Chapter 8.2 - Lively 2 (2/2)

“Overall… it’s not bad. It’s not bad but… something… there’s something mixed into the song that’s unpleasant to the ears. Ah, how do I explain this.”

She thought hard on it before raising her head up in a flash.

“Right. It feels like you placed pineapples on top of a pizza or something. It feels disharmonious…”

Huh? Why are pizzas and pineapples disharmonious?

I thought for a bit before getting rid of unnecessary thoughts and nodding my head. As expected of the top student of the composing department, Yu Minji-sunbae was able to locate the problem immediately. However, it seems that even she couldn’t figure out the solution.

“…But I have no idea what we need to do. Like, in fact… the pizza itself was delicious right? The pineapple was okay if eaten separately as well but eating them together wasn’t very good…”

With my eyes facing the thinking Yu Minji, I smiled.

In other words, it was like this.

Chloe, Song Mirae and I.

Because we all practised separately, we could sing our own songs without a problem. It meant that our songs were good just like how the quality of the pizza ingredients themselves were good.

However, the moment we added them up, it formed a strange group.

The smell of cheese that stood out too much; the wobbly texture of the sour yet sweet pineapple as well as the bread that turned soggy from too much sauce.

It would naturally taste weird to most people and there was only one solution to this problem. With a smile, I opened my mouth.

“In our opera department, we have this thing called Concerted Music.”

“Hn?”

I could see Yu Minji confused from the sudden change of topic.

“During the first few lessons of Concerted Music, we really don’t mix in well. Everyone sings their own songs and… they’re all good. They are good, but their own colours are too strong and they stand out too much. It usually results in something similar to what we just sang before, and sounds unpleasant due to the unnatural mix.”

“Ah…”

Song Mirae let out a mutter like she was in agreement.

“That’s why we practise like crazy, so that we can understand each other’s songs and until our ears can pick that up. We do that until we make a song that resonates spherically together with not a single bit sticking out; until we can sing choruses together and not alone.”

Yu Minji had the same confused expression. I took my eyes off her and turned towards Chloe.

“And, that’s the same for the accompanists.”

“Uun?”

I saw Chloe blinking her eyes.

Right, songs weren’t sung alone.

Protagonist.

It was true that the protagonist of this song was the human voice and not the piano as it was an art song made by Yu Minji-sunbae. However, even if we were the protagonists, what would happen if we didn’t have the accompaniment supporting us from behind?

A perfect song could suddenly turn into a plain song without accompaniment and that was how big of an impact accompaniments had.

In other words, accompanists shouldn’t be just thought of as accompanists and had to be considered as another special member of the chorus.

A chorus member with whom we had to match our voices with.

…Now with this as the basis, what was the reason for me being confident of our victory?

“Uh?”

When Yu Minji slapped down on the table like something had popped up in her head, I smiled.

“A postgraduate sunbae was it? He probably doesn’t have time to practise with Kim Wuju separately because he’s a busy person… Even if he does practise, it will be done separately.”

Besides, he was from graduate school. A skilled veteran who had entered a graduate school with just his piano skills – would he try to support and match a high schooler’s main melody?

99% chance that he wouldn’t.

He probably would show off his own melody. It was obvious considering that it was coming from the prideful piano department.

Then, what would happen?

Kim Wuju singing zealously and the piano running up by itself alongside it.

Their song won’t result in a mere hawaiian pizza – I could bet Han Dasom’s hair pin on it.

Perhaps having thought of all that as well, Yu Minji’s expression turned brighter.

Her lips were raised into a curl and her expressionless look turned brighter. The relaxed eyes formed crescents and her teeth revealed themselves in a bright smile.

Was she that happy?

Yu Minji smiled brightly like that before tapping my shoulders and giving endless compliments.

“Wow this guy. You thought of that immediately after hearing the story? Are you seriously younger than me? You look like someone who performed a lot. I only realised something was odd after hearing you perform…”

“No… It’s perhaps because you’ve only been practising with students from our school. If you start practising with people outside school, you would figure it out immediately.”

“Really? Then how did you know all that?”

“Ah…”

With an awkward smile, I scratched my neck and made an innocent smile. Well, I knew it because I had come across piano performers a lot back in the days. If they’re not professional accompanists, they were quite prideful and I fought so much because of that…

I shook myself out from nostalgia and turned towards Chloe.

“Huhuh.”

She was smiling brightly with her thumb raised up.

Right, she was the odd one. Chloe was pretty much an angel compared to them.

With a warm gaze that meant ‘I’m proud of you Chloe’, I was staring at her when suddenly, I felt the piano accompaniment I had heard before touch my ears.

The jumpy, attractive timbre of Chloe…

“Wait…”

“Yes?”

Chloe. Piano. Song. Chorus…

Within the thoughts that continued on without a real link, I suddenly remembered a conversation I had with Chloe. Back then, when Chloe was practising with me – a short while after the admission.

“Yunjae! What’s this in Korean?”

“Un? This?”

“Yes! The teacher told me to fix it but… I can’t do it well. The teacher said it would be very, very good if I could fix it!”

Right I could remember now. I could remember Chloe pointing at a musical notation of a music sheet and asking what it was in Korean. Although I didn’t know much about pianos, I remembered trying my hardest to help her.

What was that symbol again? That…

I thought back on it for a long time before raising my head with a flash.

“Cantabile?”