The Story Only I Don't Know
With Hana's pick, the first song Spirit's 23rd generation decided to perform was Standing Luxury. Standing Luxury was by no means a famous track. In terms of mainstream appeal, it sat at the very bottom of the barrel. If they ever performed it, the odds were high that not a single person in the audience would recognize the song. But on the flip side, it was also a track brimming with personal taste. A song where the session players truly shone. It wasn't written merely to showcase the vocalist's singing, but to give the instruments themselves room to breathe and shine. It wasn't too easy, nor was the difficulty so absurd that ordinary college students couldn't handle it. It sat at just the right level for passionate amateurs to tackle. Still, it was polished enough that even first-time listeners would find themselves thinking it sounded cool.
The members had liked Standing Luxury enough to adopt it, which was great, but it left Hana with a brand-new problem. One the other session players could never possibly understand. Namely...
"...Should I give the solo to Lee Suhyun?"
After checking the live stage footage once more, Hana rested her chin on her palm. The solo looked more tempting and impressive the longer she watched. It seemed like the kind of part where you could pull off a flashy performance on stage, and copying it would definitely improve your skills. She wanted it, but giving it to Suhyun felt too much like a one-sided announcement...
If you want to do it, then of course you should do it...!
Knowing his personality, he would obviously say something like that. If she asked for the solo for the entire semester, he would probably hand it over without complaint. It would be easier if he had a bit of greed and they could argue and negotiate, but his overly generous nature was the very thing causing her trouble.
Her worries didn't end there. Hana's gaze drifted to the corner of her bookshelf, where a Galaxy of Guardians DVD sat tucked away.
"Ah. I promised to show him that too..."
Why did everything have to be so complicated? The funny part was that it wasn't because he had done anything wrong or failed at something. If it were that kind of issue, she could just get annoyed or angry and be done with it, but this...
Even as she fidgeted with her ears in frustration, no clean solution presented itself. She couldn't exactly say she'd show it to him and then pretend the whole thing never happened. The memory of Suhyun's bright, smiling face when he had cheerfully agreed to make time for it flashed through her mind, and she swept her hair back.
"I should just head to school."
She was under the illusion that talking things over once she got there would somehow sort everything out.
It wasn't as if only one youth had a lot on their mind. But Suhyun's worries pointed in a completely different direction from Hana's. The problem was the endless stream of messages pouring in.
After running around like a slave for his teammates, Suhyun had completely shattered the ceiling of the Spirit game group's affection meter. His character moved obediently whenever they called, and with his exceptional mechanics, he pulled off kills the others thought were impossible. Naturally, in-game, higher tier meant higher status. Overnight, Suhyun had become a king who was also a slave, and he stared at his phone screen with a miserable expression.
"Agh... I really shouldn't have done this..."
Getting closer was nice, but Suhyun hadn't joined the band to play games. He had joined because he wanted to play guitar, not because he wanted to jungle. Besides, it wasn't even fun. Especially Sohye's support skill shots—they were pure terror. Witnessing actual Iron-tier play for the first time (not even Bronze), Suhyun could only sink into a pit of shock. Her skill level was worse than the AI in the tutorial, so he eventually gave up trying to understand and simply played as if she didn't exist.
Monday was regular practice day. With his guitar slung over his back, Suhyun left the house with his headset in tow as usual. The song playing in his ears was, of course, Standing Luxury. He really wanted to wrap up this song beautifully. Convinced that everyone would be noticeably better than last week, he opened the practice room door only to be met with...
"Juyeon-ah."
"Ha... stop it..."
"Come on, just try it~ Quickly~"
"Unni, why are you doing this... seriously..."
"Why? Because our Juyeon is..."
Suhyun, who had been about to greet them cheerfully, quietly closed the door upon witnessing the rather embarrassing scene. Juyeon was sitting on Seoeun's lap, and Seoeun was holding the microphone right up to Juyeon's mouth like a mother coaxing a child.
"Just give up and sing~ Park Juyeon~"
"Aah... stop it..."
It seemed like Seoeun was trying to force her to sing, but Juyeon clearly had no desire to. When Juyeon kept refusing, Seoeun, apparently wanting to tease her more, went straight for her chest.
"Unniii!"
Juyeon shot up from her lap in shock, her cheeks flushed bright red. Having witnessed the entire mortifying scene live, Suhyun seriously considered making a run for it. Only after standing up did Juyeon notice Suhyun had entered. Her deep brown eyes widened dramatically.
"Uh... ah... u... a..."
Juyeon made incomprehensible sounds, having lost the ability to form words. Suhyun wasn't faring much better.
"Ah. Hey."
"Oh? Suhyun's here~"
Seoeun, the one who had started the teasing, simply beamed at him as if nothing had happened.
"Ah. Yeah."
Juyeon's hands crossed over her chest, covering herself. Strangely, it was Suhyun—the one who had arrived late—who felt guilty about her gesture. Lost for words, he sat down on a chair in an extremely proper posture. Ah. I want to go home. Why do these trials always find me?
Just then, the door opened again with a click, and the last member, Hana, walked in.
"What's going on? What day is it today? I'm last?"
She had been hoping to talk to Suhyun if he had arrived early, but that chance was gone. Noticing his statue-like state, she tapped his shoulder.
"Hey, Lee Suhyun."
"Hey."
His reply was completely devoid of life. Realizing something was off, Hana turned to Seoeun.
"He saw me touching Juyeon's chest and ended up like this."
"Ugh. Unni, you really need to stop doing that."
Hana, who had been on the receiving end of Seoeun's antics several times herself, narrowed her eyes. It was one thing when it was just the girls, but with guys around...
"But Juyeon won't sing for us."
Juyeon, small in stature, had crawled into the corner and was now squatting between the drums, hiding. Hana pulled her out like she was lifting a stuffed toy. Juyeon buried herself in Hana's arms. Choi Kang, uninterested in whatever they were doing, had his wireless earbuds in, but once his video finished, he looked around.
"Oh! If it isn't our jungler!"
Only after his heavy hand landed on Suhyun's shoulder did Suhyun return to reality.
"Gah!"
It felt like when his grandfather used to grab his hand too tightly for a handshake as a kid. Suhyun looked up at the owner of the voice.
"Ranked games today too, right?"
For a split second, Suhyun wondered if Choi Kang was actually a demon that had crawled up from hell.
"...I guess so."
"Alright~ Everyone~ Let's get started~ The sooner we finish, the better!"
At Seoeun's signal, everyone began pulling out their instruments and moving to their positions. While warming up their hands and turning on amps, Suhyun played a short snippet of his signature song. They had practiced Standing Luxury a lot, but it still didn't give him the same sense of security. It felt like returning to his emotional hometown. Meanwhile, watching Suhyun warm up only made Hana's heart sink further. Was it really okay for her to play the solo when there was someone whose fingers moved that well? She had no confidence in keeping up with him when it came to speed picking, even if she didn't know about other techniques.
"Everyone ready?"
At Seoeun's signal, the ensemble began. Today's goal was to get through the second verse. Most songs, once the first verse reached a decent level of completion, moved into the second verse fairly quickly. Standing Luxury was no exception. Once the first verse was roughly sorted, pushing into the second didn't seem too difficult. The ensemble was definitely better than last week. Even Hana, the rehearsal leader, thought today's practice wasn't bad at all. After running through the same song for a full hour, Seoeun made an announcement about this week's big event before wrapping up.
"Guys~ You know there's the combined MT for first and second years this weekend, right?"
A question mark appeared above Suhyun's head. He had heard there was an MT, but he hadn't known it was this weekend.
"Don't be too strict when you're watching the juniors practice. Got it? Let's just keep things light and focus on getting closer!"
Everyone nodded and started packing up, but Suhyun just blinked blankly at Seoeun like an idiot. Only then did Seoeun notice him. After a quick mental check, she asked, just in case.
"Did I maybe forget to tell Suhyun?"
The members had all forgotten that the MT schedule had been announced before Suhyun had even joined the club.