A Musical Genius Who Plays Memories - Chapter 27
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
Chapter 27. Spring Thief (2)
“I’m not telling you.”
“Why? Just tell me!”
“Heeseong doesn’t play with you. So go away.”
At those words, Park Bom somehow got angry.
He won’t play with me?
Me, who everyone praises?
Those words sparked defiance in the child.
She would keep asking the child in front of her until she found this kid called Heeseong.
“Tell me! Or I’ll keep asking!”
“Go ahead. I’m going to pick seeds.”
“From how you won’t tell me, this Heeseong kid must be bad at piano!”
At those words, Aeyeon stopped abruptly.
The child didn’t really care what anyone said about her.
She thought the chirping was rather cute, like a baby chick.
But she started getting a bit annoyed from the moment she said she wanted to see Heeseong.
‘Saying Heeseong is bad at piano? I can’t forgive that.’
However, she absolutely couldn’t tolerate words that belittled her precious Heeseong.
“Take it back.”
“W-why should I!”
“Because you’re worse than Heeseong. He doesn’t chirp like this. You little chick.”
Park Bom also got angry at being called a chick.
But since she couldn’t resort to violence, she just repeated the same words.
“Tell me who this Heeseong kid is!”
“No.”
“Eeek!! Tell me!”
“No way.”
There was no sign of the argument ending.
Park Bom even had this thought.
‘Someone please end this…’
This conversation that seemed like it would never end.
“Aeyeon, what are you doing?”
A certain child was trying to end it.
It was the child from earlier who hadn’t avoided her gaze.
***
The atmosphere was not normal.
It seemed there had been some kind of argument, as neither of their expressions looked very good.
Moreover, they seemed to be looking for me, and it didn’t feel right.
“Aeyeon, what are you doing?”
I hurriedly ran over to stop their argument.
It felt like they were about to fight seriously.
Both children turned their heads sharply when they heard my voice.
“Ah, Hee…!”
“Hm?”
“Never mind, let’s go plant seeds!”
“Huh, what?”
Aeyeon grabbed my hand and hurriedly left the spot.
“Hey! Where are you going! Tell me about this Heeseong kid before you leave!”
The girl shouted loudly.
Garam and Ajin, who had been coming toward Heeseong, heard this.
Garam, who had been smiling brightly, said.
“Heeseong, she’s calling for you?”
“Ah.”
Aeyeon’s sigh could be heard.
When I turned my head, there was Aeyeon looking at Garam with a scary expression.
Garam, having seen that expression too, scratched his head and said.
“Did I do something wrong?”
Garam had an expression like he knew nothing.
Aeyeon sighed deeply as if she had no choice and turned around.
Park Bom was looking this way with her arms crossed.
“Heeseong, she wants to fight with you.”
“Huh? Why does she want to fight me? I didn’t do anything wrong.”
Why is it me this time?
I approached the child without understanding why.
Since it felt awkward to keep calling her ‘child’, I thought I’d at least learn her name.
And I had a strong feeling she would keep following if I didn’t talk to her.
“Are you Heeseong?”
“Yeah. What’s your name?”
“Park Bom.”
Park Bom stood in front of me.
She put both hands on her hips and held her head up straight.
Her eyes were blazing as if she was angry about something.
I’m not really the type with that much karma.
“I heard from the teacher. You’re good at piano, right? That’s why only you’re special.”
“…Huh?”
“So I’m going to check for myself!”
“Check what?”
“Whether you really play piano well, whether you’re really special!”
What is this about now?
I was flustered.
No, even our parents would be flustered by this.
I didn’t know what to say.
Park Bom in front of me was glaring at me with her arms crossed.
“Heeseong, don’t listen to her and let’s go. We need to plant seeds.”
Aeyeon urged me to just leave from the side.
Honestly, there was no need to listen to Park Bom’s words.
Right now was time for planting seeds, not time for fighting.
I spoke to try to reason with Park Bom nicely.
“Bom, now isn’t the time for fighting…”
“Are you running away?”
“What?”
Park Bom’s words made my thought process stop for a moment.
Running away.
That was like touching my reverse scale.
It felt like she was calling me a coward.
To think a mere child’s words could hurt this much.
I guess I’m still young too.
“You’re running away because you can’t play piano, right?”
“Piano?”
“You’re supposed to be good at piano.”
“That… you’re right, but I don’t think now is the time. It’s class time.”
“Hmm… I’ll listen to you for now. But I’m still going to compete!”
“Do we really have to do this?”
I quietly avoided Park Bom’s gaze.
The child had a confident expression.
Honestly, I didn’t want to fight.
There was nothing good about beating a kid.
“I think we have to. That kid doesn’t seem like she’ll give up.”
“Hmph! I’m going to win anyway!”
“Then, do it with me first.”
“Huh, what?”
Aeyeon said.
Park Bom seemed flustered as if she hadn’t expected this either.
I was confused too, so how much more confused must that child be.
However, more than that, I couldn’t understand why Aeyeon suddenly said she would do it.
‘Why? Why on earth?’
No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t understand.
Aeyeon was originally a child whose thoughts were hard to read, but not to this extent.
“How dare you ignore Hee-seong, I can’t forgive that.”
“Why, why did I become the villain!”
I was the one who wanted to ask why.
The situation had gotten completely tangled up.
“What, I want to do it too!”
Garam chimed in from the side, saying she wanted to participate too.
The situation was getting bigger and bigger.
I could see Ajin who was nearby.
She was looking at me with pitying eyes somehow.
I tried hard to calm the situation down.
“Um, kids? Should we plant the seeds first? We’re in class right now.”
“Hmph! I’ll come back later. Just hurry up and plant your seeds!”
“…Okay.”
Park Bom disappeared with a whoosh like that.
I rubbed my throbbing head and fell into thought.
It’s not that I don’t understand why Park Bom is acting like this.
It was childlike to be jealous when a teacher she likes praises another child.
A competition?
I could understand that too.
There were scenes like that in animations.
“Let’s go plant seeds too…”
“Yeah, what are you going to plant, Hee-seong?”
“Lettuce.”
“I should plant that too.”
I decided to just give up.
Whatever happened, the situation was already flowing.
Damn it.
***
“Like… this?”
“No, a little deeper.”
“Like this?”
“That’s right, Ajin is doing well.”
“Hehe… Hee-seong taught me.”
I helped the children plant seeds.
Maybe because we were touching the soft soil, I and the other children seemed to be in a good mood.
Who knew that gathering together and scooping soil to plant seeds could be such a fun activity.
I thought we should do this often in the future.
“So why are you here?”
“What do you mean? I just came to plant seeds too.”
“Sure, okay.”
Park Bom was planting seeds alone in a spot a little away from us.
Her small hands struggling looked quite pitiful.
After watching for a while, I said.
“Should I help you?”
“No? I don’t need it?”
“Suit yourself.”
Well, if she doesn’t need help, she’ll manage on her own.
I should focus on what I need to do.
Dig the ground, put in the seed.
Then cover it with soil again and pat it a few times, and it’s done.
“Everyone who finished planting seeds, come get your signs! Give them names and tell them to grow well!”
The teacher said this after seeing most of the children finish planting seeds.
Since I finished planting first, I brought some for the other children too.
‘Park Bom is… hmm. She’ll take all day.’
Hmm.
I thought for a moment then ran to Cha Yu-ra.
“Teacher, I’m done.”
“Hee-seong finished planting? Now you’re going to give it a name? Here you go.”
“Thank you. Oh, please give me 4 more. I’ll take some for my friends too.”
“Hee-seong is so kind. Here, take them.”
I took 5 signs and ran to where the children were.
Why 5, you ask.
‘I should give one to Park Bom too. At this rate, she won’t even get to eat snacks.’
Of course, it wasn’t without purpose.
The possibility was very small, but maybe if I acted favorably like this, she might lose the desire to fight?
Well, it was just wishful thinking.
It meant there was a high chance it wouldn’t work.
“Here, kids. These are yours.”
“Oh, Hee-seong, thank you!”
“Thank you…”
“You finished already? Hee-seong is fast as expected.”
I distributed the signs to the children then headed toward Park Bom.
The child was still struggling.
“That’s not how you do it. Here, take this.”
“…H-hmph, I don’t need your help?”
The child hesitated slightly then grumpily snatched the sign.
What a habit.
I had accomplished my purpose, so now I was going to head to another child.
However, Park Bom’s movements bothered me.
‘No, that’s not how you do it.’
I gave her a little advice out of frustration.
“Don’t poke at it like that, put force into it all at once.”
“…Huh? L-like this?”
“Yeah. It works well, right?”
“Oh… no wait! You thought I’d go easy on you just because you helped me like this? Well, I won’t!”
“Busted.”
“What a weird kid….”
I was secretly hoping it would work, so I felt a bit disappointed that it didn’t.
I passed by Park Bom and returned to where the children were.
I secretly hoped we could just go back to Moran Class like this.
However, my wish didn’t come true.
“Now shall we sing a song for them to grow well? Who wants to sing with the teacher!”
“Me!!”
Starting with Park Jeong-a’s words, the other children flocked around her.
I was about to go over there too, but Aeyeon called me.
“Where are you going?”
“I was going to go over there. Why?”
“Can’t we do it among ourselves? Garam says she wants to sing.”
“…Huh?”
I turned my head to look at Garam.
Her eyes were sparkling brightly, as if she really wanted to sing.
Since I couldn’t stop Garam, I thought we should just sing together.
Anyway, wanting to go over to Park Jeong-a’s side was just out of curiosity, so it didn’t matter.
“Let’s do that.”
“Yay! Ahem, everyone listen carefully to my song!”
At the suggestion to sing, Garam stepped forward.
Garam held a small trowel like a microphone and bowed her head like a singer.
The situation had turned into something like a TV audition program.
Everyone except Garam stood in a line and watched the child’s song.
‘The song….’
It wasn’t very good.
Her breathing was disrupted from dancing.
While analyzing Garam, I suddenly became curious about how Park Bom was watching.
I rolled my eyes to look at Park Bom.
‘Oh? She’s watching quite seriously, surprisingly?’
Park Bom had her arms crossed and still wore a haughty expression.
However, her eyes seemed serious, genuinely watching Garam’s song.
“Justice… gack!”
“Garam! Are you okay?”
Garam, who had been singing and dancing, ended up falling over.
Garam was laughing, saying “Ehehe, I fell down.”
The ground was soft, so she wasn’t seriously hurt anywhere.
After confirming Garam was safe, Park Bom spoke.
“Your singing is bumpy. You need more practice.”
“Hehe, thanks!”
“Hmph! I didn’t say it for your sake!”
At Garam’s words, Park Bom’s face turned red as she shouted.
She seemed weak to compliments.
“You seem to know a lot about singing?”
“I’m learning singing too. Why, should I teach you? But first, we need to have a contest!”
“Sigh… you haven’t given up, have you.”
“Since other people follow you, I need to break you down.”
“But why on earth?”
I was talking with Park Bom when I turned my head to the children.
It seemed like singing alone took up too much time.
There probably wouldn’t be more cases like Garam’s, but since they could fall, it seemed better to sing all together.
I told the children what I was thinking.
“Um, no matter how I think about it, it seems better to sing all together.”
“If Hee-seong says so. Yeah, sounds good.”
“Aww, I practiced so hard!”
“Garam… you were cool…!”
I held hands with the children as we learned and sang the song.
When the small voices came together, it created quite a nice harmony.
This kind of joy could only be felt at preschool.
‘Heh, this is fun.’
The feeling of singing for the seeds I planted myself wasn’t bad at all.
Rather, it was fun.
Probably, I’ll be able to feel even more joy in the future.
I sang with the children while looking forward to that.
***
Park Bom was thinking.
Why do the children follow that kid called Hee-seong around?
The teacher too, and the other children seemed to like the kid called Hee-seong.
She was so curious about that.
‘Gasp, no way!’
The child had a favorite animation like other children.
It was an animation about a thief protagonist who steals treasure while hiding from the police.
That animation had this kind of content.
The identity of a rich person whom people liked and followed was actually a villain who controlled people with magic.
And in the child’s eyes, Hee-seong was….
‘Oh, he was a tremendous villain! I, I’ll expose him!’
Park Bom clenched her small fist tightly and made a resolution.
Whether he knew this or not, Hee-seong was singing quite earnestly.
This was one child’s great adventure.
A desperate fight to reveal the truth, one that no one could help with, was beginning now.
‘I’ll expose your true identity, you villain!’
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————