Chapter 16: Still in Progress (4)
On the bleacher stands of the schoolyard, where I followed Director Kim Seong-hak, six drama staff members were gathered. They seemed to be enjoying an unexpected break, looking relaxed. Director Kim Seong-hak introduced me to the group.
“Hey, guys. This is Heli, our OST composer.”
The six men and women gave me lukewarm nods. After a few more words, Director Kim Seong-hak almost snatched a guitar from one of the staff members and handed it to me. I awkwardly took the guitar and sat down, feeling my face heat up.
“Look, this is going to be a different skill set than you guys.”
He said boastfully, making me even more flustered. Kim Ji-in had taken a seat right behind me, clearly amused by the situation.
When I glanced at her, she looked like she was trying not to laugh out loud. PD Oh Young-chae, who had come outside with us, stood three rows down, chatting with some other staff members.
All six staff members, along with Director Kim Seong-hak and Kim Ji-in, were now focused on me. Their eyes seemed to say, ‘Go on, let’s hear it.’
It was an incredibly uncomfortable spot to play.
More than anything, it had been nearly a year since I last touched a real guitar. I’d been using synthesizers to handle most of the guitar sounds in my compositions.
What were the chords again? How was I supposed to position my fingers on the head? Everything felt jumbled in my mind. A cold sweat broke out on my forehead.
“…Ahem. Well, composing here would be a bit much. I’ll just play a chord progression I’ve been thinking about.”
I said, trying to cover for my nerves. At least I had a melody I had loosely come up with while driving here. It would have to do for now.
I gripped the guitar and looked up.
Beyond the stands, the wide-open scenery stretched out before me. A stunning view unfolded.
The mountains that surrounded the school were drenched in winter rain. Drip, drip, drip. The unexpected shower from a clear sky made everything clearer and more vivid.
However, I don’t like rain. The smell of rain brings fragments of the past back to life. Those fragments, surfacing from the depths of my memory, pierce my heart. And it hurts. But the rain-drenched mountains are undeniably beautiful.
Of course, if you come down, there’s no way it wouldn’t be beautiful. 1The speaker is expressing confidence or belief that something involving ‘rain’ coming down must be beautiful, implying it can’t be anything but beautiful.
Thinking of you, I gently closed my eyes, trying to push those thoughts away.
…Suddenly, my head felt hot, as if a beam of light was spreading out from the darkness. That white light was the pure tone of Yoo Ah-ra’s voice that I had longed for.
I didn’t even have time to process whether this was inspiration after such a long time.
Almost instinctively, I started playing the guitar.
A serene sound of the rain seeps into the blue color of melody. As I strum the guitar, I added some soft humming. But regrettably, I couldn’t hear the color of my own voice.
Instead, I filled that void with the pure white tone of Yoo Ah-ra’s voice that I had etched into my memory.
I painted the scene left before my eyes, layering it with the ‘natural color’ that I envisioned for Yoo Ah-ra’s voice. She suits the ‘natural’ best.
Clearer and more innocent than anyone else, as comforting as a snowflake, just like the grass, the trees, the wind and the rain.
The heated inspiration lasted no more than two to three minutes and my mind gradually cooled down.
I stopped playing and slowly opened my eyes.
I felt slightly embarrassed, as all the eyes around me were focused on me.
Feeling the weight of their intense gazes, I awkwardly cleared my throat.
“…Ahem. You see, it’s been a year since I last held a guitar. So, I just suddenly thought, maybe the chord progression could go like this.”
“No.”
PD Oh Young-chae said. I flinched in surprise. At some point, she had come up from below and was now standing right in front of me.
“Your voice was a bit distracting, but the melody is quite good.”
Naturally, the ‘distracting voice’ was mine. PD Oh Young-chae added, her tone intrigued.
“Oddly enough, your tone is pleasant, but you’ve got no rhythm.”
“Ah, I have no sense of rhythm. Without a metronome, I can’t play anything.”
“You played the guitar just fine without one, though.”
“Well, that’s because…”
Music is like painting a picture.
But if I said that, they’d think I was crazy.
“…That doesn’t make sense. How could you have just composed that?”
A voice, stunned, came from behind. I glanced back and saw Kim Ji-in looking completely shocked.
From the front, PD Oh Young-chae spoke again.
“It’s good. I think Writer Yoo will like it too. Let’s go with this.”
“What?”
The composition had barely started. All I’d done was sketch out the rough outline on the guitar. Wasn’t this decision too hasty?
Before I could voice my doubt, PD Oh Young-chae swiftly cut me off.
“I don’t think the song is going to take a strange turn from here. I just wish we had recorded that.”
“See? I told you! Artists are all like that. One moment, bam! A flash of inspiration!”
With a satisfied grin, Director Kim Seong-hak enthusiastically patted PD Oh Young-chae on the back, looking quite pleased. She grimaced and swatted his hand away.
“Ugh, seriously. The rain looks like it’s going to stop, so get ready for the shoot.”
As PD Oh Young-chae had said, the downpour had softened to a drizzle. Director Kim Seong-hak chuckled and headed back to the set, while I handed the guitar back to the staff member.
The staff member who had listened to my playing asked if I could teach them.
I just smiled and declined since I wasn’t much of a teacher, but as I sat there quietly, a serious thought crossed my mind.
Was I always this good at guitar?
It felt strange. I wasn’t supposed to be that skilled, but earlier, I was strumming riffs smoothly and weaving through chords like a snake.
Could it be that after getting hit on the head, I unlocked not just color vision, but other abilities too…?
“You prepared that beforehand, didn’t you? Right?”
Suddenly, Kim Ji-in grabbed my shoulder and asked.
“What?”
“You had it ready, didn’t you? There’s no way you just composed that on the spot. What are you, Beethoven or something?”
She wasn’t wrong. I did have the framework of the music in mind. But it was only a framework.
How was I supposed to explain this?
Seeing Kim Ji-in’s skeptical gaze, I gave her the best answer I could come up with.
“It could be that, or maybe not.”
“…Sigh.”
Her sigh was heavy with various emotions. She shot me a quick glare before speaking again.
“Anyway. Shall we head back now?”
“Already?”
Kim Ji-in let out another short sigh.
“You’ve already gotten PD’s approval. With that kind of positive reaction from her, there’s no room for me or Yoo Ah-ra to interfere. Congratulations.”
She smiled wryly, a mix of relief and disappointment in her expression. I looked at her for a moment, then slowly nodded.
In the car on the way back home, Kim Ji-in didn’t say a word. But occasionally, she would hum something under her breath. Each time she caught herself doing it, she quickly covered her mouth and glanced at me to see if I was listening.
The melody she was humming was the pitch of the song I had played.
Two days later, on December 7th.
I took the finished piece to Music Director Yoon Seong-han’s studio. Director Yoon Seong-han listened to my music with his eyes closed.
A smile appeared on his face as he listened to the music, and seeing that I couldn’t help smiling too.
“Definitely. The atmosphere is good. But we really need to find the right vocalist. I feel like the reception could vary depending on the singer. This guide version… it’s just not working. It’s like the vocalist is draining the energy from the performance. If it weren’t for the instrumental, I might have been slightly dissatisfied.”
“Yes, you’re absolutely right.”
I composed this song with Yoo Ah-ra in mind. Her voice is extremely unique, and because of that, my song, ‘Mountain Scenery’, can only be truly brought to life by her.
…But even Yoo Ah-ra, as she is now, wouldn’t be able to sing this song properly.
“And there’s one more issue.”
Director Yoon Seong-han said, looking at me intently.
“Did you write the lyrics yourself?”
“No, I just scribbled something down for now. I’ll leave it to a professional lyricist to complete it.”
He suddenly smiled and handed me a piece of paper.
“Then how about this?”
“Huh?”
Curious, I took the paper. It had lyrics written on it. As I read the lines, my melody started playing in my head almost unconsciously.
The syllables fit perfectly, and the words matched the mood of the scene. These were excellent lyrics.
“…But how?”
I had just shown him the song. How could he have lyrics that fit so perfectly on the same day?
With a questioning look, I turned to Director Yoon Seong-han. He gestured toward the side door.
“You were listening, right? Come on out.”
At his mysterious summons, the side door slowly opened.
There stood Kim Ji-in, awkwardly nodding her head, unable to make eye contact with me.
“…Uh, hello.”
“Um…”
“Well, since I’m a composer too, once I hear a melody, I can’t forget it. So, I just wrote the lyrics as a hobby. I didn’t mean to make a big deal out of it, but the director liked it. But, well, if you don’t like it, you don’t have to use it. Actually, writing lyrics is my side job.”
She rattled off her excuses in a flustered rush.
I listened, dumbfounded, then couldn’t help but chuckle. Thinking I was mocking her, Kim Ji-in’s face stiffened slightly.
I turned back to Director Yoon Seong-han.
“I’ll go with these lyrics. The lyricist did a great job.”
That same afternoon.
Team Leader Lee Ha-yeon sighed as she checked her email. The content was simple. A comment saying that with the approval of the PD, writer, and music director, Heli’s song had been finalized, and the working title ‘Mountain Scenery’ was attached.
The overall song itself was quite good—fresh, healing music that fit perfectly with the atmosphere of the drama.
“Hmm…”
At least, no one in the production team had more experience than Music Director Yoon Seong-han, so the grumbling about the novice Heli being appointed as the lead producer for ‘Lilac’ would likely subside.
However, there was an unexpected problem.
“Ugh, this is lame. Isn’t it too slow? Team Leader-nim, you should listen to my original song. It’s way better than this.”
It was Yoo Ah-ra’s resistance.
“The PD already approved it. You have to do it, whether you like it or not.”
“…Really? Ugh, seriously? This is so annoying. I graduated from this kind of music ages ago.”
Yoo Ah-ra muttered her prickly complaints, her small frame practically radiating displeasure.
“And your song was already rejected.”
“That was because it didn’t fit the atmosphere of the drama. But what if we put it in the album…?”
“That’s something you should discuss with the producer.”
Team Leader Lee Ha-yeon cut her off.
“I already told you, for this album, I’ll let you guys do what you want.”
“Hmph. Oh, right. When’s that producer coming?”
Yoo Ah-ra grinned widely and Team Leader Lee Ha-yeon sighed inwardly.
Yoo Ah-ra still didn’t know that Heli was the composer for this OST.
“Tomorrow evening.”
“Hmm~ Okay, I’ll tell everyone else too.”
With that, Yoo Ah-ra jumped up and walked toward the door. She swung it open wide and left without even bothering to close it.
Watching her disappearing figure through the open door, Team Leader Lee Ha-yeon bit her lower lip in frustration.
