Don Carlos didn’t scold him. He sighed, a long, weary sound. "When I was your age, I taped songs off the radio. We all stole. But the rules changed, chico." He pulled out a USB drive. "This is a Linux boot disk. We can try to recover your files. But more importantly…" He opened a drawer and pulled out a battered, blue box. Inside was a physical DVD. "Cubase 5. The real one. A student license from a friend who moved to Reaper. It’s yours."

Juan never searched for "Descargar Cubase 5 Full Español Gratis Mediafire" again. Not because he was afraid of the viruses. But because he finally understood that the price of a cracked tool was never just the risk of malware. It was the theft of his own peace of mind. And no melody, no matter how beautiful, was worth that.

"You can pay me by finishing that song and dedicating it to me at the end-of-year showcase."

Euphoria. Pure, illegal, glorious euphoria.