Devil’s Music

Holding the musical score, Kevin stroked his chin thoughtfully and tilted his head.

"Is this... still unfinished?"

Shizuka, agreeing with him, sat on the floor and propped her chin up as she looked at Geon, who was also examining the score. Geon nodded as he kept his eyes on the music sheet and exhaled briefly.

"Yes, it's still unfinished. I'm planning to complete it today."

"Mmm... I see."

Now seated at the keyboard, Shizuka placed the score on the music stand and seemed to count the beats silently, tapping her thigh lightly. She then asked,

"Uh, it starts with Larghetto but the tempo marks speed up endlessly."

Kevin, having checked the tempo belatedly, agreed.

"That's right. Larghetto means it's a somewhat slow piece, but the tempo marks make it interesting. After the initial eight measures, it becomes Forte (loud), from the sixteenth measure it starts to Crescendo (gradually getting louder), and Verse 1 is marked Sforzando (especially loud)."

"And for Verse 2, it only says Fortissimo (very loud). So, essentially, the music starts slow and gradually builds a strong impact, beginning with Larghetto and ending with Prestissimo."

Kevin chimed in,

"Exactly. Prestissimo means to play very fast, just one notch below Vivo in terms of speed, so it should be at least 130 BPM or more, right, Kay?"

Geon grinned and nodded.

"Exactly. Shizuka, majoring in piano at Juilliard, and Kevin, majoring in contrabass, you guys catch on quickly without needing much explanation. You both are correct."

Kevin and Shizuka looked pleased, though Shizuka still seemed perplexed, not lifting her gaze from the score. Kevin stood up straight as Geon chuckled and shook the score in his hand.

"It's still unfinished. I plan to add some flair with bending, choking, and slides."

Still focused on the score, Shizuka put her hands on the keyboard and silently practiced, then asked,

"Where will this music be used? This doesn’t fit the vibe of Kay's or Montana's albums."

Kevin then seemed to remember something and replied,

"Fury didn’t match Montana’s style either, but this one seems too simple, doesn’t it? It's too straightforward."

"You’re right, it’s too easy and plain for musicians like Montana or Kay. This feels more like a chant for a sports event or a work song."

Watching them agree, Geon snapped his fingers.

"That's it! It was requested by the EPL (English Premier League). They want to use Fury as a chant. And I’m adding an experimental track to it."

Kevin's face showed surprise.

"Really? Which team?"

"Arsenal."

"What!! Really!!"

Kevin pushed his guitar aside and widened his eyes, while Shizuka asked,

"Arsenal? I’ve heard of them, but are they a famous team?"

Kevin looked back at her in disbelief.

"Ha... there's actually someone in front of me asking if Arsenal is a famous team... I thought it was a joke when I read online that my sister doesn't know football, including Arsenal..."

Shizuka blushed slightly, and Kevin, realizing his mistake, hurriedly added,

"Ah! Ahaha, sorry. They're very famous. Well, well, it’s okay if you’re not interested in football! Ahaha! What’s wrong with not knowing, I don’t know about the luxury bags women use either?"

Seeing Kevin trying to smooth things over, Shizuka smiled slightly, and he breathed a sigh of relief as Geon looked at him.

"You didn’t know?"

"I do, I've played all the soccer games. Ha, and I know better because Thierry Henry once appeared on our famous variety show."

Kevin clenched his fist, moved by the thought.

"Ah! King Henry!! Before he went to Barcelona, Henry was the best!"

"That's right, his stats were incredible in the mid to late 2000s in the soccer games."

"Not just in the games! The games can’t even feel half the heat of a real soccer match!"

"Ever been to an EPL match?"

"Are you crazy, do you know how much the tickets cost? Good seats cost at least $150."

"So what, I watch the broadcasts and play the games."

"Anyway! Arsenal has been one of the best teams, never relegated from the first division since World War I! To have Montana’s song as a chant there... It’s really a glory of life! I’d love to go and hear the audience sing our song!"

Kevin clenched his fist and shouted towards the ceiling while Geon grinned broadly, showing his teeth.

"You’ll get to go. The club will probably call you."

"What!

Really? Wait, isn’t it almost time for the Champions League Round of 16?"

"That’s right."

"What, then let’s watch a Champions match while we’re in England!"

"Yes! Great!"

As the two men got excited about football, unlike Shizuka who didn’t follow the sport, she bit her lip watching Geon talk excitedly. She felt a strange sense of isolation and made a resolution to study football when she got home as Geon picked up the score again.

“Let’s stop the chit-chat here, the chant is Fury. The scores you two have are specifically requested by the club to be played when they are losing, to give a boost to the players and the cheering squad.”

As they returned to discussing music, Shizuka found her moment to join in and said cheerfully,

“I see, that’s why you told Kay to play it like you're packing a lunchbox for him.”

“Yes, exactly.”

Kevin grabbed the bass guitar next to him with an inflamed expression.

“Alright! It’s a real motivator, I’ll make sure to get it right! This could be a career-defining moment for me. I’ll brag about it for generations! Now, let me concentrate, don’t disturb me!”

Kevin put on headphones connected to the bass guitar and began to focus intensely, while Shizuka, not wanting to disturb him, also connected headphones to her keyboard and started tuning. In the quiet recording booth, only the small vibrations of the unplugged bass guitar and the soft keyboard sounds pressing against the carpet could be heard. Geon smiled as he held the guitar and walked out of the recording booth into the office.

Sitting at the control desk in the office, Geon flipped through a stack of papers Abigail had given him. It seemed she had done quite a bit of research, as the papers were highlighted in various colors. He opened a page marked by a folded corner and read it again softly,

“An upward diagonal represents agitation, turmoil, and explosion, colored red; a horizontal line represents balance and calm, order, colored white; and a downward diagonal represents seclusion and depth, shadow, colored black.”

Geon quietly observed the paper and then picked up Haku. Holding the cool body of Haku, which he hadn't touched in a long time, he tried sliding on the fretboard, lost in thought.

‘The upward color is red. That means it can bring passion and vitality. The method to raise the pitch is to use sliding and choking in bending. I will discard the horizontal. My song will have no horizontal notes. Balance and calm don’t fit a chant. And, I will also discard the downward diagonal. It won’t energize either the receivers or the givers of the cheer. But, I must remember, it’s a technique I can use in other music.’

Geon looked down at the score with a purple note bordered in orange, and started marking bending notations. Not satisfied with the initial attempts, he suddenly saw the score emit light and dropped his pen. The pen rolled by, changing the color of one of the notes.

‘What...is this?’

Geon’s eyes widened as he saw a note surrounded by red and purple, perfectly and neatly bordered in orange.

‘Three... emotions?’

Stunned, he began to frantically scribble bending notations on the score. As his hand moved, three colors trailed along the score, staining it. Elated, Geon smiled broadly and moved his hands faster. If the color did not change with choking, he changed all the notes on the score to three colors with sliding and one-note raising bending. Geon then lifted his head and smiled brightly.

“Done?”

“Ah! You scared me!”

Grinning with satisfaction, Geon suddenly heard a voice from next to him and threw his pen in surprise. Kevin and Shizuka, arms crossed, were looking down at him from beside the control desk where he was sitting.

“Why aren’t you working? What are you doing out here?”

Shizuka, looking concerned, placed her hand on Geon’s shoulder.

“Does your back hurt? What about your shoulders?”

Geon instinctively straightened his back and rotated his shoulders, making them crack. The slight pain made him grimace, and Kevin shook his head disapprovingly.

“Six hours, six hours.”

“Huh? What?”

Kevin tapped Geon’s back and said,

“You’ve been at it for six hours! How can a person not go to the bathroom or even lift their head for six hours? Are you even human?”

Geon looked surprised and turned to Shizuka, who nodded.

“That’s right, I came in and out several times, and you didn’t even notice.”

Kevin rubbed his stomach and said,

“I’m starving to death, but I couldn’t even talk to you about going to eat. Let’s go eat, I’m dying of hunger.”

Geon looked down at the completed score on the table and licked

his lips.

“Hmm... I just finished the piece, I really want to play it now...”

Kevin grabbed Geon by the armpits and forcefully helped him stand.

“You’re about to die from hunger. Let’s eat first, you’ll ruin your body. Do you always do this?”

Geon scratched the back of his head as he was lifted by Kevin.

“No, well... sometimes?”

Shizuka looked at him with worried eyes.

“Even sometimes is not good, let’s go and have a proper meal.”

As Kevin dragged Geon out, Geon flailed at the threshold.

“Wait! Just let me take the score!”

“Forget it! You don’t work while eating, huh! Let go! Let’s go quickly and eat, then come back and work!”

“Just the score, please!”

“No! Stop it! Let’s go!”

Eventually, Kevin dragged Geon away, and Shizuka smiled as she watched them.

>

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