Chapter 10.3 - Act 10: D.C. 3 (2/2)

Nn?

Hearing the smooth connection from the narrator to the father, Lee Suh-ah tilted her head.

‘…It’s easier to tell them apart than I thought.’

No wait, it might be because both the narrator and the father were of heavy voice types.

Maybe it was therefore easier to change, but the father and the son who had completely opposite characteristics would be difficult.

While she had such thoughts, Jo Yunjae’s song seemed to be chasing after her thoughts as it dashed and soon, a light feeble voice as if the previous heavy voice was an illusion reached her ears.

“Siehst, Vater, du den Erlkönig nicht?”

[Do you not see the elf-king, father?]

“Uh…?”

‘…It changed?’

It changed just like that? He could change his vocalisation however he wanted?

But how?

Lee Suh-ah’s eyes started to dilate.

*

‘As expected, there’s a great difference in the number of audience.’

Blankly, I stared at the front and thought.

Clap clap clap clap clap.

While receiving the bright spotlight to the face, I touched my ears for a bit because the rounds of applause were deafening.

There were simply too many people.

Unlike the Improvement Concerts which only had freshmen students and teachers, Prac High-achievers Concert already had thrice more number from just the number of students present.

Plus there were outsiders so the waves of silhouettes in the distance filling the broad audience seats resembled a large blob.

That huge crowd was sending cheers at me all at once.

“Uwah…”

Sitting on the piano seat and staring at that scene, Chloe let out a gasp of admiration and looked at me with a smile. Then, she quietly opened and closed her lips and gestured with her mouth.

[The reaction seems very positive!]

[…You’re right.]

She sure was right.

When I was listening to the performances of other kids from behind the stage, there wasn’t an applause at this level and there was a clear difference in decibels.

And the magnitude of the applause also meant an evaluation of the audience. Their evaluation signalled that my song was good, and most importantly, better than other kids’.

“Ha…”

My lips had its corners raised up unconsciously.

I knew that I might be winning thanks to the song choice and fortunately, it seemed to have been on the mark. Feeling great, Chloe and I bowed towards the audience and walked down the stage as hums left my nose.

‘Hmm hmm. Good, good.’

The fact that I was able to get myself known to the outsiders during this Prac High-achievers Concert was rather huge because I wasn’t sure if I could even attend a Prac High-achievers Concert in the future apart from this first semester of the first grade.

Besides as time passed, the other students would get used to songs and when they got used to Future Arts High system as well, they might pick showy songs for their prac songs.

In that case, it would be difficult for me to have an overwhelming victory like this time. Since this was the one and only opportunity and I had succeeded in a surprise attack like this, I was obviously very happy.

With light steps, I chatted and laughed with Chloe and opened the back door of the stage when familiar faces suddenly replaced my vision.

“…Nn?”

The kids, Han Dasom, Lee Suh-ah, Jun Shihyuk and Kim Wuju were standing with their backs on the wall.

…Why were they here?

I tilted my head when Han Dasom hopped towards me with a bright smile.

“Yunjae…! It was so good…!”

“Yeah, thanks. Yours as well.”

“Hehe.”

With a face that overflowed with joy for some reason, she stared at me as Jun Shihyuk standing next to her clicked his tongue.

“You’re good.”

Then, he turned around with a flick as he walked down the corridor.

Was that a compliment…?

In any case, he was an interesting guy.

Soon, Kim Wuju also walked away after telling me he enjoyed it with a smile, leaving behind Lee Suh-ah. She crossed her arms and wore an odd look on her face as she looked at me and opened her mouth.

“How did you do that just then”

“What do you mean?”

“Elf King. How did you do that”

Seeing her cold eyes, I felt a slight prick in my consciousness.

Right, there was Lee Suh-ah – she, who had both prodigal talent and hard work. Besides, since we went around singing together during the holidays, she would’ve seen through my skills so the fact that I was suddenly able to sing ‘Elf King’, a song with high difficulty, might feel out of place for her.

…If not for a time leap or something, it was impossible for high schoolers to sing this song after all.

Rolling my eyes around, I searched for an excuse and soon replied after a cough.

“Kuhum. I changed the vocalisation last time right?”

“Yes.”

“When I changed from the new vocalisation into the previous one, it worked out.”

Lee Suh-ah responded with a scoff.

“Say something that actually makes sense. Changing vocalisation immediately while singing? It hasn’t even been that long since you’ve changed into a new vocalisation method.”

“…”

Even though I was the one that said it, it did sound rather absurd.

Vocalisation was memorised by the body and it was a natural habit that came out unconsciously so changing it while singing was definitely not something a high schooler should be able to do.

Since it was Lee Suh-ah who knew exactly where my current singing skills were around, it would seem all the more impossible.

Well since I had been using one of them for over 20 years, I could change into it immediately after some practice but…

Unable to think of any other excuse, I finally decided to feign ignorance.

“That… it just worked out when I tried.”

With her eyes facing the ground, Lee Suh-ah contemplated before suddenly raising her head up in a flash. As she did, her eyes that seemed to be blazing filled my sight.

“I see. I get it.”

Then, she left behind one sentence as she walked past me.

“…You won this time.”

Staring at her distancing hair twitching to the sides, I scratched my hair with an awkward expression.

…It feels like I said something wrong.