Into the Blue

Unchained Melody

Ri Jeong Hyeok has always been a patient man.

Patience is a virtue he was born with, exemplified by the way he grew up having to teach himself the basics of life most of the time, what with his parents always perennially preoccupied with matters of state that the young boy had no place in.

It followed him all throughout his adolescence, when he was suddenly bombarded with life-changing decisions he had to sort through in order to figure out just exactly what it was that he wanted to do after school.

Though most of his peers ended up making rash decisions they would later regret, Jeong Hyeok took his time in honing several skills until he weeded out those he didn't excel in, and recognised where he, as an individual, truly thrived.

In his young adult life, when everyone else around him seemed to be climbing ladders in their respective fields, Jeong Hyeok clung onto patience as he waited for his turn to finally have a taste at success.

Most of the time, he felt like a fish out of water in his chosen career, for music was something entirely alien from his bloodline full of diplomats and soldiers.

But he did not fret.

At the early age of ten, Jeong Hyeok was considered to be something of a musical prodigy, and though he did try to stretch himself out in other fields every year in school, the call of music would prove to be so loud as to be impossible to ignore.

Patience has always done him good, such that the mantra patience, patience, patience would constantly ring through his mind like an earworm, echoing inside him relentlessly.

It has done him well so far, with the musician never seeming to ever run out of his golden pot of patience, not even on days when the notes in his head refuse to form a song.

He remained, as always, a patient man.

...that is, until he met Yoon Seri.

The stubborn student was the absolute antithesis of Jeong Hyeok: feminine, chatty, smiling, but also - impatient, loud, and, most importantly, just terrible at music.

She was also very much the opposite of all the people in his life, for her aura simply exuded the kind of charm and freshness one could never expect from serious career-driven individuals whose idea of fun is to compete with each other.

He had seen her lingering around in his freelance music classes one day, unwittingly keeping his eyes pinned on her to see if she could follow his lessons. She seemed smart enough, with her attention to detail second to none, asking Jeong Hyeok questions that told him she knew exactly what she was talking about.

It impressed him, to say the least. Though he was still in his mid twenties, Jeong Hyeok had managed to meet and mingle with different types of people from all walks of life - some from his parents' society circle, most from his stints in university.

Yoon Seri was definitely of her own kind.

Sometimes, she would approach the young music teacher after all other students had gone just to clarify some things about music. He guessed (correctly, he would later find) that they were the same age. He preferred for them to talk comfortably, but she still used honorifics with him.

Clearly, music was a subject she held in utmost regard, and though Jeong Hyeok was itching to know why - why exactly a beautiful vibrant young woman, who was obviously a chaebol, would bother herself with his mundane classes - he also respected her privacy.

Besides, what kind of musician would he be if he refused to answer all her queries about his one true muse? Jeong Hyeok knew he still had a long way to go before he could truly deem himself an expert in music, but his passion for it proved incomparable. It was enough for the university to allow him to hold his own classes, albeit he himself was still very much a learner.