VII

The power of music works on everything. On the leaves, on the roses, on the wind and the sun. Music made everything move, at least a tiny bit, and that was the purest form of magic the humans have found. It tickles the human’s bones into a frenzy, like a magic spell casted upon every muscle and triggering a lovely mood running all around. The tarantallegra, what a seductive curse! What tantalizing consequences. And the special duo would come to find that it worked on their body too.

The evening had danced away and the two friends could only sleep for a few, quick hours. The sun hadn’t gotten ready to rise up either when these two were already playfully nudging and laughing away the morning, revving up their engine for the new adventure up the road. After all, shaking away the lethargy is the best way to fully wake up, and the mischievous bunny felt like teasing around the gargantuan bear and sneaking all around her. The happy bear lowered herself and acted more like a dog than a bear, trying to catch Joohyun before the sneaky bunny hopped fast out of the way, launching into the air for the briefest moments before landing way out of sight.

A playful ritual that suddenly launched, once again, into a race to see who was the fastest, running and taking long strides of faith across the stretching field and the intercepting paths. Running and running, the sun soon started to come out and somewhere not too far from where they were, a human woke up with a peaceful smile, greeting the day and grateful for it. By then, the bunny was sitting on the bear’s back, head tilted and inquisitively looking forward to the never ending road.

Blissfully unaware, not as far in the distance, stood the quaint little house with a lovely back porch facing the horizon and it’s never ending green. There, the human rocked in its rocking chair, watching the beautiful morning with a cup of coffee freshly brewed, steam dancing away from the rim and ready to warm up on this crisp morning. The lack of movement in the distance was strangely soothing, like nothing was coming to visit -- no animals, no wild winds or no horses which sometimes ran amok. She was no stranger to animals, but they were unpredictable (yet predictable) creatures not meant to be toyed with, unless they were babies in need of shelter and care. Yes, indeed, they were to be left alone to wander and she liked to get cozy at home and watch the simpler life of an animal. A life she came to adopt after moving away from the big cities and into the quiet country life.

It’s turned much quieter these days, with not many visitors from the neighboring town. She wondered what was happening, in fact. Strange to think that her answer would come in the form of two animals never meant to be together. And she certainly would have not guessed that the music from her little acoustic guitar would attract them.

When the cup of coffee was set down and the guitar sat on her lap, the morning birds sang along the soothing melodies Lee Sunmi skillfully played in her guitar, swaying alone and smiling like she did with the last sunset.

And from a distance, the bear and the bunny’s ears perked up. 

“What is that sound?”

“It’s like… singing?” Seulgi said softly and slowly, as if to not interrupt the concert. Her feet veered from their path, walking on its own, hypnotized by the lullaby. “Where does it come from? It’s not a bird.”

“Nuuu,” Joohyun shook her head. “That is not a bird, that’s a guitar!”

“A guitar? Is that an animal?”

“No, it’s an instrument. You use it to play a song.”

And that indeed sounded like a guitar to Joohyun’s floppy ears, a sweet little song at that. The bear suddenly went from walking at a moderate speed to running! Without any warning, too. The poor bunny held on tight to the silky smooth fur of Seulgi’s back, exclaiming loudly. “Hey, hey! Remember I’m back here!”

The lush, creamy green dashed past their eyes in a blur and suddenly the big vast field was reduced to nothing. The gradual yet barely noticeable climb up had the bear taken aback at the sudden exertion of effort, but she battled through -- encouraged by the angel’s lullaby and letting her curiosity drive her towards her desire. Then, in the blink of an eye, a quaint little house was just a walking distance away from them. Pristine and clean, nice and cozy, and the music got louder the more they ran towards it.

Sunmi continued to play with the guitar, letting her fingers strum away the melody while she was transported to a different time and a different world. Yes, she was unaware of the closing presence of that charming bear with a bunny clung to its back. Very, very unaware of the bear that suddenly walked around her house to see the show. All because she closed her eyes and watched a whole new world morph in the darkness. 

Kang Seulgi was stunned to see it. Joohyun reassured her it was the real deal.

A human! A real, live human!

It was fascinating, and even more fascinating was this magic trick they were doing, playing the guitar. There was no way to explain the sensation, the excitement.

There was no more to do than to sit down on the grass, at a safe distance, and enjoy the show. The bunny dropped to the floor and sat besides the swaying bear to enjoy the show, too. They weren’t transported like Sunmi was, but they could feel the chills running amok down their spines, the addictive melody making it hard to get distracted.

The melody got softer, beginning to slow down to a full stop--.

Then Sunmi opened her eyes.

A shriek travelled and echoed the field, enough to reach three very special friends splashing about under the bridge. Just a small stream with a small pond full of fresh water, usually undisturbed. But right now, everything shook at the high pitched sound.

“Woah,” Park Sooyoung, the grown, tall and fluffy chick said. “What was that?”

From under the water, the speedy turtle Kim Yerim and the hamster Son Seungwan both sprung up drenched and surprised, but curious.

“You guys heard that right?” Sooyoung asked, looking back at her friends.

“Was that a human?” Seungwan asked back, shaking away the water excess from her fur.

“Should we take a look?” Yerim asked as well, but instead of waiting for any response, she took off in the general direction of the sound, ever curious and intrigued.

Seungwan and Sooyoung looked at each other at first, unsure of whether or not to go, but Sooyoung’s cheeky smile instantly let Seungwan know that she was, in fact, going to have to play catch up. Especially when Sooyoung took off in a nanosecond!

For a turtle and a chick, the two were incredibly fast. And Seungwan was a bit clumsy by comparison.

But of course, they couldn’t help but to wonder…

What was that sound?