Regret
Baek Yerin.
After safely finishing the song she had prepared and stepping down from the stage, she felt a little bewildered.
The reactions from her friends were nothing short of chaotic.
The atmosphere was already so electric that it felt like her performance had been confirmed as the winner even before the entire festival was over.
In the end, she truly swept the most overwhelming number of votes and took first place.
Having suddenly become an incredibly popular figure at school in the span of a single day, Baek Yerin couldn’t help but wear a dazed expression.
But what left her the most flustered was an encounter she had on her way home from school.
“Hey there?”
“…?”
The boy standing in front of her was clearly wearing the uniform of a different middle school.
With a friendly smile, he suddenly stepped forward and blocked her path.
And then…
“Have you ever thought about becoming a singer?”
He started spouting something completely out of left field.
Unable to make any sense of it, Baek Yerin tilted her head in confusion. At that exact moment, someone else came rushing in with a shout.
“Hey, hey! What are you doing jumping out like that all by yourself?!”
“K-Kang Beom-jun?!”
Kang Beom-jun.
He was a musician famous enough to be considered one of the representative figures in Korea’s acoustic guitar-centered folk music scene. You could even hear his songs playing on the streets from time to time.
But why on earth was someone like him here…?
“The boss kept muttering to himself while grilling meat, so I got frustrated and stepped in.”
“Sigh… I told you, first impressions are everything in situations like this. I was thinking so carefully about what my opening line should be.”
“Well, the water’s already been spilled, so how about you help clean it up?”
“You’re not even offering to help clean it together, you’re just telling me to do it…”
Kang Beom-jun let out a deep sigh and approached Baek Yerin.
He handed her his business card and slowly began to speak.
“It’s exactly what that kid over there told you. This might feel sudden, but I’d like to cast you for our agency.”
“Cast… me?”
“Yes. I heard the song you sang in the auditorium. Honestly, it was so much better than I imagined that I was genuinely shocked. Your voice is beautiful, your sense of rhythm is excellent, you seem to have natural volume, and the way you control your emotions…”
“In short, he’s saying you were incredible. Since it’s coming from someone who’s a musical powerhouse, you can take the compliment with confidence.”
The boy cut in on Kang Beom-jun’s words with that remark.
Whether it was the casting offer or the sudden shower of praise directed at her… everything felt so abrupt that Baek Yerin couldn’t help but feel a bit overwhelmed.
Yet, in contrast to that confusion, something new began to bloom in a corner of her heart.
Yes. It was probably…
“But… who are you?”
Curiosity.
Or perhaps interest.
Baek Yerin looked straight at the boy and asked.
The way he had boldly stepped forward with a casting offer, and the way the great Kang Beom-jun was fumbling around him… he clearly wasn’t an ordinary student.
And as if to prove her intuition correct, the boy answered.
“My name is Ryu Won. I’m the same age as you. Hmm… I guess it’d be most accurate to call myself a composer for now?”
Ryu Won introduced himself as a composer with a bright, sunny smile.
Though that grandiose self-introduction might have held a particularly meaningful moment for him.
Unlike his previous life.
Because it was the signal flare announcing the beginning of a new connection with her.
What would be the best place for people to have a serious, private conversation?
Ideally, somewhere soundproofed enough that their voices wouldn’t carry, a small enclosed space where they could focus solely on each other.
In that sense, the inside of Kang Beom-jun’s car was the perfect location.
Right now, Yerin and I were sitting side by side in the back seat while Kang Beom-jun drove.
For reference, our destination was Yerin’s family home, and we had decided to put the casting discussion on hold for now.
It would have been unreasonable to expect an answer about the casting offer on the spot.
Whether she intended to accept or decline, she would at least need to go home and talk it over with her parents, right?
So I made a suggestion to make use of the short time it would take to drop her off.
“You’re going to let me hear a song you composed?”
“Yeah. The navigation says it’ll take about ten minutes to get there. It’d feel weird if only the CEO and I kept talking the whole time, and it’d probably be burdensome for you if I kept trying to talk to you.”
“And the person who knows that is the same one who suddenly blocked my path and asked if I wanted to become a singer?”
…….
I had nothing to say in the face of Yerin’s brutal honesty.
The truth was, appearing in front of her at that moment had been a fairly impulsive decision.
Should I say it was because I got a little too hyped after watching her performance in person for the first time in so long?
What was certain was that by the time I came to my senses, I was already standing in front of her.
Once I realized that, the water had already been spilled, so all I could do was act as shameless as possible.
From Yerin’s perspective, I probably looked like a total lunatic.
So if that same lunatic suddenly started acting sensible, it would definitely seem strange.
That was when it happened.
“I’m just kidding.”
When I fell silent for a moment, I heard Yerin chuckling softly from beside me.
Judging by her reaction, it seemed she had been quite intentional about teasing me.
Of course, I wasn’t offended.
If anything, it felt more like a reward.
While I was having that somewhat meaningful thought, Kang Beom-jun, who was driving in the front seat, spoke up.
“And here I thought you were going to show off your trump card right from the start.”
“Trump card?”
At Yerin’s puzzled question, Kang Beom-jun grinned.
“Once you hear it, you’ll immediately understand what I mean. The songs this kid composes are exactly that kind of music.”
Oh ho…
Kang Beom-jun was giving me some pretty sharp backup support.
The reason I wanted to play one of my original songs for Yerin was extremely simple.
I hoped it would move her heart even a little in my direction.
Well… to be completely honest.
I was incredibly curious what my music would sound like to her ears.
The problem was that this was also a kind of test for me.
If my song didn’t sound good to her…
I’d be really sad.
That was what I feared most.
Seventeen years old.
The first time I encountered her singing, I found a dream for the first time in my life. It was the dream of one day having her sing a song I had composed. I worked myself to death for ten years just for that.
But deep down, I had always wondered.
What if she listened to my song and thought it was nothing special?
That was… terrifying.
Even though I had started late, I was afraid that all the effort I had poured in until now, all the happy dreams I had cherished, would collapse in a single moment.
That was probably why, in my past life, I had never once tried to create a proper connection with her.
Using the excuse that I still wasn’t a first-rate composer yet…
Looking back, it was such a ridiculous thought.
A first-rate composer meant someone who received recognition from the world through outstanding talent and ability.
But the one person whose true recognition I needed wasn’t the world.
It was only one person.
Baek Yerin.
If only you thought my songs were good,
If only you felt you wanted to sing them, that would have been enough.
…How stupid.
I realized this obvious truth far too late.
I wanted to work on songs with you. Sometimes arguing over differing opinions, sometimes smiling together as we looked at the finished product.
I wanted to see you shining brighter than anyone else on stage while singing my songs.
But when you suddenly left this world, the fact that none of it could ever happen drove me insane.
What could I do for my dream? For you, who had left the world?
Nothing.
It was obvious.
So I regretted it like a madman. Even knowing how selfish it was, I prayed for a miracle.
I wished to go back to the past.
To go back to the past and…
Even though I was scared, this time I wanted to share the dream of a composer who had been born because of you.
So I shaped the regret inside me into the form of a song.
Yes.
That song was Rewind.
Ha…
It had come.
In the end, that moment had arrived.
The moment the sound flowing from the speakers stopped, the inside of the car fell into complete silence.
It meant that the song Ryu Won had played for the girl was over.
As expected, he had played Rewind.
Not anyone else’s version, but the one he had recorded himself with his own voice.
That song was the fullest power Ryu Won could bring to bear, the one that carried more sincerity than any other.
Therefore.
“……”
It was now the girl’s turn to answer his sincerity.
The girl… no, Baek Yerin was deep in thought.
Please listen to my song.
Usually, such a request also carried the meaning of wanting an honest review.
That was why Yerin found herself even more conflicted.
Could I…
Really give my evaluation of the song I just heard?
Me, of all people?
It felt absurd.
The song the boy named Ryu Won had just played for her was on an entirely different level from anything she had ever heard before. So good that she wanted to find an even stronger way to describe it, yet she couldn’t find the words.
Only then did Baek Yerin understand.
Why even someone like Kang Beom-jun would be so flustered in front of a middle schooler.
And she realized something else.
“You… you’re a genius!”
The astonishing truth that she was standing before an incredible composer.