Episode 32: Long Time No See?
Before my regression, in the year Polaris celebrated its 10th anniversary, our road manager—who joined us in our third year and supported us for seven—got married.
Known among Polaris’s fandom as the “seventh member,” he told us not to bother coming.
But how could we not?
We promised to attend but planned a brief surprise to sing at his wedding, ensuring we wouldn’t steal the spotlight.
Despite his busy schedule sticking with us, we couldn’t practice separately.
Luckily, we had a song that needed no rehearsal: Wedding Flower, track 8 from Polaris’s fifth album, The May.
Sampling Wagner’s Bridal Chorus and Mendelssohn’s Wedding March, it was a top wedding song, one we’d practiced in spare moments, vowing to sing it if any member married.
For our “seventh member,” it was a no-brainer.
The problem came on the wedding day.
Composing it, recording it, performing it on spring music show specials—never an issue.
Even ten minutes before, rehearsing in another hall, it flowed perfectly.
But when the moment arrived, the song wouldn’t come out.
Thankfully, Sunghoon and Jun noticed my struggle, splitting my parts, and since I was at the piano, we finished without much awkwardness.
“Sorry, my condition’s off. Thanks—you saved me from ruining the wedding.”
I said this to Sunghoon and Jun in the car afterward, but Wedding Flower vanished from Polaris’s repertoire after that day.
Even humming it felt like a heavy weight choked my throat.
Now I understand why I couldn’t sing Wedding Flower.
That suffocating feeling—I know its source.
Looking back, it’s almost obvious.
Beneath my flashy exterior, hiding a defeat no one knew, I had no room to genuinely celebrate another’s love.
A slightly embarrassing truth.
***
Taeoh’s song choice is Fly High.
From a late-2000s OST for a ski-jumping national team film, its bright, hopeful vibe is perfectly captured in his arrangement.
Taeoh soars, true to the song’s title.
“Even in a raging storm,
Don’t stop your wings—fly high.
You’ll shine brightly where all can see.”
Three weeks ago, after locking in our matchup, Taeoh looked like the world had ended.
That gloom is gone now.
His song choice screams his intent to surpass me.
‘Is this really a coincidence?’
Before my regression, Fly High earned Taeoh the nickname “Seoul U Guitar Hottie.”
Despite the five-year gap between that YouTube band performance and now, Taeoh’s stage today rivals his future self.
‘Of course, I’m the only one who knows that.’
That’s why I’m certain.
Just as Fly High led Taeoh to music in my past life, this Fly High will announce his potential to the world.
“Awakened. Number 2. I worried that the flaws I pointed out in Round 2 might put you at a disadvantage against Number 1. But you cleverly overcame them. When fixing something quickly isn’t an option, you don’t avoid it—you use it well. Fly High was the perfect choice. That desperate yearning to soar lit my heart. Kim Kwangyong-sunbae wanted to see Number 2’s guitar-driven stage, and I think this was it. Well done.”
Lee Ahjeong, who critiqued Taeoh harshly in Round 2, now showers him with praise, and even Bang Hokyung offers a mild review, wrapping up smoothly.
Now it’s my turn.
The stage still hums with the heat Taeoh left behind.
‘So that’s how you’re playing.’
I wasn’t planning to hold back anyway.
If Taeoh delivers a stage like that, I have to match it.
‘It’s a shame I can’t sing Wedding Flower…’
Unfortunately, Blind Singer doesn’t allow original songs.
“Hoo.”
I blow my lingering regret into the mic, letting it go.
Holding onto it would disrespect the song I’m about to sing.
Tarang tan, tarang tan, daran dan dan.
My pick moves slower than in Round 1, weaving a melody that gently pushes out Taeoh’s fiery passion.
“Today’s the day I travel with you.”
‘Travel for You’ by the male ballad duo Pepper & Salt.
Released in 2012, it remained a beloved wedding song, even when Wedding Flower debuted.
The song’s vibe and my arrangement differ from Rounds 1 and 2.
Judges’ hands drift to their mouths.
But this song needs no reinterpretation.
Its raw, almost immature love, expressed with finesse, doesn’t require turning a girl’s first love into a boy’s.
Such tweaks would be superfluous.
Singing it as is suffices—they know that.
“Where the sunlight blazes down,
I’ll be the tree casting wide shade.
Where a steep climb awaits,
I’ll be the bike carrying you up.”
Even before the chorus, the judges’ trembling eyes begin to settle.
A song that bares your heart to someone you’ll walk with,
Or blesses the path of those embarking on a long journey.
This joyful melody is enough to seep into the cracks of their shaken hearts.
“With me, it’ll always be a happy journey.
With you, I can walk any path.
Though the destination’s unknown,
Today’s the day I travel with you.”
As I finish the first verse, I catch Bang Hokyung’s smirk.
‘He noticed, huh.’
It’d be strange if he didn’t.
My presence likely played a part in him being here.
But I push the thought aside.
Whether he knows my identity doesn’t matter.
By the time I sing my next song, this mask will be long gone.
“Where a fierce storm rages,
I’ll be the sturdy log cabin with no gaps.
When a gentle hill appears,
I’ll hold your hand and stride joyfully.”
A song about envisioning a future with another.
I couldn’t sing it sincerely before because my capacity was too small.
Even now, my capacity hasn’t grown, but the suffocating weight that choked me is gone for one reason.
‘Zia’s the bigger vessel that holds all of me.’
Merely preserving the original vibe is no different from not arranging at all.
So, I boldly cut the second verse’s chorus, identical to the first, and dive into the bridge.
“No need to worry.
We don’t yet know where we’re headed,
But no matter what path lies ahead,
As long as it’s with you,
A sweet moon will rise there.”
The bridge, originally peaking at a 2-octave G, is raised three semitones.
“What? Isn’t that too high?!”
“Not for them, apparently. That’s… C5, right? They make it look easy—could probably go higher.”
“No twist in the arrangement, so they shock us like this? This kid’s unreal!”
Ignoring Sally’s bewildered reaction—laughing or crying, who knows?—I maintain the raised pitch into the final chorus.
“Amid applause blessing our path,
You walk toward me through blooming flower trails.
If you smile at me like you do now,
I’ll travel with you forever.
I’ll travel with you to the end.”
As I slow the pick’s pace to close the song, a thought hits.
‘I hope this airs soon.’
The urge to share this song with others surges stronger than ever before.
***
The gentle melody fades.
A song so familiar it plays at weddings weekly.
Nothing shocking, yet the judges are speechless for two reasons.
‘They sang it true to the original?!’
This contestant erased the original’s presence in the prior rounds.
And their effortless handling of notes most women would struggle with—an endless vocal range.
As the judges reel, Ji Sehyuk, buzzing with excitement, opens his mouth to prod them.
But Bang Hokyung, unfazed because singing true to the original was expected from Han Yujin, speaks first.
“May I go first?”
Knowing no reply will come, he doesn’t wait, spilling his thoughts.
“I felt it the first time I saw you—you’re a hopeless romantic.”
Only he and I understand the comment, tilting dozens of heads.
“Now that I think about it, ‘Why’d You Come to My House?’ isn’t so different. Did ‘If you’re gonna be like that, go home’ really mean leave? Love might look different from what we expect, but even a bad boy’s love is still love.”
His words sideline the confusion.
‘What kind of nonsense is that?!’
Everyone thinks it, but no one calls it out.
Not just because it’s Bang Hokyung.
The song still ringing in their ears lent his nonsense conviction.
Perhaps the panic of buying into his absurdity keeps them silent as he continues.
“After taking that much guarantee and telling me not to call for six months, you’re here doing something this fun. It’s been… four months? Long time no see. We go way back, don’t we?”
A bomb far bigger than Sally’s in Round 2 detonates spectacularly at Round 3’s climax.