page turner ; changkyun ff

89

the two walked back into the room, as hyunwoo and the group of people looked at them.

"are you alright, miso?" hyunwoo asked, giving her a concerning look.

"i'm fine, just had to do something quickly."

"okay, that's good to hear." he put his clipboard down and smile. "you two are probably wondering who those people are behind you, right?"

the competitors slowly nodded.

"usually at every final round, we like to record them and use them for future references; how so? we usually show them to the lower divisions of the competition. they can think about auditioning for the higher divisions for the next year. just giving them a taste of what it's like, you know what i mean?"

they nodded again.

"anyways, should we start?" he asked. miso took a deep breath and nodded, looking at the ground.

cameras were something she always feared; she felt that she should do it well. she knew deep down that she would mess up more than three times, which made her mood drop.

"so, who wants to go first?" hyunwoo asked. changkyun looked at miso, who was still looking down at the ground.

"do you want to go first?" he whispered. she just shrugged, not saying a word.

changkyun didn't want to go first as well; he was one who always went last, and it was his thing.

"how about a gold ol' coin flip?" hyunwoo asked, taking a penny out of his pocket. "changkyun, head or tails?"

"tails."

hyunwoo flipped the coin in the air and caught it in his hand. "miso, you're heads, right?"

changkyun slightly nudged her, signaling to answer. she looked up and faked a smile. "yes."

hyunwoo then lifted his hand in the air, and his eyes widened. "it's heads, which means miso goes up first!"

her eyes widened, not expecting to go. she looked at changkyun with fear in her eyes.

he leaned over to her ear and whispered some words of motivation. "go now, or i'll tell everyone in this room how much i wanted to rail the living hell out of you just minutes ago."

her eyes widened, and she slapped his chest, immediately standing up with her notes in her hands. she walked up in the front, standing nervously next to hyunwoo.

"could you introduce yourself to that camera really quick?" he asked, pointing to the middle camera. "like, hi, my name is son hyunwoo, and i'm 42."

she faced her body toward the camera and smiled awkwardly. "h-hi, i'm park miso, and i'm sixteen years of age."

miso then took a seat at the piano, putting her sheets in front of her. she took a look at her brace and realized that she forgot to take it off. she looked at changkyun, who was leaning back on the seat, looking at her with a smile on his face. she quickly took the brace off and threw it at him, making him surprised.

"are you sure you won't be needing that?" hyunwoo whispered. she nodded, smiling at changkyun's reaction; he just gave her a confused look, holding the brace in one hand. she shook her head and gathered all of her concentration, cracking her neck at the same time.

"whenever you're ready." hyunwoo told her, giving her a thumbs up. miso took three deep breathes, closing her eyes and praying that she would do good. preparing her hands on the keys, she looked at the notes and began to put pressure on her fingers.

while playing the first few measures, her wrist was already killing her; she quietly winced at the pain and just continued to play.

thank goodness they're just scales and trills. she thought to herself, transitioning to the next page with a smile on her face.

although she wasn't doing the scales and trills well, she still tried her best to play them accurately without trying to cause more pain to the wrist.

going on to the last page, she slowly felt victory coming her way. her wrist slowly started to give up on her, and she tried to balance the volume by putting less pressure on her fingers.

come on, miso, this is the last few measures. she thought to herself, trying her best until the very end. she realized that there was a long trill at the end, which took up four measures. she groaned and quickly improvised by pressing the damper pedal with the chord of the left hand. she then switched over the trill to her left hand, using her right thumb as a helper; the pedal wasn't going to last long, and she tried her best to finish at a quick pace.

these are the last two trills! she quickly did them and played the final cadence. switching the positions of her hands, she missed a beat or two in the process.

she played the last chord, putting all of her pressure on her right hand as a finale. everyone in the room applauded loudly, and the recording stopped. she rested her head on the piano, tears coming out of her eyes that were of pain and victory.

"you did it, park miso, you did it," she whispered to herself, her wrist now numb.