TWO

~| Go Toward the Sound! Seoyul is a Radio DJ? |~

On the next day, I arrived at the campus earlier than I supposed to be. I was planned to look around for at least one of Crescendo House’s members. I really needed an explanation about what had happened yesterday.

Honestly, I couldn’t get rid the thought of me being accepted as Crescendo House’s new member. It made me feeling anxious for the rest of the day. I knew that Crescendo House was very selective in choosing their members; not anyone could join their group. And I also knew that our school had many better musicians than me. But why did they pick me?

I really needed an answer.

Thinking that they might be doing their music, I tried to search for them on the music studios, practice rooms, even the music halls and auditorium. I also tried to look at them in classes and the campus ground, thinking that at least one of them were attending classes or hanging out at the campus during their free time. But after walking around the campus, I couldn’t get any sight of them.

Sigh. So much for my effort.

I took a look at my watch and found out that it was almost the time for my class. I heaved a sigh. Probably, I should give up looking for them and attended my class instead. Somehow I believed that I would see them eventually today, or probably any one of them.

As I stepped into my Fundamental Music class, the class had been filled by students. It made me a little regret for coming a little later than usual. I knew the class would be full since the teacher was one of the favorite teachers. Usually, I always came early to get a good seat. But I guessed I wouldn’t get it today. I heaved again and came to the only seat that was still empty. My step then stopped by a sight of a girl who sat beside the empty seat.

She was actually like the other girls at the class, wearing casual girl clothes. Her shoulder-length brunette hair was loosened although she tied her bangs; probably it was because her bangs were bothering her. A rounded frame glasses was stuck before her eyes. But it struck me to think that she somehow felt like homely girl. I really didn’t know if someone could actually go and attend a class with that look.

She turned her head at me and a smile bloomed on her face. “Oh, Daniel. Hello,” she greeted me. I nodded my head at her to reply her greet. “Hello, Lee Jieun-ssi.”

It seemed that my way to call her had amused her. She chuckled as I placed my bag on the seat beside her and sat. “IU is fine. You can call me like that.” I only nodded and said awkwardly, “Ah, okay.”

Somehow, I felt a little awkward to know that I had never known that I attended the same class with her. I looked around for a moment and back at her, thinking that I might not notice because of that plain look of hers. She was propping her chin while looking at me. “But I never know that we attend the same class.” I admitted shyly.

She smiled again. “No wonder. Look around and see how packed this class is. I’m not sure you will notice my presence here unless you already know that I’m attending the class as well.” I then noticed her gaze falling to my bag. “Do you not bring your violin today?”

I shook my head to reply. “No, I left it at my car. I’ll take it later before I went to orchestra practice.”

An expression of amusement came to her face. “Wow, you join our school’s orchestra? It must be great.” It made me feeling embarrassed to hear her praise. “Thank you very much. But I’m not actually THAT great.”

A playful pout came to her face when I said it. “Aigoo, you really don’t know how hard it is to join the school orchestra for the first year students, do you?” Eh. But she just smiled. “Not an ordinary student could pass the School’s Orchestra test. Some of my friends tried the audition and failed miserably.” Then she added. “And to be acknowledged by Seoyul-unnie as well, it means that you have great talent.”

The same goes to you, I thought because IU had passed as Crescendo House’s member even before myself. But it reminded me that I had an important question to Crescendo House. “Say, IU-ssi. Can I ask you something?”

“Go ahead.”

“Yesterday when Seoyul walked me out from the hall, she welcomed me to Crescendo House. Do you know what it means?”

A smile bloomed again on her face. “It means what she has said literally.”

“Does it mean that I was accepted as Crescendo House’s member?”

She just nodded. “Yup.” She popped the ‘p’.

“Why me?”

Finally the question that had been hanging around for a while came out from my mouth. IU pursed her lips as if she was thinking before she finally talked. “Well, perhaps because of your talents. Yesterday, you have passed our test in arranging music. I must admit that your instinct, sense and response in following Unnie’s lead are outstanding. You know precisely what she wants.”

Her answer made me frown. “What do you mean?”

IU heaved silently and leaned back to her seat. “I don’t know whether you realized it or not. But Crescendo House members are actually not only good in singing and playing music. We also need to do our own arrangement for our covers. Sometimes, what we’re done is something like what we did yesterday; one of us will suddenly sing and the rest of us will have to fill in the music with whatever instruments that we have or even the voice layers. That’s why we need to have high sense, sharp instinct and quick wit as part of Crescendo House.” She smiled. “And you have proven that have them all yesterday.”

I wanted to ask more. But too bad that the teacher came in and interrupted our conversation. I only heaved silently and prepared my books for the lesson. I guessed I would need to be patient for the answer.

“Daniel.” I heard IU calling me softly. I turned my gaze at her. “Yes?” “If you really want to know why you were accepted as our new member, I think only Seoyul-unnie can answer it.”

I frowned to hear it. “Why?”

She took a glance to the teacher. “Because…” she leaned her body slightly toward me, “…she’s the one who personally recommended you to join our group.”

“Really?”

It seemed that I was speaking a little bit louder because the teacher called me afterward. “Mr. Jang.” I turned at him. “Is there something that you want to say here?”

I quickly shook my head. “Ah, no. There’s nothing, Sir. I’m sorry.”

I looked back at IU; she only smiled apologetically in return. “We’d better stop talking. But I assure you that it must be because of your skills. You’re a great musician, whether you realize it or not.” She smiled again then turned her gaze to the front; it was a sign if she wanted to concentrate to the lesson rather than to talk with me.

So I let her be. Besides, honestly, I was the type of student who listened to his teacher better than the others. Yeah, I was one of those exemplary students at the school.

But after the class ended, I noticed IU packing her stuffs in hurry. Perhaps she realized my presence and that I might need to talk with her more so she turned at me and said, “Sorry. I have to leave right now because I have a study group to attend.”

It reminded me that Crescendo House’s members were also a normal student despite their popularity amongst the musicians. “Ah, okay.”

“See you.” She waved at me then turned to walk away.

“IU,” I called her again since I remembered to ask about Seoyul’s whereabouts. She stopped and turned back at me. “Do you mind to tell me where Seoyul-ssi is right now? I think I need to talk with her.”

Her lips parted as if she wanted to say something. But she hadn’t said anything yet since the intro for the School’s radio Noon broadcast was heard on the speakers all around the campus. Then a cheerful voice of a girl was heard.

“Good day, everyone. I really hope that you have pleasant classes. And now, you’re back with me again to enjoy your lunch with the Noon Broadcast.”

That was the greeting intro that had always been said in the beginning of the broadcast. But I noticed that IU’s expression became brighter as she heard the voice. She looked back at me. “If you want to find Seoyul-unnie…” she then pointed her index finger up, “…just follow the sound.”

Then she left, making me frowning and wondering what she actually meant with her words. I looked up and I could only see the ceiling speaker; it was where the broadcast could be heard. Somehow realization struck on my mind. I suddenly understood what IU meant. I quickly packed my books and pen then went out from the class.

Seriously, I had never listened to the Broadcast carefully before. I always thought that the Broadcast was somehow annoying so I always ignored it and chose to practice on the practice room; the only place where the broadcast couldn’t be heard because it was sound-proof; or to hang out with my friends at the campus ground.

The Noon Broadcast itself was always relied on noon for thirty minutes during the lunch break period. It was actually part of the Broadcast Department’s activities. They had their own radio station that you could hear through the radio channel and the School let them doing broadcast internally on lunch break. I also noted that the DJ of the Noon Broadcast, whoever she was, had never mentioned her name on every broadcast. So I had never known who she was.

But since IU said that I would need to follow the sound, I couldn’t help to think that the broadcaster on the Noon Broadcast was none other than Seoyul. As I walked toward the Broadcast Department, I felt certain that it was Seoyul’s voice. The voice had the same cheerfulness and the same characteristic with Seoyul’s voice.

The Broadcast Department was the place that I had never visited before. It was a place where students learnt about broadcasting, how to become a broadcaster, MC, VJ or even radio DJ. Years ago, it used to be a part of the Performing Art department but it separated itself after they got plenty students applying. The building itself was built later than the Music Department. I had passed the place or just seen it from a far. But I had never come to the place because I never had some business here. So I basically knew nothing about the building, or more specifically I didn’t know where the Radio Station room was.

It was why I thought I would need to stop someone and ask for direction, in which I did. But it turned out that finding the Radio Station room wasn’t as hard as I thought earlier. There was a direction panel that a kind student had showed me. The Radio Station room was listed on it and I only needed to follow the sign.

Sigh. I felt like I was the most stupid person in the world.

I went up to the Radio Station room as it was located on the fourth floor of the building. There was a sign on the door of the room so I couldn’t make mistakes.

As I entered the door, I found that the place was similar to the recording studio on the Music Department. It had two rooms that separated by a wall with a sound-proof window on it. The one that located on the far side of the room was the recording room. Seoyul was there behind the table that filled with papers, laptop and monitor, control panel and headphones; there was another girl with her in the room as an operator. The other was where the main control panel located with the ON AIR sign was lit above the door that connected to the recording room. There were five people on the room. Three of them were bringing scripts on their hand while the other two were sitting on the mixer table. I guessed that they were broadcast students who worked as the staffs at the Broadcast Station and they were looking at me when I entered the room. I only bowed at them.

“Is there anything I can help?” A guy asked me as he came closer. It seemed that he got higher authorities since I saw him instructing the other staffs back to work before he approached me.

“Ah. I want to see Ahn Seoyul.”

“Aaa…” He took a quick look at the recording room then back at me. “Just wait for a moment, okay. She’s still on air.”

I just nodded. “Okay.” Then I looked back at her behind the glass window.

Seoyul was doing her broadcast with her usual cheerful attitude. Her hair was tied partially. I took a note that she had a medium long hair to her back. But that hair style made her looking more feminine and mature. I heard that she was reading a sad email about a couple that broke up. It was probably sent by one of the listeners as they requested their favorite songs. She then made a concerned expression after reading the email and started to give some advices regarding the problem. I noticed that she took her phone and looked at it for a moment while talking. It amazed me to see how she could keep her concentration on broadcasting while looking at her phone.

“Okay, enough with the sadness. Now, let us listen to the requested song. And as a bonus, I will also play one of my favorite songs. I dedicate the song to Miss KTY. I hope the song can cheer you up. So enjoy.”

I heard Seoyul talking from the speaker on the control room then a love song was played. I then saw her lowering her headphone and leaning back on her swivel chair while stretching her back with her hands up. At the moment, she looked up and saw me. Her expression brightened and she waved at me. She took her phone as standing up from her chair and came to the door. So I approached the recording room door.

The door opened and she came out. She was using white shirt with tank top underneath, jeans pencil skirt and boots. Those were looking good on her lean body. “Hi,” she greeted cheerfully as she approached me. “It’s nice to see you again. What are you doing here?”

“I come to see you.”

Her smile became wider. “Me? Why?”

“Can we talk? I want to ask you something.”

“Aaaa.” A regret expression came to her face first. “I only have five minutes break because of the songs. But can you wait for a while? We can talk after this.” She then paused as she remembered about something. “You don’t have another class after this, do you?”

I shook my head. “No.”

Her expression brightened again. “Good. Then, have a lunch with me.” And without waiting for my reply, she turned. “Yoojin, I just got conformation for 7PM segment’s guest.” She then left me to talk with the guy that was welcomed me earlier.

But as I had told her, I could wait for her. Besides, the Noon Broadcast would end in less than ten minutes. Before Seoyul returned to the recording room, she told the staffs that I was her guest and they needed to be nice at me. The guy, Yoojin, turned at me after Seoyul came back to her chair in the recording room.

“The broadcast will be ended soon. I hope you don’t mind to wait for a while. You can look around or sit there if you want to,” he told me while politely pointed at the sofa. I looked at it and nodded. “Thank you.” He then left afterward to handle the broadcast.

Instead of sitting at the sofa, I looked around. My attention fell on few pictures hanging on the wall. It seemed that those pictures were pictures of their activities, the staffs and the radio DJs, including Seoyul. Aside of their regular radio broadcast, they were also doing off-air events, for our school or another parties. I could see the DJs doing MC’s work on several pictures. There were also pictures of celebrities posing along with the DJs. I was guessing that those were mementoes of their activities.

As I looked at those pictures, I noticed that most of the pictures had Seoyul on them. It made me wondering. Could Seoyul be their star DJ?

But surely, Seoyul had most portion of the MC work on the pictures.

“Admiring our Wall of Fame?”

The female voice startled me. I turned and saw Seoyul behind me. She smiled at me; her bag was slung on her shoulder. But I wondered why she was there while her broadcast supposed to end in minutes later. “I thought you’ll be out in…” I looked at my watch, “… five minutes.”

She just shrugged. “Well, two songs and another DJ shift can do the work for me.”

I turned my gaze at the recording room and saw another girl there, preparing while Yoojin talked with her. It seemed that she was the DJ for the next segment and Yoojin was giving her a short brief. I looked back at her. “Is it fine?”

She nodded. “This is how we usually do. Besides, when the songs ended, another segment will be started. So my Noon Broadcast segment is officially ended here. Don’t worry about it.” She then spun me around and rounded her arm on mine. “Let’s go.” She dragged me out from the Radio Station, leaving me no other choice than to leave with her.

After asking my opinion for a place to talk and answering it her own, we came to the campus cafeteria. Both of us got lunch for ourselves; I remembered that I actually hadn’t eaten. I noticed that there weren’t plenty of people at the cafeteria on that moment. I assumed it because when we got there, the lunch break was almost over.

“So…” Seoyul’s voice brought my attention back to her. She was sitting across of me. “What do you want to talk about?”

“My acceptance to Crescendo House.” I paused for a while to see her reaction. She seemed to have predicted about it. “Earlier, I met IU-ssi and she explained to me why I got accepted. She told me that I have high sense, sharp instinct and quick response in filling the music to your lead.”

She seemed to agree. “Yes. And you are also dared to improvise. It surprised me but it was very good.”

“But why me? There are plenty of better musician than me in this school but you pick me.” Suddenly something that she said yesterday came back to my mind. “And you told me that you happened to see me. May I know when or where you saw me before?”

She only smiled and took out her phone. “To answer your questions,” she said as she swiped her finger on her phone, looking for something in there. When she had found what she was looking for, she stood up and walked around the table to my side. She sat on the empty chair beside me and looked at me. “I believe you have to see this.”

She turned her phone screen at me and touched the screen. A video was played on the phone. It was very familiar video for me because it was a video of mine, covering Christina Perri’s A Thousand Years song with another violinist that I knew through the internet. It made me dropped my jaw. I couldn’t believe that she was actually seeing my cover online and I was more surprised to know that she had my video on her phone.

“How—“

“I happened to come across your cover video once when I searched for violin covers. So I looked into your online video channel. Amongst all your covers, this one is the one that gained my interest the most. It’s very well-played.” She explained while the video was playing.

I shifted my gaze back at her. “But it’s only a cover of a cover of a song.”

She nodded in reply. “True. But the harmony that you made is very precise. Not anyone can make the harmony like yours. Besides, your arrangement for your other covers is brilliant. It’s a great idea to make an upbeat song to be slower. It feels different.” Her gaze was still fixed to the video and a gentle smile bloomed on her face. “I really enjoy the music that you made.”

For a moment, when I saw her gentle smile, I felt something tingling within me. But I chose to ignore it. “But every violinist can do it. I think most of the violinist on our School Orchestra can do it. Have you tried to see our Orchestra’s Concertmaster? She’s good.”

By then, she lifted her gaze on me. “No. Believe me. I’ve checked every potential violinist on this school including our concertmaster. But they’re all failed to impress me. I even didn’t feel anything when I saw Taylor’s cover. So you’re the only one that I think will fit to become our new addition.”

Honestly, her words really surprised me. It made me thinking whether she really has the time to check every violinist on this school or not. She even degraded our concertmaster, in which I always believed that she was one of the great young violinists that I ever knew. But Seoyul didn’t think her as great as I used to think. So I didn’t know whether I had to think if she was still better or I was better now, although I felt honored to know that Seoyul thought of me highly.

“Yaa, Junhyung.”

The name made me lifting my gaze. I saw Seoyul raising her hand and waved. When I followed her gaze, I saw Junhyung on the cafeteria’s door. It seemed that he was looking for Seoyul before she called him. Seoyul took her phone back and closed the video application as the guy approached us and sat on the chair across of me.

He smirked teasingly when he saw me then back to Seoyul. “No wonder you’re ended your broadcast sooner than usual.”

Seoyul’s expression dropped and she glared at Junhyung. “Yah, even the top star of the Radio Club wants to be lazy sometimes.” She seemed to protest. But Junhyung only chuckled in return while taking Seoyul’s drink. “I understand,” he said.

It made me smile to see how amusing it was when the two were bickering. I could see that Seoyul and Junhyung were close. But when I saw Junhyung taking a sip from Seoyul’s cup, my expression was somehow dropped. I knew that I might suppose to tease them, but instead, uncomfortable feeling suddenly rushed inside of me.

“By the way, how’s the video from yesterday’s session?” Seoyul’s question brought me back to reality.

“Video? What video?” I looked back and fro between Junhyung and Seoyul.

“Ah, we recorded our new cover yesterday,” Seoyul replied.

Somehow, the thought of our session yesterday came across my mind. I remembered that there was a video recorder yesterday. I thought they didn’t turn it on when we did Lea Michele’s To Love You More cover. I felt panic suddenly. “Huh? You didn’t mean the video of my test yesterday, did you?”

A bright smile came on Seoyul’s face when she heard what I had said. “Ah, that’s a good idea.” She then turned to Junhyung. “Do you think we can include To Love You More cover as well? It’ll be good for Daniel’s first introduction.”

Shoot, it seemed that I had given her an idea instead of preventing one. “Wa-wait. It’s not a well-prepared cover. Everything happened so spontaneously. I also made some mistakes. And I don’t think the cover good enough.”

I saw Junhyung sharing a look with Seoyul before he looked back at me with a mischievous smirk on his face. “Actually, it’s good enough to be released.” Junhyung seemed to disagree with me. “I have watched it earlier and I don’t think anyone will notice your mistakes if there’s any.” Somehow Junhyung left an impression as if he had considered that my performance yesterday was flawless.

I became speechless. I always thought Junhyung had more sense in music than me. He was Crescendo House’s arranger and mastermind, or so I thought. So when he said that I didn’t make any mistakes, it made me thinking that I was making no mistakes at all. It was a compliment for me. But the thought of having my spontaneous performance on their video channel was making me embarrassed.

“But I really think that we should edit the video, using better audio version,” I suggested.

Junhyung inhaled. “Crescendo House never uses edited video.” He reminded me.

My tongue got tied again. Damn, I forgot about it. It was one of many things that I admired from Crescendo House; the fact that they always used one-take recording videos on their video channel. They really played instrument and sang live on their videos. So whenever they made mistakes, they would repeat the recording from the beginning. I would never stop feeling amazed with it because I didn’t have much confident to do the same.

“So, it’s decided,” Seoyul said brightly. “We will release two videos tonight.”

Another shock for me and Junhyung seemed to agree with her. So I couldn’t go against their decision. Because, I always assumed that Junhyung and Seoyul would hold the final decision as they were the founders and the oldest members of the group.

Then I noticed Seoyul’s phone vibrating. She looked at it and grinned reluctantly. “Job’s calling.” She looked at Junhyung. “I need to pick this call.”

Junhyung only nodded. “Okay.” Seoyul then stood up and went away to pick the call. I only looked at her as she came out from the cafeteria and answered the call outside.

“So…” Junhyung’s voice made me looking back at him. “I believe that you have talked with Seoyul about why you were picked as our new member, right.”

I nodded. “Yes. She has explained it to me.”

“I hope you’re not surprised.”

I was surprised. I leaned forward. “But... have you ever told her about me?”

“Not really,” he replied. “One day, she suddenly came with your video and showed it to me. I told her that you’re attending the same class with me and she wanted me to invite you for a test. She really can be very persistent, you know.”

“She said that she happened to find my cover.”

Junhyung only smiled knowingly. “Seoyul likes to surf on the internet for song covers’ idea. No wonder if she can find your videos.”

“She also said that every violinist in this school has failed to impress her. How could it be? I know better violinists than I am. I still don’t understand.”

Junhyung smirked and leaned forward. “Did Seoyul tell you that she has checked upon every violinist in this school?” I nodded. “Well, you should trust her. She really did checking on them. But I guess no one left impression as you did.”

“How?”

Junhyung shrugged. “I think that she feels something different from you.” A corner of his lip tugged upward. “And yesterday’s session has proven that she’s right.”

“What do you mean?”

“You know that some people are born with natural talents in music, right. And no matter what, people who learn music technique like us will never surpass them. Seoyul is one example. She’s a natural singer. And her talent in music is more than just a singer. Within Crescendo House, she holds the most important role.”

But I was still frowning, didn’t actually understand about what he meant. “I still don’t get it. What important role?”

He slightly chuckled. “Well, you’ll understand about it soon enough.” He leaned back. “Tomorrow we will have a gathering to discuss our next cover. You have to come. I’ll text you where we will meet later. In the meantime, why don’t you try to find any song that you want to do for our new cover?” He stood up. “I need to go now because I will have a class soon.”

I just nodded as a reply.

“And welcome to Crescendo House.” He winked at me and walked away.

On his way out, he stopped when he crossed paths with Seoyul. They were talking for a while. Perhaps Junhyung was telling her why he left in hurry and that I supposed to come on their discussion tomorrow; that was what I assumed because I saw him taking a quick look at me. But then, I saw Junhyung ruffling Seoyul’s hair and Seoyul brushed his hand away while complaining. I quickly dropped my gaze, feeling somewhat uncomfortable again. Just as I thought, they might be a couple.

I raised my gaze when I saw Seoyul returned to the seat across of me. “How’s the talk with Junhyung?”

“He told me about the discussion tomorrow. He will tell me the place later.”

“Hee…” She pouted. “Junhyung knows your number?”

I wanted to say ‘yes’ but she already offered her phone at me. I looked up at her, wondering the meaning of her action.

“Give me your number as well.”

“You can ask Junhyung.”

She pouted her lips again. “Junhyung will never give me.” Her pout turned into a smile. “So tell me.”

I just heaved a sigh, thinking whether she was really older than me or not. But Junhyung was right; Seoyul could be very persistent and I found myself unable to refuse her, especially with those rounded and sparkling eyes of her. I took her phone from her hand and put my number on her phone book. I returned the device afterward.

“Thank you,” she said rhythmically while looking at her phone. She then seemed to remember about something. “Ah, yeah. You’re also needed to find any song that you want to do for our new cover, right?” I just nodded. “Do you have any idea?”

I gave a thought for a while. But somehow the thought of Junhyung and Seoyul as a couple kept appearing in my mind. It was bothering me. So I shook my head. “Not yet.”

She smiled. “Don’t worry. You’ll find it later.” She took her drink and sipped it, without even bothered if she was actually using the same straw with Junhyung. “I have to go now. I actually have a class on 1 PM.”

I took a quick glance at my watch. 1 PM is five minutes away. “Will you not be late?”

“I will definitely late,” she said in full confident. So? “But the teacher is kindly enough to give us fifteen minutes grace period before the lesson really begins. So I really need to go now.” She took her bag and dropped her phone there before standing up. “See you tomorrow, okay.”

“Okay.” I then saw her walking away. I lowered my gaze and stopped at the glass that Seoyul and Junhyung shared earlier.

Through their videos, I always assumed that Junhyung and Seoyul might share close relation. I always considered that their duets were perfectly fit, as if they knew perfectly what each other wanted. I knew that they had known each other for long. Sometimes, I thought that both of them were a couple. And when I saw them sharing a glass together, something inside of me told me that my assumption was right.

But why did I feel a slight pang inside?

~ooOOOoo~

Author(s) Note:

Thank you for reading this story and I really hope you enjoy it until the very last. I'm very sorry for any grammar mistakes.
I will try to update as frequent as possible but I'll give you my best. ;)
Any suggestion and questions are very welcomed. Feel free to ask me from the comment box or via my Twitter @AFFalize_sakura ! :3

PS: for the video that Seoyul showed to Daniel, you can also see it here. Just scroll down...