Act 7: Lightly 10
Seeing Lee Suh-ah gasping for breath, I felt a bit weird.
“Son of a bitch...?”
Lee Suh-ah used words like that...?
Well, I wasn’t really offended and... I was just amazed because Lee Suh-ah had that kind of image, like an elegant lady of a rich family.
She was like that at school as well but I had a deeper impression of it because later, she would act mysteriously with pretty much no interviews and zero activities outside of singing.
Watching her just singing from youtube, without appearing in any variety shows or any other shows, like a Prima donna, it was inevitable for to have my own assumption of her personality.
While thinking of those things, I was staring deeply at her when Lee Suh-ah suddenly started avoiding eye-contact with a fluster.
“No... that just then... was a...”
Seeing her in such a flustered appearance made her appear quite cute. I responded with a grin.
“So... you want to practise together?”
“Uh? Yeah.”
Well, it was a good thing for as well.
Although I did joke around because I felt prankish, practising with Lee Suh-ah was sothing I would be grateful for myself. Practising with her for a bit last ti stabilised my vocalisation a lot so wouldn’t Lee Suh-ah be able to do sothing again this ti around?
Besides, she was the only one who felt this ‘emotion’, so her helping with this research should be able to grant another weapon.
‘Emotions huh...’
After so thought, I quickly raised my head.
“Then do you want to go right now?”
“Now?”
She looked at her phone and tilted her head.
“It’s 9 o’clock right now though”
“And?”
“...”
*
The practice rooms of Future Arts High were open 24/7. They never stopped you because it was too early or too late, including night tis.
You did need a student ID card to enter but... at least they didn’t stop people from entering because it was too late.
But of course, students living inside dorms had to return by 11 o’clock, because if you didn’t attend the night roll call at 11 pm, you would be given a massive derit point.
If I was chased out from the dorms because of high derit points... it would definitely be a nightmare. In other words, that ‘return by 11 o’clock’ rule was sothing I definitely had to abide by as soone who lived far away from the school.
However, two hours were more than enough to practise if we rushed a bit. Taking in the sll of the familiar practice rooms, I flicked my head back.
“Now, let’s go over the incident one more ti.”
“Incident?”
Seeing Lee Suh-ah blinking her eyes, I nodded my head.
“Yeah. Before it happened unknowingly, I don’t even know how that happened. That’s why we should go over what happened again in exactly the sa style. After repeating like that, we should be able to understand right?”
Although I did call it an ‘incident’ like I was a detective or sothing, it was true that we had to dissect what had happened.
Nodding her head, Lee Suh-ah raised her phone to play the accompanint and I prepared for the song while posturing myself.
Putting emotions in.
I forgot the subtle things and focused on the lyrics to the best of my ability.
‘I am a poor poet...’
‘I am a passionate poet that can’t live without songs and poems.’
‘And yet, I had fallen in love with the woman in front of .’
‘So much that I could even let go of my dreams.’
After self-brainwashing, I flashed my eyes open and saw Lee Suh-ah sitting in front of with an unhappy expression.
A sigh left my lips unconsciously.
“Haa... move a bit.”
“What?”
“I can’t get imrsed in the song if I see your face.”
“...?”
Lee Suh-ah contemplated my words for a bit before flaring up and glaring with her eyes.
“Ha. What a joke. I don’t like your face either okay?”
“...Why are you angry? I an you don’t look like the female lead so I can’t focus on the song. You’re not weak like Mimi right?”
“Oh~ So you’re saying that’s what you ant huh?”
“Yeah. Look. You’re so energetic for no reason.”
“...Annoying.”
The practices that started off like that repeated one or two failures before having a few successes. Even when it seed to be going okay, one small interruption would disturb my emotions and a slight side-thought would lead to Lee Suh-ah shaking her head.
After singing around 10 tis, I felt exhausted. It was like walking down a dark pathway; like I was crawling with my eyes closed.
“Ha... this is harder than I thought. Because I can’t tell how I am doing myself, I can’t even tell what is right.”
Lee Suh-ah thought with crossed arms and opened her mouth.
“You can’t? What about the ti when I said ‘that’s it’? Can’t you just rember that and keep that going?”
“That... the mont I try to listen to my voice and divert attention, my emotions just fall apart.”
“It’s that hard?”
“Yeah.”
Seriously, being imrsed in sothing wasn’t an easy task in the first place.
I an if we were washing dishes or doing things similar to that, so many small stray thoughts would pop up in the head, but when singing, there were too many things to look out for. We had to focus on the lyrics, think about the vocalisation and pronounce the vowels and consonants correctly...
Telling to focus solely on emotions in the midst of all that seed impossible, and at least seed to be sothing impossible to learn within a short amount of ti.
Would geniuses like Kim Wuju be able to learn it in a flash?
“Hmm...”
I had no idea. Putting emotions into the song appeared to be a basic thing and yet vague at the sa ti. Although I did sowhat embed emotions into the song during the 20 years of my life as an opera singer, I had never been so absorbed like what I had done before, forgetting everything else.
Maybe it was just my misunderstanding that I had been putting emotions into the song so far. Up until now, how many songs of mine had been ‘filled with my honest emotions’?
“...”
I had been singing embarrassing songs.
Heaving out a sigh, I analysed the incident yet again.
...Thinking back, it truly was a special circumstance.
The more I analysed, the more it appeared like a special scenario made by a god for to get imrsed in my emotions. I could even form a list of aspects that helped beco imrsed:
– Since I hadn’t been practising it much, I had zero expectations.
– And yet, there was a prize for the winner so I had to try my hardest.
– Besides, the lyrics themselves fit my situation a lot and touched my emotions.
Recreating a fortune that had appeared from a perfect mix of these circumstances was a difficult task. Scratching the back of my head, I heaved out a sigh and raised a white flag.
“For now... let’s not try to figure it all out today. I don’t think it would work that way, and we should take it slow.”
Lee Suh-ah scoffed in response.
“...’I have to get absorbed in my singing so~ move~’. What was all that pestering for?”
“But, being unable to focus after seeing your face is... not my fault right?”
“I also get annoyed seeing your face so can you please move?’”
After growling for a bit, Lee Suh-ah collapsed onto the seat.
“So? Is that it for today?”
“Hmm... No. It’s still only 10 o’clock, so let’s do a bit more. You practice while I rest my throat. I’ll give you feedback.”
“Sure.”
Since I had been singing non-stop for an hour, it was about ti for to have so rest. I closed my eyes and massaged my throat when Lee Suh-ah started the accompanint with a click.
A gentle accompanint echoed, and hearing that, I realised what the song was imdiately.
Ave Maria by Schubert.
“A—ve Maria.”
I listened to her sing with leisure.
The elegant and fine sound reached my eardrums. Despite the softness, it still had enough resonance to fill the practice room with sound, as expected of Lee Suh-ah.
Ave Maria.
A beautiful song of Holy Mary composed by Schubert, the king of lieder. Personally, I thought Han Dasom would suit this song better but... it wasn’t bad for Lee Suh-ah either.
If Han Dasom was like soft fairy floss, then Lee Suh-ah was like smooth silk. It was strange but songs would actually depict the personalities of the singer. Han Dasom with her softness and warmth hidden behind her introversion, while Lee Suh-ah showed off the pride she had in her voice.
Their respective qualities were not worse than the other and were both important personal features of musicians.
“Ave Maria...”
I was listening to her singing with a nod and felt the song coming to an end.
“How was it?”
Seeing Lee Suh-ah asking nonchalantly, I touched my chin. Well, although I did enjoy listening to it, that didn’t an I could be lazy in giving feedback. After deep contemplation, I opened my mouth.
“Good. It was good but...”
I quickly rembered her songs from before the ti travel. Since Ave Maria was such a famous song, I clearly rembered the future Lee Suh-ah singing it with countless mories to back it up.
After comparing the future Lee Suh-ah and the current one, I clicked my fingers.
“You, sort of sing with a casual heart right?”
“What?”
I could see Lee Suh-ah imdiately forming a frown and felt that my words might have been a bit misunderstandable.
“I an... This song’s really easy for you right?”
“In what way?”
“Technique-wise.”
Facing a puzzled expression at , Lee Suh-ah gave a nod.
“If I had to say it, then yes it is easy because it is within my vocal range. Although my expression skills are still lacking...”
“Un, right. It’s too easy to tell that. It feels like you’re singing it with too much ease.”
“...What do you an by that”
This was difficult to explain. Scratching my head, I thought.
Mhmm... there were sotis students like this – students that made high notes easily from birth or were full of talents and could understand any songs in a flash. For them, singing was very easy and fun because high notes could co out naturally with breath.
That’s why, they would unknowingly sing ‘casually’. Wearing a serious expression, I t my eyes with Lee Suh-ah’s.
“When you’re singing, try harder to sing properly. Open your chest up like this, and raise your chest voice up with all your energy. You need to put all your energy in, to have a proper song co out.”
Lee Suh-ah who had been in thought made a frown.
“The teacher told to sing relaxed though.”
...It’s true that teachers could have such opinions. They must be people that wanted to be on the safe side without taking risks.
However, Lee Suh-ah from the future sang using the thod I had ntioned. I could be certain of this myself. I had listened to her songs hundreds of tis so there was no way I could get that wrong.
Plus, the thod used by the future Lee Suh-ah was probably the one closest to the answer because whatever the case, Lee Suh-ah was the world’s best soprano. With my eyes still on her, I opened my mouth.
“Hmm... of course, the throat has to be relaxed, but nothing else. Opera singers must never sing comfortably. The breath had to be broken as thinly as possible with as much room inside as possible.”
“Un...”
She made a face like she could understand sothing.
“Think of a swan. Although they appear elegant above-water, they’re swinging their legs hella crazy underwater. Like that, shouldn’t you be using everything your body has to offer to have a better song co out?”
...After talking up to there, I stopped and glanced at her.
Actually, this was sothing that could touch Lee Suh-ah’s pride. It was similar to saying that she was lacking practice to her face, despite her being one of the most hardworking students
I carefully watched her gazing down at the ground in fear that she would explode at any ti but fortunately, she nodded without saying much.
“Okay. Since your words were never wrong, I’ll try it once.”
“Good.”
Like that, she sang the song two more tis and quickly fixed the problems. Indeed, although I forgot for a bit because I was teasing her so much, she really was that Lee Suh-ah.
“Ohh...”
Looking at her singing similarly to her future self, I confird once again that she was a genius. After singing, she touched her throat a bit before heaving out a sigh.
“You always sing like this? Isn’t it tiring?”
“Well yeah... of course it is. But there’s no other way if I want to sing a good song.”
“Seriously...”
She heaved out a sigh before suddenly tilting her head.
“By the way... isn’t it because of this that you can’t focus on the emotions?”
“Huh?”
I stared at her with confusion and she continued while tapping the table.
“You know, you said you sing like this every ti, but how would you ever focus on your emotions like this? Even I have no ti to think about anything else.”
Hearing that, I thought for a bit before dropping my chin.
That was... very possible. Those were things I was doing habitually, but maybe I had been caring too much about them thus far.
“So now, give up on everything and try it.”
Her eyes flickered.
“So that you can focus solely on your emotions.”
*
...And soon, Lee Suh-ah opened her mouth with a dumbfounded expression.
“This works...?”
“Hey it’s just like what you said! It feels so relaxing to just not do anything! It’s like I’m not even swinging my feet when swimming; like I’m playing around... wow...!”
Uncontrollable smiles appeared on my lips. It just felt so refreshing.
A success after success.
After listening to Lee Suh-ah’s words, I had succeeded imdiately, three tis in a row!
I couldn’t hold back my happiness from showing up on my expression and the thumping heartbeats reached my head before ringing it. The quivering of my body continued nonstop and my body started aching all around while the practice room appeared at least two tis brighter like the whole world was sparkling.
Now I could sowhat tell what embedding emotions was about. Literally, it wasn’t about ‘casually’ putting in the emotions and I had to fully get imrsed in it. It might even require more concentration than when I was singing...
Feeling sothing that I had never felt during my entire life as an opera singer, I felt satisfied from deep within. Is this how it felt when people with bad eyesight got new glasses?
Lee Suh-ah glared at who was in a bright mood.
“This gifted bastard.”
Hearing that, I made an embarrassed expression. From her perspective, that wasn’t a strange response because, in her eyes, I might appear like a freshman student that could embed emotions like an old opera veteran... one of the so-called ‘gifted people’.
...But in fact, it was sothing I could not do during the twenty years of singing until Lee Suh-ah had pointed it out.
In embarrassnt, I quickly changed the topic.
“...Hey, that’s not sothing you can say right? In any case, I did figure out the thod to embed emotions but... I need to swing my feet here as well to make the song shine right? I need to be able to multitask...”
Hearing my complaints, she scoffed before standing up.
“It’s ten to 11. Let’s go.”
“Ah... you’re right.”
That was quick.
With a regretful heart, I packed up my stuff when Lee Suh-ah who had been watching opened her mouth.
“...It’s easy to learn how to multitask.”
“What?”
Seeing eager for an answer, she smiled faintly.
“Practice. Until it gets stuck in your body. Until your body can do it by itself without you thinking about it, practise. Then, you’ll be able to achieve both techniques and emotions.”
“...”
I blinked my eyes and smiled.
Right, the answer to everything was in practice. Complicated songs and difficult songs would one day be parts of your repertoire after continuous effort... that was what singing was about.
“Yeah. Let’s just practise and it would one day work out.”
“Yeah.”
Suddenly, lee Suh-ah clapped and smiled. It was a smile but with only one corner of her lips raised, in a cheeky manner.
“Ah! It might be impossible for you even if you do practise. Sorry in advance if that happens.”
“...What if I do pull it off?”
“If you do, you need to thank for helping you. What do you an ‘what if’?”
...It felt like all my gratefulness had been shattered.
“Annoying.”
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