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4. Something between us

It's been a week since I joined the band club, and Dael has been almost never missing roll call. In fact, I don't have any friends in Korea, and there's nothing fun about just staying in my rented room, so I come here and play guitar, hanging out with my club friends.

And....

 

"Dael, should we raise it by one key today? I'm in pretty good shape today."

 

I had become really close with senior Yejun. Yejun senior, who had recently returned to school after his military leave, also had surprisingly few friends on campus, and the two of us got close by eating school lunches together and doing club activities.

 

"Senior, or how about we just keep raising the key from here? I think that would be better."

 

"Oh, that sounds good too. Let's try it. Let's count off four bars and go in."

 

"Okay!"

 

And then there's Hueningkai, who handles keyboard and drums in our club. He's mixed-race like me, and we've gotten really close. Since we're the same age, we were even closer."

 

"Huening, how's an 8-bit feel today?"

 

"Eeh? Isn't that too slow? I can split it even more~~"

 

"hahaha wow, where's all that confidence coming from? Then let's go with 16!"

 

"OK"

 

I turned toward Senior Yejun... and Senior Yejun was staring straight at me.

 

"....? Senior? What's wrong?"

 

"Huh? Ah... nothing. Let's try singing together again now."

 

I was confused, but soon I played guitar along with the senior's singing. When practice ended, I packed up my guitar and left the club room. Then Senior Yejun lightly stopped me.

 

"Dael, can I talk to you for a second?"

 

I blinked once and nodded.

 

"Yes, of course."

 

Just like that, we ended up talking in the hallway.

 

"Ah...it's nothing major...I just wanted to see if school life is going okay. Is Korea uncomfortable at all?"

 

It was a pretty sudden question, but I answered right away.

 

"Huh? Ah, uncomfortable things? Um....not really. I think I'm fine because life in Korea is fun too."

 

"That's a relief. ...Seems like you've gotten close with Huening lately...?"

 

"Ah, Huening? Yeah. We're the same age and our hobbies are similar, so we got close quickly. We both like webtoons, so we even went to a manga cafe together last time."

 

Senior Yejun flinched.

 

"....manga cafe? Ah...I see. Got it. Be careful on your way home."

 

Yejun senior had hesitated for a moment, which bothered me, but I felt relieved when he soon smiled.

 

"Yes, senior. See you tomorrow."

 

And so, two weeks in Korea passed.