Chapter 8.10 - Act 8: Lively 10 (2/2)

With a relaxed heart, I looked forward after finishing the song. Seeing Lee Suh-ah blinking her eyes, I asked.

“How was it?”

“…”

Mumbling her words, Lee Suh-ah looked for the words before glaring at me and heaving out a sigh. Then, she rolled her eyes and pretended to be in deep thought.

Her expression seemed quite busy.

I stared at her with a slightly nervous mood, when she finally opened her mouth.

“I think…”

“You think?”

Lee Suh-ah made a sullen expression.

“I think you might have gotten a bit better…”

“So did I get better or not?”

“It feels like you did but at the same time it doesn’t, so sing one more time.”

I sang again.

After finishing the song, I stared at Lee Suh-ah who then opened her mouth with a focused look.

“…I think you got a little better so just one last time…”

I sang again.

Lee Suh-ah who was now leaning forward so much that she might roll out of her seat tapped on the chair in irritation.

“Wait! How did you do that just then! Do it again.”

“…What are you doing… I asked for feedback.”

“Ut.”

After coming to herself, Lee Suh-ah postured herself straight and ran her fingers through her hair with a prim expression.

…Even if she did that, it was already too late.

Glancing down at her who was avoiding eye-contact, I folded my arms with a grin. Judging from how Lee Suh-ah was acting, I seemed to have gotten a lot better since she was quite stingy when it came to giving me compliments.

During all the practices so far, she had never given me that attitude after all.

Indeed, it worked well when I followed teacher Kwak Jungsoo’s teaching. As expected of the great teacher!

Feeling the slow uprise of happiness, I was smiling with my lips raised when Lee Suh-ah slowly opened her mouth after stealing a glance.

“Hey…”

“What. Give me my feedback first.”

“Uhum… It’s quite good now. Un.”

That’s good. Fortunately, I was able to somewhat learn it before the prac tests.

If I put this into my prac songs, I would have a higher chance of winning right… After all, teacher Kwak Jungsoo said that even Kim Wuju wouldn’t be able to properly embed emotions in yet.

With my hand on my chin, I contemplated when Lee Suh-ah hesitantly asked.

“So how did you do it?”

Seeing Lee Suh-ah glancing up pitifully, I scratched my head.

Well, since she was the one that discovered this ‘emotion’ thing, it wasn’t like I couldn’t tell her and there was also the fact that she helped me with my practices.

However, the problem was that it was highly likely that she might not be able to learn this even if I told her. Since I had my experiences which served as the foundational basis, I could amplify my emotions by understanding the characters but Lee Suh-ah was only 17 so how would she put in any emotions?

Has she fallen in love before or experienced heartbreaking separations? She looked just like a young lady of a rich family and appeared like she never had any worries let alone feeling despair.

In other words, multiplying 0 emotions by 99999 would still result in 0.

But since she asked, I couldn’t ignore her. When I roughly explained the method, Lee Suh-ah formed a bright smile and gave a nod.

“Thanks!”

“…”

I think it was my first time seeing Lee Suh-ah give such a bright smile. With a myriad of emotions, I stared at her when she suddenly shook her head before packing her things up.

“I’m going to go investigate a bit!”

“Yeah… See you tomorrow.”

“Un. Thanks a lot. See you tomorrow!”

Watching her leave after a repetition of thanks, I scratched the back of my neck.

…It probably won’t work though.

Maybe I shouldn’t have told her.

*

Now, when the prac test was right before us, I practised non-stop as the time flew past.

During that, I polished my ‘sword style changes’, ‘emotions’ and the high C I learned in preparation for the prac test. Changing the vocalisation, I practised Elf King and while putting in the emotions and high C, I prepared the second prac song.

I received a lot of help from my friends during all that.

Especially when it came to ‘emotions’, it needed to reach out to the majority instead of just one or two people to be considered a true incorporation of emotions.

So I had to practise enough until I could move the hearts of almost everyone.

To achieve that, I received feedback from not just Lee Suh-ah but also from teacher Ku Mingi, Noh Jusup, Chloe, Han Dasom etc. I received at least one feedback from my friends and received a lot of help.

Today, it was Chloe, Han Dasom and Lee Suh-ah who came to listen.

Chloe who had been playing the piano for the accompaniment made a face of admiration.

“It’s really good!”

“Thanks.”

Throwing my glance towards Lee Suh-ah, I found her looking at me with sunken eyes. After a while, she nodded her head after a sigh.

“It’s good.”

“…”

As expected, it didn’t work out huh.

It wasn’t strange because rather than a difference of skills, it was because of the overwhelming difference in experience. Me who was using almost 40 years of experience as a 17 year old was the one cheating.

I stared at her with a slightly apologetic heart when Han Dasom interjected from the side.

“Un. It feels like it’s ringing my heart… Won’t the teachers like it as well…? Yes, they will for sure.”

“Thanks.”

“Un… I think I liked it more than Kim Wuju’s.”

Seeing Han Dasom staring at me with sparkling eyes, I felt my tension being relaxed a little.

Better than Kim Wuju…

Although I couldn’t take Han Dasom’s words at face value, I was still grateful that she said that.

I made a faint smile and watched Han Dasom before turning my phone on to have a look at the calendar.

3 days left until the prac test.

There weren’t many days left for me to pour in everything I could.