A hard material guitar case.
Mark Miller slowly stroked the top of the case.
As cautiously as if handling a baby.
His movement was slow, as if he were gazing into his past through the guitar case.
Miller extended his hand to Seojin, who seemed to have been prepared, handing an object to Miller.
And then.
Mark Miller smashed the guitar case with the rock Seojin had given him.
“See? A bit aggressive, but it works.”
“It’s completely shattered, though.”
For the record, what Mark Miller did wasn’t anything special.
He simply forced open a case that was locked.
Because he was concentrating so hard on not damaging the contents inside, he had hit only the lock precisely.
Still, Seojin kept grumbling for some reason.
“Wouldn’t it have been better to make a key like I suggested?”
“Are we locksmiths or something? That would’ve been a waste of time.”
“We could’ve just hammered one out from the spare metal we have lying around. We’ve got plenty of time, anyway. And...”
Mark Miller glanced back at Seojin, who was still mumbling.
He noticed Seojin’s eyes, still swollen. His whole face was blotchy, likely from crying his heart out, snot and all. It must’ve been quite the sob session.
That’s probably why he felt embarrassed now.
Of course, it wasn’t like Miller couldn’t understand Seojin’s feelings.
The person he had depended solely on this deserted island had almost died.
It wasn’t because he was just a 12-year-old kid, but rather the thought crossed Mark Miller’s mind that anyone in that situation would have reacted the same way.
Mark Miller reluctantly stopped what he was doing and approached Seojin, who was staring blankly at him. Miller playfully tousled his hair.
“Argh! Why again?”
“Just because. Watching you make me want to tease you.”
“Hey, isn’t this the moment we should be focusing on what might come out of the guitar case? Don’t you know this is an important matter related to survival?”
“I know, kid. Don’t mess around.”
Mark Miller once again focused on dismantling the case, leaving the grumbling Seojin behind.
But he didn’t forget to casually throw out a remark.
“People don’t die that easily.”
It was Mark Miller’s way of offering comfort.
Seojin, after hearing that, sighed deeply. After muttering to himself a few more times, he quietly began helping Miller.
It didn’t take Mark Miller long to dismantle the case.
Rock, force, physics!
There weren’t many things that took a long time to be dismantled in front of those.
The first thing they saw when the case was opened was an acoustic guitar.
To Mark Miller, it looked like a fairly ordinary, mid-range guitar. Just in case, he checked the model name written inside, but it wasn’t from a well-known instrument brand. The model name was RL-173. He guessed it was a local brand produced in a specific country.
In truth, neither Miller nor Seojin had been hoping for a guitar.
They were looking for tools directly related to survival.
They thoroughly searched the case to find something like that.
Various items came out.
Sheet music and notebooks.
Staff paper and ballpoint pens.
A small hand mirror.
And then,
“I knew it! Musicians are pretty much the same wherever you go in the world.”
A pack of cigarettes and two disposable lighters.
These were precious items carefully stored in the inner pocket of the case.
Unfortunately, nothing like a phone came out.
Still, they got their hands on something desperately needed on this deserted island—fire.
Of course, they hadn’t failed to try making fire while they were there.
They had gathered dry grass and attempted to create friction with wooden sticks, but every attempt had ended in failure. After hours of effort, all they could manage was some smoke. The fire had never sparked.
Mark Miller carefully wiped the tip of the lighter on his clothes, just in case any seawater had gotten on it.
Then he flicked the flint of the lighter with a ‘click’.
A flame flickered to life instantly.
Seojin let out an exclamation of awe.
Miller shouted loudly too.
Once the fire was lit, he was confident that he could keep it going. As long as they kept the embers alive for 24 hours, they’d manage somehow.
Even though the lighter was disposable, on a deserted island, it was as if it had brought them an endless supply of fire.
They began gathering the dry leaves they had collected earlier at a spot on the beach. They piled up branches to form an outer structure, and to prevent the fire from being blown out by the wind, they built a windbreak using palm leaves.
Next, they prepared the food.
The fish that had been well-dried in the sunlight, the crabs caught just yesterday, and the coconuts picked in advance.
By the time all the preparations were finished, the sun was already setting.
Normally, they would have had nothing to do and would have gone to sleep, but now, they didn’t mind much.
Miller handed Seojin a lighter. It was his way of telling him to finish it off himself.
Click, click—
A crisp sound came from the lighter as Seojin flicked it with his hand.
After a few tries, the dry leaves finally caught fire.
The fire quickly grew larger.
At last, there was light on the deserted island that had known only the dark of night.
The sky was filled with countless stars, and a crescent moon proudly took its place.
The sound of waves formed by small ripples tickled their ears.
Miller and Seojin sat by the fire. They shared the food they had.
The clams and crabs, which didn’t taste like much when eaten raw, were now as delicious as any delicacy once grilled.
Mark Miller, sensing it was the perfect moment, picked up the acoustic guitar he had found earlier in the day.
Seojin’s face was filled with curiosity.
Though Seojin had often chatted with Miller, he knew well that Miller was a musician.
Because of that, Seojin, the only audience in this place, had high expectations.
The only disappointment for Miller was that the guitar wasn’t in great condition.
One of the six guitar strings was broken, and the body of the guitar was still damp, perhaps because seawater had gotten into the hard case.
As expected, when he gave it a light strum, the sound wasn’t clean.
But what could he do? He couldn’t send his only audience away.
‘What song would be good?’
Miller, having roughly tuned his guitar, thought of some famous songs that even Seojin would recognize. Then he recalled some songs he had written in the past.
None of them seemed quite right.
It wasn’t because they were bad songs, but because they didn’t feel appropriate for this particular moment.
‘In that case...’
Mark Miller began to improvise a melody, letting his inspiration guide him.
Since one of the guitar strings was missing, the finger positions had to change, but it didn’t really matter.
He felt like a pretty good song was coming together, just as it was. It didn’t even feel like a penalty.
He used the guitar’s body as a makeshift drum, tapping out a rhythm. His body naturally bent forward in sync with the guitar.
Before Miller even realized it, the first note of the song flowed from his guitar.
On a deserted island on a summer night, staring into the blazing fire, Mark Miller played the guitar and sang.
There were no special lyrics to the song.
He just strung together random words, capturing the feeling of the moment.
The moon and stars.
Light and darkness.
And adults and children.
When he couldn’t think of anything, he filled the gaps with a bit of scatting.
And that was fine.
Because this was music.
Yes. This was what music was.
“Wow... What song is that?”
“It’s an improv I just came up with. It doesn’t even have a title yet.”
“Mister, you’re a real artist.”
“Well, I wouldn’t be a fake one. Want to give it a try?”
“About what?”
“The guitar. I’ll show you.”
Seojin blinked. Miller handed him the guitar without any warning.
Miller roughly explained how sound was produced from the guitar.
He also created and showed Seojin a few unique chord fingerings, ones that could only be played on this peculiar guitar missing a string.
Following Miller’s instructions, Seojin started to strum the acoustic guitar, albeit awkwardly. When the sound was discordant, he would adjust his grip on the strings slightly, crafting new tones as he went.
After what seemed like deep contemplation, Seojin eventually produced a harmonious sound.
A beautiful sound created by four strings simultaneously.
It was...
“See? You’re doing well.”
It was the first chord from the song that Mark Miller had composed impromptu just a little while ago.
Seojin slowly moved on to the next chord.
There were moments of silence as he hesitated and figured things out. But during those pauses, the quiet was filled by the sound of forest insects.
Seojin kept making music.
As he slowly adjusted the chords, the guitar’s sound improved little by little.
It was far from perfect.
But still...
It was enough to be called music.
Noticing this, a smile lingered on Seojin’s lips.
Watching him, Miller began to sing the lyrics to the song he had just composed.
Seojin played the guitar to match Miller’s voice.
In fact, he was doing more than just that.
Seojin would occasionally change the songs Miller had composed to fit his own style.
‘Does he do it knowingly or purely by instinct?’
He created his own guitar chords, adding variations that Miller hadn’t taught him.
Whenever Seojin encountered something he didn’t know, he didn’t hesitate to ask.
When he mastered something, he played it confidently.
So absorbed, he didn’t even realize how late the night had become.
There’s a time when talent blooms in people.
Some might pass by that moment without realizing it, but others recognized it and made it their own.
What about Seojin?
Was he the type to idly watch as his talent slips away?
Well, at least based on the Seojin that Mark Miller knew, he didn’t seem like someone who would miss any small opportunity.
And as if to prove that point,
Seojin continued to endlessly create music with his guitar.
