A Musical Genius Who Plays Memories - Chapter 28

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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 28. Spring Thief (3)

The class in the garden ended faster than I thought.

After singing songs and planting the lettuce seeds I chose, it was already snack time.

By the way, I named the lettuce I planted ‘Ssami’.

‘I need to hurry up and eat lettuce wraps, hehe’

Oops.

It seemed like I became a kid whenever I thought about food.

I need to pull myself together.

I hurriedly devoured the snack in my hand.

Since there was still time left before the next class, I was thinking of playing the piano even just a little.

“Heeseong, are you going to play piano today too?”

“Yeah, do you want to do it together, Aeyeon?”

“Um… I’ll do it after I finish my snack.”

“Okay.”

I sat at the piano in the corner of Moran Class.

‘What should I play today?’

This time of contemplation was always enjoyable.

It was like the feeling of coming to a buffet full of favorite foods.

‘Since it’s spring today, should I try a song related to spring?’

Just as my fingers were about to press the keys.

“Hm?”

I turned around.

There was a door behind the piano, so I could tell if someone was coming in.

However, there was no one who had entered.

There was just a classroom door that was slightly open.

‘What? I felt someone’s gaze?’

I felt some gaze that was looking at me very blatantly.

Just like the gaze that was looking at me in the garden.

***

‘Gasp! I wasn’t caught, was I!’

Park Bom clutched her pounding chest.

The child was now moving as an agent of justice.

It was snack time, but she had come using the excuse of going to the bathroom.

So she had to go back quickly.

Otherwise, the teacher would come looking for her.

‘I was scared the teacher might follow me!’

In one corner of her heart, there was a lot of awareness that she had done something wrong!

In any case, the child was now monitoring Heeseong.

‘I will definitely uncover his identity!’

With that determination, she was looking at Heeseong through the slightly open door gap.

Heeseong was warming up his hands to play the piano as usual.

He was playing very simple do-re-mi alternately.

‘Nothing special? I could do that much too.’

Heeseong’s very brief warm-up ended, and proper performance began.

Ding-♩

The piano’s note stretched out long.

At that moment, Park Bom found herself completely absorbed in Heeseong’s performance without realizing it.

Just one drawn-out note.

Erased the voices of the other children and teacher.

‘What song is this?’

As Heeseong’s performance continued, the child had that thought.

Although it was only a 5-year-old’s life, she had still listened to quite a lot of music.

However, she couldn’t tell what song Heeseong was currently performing.

It was a song she was hearing for the first time.

‘I keep wanting to listen!’

There were songs that you liked just by listening for a few seconds.

The song Heeseong was currently performing was like that.

The kind of song that comes to mind even when you’re just sitting still.

‘Flowers… no, it’s like being in a flower garden.’

The piece Heeseong was performing was as sweet as being in a flower garden.

Ding ding-♬

It was as free as a bouncing rubber ball.

Yet it was regular, like friends jumping around on a trampoline.

Even though only the back of the child performing could be seen through the door gap, somehow the image of him performing was naturally drawn.

‘Flowers… pretty.’

Park Bom slowly closed her eyes.

Her vision was certainly dark, but there were flowers in front of her.

They had petals that looked like yellow embracing red.

They were definitely flowers she had never seen before.

Yet they were familiar as if she had seen them for a long time.

‘That kid’s performance is… ah, it’s changing.’

Was it longing?

Park Bom didn’t know.

She just focused on the performance.

The bouncing music disappeared.

She felt an emotion she couldn’t understand.

If she could say anything about it.

‘Sad. Why is it sad?’

It was so very sad.

The notes that stretched long as if savoring each one slowly remained particularly in her ears.

She could do nothing but just listen.

‘Huh, how can he perform like this?’

Park Bom moved away from the flowers and returned to reality.

The child’s performance seemed to make her see things that weren’t there.

It was definitely a very small piano like an expensive toy.

It was amazing that such wonderful music came from there.

‘Let me listen a little more! Ah, I haven’t heard it all yet!’

The teacher who taught her piano had said.

Listen to other children’s performances to the end and evaluate them.

She was doing just that.

‘Good, let’s focus. Focus!’

The piano melody was still flowing.

It felt like some kind of shadow.

She felt such a dark emotion.

Coincidentally, there was also a large shadow cast in front of her.

‘…A large shadow?’

Park Bom, sensing something strange, slowly turned her head.

An ominous feeling crept over her.

Sure enough.

“Bom, what are you doing here?”

“T-Teacher…!”

“When you come back from the bathroom, you should come straight to class. The teacher was looking for you.”

“Yes…”

“Come on, let’s go back to class quickly.”

The child’s investigation ended just like that.

Just like being dragged away by the teacher from the morning garden, she was taken away again this time.

As she returned to the classroom, Park Bom had this thought.

‘He, he really must be a villain…’

Without realizing it, she had been listening intently to Heeseong’s song.

Absorbed in the song, she saw flowers she had never seen before.

That’s why she was scared.

What if he was controlling people like a villain would?

‘No, no! Don’t get confused, Park Bom! Stay strong and figure it out!’

The child’s misunderstanding was growing stronger.

Even so, Park Bom’s adventure would not end.

‘He seems to play better than me… But I have to listen to the performance until the end. So I have to compete!’

The child thought that maybe he played piano better than she did.

However, since evaluation should be done after listening to the performance until the end, it wasn’t time yet.

She wanted to hear that performance once more.

That performance that made her see a scene with flowers she didn’t know in front of her.

Time passed and classes ended, with some children already having gone home at Hansul Preschool.

And in Moran Class.

‘Why am I here?’

In front of Park Bom stood Heeseong and Aeyeon, Garam and Ajin.

***

Let’s turn back time just a little bit.

At that time, classes had ended and I was having fun playing piano and other games with the children.

Creak.

It was then that a sound disturbing the peaceful Moran Class was heard.

‘Why is she…?’

Four children entered Moran Class.

Park Bom was among them.

When the child made eye contact with me, she hurriedly looked away.

Behind the hesitating children, Park Jeong-a spoke.

“Can everyone play together with the Nari Class friends?”

“Yes.”

“Come on, kids. Everyone’s nice, so play well together.”

It seemed like there weren’t many children left in Nari Class, so they brought them to Moran Class.

This happened occasionally, and since I had been to other classes before, I didn’t think much of it.

The other children except Park Bom awkwardly headed toward where the other children were.

Perhaps there was something that connected among young children, as they quickly started playing together happily.

But Park Bom was different.

She just fidgeted with her hands while continuously looking this way.

It was then that Park Jeong-a spoke.

“Bom also likes playing piano, right?”

“Oh, yes! I like it.”

“Then, would you like to play together with Heeseong? Heeseong also plays every day! Heeseong, is it okay to play together?”

I didn’t particularly mind.

‘She seems to have more problems than me though.’

Park Bom was startled when she looked at me and quickly turned her head away again.

How should I put it.

She was acting exactly like children who had done something wrong and were watching the teacher’s mood.

Did she do something wrong to me?

“I’m fine with it.”

“Really? Then you can play piano together. Bom, is that okay with you too?”

“I, I’d like that!”

Park Bom said that and approached us.

She fidgeted with her hands, seemingly conscious of something.

Her confident appearance from the morning had completely disappeared.

Since it would be awkward to just stay quiet, I should at least start a conversation.

Come to think of it, she said she likes piano, right?

“Want to play piano?”

“Piano…?”

“Don’t want to?”

“No, no! I like it! I want to play!”

“Huh? Okay, then.”

The child answered vigorously.

Her hair fluttered wildly as if she were headbanging.

I didn’t know what had happened in the meantime, but it was good that she wasn’t talking about competitions or anything.

The child said.

“Then, you know that piece you played during snack time earlier. Play that for me.”

Snack time?

Ah, she means the piece I played while thinking of spring.

But how does Park Bom know about that piece?

Thinking about it, she could have heard it while going to the bathroom, so I didn’t think much of it.

“Sure, why not. But there’s a condition. I want to hear your performance.”

“My performance?”

I spoke honestly.

You never know.

Knowing many talented children might lead to good things later.

The child thought for a moment and then nodded.

“Okay, I’ll go first.”

After nodding, Park Bom sat in front of the piano.

No matter how bold a child might be, she seemed nervous when it came to actually performing.

That’s when Garam spoke.

“Bom plays well!”

That’s when Garam spoke.

She was always a bright child, but I was curious if she had connections with other classes too.

“Garam. Do you know that kid?”

“No? I saw her for the first time today!”

“But how do you know she plays piano well?”

“Just because! I had a feeling!”

“Ah…”

“Heeseong plays better.”

“Yeah… Thanks, Aeyeon…”

Garam was always positive.

And she had a quirky charm too.

Perhaps because of that, it seemed to ease Park Bom’s tension a little.

‘Fortunately, it looks like her tension has eased. The stiffness in her shoulders has relaxed.’

Even so, her head was still shaking back and forth.

I repeatedly touched and lifted my hands from the piano.

After doing this for a while.

The child’s fingers moved along with a small sigh.

Ding♪

And at the same time, I fell into contemplation.

‘Hmm.’

The song Park Bom was playing now was Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

The first time I heard Aeyeon’s performance was through that same Little Star.

But the feeling was different.

Back then, Aeyeon wasn’t satisfied and kept replaying it over and over.

‘But no, that’s not it.’

Park Bom was different.

Even when making mistakes, she continued on.

Do-do-sol-la instead of do-do-sol-sol.

So even though she made a mistake, she didn’t stop.

The child continued the performance stubbornly like a firm resolve.

Note by note.

She hurriedly played the next note as if to quickly erase the wrong one.

She continued like that throughout.

The performance filled with mistakes kept going.

‘Why doesn’t she stop?’

Of course, mistakes can happen.

Even after making mistakes, one could continue without stopping.

I had done the same.

‘Because you have to complete the piece. That’s the essence of performance.’

Whether the child knew this or not, she continued playing without stopping.

I’ll need to observe more in the future.

It seems the child has talent too.

The stubbornness to complete a piece to the end.

Park Bom possessed that quality.

‘Or maybe this competition with me is that important to her?’

I couldn’t understand the child’s psychology at all.

While listening to Park Bom’s performance, it ended before I knew it.

After finishing her performance, the child had no intention of getting up from the piano.

It was then that I heard a small voice.

“I messed up.”

I heard Park Bom’s voice, sounding like she had given up.

The child’s fingers were placed powerlessly on the keys, but even those soon fell away.

Park Bom, who struggled to get up from her seat, was biting her lips.

Her expression didn’t look very good either.

‘She must not have been satisfied with her performance.’

That seemed likely.

There are people who do well in practice but make many mistakes in actual performance.

“You won.”

“Huh?”

“We agreed to compete this morning. You won.”

So she remembered that.

Even while saying this, the child didn’t show signs of being frustrated or sad.

She seemed resigned, as if she had given up.

I offered her comfort that wasn’t really comfort.

“Anyone can make mistakes. You just didn’t practice enough.”

“You talk just like an adult, don’t you? You’re five years old too.”

“…Won’t you listen to my performance?”

“Of course I should. Come on, let me hear it.”

Park Bom moved aside from her seat.

I slowly walked over and sat in front of the piano.

Park Bom’s body warmth from just performing was still there.

More than that, I kept thinking about those notes she had played wrong.

‘Those wrong notes…’

I thought about them.

The piece I was about to perform now.

It was a piece created by gathering those wrong notes together.

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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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