Chapter 3.2 - Passionately 2 (1/2)

I rolled my eyes in thought. A reason for not attending the concour, and something that won’t make the teacher disappointed. What could be there?

Thinking hard, I suddenly remembered a sentence written next to the concour announcement, that long number next to the attendance fee.

“That… our house isn’t very well off. The fee was too expensive so I didn’t apply for it.”

“… For students with not so much money, we give funding for them. It is important to have stage experience so you should register for at least one concour.”

… Why is this school so generous in some places despite being stingy on the scholarships? Isn’t that worth around a few hundreds of thousands of Won? To normal students, it would be something worth rejoicing for, but it was nothing more than a waste of time for me.

In response to the teacher’s counter punch, I thought quickly for a bit but couldn’t come up with an answer. What should I do… I decided to just man it up and go from the front.

Wearing a serious expression, I replied.

“Sir. I… must get the scholarship – the scholarship that only goes to the first in each department. As for the concour, I’ll participate in it as soon as I have time on my sleeve.”

“…”

Carefully glancing up and meeting my eyes with the teacher’s, I could see his rigid face. His face continued changing along with a constant change in emotions.

Deep thought, helplessness and sympathy.

Whatever he was thinking, after gazing silently at me for a bit, he opened his mouth with his heavy voice.

“… Right. If that’s your choice, then that can’t be helped.”

From how he stopped there, it seemed that we had moved on from the topic. While I was heaving a sigh of relief, the teacher opened his mouth.

“Then now, let’s start the lesson. The thing you have to practise from now is simple.”

After saying that, he touched his own stomach and breathed in deeply, as a thick stomach started to rise heavily.

“Breath management. If you don’t even have this basic stuff, then it’s impossible to do anything. In gaming words, you’re no different than a character with 1 mana.”

“… You’ve played games before as well?”

The teacher glanced down at me to which I avoided my eyes and stood properly.

“Breath. It is the basic of singing, and the basis of sound. The breath filling the lungs must leave through and vibrate the vocal cords to make a sound. This breath must be perfected to freely express any sound and also helps in creating a high pitch. After all, even if you can’t make high notes, you can just force in large breaths to go high.”

“Yes.”

After glancing around, the teacher brought a long table as he continued his explanation.

“You’ve probably heard some stories about opera singers’ breaths. Well there are videos about holding a piano up just relying on the stomach but, that is way too much and I’m not even expecting that much.”

“…”

With the side of my eyes, I stared at the black piano. That one was an Upright so it should be slightly lighter but a grand piano would easily go over 0.5 tonnes. While I was thinking as such, teacher Kwak Jungsoo lied down on the table. His relaxed form made it seem like he was in his bedroom.

What’s happening

I was staring at the teacher’s protruding stomach when he suddenly turned his head towards me.

“Come up.”

“…Sorry?”

“Sit on top of my stomach.”

“…”

Without caring about my befuddled gaze, he tapped on his stomach. The massive body on top of the table looked somewhat unstable.

Isn’t that table gonna break?

Carrying my feet carefully, I placed my bum on top of his stomach. To sit on top of my benefactor… it felt weird. He didn’t do anything like this before…

While I was sitting dazedly, the teacher opened his mouth.

“Look.”

Along with that sound, his stomach bulged up and lifted me into the air. I could feel tight tension on my bum and it seemed I had gotten 5cm closer to the ceiling.

“Huk!”

Wow it’s almost like a roller coaster.

After casually raising me up and down with just his stomach, the teacher pushed me onto the ground before opening his mouth.

“If you’re an opera singer, then you should easily be able to carry someone with your stomach. So continue practising your breaths from now on. Right, if it’s at your level, putting some books on top of your stomach and breathing should be good.”

“Books?”

“Thick books. If you don’t have any, then stack lots of them on the stomach and practise.”

Books huh…

It sounded quite good.

Until now, I just repeated breathing in and out deeply, but this should indeed be better, similar to doing weights. In the past, I had gotten breaths naturally with time so I wasn’t too interested in it and therefore had no idea that such training methods existed.

I nodded my head with admiration and the teacher set up a goal for me.

“If you can raise me up within 2 weeks, then you can sing that Magic Flute one.”

“…Sorry?”

When I asked back with my eyes looking at his massive body, the teacher coughed and turned his head away.

“Mhmm… Maybe I might be a bit too heavy. Practise enough to at least hold your friend up.”

“Yes.”

*

After receiving the lesson for a while, I left the room to find that the sun was almost about to set. When I was stroking my stomach and walking through the corridor, from the other side of the corridor, I could see Lee Suh-ah and Han Dasom talking.

Lee Suh-ah would talk about something in a quiet voice and Han Dasom would give a little smile. From what I could hear, it sounded like a talk on songs – they had really boring personalities as well.

… Well it’s not something I who had no friends during his high-school life could say.

I was in the middle of a self-deprecating analysis when Lee Suh-ah motioned with her chin at me after finding me.

“Hello.”

Han Dasom shyly raised her hand from the side and greeted. Right, hello to you too.

The three of us paced down the stairs together as the red sunset pierced my eyes through the windows. It’s already dinner-time… what was today’s dinner again? In the middle of some stray thoughts, Lee Suh-ah interjected.

“Specialist Prac?”

I glanced and found her looking forward indifferently. Going down two steps I replied.

“Yeah, I had my Improvement Concert song evaluated and practised it.”

“…”

Turning at the corner of the stairs, I couldn’t find Lee Suh-ah next to me. Flicking back, I saw Lee Suh-ah standing still, with her hand guarding against the red sunset, seemingly finding it bright.

She casually opened her mouth.

“You picked the Specialist Prac teacher yourself? After declining Teacher Ku Mingi.”

Our eyes met. Her frowning face reflected a rather serious atmosphere.