Seniors Fear Their Juniors
The senior is scared of the junior. Assuming the vocalist was exempt from consideration, the one who had shown the most polished performance was Suhyun. And from Hana's perspective, that fact was bound to be utterly astonishing. Suhyun's backing felt even more solid in contrast to the other sessions, which she wasn't happy with. It was absolutely not the playing of someone who had learned it for the first time yesterday. It carried an air of ease, as if something like this was as simple as chewing gum no matter when he did it.
Hana shot up from her chair, guitar still strapped across her body, and marched right up to him. "Tell it to me straight! Why did you pretend you didn't know?"
"No... I swear... it really was my first time. I, uh... practiced all night yesterday..."
His posture was shrunken like a criminal's, but his eyes were pleading innocence. Could Suhyun's words really be true? Even after seeing it with her own eyes, Hana found his achievement hard to believe.
"Hey. Hana~ It's not like he did badly. He did well, so why are you nitpicking so much~"
Seoeun, seated in the back, tried to calm her with a lighthearted tone.
"That's right! Yoon Hana! And you complained that I was too fast, but you just followed my pace anyway!"
Kang's fact-dropping from behind drew an annoyed twitch mark above Hana's head.
"Then when the drums speed up, should I just play relaxed on the beat by myself?"
"It's only natural for every song to get more exciting when it speeds up!"
Kang proudly pushed the point without even denying that it had sped up. Suhyun was inwardly impressed that a person could be so shameless even after making a mistake.
"Shut up! Since it always speeds up on stage anyway, shouldn't we at least match the original tempo now?"
"Singing at double speed in karaoke is fun too!"
"No! Is the stage a karaoke room?!"
Juyeon simply watched the two of them bickering as if she were used to it.
In the end, it was the leader Seoeun who stepped in to mediate. "Alright~ Then let's have Kang play a little slower, and we'll run through it one more time, okay?"
The more he watched, the more Suhyun felt that Seoeun was a massive pillar of support for this group. Without her, what on earth would have become of Spirit's 23rd generation? It felt like nothing would get done in this space if she weren't here right now.
At Seoeun's instruction, Kang gave the signal with his sticks once more, and the members began playing along with the drum beat. Even though he'd talked such a big game, it must have weighed on him, because Kang tried his best to keep the tempo close to the original.
"It's better than before." Hana nodded as if it wasn't bad.
"But before we hit the chorus, it feels like we need to match that part between me, unnie, and Lee Suhyun, right?"
"Ah. That part was pretty tricky. We'll just need to spend some time tightening it up."
The practice ran for about an hour, and by Suhyun's mental count they had run the ensemble roughly ten times. Still, it felt far less awkward than the very first attempt. Suhyun, who had started out terrified and focused solely on not making mistakes, gradually adapted. The sounds of the other instruments began to come through more clearly.
"Whew! Should we call it here for today?" Seoeun checked her wristwatch and brought the long string of repetitions to a close.
Doo-doo-doo, doo-doo-doo, boom-tat! It wasn't a song meant for ensemble practice, but Kang threw down a fill that sounded like it belonged under rolling end credits.
"Ah! Time to destroy my lower body!" He sprang up from his chair as if he were about to bolt.
"Kang. We still have things to discuss~ Just a moment~"
"I'm gonna lose muscle mass. Make it quick! What is it?"
Kang, in such a hurry that he stopped dead at the door, spun his whole body around on the spot.
"Since Suhyun's here now too, we said we'd set a schedule for looking after the first-years. That's what I wanted to talk about today." Seoeun pulled out her phone and opened the calendar app on the screen.
"Kids should be raised tough, after all."
"Are you calling Jaejun hyung?"
The name Jaejun acted like a rein on a wild horse, successfully taming the rampaging Kang. But there was someone even more flustered than him...
"...We're looking after the first-years?"
An earthquake erupted in Suhyun's eyes as he was putting his guitar away. Being a teacher was not something just anyone could do. The ability to accurately judge right from wrong was essential, and explaining it in a way the other person could accept without getting hurt required an extremely delicate technique.
To Suhyun, who couldn't even properly ask a restaurant to change a wrong order, it felt like way too much.
"There aren't many of them with ensemble experience, so we seniors are going over to help them out."
Hana, sitting beside him, answered calmly as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, but Suhyun was one step away from fainting.
'That senior can only play one song?'
'The transfer student looks like he was just roughly picked because they had no one else?'
'What the. He's no different from us except for being a year older.'
If things continued this way, he would be the number one culprit in destroying the dignity of the seniors. Suhyun, who had already rehearsed the freshmen whispering behind his back inside his head, drew the sword of resolve.
"I'm not going, for the sake of our generation!"
Yes. This was his noble sacrifice to protect his image as a senior.
"Where do you think you're slacking off to! Lee Suhyun!"
Hana jumped straight into punishment mode the moment he finished speaking.
"Hey. We're all busy too, you know? We're making time to go."
"Right. Lee Suhyun. Are you planning to be remembered as a beta male senior?"
Kang looked down at him with a pathetic expression. Suhyun shuddered at the sensation of the brand "lower" being carved into his forehead.
The lifeline he had grabbed in this wild club called Spirit, where he desperately needed something to rely on, was...
"...Juyeon, are you going too?"
Juyeon, the vocalist who seemed to have a timid side not unlike his own. Suhyun had believed she would understand how he felt.
"If... if I go with Seoeun unnie, I don't have to say a single word, so..."
Wow. She was planning to go without saying anything at all.
"Seoeun noona. Then maybe I could go with you too."
"No~ And anyway, this isn't fixed. It changes every week depending on each person's schedule."
He was shot down the moment he spoke up, but Suhyun still wanted to go with Seoeun if possible.
"Let's see~ The first-years practice on Tuesdays at five and Thursdays at six, right? Who's free tomorrow! By the way, Juyeon and I can't make it, so we're planning to go next Tuesday."
"I'm free." Hana, hands on her hips, turned her head toward Suhyun.
"Lee Suhyun. Do you have class tomorrow?"
"...No."
"Then you're coming with me too. Kang?"
"I have workout."
"Okay. Then it's you too."
The men were being bound one after another by Hana. Seoeun neatly organized the calendar according to her summary.
"Perfect! Then for this week and next week we'll go with this. Who wants to get food!"
It was seven in the evening. Right around the time everyone would be starving.
"I have an assignment, so I'll just head out. Unnie."
"Hana has an assignment, Kang is rushing off to workout. Suhyun?"
"I'll eat with you..."
Out of everyone, Seoeun was the one he felt most comfortable with.
"Then everyone disperse! I'll talk in the group chat about what we're doing Friday~"
Monday ensemble. Tuesday private lesson with Hana. Wednesday ensemble. Thursday visit to the juniors. Friday mysterious social gathering. It was only the first week since joining, yet at some point Suhyun's daily life had become completely filled with Spirit.
"Ooh! Nice weather, isn't it?"
Seoeun, stepping out of the student welfare center, stretched luxuriously with a pleased expression.
"What should we eat?" Seoeun asked the two people following her after turning around, but she quickly realized her mistake. Right. Today was not a day for asking that question.
"Tteokbokki. Cheese rice. Udon. Pick one of the three."
These people required thorough screening.
"...I'm fine with anything." Juyeon, who was trying to avoid even making that choice.
Seoeun looked at Suhyun with eyes that said he was her only hope.
"Let's eat tteokbokki...?" Honestly it didn't matter to him, but unable to overcome the pressure, Suhyun reluctantly made a choice.
"Good! Then let's go to Wababak Tteokbokki by the back gate!"
Suhyun, who almost never used the back gate, was hearing the name for the first time. The three of them climbed the slightly uphill path and exited through the back gate. Wababak Tteokbokki was tucked away in a rather secluded corner.
"Oh my! Seoeun, is that you?"
"Hello! Auntie!"
Seoeun exchanged warm greetings.
"Who are these people next to you? Did you get a new boyfriend already?"
"Aww~ No way! This is the new guitarist who just joined our generation."
"Oh dear~ He really needs to cut that hair~"
Hearing the exact same thing his mother said during holidays, Suhyun gave an awkward smile.
Having realized there was no point asking these two, Seoeun went ahead and ordered a bunch of recommended menu items herself. The instant tteokbokki sizzled as it cooked on the iron plate. Saliva began pooling in Suhyun's mouth.
"This place is seriously the best. You know the fried rice is mandatory, right?"
Juyeon must have been hungry too; she gripped her fork tightly and stared hard at the tray.
"Oh. Right, Suhyun."
"Yeah?"
"Did I invite you to the integrated first- and second-year chat room?"
"No?" Suhyun hadn't even known such a thing existed.
"Ah. Wait, I should have done it. I'll invite you now~ Just a second~"
Seoeun set the ladle down, finished the invitation on her phone, and Suhyun's phone immediately began to vibrate.
Wondering what it was, he unlocked the screen and felt his breath catch in his throat.
"Ah."
Suhyun had instinctively pressed the leave button.