CHAPTER 2: Somewhere Only We Know

“YG said that Bigbang will comeback this summer, but what? It’s even going to Winter, there’s no single sign..” I heard a girl was talking to her friend from across my table.

“Yeah that’s right! You know I’m dying waiting for their comeback.. Ah, that must be a huge success like Alive..” Her friend replied.

“Ah, I missed Alive Tour.. Do you still remember how Taeyang came down and torn his shirt in front of us?”

Kyaaaa... the sound of them screaming happily as they remembered what happened at the concert made me giggled.

Ah, I missed those memories too. Not Alive Tour, but another concert...

2nd year in High School, 2006

At the shift time between the end of our 1st year and the beginning of our 2nd year, my school held a music performance. And Sunggyu would be one of the performer with his band called Beat. It was my first time to attend that kind of concert. I came with Bomi and Doojoon, but even when the concert hasn’t start, Doojoon said, “Girls, I think I have to go.. There are a bunch of y girls there.. bye..” Heol. I chuckled to see how he looked at those girls like he looked at a bucket of fried chicken.

Since the people started to gather in front of the stage, Bomi and I followed them. And the concert began. I almost had a heart attack when the speaker made a ‘bomb’ sound near me. But then I got used to it. One by one the performers came on stage. And finally Sunggyu’s band was coming. I chuckled to see his hair. He made his hair looked like he got electrified. He wore a black T-shirt and torn up jeans. Oh my... I found myself shaking my head as I looked at him.

He started to introduce the band and the members. After a few minutes of opening, he started the first song.

I walked across an empty land. I knew the pathway like the back of my hand

I felt the earth beneath my feet. Sat by the river and it made me complete

That was the intro of Keane –Somewhere Only We Know. The first song from their debut studio album, Hopes and Fears in 2004. That song was a huge success and brought Keane to fame. But tonight, Kim Sunggyu screwed it up. How could he messed up the lyrics, land with hand, so it became ‘walked across an empty hand?’ Heol. And moreover his pronunciation was just so so bad. He shouldn’t sing an English song. And that was happened too in the second song, my favorite song, Nell-Goodnight. Maybe bbecause that song was the song who made me fall into music, so I love it the most. I put a high expectation towards anyone who sang that song. And Kim Sunggyu? Failed.

But the thing I just couldn’t understand the most was, the girls were screaming as they watched his performance. Huh? What are they doing? I could hear some girls even screaming Gyu’s name.

I suddenly turned my head to Bomi, and asked, “Why are they so crazy over Sunggyu? They didn’t know how Gyu was in the real life. He slept in class and watched at break time. Huh, I just don’t get it, Bomi..”

Bomi only replied with a laugh. I found myself shaking my head again.

-00-

The next morning, in the halfway, Gyu approached me.

“Bi ah... What do you think about my performance yesterday?” He asked excitedly.

But I simply answered with, “A...” while still walking.

“You gave me A? woah such a high mark!” He responded with a bright smile.

I stopped my walk, and said, “A from Awful...”

“What? Why?” He looked surprised to hear what I said.

“Don’t you realize you messed up the words on Somewhere Only We Know? And the second song...”

“Your favorite..” He cut my words.

“Yeah! Good Night, my favorite.. You were so far away from Kim Jongwan. You didn’t sound like him at all!” I complained

“Hahaha..” He responded with laugh and then said, “Okay, it was my mistake in Somewhere Only We Know, I’m not so good in English. But in Good Night, you want me to sound like Kim Jongwan? Of course I couldn’t do that, we are two different people..”

“You even change some notes.. aaah  how dare you to do that?” I still complained.

“That is called improvisation. If I sing perfectly like the way Kim Jongwan sing that song, then it won’t be fun, Bi.. And back again, I couldn’t perfectly sing like him, because it was a cover. Do you know what it means of COVER a song?” He was starting to get annoyed.

“And I don’t understand why those girls were screaming crazy over you.. If they know how you are in a real life, they would regret it..” I still, still had things to complain about.

“Hahahahaha...” He responded with laugh again, now a bit louder. “Okay, they could scream crazily over me was because they NOT see me as Sunggyu in the real life, but Sunggyu as a singer, that’s different Bi.. And they could do that because they were enjoying the performance....”

“I’m not!” I cut his words.

“Of course you’re not! You...” He stopped for a while to think the perfect words to say, and then he continued, “You didn’t let yourself free.. You built a border of yourself with a lot of regulations for what it called a perfect performance.. That’s not what they search for through a concert, they search for joy, and joy could be get if you open your mind..” Then he got closer to me, made a hand move in front of my face, like opening my mind while saying softly, “So open your mind, Bi ah..”

I found myself standing still looking at his back which get far away, still a bit mad.

-00-

I thought about what he was saying that noon. The words “So open your mind, Bi ah..” keep replaying in my head. Should I? Am I so narrow minded? How dare he said like that to me? Who does he think he is? I was angry, then worry, then angry again. Huh, he was definitely ruining my day. But yeah, I thought I had changed a bit after that. Somehow now, I looked at a problem not only from my point of view, but also from his point of view. So I got a larger frame of the problem view, and so did it change the comment which came out from my evil mouth.

-00-

In order to make my mind opened, Gyu even promised to take me to watch the concert out from school. But I just didn’t believe that day he waved the tickets of Pentaport Rock Festival*1 in front of me.

“Oh!!! How could you get that?” I said it as I couldn’t believe of what I saw.

“This is for you..” He gave me one of those tickets.

I accepted that ticket like it was a holy paper, and said, “This is for me? Oooh, thank you so much, Gyu..”

“Then it means you both were going to Seoul?” Bomi asked and Gyu nodded.

“Wait, I’m not sure my parents will allow me...” I said it sadly.

Doojoon simply responded with, “Just don’t tell them..”

I looked blankly at Bomi who gave a not-agree-smile, then turned to Gyu who gave an agree-smile, and Doojoon who gave why-not mimic.

I took a deep breathe and loosed it little by little, try debating what should I do with myself. And the result was, “Okay, we’re going to Seoul Gyu..”

-00-

I told my parents that I sleepover in Bomi’s house to study together since the next day we have a monthly test. And fortunately they said yes. Oh my, this was my first BIG LIE to my parents. But if I didn’t lie, then I was absolutely couldn’t watch Nell.. No no no!

I packed my uniform, books, and my other needs in my bag. I wore my plain maroon shirt, black jeans, my grey Adidas jacket, and of course my new Converse sneak