A Musical Genius Who Plays Memories - Chapter 102

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 102. Moonlight (2)

“A, a synthesizer…?”

To be honest, I had completely forgotten about the contest.

But the red synthesizer, which was the first prize of the contest, was in my room.

I couldn’t close my mouth from all sorts of emotions like excitement and surprise.

“Surprised?”

“Yes, yes!”

“Haha!”

“We did well to bring it secretly.”

“Of course, whose plan was it. Hehe.”

Father and Mother were congratulating each other on the success of their secretly planned operation.

I was dumbfounded watching the two of them.

I was so surprised that all the strength drained from my legs.

‘But still, why is that here?’

That was what I was most curious about.

Even if that thing was here, shouldn’t it be at Aunt Sujin’s studio?

Mother resolved my curiosity.

“While Hee-seong was with Uncle and Aunt today, Father brought it.”

“Ah… Then, that belongs to Aunt…”

“It’s Hee-seong’s.”

What?

I swallowed those words down my throat.

The reason I participated in the contest in the first place was because I wanted that red synthesizer.

That was a one-dimensional reason, and there were many other reasons too.

But that red synthesizer played the biggest role.

That was an undeniable fact.

“Hee-seong was the one who made the song, right?”

“Uh… Yes…”

“So it’s Hee-seong’s.”

“But Aunt also…”

“Aunt Sujin said from the beginning that she wanted to give it to Hee-seong, didn’t she?”

“…”

I silently looked at the synthesizer in the room.

Right.

I was fully qualified to have that synthesizer.

A gift earned through my effort.

So it was enough to just enjoy it.

“Thank you!”

“What for. Hee-seong earned it through hard work.”

“Right, Hee-seong. It’s time to make a new friend instead of Pipi.”

By the way, Pipi referred to the piano that was in my room.

It was a name Mother gave it.

She said instruments should be treated like precious people and gave it a name.

‘Though it broke down not long after that…’

Still, was it fortunate that a new friend came to carry on Pipi’s name?

“I’m going to play it a lot!”

I said such things excitedly.

When people have something joyful happen, doesn’t their heart feel all warm and fuzzy and the world look beautiful?

That was exactly how I felt right now.

Worries and concerns had already disappeared and happiness made me joyful.

“I’m glad you’re happy.”

“Right, let’s participate in many more competitions and receive good things like this again.”

“Ah.”

“Right. You said Aeyeon asked you to participate together but you refused.”

There was an underlying reason for that.

But I didn’t mention that part.

There were two reasons.

One was that there was no need to mention it.

The other was that it wasn’t a particularly special reason.

‘It’s better to do other things during the time I’d spend preparing for competitions.’

I had originally made a contract that wasn’t quite a contract with Sasinhyeok.

Under the condition that I wouldn’t participate in competitions, he agreed not to touch the people around me.

So I had no choice but to follow it.

But aside from that, there was another reason I wasn’t preparing for competitions.

‘The world’s greatest stage…’

That place was my current goal.

And as a result of my personal investigation, I was able to figure out where he was talking about.

That place was where Grandfather Manbok had performed.

But I couldn’t perform on that stage.

‘The Golden Hall where Grandfather Manbok performed was destroyed in a fire anyway.’

It was an incident that happened just a few years ago.

That stage, the Golden Hall, burned down and it was no longer possible to perform there.

‘Then where could he be talking about.’

After countless thoughts about it, I reached the point of giving up.

The Golden Hall.

That stage that many people sought out just by its nickname alone was gone, so I had to find another stage.

But other stages were all pretty much the same.

To find the world’s greatest stage among them was honestly not worth doing.

‘This stage has this good point but lacks that, this stage has that good point but lacks this…’

It was roughly a continuous situation like this.

Still, there was something I found.

A way to earn the qualification to perform at the Golden Hall.

The King Louis Competition.

I had to win this competition, one of the world’s three major competitions.

The problem was that even getting the chance to compete in this competition was difficult.

‘First, I need to get a recommendation letter.’

I needed a recommendation letter from a professor with the highest authority or someone at the level of an international competition judge.

Most people were eliminated from this point.

You had to have basic skills, and you had to have that much money too.

In fact, people who competed in this competition already had one or two international competition victories under their belt.

In other words, it was no different from the final gateway for people who were already complete.

‘This would be difficult even for me.’

It wasn’t easy.

That was certain.

So from now on, I had no choice but to work hard and build up on my own.

And that was what I did best.

‘So let’s just do what I’ve been doing.’

Right now was the stage of building foundations.

Wasn’t it?

It seemed more accurate to say I was carving out a new path.

Not in the way of the past, but in my own way.

“Heeseong, what are you thinking about again?”

“Oh, nothing!”

“You’ve been spacing out a lot lately. Let’s eat quickly, Heeseong.”

“Yes!”

For now, I just need to enjoy composing music like this.

As it accumulates like that.

The day when I can fight against Sasinhyeok will come.

***

“Whoa…”

As soon as dinner ended, I rushed to my room.

Looking at the bright red synthesizer, Pipi, that took up half of my room, my smile stretched from ear to ear.

‘I never knew the name Pipi would suit it so well.’

Is it because of the red color?

With that thought, I put on the headset on the right side of the synthesizer.

And I began reading the manual carefully.

Father had offered to teach me how to use it, but I had declined, saying I wanted to learn on my own.

‘Hmm, hmm. Oh? This one makes sound automatically.’

Through my experience at the music expo, I had already memorized the basic operation methods.

I carefully turned on the power.

Various parts of the synthesizer began to light up brightly.

In that state, I pressed a key.

Bwaaaam-♩

A majestic sound pierced my ears.

I couldn’t help but chuckle at the basic synthesizer sound.

Among the numerous buttons, I pressed the one that clearly had a piano drawn on it.

Then I pressed a key once more.

Ting♩

The piano sound briefly resonated and faded away.

After playing a simple tune like that, I immediately thought.

“Ah, ah…!”

This is a real instrument.

Since it was a new instrument, the feeling of pressing the keys was extraordinary.

Is it okay for something like this to be in my room?

To describe my current feelings, it was no different from having the grand piano I’d always wanted in my room.

I turned my head to look at one corner of the room.

There was the guitar I’d been studying hard lately.

With the gray guitar and red synthesizer together at once, I couldn’t suppress my excitement.

‘This is the life of a musician…’

I felt like entering competitions that give such great rewards and sweeping up every single prize.

“No… I need to control myself.”

I was busy breathing evenly and suppressing the excitement that had risen to the top of my head.

At times like this, I should play a gentle tune that calms the human heart.

‘What would be good?’

Hmm…

Contemplation always tends to be lengthy.

I looked at the window for a moment.

More precisely, at the moon floating outside the window.

“…Moonlight?”

I always found answers in unexpected places, and now was no different.

Debussy’s Clair de Lune.

It was the first piece Pipi would play and perfectly suitable for suppressing this excitement.

Ting-♩

As always, after pressing a key.

“Whooo…”

I took a deep breath.

To maintain a gentle piece, I first needed to become gentle myself.

Excitement was not allowed.

Like moonlight spreading quietly.

I played each note as if moistening people’s hearts.

Tiing-♪

Harmony this, rhythm that.

Personally, when playing this piece, I thought such things weren’t very important.

What was needed now was only feeling.

I thought of a full moon seen while feeling the cool breeze by the lakeside.

Like moonlight spreading in circles over the lake.

Ting-

My right hand moved.

Slowly, leisurely but with emotion, I gently applied strength to my fingers.

Ripples formed on the lake’s surface and the moon shattered.

Ti-da-dan-

My left hand was the shattering moon.

Gathering those shattered moon fragments, I played a bit faster.

But no matter how much it shattered, the moonlight always shone nobly.

It was quiet and clear.

The night scene without a speck of dust seemed rather dazzling.

Tiing tiing-!♪

My left and right hands became night insects harmonizing in that moonlight.

My right and left hands alternately became the moon.

Seeming to stop but never stopping, continuing endlessly.

Accordingly, my body also moved this way and that.

Right, left.

Like moonlight following the waves, I too moved that way.

‘That one isn’t very bright…’

While playing, I looked outside the window.

There was a moon slowly being covered by clouds.

Whether because the air was murky or because the city lights were bright.

The huge moon floating in the sky looked hazy.

‘…’

I just stared blankly at the moon.

Did my emotions reach the lonely-looking moonlight?

My fingers began moving faster and faster.

I had thought it was a gentle piece.

But now, for some reason, I thought quiet loneliness suited it better.

As a concrete image came to mind, my performance became a bit clearer.

It wasn’t moonlight reflected on the lakeside.

‘It’s moonlight being covered by clouds.’

This moonlight resonated more with me.

No matter how high it floats in the sky.

Ting-

The moonlight veiled by clouds that my right hand expressed was beautiful.

The moonlight was certainly clear, but in the end, it was alone.

It illuminated everyone, but there was no one to illuminate the moonlight itself.

‘…That’s too lonely.’

Having such thoughts while playing, the piece could no longer remain gentle.

But it wasn’t passionate either.

My fingers were trembling like quiet anger.

Ta-da-ran-

At the same time, the ending was beautiful.

Moonlight.

My moonlight came to an end like that.

“For this level from a sudden performance…”

I was so pleased with the sound.

Even though it wasn’t a real piano, the sound alone was no different from an actual piano.

That meant its performance was truly outstanding.

If a composition program were added to this…?

“Uh, uhehe. Uhehehehe hahaha!”

I laughed like an idiot.

I couldn’t contain my laughter at the thought of composing wonderful pieces.

Just wait!

This father will make something amazing!

But that’s starting tomorrow.

“Yawn…”

For a child’s body, it was already too late to be appreciating moonlight.

So now it was time to go to sleep.

***

Even though the child had gone to sleep, it was still time for adults to be awake.

And this was especially true for Hwang Su-yeol, the CEO of Argo.

He was in a state where his head ached from various matters.

“Should I try going overseas…”

Not long after establishing the company.

He had once gone overseas for personal matters.

There, he had traveled around various countries for several years.

‘Well, it was almost like playing around.’

But there had been many achievements.

He had made precious connections there.

He had worked on projects with some friends and achieved success, even helping to establish companies.

He had also helped with songwriting while doing band activities.

Anyway, he had done a lot of things.

He thought it might be time to reap the seeds he had sown.

“Hmm… Let’s go home. There’s nothing to do anyway… Hm?”

Just as he was about to go home.

A new email had arrived.

An email containing surprising news.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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