SinB worked tirelessly on her project for days, and still something wasn’t quite right. She tried shifting the chords up an octave, but that didn’t help. She altered the pitch of her bassline, with no success. She even merged the tracks more to get some complexity to the piece, and yet it was still lacking. She let out a groan as she hit the stop button for what felt like the fiftieth time that day. She rubbed her temples and pushed the chair away from the mixing desk. This was becoming infuriating.

After staring at the timeline for another few minutes she decided that she’d need some help. She decided that the best person to ask would be Miss Kim, seeing as she was a music teacher. She left her belongings in the room as she wandered around the empty block to the teacher’s office. She knocked once and as she entered, Yuju sidestepped out of her way. “Hey, SinB. Everything okay?” SinB smiled back.

“Yuju unnie. Hey. I’m pretty good thanks.” She turned towards the teacher sat at her desk, looking expectantly at her. “Ummm… Miss, I umm…. I was wondering… I kinda need some help… and I was wondering… wondering if I could get your opinion on something?” she stuttered out. The teacher smiled genuinely back at her.

“Of course, SinB. What can I help you with?” she was, as always, warm and approachable and it made SinB glad that she worked in the music department so she could ask for help.

“It’s ummm for my music thingy. I feel like I’m stuck in a rut, and just wanted your advice to give me some kind of direction on how to progress. If you aren’t too busy that is?” the woman stood up excitedly, her eyes shining brightly as if SinB had just offered her top prize in the lottery.

“Of course. I’d love to finally hear this work of genius you’ve devoted so much time towards.” She was already in the corridor, looking expectantly at the student, ready to go. SinB hadn’t noticed Yuju still in the doorway, quietly watching and listening. The older girl grabbed SinB’s wrist as she awkwardly tried to pass her.

“Would you mind if I came too?” her smile was shy. SinB’s face lit up.

“Of course I wouldn’t, unnie. I’ve done some major reconstruction on it since you last heard it, so I was kinda hoping that I’d be able to show you at some point… you know… because you’ve seen it develop up until now…” a blush began to creep up both girls’ cheeks- SinB’s because she couldn’t believe how awkward she could be, Yuju’s because she couldn’t help but think that SinB was adorable when she was trying not to seem excited. Yuju held onto to SinB’s wrist as they made their way back to the practice room. SinB pulled out the chair from under the desk and offered it to Miss Kim before handing Yuju the chair that was tucked in the corner. “I feel like something isn’t quite right about it. I wanted to know how you feel about it from like an audience perspective, to see whether I’m just being overly-hard on myself.” Both members of her audience nodded as she turned towards the screen to press the play button. Music slowly built up and filled the room- without headphones, SinB thought it had a totally different feel to it- it wasn’t necessarily a bad feeling, but she still got the sense that it was lacking.

After it played through entirely, Miss Kim wheeled her chair over to the desk and gave SinB a look. “May I?” she said with her hand hovering over the mouse. SinB could only nod. She was unable to read the teacher’s stoic expression, and couldn’t find words. She glanced over at Yuju who gave her a warm smile and a thumbs up. Miss Kim suddenly pressed play and the music began to fill the room all over again. SinB couldn’t help but get lost in the musical progressions and the rhythm. With a glazed expression, her eyes landed on Yuna, who still sat quietly in the corner, completely focused on what she was hearing. As the last notes echoed around the room Miss Kim spun the chair so quickly that SinB thought her heart jumped out of her chest from fright. There was a huge grin on the teacher’s face, which contagiously spread to SinB too. “This is remarkable. I’ve never heard anything like it, but I can’t say that’s a bad thing. This is truly wonderful. However, I do see what you mean when you say it isn’t quite perfect. It’s like you needed to be dealt a seven, but instead life dealt you a five- it’s not bad, it just isn’t as good as it could be. I think, maybe what you need is stronger vocals- not that there’s anything wrong with using the originals, but where you’ve implemented a heavier bassline, especially during the transitions, you need a vocalist who is able to match that. For me, the original vocals just aren’t up for the job. You get me?” there was a questioning intonation in her voice as if she expected some kind of response, but SinB wasn’t quite sure what to say. Thinking about the feedback, she thought she understood where the teacher was coming from, and the theory made sense, but what she didn’t know was where she could find a vocalist who could outdo professionals. She stood flabbergasted for a moment before being able to string some words together.

“Thank you for the amazing compliments, Miss Kim, it really does a lot for me. However, I’m not sure where I’m supposed to find another vocalist, especially one who can outperform the professionals” she tried to be diplomatic with her response, and polite. Miss Kim let out a knowing smile, it was the kind of smile that a child pulls when their parent fails to guess what their good news is and they’re so excited to reveal their latest achievement.

“I’m not saying you need someone to outperform professionals, SinB. I’m saying, rather than thinking about the composition as a combination of original songs, maybe you should move away from that and think about it as your own work. You’ve changed so much about it, that maybe changing the vocalist would give it a sound to match what you’ve already got, put your own stamp of originality on it. And I think I might just know who you can ask for help…” her eyes flitted over to the corner in which Yuju was sat. The girl sat up a little straighter now that there was attention on her. She gave off a small, shy smile. SinB smiled warmly at the girl, remembering well the powerful vocals she heard from Yuju only a week ago.

Yuju turned beet red and bowed shyly. “I…. ummm… I… don’t know what to say… I’m flattered, Miss, that you think I could be of help, but I don’t think I have the talent SinB needs in order to perfect her piece. But thank you kindly for your humbling words of recommendation.” SinB thought maybe she was mistaken then, maybe it hadn’t been Yuju in her practice room last week. Miss Kim made a ‘pssh’ noise and waved her hand dismissively.

“Now, now Miss Choi, we both know that isn’t true. Even if you don’t believe in yourself, I have total confidence that you have what SinB needs. It’s up to you both really, but SinB” she said turning to face the younger girl “I genuinely believe that this girl has the voice you’re looking for” her smile was warm, and friendly. SinB looked across the room to smile at Yuju. She quirked an eyebrow as if she’d asked her a question, and she could see the internal struggle the older girl was having.

“Fine!” she heaved out a deep breath. “If you really want my help, SinB, I’ll sing for you” she looked down in embarrassment, and spoke the words more towards the ground than the other girl, but she’d heard them.

“Thank you thank you thank you. You won’t regret this. And thank you so much Miss Kim for recommending her” SinB was oozing with excitement and was struggling to contain herself. The teacher grinned in amusement at the antics of the girls.

SinB was at home afterschool, resting and doing some homework, when she got a text from the unknown number from a few weeks ago.

From: XXXXX XXX 103 (17:37): Hey. Are you busy? Xo she stared at the text for a moment. “XO? Who in the world puts xo at the end of a text anymore?” she heaved a sigh before typing out a reply. She still had no idea who this person even was.

To: XXXXX XXX 103 (17:38): Hi, no not particularly. Are you? After a moment, her phone signalled another text. She put down her pencil and picked it up.

From: XXXXX XXX 103 (17:40): Haha, I wouldn’t be asking if I was, silly. Can I ask you something? Xo SinB reread the message twice, three times before replying.

To: XXXXX XXX 103 (17:42): Sure. What’s up? She really wasn’t buying into the hugs and kisses, but it didn’t seem to stop whoever was at the other end. She continued working on her maths homework while keeping an eye on her phone.

From: XXXXX XXX 103 (17:43): Will you meet me at the park this evening? Xo She panicked. She’d been taught since she was able to walk to never take things from strangers, to never talk to strangers, and most certainly to never meet with people she’d met online unless a responsible adult was present. “Yerin. She’s a responsible adult!” She picked up her phone and called both Yerin and Yewon via their group chat. Both girls picked up within a couple of rings.

“SinB? What’s going on? You never use the group call feature” Yewon said, worry clearly evident in her tone.

“Has something happened?” Yerin asked. She was already in parent mode.

“Nothing’s wrong. I guess I just need some advice. You remember that number that called me a few weeks ago? Well they’re back. They just texted me asking to meet in the park. What do I say?” she spoke quickly, evidently worried. The other girls were silent for all of a heartbeat before jumping in.

“Well… what do you want to do?”

“If you want to go and meet them, we can be there too, subtly of course. We can make sure that nothing shady happens, and that you don’t get abducted.”

“Yewon! Don’t scare her. Just because you’ve been watching too many movies again doesn’t mean that’s how real life works. SinB, if you want to meet them, we can be there and make sure nothing weird is happening, but if you don’t want to just tell whoever it is that you’ve got some homework to do”

“Yeah! Didn’t you say that you have a massive project due for the computer science department next week?”

“Oh god. I forgot about that. Thanks for the reminder Yewon! What do you guys think I should do?”

“Well, if it was me I’d find out what it’s all about first. And then if it seems trivial and you don’t want to go, just make up an excuse. If it was me, I’d probably throw one of your names out there and say I need to be a responsible unnie and help you out.” Yewon could be heard to be chuckling before exclaiming

“Yah! Jung Yerin! Do all of your friends think we’re incompetent or something? How many times have you used our names to get you out of stuff?”

“Only once or twice. Only when Sojung unnie wants help with her homework. You know how much I hate literature” Yerin explained.

“Not Sojung unnie! So now she thinks I’m some kind of helpless kid?! Now I have no hope in Hell of courting her!” Yewon sounded desperate, delated. SinB made a mental note to ask about Sojung later.

“Not helping guys. As much as I appreciate the distraction, I still don’t know what to do”

“Right. Sojung unnie is not the problem for now. We’ll discuss that later unnie! If I were you SinB unnie, I wouldn’t go. It could be any kind of cyber troll, or a cat-phish” Yerin could be heard to be facepalming from her line

“SinB, find out what it’s about first and then assess the situation from there. If you still don’t want to go, you have a valid excuse- your project- if you do want to go, we can be there subtly to make sure everything goes okay. You’re a rational individual, I trust your judgment. Keep us updated with what’s happening” what Yerin said made a lot of sense.

“Okay. Thanks Umji, but I think I’ll take Yerin’s advice this time. Thanks guys. I’ll let you know what’s going on” after promising to let them know what she was going to do once she figured it out herself, she wished them goodbye and hung up.

To: XXXXX XXX 103 (17:52): Is it important? Because I have stuff that I should be doing, but was putting off.

From: XXXXX XXX 103 (17:52): It is to me xo

She blinked before rereading the message again. She couldn’t really put this off. Whoever it was, really needed her.

To: XXXXX XXX 103 (17:54): Okay. I can be there in 20 minutes.

From: XXXXX XXX 103 (17:55): :) xoxo

She immediately put a message in the group chat she had with her friends: Guys, I agreed to meet them in 20 mins. Be there if you want. Before she even had time to put the phone back down she got through three messages in quick succession

Umji: Where?

          I’ll be there

Yerin: Sure. Park. 20 minutes. See you there ;)

She knew she could always rely on her friends for support.

Author's note: Hey guys, I'm back. I'll keep this extra short today because I'm actually planning on doing a double update for you guys (I know, something must be going on!) I've actually got something to say to you guys (my faithful readers) so I wanted to give you something to get excited about first. Next chapter should be up in a little while, once I've finished writing it.

As always, thanks everyone for subscribing to Work of Art it makes it worthwhile for me to continue writing. I appreciate comments with feedback (including CONSTRUCTIVE criticism) if you guys want to have some kind of say in what's going on, and also I love to hear what you guys are thinking. Take care. I'll be back later ;)