Are You the New Guitar?
The poster was written in a charming, rounded handwriting. Below the text sat doodles of various instruments, as if sketched with markers. They weren't completely careless, but they were definitely closer to scribbles than proper drawings. Still, Suhyun stood frozen in front of the door, unable to tear his eyes away from the poster as he stared at the notice.
Should I go in? Or not?
It was an incredibly difficult decision. After all, Suhyun was the very definition of a loner. That was why he hadn't applied to any central clubs in the first place. Central clubs were where the most outgoing students from all across the country gathered—the elite social butterflies. For a band that performed on stage, you were expected to possess outstanding skill on top of that, or so he believed. He didn't know what it was actually like since he'd never stepped inside, but in his mind, central clubs loomed like terrifying dens of those social gods.
He had stormed out of his old group, loudly declaring that he was done with those pathetic girls and was going to find a real band, but...
“Sigh...”
His hand, which had risen all the way to the doorknob, dropped back down along with his self-confidence. It felt like too much after all. He had no idea what lay beyond the door blocking his path, but this seemed far too impulsive. He only knew one song he could play properly. What kind of audacity did he have to think he could actually participate here? If he went in there'd probably be some welcome party full of drinking, and if a bunch of strict seniors showed up and demanded he play a song, then he would...
“Excuse me.”
Just as his spiraling thoughts threatened to make his head spin, a lovely voice that could have come from a midday radio drifted from behind him.
“Are you here for the guitar... interview?”
Long black hair that fell all the way to her waist. Her gently narrowed eyes formed perfect crescent moons. He instinctively knew. Something this radiant would never suit someone like him...
“Ah... No. I was just... the drawing looked pretty, so...”
“Oh! Really? I drew that myself!”
“Ah. Yes. Thank you.”
Even though the words had come from his own mouth, Suhyun felt his ears burning. What on earth was he thanking her for?
“I asked because you’ve been standing here holding your guitar for quite a while.”
Which meant she had been watching him for some time. Suhyun wasn’t quick enough with words to come up with a smooth excuse on the spot. Since the conversation had already started, should he just go inside? Or would it be better to pretend he had no business here and escape?
Whether she sensed his hesitation or not, she smoothly stepped aside.
“Just a moment.”
The beeping of a passcode followed, and the firmly shut door to the club room swung wide open.
“Whoa...”
A genuine gasp slipped from Suhyun’s lips. In that brief glimpse through the doorway, the equipment he saw was on an entirely different level from anything used by the small group he’d been in. He hadn’t performed properly even a few times there, but the amps visible inside now... The gleaming gold finish made him swallow hard.
“If you’re not busy, how about we talk for a bit before you go?”
He was certain he had told her he wasn’t there for the guitar interview. Yet the girl holding the door open and gesturing for him to enter wore a bright smile that instantly put people at ease.
“But... I... um... I don’t actually play guitar that well...”
“Aww~ That’s totally fine~ We’re really desperate for people right now.”
Before he knew it, Suhyun had stepped inside the club room. Only after the door clicked shut did he feel like he had been completely charmed by a fox.
“So... you are a second-year, right?”
“Ah. Yes, I am.”
“Ah! What a relief! I was worried I might have dragged in a freshman by mistake.”
Suhyun slowly took in the interior of the room. Guitars and basses neatly displayed on stands. Piles of sheet music stacked on chairs. One wall was covered with so many posters from past performances that he didn’t have enough fingers to count them all. In the middle of them hung a large skull with its mouth wide open. When his eyes met its gaze, a shiver ran down his spine, followed by an electric thrill. It was exactly the kind of scene he had always imagined for a band club.
“Oh, I’m late with introductions. I’m Lee Seoeun, second-year Korean Education major! I’m twenty-two~ I’m the president of the band club Spirit!”
Seeing her bright, cheerful smile, Suhyun felt some of his tension ease. She doesn’t seem scary at least... It was a relief that the atmosphere wasn’t like some strict audition hall.
“Your name was...”
“Ah. I’m Lee Suhyun.”
“Suhyun! What’s your major?”
“I’m in... Economics.”
“Oh! We have someone from Economics in our year too! Do you know Juyeon? Park Juyeon?”
Suhyun tilted his head at the unfamiliar name. It wasn’t surprising, though. The department had a huge number of students, and Suhyun himself had never been particularly active in campus life.
“Ahaha... I don’t think I know her...?”
“Ah~ I see~ Yeah, Juyeon probably doesn’t know you either!”
What did she mean by that? Was she saying he looked like a loner too? It felt like a dagger in the chest, but Suhyun tried his best not to let it show.
“So... I came in because you were looking for a guitarist, but...”
“Yes! Exactly! How long have you been playing, Suhyun?”
“I’ve been playing for... about two years...”
“Oh. Then you must be pretty decent?”
“Well, the thing is...”
Two years was by no means a short time. Yet Suhyun still hadn’t managed to master even that single song. To be precise, he still couldn’t play the final five-second highlight no matter how hard he tried.
“Actually, I did prepare one song...?”
“Ooh~ Can we hear it right now?”
She turned the amp on before I even answered!
With a click, the red power light came on. Suhyun’s eyebrows twitched.
“You’ll be using your own guitar, right?”
“Ah. Yes. I’ll use mine.”
Fumbling with the zipper, Suhyun pulled his one and only treasure out of the bag.
“Wow. That Tele has such a pretty color!”
“Th-thank you.”
She even recognized it was a Telecaster...! Suhyun could barely contain the surge of joy from praise he had never once received before. In his old group, no one had reacted even when he took it out multiple times. They had even told him to turn the amp off because it was too loud during practice.
“What song did you prepare?”
“It’s... an instrumental, so you might not know it...”
Her previously sleepy eyes widened into perfect circles.
“Ooh~ An instrumental piece?”
“Yes. It’s from my favorite guitarist.”
“I see. Great! Any genre is welcome! Should I turn on the drive?”
“Yes. Max out the gain, and set the mids to about nine o’clock...”
She crouched in front of the amp, fiddling with the knobs, then suddenly whipped her head around.
“Gain all the way up... mids at nine... and the rest?”
“Just leave everything else in the middle and it should be fine.”
It was such an ordinary exchange, yet Suhyun could feel his heart hammering. The fact that she knew exactly how to adjust all these sound settings proved she was a true veteran...!
After plugging in the cable and slowly raising the volume, a sharp, cutting tone typical of hard rock slammed into his eardrums inside the room.
—Ziiiiiiing
“Is this level okay?”
“...It’s perfect.”
That’s right. Even if he failed, he would at least show what he could do before failing. His right hand tightened around the pick.
—Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.
The metronome he had heard until he was sick of it echoed inside his head. Suhyun’s long bangs fell forward, covering his eyes, and within that small personal world of his, he began to play.
His fingers flew across the fretboard like they were gliding on oil. Seoeun couldn’t help but doubt her own eyes. First of all, the song’s speed was absurdly fast. A relentless barrage of triplets followed, but what shocked her even more was how impossibly precise and perfect the rhythm remained. This was on a completely different level from hobbyists who only chased superficial flash. There was no way this was achievable after only two years. If she asked Hana—the guitarist from their own year—to play it, she would definitely say it was impossible.
The tempo kept climbing without limit. Suhyun soon sensed the fateful moment of the insurmountable wall approaching. No matter how much he had practiced, he had never been able to conquer the final five seconds. Swallowing his tears, he decided to simply flail through it however his fingers landed.
Yeah... what can’t be helped, can’t be helped...
A few notes got clipped, producing slightly unpleasant sounds as the performance came to an end.
—Ziiiiiiing
Only after catching his breath did Suhyun raise his head and sweep back the bangs that had been hiding his face like a curtain. The released tension made the pick slip from his fingers and clatter to the floor.
“W-was... that all right?”
Instead of answering, Seoeun slowly walked up to him. She bent down, picked up the pick, and softly spoke his name.
“Suhyun.”
“Yes...?”
“Practice is every Monday and Wednesday from six p.m. for one hour.”
Passed...? Did that mean he had passed...?
“And every Friday, you absolutely must join our social gathering.”
So-cial... gathering...? Suhyun blinked with a blank face at three syllables that seemed completely unrelated to music.
“Social gathering? What do you do there?”
“We drink together, go out and have fun, do all sorts of things to build friendship! There’s no need to feel burdened!”
As expected from a central club. How nice it would have been if they simply gathered to play music. The issue of “building friendships” that had been one of his biggest sources of hesitation before coming was now firmly grabbing his ankle. And it was mandatory! That part felt far more burdensome to Suhyun than practice or ensemble sessions combined.
“Um... I’m sorry, but... maybe...”
—Click
Just as he tried to ask more and potentially express his refusal, both Suhyun and Seoeun turned their heads toward the door at the same time.
“Huh? Is that Kang?”
It was an odd title—whether a nickname or real name, he couldn’t tell. But one thing was certain: the name suited him perfectly.
“What?”
A height that clearly exceeded 185 centimeters. Pectoral muscles so powerfully developed they strained against his t-shirt. That alone would have been plenty distinctive, but Choi Kang had an even more striking feature...
No... no hair!
“Introduce yourself~ This is Suhyun, who’ll be our new guitarist starting today~”
Suhyun’s gaze was captured by the man’s gleaming, perfectly bald head.
“Are you the new guitar?”
As those fierce eyes flashed, the words that had risen in Suhyun’s throat sank right back down.