practice. Suhyun’s hands began moving mechanically, just as they had all day.
Looking for the stars
Desiring shiny moonlight.
Once the backing track settled in, what completed it was Juyeon’s voice. It had a different color from the original, but there was a solid strength to it that wasn’t drowned out by the instruments. Her English pronunciation was surprisingly good too, so even while playing, Suhyun found himself startled a few times and stealing glances at her as she sang.
Jaaaaang—
Finally, the chorus ended and the buzzing feedback from the amps died down. A rather heavy silence fell over the room.
What’s going on? Am I about to get scolded?
“…It’s not great?”
The first words came from Hana.
“First of all, Kang. You’re rushing too much. Why can’t you keep the beat steady?”
“And Seoeun, if you notice Kang speeding up, you should try to pull him back. Why are you speeding up with him?”
With her legs crossed, Hana began pointing out the members’ shortcomings in a rather aggressive tone.
“And Lee Suhyun.”
The person called last was naturally the one who felt the most nervous.
“Why did you lie to me?”
…Lie?
“I didn’t lie about anything?”
“You told me you’d never practiced strumming before! Yesterday!”
Hana was furious that she had sacrificed her precious free day because of Suhyun’s deception.