A Musical Genius Who Plays Memories - Chapter 107

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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 107. One Step Further (2)

I received the script from Father and entered my room.

To slowly read through this script that was dozens of pages long.

When Father gave me the script, he asked if I could read it, which made me a bit awkward.

“Uh…! Just, just like this?”

“Uncle will translate it into Korean by tomorrow or the day after, how about waiting?”

“I want to see it now!”

“Really?”

Father tilted his head but didn’t say anything more.

I went straight into my room and began savoring each line one by one.

“He’s taciturn.”

The old man was taciturn.

He was always quiet and rarely opened his mouth.

His personality showed through so clearly.

He was someone who couldn’t easily trust others.

Not even himself.

He was someone who desperately struggled to distance himself from the world on purpose.

– It’s my fault…

The old man always blamed himself.

His past was enough reason for that.

It was a trivial mistake.

But that mistake completely changed the old man’s life.

The old man was just one person.

“Hmm…”

I thought as I turned the pages of the script.

How could I bring this atmosphere to life?

“…Solitude?”

One word came to mind.

The word that could best express the old man’s life.

But that alone wasn’t enough.

Solitude merely represented the old man, but it wasn’t the old man himself.

I wanted a word that could express the old man more perfectly.

“Hmm, hmm…”

I scribbled words randomly in my notebook as I thought.

Solitude. Loneliness. Overwhelming. Blizzard…

It felt like a good word was about to come to mind, but I couldn’t think of it.

At some point, I was staring into empty space.

“…Ah, I don’t know.”

No matter how much I thought, nothing came to mind.

There was no scene that came into clear focus.

It felt like I was continuously brushing paint into empty air.

Only paint kept dripping, continuously falling to the floor, but there was no painted picture.

I kept doing that.

“It’s awkward to just start randomly…”

I wanted to understand the old man better.

His life wasn’t entirely contained in the movie.

But it was also awkward to express it according to my own thoughts.

The old man’s life.

I thought it would be good to have someone nearby who could understand it well.

But there wouldn’t be such a person near me…

“…Grandfather Manbok?”

There was.

An old man who knew solitude well.

No, to be precise, I knew an old man who had been solitary.

He understood the word solitude well.

And the same was true for me.

‘I lived alone for decades.’

Even when there were other people around, it was easy to feel lonely.

But my loneliness and the loneliness the old man in the movie must have felt were on different dimensions.

I wanted to understand that loneliness.

I wanted to express someone else’s memories, not my own.

Because the protagonist of this movie was that nameless old man.

“Does he still go to the cafe these days?”

Grandfather Manbok frequently visited Kim Sang-jin’s cafe, Jazz Holic.

When Father and I occasionally visited Kim Sang-jin’s cafe on weekends, Grandfather Manbok was always there without fail.

Sometimes Garam came along too, but usually he said he visited the cafe alone to enjoy leisure.

‘Come to think of it, I haven’t been to the cafe lately.’

It seemed like I had found a place to pla… hang out this weekend.

No wait, a place to study.

***

“…”

“…”

“Say something at least.”

Late at night.

The adults were meeting late into the night.

The meeting about how to write the music continued even after watching the movie…

But there seemed to be no sign of it ending.

“Everyone expected this, didn’t they?”

“That’s true, but…”

“What’s the problem then. Tell me.”

“Ugh…”

Yoon Young-hoon scratched his head.

He wanted to speak but couldn’t open his mouth.

“We can’t do it.”

Then Hwang Su-jin, who had been quiet, spoke.

Her voice was firm.

A voice without any wavering whatsoever.

“…Why? Can’t you do it within 3 weeks?”

“No, we can do that. Honestly speaking, it’s entirely possible.”

“Then? What’s the problem?”

“Sigh… The movie and our level don’t match.”

“…Huh?”

“To be precise, the movie is so excellent that whatever music we write will be buried by the movie.”

At her words, Hwang Su-yeol nodded his head.

It was understandable.

The more he slowly reread the script, the more vividly the movie scenes came to mind.

The movie had no music.

That memory was so strongly imprinted that no music came to mind.

Damian’s movie was so perfect that there was nothing more to add.

‘Did other composers feel this way and give up too?’

Hwang Su-jin shook her head while having such thoughts.

No good solution came to mind.

“Sigh… I’ll go to the bathroom.”

Yoon Young-hoon said that and got up from his seat.

No matter what plan he thought of, no good idea came to mind.

“Hmm?”

He hadn’t noticed that the light was on in Heeseong’s room because he was looking at the script.

Since it was late at night, thinking he should put the child to bed if he wasn’t sleeping, he carefully opened the door.

“Haha, he’s sleeping at the piano again.”

He chuckled softly seeing his son who had fallen asleep with his head buried in the piano.

Since this happened occasionally, he quietly entered the room and laid Hee-seong on the bed.

“Mmnya…”

He was sleeping without even knowing he was being moved to the bed.

Seeing such a son, Yoon Young-hoon felt like all the worries bundled up in his chest were being swept away at once.

“Sleep well, son.”

He covered him with a blanket, gently touched Hee-seong’s cheek, and was about to leave the room.

But something caught his eye.

A notebook spread open on the piano.

“It was next to him when we were watching the movie…”

He tried not to look out of consideration for his son.

But since he was human too, he couldn’t help but feel curious.

So he took just a very quick look at the notebook.

He saw various words, and one word particularly caught his eye.

“…Solitude?”

He had been having a headache.

Because he absolutely couldn’t think of any good ideas.

But seeing the word written in Hee-seong’s notebook, good thoughts began to come to mind.

He very quietly turned off the light.

Just before closing the door, he looked at Hee-seong sleeping soundly and said.

“As expected of my son.”

He was smiling happily.

Right after that, he approached Hwang Su-yeol and Hwang Su-jin who were putting their heads together in worry.

“What? You didn’t go to the bathroom? Why are you back so quickly?”

“That’s not important right now. I came up with a good idea.”

“Oh! What is it!”

At Yoon Young-hoon’s words, Hwang Su-jin brightened her eyes and spoke.

She was also feeling frustrated with the unsolvable situation.

But Yoon Young-hoon, who said he was going to the bathroom, came back in less than a minute saying he had a good idea.

Hwang Su-jin wanted to know what that good idea was.

That way they could start working quickly.

“Let’s compose with solitude as the theme.”

“Huh?”

That was already one of the answers that had come up.

Like Hee-seong, everyone who watched the movie was thinking about solitude.

However, the problem was that overlapping with the movie’s theme might cause the music’s character to get buried.

“Hey, Young-hoon. The song we’re going to make can’t get buried in the movie.”

“I know.”

“Even if it can’t surpass the movie, it needs to catch people’s attention.”

“You’re right, sis.”

“Why do you want to go with that? Let’s hear your reason.”

“It’s what Hee-seong thought of.”

“Huh?”

“Was Hee-seong not sleeping? Until this hour?”

Yoon Young-hoon shook his head and continued speaking.

“No, he was asleep. I just happened to see Hee-seong’s notebook.”

But the moment he saw the word solitude written in that notebook, Yoon Young-hoon was able to organize his thoughts.

It was simple.

Let’s decorate the theme that Hee-seong would do.

“We’re supporting actors. So we need to know what Hee-seong is thinking.”

His will was firm.

He didn’t seem to have any intention of backing down.

But the others’ thoughts didn’t seem to be the same.

“Isn’t that too much of a gamble? I know Hee-seong’s abilities are outstanding too. But…”

“I understand your thoughts, sis. I’m a little anxious too. But has Hee-seong ever disappointed us?”

He hadn’t.

Neither humanly nor musically.

Hee-seong always surprised them but never disappointed them.

The child’s music was excellent.

It was music that moved people’s hearts and made them shed tears.

And Yoon Young-hoon had never once scolded Hee-seong in his life.

Rather, there were times when he himself learned something.

Perhaps that’s why.

He had a strong feeling that this time too, it would be fine to leave it to Hee-seong.

“Sigh… Even so…!”

“Are you certain?”

Before Hwang Su-jin could say anything, Hwang Su-yeol interrupted.

His question contained many meanings.

Would it be okay even if everything failed.

Could he handle it.

As a composer, would it be alright.

Since Yoon Young-hoon had already made that resolution.

“Yes.”

His answer had conviction.

Perhaps that’s why there wasn’t a moment’s hesitation.

Hwang Su-yeol and Hwang Su-jin fell silent after hearing the answer.

The two of them also had to think.

Had about 10 minutes passed like that.

A voice was heard over the quiet dining table.

“You won’t be able to contact me starting tomorrow.”

Hwang Su-jin was the first to speak.

At her words, Yoon Young-hoon smiled gently and said.

“Thank you, sis.”

“I’m saying this because I trust Hee-seong, not you. You won’t be able to contact me for about a week. Keep that in mind.”

“Okay. Got it.”

“I should prepare too. I need to prepare various things with Mr. Young-ho.”

“Was he the person who gave us the story? Did you end up deciding to work together?”

“Yeah. He’s a person with good abilities. I don’t think we should let him go. I don’t know why he couldn’t change jobs.”

Once the big problem was solved, the three people continued chatting.

Certainly the problem hadn’t been solved yet.

But their hearts were infinitely at ease.

Was it because of strong faith?

Or was it because of conviction?

Each person’s thoughts might be different, but there were probably parts they all thought the same about.

‘We need to help Heeseong.’

They had definitely received help, and now it was their turn to help.

And they would unknowingly receive help again.

As the night deepened, the three people’s conversation also deepened.

***

Another weekend arrived.

I was heading to Kim Sang-jin’s cafe with Mother.

Today, we were going together with Aeyeon and Aeyeon’s Mother.

“I could drive though…”

“It’s fine. If you drive, you’d have to go around. It’s better if I do it.”

Perhaps because quite some time had passed since their intense first meeting.

Mother and Aeyeon’s Mother had dropped formalities.

It turned out they were the same age, so they naturally became casual with each other.

The relationship between the two seemed to have grown closer.

“I wonder if Garam will be there too?”

“Who knows? He might be playing with his parents.”

“I want to play piano, hehe.”

“Me too.”

Since the piano was different and the atmosphere was different, the taste of playing was also different.

If I had to play classical music at kindergarten, at the cafe I felt like I should play jazz.

‘Is it because the cafe’s name is Jazz Holic in the first place?’

The name aside, the cafe’s atmosphere was comfortable, making it perfect for playing jazz.

I was itching to play jazz.

“We’re here.”

“Kids, let’s get out.”

“Yes!”

While chatting about this and that, we had already arrived.

‘Huh?’

But as soon as I got out of the car, I noticed something was different.

There were more cars parked in the alley than usual.

Normally there should be much fewer than this?

I tilted my head and walked toward the cafe.

“…Huh?”

I belatedly realized the reason.

“Why are there so many people…”

Why are there so many people in the cafe?

What happened to my hideout!

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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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