Genius of a Performing Arts High

“Thank you. When do you guys meet up for the society activities?”

“Huh? We meet once every week on Wednesdays during the society times... are you thinking of coming?”

“Yes.”

Then, Jo Yunjae gave him his phone number before walking away. Staring at the distancing back, Lim Suhjoon made a face filled with half joy and half doubt.

“Sunbae. He’s saying he wants to join right?”

“I think so~?”

“...Ehew.”

Stealing a glance at Yun Soojin replying nonchalantly with a smile, Lim Suhjoon heaved out a sigh.

Jo Yunjae.

After suddenly chasing them up, he asked various questions and it was almost certain that he was interested in their society. At least it was better than those that had no reactions whatsoever but even though Lim Suhjoon was glad that a new member was joining them, there was a doubt left behind in his mind.

“But why does he want to enter our society?”

It was good he wanted to join, but why?

They hadn’t had the chance to appeal their charm properly, and they didn’t have any special eye-catching traits either. If his objective was musicals, why didn’t he just enter a musical club that dedicated themselves solely for musicals?

Judging from how he was able to attend the Prac High-Achievers Concert, he must be an extremely talented opera student and yet he wanted to enter our society instead of the other famous club?

...No matter how positive he wanted to be as a member of the society himself, he couldn’t think of any merits they had over Cantabile.

Seeing Lim Suhjoon continuously tilting his head, Yun Soojin smiled as she opened her mouth.

“He wants to do musicals; he said it right?”

“Huh?”

“This semester will definitely be interesting.”

“...”

When he saw the warm smile on Yun Soojin’s face, Lim Suhjoon shrugged his shoulders.

Right, no matter the reason, it was a great thing that a new member was joining them, but there was something stuck on his mind.

‘Musical, huh...’

“I heard it was a pain last last year though...”

Lim Suhjoon murmured while heaving out a sigh.

*

After the Prac High-Achievers Concert ended, there was one thing that changed.

“Where have you been?”

Lee Suh-ah stole a glance at me acting uninterested and threw a question. The important bit here was that she was ‘acting uninterested’... Feeling awkward, I scratched my hair and observed her.

With her eyes constantly glancing at me, her fingers tapped the table nonstop and her legs were crossed on one side before soon changing to the other.

Anyone could tell she was very curious.

“...”

Thinking back, Lee Suh-ah was like this ever since the concert ended.

In the middle of lessons, whenever I turned around after feeling a gaze, I would always find Lee Suh-ah observing me with eyes resembling daggers, and during practices, she directed a stubborn gaze at me as if to pull apart all my habits.

Besides, in the study group that started again with the new semester, she used ‘feedback’ as an excuse to bombard me with questions.

Why did you sing like that here?

Is there a reason you expressed it dark here?

Did you intentionally pronounce it like that there?

...To be honest, it was even a little annoying.

Although I answered her since it did help me for my practices... I sometimes wondered if she was like this due to the words I said before.

Did she feel a sense of rivalry or something?

I scratched behind my ears for a bit and thought before shaking my head with a grin.

Ha, how could the otherworldly Lee Suh-ah have a sense of rivalry against me in singing? Kim Wuju sitting over there was a lot better than me.

After erasing the impossible case scenario from my head, I replied while sitting down on the chair.

“It was the society just then. I was thinking of entering it.”

“What?”

Lee Suh-ah asked back with a frown.

“There? Why? It sounded like a strange society.”

“...”

It indeed was a strange society and if I didn’t remember the story about Song Mirae, I wouldn’t have entered it either. But now, even though I didn’t really have any other choice, I still thought that it was a better choice to go for than the original musical club. After all, at the popular musical club with a lot of people, I wouldn’t be able to sing what I wanted.

‘Here it’s small so I could have a better role as well.’

Besides, Song Mirae also got an award after entering it later down the track, so it was a pass on the capability front as well. At this point, I was thankful for Kim Sukwon-sunbae for helping me remember this society.

While giving a satisfied nod, I explained it to Lee Suh-ah who still couldn’t understand.

“When I talked to them about it, they said they’ve done a few musicals before including the year before last year. Although they have that strange name, they focus mainly on musicals, opera and plays apparently.”

“...Really?”

Seeing Lee Suh-ah crossing her arms as if she found it doubtful, a sudden thought appeared in my head. They seemed to be having some trouble due to a lack of members, so should I bring a few freshmen students in?

With my hand on my chin, I raised my head up.

“What about you?”

“Me?”

I could see her eyes turning circular.

Lee Suh-ah.

She wasn’t a bad talent to have or rather, it was a great addition. Since she would become a world-famous soprano in the future, she should be able to follow musicals easily after some practice.

Musicals and opera were from the same roots so there wasn’t a massive difference overall.

“Yeah. They said they lacked freshmen students. Don’t you think it will be fun if we do it together?”

“I don’t mind.”

Good, her expression wasn’t that bad.

A bright smile hung on my lips as I attempted to persuade her further when she suddenly froze up. Her eyes that quivered once soon moved to the side to where Song Mirae was at, before returning towards me.

Turning her head away in a flash, she continued with an awkward smile.

“That... it’s a bit bad for me since I’m already in a musical club. What about doing it with Mirae? Right! Mirae, you said you wanted to change societies because of that sunbae right?”

“Nn? What’s going on~?”

Song Mirae who had been dragged in by Lee Suh-ah’s hand looked up at me with a puzzled expression.

Song Mirae huh...

She would be a fine candidate as well. Although she wasn’t as good as Lee Suh-ah in terms of singing, she had been famous as a musical actress in the first place, so there would be a lot of things I could learn from watching her.

Plus, unlike other kids that already had a club they belonged to, she was in a situation where she had to leave the club due to a problem with Kim Sukwon.

Nodding my head, I decided to enter Religion and Culture Research Society, the so-called RC Society with Song Mirae.

*

“Huhuhuh.”

In the dorms, Lee Suh-ah who had been busily carrying her fingers across the exercise book halted her hand. Turning around, she could see Song Mirae grinning helplessly with her eyes stuck on the phone.

Staring at Song Mirae who seemed to be feeling great all the way from school, Lee Suh-ah threw her a question.

“Why are you laughing so much?”

Song Mirae laughed and immediately raised her head as if she had been waiting and gave a bright smile.

“I got into the same society as Yunjae! Hihih.”

“...You like it that much?”

“I like it a lot~”

“...”

Lee Suh-ah rested her chin on her hand and watched her friend, rolling around the bed, with smirks escaping occasionally. She thought.

Jo Yunjae – what exactly did Song Mirae like so much about him?

Looks?

Although it wasn’t bad, it wasn’t anything superb and besides, he was so short that there wasn’t much difference with herself in height.

Personality?

He was a strange one. He was extremely serious sometimes but would say strange dad jokes at other times. She didn’t like that prankish attitude and hated shallow men like that.

Ability?

Singing... right, he was quite good at singing. The improvement speed was frightening and right when she thought she could see the end, he would overturn those thoughts every time.

Especially during the concert this time.

“...”

Lee Suh-ah’s eyes deepened.

Working with him, she thought she knew a general gist of his skills. After all, they had already practised together several times and she saw him during study groups as well. There perhaps weren’t many in the school who had a deeper understanding than she did on Jo Yunjae’s skills.

However, that ‘Elf King’ he sang during the concert, was way outside her knowledge.

‘...How did he sing that...’

She bit her lips.

Schubert’s Elf King.

The Jo Yunjae she saw until now should never have been able to sing it.

First, he lacked the time to practise. Expressing four characters at once required more than normal research and to master the vocalisation and distribute it in a timely manner? It was impossible for Jo Yunjae who had only recently learned a new vocalisation method.

Jo Yunjae’s skills which Lee Suh-ah understood was leagues away from being able to sing that, but he pulled it off.

That could only mean one thing.

‘He hid his skills.’

During the practices they had together and during the holidays, he hid his skills and sang the best he could on prac tests which no outsiders could hear – that was the conclusion she ended up with.

She could somewhat guess the reasoning behind it as well.

Since he persistently asked about her prac song during the previous semester, he must’ve been hiding his skills to win the competition.

‘Hmph.’

Lee Suh-ah scoffed.

Although she suffered last semester due to lack of knowledge, it would be different this semester. After analysing everything one by one, she would secure herself a perfect victory.

Vowing to herself inwardly, she returned her gaze to the phone on her hand.

On the school website displayed by the screen, she glanced through the prac high-achievers’ videos hanging there before finding the name ‘Jo Yunjae’ and clicking on it.

Freshman Opera Student Jo Yunjae’s Tristesse.

‘...I should analyse this as well.’

Blankly staring at the screen, she played the video and placed a pair of earphones in her ears.

“...”

As she closed her eyes, Jo Yunjae’s soft voice started flowing into her ears.

*

After finishing the society side of things, there was a busy school life waiting for us. There were mid-sem exams approaching us as well as a few small concours, the prac test and other prac-related exams.

We were busy enough already but the cold-blooded teachers that knew no sympathy gave us more things to consider.

“Guys! Did you know the dates of the Subscription Concert were announced?”

“...What?”

As teacher Kang Heewon excitedly entered the class and shouted that, cold silence befell the room. Glancing at the students staring at her with worn out faces, I nodded.

The Subscription Concert – the largest annual event of Future Performing Arts High had finally been announced, huh.

Teacher Kang Heewon stared at the agitated mood of the class with a happy gaze and continued her explanation.

“You are aware that the Subscription Concert is held every December right? The exact date has just been announced! It is the 12th of December!”

12th of December... roughly three months left huh...

While I was deep in thought, her mouth continued rambling.

“Our freshmen students have to attend as well, you know right~? So from today onwards, there will be a special practice time for the Subscription Concert so I wish you are all able to attend without fail!”

Hearing that, I nodded thinking that it was natural.

The Subscription Concert was one of the few large events held by Future Arts High, and was even larger than the Prac High-Achievers Concert. Since we had to show it to people from outside, there naturally had to be some severe practices.

...but even more practising huh...

I was put in a slightly melancholic mood when teacher Kang Heewon turned her head around and threw a glance at me.

“And like I said before, there’s a benefit for students that got high marks in the prac test.”

The moment her words fell upon us, the gazes of our classmates gathered towards the high-achievers including me. Teacher Kang Heewon continued on.

“You can choose the part you want during the Subscription Concert!”

Hearing that, I blinked my eyes and scratched under my ears.

Hmm... the part we wanted huh. It was a small yet impactful benefit. Although we would be singing a chorus together during the Subscription Concert, there were bound to be segments that stood out as well as a few solos in the middle.

It made sense that there was a benefit like that given to prac high-achievers.

I didn’t know about it before because it was a distant story from me in the past though...

While I was reminiscing about the past, teacher Kang Heewon’s joyous voice dug into my ears.

“But there were five full marks from the Opera Department this time right?”

Nn?

Right, that was true.

If there were five students with full marks... then how were the segments going to be allocated?

I looked forward with my head tilted and found teacher Kang Heewon looking into my eyes.