Chairman Material
A little later that night, Hana read Seoeun’s message and tapped her index finger against her knee.
It wasn’t that she felt guilty because her senior had left first. If anything, it was the opposite.
There was no reason to hide it. Besides, it was the kind of thing that would get found out immediately anyway.
The reply carried all sorts of layered meaning.
The words practically had voice support attached. Hana’s brows furrowed sharply at Seoeun’s texts.
There hadn’t. Hana wasn’t the type to approach guys first. She had no reason to. There were more than enough men who got dazzled by her looks and tried to make a move without any real reason. If she wanted to watch a movie, she could just go alone or with her female friends. That had always been her policy.
Especially after joining Spirit, she usually satisfied her theater cravings during club gatherings. Watching a movie alone with a guy? And at her own house, no less. If the boys she’d coldly rejected heard about it, they might foam at the mouth and pass out.
Feeling oddly embarrassed, Hana tossed her phone onto the bed. She stared blankly at the chair where Suhyun had been sitting just a little while ago. The words he’d said right before leaving replayed in her head.
She pictured Suhyun’s shy, hesitant face as he stumbled over the words. What he’d said probably wasn’t a lie. And the fact that he liked this room really was quite unusual.
Every girl who had ever come over had been amazed, asking how she could live surrounded by so much random junk. The room was filled with traces of long-haired, bearded rock stars from a century ago—now old men. It had a completely different vibe from the rooms of girls her age. Yet he had called it his ideal room.
It was something she could be genuinely happy about, even a little overwhelmed by… but—
With a loud fwump, Hana’s blanket flew up and settled back down.
“You’ve lost it, Yoon Hana.”
Her slender fingers swept down her face from top to bottom. No matter that the other person was Lee Suhyun, how could she say something like that? Bringing him here had been a special case. If that idiot hadn’t said he hadn’t seen the previous movie, he wouldn’t have set foot in this house this year. No—maybe never in his entire life. If she’d at least had a desktop that could only play DVDs, she wouldn’t have let him in…
Even though there was no one to listen, she grumbled to herself before pulling the blanket up to her chin again.
“…Ugh, I have to bring the effects pedals next week. So annoying.”
Even as she said it, Hana was already trying to remember where she’d put the pedalboard bag.
Thursday. The day they watched the freshmen’s band practice. Today’s supervisors were Seoeun and Suhyun. The assignment had come from drawing lots, and Suhyun felt a deep sense of relief inside. After what had happened last week with Hana and Kang, he’d felt like nothing more than a scarecrow standing there uselessly.
“Suhyun-ah!”
When he opened the club room door, Seoeun came running toward him from far away, clutching a box.
“Hey.”
“Hiii~”
She really was a high-energy person. As always, Seoeun greeted him with a bright, beaming smile and entered the club room with him.
“Hello!”
“Hello.”
“Whoa! It’s the Diamond Jungler!”
The nickname was a little uncomfortable, but Suhyun forced a smile and accepted the freshmen’s greetings.
“Everyone! Our chairman-nim brought donuts!”
Seoeun stood with both hands on her hips, chest thrust forward in a pose that practically demanded praise. She really did have the natural talent of a born leader.
“Unnie, I love you!”
“Whoa! Noona!”
The freshmen swarmed forward like baby chicks fighting to eat first. After the girls chattered and picked their favorites, the boys took whatever was left.
“Suhyun-ah! You eat some too!”
Seoeun held out the box with only a few donuts remaining. Suhyun took one.
“Ah. Thanks.”
The remaining donuts were the kind that would inevitably leave white powder all over your hands. He held one with his left hand and used his right to keep the sugar from falling. It really was convenient when you didn’t have to worry about touching an instrument.
“Have you all picked your songs?”
Seoeun asked the freshmen, mumbling around the donut in her mouth.
“We’ve decided on the song we’re doing now and the next one.”
“What are they?”
“We’re going to do one of the Muse songs we mentioned before.”
“Oh! Muse is good! It’s not that hard either.”
Spirit, with its twenty-four-year history, prepared four songs by the freshmen and eight by the sophomores for the festival. Since some were just starting their instruments and the ensemble wasn’t tight yet, the freshmen got relatively relaxed assignments. The real pressure fell on the sophomores—the so-called main generation who had to carry the weight.
If the freshmen’s performance was like a cute newbies’ talent show, the sophomores had to prove themselves with raw skill. No matter how warm and friendly the atmosphere seemed, Spirit was still a central club. It was a den of students who played with a certain pride.
Suhyun had joined late, so normally they should have already started on at least their third song to stay on schedule. He suspected they’d be paying for that right after midterms. Seoeun had already mentally prepared for up to four practices a week if necessary.
“Alright, once you’re done eating, shall we listen? You didn’t forget what I said on Tuesday, right?”
Seoeun licked the remaining sugar off her fingers and flashed a bright smile. The warm, cheerful mood cooled just a little. Whether it was suppressing the wild Choi Kang or this, Seoeun definitely had the charisma to control people.
“Shall we begin?”
The 24th generation’s vocalist, Gunwoo, grabbed the mic and nodded at drummer Sohye as a signal.
Clack clack clack clack.
Two sticks crossed, giving the rhythm. The practice began. But even though Seoeun had told the kids to practice, she spent the whole time glued to her phone. Suhyun quietly moved closer, thinking she should at least focus if she was going to give feedback, and nearly had a heart attack.
On the screen was a notes app.
[Gunwoo]
[Taeho]
[Hyejeong]
[Jiho]
[Sohye]
The names of everyone currently practicing were neatly lined up. Seoeun’s busy fingers were rapidly typing feedback for each of them.
Taeho — Arpeggio insufficient, needs extra practice on verse 1
Hyejeong — Slight noise during chord changes / pass to Hana
Jiho — Still passable. Difficulty too low to evaluate properly
Sohye — Fills are a total mess;; / Looks like Kang needs to be firm with her.
By the time the practice was nearing its end, Seoeun was even giving star ratings by session. Watching her, Suhyun felt goosebumps rise all over his body. Was he really okay in her eyes…? Instead of watching the freshmen, he felt like he should go home right now and practice guitar.
Thump-thump-thud.
The freshmen’s first practice session ended like that. Suhyun swallowed hard, bracing himself for a brutal roast session, and placed his hand on the desk.
“Everyone.”
Seoeun, who had been looking down, lifted her head. Was it coming? Was today going to be a big one? But contrary to Suhyun’s tense expectations, Seoeun started clapping.
Clap clap clap clap.
“You did well~ It’s way better than Tuesday!”
Even though none of them had scored above four stars in her private evaluation, Seoeun smiled brightly and praised them.
“Really? Haa… thank goodness…”
“See~ I told you we weren’t bad!”
“Ah. All that practice paid off!”
The freshmen chattered noisily among themselves. Seoeun gave them very brief feedback and encouraged them to keep practicing. She asked Suhyun if he had any feedback, but he declined, thinking he wasn’t in any position to teach others yet. He simply listened to the freshmen’s somewhat clumsy performance.
“Thank you for your hard work!”
“Hey! Who’s going to the PC bang?”
“I have a part-time job today, so I probably can’t. Too bad.”
One by one, the freshmen left the club room. Seoeun, who stayed until the very end, gave a slightly longer feedback session only to the fellow bassist Jiho before stretching with a big yawn.
“Jiho, get home safe~ Aaaah~ You worked hard~ Suhyun-ah!”
“No way. You did way more, noona.”
He hadn’t really done anything, so what was there to thank him for?
“You’re just heading straight home, right?”
“Ah. Yeah.”
“Okay! Then I guess I’ll see you at the club gathering tomorrow… Hmm…”
Seoeun looked like she was thinking about something. After confirming Jiho had left, Suhyun cautiously brought up what he’d seen in her notes.
“Noona, what did you really think of the freshmen’s practice today?”
“Huh? Well…”
The gap between her bright expression and her actual words was deeper than he expected. For a moment, Suhyun was at a loss for words.
“Wasn’t it garbage?”
Suhyun was starting to find Seoeun a little scary.