Chapter 6.8 - Faster 8 (1/2)

“Ah, is that everything? Did I forget anything?”

“…Why’re you taking so many things when you’re going there to sing?”

“Hey, this is normal. We don’t know what they have in the waiting room so we need to be fully prepared.”

“…”

There were many things I wanted to say but I silently watched Noh Jusup with a blank expression. That alone was quite interesting.

Look at that; he went in and out of the bathroom checking his appearance and took his socks off seemingly disliking them before wearing them back on. He even unpacked the bag that had already been packed as various things came out from within.

A large bag of throat lozenges; a music sheet full of memos that appeared quite shabby and a clean music sheet to cover for that and a heat pack…

It’s nearing the end of April so what was the heat pack for?

While I was tilting my head, Noh Jusup had finally finished packing his bag and stood up from the seat.

“Huu… Good. Finished.”

“…Are you done now?”

“Yeah.”

Telling him to hurry up, we left the building and discovered that the outside of the dorms were already filled with students moving towards one direction. At the end of the rows that continued on like snakes were buses. Those were the buses borrowed by the school to take students to the [Future Central Music Concour].

“Why’s there so many?”

“The upperclassmen have their own concours as well.”

It was amazing no matter how one saw it. I was watching on like that from outside when the female friends ran out from their dorms.

“Hello!”

“Did you sleep well…?”

“So cold.”

“Aht. Yunjae!”

Chloe ran up with a bright smile and in her hand was an object I hadn’t seen before – a dull black camera. Besides, it wasn’t the palm-sized common camera and was a large one which appeared somewhat expensive.

“What is this?”

“This? A camera huhuh.”

I know it’s a camera.

With a grin, I watched Chloe and she seemed to be having the time of her life. She turned the camera left and right before taking pictures while ordering others to take poses… In the end, she pointed the camera at me and started asking questions in a strange tone as if she was a reporter.

“Hello Mr Yunjae, nice to meet you! It’s reporter Chloe here! Where are you headed to right noww?”

“…To school?”

“Ah~ Is Mr Yunjae perhaps participating in the Future… Cen… uuun… what was it… the concour?”

“No.”

“How does that reason come to be… un?”

Seeing Chloe confusing herself after tangling her words up, I turned towards the other girls.

“Why’s she like that all of a sudden with a camera?”

Han Dasom smiled bashfully while twirling her hair.

“I’m… actually in the photography club… I thought it would be good to use it in the contest so I brought it out.”

“The contest? Ah, you mean the UCC Contest?”

“Un… If we took pictures of us going to the concour it might be useful in the future as well. It could be interesting after editing or maybe we could make it like a vlog of our everyday life…”

She began explaining while sparkling her eyes and unexpectedly seemed to be interested in things like these. After hearing that, Chloe shot her hand up.

“Me, me, me! I want to take the video!”

“Really?”

“Yes yes!”

Chloe said that she just liked filming and wanted us to let her be in charge of it. She had no intention to participate in the contest and seemed to have no real interest in the prize either. Just like that, we somehow found ourselves a cameraman.

“Wah!”

… On a second thought, maybe just a thumbnail with a two shot of Han Dasom and Chloe would be enough to bring in the views. While I was thinking blankly, Chloe turned the camera lens towards Han Dasom.

“Miss Dasom! How are you feeling about the concour?”

“Un…? Nervous.”

“A lot?”

“…It’s my first time going on a concour.”

My eyes turned towards Han Dasom.

The first concour huh… Right, that made sense. Although it wasn’t clear why, Han Dasom had urgently come over to the opera department so it wasn’t strange for it to be her first concour.

How was I like in my first concour… thinking back, the past from 20 years ago surfaced in nostalgia.

“Ha…”

A concour that I had applied for by just copying the other kids after coming to the school. It was a repetition of trembling like crazy and failing mercilessly. Let alone the prize, I had never gone past the preliminaries before and that was how I had cut off all relations with concours during my high school.

What about Han Dasom in the past?

Although it wasn’t certain, she had probably been more nervous than me. During her freshman days, she most likely would’ve repeatedly failed at the prelims. Concours weren’t easy enough to advance with an ambiguous attitude.

‘But what about now?’

If it was now when the talents, that no-one had known about that had been buried deep below the low self-pride, had bloomed,

Wouldn’t something be different?

Seeing the pale, trembling Han Dasom, I opened my mouth.

“Dasom.”

“Un…?”

Rustling through my pocket, I took out a container full of chocolate and pushed it forward.

“The thing I borrowed before.”

After staring at the chocolates for a bit, Han Dasom carefully held it in her hands.

“Before…?”

“That time… when I went to the principal’s room. You try eating it as well. When I eat it before singing, I become relaxed.”

“Ah…”

She touched the container several times before raising her head.

“Thank you.”

Han Dasom made a bright smile.

*

It was empty.

“…”

Walking down the school corridor, I glanced around.

“Today’s lessons are…”

“I have an appointment at night…”

It really was empty. It wasn’t just me overthinking as there really were lots of absent people due to the concour. A place that was supposed to be filled with the rowdy voices of the students was silent without anyone there to realise it.

I walked in the midst of that silence.

“…”

Walking around the quiet school, a thought popped up in my head. Now that I thought of it, it felt like it had been a while since I was left alone at school like this.

Kim Wuju, Noh Jusup, Lee Suh-ah, Jun Shihyuk, Han Dasom and Chloe – it was obvious since everyone I knew had all gone out to the concour. It was obvious but… felt strange.

Think about it. I was taking the same subject, but the people that had always been there were no longer there.

That gap.

“Huu…”

I was heaving out a sigh when a grin appeared unknowingly.

Thinking back, it had always been like this before the time travel. As if I was a proud seeker of truth in music, and as if I had no interest in human relationships, I threw everything away and only sang.

And eventually, I had tumbled.

Was the current me better than my previous self?

“…”

I couldn’t be sure.

However, there was one thing I could be sure of and it was that… I had more precious people than before.

Creak.

When I shoved the door of the practice room open, the sunbae that had been sitting in front of the piano turned her head over. Her black hair that resembled a curtain scattered away as a white face appeared from within.

Her lips were raised to a smile.