A Musical Genius Who Plays Memories - Chapter 11

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

Chapter 11. Don’t know why (1)

“Kkeueuutcha!”

A languid Saturday morning.

I stretched while lying in bed.

Looking at the clock on the wall, it was already 10 o’clock.

It was a long-awaited sleep-in.

‘Preschool is too exhausting.’

In my drowsy state, I recalled the events from preschool.

The first week had passed safely.

There were still a few children who burst into tears, unable to adapt yet.

However, such children were in the minority, and they would all adapt eventually.

Most of the children played excitedly.

Of course, I had fun playing too.

So did Aeyeon.

Children who wanted to be friends approached me, and I was busy playing with such children.

In the midst of all that, I thought I’d go crazy because Aeyeon kept pestering me to play piano together.

Even while eating meals or snacks, even during classes, he always whispered asking to play piano together.

He did this even on days when Jeong Mi-rae didn’t have classes.

Jeong Mi-rae had external schedules, so she didn’t come to preschool about two days a week.

Whenever that happened, he would feel disappointed and busy asking me questions he meant for Jeong Mi-rae.

Now I could hear the hallucination “Hee-seong, let’s play piano” even when I was just sitting still.

Aeyeon seemed to have no intention of making friends, reacting coldly to other children.

He was incredibly haughty.

Still, since Seongshim was a kind child, he didn’t ostracize him.

It was just difficult to become close.

However, he was particularly cold only to a few specific children.

‘Go away.’, ‘I don’t like you.’ and so on.

The aggressive words that came from Aeyeon’s mouth kept hitting the innocent children’s hearts.

When they approached wanting to be friends but heard such words, tears began to well up in the children’s eyes.

I broke out in a cold sweat trying to comfort the crying children beside me.

I wanted to ask why he acted that way, but I missed the opportunity and the weekend had arrived.

‘I can ask on Monday. Let’s just lie in bed all day today!’

Being mixed in among other children at the age of 5 was exhausting.

They were definitely speaking Korean, but what I heard sounded like some alien language.

There was no context, just questions full of curiosity and they spoke like artists with their own worldview.

Because of that, my head was tired, so I could barely get up at 10 o’clock.

Ding-♬

As usual, the tranquility of classical music could be heard from the living room.

I was enjoying that solemnity when.

“Hee-seong! You need to get up now!”

Mother’s voice could be heard.

My sweet rest ended just like that.

Not wanting to get scolded, I hurried out to the living room and immediately saw something.

Father was wearing an apron covered with frilly decorations.

I was surprised at first, but now it was quite a familiar sight.

“Dad made toast. Here, this is for our son. I specially put in 2 pieces of ham.”

“Wow! Dad’s the best!”

The person who cooked best in our house was naturally Mother.

However, when it came to toast alone, no one could beat Father.

The taste of egg and ham between the sweetness of ketchup and the sweetness of sugar gently embraced my tongue.

Moreover, toast with 2 extra pieces of ham?

If this wasn’t heaven, then where was heaven?

I swallowed my saliva and began eating the toast Father gave me.

“It’s incredibly delicious!”

It was so delicious that my feet swayed on their own.

Mother, who had returned from the bathroom, also began eating the toast Father made.

“Mm, it’s delicious.”

“Right? I make toast amazingly well.”

“How annoying.”

Father and Mother were busy teasing each other as usual.

While doing so, seeing them wipe sauce from each other’s lips showed they were a couple with a good relationship.

Watching them like close friends made me smile naturally.

“The weather’s nice today, shall we go to the park? Do you want to go out, Hee-seong?”

Mother was a bright person.

Therefore, on weekends she always liked to go out to play or take walks.

However, that wasn’t my preferred method of rest.

‘Ugh, I wanted to rest at home.’

Both then and now, tinkering with piano at home was rest for me.

However, in this house, no one could overcome Mother’s bright energy.

“Heh, hehe. I’d like that…!”

I couldn’t say anything other than agreeing that I’d like it.

“…Right. Let’s go around once and come back.”

Father was the same way.

An hour later.

Our family arrived at a large park located a little distance from home.

The shade created by the large trees was rather cold, but we’d get hot again from running around and playing anyway.

‘Maybe it’s because my body is also 5 years old, but it’s really fun when playing.’

Playing tag with young children was always fun.

Maybe I’m just good with kids.

However, perhaps because it was cold, there weren’t many people around.

An elderly person walking along the walking path, a student playing a portable piano, and a few children.

It was the usual appearance of the park.

I held my parents’ hands and approached the area with playground equipment.

There might be some children I’d played with a few times before.

While moving toward the playground.

I saw a girl swinging alone on a swing.

The gently swaying swing seemed quite boring as the child just kept her head down.

Seeing the child’s feet dangling in the air without touching the ground, my mouth opened.

“Huh?”

The child who heard my voice turned her head and made eye contact with me.

Perhaps she was bored, as her protruding lips instantly formed a smile.

“Hee-seong!”

Aeyeon was running toward me.

Right now, only one thought was rising in my head.

Why are you here?

***

“Hee-seong, is this a friend you know?”

“…Yes.”

“A friend you became close with at preschool. Right?”

“…Yes.”

Seeing Mother and Father ask as Aeyeon ran toward me the moment she saw me.

Since I hadn’t expected to meet her in a place like this, I answered belatedly.

I had wanted to rest a bit on the weekend, but Aeyeon wouldn’t leave me alone.

Seeing my parents behind me, Aeyeon whispered in my ear.

“Hee-seong, are those your mom and dad?”

Whether she thought it was rude or felt embarrassed, she was being cautious.

My parents were just smiling gently, finding us cute.

I sighed and introduced them to each other.

“These are my parents. Mom, Dad, this is Kang Aeyeon.”

Perhaps meeting a friend’s parents for the first time, Aeyeon hid behind me.

Since Aeyeon was about the same height as me, hiding didn’t really hide her.

Finding that sight cute, my parents’ smiles grew even wider.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Hee-seong’s mom, Shin Ji-eun.”

Mother bent down to meet Aeyeon’s eyes.

Aeyeon was startled by the face that came closer.

Knowing there was no bad intention, the child also bowed in greeting.

Father, who had been listening to the conversation, also bent down.

“Uncle’s name is Yoon Young-hoon. Thank you for being close friends with Hee-seong.”

Aeyeon bowed once more.

Not knowing what to do, she kept looking at me before opening her mouth.

“I, I’m Kang Aeyeon…”

Her voice trailing off and her deeply bowed head spoke for the child.

Whether embarrassed, she was just fidgeting with the hem of her clothes.

This won’t do.

“Dad! I’m going to ride the swing with Aeyeon!”

“Haha, alright. Play carefully.”

I gestured with my chin for Aeyeon to follow and walked toward the swings.

The child hurriedly followed me.

“Get on. I’ll push you.”

“Really? Hehe.”

Hearing that I would push her, Aeyeon made a delighted expression.

Her quick expression changes seemed to be the same whether at preschool or outside.

“Heave! Ugh, why are you so heavy?”

“I’m not heavy at all!”

As soon as Aeyeon heard my words, she shouted.

Even at 5 years old, a girl was still a girl – she immediately got angry when I mentioned anything related to weight.

On days when Father teased Mother about her weight, there was no dinner.

I should be careful.

‘Ah, now’s not the time to think about weight.’

Pushing Aeyeon’s back was partly because the child seemed bored.

But I chose to separate from my parents to ask about something I was curious about.

There might be things that would be difficult to say with my parents present.

‘She has a watch too.’

Even while riding the swing, Aeyeon checked her watch.

As if being chased by something, Aeyeon’s atmosphere from behind seemed somehow anxious.

I had many things I wanted to ask about.

“By the way, do you live around here too?”

“No. I was here because of academy.”

“Academy? On Saturday?”

“Yeah, just in the morning.”

Academy was a place to learn something.

The word “Academy” was more familiar to me.

I don’t know how it is now, but to me it was such a damn place that taught me music, life, and swear words.

Of course, I had never actually learned anything there.

Rather, the person who taught me piano had taken me there once, that was all.

I still can’t forget the gazes that looked at me from that place.

‘Damn, really. Thinking about those bastards makes me furious.’

There was no need to worry about the past that had already gone by.

I should focus on the child in front of me.

“You must hate studying even on Saturday.”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

“Yeah, I do it because mom makes me.”

Hearing those words, I looked at the child for a moment.

I had learned that music wasn’t something you do because of someone else.

It was a fact I had realized myself, not learned from others.

With a slight hope, I asked Aeyeon.

“Aeyeon, do you like piano?”

“Yes.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

There was no lie in Aeyeon’s voice.

I could see her genuine will that she truly liked piano.

However, there was no strength in the child’s voice.

In her diminishing voice, I couldn’t see confidence.

‘I just asked out of curiosity…’

There seemed to be a story that I couldn’t know.

But it’s okay.

It’s only March now.

Since a year is still long, there will be plenty of time to talk with Aeyeon.

“Hee-seong! Now you ride. I’ll push you!”

“You have to push hard, got it?”

“Just trust me! I’ll send you all the way to the sky!”

Her grunting and straining was so funny that I let out a chuckle.

Cold wind swept past my ears.

Mother raised her voice telling me to be careful.

I answered that I understood.

“But don’t you play with other friends at preschool?”

“They can’t play piano.”

“Anyone can play piano well if they learn. You and I both did.”

“No! Playing well by learning is…!”

Aeyeon’s words didn’t continue any further.

Because a sudden discord appeared, the child’s calm voice was cut off.

“Kang Aeyeon.”

It was a low and calm voice, but somehow spine-chilling.

When I turned my head, a woman with a stern face was standing there.

With rough breathing and hair stuck to her face from flowing sweat, she looked like a marathon runner.

Seeing the woman, Aeyeon gasped ‘Hup!’ and simultaneously took her hands off my back.

At the same time, startled Aeyeon spoke in a surprised voice.

“M, Mom…?”

The child stepped back as if he had done something wrong.

The sight of Aeyeon’s Mother striding toward them was somewhat frightening.

Anyone could see she had an angry expression on her face.

“Are you going to keep acting like this?”

A question asked without any context.

It was truly terrifying.

Thick tendons stood out on her wrist as she grabbed the child’s wrist.

Aeyeon’s face slightly grimaced, apparently in pain.

“Mom told you to wait.”

“I, I told the teacher…”

“You can’t even wait that brief moment and disappear somewhere.”

“…Hic, sob.”

Aeyeon finally showed tears.

And I had to stay still between the two of them.

Because there was nothing I could do.

Even so.

“I asked him to play with me! Aeyeon didn’t do anything wrong!”

“What?”

I got down from the swing and stood in front of Aeyeon as I spoke.

Even if she was a mother, yelling at her child wasn’t very pleasant to watch.

Aeyeon’s Mother, who heard my words, glared at me.

‘That’s kind of scary when she looks at me like that…’

Fortunately, I had a relief pitcher.

“Excuse me, what’s the matter?”

My mother, Shin Ji-eun, approached.

What a young child couldn’t handle, an adult would resolve.

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