Chapter 5.2 - Softly 2 (1/2)
Time flew diligently until it was right before the Concerted Music presentation. Tension and nervousness were spread to the opera students as muttering students appeared here and there.
Next period was the presentation after all.
After staring at them, I threw a glance at Han Dasom and found her glaring at the floor, seemingly in a deep concentration. Because she didn’t notice even when I waved my hand in front of her eyes, I tried clicking my fingers once.
Only when the click resonated did Han Dasom raise her head.
“Un?”
Hmm… I couldn’t tell if she was okay or not; she had a serious expression. Tilting my head, I decided to ask directly.
“Dasom, it’s the Concerted Music next. Are you nervous?”
She looked steadily and replied.
“No, I think I can do well.”
Noh Jusup who had been nearby couldn’t hold back after seeing that stiff appearance and gave a little laugh.
“Aren’t you frozen solid? You sure you’re okay today?”
“I’m not frozen…”
When Han Dasom glared towards him, Noh Jusup quickly turned his head away from the heated gaze. Seeing all that, Lee Suh-ah heaved a sigh.
“Dasom, it’s okay. Today’s just the first presentation; we can do well in the test.”
“Un…”
Although that was what she had said, Lee Suh-ah seemed to be worried and after slowly approaching me, she whispered in my ear.
“Although today’s the first presentation, you know we don’t have much time to meet because of the concours, right? To be honest, there’s not much time to practise apart from the actual presentation day, so we need to do well today… do you think Dasom is very nervous?”
“I think so yeah.”
She was frozen in front of a camera so would she be okay in the actual one?; people should always move with the worst-case scenario in mind. Seeing me calmly giving a nod, Lee Suh-ah made a dumbfounded expression.
“…Really?”
“But it doesn’t matter.”
I slowly continued.
“We can get rid of the tension.”
“How?”
Shrugging my shoulders at Lee Suh-ah who was gazing at me coldly, I turned my head over towards Han Dasom.
“Dasom.”
“Un!”
… Her reply sounded like she was in perfect shape but thinking of yesterday made me anxious. How easy would the world be if we could always perform like how we did during the practices?
It wasn’t just music but the actual things were always like that – we would perform worse than our practices. So here, all I could do for her, was to make sure she could perform as close as possible to what was done during her practices.
By getting rid of her nervousness.
Then, there was the question of how – how should we get rid of her nervousness… After staring at her black eyes for a bit, I opened my mouth.
“Dasom.”
“Un.”
“I believe in you. You practised with me every day and if we counted all the people that you performed in front of, it would easily go over a hundred. So there’s no need to be nervous.”
“…”
After looking at her moved expression,
I flicked my body away.
“…If nervousness disappeared from mere words like these, why would people be worried every day? There won’t be anything hard either. More important than words are actions. So, let’s go for a quick run around the school grounds.”
“…Un?”
In front of the stiff Han Dasom, I pointed outside with my finger.
“Let’s run around the school.”
*
“Haa… haa… Yunjae… I’m… dying…”
“You won’t, you won’t. You’re doing really great, so just up to that point. We’ll finish there.”
Staring with hazy eyes at the place I pointed, Han Dasom clenched her teeth and began running.
“Uuut…!”
Seeing her waving her arms across from behind, it was a bit funny – she resembled a zombie staggering away after being bathed by the sunlight.
People would think I made her do a marathon or something.
I watched that scene with a grin, when Han Dasom finally completed one run around the school grounds and collapsed onto the seat.
“Huu…”
Seeing her chest heaving up and down, I suddenly remembered the bottle of water in my bag and handed it over.
“Here, don’t drink too fast.”
“Thank you…”
Taking little gulps, she appeared like a squirrel.
Looking down at the two of us, Noh Jusup tilted his head.
“But why did she run around the school grounds all of a sudden? It’s the Concerted Music lesson right after.”
“To let her relax.”
“Uun?”
Glancing over Lee Suh-ah and Noh Jusup who pointed their questioning gazes at me, I started explaining.
“It’s easier to sing better after relaxing, and it’s especially effective for people who become nervous during the real thing. Nervousness is only there because there is leisure, so we are getting rid of that leisure, and letting her focus solely on singing.”
Staring at the two of them who still couldn’t understand, I continued talking. This was similar to the ‘singing new songs are helpful’ thing that I had mentioned.
Just think about it.
Stray thoughts were there because the person was somewhat tired but relaxed because, in extremely tough situations, they will never appear. It was hard enough to focus everything into the task so how could there be any other thoughts?
So if we forcibly made her relaxed before singing, then the little constriction of the throat that happens due to nervousness and the awkward artificial muscular movements would be reduced.
And as I talked on and on like that, Lee Suh-ah made a discontent expression.
“Full of confidence. You sound as if you’ve trained a lot of people before.”
“Of course~ I trained the kids back in the military and received rewards…”
In the middle of that, I halted.
With a glance, I could see Lee Suh-ah raising her eyebrows with eyes that questioned what this was about. She appeared clueless.
And that reminded me of something.
Ah…
I was still in high school.
“…and days off in my dream. Hahaha.”