Practise with Yoonjung

Yoonjung raised a brow.

"And?" she asked, arms still crossed as they slowed their pace beneath the leafy canopy of the SNU campus.

Her tone was light—almost playful—but her eyes told another story.

Sharp. Focused. Dissecting.

She didn't buy it. Not for a second.

There was no way Professor Kim had called her in just to ask a favor this trivial.

Sure, she didn't mind spending time with Jihoon. In fact, part of her had secretly liked the idea.

But she wasn't naive enough to think he'd gone out of his way to seek her out—especially not him. Especially not after barely speaking a full sentence the first time they met.

From the moment she stepped into the office, Jihoon had kept his distance. His replies were flat. Polite, but empty.

That maddeningly detached tone—the kind perfected by men born into legacy—hung between every word.

No warmth. No flicker of familiarity. No sign that he even remembered the connection they once shared.

And that stung more than she wanted to admit.

She wasn't some starry-eyed freshman. She knew exactly how boys like Jihoon operated.

The same way her own family did.

They didn't ask for help unless it was calculated. They didn't offer attention unless it served a purpose. And they certainly didn't waste time on people who couldn't be useful.

Sure, she had been a prodigy once—plucked from Juilliard—but that was as far as it went.

She wasn't some viral sensation with a spotless list of accolades or a perfectly polished conservatory pedigree. Her love for the cello had always been just that—a childhood hobby, never a serious ambition.

Now, she was just another name in the art department. Talented? Maybe. But that was it.

There were dozens—hell, hundreds—who would've killed for five minutes of Jihoon's time.

Ever since he made a name for himself in the film and music world, she could already picture the swarm of girls dying for a chance to perform with him at the school's anniversary ceremony—just for the proximity to his rising fame.

So no, she didn't buy it.

What she didn't know—what she couldn't possibly see yet—was that the truth was nothing like the story in her head.

Because Jihoon wasn't calculating a move.

He was bracing for one.

To Yoonjung, this might've looked like a curious coincidence. Maybe even a clever manipulation by others.

But to Jihoon?

This felt like the first move on a brand-new chessboard—and he was the piece someone else had already chosen to play.

Just then, as if he could feel the weight of her stare—or maybe her unspoken questions—Jihoon shifted awkwardly beside her. He scratched the back of his neck, a nervous habit that betrayed the calm exterior he always seemed to wear like armor.

"Okay, so…" he began, his voice low, eyes fixed on the floor for a moment before flicking up to meet hers.

"Professor Kim was saying that since we're from the art faculty, it wouldn't really make sense to bring in students from the music department to perform at the anniversary ceremony."

"…Something about, uh, keeping it 'internal collaboration' or whatever."

He glanced at her again, catching the faint lift of her brows—the kind that said, I'm listening, but I'm not sold yet.

"And apparently," he added, with a half-smile that leaned more toward embarrassment than charm, "you're the only one in our department who can actually play the cello."

Her expression didn't change, but Jihoon swore he saw a flicker of amusement flash in her eyes.

"So I thought…" he continued, hesitating for a beat, "since you're the only one in the art department who knows how to play the cello, why not give it a try? It's kind of an experiment—mixing pop music with something more classical."

He let out a quiet laugh, mostly at himself. "I know it sounds a little ridiculous. I'm not even sure it'll work. But if we're getting pushed into this performance anyway, we might as well make it… interesting, right?"

He looked at her now—really looked—waiting for the inevitable shut-down, the eye-roll, the cold deflection.

But Yoonjung didn't laugh. She didn't mock him.

Instead, she tilted her head, lips curving into something unreadable. Amusement? Curiosity? Disbelief?

"Pop cello," she said slowly, tasting the words like they were foreign on her tongue. Then, with a slight smirk, added, "That's… interesting."

Jihoon shrugged, letting out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. "Yeah, well—so are most bad ideas."

They stood there for a moment, caught in that peculiar kind of silence—not quite awkward, but charged with something unspoken. Then, almost in sync, both glanced down at their phones.

"We should probably—uh…" Jihoon began, gesturing vaguely in opposite directions.

"Yeah, class," Yoonjung said, already turning slightly to go.

But before Jihoon could walk away, Yoonjung cleared her throat and held out her phone. "Just in case. You know, for practice times."

Jihoon nodded, not overthinking it. "Sure," he said, taking her phone and quickly typing in his number.

And with that, they parted—jihoon to the film department, yoonjung back to the art studio.

Different majors, different paths, same shared question echoing somewhere between them: What exactly had they just agreed to?

That afternoon, Jihoon's phone buzzed.

Yoonjung: Music room. 4 PM. Don't be late.

Simple. No emojis. No fuss. But somehow, very her.

After asking around and two time entering the wrong classroom, Jihoon finally found the music classroom tucked behind the auditorium.

When he pushed open the heavy wooden door, Yoonjung was already there, seated at the edge of the platform with a cello case at her side, arms folded like she'd been waiting long enough to judge him.

"You're late," she said, though it was barely a minute past four.

"I got lost," Jihoon said, holding up his hands in surrender. "This place is like a maze."

"Excuses," she muttered, but her tone was lighter than before. She gestured toward the piano.

"Okay. Tell me your big idea."

Jihoon nodded, stepping toward the center of the room like he was pitching a scene to a producer.

"I've been thinking," he began, "about how to actually merge classical and pop in a way that feels real—not just slapping a beat under a cello solo"

"I want this to be a full-on fusion. Something bold. The first thing that came to mind for classical was Mozart. I grew up practicing his piano pieces, so it's familiar."

"And for pop?" she asked.

Jihoon's eyes lit up. "Michael Jackson."

Yoonjung blinked. "Seriously?"

"Why not?" he grinned. "Imagine this: Mozart on piano, Michael Jackson dancing beside him. Two icons from opposite ends of music history, together in one piece."

Her brow arched, but she didn't interrupt.

"So," Jihoon continued, warming to the pitch, "I'll write the piano part in Mozart's style, then mix in pop rhythms and production—backed by a computer-generated track."

"I'm thinking piano, electric five-string violin, and maybe subtle synth layers to bridge the gap. But I want the heart of it to stay analog. Real."

Yoonjung sat back, silent for a beat.

She hadn't expected this. Not from Jihoon. 

Finally, she spoke. "Okay… what do you need from me?"

His eyes lit up. "The cello. I want you to play the melody in a classical style—specifically Mozart's."

"It'll ground the piece. I'll write the piano part, and the violin will float between the two worlds. Like a translator between centuries."

Yoonjung nodded slowly, processing it. "Why the five-string electric violin, though? Isn't that more pop than classical?"

Jihoon smiled, clearly expecting the question. "Exactly. It's the bridge of the concept."

"Technically modern, but it can sound classical depending on how it's played."

"I want it to blur the lines—to show that the boundary between genres is thinner than we think. And yeah… it's kind of symbolic too."

"Mozart's elegance meeting Michael's energy. Old and new, finding rhythm."

For a long moment, Yoonjung didn't say anything.

Then she looked at him with something approaching real admiration. "You're insane," she said.

"Maybe," Jihoon said with a grin. "But aren't they all a good artists?"

[Author's Note: Heartfelt thanks to Wandererlithe, JiangXiu, OS_PARCEIROS , Daoist098135 and Daoistadj for bestowing the power stone!]