A Musical Genius Who Plays Memories - Chapter 5

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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 5. Little Star (2)

I pressed the do key for a long time.

The deep resonance I felt after so long gently struck my heart.

Not the empty sound of a light keyboard.

The richly concentrated string sound of the grand piano gently melted my ears.

‘Yes, this is it. This is it!’

The corners of my mouth naturally lifted at the full, rich sound that I could never feel from a keyboard.

The tone of a grand piano, heard live for the first time in so long rather than recorded sound, brought tears to my eyes.

‘What song should I play?’

Since this was the first song I’d play on a grand piano in this life, I wanted to play something meaningful to me.

I had always been like this.

I didn’t know when it started, but whatever song I played, I enjoyed drawing out some memory and speaking with my hands.

It was the same when listening, but it seemed more intense when performing.

Even a crude song could become wonderful music if it contained memories – that was my creed.

So even with the fingers of a 3-year-old.

Even if I played strangely, if memories were contained within, it would surely be good music.

Therefore, the song I would perform was already as good as chosen.

I put strength into my small fingers.

– Ding-♪

The piano’s melody continued thinly.

“…Little Star?”

I heard the reaction of the kid next to me, but I didn’t mind.

I was playing Little Star, just as the child said.

However, I also added memories that had long been asleep.

I originally didn’t know what stars were.

They were nothing more or less than fixed stars floating in the sky.

But through a very small trigger, stars came to have special meaning for me.

However, the star I would speak of with my hands wasn’t one burning in space beyond the sky.

It was just an infinitely small star listening to the scent of grass and the sound of insects.

‘Haven’t you decided on the child’s name yet?’

I had once asked my friend such a question.

We, who were in our twenties, married quickly as was common in those times.

Sadly, I was unmarried.

I was so crazy about music that I had no opportunity to meet women.

The guy who hung around with me was ‘lucky enough’ to marry and have a child.

That traitor.

Anyway, about a month after my friend’s wife gave birth.

The guy was stuck in his room and couldn’t come out.

Whenever I asked what he was doing, he only said he couldn’t decide on the child’s name.

That day, I couldn’t stand it anymore and broke down the door to my friend’s music studio.

‘Come out now! What’s so hard about naming one daughter…!’

Seeing the scene in the room, I couldn’t continue speaking.

Hundreds of completely different words were densely written on a single sheet of paper.

And thousands of such papers were scattered across the floor.

Do-do-sol-sol-

The two notes I played connected precariously.

The song could change depending on how you played the keys.

Whether you played long, fast, or entered off-beat.

However you played, it was ultimately an act that made the music better.

When my right hand played do-do sol-sol, the melody.

My left hand played the root notes.

With the even richer sound, the star in my memory was becoming clearer.

‘Are you alright!’

My friend was lying among thousands of sheets of paper.

He looked pale as if he hadn’t been eating well, so I hurriedly picked him up.

Fortunately, my conscious friend spoke with dried lips.

‘Please… give this to Lucie…’

He handed me a paper he was holding.

Lucie was my friend’s wife.

I looked at the paper he gave me, and something was written on it.

Danica.

That was the word written on the paper.

My friend handed me the paper and continued with some words.

‘I’m now…’

However, the words couldn’t continue.

Right after saying that, he dropped the arm he was barely holding up.

I shook him frantically in shock.

‘H-hey! You! Hey! You bastard, wake up.’

‘…Snooore.’

‘Damn it.’

He had just fallen asleep.

Being someone with a playful personality, he always annoyed people.

Still, since he was a good person, I threw him onto the bed.

After that, I cleaned up his messy room.

While doing so, I discovered a book.

‘Huh?’

The word ‘Danica’ was written in the book.

Only then could I understand the meaning of the word.

La-la-sol-

The gentle melody hit the walls of the music room and returned to me.

Though the sound had diminished once, it still sounded peaceful.

I extended the notes do and la.

The highest note in Little Star was drawing out emotion.

High notes that stimulate human emotions.

Though it was clearly a bright-feeling major key, by extending the notes I slightly neutralized that feeling.

However, I couldn’t just extend them carelessly.

That would create a completely different song, so I only played the notes of Little Star.

Do–do-sol-sol-la–la-sol-

This was certainly a happy memory, but since it was now a recollection I could no longer recall.

I played Little Star with two emotions mixed together.

The meaning of Little Star in my memory was.

‘Morning star…’

It meant a star that shines brightly before dawn breaks.

Like a star that shines at the end of night.

It contained my friend’s heart wishing for his child to shine brightly in this chaotic era.

Knowing such feelings, I performed Little Star filled with memories and emotions.

I put my friend’s joy and his heart wanting to give the best gift he could for his small child into Little Star.

One might think it’s putting too much meaning into a simple song, but I didn’t care.

Putting in emotions, putting in memories.

That was my method and reason for making music.

Do-

The last note requires releasing the strength from the fingertips.

This was my blessing for Danika’s future from my previous life.

Though it was a past that had flowed away, it was my heart wishing for what was surely a happy future.

I gently placed my emotions upon the melody.

I put strength into my shoulders as I finished the performance.

And after taking a breath for one beat.

“Mm! That was very good!”

I encouraged myself.

These were the words Father always said when I borrowed his keyboard to play.

After hearing it every day, it seemed to have become my habit without me realizing it.

I turned my head.

Next to me stood a little kid with small arms crossed.

“…Not bad?”

The girl spoke with a swagger.

It seemed like she was declaring, ‘No matter how much you play, you’re still beneath me.’

However, it was just amusing since a small child was doing it.

I became curious about this little kid.

“What’s your name?”

The girl hesitated for a moment at my question.

Then she seemed to think about it a little, and soon opened her mouth.

“Why do you want to know?”

“I’m curious.”

“Hmm…”

The child took an extremely long pause.

I could see her determination not to carelessly reveal her name.

After a moment of waiting, the child finally opened her mouth.

“Fine. My name is…”

However.

I never got to hear the little kid’s name.

Creak.

The music room door opened, and a woman was standing at the entrance.

“Daughter.”

At the gentle woman’s voice, the child in front of me quickly turned her head.

Then she silently ran to the door and hugged the woman.

Finally, the child finished her farewell by waving her small hand.

‘She disappears like the wind. Well, I’ll probably see her again someday.’

That’s what I thought.

If fate allows, we’ll be able to face each other once more.

With the talkative child gone, silence came to the music room.

– Ding-ding-♬

I pressed the piano keys meaninglessly.

Only I and one teacher with no presence remained in the music room.

“Teacher, would you like to play together?”

I called the teacher who was sitting alone in a chair to play piano together.

She looked very bored.

***

“Aeyeon, weren’t you bored waiting?”

“No.”

Aeyeon munched on the snacks her mother gave her.

The child’s mother drove while gently telling her about Hansul Preschool.

Since it was the preschool the child would attend, she wanted the child to hear about it.

However, Aeyeon wasn’t interested in such stories.

Only piano existed in the child’s mind.

Playing piano when she woke up, playing piano after eating, playing piano until bedtime.

That was Aeyeon’s daily routine.

And the child’s parents would do anything for their child.

If it was something money could accomplish, they would gladly do it.

However, it was too excessive.

Under the pretext of being for the child.

However, Aeyeon found it burdensome.

She just wanted to quietly play piano, but people kept coming to see her.

She heard words like genius, but she wasn’t interested.

“There was some boy at the piano earlier, did he play well?”

Aeyeon munched on her snacks while recalling Hee-seong’s performance.

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star played by a boy slightly shorter than herself.

However, the Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star that Hee-seong played wasn’t little at all.

It seemed like casual playing, but when you listened, it wasn’t like that at all.

Aeyeon’s heart was stirred by a performance she had never heard before in her life.

Aeyeon lost herself listening to Hee-seong’s performance that instantly captivated her ears.

At that moment, it seemed like only Hee-seong and the grand piano existed in the music room.

For Aeyeon, who was hearing a peer’s performance for the first time in her life, it was a tremendous shock.

She was moved by Hee-seong’s Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star that played feelings she didn’t even know.

‘…Not bad?’

Aeyeon, who was somehow too embarrassed to just give praise, gave the best expression she could.

It was the same now.

“…It was good.”

“Really? I’d like to hear it once.”

The faint smile the child was making caught her eye.

She was surprised by the child’s reaction, which was different from usual, but didn’t show it.

Aeyeon quietly opened the window.

Strong wind tousled the child’s hair, but she didn’t mind.

“…I want to hear it again.”

Aeyeon quietly murmured.

The child’s murmur scattered in the wind, so her mother wouldn’t hear it.

The luxury sedan Aeyeon was riding in was smoothly traveling down the road.

***

“There’s an entrance exam at the end of November. Before that, you need to take an aptitude test.”

In the principal’s office, Yoon Young-hoon and Shin Ji-eun were listening to the principal’s explanation.

The two people who heard about what Hansul Preschool was and what facilities it had were amazed.

The two people came to know all too well that it was an extremely excellent educational institution.

It was just as difficult to get into.

“How should we do the test? Is there anything specific we need to prepare?”

“You just need to prepare one piece from the list we’ll give you.”

The two people listened attentively to the principal’s explanation.

As if it wasn’t an easy preschool, you had to score above a certain level on the test to be eligible to apply for the entrance exam.

“Oh, and if we determine that the child has outstanding talent in music, they don’t need to take the exam separately.”

“How do you determine if they have talent?”

“We judge by watching videos or seeing them directly ourselves.”

Thus, the consultation between the two people was coming to an end.

Yoon Young-hoon and Shin Ji-eun resolved to enroll Hee-seong in this excellent preschool.

For their child’s future, the two would do anything.

Within their means, of course.

“Then, I’ll send you the information text today.”

“Yes, thank you.”

“You said the child is in the music room?”

“That’s right. He should be playing piano nearby.”

“Really? I’m curious too. May I go see with you?”

“Of course! It would be our honor.”

Yoon Young-hoon, Shin Ji-eun, and the principal headed to the music room.

The gradually lowering sunlight was filtering through the windows.

Only the faint sound of piano echoed through the empty hallway.

‘Hm? Is another teacher playing? That’s a shame.’

A melody that controlled dynamics and tones, capable of moving people’s hearts, struck their ears.

It was a common children’s song, but it didn’t sound common at all.

The principal felt a bit disappointed hearing the piano sound.

From the couple’s story, the child in the music room was said to be 4 years old.

However, the piano performance now being heard was quite polished for a 4-year-old child to play.

Of course, such children existed occasionally, but they were rare.

‘But is it Teacher Mirae? I don’t think I’ve heard this kind of performance before?’

Therefore, the principal hid her doubts and opened the music room door.

“Wow! Friend Hee-seong. You play piano incredibly well!”

However, the scene in the music room was beyond the principal’s expectations.

A teacher clapping and exclaiming in admiration.

And a small child sitting in front of the piano with hands placed on the keys.

The child was scratching his head as if embarrassed.

‘That child just performed that piece…?’

The principal, who instantly finished all her assessments, looked at Yoon Young-hoon and Shin Ji-eun and said.

“…I don’t think we need to do a test.”

“Yes… thank you…”

Yoon Young-hoon also struggled to continue speaking.

Shin Ji-eun just stared blankly at her child.

She knew her son liked piano and had talent.

‘Was Hee-seong able to play so well?’

However, it was something she had never heard at home.

Yoon Young-hoon and Shin Ji-eun stood there dumbfounded at the performance that felt different from the music Hee-seong had played until now.

“Oh? Mom! Dad!”

Unaware of his parents’ feelings, Hee-seong only spoke brightly.

Therefore, the two had this thought.

Could Hee-seong’s talent be what people call genius?

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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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