A Musical Genius Who Plays Memories - Chapter 41

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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 41. Stay With Me (2)

 

“But why light all of a sudden?”

 

Mother asked me a question in return.

 

I didn’t know what meaning was contained in her playfully asked question as she smiled mischievously.

 

Mother seemed kind, but she was a strong person with no gaps.

 

She was more powerful than any demon king in fairy tales.

 

‘I haven’t told her though…’

 

To be precise, I hadn’t found the right timing.

 

Whenever I tried to speak, something would happen.

 

Suddenly the phone would ring, something would come up, or a delivery would arrive.

 

‘Mother would ask again each time, but when I actually tried to speak, my mouth wouldn’t open easily.’

 

So now was that time.

 

But contrary to my will, my mouth wouldn’t open easily.

 

My tightly shut mouth was so firm that it seemed to have hardened in that state.

 

“Is it because of composition ideas?”

 

“Yes…?”

 

“What are you trying to compose this time? Oh, right. I want to hear the song Heeseong composed last time too. When will you play it for me?”

 

My worries were shattered all too easily by the small pebble Mother threw.

 

The last time she mentioned must be referring to what I composed using Canon as a motif for the children.

 

I was so focused on composing that I forgot the simple fact that my parents might want to hear it.

 

Making such a trivial mistake, I really am a simple person.

 

“…Right. I asked because I wanted to compose.”

 

“Really? It seems difficult.”

 

“Hehe, yes. It’s not going well.”

 

“That’s how it is for everyone. Is it because of the competition?”

 

“How did you…”

 

There was only one person.

 

The person who knew I was participating in the competition.

 

“Did Aunt tell you…?”

 

“She told me quite kindly?”

 

“Haha…”

 

It seemed Aunt couldn’t resist Mother’s words either.

 

To think I didn’t realize it even after seeing Aunt actively agreeing with Mother’s opinion.

 

‘I knew Aunt couldn’t beat Mother… Has my memory also become that of a 5-year-old?’

 

Actually, I felt relieved.

 

I had no intention of hiding it from my parents, but I ended up hiding it without realizing.

 

There were probably various reasons.

 

A 5-year-old composing music, playing piano until late at night.

 

Or maybe it was just past habits ingrained in my soul.

 

Either way, now that my parents knew I was composing, I could freely say what I wanted to say.

 

“That’s right. I want to try it together with Aunt!”

 

“Do you want to get that prize?”

 

“That’s part of it… Um, I want to compose music!”

 

“That’s the biggest reason? Then I should tell you properly. Let’s go to the living room first. My knees hurt.”

 

“Oh, let’s go together!”

 

Mother held my hand.

 

Even though the weather had warmed up, her hand was slightly cold, perhaps because it was still chilly.

 

“Light, light…”

 

Mother kept mulling over the word.

 

Her behavior was so serious that I, who had asked the favor, was rather flustered.

 

It was quite a different reaction from before.

 

The children were fragmentary, and the adults were better but still disappointing.

 

But I was slightly excited about what kind of answer Mother would give.

 

“To me, it’s like pupils.”

 

“Pupils?”

 

“Yes. Look closely at my eyes, how are they?”

 

“Um, they look slightly brown!”

 

“Not that, aren’t there other colors too?”

 

“Oh, they’re also white and slightly red!”

 

“Right?”

 

Mother continued speaking.

 

There are various colors in the world, and pupils are like mirrors, no different from vessels that contain multiple colors.

 

Hearing her explanation, I could somehow understand.

 

I had experienced countless pupils looking at me in my previous life.

 

‘Ha… Let’s not remember this. It wasn’t very pleasant.’

 

The memories of raising my voice on the street back then were still deeply embedded in a corner of my heart and memory, making them difficult to remove.

 

I turned my head and tried to focus on Mother’s voice.

 

“…So. What’s wrong? Are you hurt somewhere?”

 

“Oh, no! I’m fine.”

 

“Hmm. Tell me if you’re hurt. Understand? Don’t overdo it.”

 

“Yes…”

 

Mother said while touching my forehead.

 

Her caring actions made me feel a bit drowsy.

 

If I lay down on the bed like this, I felt like I could take a 2-day, 1-night trip to dreamland.

 

But contrary to my mood, Mother’s voice didn’t stop.

 

“Heeseong has never seen me sing, right?”

 

“You sing a lot at home. You even sing when you wash…”

 

“That’s just humming. I mean singing on stage.”

 

“I haven’t seen it. Father told me that Mother was resting.”

 

“I did rest for a while after giving birth to Heeseong. Aren’t you curious? About me singing.”

 

“I’m curious!”

 

This was sincere.

 

Our house was, after all, filled with people who did music.

 

My surroundings were like that too, whether it was Father or Aunt.

 

Even the teachers and friends at kindergarten.

 

But I had never heard Mother’s singing.

 

Of course, I had heard her humming at home countless times, but that wasn’t proper singing.

 

Putting sincere voice and gestures into melody.

 

That was what I considered singing.

 

‘I’m curious. How does Mother sing?’

 

I wanted to hear Mother’s voice, which was said to have been popular in the past.

 

Mother smiled, showing her teeth after hearing my answer.

 

“Hahaha! How nice it would be if our son always spoke like that. Hm? You little rascal who only knows music!”

 

“Ueeeee. It hurts.”

 

Mother lightly pinched and shook my cheek.

 

I responded to her loving playfulness.

 

In the middle of this, Mother seemed to realize something and stopped playing around to speak.

 

“Heeseong. Do you want to come see me perform?”

 

“…What?”

 

“I’m going to perform soon. Don’t you want to see it?”

 

“Uh…”

 

I can see Mother singing?

 

The answer I had to give was like the solution to a truly simple problem like ‘1+1’.

 

My unhesitating answer burst out of my mouth.

 

“I want to see it!”

 

“I knew you’d say that. Then, you can come with Father.”

 

“Me? Why me?”

 

“What were you doing that you’re just crawling out now? Husband disqualified.”

 

“Sorry, sorry. I was concentrating on work. But Heeseong wasn’t sleeping?”

 

“Ah.”

 

“Come to think of it, it’s 9 o’clock? Why isn’t our son sleeping?”

 

Father naturally turned the arrow toward me.

 

Well, it didn’t matter.

 

The night was already late anyway, and there wasn’t anything more I could do.

 

So going to bed would be more beneficial for me.

 

“You have to brush your teeth.”

 

Ugh, how annoying.

 

***

 

Time passed faster than I thought.

 

A week went by and before I knew it, it was Friday.

 

‘What should I do…?’

 

I hadn’t been able to do anything during that time.

 

I tried placing my hands on the piano, but they wouldn’t move at all.

 

To move forward, there had to be a path.

 

But what if that path was blocked by piles of stones and trees fallen from the mountain?

 

I could go back.

 

But the way back was also blocked by an overflowing river.

 

I was the person caught in such a dilemma.

 

‘No, how is it possible that nothing I do feels right?’

 

Nothing I did felt satisfying.

 

There were several reasons why the music I composed didn’t feel right.

 

I was trying to compose without clear memories.

 

This was like drawing without sketching and cooking without looking at a recipe.

 

I couldn’t see anything.

 

So I decided to listen to something other than classical music.

 

But there are many genres in music.

 

‘I’m even more confused! I have no idea what I should do!!’

 

I knew nothing.

 

My eyes were clearly open, but I couldn’t see anything.

 

“Should Father help you?”

 

It was Father who helped me in my confusion.

 

Since I was holed up in my room every day holding my head, he must have noticed and brought me to his music studio.

 

When we entered the music studio, instead of playing music for me, Father taught me how to use a program.

 

“You can search for anything Heeseong wants to know here and find it all.”

 

“Amazing! Then can I find people’s names if I search for them too?”

 

“Then I could probably find out about really old people too?”

 

This was my first time using such a search engine.

 

I had no reason to use it before anyway.

 

‘Hah… I almost searched for ‘that person’s’ name. I keep thinking about it.’

 

I didn’t want to search for the name of the person who had taken away my life.

 

I also wanted to search for my past name and my friend’s name, but I decided to skip it.

 

Because it was already a past that had gone by.

 

Shaking my head, I began to focus on Father’s work again.

 

‘There are so many genres.’

 

For example, let’s look at the genre called rock.

 

There were subgenres that Father had mentioned in passing once.

 

Progressive rock, folk rock, blues rock, and so on.

 

Anyway, there were very many.

 

Too many.

 

Too…

 

So I only listened to representative music from each genre.

 

‘Father really listens to such diverse songs…’

 

After clicking the mouse and tapping the keyboard a few times, representative songs from each genre were gathered in one place.

 

Classical was natural, and there was jazz, rock, ballad, folk, blues, and so on.

 

There were so many songs that just listening to them would take up the whole day.

 

‘Wow! Father is amazing. How can all these songs be so uniformly good?’

 

Each genre had its own distinct flavor.

 

When I slowly savored them, the songs would end.

 

Only music that made me want to listen again was gathered there.

 

‘Now it’s the last genre! The name is City…’

 

But Father’s words shattered my expectations.

 

“Alright, stop listening and let’s go to bed.”

 

“What? Why! I want to listen more!”

 

“Heeseong, who’s usually mature but becomes a child when it comes to music. It’s time to sleep now.”

 

“Ah… Then I’ll just listen to one more song, hehe.”

 

“No.”

 

Father was firm.

 

Well, it was disappointing that I couldn’t listen, but it couldn’t be helped.

 

Thanks to that, I was able to study a lot.

 

Before leaving Father’s room, I looked at the album cover displayed on the monitor.

 

It seemed to be an album containing a song that was representative of city pop.

 

My eyes kept being drawn to it.

 

It was a blue color that seemed to embrace the dawn city.

 

‘I can listen to it tomorrow.’

 

Soon it would be the day of Mother’s performance.

 

Tomorrow.

 

It was the day I could see the eyes that Mother had talked about.

 

‘But what is Mother planning to do? I’m curious.’

 

Hoping tomorrow would come quickly, I hid under the blanket like a kangaroo.

 

Though I came out soon because it was hot.

 

***

 

“Wow!”

 

It was a hot Saturday afternoon.

 

A somewhat quiet alley in a neighborhood where many people gathered.

 

On the basement 2nd floor of a 3-story building in that alley, there was a small performance hall.

 

According to Father, it was a place called a live house.

 

As soon as I entered that place, I could feel it.

 

That it was a space for musical performances.

 

A large drum set was in the center of the stage, and there was a piano next to it.

 

Electric guitar and bass guitar cases were also standing here and there.

 

The atmosphere of the people also indicated that music was being performed.

 

And when I turned my gaze to the corner, I saw Mother dressed differently than usual.

 

Mother, who spotted Father and me, smiled warmly and said.

 

“You’re here? You came faster than I expected?”

 

“Heeseong said he wanted to come quickly. Oh, hello, hyung-nim.”

 

“Young-hoon, it’s been a while. You look good. Oh! You must be Heeseong! I’ve heard a lot about you. I’m Shin Seong-jin.”

 

“Hello.”

 

I bowed my head politely as usual.

 

Since Father called him hyung-nim, he seemed to be the same age as Mother or older.

 

With his sunglasses on, he looked like someone who could be described as refreshing.

 

The adults became absorbed in their own conversation.

 

The three of them seemed close, as their conversation flowed quite naturally.

 

“The performance time is 7 o’clock, right?”

 

“That’s right. The owner here chose the time well. Oh, and they’re doing a NewTube live broadcast here too?”

 

“Where? Ah, over there!”

 

Looking where Shin Seong-jin pointed, I saw a small camera mounted there.

 

NewTube was a site I used frequently too.

 

With all the performance videos in the world available, how could I not watch?

 

‘The world really has changed. To think I can easily listen to performances by people from other countries.’

 

As I munched on the puffed rice snacks and listened to the adults’ conversation, time melted away gently.

 

The worries I had been carrying also disappeared, if only a little.

 

The symphony of comfortable voices made me feel like I could doze off if I closed my eyes.

 

“I should start getting ready now.”

 

Mother’s voice caught my attention.

 

Having finished their preparations, Mother and Shin Seong-jin got up from their seats and entered what looked like a waiting room.

 

The bright performance hall suddenly became dark.

 

Swoosh—

 

Smoke began emerging from some unknown machine in the corner of the performance hall.

 

“It’s starting now.”

 

The performance was beginning.

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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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