Chapter 5.1 - Softly 1 (2/2)
“That was good~”
“The girl’s gotten a lot better.”
“Are you coming out tomorrow as well?”
From the audience that started to leave after the song with Han Dasom, I could hear a question being thrown out.
“No. We have a presentation tomorrow.”
“Ah, and you won’t be coming out after that?”
“No idea. This girl has a concour as well so…”
When I stared at Han Dasom, she smiled awkwardly with a start.
“I…”
“Hmm, Song Mirae?”
“Un?”
I saw Song Mirae walking slowly from afar. Thinking, ‘that’s good’, as I had something to confirm, I called her out loudly in case she wanted to run away like before.
“Song Mirae!”
When I waved my hand at the startled Song Mirae, she carefully started walking, and when she arrived near us, she asked with a sour expression.
“Why, if it’s because of the youtube video…”
“Yeah, I called you because of the youtube thing.”
“What?”
Glancing at Han Dasom, I opened my mouth.
“Tomorrow’s the first Concerted Music prac test, right? I wanted to see if she was okay. She’s doing alright in front of people but for the real thing, she might be nervous so I was worried about that.”
“Yunjae…”
Han Dasom stared at me with a moved expression. Why is she like that, when I’m just doing it for my own marks? Shrugging my shoulders and throwing my gaze back to the side, I saw Song Mirae looking at me with a rotten expression.
“So why did you call me; to boast about you two being like that or something?”
“What boast? Because she might be nervous, I just wanted you to film her and make it feel like the real thing – like what you’ve done before.”
Perhaps feeling a little guilty, she lowered her head and murmured.
“No, I was just walking past and…”
“I don’t care about the reason. You can upload it so film it please.”
With a sigh, she took out her phone and stepped back a little. Thus, a little filming had begun.
“I’ll start filming then.”
“Un…”
Along with the sound of ‘ding-dong’ marking the start of the recording, I stared at Han Dasom singing with my arms crossed. After concentrating with her eyes closed, she opened her mouth.
“Quaniam tu solus sanctus!”
A proud and confident Han Dasom – her clear, wonderful timbre tickled the ears. It was worlds different from the first time she practised with me and seeing that introverted girl having grown like this, I even felt a little proud for bringing her up.
“Tu… solus… altissimus…”
The problem was that after meeting her eyes with mine, Han Dasom had suddenly begun shaking. Just like the first time she sang this song, she shrunk her body and sang cautiously before lowering her head with a blush.
Feeling dumbfounded, I opened my mouth.
“Oi, you were doing so good so why are you doing bad in front of a camera? You are singing soft, but the structure of the mouth can’t change like that.”
“Sorry… I think I became nervous…”
“You were doing fine in front of the kids until just then…”
“…You’re right…”
Why’s she suddenly like this – does she become this nervous during the real things? It would be pretty bad if she was like this tomorrow as well.
Do I have to resort to that method?
Seeing me in deep thought with crossed arms, Song Mirae clicked her tongue before pulling my arm over to one side.
“Why are you so thickheaded? I thought you were a player since you were singing together with Han Dasom. If you’re like this, then why were you practising with Han Dasom in the first place?”
“What do you mean, of course, it’s to sing better.”
Song Mirae made a flabbergasted expression.
“…Really? The singing practice was your objective? Isn’t our Suh-ah carrying through the Concerted Music anyway?”
Aha, she wouldn’t know because she hadn’t heard of it yet. With a nod, I replied.
“Lee Suh-ah is, well, Lee Suh-ah, but Han Dasom is good as well.”
“Really?”
“…”
In front of her questioning gaze, I could see Han Dasom shrinking even more.
Why are you dampening our kid’s spirits? Feeling like a protective mum, I quickly started throwing out compliments.
“Oi, Han Dasom’s voice is really good as well okay? She’s just practising because she’s introverted. If she could properly use her voice, then she would be better than Lee Suh-ah in that song at least.”
Suddenly stiffening her expression, Song Mirae stepped back.
“Voice? Who do you think you are that you’re so confident?”
What, why’s she angry all of a sudden? Staring at her with puzzled eyes, I soon understood that it was due to what I had said during the admission – the thing about telling her to be a mezzo.
“Oi, that was…”
“I’m going then.”
Staring bitterly at Song Mirae leave, I soon turned my head over.
Right, one song would be better than a hundred words. Tapping the shrunk Han Dasom’s shoulders I thought,
Let’s show her tomorrow what’s up, Dasom.
*
Night.
Lying down on the dormitory’s bed, Han Dasom stared deeply at the video being played on the iPad.
[Quaniam…]
She could see herself and Jo Yunjae singing on youtube. The song continued without a problem and after a minute, the video was suddenly cut off.
Seeing that, Han Dasom buried her face deep into the pillow.
“Idiot… idiot… why did you have to make a mistake…”
That problematic scene replayed in her mind – the suddenly approaching Song Mirae; an on the spot filming; her voice that had been perfected through Yunjae’s help and the beautiful voice that rang through the vocal cords…
And those two eyes.
“…!”
Creating strange sounds, she hugged her pillow and kicked around before soon raising her head and heaving a deep sigh. She could see a penguin doll sitting in front of her eyes with its cute, bright smile.
Staring at that, Han Dasom whispered.
“Som, do you think Yunjae was disappointed seeing me make a mistake today? Yunjae helped me so much and I ruined it. Tomorrow’s also the Concerted Music presenting day…”
The penguin stayed silent with the same smile. After a short sigh, Han Dasom hugged Som and turned her gaze back to the iPad, and tapping on the screen a little, her eyes went down towards the comment section.
“…!”
She then made strange sounds before quickly closing youtube.
…
And as she rolled around like that, Chloe came out of the showers and stared curiously.
“What are you doingg?”