(Part 1?)

There was no melody like this one. So nostalgic yet mysterious, like it has a place in Seulgi’s entire life but it doesn’t. The song has only conquered her mind and heart for nine years and a few months (not that anyone’s counting), while she has lived a tranquil life of twenty-three years of age.  Riveting years at that, but none of those years would prepare her for the mystery of this song.

I’ll catch you up to speed on this bizarre story. If you can count (unlike me), you’d know that Kang Seulgi was only fourteen years of age, maybe late in her thirteen years, when she found this song. It all started with a move in, when Seulgi’s brother left to go to college and the Kangs were moving to another town. In all the mess of the attic, Seulgi found his old music player -- or what she thought was HIS. In reality, and I’ll tell you to save you the pain, it was an old music player that her brother stole from a friend when he was a young rascal and evidently he never returned it out of pure shame, or perhaps pride. Or maybe, just maybe, he hadn’t seen it since. Whatever the case, Seulgi found herself curious to listen to what her brother’s friend listened to. A bit intrusive, in hindsight, but Seulgi couldn’t keep that itch un-scratched. The latest hits of that era played and Seulgi couldn’t help but to find herself bopping and dancing to it. Then that song came, like a hurricane that swept through all the senses.

A sweet melody that echoed the past but amplified the future, a song that felt nostalgic but it was brand new. Yeah, a bizarre occurrence for sure! It tickled her ears with its sweet sounds and wouldn’t leave Seulgi’s mind no matter how hard she pushed it out of her thoughts.

So, the song, mysteriously labeled ‘Song 1’ by an unknown artist, was forming part of Seulgi’s life now. From the move in to the first day in her new school, from her first kiss to her first heartbreak; the song soothed the tears that flowed without a break and made the happy moments cozier and happier. The song became the soundtrack to her teenagehood, her life shaped beautifully with a background score that she still -- to this very day, age twenty-three -- knew virtually nothing of. The mysterious song had barely any lyrics, and the words spoken were barely understandable. Its language was a mystery but it touched the heart of young Seulgi well enough with its beautiful melody and intentions.

And, well, the heart of Bae Joohyun, who was (on this day) twenty-seven years old. It was more or less a similar story, just with the difference of age, but perhaps she had known this song for ten or eleven years by contrast. The tricky part is that she, herself, doesn’t necessarily remember where she heard of this song, just that she found it on her folder and hasn’t left her ever since. However, the song in her computer was named ‘Untitled 1’ rather than Song. Untitled became the title of this unknown song all on its own, at least subconsciously, and Joohyun never found any lead to who was the person who made this song. Granted, she was never a good sleuth in this kind of thing, and she didn’t even know where to begin looking, but the research she could do brought up no results.

But one day, she decided to let this curiosity drive her all the way in. She sat down and typed...

What was once just a forum post on the internet…

“Does anyone know what this song is called?”

… became a mystery, where treasures would be found and tons of curious people would weigh in.

The quiet café all turned around when Joohyun gasped. The seemingly quiet woman, just slightly hunched over her laptop (once stoically staring at it), suddenly displayed an emotion so strong in her body that she couldn’t stop herself from standing up briefly. The music that was playing, waltzing right into her ears, was the same song she had been listening to for ages. Nameless, just like it was on her phone but it was there. Someone knew of it and someone was also wondering about it.

The commenters found themselves baffled at how unfamiliar it sounded to them, how no one seemed to have a total clue, how there were no names being dropped anywhere and yet how it was so cozy and nostalgic. All of it was bewildering. It bewildered Joohyun enough to create an account and post what she knew best.

Her history with this mysterious song.

The fast typing had, once again, the quiet café wondering what was so shockingly important. Alas, they would never get their answers, returning to their own life and letting this fleeting moment pass, too.

Seulgi had been so anxious about possibly finding her answers that she had gone out for a walk after answering the first questions pouring into the forum post. Her jittery bones couldn’t shake off the tarantallegra, she needed to do more than just stay home and dance. That walk turned into a jog and the jog turned into a full on sprint. Yes, she even sprinted right in front of that quiet café in the middle of the busy town, unaware that the girl who just posted a brief synopsis of her history with this song was there, pale and also jittery.

Unable to contain herself.

Still, when she arrived home feeling a little more drained, she opened the forum to a lot of comments and posts which she couldn’t fathom. A lot of people were curious just like her, a lot of people needed to know. Some people even confessed having vaguely heard it once or twice, or that there was a strange but dim sense of nostalgia that they felt while hearing the song. Without realizing, this girl had started a scavenger hunt for a song that had been in her life for ages, yet she never felt compelled to look for this so ostentatiously. 

Then a very curious comment reached Seulgi’s eyes by mere chance amongst the myriad of comments and notifications flashing before her eyes. A long comment that was getting a lot of upvotes and responses, nothing negative but rather amusing.

It was perhaps the hazy situation that made Seulgi’s brain a little looser, throwing away a little bit of inhibition, but she clicked that username and sent a private message.

Unknown to both Joohyun and Seulgi, this would be the start of something wonderful.

Why did this feel like meeting a... long lost love?

Bae Joohyun thought to herself this question as she sat by the bench, surrounded by the crowded mall and the many different faces of this little town. Who would’ve known that in all her years living in this place she would come to be eternally grateful for it? Finally, a face that connected with her through a life experience nearly identical to hers. Perhaps not a friend yet, but something new to break off the monotony of her daily life. A beautiful Saturday afternoon like this one usually was one she lavished in the comfort of her squeaky couch and her hobbies. Rarely did she ever make the promise to meet someone up -- neither for a hook up nor to just pass the time. Parties, reunions or maybe just a casual visit from a friend, but never this. 

So, understandably, the feeling was so familiar, like a first date, but it was more than that. It felt bigger than that, like something she didn’t know was going to unleash from this.

She, somehow, felt the presence coming in the middle of the very busy crowd and the occasional group of friends traversing through the mall. She looked on to the ocean of people, and it was like a miracle when suddenly the crowd of people parted ways like Moses parted the red sea. In the middle of everything was a lanky, really pretty woman who was smiling nervously, though beautifully. She walked with grace in every step, moving so smoothly, and Bae Joohyun was in awe.

That was the very woman from the forums. Their fate was bizarre enough to be connected by a song no one has heard about or recognizes; their destinies bound by one tired artist’s song that may very well be over thirty years old and devoid of any meaning in this day and age. 

And yet.

Kang Seulgi finally set eyes on the hard-to-miss Bae Joohyun and smiled widely, skipping over excitedly.

Joohyun stood up and was met with a bear-like hug from this total stranger, who was giggling like she was meeting a long-time friend.

Did Seulgi feel the same fluttering nerves in her stomach? 

“It’s so good to see you!” Seulgi said, patting the still-stiff Joohyun in the back before pulling away. “I’m sorry, I--I’m just nervous, I don’t know how to act.”

So it would seem.

With a soft smile, Joohyun merely said: “I’m Bae Joohyun, nice to meet you Kang Seulgi.”

And so that gorgeous grin grew bigger. “It’s a pleasure to me as well!”

They both didn’t know it, but that’s how a long-standing friendship and an arduous search for a mysterious song would begin.