A Musical Genius Who Plays Memories - Chapter 58

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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 58. Warmth (5)

 

Let’s go back in time for a moment.

 

It was a weekend afternoon.

 

It was a day when I was composing while thinking about Grandfather Manbok’s story that Garam had told me.

 

‘Gyaaaah!!’

 

I was pulling at my hair.

 

The song was definitely progressing the way I wanted it to.

 

A warm bonfire and the raindrops that dampened it.

 

I expressed what came to mind after watching the movie and Grandfather’s performance.

 

But there was another reason why my head hurt.

 

‘Will Garam be able to play this?’

 

That was the problem.

 

Once I actually started composing, it turned out to be a piece Garam couldn’t play.

 

– Um, so I’m not good at low sounds. The strings are thick.

 

The child had said that.

 

It meant it was hard to play the thickest strings.

 

I could understand when the child said that.

 

The problem was that the piece I was composing was a little too much for the child to play.

 

Way, way, way too difficult.

 

“Ugh… I got too absorbed in it.”

 

While composing, I had unknowingly become completely immersed.

 

So I forgot that Garam had to play it and composed it anyway.

 

I racked my brain as much as possible.

 

I thought and thought to solve this problem.

 

I recalled when I first created the piece.

 

‘What was I thinking when I made this song?’

 

Initially, I wanted to complete this piece using only the violin.

 

So I focused on composing, but midway through I discovered something shocking.

 

The calluses on Grandfather Manbok’s left hand weren’t made from playing.

 

They were a product of his regret.

 

A man who couldn’t play, but still picked up the violin.

 

‘The song changed a bit from that point. Ah, that’s right.’

 

Only then could I remember.

 

What I was thinking when I made the song.

 

I realized that the image I wanted had been there from the beginning.

 

“Together…!”

 

I thought of Grandfather Manbok and Garam performing together.

 

An old man and a child.

 

My heart began to beat faster at these contrasting concepts.

 

Yes, the song I was trying to create was for two people.

 

A song that had to be played together.

 

Like the piece I made for the presentation, this song had to be performed by two people together.

 

‘But how?’

 

Grandfather Manbok cannot play.

 

No, he won’t.

 

His heart, his soul froze the hand holding the violin.

 

How could I move such a person?

 

‘I’ll think about that later. Right now, I need to change the song.’

 

I decided to think about Grandfather Manbok later.

 

I resolved to revise the song from the beginning.

 

I didn’t mind if the entire piece got modified in the process.

 

Composing was originally that kind of work anyway.

 

You had to keep changing the front and back and making modifications.

 

I moved the mouse with my small hand.

 

‘First, let’s separate the notes. The parts Garam can play and the parts he can’t.’

 

Garam found it hard to play the low strings because they were thick and hurt his fingers.

 

So I planned to accommodate the child’s opinion.

 

‘Fortunately, the high notes are just long sustained ones.’

 

This piece was mostly high notes.

 

It was a good choice to deliberately avoid using low notes much to create a warm atmosphere.

 

Even when used, they were mostly long sustained notes.

 

So from the child’s perspective, he could do well with just a little practice.

 

But dividing the notes wasn’t the end.

 

‘Garam, you are the rain.’

 

I had to describe the scenery.

 

The memory of watching the movie.

 

The conversation I had with Grandfather Manbok.

 

I gathered all of that and put it into the violin’s melody.

 

I pressed the keys.

 

A melody embracing the violin’s high notes flowed out cautiously.

 

Zing-♩

 

High notes naturally connected like raindrops falling pitter-patter.

 

Rain was inherently an irregular existence.

 

It falls suddenly and disappears suddenly.

 

But not in this piece.

 

It was played honestly in time with the beat.

 

Ziing-♩

 

I followed the notes like that.

 

There was only coldness.

 

I wanted to avoid the rain, but couldn’t see shelter.

 

The violin strings that had become streaks of rain kept falling.

 

‘But something seems to be missing.’

 

Rain and coldness.

 

Right now, that was all there was.

 

I wanted to add emotion to this.

 

Yes, let’s add anxiety.

 

Zuing-♪

 

I raised the note by a semitone.

 

In piano terms, a piece that had only played white keys suddenly played a black key.

 

The melody collapsed.

 

The notes broke and the form became distorted.

 

Yes, this is the feeling of anxiety.

 

The high violin melody and the unstable pitch shook people’s hearts.

 

‘Let’s stop here for now. The beginning is enough to create anxiety. What’s important is next…’

 

It was Grandfather Manbok’s role.

 

Actually, thinking about the two people had changed the song a bit.

 

Originally, it would have started with a low, warm violin performance.

 

But not now.

 

The violin carrying anxious raindrops started first.

 

Now it was time to wash away that anxiety.

 

‘Actually, the campfire itself is unstable.’

 

The form of the campfire was truly unstable.

 

The flickering flames couldn’t stay still and moved wherever the wind led them.

 

But it was warm.

 

That warmth alone was always constant.

 

Ju-woong-♪

 

I expressed the warmth with low notes.

 

I expressed the unstable flickering with syncopation.

 

The campfire remained ablaze, burning quietly.

 

It illuminated the surroundings brightly, but it was alone.

 

It simply blazed away.

 

Then it gradually cooled down.

 

Jung-♬ Jya-ang-♩

 

In the end, the sound faded away.

 

The sound I wanted gradually became faint.

 

It was dying out like a campfire.

 

‘Let’s add raindrops.’

 

Right now, the high notes and low notes were separate.

 

There was only the rainy sky and the campfire that simply burned.

 

But not anymore.

 

Rain was falling and the campfire was burning.

 

The sounds merged together.

 

The beginning was certainly unstable and dark, but not anymore.

 

They were complementing each other.

 

The high notes carrying raindrops were unstable in pitch, but honest.

 

The low notes carrying the campfire were consistent in pitch, but not honest.

 

These two were helping each other.

 

When the low notes tried to go off track, the high notes filled the gaps.

 

‘This is it…!’

 

The completion of the piece was gradually approaching.

 

In fact, I could say it was almost finished.

 

I had no intention of dragging this piece out.

 

At most, it would be 2 minutes.

 

Since it was a piece Garam would perform, I thought it would be good if it was easy and short.

 

So this much was enough for now.

 

“Hee-seong, let’s eat.”

 

I had been composing in Father’s studio all day and lost track of time.

 

At Mother’s urging to have dinner, I saved the file.

 

Father told me to always save, so I never forgot to do it every time.

 

‘I’ve been doing it ever since I saw Father cry out in despair when he couldn’t save last time.’

 

I sent infinite gratitude to Father, who had personally shown me why I needed to save for the sake of his child.

 

I briefly looked at the composing program.

 

‘Two people will perform this.’

 

One person performing alone would be fine too.

 

After all, there would be two people listening to this piece.

 

I left the studio with a pleased smile.

 

I looked forward to next week.

 

***

 

Time passed like that, and the weekend came again.

 

Today was the day I had declared to Grandfather Manbok.

 

The academy door, which would normally be closed, was open today.

 

And I was having a conversation with Garam in the practice room inside the academy.

 

“Ugh, I’m nervous…!”

 

“You practiced a lot. I’ll help you a lot, so don’t worry.”

 

Garam seemed very nervous, showing a side I hadn’t seen before.

 

It was understandable.

 

‘Today is the day to show our performance in front of Grandfather.’

 

I was nervous too, so how much more must the child be.

 

Still, I was confident.

 

Because Jeong Mi-rae had helped a lot.

 

When I asked if Garam and I could practice separately in the Special Class, she gave permission.

 

However, there was a condition that we had to stay only in the music room, but that didn’t matter.

 

‘Thanks to that, I was able to extend the length of the piece a little.’

 

Actually, the piece I composed alone over the weekend left something to be desired.

 

While making the piece thinking of Garam, I had to consider the child’s concentration span.

 

I couldn’t make it completely short, but I also couldn’t make it 7 or 10 minutes long.

 

‘I’m glad Garam practiced a lot.’

 

Thanks to that, the length of the piece increased a little.

 

It was only an extension of less than 30 seconds, but that didn’t matter.

 

Garam would fulfill his role perfectly.

 

“Garam, you know, right?”

 

“Yes! Slowly and surely!”

 

This was what I kept emphasizing to Garam.

 

Playing the piece we practiced slowly.

 

‘I’m just a supporting actor.’

 

My role in this piece was supporting.

 

The main part was the ensemble of violins, and I was merely decorating.

 

To use an analogy, I was like the wind.

 

Or maybe I could be a pebble rolling around nearby.

 

I had to have that little presence.

 

If I stood out more than that, it wouldn’t match the intention of the piece.

 

“So when is Grandfather coming?”

 

“I don’t know.”

 

“Huh?”

 

“Maybe he’s in his room? Should we go check?”

 

Garam said with a mischievous tone.

 

Ever since I praised him once by calling him Pashu-man, he started enjoying sneaky actions.

 

I felt a little sorry to Grandfather for putting strange ideas in his head.

 

I started to gently scold him.

 

“That won’t do! We’re about to perform now. Secretly…”

 

“Okay.”

 

“…”

 

“I won’t do it.”

 

“You’re copying Aeyeon.”

 

“Ah, no I’m not?”

 

Aeyeon’s behavior seemed cool among the children, so many kids were copying her.

 

She gave off such a cool atmosphere that it seemed attractive to them.

 

But I wish they knew how the person dealing with it felt.

 

Because I couldn’t get a sense of how to treat her.

 

‘Well, we’re getting along fine, so it doesn’t matter.’

 

Now he was getting along very well with the children.

 

Whenever I saw that, I felt like tears would spill out without me knowing.

 

“Heeseong is having strange thoughts again.”

 

“I wasn’t. Oh, Grandfather is coming.”

 

“Gasp! What should we do!”

 

“If we do it like we practiced, it will, it will work!”

 

Seeing Grandfather’s stiff expression, I couldn’t help but gulp.

 

‘Is he… nervous?’

 

Sweat was flowing down his neck.

 

I couldn’t understand why it was flowing.

 

It could have been sweat from the heat inside the academy.

 

“Are you ready?”

 

“Yes!”

 

“Y-yes…!”

 

“Play it. I must hear what song you want to play for me.”

 

I sat in front of the piano.

 

It was strange that there was a piano in the violin academy, but now wasn’t the time to be lost in such thoughts.

 

I took a small deep breath and looked at Garam.

 

The child was also looking at me.

 

Seeing the nervous face, I nodded.

 

The child nodded along too.

 

Swish.

 

Garam took position.

 

And closing her eyes tightly, she moved her left hand.

 

Zing-♩

 

The violin melody began to move slowly.

 

Rain began to fall.

 

In the somewhat hot academy, cold and anxious rain began to fall.

 

***

 

‘Did I try hard enough…?’

 

He asked himself.

 

He wanted to play the violin together with the child.

 

Even though he wanted to practice while looking at the sheet music, his hands just wouldn’t move.

 

Why wouldn’t they move?

 

The long-held guilt and regret could never be shaken off.

 

Heavy handcuffs had ruined his wrists.

 

My hands had already stiffened.

 

From the moment I received the sheet music until before I saw the child’s performance.

 

“I can’t do it…”

 

In his weakness, he ended up saying that.

 

Today he couldn’t do it either.

 

He would disappoint the child.

 

He vaguely knew.

 

That the child wanted to perform together with him.

 

‘I’m sorry… I’m sorry…’

 

With such thoughts in his mind, he left the principal’s office.

 

“…that’s how it is.”

 

“…that’s not it!”

 

Through the slightly open practice room, he could hear the two children’s conversation.

 

He hurriedly wiped the sweat that had flowed with his sleeve.

 

Worried the children might see, he moved his hands busily.

 

Then he entered the practice room nonchalantly.

 

And then.

 

“Are you ready?”

 

With his question, the children answered.

 

It was a spirited answer.

 

An answer he himself couldn’t give.

 

“Play it. I must hear what song you want to play for me.”

 

This time he couldn’t hear the children’s response.

 

That was understandable.

 

Tension was flowing across the children’s faces.

 

He thought that was probably the same for himself as well.

 

This small practice room would feel like performing in a huge hall to the children.

 

Even so, nevertheless.

 

Zing-♩

 

The cold melody of the violin was heard.

 

At the same time, something began to reflect in Choi Man-bok’s eyes.

—————
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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