The morning of Friday began quietly.

In the empty house, Halo splashed water on his face and confirmed no one was around.

He hadn't seen No Haeil's father even once, whether he was away on a business trip, and it seemed like No Haeil's mother was out.

It was fortunate they were gone.

As seven o'clock hit, Halo headed to school instinctively. The moderately noisy school was better for organizing his thoughts than the chill house.

Early morning.

Halo, the first to arrive in the empty classroom, heavily dropped his bag down.

Then he heavily plopped down in his seat and roughly ran his fingers through his hair.

"Ha!"

His messy bangs flipped back stiffly like hair gel.

"I didn't expect this to happen."

His brows furrowed.

Vexed, Halo knocked on the desk.

Really, did you not expect it?

His inner voice questioned.

Halo shut his mouth.

He wasn't completely certain that he really hadn't expected it.

He had pulled an all-nighter.

Locking his room door, he operated the now slightly familiar computer. Bringing up multiple windows, he searched recklessly. He looked up all the lyrics he knew and searched for their melodies.

Time was scarce and his ability to navigate the internet was lacking. He didn't know how else to search beyond this. Since this was such an advanced world, techniques related to composing must have progressed as well.

"At least there was nothing exactly the same."

Among what he had looked up, there was nothing completely identical or very similar. Aside from a couple of measures from the shop music, there was nothing yet.

Irritation rose from the song coming through the headphones.

"Why did they compose it like this?"

Listening again, it was not a pleasant song. The dragging melody, the cheesy lyrics—they didn't appeal to him. Each one was displeasing. It felt incomplete, and he wondered if it had to be composed and sung this way.

'I sing better. My music is better.'

Only two phrases in his first album, "Struggle," were somewhat similar.

It wasn't plagiarized.

Aside from two identical measures, everything like the beat, genre, mood, and purpose was different. If this was considered plagiarism, most music in the world would be charged with plagiarism.

But that didn't make the unpleasant feeling disappear. When he first heard it, he was terrified that something he had considered his sole property could possibly be snatched away.

Perhaps blinded by the joys of this world, he had buried that most important suspicion in a corner.

He didn't want to doubt it.

In this era flooded with music, the assumption that there would be no music similar to his.

In other words, his music might not actually be his own but rather belong to someone else.

He had overlooked that melodies coincidentally conceived by different people could overlap.

"I can't just let this slide."

Above all, the most important thing wasn't learning about this world or gaining inspiration while listening to its music.

He had to stake his claim before his things got snatched away.

The method was clear.

In any case, he remembered all his albums perfectly.

He had composed them and sang them so there was no way he wouldn't remember. All he had to do was recruit performers to record and quickly release an album.

And then he grasped the issue a beat too late.

'What now?'

#

"Come on kids, let's turn the lights on. Are you all children of darkness?"

The day of Seonyeon Middle School 3-1 class started as usual. The kids trailing in listlessly around 8. They chattered as soon as they entered, and then the teacher came in and turned on the lights after about 20 minutes.

"Now everyone knows it's just a week left until finals, right?"

The teacher gripped the lectern and looked around the classroom.

"So most of next week will be self-study. Remember to bring study materials. I hope everyone studies hard to wrap up with no regrets. I believe you'll get scores according to your efforts. See you next class."

The kids responded and as soon as the teacher left, the classroom transformed into a marketplace.

"Hey, No Haeil. You quit your academy?"

"For real? How come you weren't there yesterday either?"

A asked. Or was he B?

Can't remember.

"Maybe."

A noncommittal reply made the kids tilt their heads.

"You been kinda weird these days? Something happens?"

"Yeah like hanging out with Jang Jinsoo and stuff."

"Get in a fight with your mom after skipping academy twice?"

These kids were endearing yet annoying.

Come to think of it, Halo didn't seem to like kids that much.

"There are adult circumstances."

The kids made sour faces, clearly not taking him seriously. Then they all exchanged looks and glared at him sinisterly.

What is it this time?

It was impossible to keep up with the kids' moods.

"Don't tell me...you dating these days? Confessing to Soyeon? Don't tell me Sehwa High's...Kim Minseo?"

"Kim Minseo's the girl you like."

"Shut up."

A voice past puberty grumbled.

The noise entered one ear and exited the other.

Halo rested his chin in his hand and stared out the window. But what he was actually seeing wasn't the densely packed apartment complex without a single gap.

'How do you release an album here?'

Despite thinking other places would be similar, that was only briefly.

He soon faced practical problems.

While Halo might not know, No Haeil had no label.

All problems start from here.

Money was needed to produce an album. Or someone to produce it. Barring a sudden windfall of a million pounds falling from the sky, inevitably, signing with a record label was the only option.

'I can’t believe I have to worry about money now.'

Recording too. While he could write music scores if he put his mind to it, besides No Haeil's voice not being fully developed yet, he couldn't play every instrument so session musicians were required.

He would never be fully satisfied with imperfect recordings.

What was needed here too was either money or people.

'...People that is.'

#

"Hey, No Haeil."

Halo raised his head.

Jang Jinsoo, who had planted his head on the desk napping, came around as an expectant lunchtime warrior.

Sensing hopeful anticipation, Halo became curious.

"Did you listen?"

"To what?"

Jang Jinsoo's mood visibly dampened.

As if his pride was hurt, he started to turn away but soon halted again.

"You said you'd listen to my song."

"Ah."

Only then did Halo recall his promise to Jang Jinsoo.

Come to think of it, he did promise to check out his song.

He had completely forgotten due to the shock of possibly having his own song stolen from him.

There was no problem. Songs weren't infinite and it wasn't too late to listen now.

"You got it now?"

"Sent it already. Check your email."

"Email?"

His thoughts ground to a halt.

While Jang Jinsoo might say meaningless things, besides NuTube and the search bar, Halo hadn't used any other features even once.

However, Halo didn't ask what email was.

He held out the phone with an unperturbed expression.

"What email?"

Without any suspicion, Jang Jinsoo took No Haeil's phone. He tapped the envelope icon and downloaded the file. Only then did Halo realize phones had the function of sharing music with each other.

Oh.

I should analyze this phone's features at some point.

After finishing the setup, Jang Jinsoo gave the phone back.

Let's give it a listen with headphones on.

The beat flowed out. No separate melody.

Instead, lyrics could be heard.

[Show times show times show is a show]

"?"

...What is this?

Without realizing it, Halo turned it off.

#

Halo had always received a lot of attention.

The clothes he wore triggered hits, and paparazzi always tried to capture his private life. His remarks occasionally graced the social section, and countless fans with outstretched hands awaited him wherever he went.

Naturally, his popularity didn't just remain the public's interest.

That is to say, he drew interest from everyone including the public. Regardless of gender, age, fame, wealth, or power - everyone wanted to meet him, and he was invited to many gatherings because of this.

Halo mingled with diverse people. He enjoyed social occasions with drinks, music, and people, and it was fun listening to strong-minded people's opinions.

Of course, the people he liked most were musicians. From domestic musicians to rising international powerhouses.

Recently, that is right before his death, his interest turned to the emerging musicians rising in New York Harlem. They had a form of music and conviction like nothing seen before.

At the time, opinions were divided about these new musicians. There were doubts about whether they could be called musicians. Some said that without music in it, it couldn't be called music, while others argued that rhythm alone could sufficiently constitute music.

Halo was closer to the latter.

Whether or not this was music or not, the "rap" these people did was very interesting.

They repeatedly used beats without melodies. And they spit out lyrics rapidly into the ear. They mainly talked about their everyday lives and social perspectives.

Anyway, the reason he described this new musical form was because the genre of the song Jang Jinsoo showed him seemed to be rap. The repetitive beats and quickly chanted lyrics.

So, the reason Halo turned the music off wasn't because this form was unfamiliar.

Simply.

"Why, why are you like that?"

"What is this?"

"It's hip hop, why?"

Simply.

Gazing at the tense expression, Halo honestly said,

"It's freaking terrible."

"!"

After listening to 12 words, he got goosebumps and turned it off. The problem wasn't the genre itself but the lyrics that gave listeners goosebumps. And the rapping struggling to keep up with the beats.

The beats were weird too. It was hard to grasp whether the dissonance was intentional or if they were simply poorly made beats.

It felt like everything was wrong with it.

The beats, which could be considered the backbone of the song, were made not of steel but of sand, and the lyrics and rapping washed over them like waves.

All that remained were the vestiges of a sandcastle fallen without a trace.

"Uh, what's so bad about it?"

He didn't think he needed to elaborate on why every aspect was bad, but Halo explained a bit more kindly.

"For starters, I can't stand the first verse."

"Ah."

As if understanding what he meant, Jang Jinsoo's eyes flashed.

"Ah right, that's probably copyrighted so better to take that part out. Got it. I'll remove it. Then how's the latter part? The rest?"

"Hm."

"Is it okay?"

"No."

"!"

The formerly bright face hardened.

As if he hadn't expected such harsh criticism at all.

Halo simply could not understand.

How could he say this was passable after listening?

In fact, this wasn't even where he had stopped listening to the song.

"Who made the beats?"

"I made them and the hyungs fixed them up."

"...This?"

"Yeah."

Jang Jinsoo turned on his phone and hit play.

Hm. Halo took a deep breath. He didn't know what to say.

"What's so bad about it?"

To Halo, the problems were too many to count on one hand.

Not just one or two things that needed throwing out but if fixing it, what should even be salvaged? Halo tapped on the desk twice.

If he didn't have to use this per se, then

"Why not just remake it completely?"

It seemed better to simply recreate it.

"Tha-"

Jang Jinsoo mumbled as if unable to get the words out.

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"There's not much time left."

At Jang Jinsoo's words, Halo shut his mouth.

There was absolutely no way the quality could measure up within that timeframe since this song wasn't his, to begin with.

"How much is left?"

"Till midnight Sunday."

"That's plenty of time left."

"...It'll take two days at least to remake the beats."

Jang Jinsoo seemed unwilling to remake the song from scratch.

"Even making some minor fixes would improve it a lot, don't you think?"

"Maybe."

Where to even start fixing it?

Some ideas came to mind but they didn't seem like easy tasks for Jang Jinsoo. Someone well-versed in this genre or a competent producer was needed to oversee this. Did Jang Jinsoo have someone like that beside him?

Halo judged with composure.

"It'll be hard for you."

"!"

Jang Jinsoo's face paled dramatically.

Even before he could say anything, grumble.

Jang Jinsoo opened the door and dashed out.