A Musical Genius Who Plays Memories - Chapter 3

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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 3. Étude (3)

“Hah….”

Yoon Young-hoon let out a deep sigh as he looked at his face reflected in the bathroom mirror.

While there was some exhaustion from childcare, a bigger problem was making him dizzy.

“Is the problem that music won’t come out, or is it my clumsy attempts?”

He had been troubled lately, or rather for a long time, by musical inspiration that just wouldn’t come.

Though he had majored in composition at Korea’s top university.

Now he had simply settled into being just another ordinary composition graduate.

“Am I being too greedy….”

He was afraid that his greed to make music different from others might be holding his family back.

So he decided to abandon his own unique style.

Music that people would like.

He studied popular music and tried to create good music, but.

Perhaps because he had been making classical and traditional style music for so long.

Popular music and classical.

He ended up creating music that was neither.

“…Heeseong must be waiting.”

For the sake of his son who would be waiting in the music studio, Young-hoon consoled himself to put aside his worries for now.

“Aba! Ueh!”

Bang! Crash!

When Young-hoon opened the studio door and entered, what he saw was Heeseong shouting and pounding on the electric piano.

Perhaps because he had been exposed to music from an early age, Heeseong loved Yoon Young-hoon’s music studio excessively.

Just watching the child cheerfully laughing and hitting the keys made him happy.

“Son~! Did you wait long? Now let’s listen to the song daddy made!”

“Yeh!”

Yoon Young-hoon picked up Heeseong who had been sitting in the baby chair.

Then he sat in front of the keyboard, placed Heeseong on his lap, and whispered softly.

“Now let’s focus on the music. Understand?”

“Neh.”

“That’s right, that’s right. Our son answers so well.”

Though still young, Young-hoon smiled warmly seeing Heeseong answer so clearly.

He reached out and brought his hand to the keyboard.

Click.

He pressed the spacebar.

And so the music began.

***

‘Finally, I get to hear father’s music!’

I opened both ears wide with anticipation.

Click.

The music began with father’s gesture.

Ziiing♩

The low notes of the violin continued for a long time.

Songs that started with C, or do, generally gave a bright feeling.

The violin melody slowly played four notes without stopping.

Do-sol-la-fa-

The note fa that tickled around the chest area continued for a long time, then slowly faded away.

A moment of silence.

– Tan-taran-♪

The piano strings announced that this was different from the initial violin.

Then came a feast of instruments all entering at once.

The gentle calmness of the acoustic guitar crying out from the right.

The profound depth of the cello whispering “I’m here” from the left.

Even the intensity of the timpani and snare saying “let’s move forward together” from the center.

A sound different from what I had expected unfolded.

With the other instruments supporting it, the piano began to show off.

The high notes do-re-mi ran quickly.

‘It might not be this kind of scenery…! But I want to feel it this way.’

Someday, scenes from the past that I had seen began to emerge.

My figure busily boarding a carriage to go play piano.

That luxury I had never enjoyed, which was rather uncomfortable, came to mind.

Children looking with envious eyes, men spitting with jealousy, and the gradually approaching sound of music.

Father’s music probably held father’s own memories.

I accepted such father’s music with my own memories.

The piano melody expressed people living earnestly.

That’s how I felt it.

Though they cursed with envy and jealousy while looking at the shining carriage.

I seemed to see those who burned their lives just to ride that carriage even once.

That day in my memory, it was raining, making the dreary street sparkle.

The classical music father created was enough to stimulate my memories.

‘So this is what father’s music feels like.’

I was also feeling one more thing.

Just as the past in my memories had shined.

The society I would live in was also a very bright society.

Even if there were dark parts, people would eliminate the dark places with music.

I waved both arms as if I were listening to classical music.

I wanted to shout out loud, but I held back.

The music was still continuing.

– Tan-tan-tan-♪

The instruments that had been running in different beats suddenly ran in the same beat.

It shook my heart as if announcing that it was ending, that something big was coming soon.

And it was right.

‘Oh! What is this, it’s so good?’

If the previous melody was the introduction, now it was the development section.

The melody that had been fast but gentle suddenly changed.

The melody that went up one more note made my heart beat a little faster.

I thought I understood what meaning father had written this with.

The melody began to change little by little.

Do became mi. Sol became si.

If until a moment ago it was an ordinary street.

Now it was an alley where vagrants lived.

Screaming women and street elders addicted to gambling were shouting.

– Bang-bam-♬

Brass.

Trumpet, trombone, horn and other brass instruments expressed the anger of the street citizens.

The violin just gently supported the piano from behind.

Like a coachman driving horses while ignoring them.

If there were people expressing anger, there were also those who simply endured.

– Bam-!

All instruments played the same note simultaneously.

And then came the silence.

‘Wow… this is the music our father made?’

I was amazed by Father’s music.

From what I’d felt so far, he was kind and always gave in to Mother.

But when he did his real work, he completely transformed.

The introduction and development could be considered entirely different pieces of music.

However, it wasn’t time to be amazed yet.

The piece was still continuing.

– Zing-♩

Once again, the violin solo continued.

It was quite different from the prelude.

A G note lower than C burst out from the speaker like vomit.

The violin melody seemed to be saying something, gentle yet sorrowful at the same time.

‘What… is it trying to say?’

There must be something Father was trying to convey in this piece.

Though I didn’t know what Father had experienced, I accepted the piece in my own way.

Just as I had accepted the music before the violin solo began.

I savored the piece while imagining scenes from the past.

I could enjoy it because what I had seen fit perfectly with the music.

It was the same now, but the atmosphere was too different.

If the introduction and development were memories of riding in a carriage.

The violin solo reminded me of memories of falling out of that carriage.

The slowly continuing violin melody.

Simply melancholy and sorrowful.

It was a melody that didn’t match the first half at all.

It was so dark that it made me feel suffocated.

The development that followed didn’t register in my ears at all.

The latter half and conclusion were excellent.

However, that violin solo was so dark that I couldn’t hear anything that came after.

“Son, how was it? Was it good?”

Father spoke with a slight smile.

His eyes were trembling slightly as if he was anxious about something.

‘How should I tell him this…?’

It was difficult to say something.

Still, I could understand what kind of feelings Father had right now.

He had completed the piece, but there was something ambiguous about it.

Yet he couldn’t figure out where that was – that kind of emotion.

Father was at that crossroads now.

In times like this, the best way to resolve such concerns is to let others listen to it.

Just like how novelists show their writing to others.

The ones who best resolve a creator’s concerns are fellow creators.

And I was a creator who had been making music for nearly 30 years.

“Hmm, haboo!”

I turned my head to look at Father.

“Hm?”

Father expressed confusion.

Of course, since I was moving through actions instead of words right now.

I thrust my small hand toward Father’s face.

This small hand wouldn’t quite follow my will.

What I wanted was to raise my index finger.

In other words.

“Ah, do you want to listen once more?”

Father understood my meaning far too accurately.

He really was our father.

“Alright, just a moment.”

Father clicked the keyboard and played the music once more.

I concentrated until the violin solo part came.

The piece began to flow.

It passed through the calm road, reached the noisy rush hour, and soon the violin solo began.

‘Not yet, not yet.’

The more I concentrated, the longer the violin melody seemed to become.

Each note stretched like taffy, continuing without breaking.

I passed one note like that.

‘Now!’

The point I wanted approached.

– Clang-!

High C.

The piano dropped with a thud over the low, gentle violin melody.

This was what I wanted.

I had lightly added a spoonful of bright sound over the gloomy notes.

Father would understand this single note that would dissolve the heavy atmosphere.

“You shouldn’t hit the piano so carelessly.”

However, Father firmly grasped both my hands.

He seemed to have taken it as a discordant note in the flowing music.

“Waaah.”

I whined in disappointment, but there was nothing I could do.

This was Father’s music, after all.

I was merely a listener.

The music continued and came to an end.

“Son, how was… Oh my. Our son keeps making daddy move around. Come on, let’s go change your diaper.”

I was still one year old.

No one would know how humiliating this was right now.

Unfortunately, my music appreciation session with Father ended like this.

***

“Was Heeseong good and didn’t cry?”

Shin Ji-eun, Hee-seong’s mother, returned home late at night after going out.

In her hands was jokbal, her husband’s favorite food.

“Yeah, he just fell asleep. So, shh. Let’s eat the jokbal quietly.”

“The jokbal comes first?”

“I couldn’t eat properly all day today, so please understand.”

“Alright. I’ll just wash my hands and come back.”

The two enjoyed their late dinner.

The musician couple always exchanged stories about music.

Just as stories of the past bloom when drinking soju with jokbal, so did these two.

Clink.

A clear clinking sound rang between the two.

“How’s your composing going these days, honey?”

“Well, there’s no one left to listen to my music anymore.”

“What do you mean no one! I’m here, and Hee-seong is here too.”

“You’re right. We have our family.”

Yoon Young-hoon downed his soju in one gulp.

The bitter scent of alcohol shot out through my nose.

Then suddenly, I remembered what had happened during the day.

“Right. I worked with Heeseong in the music studio today.”

“It probably wasn’t even 10 minutes.”

“Right. I listened to the song twice and left the studio right away.”

“Ahaha! There’s no way Heeseong would stay still in the music studio.”

Shin Ji-eun giggled and wiped away the tears that had popped out.

Since Heeseong might wake up, she had to hold back her laughter with muffled giggles.

Yoon Young-hoon knew it would turn out that way, but he never expected they’d leave the studio right after listening to the song twice.

“The kid said he wanted to hear it again, so I played it for him. But do you know what our Heeseong did…?”

Suddenly, lightning struck Yoon Young-hoon’s head.

The piano note he had heard during the violin solo kept circling in his mind.

He had thought it was a sound the child made by accident while waving his hand.

But somehow, it didn’t seem like a sound that came out by chance.

“What did he do? Why are you acting like this?”

“Wait…, just wait. I’ll go to the studio and come back. Go ahead and eat first.”

“Huh? What’s going on?”

Yoon Young-hoon hurriedly entered the music studio.

He didn’t even try to muffle his footsteps in case the child might wake up.

He quietly but urgently opened the studio door and put on his headphones.

He hurriedly turned on the computer and launched the music composition program.

Click.

When he pressed the keyboard to start playback, his own song rang clearly in his ears.

It was a piece he had composed with the motif of modern people’s busy lives.

Therefore, it was radical, with frequently changing melodies and rhythms.

And the highlight was the melancholy violin solo.

It was a part that expressed modern people’s depression, but it was far too depressing.

This could be considered the most important aspect of this piece.

The problem was that the more you listened to the song, the more it felt like stifling, suffocating air was choking your throat.

However, Young-hoon couldn’t give up the violin solo that was like acrid cigarette smoke and fine dust.

“Could this melody be changed with a single piano note?”

Though he had been making music for nearly 20 years.

Even he didn’t know how the note the child had accidentally played would change things.

Heeseong’s face clearly came to mind in Yoon Young-hoon’s head.

“It was by chance, but it’s thanks to Heeseong.”

Even if he had played it on purpose, it wouldn’t have mattered.

The fact that the child’s small hand had touched a note that changed Young-hoon’s song remained unchanged.

– Zing-♪

The stifling violin melody continued.

It felt like walking through a city alley so depressing it was full of dark clouds.

– Ding-♬

Then a bright piano sound rang out through the gloomy city.

Sunlight began to shine down through the dark clouds.

Young-hoon felt that this light was shining on the child.

Therefore, as a father, Young-hoon couldn’t stop his joyful laughter.

“What are you doing? I thought you were composing?”

Someone appeared who smiled brightly like a child and interrupted Yoon Young-hoon, who had been absorbed in composing.

“Oh, Ji-eun, uh, when did you come…?”

“You suddenly went into the studio. I snuck in. About 10 minutes ago?”

“Oh, really? You should have eaten the pig’s feet first…”

“How could I eat all that without you? So what were you doing?”

Yoon Young-hoon avoided the gaze of Shin Ji-eun, who was looking at him with sharp eyes while crossing her arms, and told her about what had happened during the day.

He had listened to music with Heeseong.

In the process, the noise the child made had resulted in making the song better.

After hearing all of Yoon Young-hoon’s story, Shin Ji-eun asked a very simple question.

“Can I listen to it too?”

“Of course, naturally. Here.”

Yoon Young-hoon smiled brightly and took off the headphones he was wearing to put them on Shin Ji-eun’s head.

When he asked if she was ready, she nodded slightly.

Click.

The music began.

Shin Ji-eun closed her eyes and concentrated on the feast of instruments she could hear.

The violin solo continued amidst the performance of instruments helping each other.

The piano gently helped that solo which looked so lonely.

The long yet short piece ended like that.

Shin Ji-eun took off the headphones as soon as the music ended.

And she spoke with bright eyes.

“You’ve finally returned.”

“Huh? What has?”

“It’s something I always felt whenever I watched you. Young-hoon, you only wrote ambiguous songs.”

“Uh, yeah.”

Yoon Young-hoon gulped.

When Ji-eun called him by his name instead of using terms like “you” or “honey.”

It meant she would treat him with the mindset of a singer, as a musician.

Therefore, Yoon Young-hoon had no choice but to listen intently to Shin Ji-eun’s impression.

“But not now. Young-hoon, it’s full of your own color. But it’s not classical.”

“Then…?”

“It’s music I like. And it’s music that other people will definitely like too.”

Ji-eun’s review, which became endlessly serious when it came to music.

It was short and powerful, making it the best review for Yoon Young-hoon.

“Really, thank goodness.”

His voice was slightly wet.

It was natural.

Until now, he had denied his own music, saying it wasn’t music.

But at the sincere impression from someone more precious than himself, he couldn’t help but choke up.

Shin Ji-eun didn’t forget to tease such Yoon Young-hoon.

“Hey, are you crying? Even Heeseong doesn’t cry much, so what are you going to do if you cry?”

“Ma’am, please be quiet.”

The two people continued their music work while bickering.

When some time had passed.

Ji-eun, who had been peacefully working on music like in the past, suddenly thought of one child who wasn’t in this place.

“To think Heeseong solved the problem. Really, our family seems to be a blessed family.”

The night of the family who connected through music deepened like that.

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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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