Voice of the Crowd

𝑇𝒉𝑒𝑦 𝑠𝑎𝑦,

"𝑇𝒉𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑 𝑖𝑠 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑎 𝑝𝑖𝑎𝑛𝑜,

White 𝑘𝑒𝑦𝑠 𝑟𝑒𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝒉𝑒 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝑑

Black 𝑘𝑒𝑦𝑠 𝑟𝑒𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝒉𝑒 𝑏𝑎𝑑

𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑡𝒉𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝒉𝑒 𝑡𝑤𝑜 𝑘𝑒𝑦𝑠 𝑡𝑜𝑔𝑒𝑡𝒉𝑒𝑟,

𝑇𝒉𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑛𝑜 𝑚𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑑𝑦."

𝑇𝒉𝑒 𝑓𝑢𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑡 𝑏𝑦 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡𝒉𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑐𝒉𝑖𝑙𝑑, 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑖𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑛 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑡𝒉𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑡𝒉𝑎𝑡 𝑐𝒉𝑖𝑙𝑑? 𝐼𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑡𝒉𝑒 𝒉𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑡𝒉𝑎𝑡 𝑜𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑛 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑡𝒉𝑒𝑚 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑙 𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑑𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑡𝒉𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑐𝒉𝑖𝑙𝑑. 𝑇𝒉𝑒𝑦 𝑜𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑛 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡𝒉𝑒 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑡 𝑡𝒉𝑎𝑡 𝑡𝒉𝑒𝑦 𝑡𝑟𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑖𝑠𝒉 𝑡𝒉𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑚𝑠 𝑡𝒉𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔𝒉 𝑡𝒉𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑐𝒉𝑖𝑙𝑑. 𝑊𝒉𝑎𝑡 𝑠𝒉𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑡𝒉𝑒 𝑐𝒉𝑖𝑙𝑑 𝑑𝑜? 𝐹𝑖𝑔𝒉𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑖𝑡 𝑜𝑟 𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟?

.....

"Yerin, wake up!", a rough and manly yet warm voice approached Yerin as she got up from her bed. "Good morning, Mr Lee! What time is it?", she greeted the man, standing beside her bed, wearing a grey suit.

"There are exactly thirty minutes left for your first day of high school to begin.", he replied with a warm smile on his face as he bowed to her and left the room.

"What?! Why didn't you wake me up earlier?!", she exclaimed. "I did but you were all sound asleep. Here is your breakfast.", he replied. "No time. Let me get ready quickly.", she said as she grabbed a loaf of bread and went to get ready.

"Yay! Finally, I'm a highschool student!", she exclaimed as they both got in the car. "You seem like you will explode at any moment. What are you? Five?", Mr Lee mocked at her.

"Can't you at least pretend to be more uprising and cheerful? I know that this year you will be thirty three but then also.", she tamed him.

"It is not about being old, it is about being more matured.", he stated. "Yes sure, rusty man.", she replied with her arms crossed.

"Right on time.", Mr Lee said as they reached the school. "Then see you later!", she waved at him as she entered the huge school building. "The smell of being in high school.", she murmured to herself.

"Hurry up! Hurry up! They are gonna start the concert at the auditorium soon!", one of the girls from the crowd screamed as they were heading towards the auditorium. "Them? Sounds fun.", Yerin mumbled to herself as she also decided to follow the crowd.

The hall was full of screaming audience. It looked as if some kind of an idol was about to make their entry. All she could hear in those screams was the word FULL.

"Full? How ridiculous!", she giggled. "Hey! Watch your mouth.", Yerin turned around to discover a girl staring at her with dead eyes.

"Excuse me? Big world, independent people. My choice whatever I have to say.", Yerin said as she glared back at her. "You're right! Big world, independent people but that doesn't give you the right to insult our boys!", she yelled at Yerin.

"Our boys? Who are you? Their mom?", Yerin mocked at her. "Watch your mouth. In this school, no one can say a single word against FULL.", the other girl standing beside warned Yerin.

"What-", she enquired as she was interrupted by the increasing volume of the screams as the curtains of the stage was gradually pulled up. She could see three boys, each of them were carrying a different type of instrument in their hands.

They kind of came off different. It arose as if they were encircled by their own set of spotlights. "Hello Everyone! We're FULL!", one of them introduced themselves.

"How have you all been? Can't believe we're seniors now! We three are thrilled to help out our pretty, handsome and amazing juniors.", he proceeded.

"There have been many requests on our official page and we are overwhelmed by your love.

It is certainly a shame that we won't be able to play all the songs.

So, here we are in front of you with the top three most requested songs.", the other one said. "The first song, Life Goes On by none other than BTS!", they exclaimed.

It appeared as if they had used a spell in the entire hall. All the students were dazzled with joy and excitement.

"1 2 3 4 start!", the one holding the drumsticks instructed. The melody of the music circulated in the entire hall. It was beautiful.

"𝑂𝑛𝑒 𝑑𝑎𝑦 𝑡𝒉𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑑

𝑊𝑖𝑡𝒉𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑛𝑜𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑒

𝐵𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑠𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑑𝑜𝑒𝑠𝑛'𝑡 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑤𝒉𝑎𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑤𝑎𝑖𝑡

𝐼 𝑐𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑡𝒉𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑛𝑜𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑒

𝑇𝒉𝑒 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑤𝒉𝑖𝑐𝒉 𝑡𝒉𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑜𝑡𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑠𝑒𝑑

𝐼'𝑚 𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝒉𝑒𝑟𝑒

𝑇𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑎𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑒

𝐼'𝑚 𝑠𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑦, 𝑤𝑖𝑡𝒉𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑠𝑎𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑛𝑦𝑡𝒉𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝒉", they started singing.

Yerin couldn't stop herself but swing along with every beat of the music. She could have never been happier than at this moment.

Without her realizing she was already humming out loud as if nobody else was there. She felt thrilled for the first time in her life.

All these years, all she had ever done was what her mother had told her to do.

Up until now, she had no idea that few jumbled notes could ever make her swing in the air. "Are you guys having fun?!", one of them exclaimed as he grabbed a bottle of water.

"Yes!", the audience replied. "Here's the second song, View by Shinee!", he continued. All the songs they sang were mesmerizing. It was fun. "Now, the final song, Regulus by Onewe!", they exclaimed.

"𝑇𝒉𝑒 𝑛𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡𝒉𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑟 𝑤𝒉𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝐼 𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑖𝑠

𝑇𝒉𝑒𝑦 𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑚𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑛𝑎𝑙

𝐼𝑡 𝑚𝑎𝑦 𝑏𝑒 𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑘 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑑𝑎𝑦

𝐼'𝑚 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑙𝑦

𝐼𝑛 𝑡𝒉𝑖𝑠 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑤𝒉𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝐼 𝑏𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡𝒉𝑒

𝐴 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝒉𝑎𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑦𝑜𝑢

𝑆𝑡𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑤𝑖𝑡𝒉𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑡𝒉𝑒𝑟

𝑆𝑡𝑎𝑦 𝑏𝑦 𝑚𝑦 𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒", they started singing.

It seemed as if the ratio of girls in the audience was more than that of boys. Everyone was wearing a warm smile on their face but no one would've ever imagined what was about to happen.

The one who seemed like the lead vocalist forgot the chord of the music. He was playing the guitar. He seemed to be panicking.

The other members were trying to calm him down. They seemed to be in a puzzle. The audience also seemed as if they were in a substantial disappointment.

At that time, Yerin could have never thought that the decision made by her could have changed her whole world.