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Is it summer soon...? I should get my summer uniform ready.

I was appreciating the sound of leaves touching each other when the doors were shoved open as teacher Kang Heewon appeared from behind.

“Please get seated everyone!”

Glancing at her, I found out that she was holding onto something. It seemed like a folder from how it appeared to be made of plastic but what was it?

After proudly bringing it forth for everyone to see, she let go of it on the lecture desk.

Ah, I could sort of tell what it was...

Looking around, I found despair colouring the kids’ faces and they seemed to have guessed the true identity of that bunch of paper inside.

She verified their guesses with her following words.

“Everyone, come out and take your exam results!”

“...Ah...”

Later, the students walked up one by one as the teacher called out their names. During the repetition of the process of names being called and students walking up, their reactions were all different.

Some of them walked up with a smile, while some came back with unwilling expressions and some walked up with nervousness.

“Jo Yunjae!”

Which of those did I fall under?

Thinking that, I held onto the results as the rough texture met my hands. I didn’t know why I felt so nervous but that thin piece of paper felt very heavy. I turned it around with my mouth closed as the numbers greeted me.

[Korean] Rank (1/147)

[Maths] Rank (7/147)

...

I glanced over but the results were quite good,

They were actually really good...

To think there would be a day where I receive such good marks... Was this all for real? I should have known when the studies were going that well for some reason...!

Grinning, I went over the rest and discovered that I had succeeded in coming first for every subject except for maths and science.

At this rate... it would work as long as I did well on the remaining prac test right?

Perhaps seeing my expression turning bright, Noh Jusup sent congratulations with a grin.

“You were studying real hard at the dorms as well and you seem to have gotten some good marks? What rank did you get?”

“Rank?”

Oh yeah, were there any ranks out of the whole department or anything like that? I tried turning the paper back but I couldn’t see anything similar.

Well, wouldn’t I be in the top ten at least with these scores? That was actually more than enough in getting the scholarship because prac was weighed more heavily in the final marks.

While I was in thought, Noh Jusup snatched my results before dropping his chin.

“Damn why are there so many 1s here? Aren’t you like rank 1 of the school?”

“What rank 1? I didn’t do so well in maths and science.”

“No but still...”

Our boy Jusup had a loud voice indeed as all the kids in the class turned their gaze towards us after hearing the word rank 1... why don’t you just sing huh.

I quickly snatched the result paper back when Jun Shihyuk stood up from his seat with a loud screeching noise of the chair.

He then walked straight out of the classroom.

“...Oi let’s be quiet.”

“Yeah.”

*

Jun Shihyuk slowly walked down the corridor.

Jo Yunjae

Thinking of that name, Jun Shihyuk slowly heaved out a deep breath. Jo Yunjae – a student in the same department as him and a classmate, as well as a student sharing the same lesson teacher as himself.

“...”

At the start, he had no real thoughts.

Teacher Ku Mingi was looking after Jo Yunjae as well now? His thought in response was that, well, that could happen.

However, as time passed, he could definitely feel the change in teacher Ku Mingi’s attitude.

“Well done student Shihyuk!”

“That was good, should we just go with that?”

“That’s good, let’s just go with that.”

“It’s time now. See you later.”

And the peak point of that change was just a few days ago.

He entered the lesson room with a somewhat blank expression with ‘La fille du régiment’ crumpled into his folder messily. The lesson then proceeded in an obviously half-hearted manner.

After asking him carefully and digging around, Jun Shihyuk reached closer to the truth of the matter.

“...”

He opened the door of a practice room without a word.

*

Amongst the ’41st freshmen*’ of Future Arts High, there was a special association. It was called a ‘study group’ and quite literally, the activities they did were simple.

Singing practices.

Well, calling it an association made it seem great but it was just a small group of people gathering and practising their singing. It was a small group of a few freshmen students and could be considered a small club activity.

“But... isn’t it better to just practise by ourselves...?”

Han Dasom who I was walking with carefully opened her mouth.

“Un? Why?”

“Un... it seemed a bit weird after thinking about it... If we sang like that with everyone gathered, wouldn’t we ultimately lose our singing time...? If us two just practised by ourselves...”

Seeing Han Dasom stealing glances at me, I nodded my head.

Well, it was possible to think like that.

If we practised for an hour with two people, each of them could sing for 30 minutes but if it was with 6 people, then it would mean only 10 minutes of singing each.

But in fact... there was a set amount of time you could actually sing for. Because there was a limit on how much the vocal cords could sing, we couldn’t sing forever without stopping.

Then during the time we rested our throats what do we do; do we play around?

During that time, we were going to listen to others’ songs, analyse their pros and cons and absorb all the good points into our own singing – that was the objective and merit of a group practice.

Even I could only sing ‘Pour mon âme’ thanks to all the experiences I had gathered through practising with other kids.

“Un... I see.”

I wasn’t sure whether she understood or not but she replied feeling a little downhearted. Watching that, I thought of the other reason for this group study.

It was that the members of this ‘study group’ were really spectacular.

The top soprano of Future Arts High, Lee Suh-ah, genius tenor Kim Wuju, Jun Shihyuk, Song Mirae, as well as a teacher whom Song Mirae – the person who made the study group – invited after paying a lesson fee.

It wasn’t an overstatement to call it the gathering of the top students of the freshmen opera department. With this much, even if the study group had walking as their sole club activity, there would be people trying to enter for sure.

But wouldn’t it be helpful for everyone to train with skilled people since it was a group practice? That was why the members of this study group were picked strictly and was also the reason why Han Dasom and I were invited only now.

Han Dasom was because she entered the finals of the Future Central Concour and I...

‘Why me? Did rumours about me doing stuff at the composing department already spread?’

With my head tilted, I opened a door as the room appeared from behind. It was a practice room, but a bit wider than the normal ones. Off to the side, there was a piano showing off its black lustre with a large screen and podium at the front.

In the middle, there were four students and one teacher sitting in a circle.

Kim Wuju, Lee Suh-ah, Jun Shihyuk, Song Mirae.

Wow... It looked quite impressive with all the top students gathered.

I also remembered seeing the teacher during the Chapel. She was... teacher Hong Yoojin was it?

“Hello.”

“You’re here. Come sit.”

When we sat down on our seats, teacher Hong Yoojin walked up the stage.

“Hello. I’m Hong Yoojin. You guys all know me right? And since you guys know each other as well I’ll skip the new members’ greetings.”

After that was a short explanation on the objective of the study group. Practising together and giving feedback to lead each other and improve our skills... that kind of explanation.

It was fine.

It was fine but...

“...”

Glancing to the side, I could see Jun Shihyuk glaring at me. Endlessly without even blinking his eyes.

Why’s he like that? Those eyes plus his massive build was quite scary.

‘Why?’

“...”

Even when I whispered to him, he gave no replies.

He seemed to have been like that during the interim presentation of the composing department as well... It was weird. Just a few days ago, although we didn’t talk much, we still greeted each other normally didn’t we?

A similarity between the interim presentation and right now... after thinking for a bit, I threw my eyes to the other side and saw Song Mirae making a bright smile with her chair right next to mine.

...Song Mirae was there with me during the song performance as well.

Thinking up to there, I slapped my thighs and gave a smile at Jun Shihyuk.

Aha, Shihyuk was into this type of girls huh?

Thinking that it was cute, I grinned and moved my chair towards Han Dasom a bit and my shoulder touched hers for a short moment.

“...!”

“Sorry.”

After staring at Han Dasom and her flushed cheeks, I faced my gaze back to the front.

“...like this, there will be times when you guys would be practising alone while I would sometimes give out lessons. Hmm what else... We do this once every week so don’t be late. Now, let’s leave the explanations at that and continue from last week’s lesson.”

“Yes~”

Placing her arms on the lecturer’s desk, Hong Yoojin flickered her eyes.

“Now! We talked about the ‘prac tests’ last week right? It’s coming up soon with around a month or so left. You should all know how important it is and because it has a great impact on the final marks of the first semester, you guys should practise hard from now.”

Indeed. One month wasn’t that long.

“Of course, I won’t be talking too specifically about the ‘prac tests’ because I am a teacher myself and it could be considered a preferential treatment. However, let me talk generally and objectively about the ‘prac’ which you guys would be facing soon.”

She then stood in front of the blackboard before writing ‘Prac song’ with chalk.

Hong Yoojin pointed at the words flashing in white.

“Prac songs. Although it may be obvious, you have to sing prac songs at a prac test. Every prac test might have different regulations and limitations on the songs allowed but you must sing a prac song in any case. And choosing the right prac song is very important.”

After explaining all that, she glanced at us before pointing at Han Dasom with her finger.

“Our new member, Dasom. Do you perhaps know why?”

“That... because the types of songs people sing well are different...?”

“Right. Some may be exceptional at skills while some could have a good body, perfect for singing. Or maybe they’re good at high notes, but is that all there is to it? Is it over after just choosing one song you were good at? Can you master that one song and come out on the top of every single prac test?”

“...”

The practice room turned quiet after her question. I was staying silent with my mouth closed when Jun Shihyuk shot his hand up.

“You need to sing something that suits the interviewer’s taste.”

“...Well, there’s that too, but you know that they’re mostly done blind these days right? So you don’t know who the interviewer is beforehand and plus, there could be multiple markers.”

“...”

Ship Jun Shihyuk has sunk!

It’s fine; that was good! – I gave him a smile gesturing that but Jun Shihyuk started glaring at me with a frightening expression.

Mhmm, right. That could seem like I was making fun of him huh. That was my mistake.

“Anyone else? Wuju?”

Tilting his head, Kim Wuju replied with an innocent expression.

“It’s boring to just sing one song.”

“...That’s true but... can we try thinking about the fundamental reason? Anyone else? Does our new member Yunjae want to give it a try?”

Seeing her glance at me, I scratched the back of my neck feeling slightly awkward.

I did know the answer but... I didn’t know why Song Mirae, Jun Shihyuk and even Lee Suh-ah were staring at me with sparkling eyes.

After looking around for a bit, I finally opened my mouth.

“You need to consider your competitors before picking the song.”

“Competitors? Why? Isn’t it just about you doing it well?”

Ah... it felt like I had become an extremely small-minded person in the elegant world of music. Staring at Jun Shihyuk who had an expression that said, ‘ah right’, I opened my mouth again.

“Of course, you have to do well but the interviewers are people as well. They will definitely compare you to competitors and that’s why we need to pick a good song.”

If vocalisation and basic techniques was a sword style, the prac songs were weapons.

Depending on the sharpness of my weapon, the angle and the length, it could make my sword style appear stronger than it actually was or it could contrarily make it look weaker.

That’s why it was important to change the song according to your competitors.

Let’s say your competitor was good at high notes. Then if I picked a song that could show off high-level skills, it would be difficult to compare us two because it was impossible to declare which one was better.

But if I picked a song that required high-level skills on top of expression abilities?

Comparatively, two would look better than one and just like that, by just picking the prac song well, it could enable you to be somewhat in the advantage.

When I finished my explanation, teacher Hong Yoojin stared at me strangely before opening her mouth.

“Right. A song should suit your voice type, allow you to have the upper hand in comparison to your competitors and fit the requirements of a prac test. All these must be considered for a good selection of the song. Well, you could just defeat other students by pure ability but... there aren’t many students capable of that right?”

Hearing that, I stole a glance to the side.

‘Kim Wuju.’

I could see him listening to the explanations without much interest, but that was normal as he had no reason to in the first place on top of his lack of interest.

Kim Wuju... Kim Wuju...

The genius tenor Kim Wuju, who was crazy about music – the greatest obstacle I would have to overcome at the prac test.

“Haa...”

...He really was a tough opponent. There was nothing to point out from his basics, his techniques seemed to be better than mine with a higher vocal range than me and better physical abilities overall.

I guess if I had to pick one, it would be that he was weak in analysing and understanding like what had happened at the song presentation.

But the songs that he brings to the prac test would be rectified by his teacher so it would definitely be perfected. Besides, when I asked last time, he said he was doing a difficult lied that showed off fancy skills and required physical capabilities as well...

‘Skills, and physical capability.’

After writing those words in my brain, I drew a big X on top of those.

It was obvious that I would be smashed if I was to fight in either of those areas so let’s choose a different song that could show off a different aspect.

What advantages did I have...

After some thought, I reached an answer.

‘Sword style change.’