A Musical Genius Who Plays Memories - Chapter 106

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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 106. One Step Further (1)

– You came faster than expected.

“Yes, I came after discussing it.”

– Have you organized your opinions?

Robert honestly wanted to hear a good answer.

Without Argo, there really was no one to compose the music for this movie.

“All my colleagues said they would do it.”

– That’s good. But you’ll need to hurry. We’ll work on the music until right before release, but….

“Yes, I understand. I’ll let you know as soon as the songs are completed.”

– Then, I’ll send the contract by email. Please review it carefully and contact us.

“Yes.”

With that, the call ended.

Robert stared at the screen for a moment and thought.

‘That’s a relief.’

As soon as Robert saw Hwang Su-yeol’s face beyond the screen, he could feel at ease.

His face was filled with relief and joy.

“Haah….”

On the other hand, Hwang Su-yeol let out a sigh.

The tension that had continued since morning was finally released.

Hwang Su-yeol loosened his shirt that had been gripping his neck tightly and leaned back in his chair.

The swaying chair and his pounding heartbeat were strangely similar.

The sense of stability made him feel drowsy.

Ding!

But there was no rest time for him.

As Robert had said, the contract arrived immediately.

They must have been quite urgent to have prepared the contract in advance.

Hwang Su-yeol shook his head to shake off the fatigue and opened his email.

Now it was time to carefully examine the contract.

For one hour, for two hours.

***

“Huh….”

Why are Aunt Sujin and Uncle Sooyeol at our house?

And why are they seriously looking at papers at the dining table?

‘Was this the reason Mother said I might be surprised when I got home?’

On the way home after kindergarten ended.

In the car, Mother said I would be surprised when I got home.

So I was curious about what was happening….

‘Everyone looks like their eyes are about to fall out.’

I was curious about what they were looking at so intently that they didn’t even notice Mother and I had come home.

I quietly approached without making a sound.

I came up behind Uncle Sooyeol, who had the biggest build.

‘…A script?’

It was a script.

A script filled with English.

“Oh, you’re back?”

Then Father, who had been rubbing his eyes, spoke.

At his words, Aunt Sujin and Uncle Sooyeol also looked up at me.

All three faces were filled with fatigue.

“What is this?”

“Oh, this is a script. A movie script.”

“Oh! Then, we got it?!”

“Yes, we got it.”

This morning Father said Uncle Sooyeol was going to sign a contract, so I had been nervous too.

But apart from that, something huge happened at kindergarten, so I had forgotten about it.

‘Movie music… That’ll be fun!’

I smiled brightly and said.

“I want to compose quickly!”

“Haha…. Let’s watch the movie first before that.”

“We can watch the movie too?”

“Yes, they sent us the movie so we could make good songs for them. But there’s a problem….”

“What problem?”

“The movie doesn’t have Korean. So only English comes out.”

Ah. What was I thinking.

What expression would they make if I said I could speak English perfectly before Korean?

Latin was forcibly stuffed into my head because of my friend.

My main language was English.

‘That Person’s’ main area of activity was England, so I had no choice but to learn it.

‘But I can’t say it’s fine without Korean subtitles.’

I wanted to say I could watch it with just English, but somehow I felt self-conscious.

“It’s okay. I can just watch it.”

“Really? Heeseong is fine with just watching the scenes?”

“Yes! Hehe.”

Scenes were important, but I also considered dialogue important.

What movies needed were music, dialogue, and scenes.

Of course, the only movies I’d watched so far were animated films.

But since I gained something from them, I was satisfied.

“Then, let’s eat and watch. I’m hungry.”

“Okay!”

And so dinner time passed.

I had just finished washing and my whole body felt fluffy.

I also brought a notebook and pencil to record impressive scenes.

Click.

Mother turned off all the lights in the house.

Red lights from outlets were visible here and there.

“Is it ready? Oh, it’s coming on.”

Uncle Sooyeol had somehow connected his laptop screen to the TV again.

That kind of thing was always fascinating to see.

“Is it okay for Heeseong to watch?”

“Yeah. It’s rated for all audiences.”

“I should have bought popcorn.”

“Jieun, you don’t eat popcorn.”

“I suddenly have a craving for it.”

While the adults were chatting, the movie had already started.

***

– Haah, huff…!

An old man was roughly climbing a mountain.

A frail, white-haired old man was struggling to climb a mountain covered with white snow.

Then he almost fell.

He flailed his arms trying to grab anything and firmly grasped a protruding rock.

But perhaps because he grabbed it too hard.

Blood was dripping steadily from his hands, bright red.

The old man only stared at the wound, paying it no mind.

After treating it simply, he took another step forward.

Like that, one step, one step.

He took another step forward.

– Kuuuuuuung-!

The old man’s journey was not easy.

Then, far away at the peak, the mountain collapsed.

Snow, massive snow was rushing desperately to swallow the old man whole.

– No, no! No!

The old man said this and began running away, turning back.

He took off the backpack he was carrying and held it tightly in his arms again.

As if something precious was inside.

A tremendous roar engulfed the old man.

And the screen went black.

– One More Step

One more step.

The movie’s title came into view.

I don’t know what it’s trying to say.

That’s why I wanted to watch it more intently.

– Are you alright?

It was a frail woman who saved the old man.

The woman, who had her leg bitten by a wolf in childhood, was lame.

Her life had been difficult too.

– I’m a hunter. But I can’t shoot. So I always buy ham. To use as bait.

The old man found it hard to understand the woman’s words.

It was always like that.

The old man mocked himself, thinking that others’ words were always hard to understand.

The old man waited until the snow subsided.

And he stole a piece of ham.

The snowy mountain at night was cold.

– Grandfather, grandfather!

A voice calling him echoed from afar, but the old man didn’t stop.

The old man’s journey wasn’t over yet.

He had to climb the mountain.

He was cursed to have no choice but to do so.

He turned away from the voices of people calling him, and also turned away from his own cries telling him to run.

He turned away from everything.

Perhaps, like me in the past.

Just looking ahead and running forward.

It might have been the only thing the old man could do.

But his journey was arduous.

Even when he wanted to move forward, he was forced to stop.

– Go away…

The old man threw the canned food he had stolen out of hunger to the wolf and spoke.

He couldn’t die yet.

But the wolf in front of him couldn’t die either.

On the snowy night, an awkward cohabitation continued.

– Grrrr…

The wolf gently licked the canned food spilled on the ground.

After just tasting it, the wolf soon left.

Only the ham was left lying alone on the ground.

It disappeared into the snowy night outside.

– Hah…

His hands stung.

Blood kept flowing from the old man’s hands without stopping.

– Kugh…!

He had no feeling in his legs.

He could feel his fingertips gradually freezing too.

Even so.

– Haah…!

He had to move forward.

It was an apology.

It was atonement.

The old man’s entire journey was atonement for someone.

He willingly took one more step.

And finally reached the summit.

***

‘Wow…’

I couldn’t help but be amazed.

Even though the movie passed by in an instant, its lingering impression still remained in my head.

I couldn’t forget those scenes at all.

They kept replaying.

‘I don’t know about other things, but that last scene…!’

The summit of the snowy mountain, the final stage of the story, was truly amazing.

The sunrise breaking through the white snow was so beautiful.

Just to see that one scene would have been worth coming to this theater.

And the story’s structure was excellent too.

If I had the chance, I wanted to unpack it detail by detail.

From the old man’s story to the hunter woman’s story.

I wanted to unpack in detail that warm story the two of them created.

‘Hah… I almost cried without realizing it.’

Throughout watching the movie, there was something that gently stirred people’s hearts.

The old man’s desperate struggle, risking his life in a dangerous place because of one promise, was so beautiful.

I wanted to quickly turn this atmosphere into a song.

“Sniffle…”

Then I heard someone sniffling.

When I turned my head, Aunt Sujin was crying.

“Hah… It’s really a good story.”

“I know.”

Mother, Father, and Uncle Sooyeol also agreed with Aunt’s words.

Despite the language barrier, everyone here was feeling the beauty of the movie.

And clearly too.

They were feeling every bit of emotion without missing anything.

“Sniff! Ah… Has everyone thought about how to compose this?”

Aunt Sujin got straight to the point.

I was eager to start composing, my bottom was getting restless.

“Wait, Sujin. We should tell Hee-seong.”

Huh?

What are they going to tell me?

Uncle Sooyeol’s eyes were serious.

I couldn’t even guess what he was trying to say.

“We have to create all the songs within 3 weeks.”

“…What?”

3 weeks?

Compose within 3 weeks?

If it was just one song, there would be no problem.

But we couldn’t make just one song for a movie OST.

We’d need to make at least 15 songs, and being told to make them within 3 weeks was like torture.

‘Why…?’

That question automatically came to mind.

What could have happened that we need to make songs within 3 weeks?

“But Heeseong doesn’t need to worry.”

“What…?”

“Heeseong only needs to make one song.”

I couldn’t understand those words either.

Only make one song, why?

That couldn’t be right.

Even if everyone made songs equally, it wouldn’t be enough.

But telling only me to compose just one song was absurd.

I hurried to say I didn’t want to, but.

“That’s right, Heeseong. Do as Uncle Sooyeol says.”

Father blocked me.

His eyes held their usual kindness.

His gaze was so warm that I could only open and close my mouth.

“Since Heeseong composed such a wonderful song for us. This time, Aunt and Father will help.”

“Heeseong should just do what he wants to do.”

The two of them said this and smiled at the same time.

Their will was so firm that there was nothing I could do about it.

Like a sturdy pine tree, they didn’t seem like they would be easily swayed.

‘…Ah.’

This unfamiliar feeling never quite became familiar.

Leaving everything to others.

No, receiving help itself felt awkward.

The me from the past was like this, and the me now was like this too.

‘Does the old man in the movie feel like this too?’

The feelings of that old man who committed evil acts because he couldn’t receive help.

I could understand them a little.

That’s why I decided to be a little greedy.

“I understand…,”

I answered like that.

But my true feelings were completely different.

In my mind, two scenes were flowing simultaneously right now.

The old man standing on the mountain top.

The old man stealing ham from the mountain cabin.

I would compose these two scenes.

No more, no less.

I would compose exactly these two scenes only.

So, I bowed my head.

It was an action born from gratitude.

“Whew…!”

Now, let’s start composing.

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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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