A Musical Genius Who Plays Memories - Chapter 29

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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 29. Spring Thief (4)

I used to think about spring.

Spring in Europe could be described as refreshing.

Even without doing anything, I was filled with abundant satisfaction.

During snack time, I played while recalling those memories.

While thinking about flowers as well.

‘But not now.’

Seeing Park Bom’s mistake, I felt that such thoughts shouldn’t arise.

My damp hands touched the keys.

Ding♬

That was the beginning of this piece.

The piece I wrote during my wandering period was a complete mess.

Back then, I struggled to play bright pieces.

Imitating spring was also for that reason.

‘I was young then too.’

My fingers moved like slowly blooming sprouts.

Since plants cannot move, I imitated them.

The only allowed movements were fingers and wrists.

It was a rule I made for myself when composing.

That was my greed and the first mistake of this piece.

It stemmed from the thought of creating something different from others.

‘Since I only moved my wrists, the range of finger movement was narrow. Plus the tempo was slow too.’

Well, thanks to that, my wrists suffered later.

Of course, that didn’t make the performance easy.

Even if an adult only moved their wrists, young me had to wave my arms like greeting someone.

Still, it was enjoyable.

What if it was difficult.

I was just grateful to be able to play the piece my past self composed.

Ding♩

I wanted to resemble spring.

Instead of the greed rising in my chest, I wanted to contain that greenness.

I wished to be filled with fragrant golden and beautiful red flowers.

However, the spring in my heart was only filled with strong liquor.

I had no money on hand.

All I had was a small room and a piano.

And that person’s letter.

‘They urged me to compose again. What was it, rebellion? Anyway, for some reason I didn’t want to.’

Back when I didn’t yet know they were the one who stole my music.

I entrusted myself to what could be called intuitive sensation.

‘The opening of the piece. Here I thought of living, breathing things.’

My vision was narrow.

The scenery from the window I saw sitting in front of the piano, that was the world I saw.

The scenery I always saw when I woke up early in the morning was always cold.

‘Leaves wet with dew. That’s the first thing I see.’

So I imitated newly sprouted buds and expressed large leaves swaying in the wind.

Leaves about the size of two fingers could easily withstand dew.

I expressed that sight with piano.

Swaying leaves with the left hand, light dew with the right hand.

But it was a bit different from my usual pieces.

The subject of this piece was leaves, that is, living beings.

I thought heavy low tones were a very suitable expression for such beings.

‘My thinking changed later, but this is right for this piece.’

Right hand for accompaniment, left hand for melody.

Solemn sounds filled the Moran Class.

I could hear the children’s breathing and voices.

Garam and Ajin were whispering something.

I could only feel the quiet gazes of Aeyeon and Park Bom.

Since they were children, they would feel it in their own childlike way.

I was curious about that.

‘That’s for later. Now is the moment to focus on the music.’

The dew was light.

But when countless drops gathered, it became heavy again.

With each drop added, the leaves struggled more and more.

So the left hand melody also gradually became smaller.

The left hand that pressed four times per measure now could only press once.

Meanwhile, the right hand accompaniment was bouncing cheerfully.

Boing♪

The protagonist of the piece changed.

The leaves that were the symbol of rising life disappeared, and the coolness of dew and dawn mist took over the piece.

Here I made the second mistake.

‘It was truly absurd, who would have known that rainwater would come in when I opened the window.’

The desk where I was organizing sheet music was right against the window.

Just when I was enjoying the cool breeze and trying to sleep, dawn rain fell.

The sheet music smeared beautifully.

There I saw the potential of this piece.

Seeing the sheet music transformed like a painting, I unconsciously sat at the piano.

Boing♪

With my eyes closed, I recalled a scene from memory.

Large dewdrops flowed down along the leaves.

The leaves were light, but began to sway slightly from countless dewdrops.

Ding- Ding-♩

My hands also shook violently up, down, left and right.

My left hand pressed the keys strongly.

Then the melody of the leaves hidden by dew began to be heard clearly.

‘Leaves and dew. And spring’s temperature. Ah, there was dawn rain too.’

The tree visible through the small room’s window was everything.

Yet somehow it was refreshing.

Instead of looking from my seat at the piano, I got up and looked at the leaves from in front of the window.

‘Was that when this piece was given meaning?’

Originally it was a piece with no meaning.

Since it was nothing more than imitating leaves.

‘Perhaps, it was about running away.’

It might have been a momentary delusion.

I thought I wanted to escape from this room and touch those leaves.

‘There was also a reason why the child’s words lingered in my ears.’

What Park Bom said casually in the garden.

‘You’re running away, right?’

I wanted to run away.

I don’t know what I wanted to run away from, even now.

My past self would know even less.

That’s why I might have opened the window.

Maybe this song was completed by the heart that wanted to go outside through the window.

Ting-♩

There was a leaf that had endured the weight of dew.

The leaf rode the wind and drifted down to touch my hand.

It was so light.

‘This isn’t the past anymore. I don’t need to run away.’

There was no need to continue the old stubbornness.

I was simply playing the song with my current body and heart.

The performance of the untitled song, completed by my mistake of trying to escape, was gradually coming to an end.

The strength left my fingers that had been pressing the piano keys.

When I turned my head, the children were looking at me.

Park Bom’s expression was particularly curious.

***

Park Bom could tell.

That she could never beat Heeseong.

Even so, she wasn’t frustrated.

Rather, she was curious.

‘How, how can he play like that?’

It was so amazing that she couldn’t imitate it.

It seemed like he played even better than when she secretly listened during snack time.

No, the feeling was different.

‘I didn’t see flowers. It was definitely the same song…!’

Only leaves existed in the pure white space.

Those leaves fluttered in the wind and then landed right in her grasp.

Looking closely, there was dew too.

It was such a mysterious experience.

Heeseong’s performance continued to flow in her ears.

Just like when she secretly listened during snack time, it felt like she had moved somewhere else.

‘Amazing… Is this what real performance is like?’

Park Bom thought.

Her own performance was terrible.

She could finally understand that now.

She felt deeply that it was a performance where nothing could be felt.

Such a pathetic performance that couldn’t be compared to Heeseong’s.

‘Aeyeon, there was a reason she said those things.’

She came to understand what it meant that she could never beat Heeseong.

Having attended the academy, she could tell that no one could imitate that performance.

Even so, she developed a desire to play like that.

A performance that could make people see the invisible.

She wanted to give a performance that could move people’s hearts.

‘Piano can be done to that extent…?’

Piano was just something she did because her parents told her to.

When she went to the academy and then came to preschool, everyone praised her.

There was Jeong Mi-rae, whom she came to admire while studying piano, and she also praised her.

When she played piano, everyone praised her.

That made her happy.

But after hearing one child’s performance, her thoughts changed.

“I want to too…”

“Huh? What did you say?”

“I want to do it too!”

“Do what!”

Heeseong looked at Park Bom strangely.

Well, it was understandable that he’d be confused when she suddenly said she wanted to do it too.

Regardless of what Heeseong thought, Park Bom had no intention of backing down.

‘It seems cool!’

She felt like she would come to love piano even more.

She wanted to play like Heeseong and surprise other people.

Especially, she wanted to surprise Jeong Mi-rae even more.

For that, she needed Heeseong’s help.

“Heeseong, please help me…!”

But what kind of trick of fate was this.

“Bom, your father is here!”

Just like what happened in the morning, Park Bom couldn’t finish what she wanted to say.

But this time was different.

The child felt that she absolutely had to say this this time.

So she opened her mouth.

“Teach me piano!”

The prickly and blunt child had disappeared.

There was only a child who wanted to properly play piano.

Park Bom spoke to Heeseong with sparkling eyes.

Seeing that, Heeseong said in confusion.

“Why should I?”

“I want to learn your piano!”

“Aeyeon too, and why does everyone want to learn from me? There’s nothing in my piano.”

“No, Heeseong is special.”

“Right! Aeyeon, you said it well!”

Aeyeon’s eyebrows twitched at Park Bom’s words.

Perhaps because she was a child with the same opinion as herself, she liked her a little.

Park Bom wanted to explain why Heeseong’s piano was special.

She tried to tell him what she felt and saw, but.

“Bom, it’s time to go home now. Play with your friends tomorrow.”

“Ah, ah…”

Park Bom had no choice but to follow the teacher.

Her body was leaving the Moran Class, but her face was looking at Heeseong.

“You have to teach me tomorrow! Got it!”

Heeseong watched that and whispered quietly.

“Hmm… That’s bothersome…”

“Right, you only need to teach me, Heeseong.”

“Aeyeon also plays piano well…”

“Only me, teach me.”

“Uh-huh.”

Heeseong found himself automatically answering due to some indescribable feeling from Aeyeon.

Whether she knew that or not, Park Bom kept talking.

“You absolutely have to teach me!!”

Though there was no answer in return, Park Bom kept talking.

***

“So, what brings you here? It’s a day off.”

“I thought it might be time to start soon.”

In the late afternoon, in the principal’s office of Hansul Preschool after all the children had gone home, the principal welcomed Jeong Mi-rae who had come without notice.

The two were leisurely drinking tea and continuing their conversation.

“Starting what?”

“The children who joined this time have amazing skills. Heeseong is a given, but Aeyeon and Bom too. They’re all outstanding.”

“That’s true. The kids who joined this time are really good. But why bring that up?”

“I’ve been thinking about it a lot.”

Jeong Mi-rae had one wish.

To raise children who could carry on her legacy, since she could no longer perform on stage.

That was her wish and goal while attending Hansul Preschool.

And she had found them.

Such pure gems.

Now it was time to cut and polish those gems.

“I’m thinking of creating a special class.”

“A special class?”

“Yes, a class for participating in competitions.”

Until now, she had discovered several talented children, but they couldn’t participate in competitions.

There were two reasons for this.

One was that under Jeong Mi-rae’s own judgment, she felt it would be difficult for them to compete.

The second reason stemmed from something else entirely.

“To place in a competition, you need at least three months of practice and study.”

“Right? That’s only natural. You need practice to win awards.”

“But giving special treatment to just one child would cause other parents to object, so I couldn’t do it.”

“It can’t be helped. Everyone would obviously complain about discrimination.”

They would definitely ask why their own child couldn’t participate.

That’s why Jeong Mi-rae couldn’t create a special class.

It would be more accurate to say she wasn’t able to create one.

But now was different.

There were several children with outstanding talent.

“Mi-rae, I understand your thinking. But there are still too few children.”

“I know. But this time is different. Three children already have the skills to compete.”

“But that’s all there are.”

“No. Among the children I’m keeping an eye on, there are some who would be fine with just a little practice. I’ll gather five children, just five.”

“Five children… That doesn’t sound too bad.”

“Right?”

The principal couldn’t help but smile thinking about the children who would compete.

But it wasn’t an easy matter.

“But aren’t the children too young? Even though five-year-olds can apply, wouldn’t it be better to prepare more before going?

“You know that competitions originally allow even three and four-year-olds to apply.”

“That’s true. You also participated in international competitions from a young age.”

“You taught me so much, Principal.”

“What did I do? You won many awards because you were talented.”

The two briefly recalled old memories.

The principal was simply proud of how well Jeong Mi-rae had grown up.

Thinking of the past, Jeong Mi-rae said.

“But as someone who has competed before, I think starting a little early wouldn’t be bad.”

“What’s your reason?”

“The children are more talented than I was. Heeseong definitely is.”

“So you want to give them competition experience early so they can grow even more?”

“Exactly. For now, I know of a small competition at the end of June that I want them to try.”

“Hmm…”

Setting aside the children’s skills, getting permission from the parents wouldn’t be easy.

The principal sipped her tea and spoke about this concern.

“I’m not sure if the parents will give permission.”

“I’m planning to meet them tomorrow after class during pickup time.”

“Heeseong’s parents? They should be fine. I can feel that they truly care for their child.”

“That’s right. Seeing how maturely Heeseong has grown, it seems like they’ve really raised him well.”

The two smiled warmly while thinking of Heeseong’s face.

A genius who was polite to teachers, took good care of his friends, and taught piano well.

That was their image of Heeseong.

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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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