Jazz for Two: The Silent Beat

Flashback: The Origins of the Song

Flashback: The Origins of the SongJu Ha's Past: "The Silent Composer"

The music building had always been a part of Ju Ha's life, though he never fully understood why. As a child, he would pass by it on his way to school, always drawn to the faint echo of music that seemed to spill from its walls, even though no one was ever inside. The old, crumbling building had been closed for years, its dark windows like empty eyes staring back at him.

His grandmother had always warned him to stay away. "That place isn't for you," she would say, her voice tight with fear whenever the subject came up. "The spirits of old composers still linger there. You don't want to hear their music."

But Ju Ha, like many children, was curious—too curious for his own good.

One fateful night, when Ju Ha was just eight years old, he followed the sound of distant music through the cracks of the building's gates. It wasn't a melody, not quite. It was something darker, more primal. He had no idea what it was or where it came from, but the closer he got, the more he felt as though he were being drawn into something he couldn't escape.

When he ventured inside, he found an old grand piano, covered in dust, yet oddly pristine. The room was still—silent, save for the faint, almost imperceptible hum of strings vibrating in the air. His fingers brushed across the keys instinctively, and when they struck the first note, the world seemed to shift around him.

The music wasn't his; it wasn't from the piano. It was coming from somewhere deeper. The piano was merely a vessel.

Before he could fully understand what was happening, a figure appeared in the doorway. An older man, face obscured by shadows, with a presence that felt too real and too alive for someone who had long since passed. He looked at Ju Ha and whispered, "You've heard the music now, child. There's no turning back."

The man's words echoed in Ju Ha's mind for years to come.

The Curse: "The Composer's Deal"

The haunting music wasn't just a curse—it was a bargain, a pact made long ago between a desperate composer and a powerful entity.

The composer's name was Jung Seok, a renowned musician in the early 1900s. His compositions were said to be cursed, known for their ability to drive musicians to madness. The most infamous of his works was the Devil's Chord, a melody that supposedly summoned spirits from the beyond—a piece of music that once played could never be erased from existence.

Jung Seok had made a deal with the entity that resided within the building, hoping to create a composition that would secure his legacy forever. In exchange for his soul, the entity promised him a song so powerful that it would live on long after he was gone.

But the song came with a terrible price. Jung Seok died under mysterious circumstances, and his music—his curse—took root in the old music building. Those who played it would forever be haunted by the spirits of past musicians, the echoes of the song's power twisting their minds.

And, as Ju Ha learned that night, the curse didn't just take from the living—it bound them to it. It twisted their fates, shaping their futures.

The figure Ju Ha saw that night—the shadowed man—wasn't just a ghost. He was Jung Seok, forever trapped in the halls of the building, trying to ensure that the song lived on, trying to claim new souls to carry it forward.

Do Yoon's Family: "The Hidden Truth"

While Ju Ha's connection to the music building was steeped in mystery, Do Yoon's ties were more personal—and more painful. He had never known the full story of his family's past. All he knew was that his mother had died when he was very young, and his father had disappeared shortly after, leaving him with his grandmother, who rarely spoke of his parents.

His grandmother's cryptic warnings about the music hall had always confused him. "Stay away from that place, Yoon-ah," she would tell him. "It's not a place for good things. Your mother knew the truth about it. And your father—he didn't come back after he went in."

The truth was much darker than Do Yoon could have ever imagined.

His father, Kim Seung Hwan, had been a talented musician—gifted, even. But after a chance encounter with the music hall, he had vanished without a trace. Do Yoon's grandmother had never said much about his father's disappearance, but she had always hinted that Seung Hwan's obsession with the music hall was the reason he'd never returned.

When Do Yoon first stepped foot in the music building, he had no idea his father's spirit was tied to it—the music was his father's legacy, the unfinished symphony that Seung Hwan had tried to compose in his final days.

Seung Hwan had, in his desperation, sought out the cursed piano, believing it would grant him the final piece to his symphony—the Devil's Chord.

But what he had failed to realize was that once the music entered your soul, there was no way out. It would possess you, twist your thoughts, and bind you forever to the building.

His mother, who had been a student of the same cursed composer, had been the one to try and save Seung Hwan. But her attempts failed. In the end, she had died trying to destroy the sheet music that had once belonged to Jung Seok.

The Meeting: "Destined to Cross Paths"

Do Yoon and Ju Ha's paths had been destined to cross from the very beginning—not just because of the curse, but because of their families' shared ties to the music hall.

Ju Ha, whose bloodline was linked to the cursed composer Jung Seok, and Do Yoon, whose family had been touched by the effects of the music long before he was born. The spirits they encountered in the music hall were not just strangers—they were part of a larger legacy, one that connected both of them.

It was no coincidence that Ju Ha had been drawn to the music hall in the first place. It wasn't just fate; it was the pull of blood, the lingering curse that had followed him for generations.

For Do Yoon, the music hall had been a place of terror, but it was also a place of rediscovery—a place where he would learn not only the truth about his father but about the strength he had inherited from his family's past.

And so, when Ju Ha and Do Yoon finally crossed paths, they were more than just two students caught in the web of a curse. They were two pieces of a puzzle that had been set in motion long ago, linked together by the song, by the spirits, by the curse, and by their families' shared fate.

The echoes of the past had shaped them, but it was together that they would be able to break free—or at least, live with the music that would always be a part of them.