Cantabile
Inside the practical performance hall, plunged into pitch-black darkness.
Ryu Se-a, seated before the piano, gave a small nod to the staff.
The staff flipped the lights on cue, and a deep indigo glow began to pour down over her head.
At the same moment, onstage.
The moment the audience confirmed Ryu Se-a sitting at the piano, the murmur rippling through the seats slowly swelled.
Half of it was pure anticipation.
They knew exactly what Ryu Se-a’s specialty was.
Piano prodigy.
That had been the nickname attached to the girl named Ryu Se-a for years, and there was probably no one in the entire hall who didn’t know the level of her piano skill.
That was why they were excited. The other half was pure puzzlement.
When Ryu Se-a had first chosen the practical music track, everyone had been baffled.
Seolhwa Arts High School had a prominent classical department right in its midst, so why on earth had she gone for practical music instead?
Neither teachers nor students knew the reason. Ryu Se-a had never explained it publicly, so only a handful of people were aware of the truth.
Yet among those watching the stage from the audience right now, one person knew.
I’m not late.
It was Ryu Won.
He had slipped into the performance hall right on time. The moment he saw his sister, a bitter smile touched his lips.
He knew exactly what kind of heart she carried as she sat in front of that piano.
Even so, Ryu Se-a hadn’t run away. She had made her choice clear.
Her long-held regret, her precious friend.
This would be her final performance with the piano.
But…
Is it really the last?
With that thought, Ryu Won refocused on the stage.
At the same instant, Ryu Se-a’s left hand began to move, slow and deliberate. A beautiful piano melody unfurled through the hall.
The moment they heard that plaintive yet strangely warm melody, the same word rose in every listener’s mind.
Cantabile.
Sing it beautifully, as if the piano itself were singing.
Soon, along with that exquisite melody, Ryu Se-a opened her mouth.
To my precious one
There’s something I want to tell you
It’s a little embarrassing, but
I hope these words can reach you
I lied and tried so hard to turn away
Even though I kept you in my heart all this time
Hey… I want to stay with you a little longer
With you whom I truly love, until this world ends
Even if I’m not there
Please don’t stop that resonance
As always, from that same place once more
Please keep watching over me
Ryu Se-a’s quiet voice flowed through the microphone placed in front of the piano. The audience felt as though someone were whispering to them in secret.
And the description was perfect.
Because “Cantabile” was a kind of love letter from Ryu Se-a to the precious friend who had stayed by her side for so long.
She remembered.
All the moments she had shared with that dear friend.
The first time her short fingers pressed a key.
The day she began learning piano in earnest.
The competitions where she stood on stage and received awards…
The friend called piano had always remained at her side.
Every time her hand touched those keys, the world grew clearer, more vivid.
So she had always wanted to smile and stay together.
But after the accident, painful, dark, miserable days arrived.
It hurt too much, so she looked away.
The emotion in her voice began to swell.
It was clearly…
Regret for turning her back on the piano that had chosen her.
Sorrow for a reality she could touch if she simply reached out, yet could never reach.
But Ryu Se-a desperately held those feelings down.
Because “Cantabile” was never a song about sadness.
Yes. It was an endlessly bright, happy song.
That was what her little brother—no, the composer named Ryu Won—wanted for her.
A sad farewell simply didn’t suit the person called Ryu Se-a.
So—!
Ryu Se-a suddenly stopped playing.
Smiling brightly…
For the sake of parting with her old friend, she now reached toward a new path. She pulled the microphone free from its stand, adjusted to chair height.
She had always believed the only instrument that could truly convey her heart was the piano.
But the moment she heard the song Ryu Won composed, she realized there was another way.
So from now on, Ryu Se-a wanted to sing only of gratitude and happiness toward her friend.
Cantabile.
Exactly as the title said.
The melody poured from the speakers as Ryu Se-a’s pitch climbed higher and higher.
Her voice, clear and dewy as dawn, carried every emotion she had held back for so long. The song’s atmosphere grew impossibly bright, and the lighting shifted from deep blue to pure white in perfect harmony.
“Ah…”
A sigh of wonder slipped from somewhere in the audience.
The beautiful piano melody stood at the center while other instruments wove around it in perfect harmony. Ryu Se-a poured every feeling she had suppressed into the song—yet only the happy ones.
The curiosity that bloomed the first time she heard a sound like flowers opening.
The joy of finishing her first complete performance.
The happiness of hearing people cheer for her playing.
All those happy emotions had come to her through the piano.
It felt as though she were telling the audience that the bright, cheerful Ryu Se-a standing before them today existed because the piano had taught her every one of those feelings.
…So please.
Even if I’m not there.
Don’t let that resonance ever stop.
Ryu Se-a stepped away from the piano and walked slowly forward.
So that her beloved friend could resonate through the world on its own, even without her playing.
But in that moment she realized the contradiction.
Even without her performance, a familiar piano sound was filling the hall, and she was singing along with it.
Only then did the full truth dawn on her.
Why she had been so drawn to the song “Cantabile.”
Why her brother had placed those particular lyrics at the very end.
Ryu Se-a slowly closed her eyes.
As the song reached its final measures, the accompanying instruments faded one by one until only the piano remained, just as it had in the beginning.
Yes. The piano had never left me.
And I don’t have to leave it either.
Even now, when I can’t play, I’m still filling the stage together with it.
You…
You wanted to tell me this, didn’t you?
That even if I could no longer play the piano, I could still stay together with the one I loved so much.
With that realization, Ryu Se-a opened her eyes again.
And in one corner of the audience, her gaze naturally found the person who had created “Cantabile.”
He was looking at her with a faint smile.
Idiot. You only just figured it out?
It was as if he were saying exactly that.
A bright flower of laughter bloomed across Ryu Se-a’s face.
From that moment on, “Cantabile” was no longer a song of farewell to a precious friend.
It became a song of gratitude for the friend called piano who had given her so many happy emotions.
As always, from that same place once more.
Please watch over me.
With words that hinted at a new beginning, Ryu Se-a’s song came to an end.
Yet even after the final note faded, the audience remained wrapped in silence.
They still seemed unable to process what they had just witnessed and heard.
What was certain was that Ryu Se-a had looked incredibly happy while singing.
The happiness she conveyed, her voice, her radiant smile—everything.
It was so joyful that listeners wondered if a single song could truly make them feel this happy.
And what was even clearer was that Ryu Se-a’s stage had already far surpassed high-school level.
From the concept of singing while playing piano, to the overwhelming quality of the song itself, to the extraordinary talent with which she delivered it all.
While the audience sat awestruck, Ryu Se-a slowly lifted the microphone again, as though she had something more to say.
She had been watching their reactions, and they felt exactly like the silence that followed her competition performances.
So she grinned and asked,
“With this much, I’m in first place, right?”
The entire audience burst into laughter. There was nothing wrong with the statement, but hearing the person herself say it was too absurd.
In the middle of that lively atmosphere, Ryu Se-a noticed someone quietly slipping out of the hall.
He was clearly wearing another school’s uniform, so she recognized him instantly.
Honestly…
I still had more to say. You could have stayed until the end.
What a cold-hearted little brother. Does he think it’s over just because he left with that satisfied smile?
Still, thanks to him I discovered a new feeling.
So performing on stage was this much fun…
But an ordinary song would never have made me feel this way.
It was all because the song her brother composed was special.
In other words, the only thing that could make her feel this way was a song made by him.
In that sense, she hoped he would take proper responsibility.
How?
Like a bomb that had been perfectly timed, the massive news dropped the instant Ryu Se-a’s stage ended and began spreading through the hall at lightning speed.
Since the very person at the center of the story was still standing onstage, everyone in the audience could only stare at her with questioning eyes.
And not just anyone—
“Fuck? What did you say?”
Even Ryu Won, who had been walking out, stopped dead in his tracks and turned back toward the stage.
In the midst of that chaotic atmosphere,
“Well… it just sort of happened. Hehe.”
Ryu Se-a scratched the back of her head and answered with a bright, sunny smile.
As if the news were absolutely, one-hundred-percent true.