A Slight Thrill from the Guitar
Lee Suhyun was a soft-hearted person. He wasn't the type to insist that something had to be done a certain way no matter what. Nor was he someone who refused to back down even when the odds were stacked against him. He didn't know exactly how others saw him, but he wasn't particularly fond of that side of himself. Still, there had to be at least one thing. At least one thing he couldn't bring himself to give up on.
The thing he had decided not to compromise on was the guitar. Since playing was something he did alone, there was no room for others to interfere, so he figured it was a goal he could realistically pursue. No one would try to butt in with unsolicited advice or evaluations. There was no need to rush and force a deadline just to finish something quickly.
So on the day he first resolved to play the guitar, he watched a video of his favorite guitarist, Nick Brandon, and made a vow. He would not even look at any other song until the day he mastered this ultimate track. He believed that a challenge was only worthwhile if the goal was high enough, and he was certain that once he could play this song, other difficult pieces would come easily to him as well.
The result was, surprisingly...
"An F... chord, right...?" Suhyun's lost fingers wandered across the fretboard.
"Yeah. Want to try playing an F chord?"
When Hana's eyes fixed steadily on him, Suhyun felt his mouth go dry. What should he do...? He didn't know it... Admitting he didn't know was easy, but the thought of Hana looking disappointed from the very start was terrifying.
"Is it because you don't know?"
Still, he couldn't pretend to know something he didn't. Suhyun gave a small nod. Hana scratched her head, then quickly offered an alternative to hide her own awkwardness.
"Uh... Then, could you just show me a bit of strumming? In a band, you end up doing backing way more than solos anyway."
It wasn't common for a guitar to play a melody line on its own in a band. In most cases, the overwhelming majority of playing was backing—providing accompaniment through chords. Since it was also a fundamental skill required for band activities, Hana, who had asked for a demonstration, was starting to get a headache.
—Takata-takata-tak, tak, ka, ta... ka...?
An irregular rhythm. Noise that was closer to static than music. It was hard to believe this sloppy right-hand movement came from the same person who had been playing so brilliantly just moments ago. Suhyun, who knew he had messed up and was glancing around nervously, and Hana, whose expression management had completely failed as she failed to hide her bewilderment. The silence between them was broken by the sound of the door swinging open.
—Creaaak
Seoeun and Kang stepped inside. Spotting the two of them facing each other, Seoeun greeted them cheerfully.
"Hey! Our guitarists! You guys already introduced yourselves?"
"Oh. Yeah. Lee Suhyun was already here, so we watched him play a bit and said hi."
Kang paid no attention to the two of them whatsoever. He tossed his bag onto the sofa and walked straight to the back, grabbing his drumsticks.
"Hoo... Here I go!!!"
Even though the weather was still too chilly to call it summer, he was wearing a sleeveless shirt. Without any warning, he launched into a flashy drum solo to warm up his hands.
—Thudududu dudududung tadadadadadak
It was truly dazzling technique. The resonance was enough to make even the onlookers' hearts tremble. Since it was the first time Suhyun had seen a drummer play this up close, he watched in a daze. But Kang's drumming was nothing new to Hana, and she had more pressing matters to worry about right now.
"Um... Unnie. Can I talk to you alone for a second?"
This was urgent. Even when she had brought in a new member without the guitarist's approval, Seoeun had been a bit cold... but to think she would bring someone who didn't know any chords and couldn't even strum properly!
"Huh? Why?"
Hana dragged Seoeun, who was still smiling cluelessly, out to the stairwell and got straight to the point.
"Unnie. It's about Lee Suhyun."
"Yeah."
"You know he can't do backing?"
"Huh? He can't do backing?"
At Seoeun's question, Hana smacked her own forehead.
"Haah... That's why I said we should look at him together and decide..."
It wasn't even bass—they were recruiting a guitarist, so how did it make sense that the guitarist's opinion had zero weight?
"But you saw him play that song too, didn't you?"
"You mean the performance piece?"
"Yeah! That was seriously insane, right?"
That much was true. Suhyun's machine-like playing had shown techniques that were practically acrobatic.
"It was, but..."
"The moment I saw that, I thought, 'This guy's in!' You know?"
Not all running was the same. Just as there were marathon runners and sprinters, every genre of guitar demanded different specs.
"...That's one thing, but at this rate, he might not be able to handle our rehearsals right away."
"Eek. Really?"
"Yeah. He won't be able to join right off the bat."
"Then what do we do?"
Seoeun's somewhat blank face as she looked at her was nothing but annoying to Hana. However, there were more than a few issues with rejecting Suhyun and holding new auditions. First, there wasn't much time left until the festival. Second, it was difficult to properly evaluate Suhyun's guitar skills.
"...We'll just have to pray he picks it up quickly once we teach him."
Right. This was the same Lee Suhyun who had pulled off incredibly difficult techniques that even she couldn't do. Memorizing chords and learning basic backing shouldn't be that hard. Since he had already accomplished something much more difficult, there was a chance he would learn faster than expected. Of course, the fact that she herself would have to teach him all of this was the only part that didn't sit well with her.
"As expected of Hana~ I'll leave it to you~ And I'm telling you, Suhyun will definitely do well. He said he's been playing for two years~"
Whether it was impressive or just plain stubborn that he had only played that one song for two whole years—Hana couldn't quite decide. With a complicated heart, she returned to the practice room. Kang had grabbed Suhyun and was saying something strange again.
"Our Spirit has a long-standing tradition, you see."
"What is it?"
"Hand over your phone."
"Here."
"Time to log into YouTube."
Don't tell me they even run an official band channel! With a pounding heart, Suhyun pulled out his phone and quickly held the screen out to him.
"Behold!"
After getting his phone back, a giant question mark floated above Suhyun's head.
"...What's this?"
"Ahem... It's a channel that every single Spirit member is required to subscribe to."
The character in the profile picture had pink hair tied back and was winking while making a V-sign with her hand.
[Ruka - RUKA OFFICIAL]
"What... is this...?"
"She's Ruka, a VTuber from the idol group Closer."
Suhyun knew VTubers existed, but he wasn't particularly interested. He stared at the screen with a lukewarm expression.
"You want me to watch this...?"
"Yeah. Every Friday, we get together and talk about how cute Ruka is while we practice. If you want to join the conversation, you gotta watch."
There were quite a few suspicious points, but if it was to get along with the other members, then gladly...! Just as Suhyun clenched his fist with determination—
"Suhyun~ You can just filter out whatever Kang says~"
Seoeun had to work hard to shut him down every single time he got like this.
"Oh. Hello."
Last to arrive was Juyeon. Once everyone had gathered, Seoeun called the members together and had them sit down.
"Alright! Let's begin the 23rd generation's first song selection meeting of the year~ Wooow~"
Seoeun clapped her hands. Honestly, last year there hadn't been any need to force this kind of energy, but this year was different. Out of five people, two—Suhyun and Juyeon—were extremely introverted.
"Hmm~ First off, since Hana and Suhyun already said hi, we'll skip that. Shall we listen to the songs everyone prepared?"
The first to enthusiastically suggest a song was Seoeun. The track she brought was the closest to a mainstream pick that everyone would recognize. Kang's suggestions were metal songs that Juyeon could never sing, so they were passed over. Hana's pick was a song from a lesser-known overseas band—sophisticated rock with a really cool sound.
"Ooh. This is good."
"Yoon Hana's got taste."
"I like it too."
Suhyun felt a bit anxious about whether he could actually play it, but he really liked the song itself. Normally, once the instrumentalists gave their okay, the final decision rested with the vocalist. When everyone's eyes turned to Juyeon, she nodded a couple of times.
"...I'll give it a try."
"Great! Then let's lock this one in for now!"
Seoeun immediately posted the link in the group chat announcement. Finally, it was Suhyun's turn.
"What I brought is..."
When he pressed play, music flowed out. Suhyun nervously watched the members' faces in real time. Kang was nodding his head to the rhythm, though his hair didn't move at all. Juyeon had an unreadable, almost expressionless face. Seoeun was just smiling. Thinking he had shown enough, Suhyun stopped it right after the first verse. Hana, sitting beside him, clapped approvingly.
"It's good. I definitely want to do this one."
"Me too."
"Let's go!"
"Then I'll mark Suhyun's song as the second one confirmed."
They listened to a few more songs after that, but the last one to be confirmed was Suhyun's.
"Let's leave it at this for today and decide on the remaining three gradually."
Thank goodness everyone liked it... Suhyun let out a sigh of relief, feeling a pleasant sense of pride well up inside him. When the meeting ended, Kang rushed out saying he had to go work out, and Juyeon also bowed her head and left the practice room first. Suhyun was carefully packing his guitar back into its bag when Hana, after confirming that even Seoeun had gone, quietly approached him.
"Hey, Lee Suhyun."
"Oh. Yeah."
Her cheeks were slightly flushed, as if embarrassed. Hana scratched her cheek, her mind full of worries about how to offer to teach him guitar without making things too awkward.
"Are you free tomorrow?"
At her words, which sounded almost like asking him out on a date, Suhyun's heart began to pound wildly.