A Musical Genius Who Plays Memories - Chapter 69
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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 69. Mirror Within Mirror (3)
“Huh?”
“Hmm?”
Both Mother and the young man reacted simultaneously to my muttering.
One was showing surprise, and one was expressing curiosity.
And naturally, the surprised one was the young man.
“Do, do you know my little sister?”
He spoke with a stutter.
It was certainly surprising enough.
Anyone would be shocked when a child they’d never met before mentioned a family member’s name.
I would have reacted the same way.
The young man stopped his conversation with Mother and spoke to me.
“Yes! I’m also in Moran Class!”
No other words were needed right now.
With just the words “Moran Class,” the young man could understand everything.
“Ah, then, are you by any chance Hee-seong?”
“That’s right!”
“I see. Ajin talked about you a lot. Ah, let me introduce myself again.”
The young man said that and seemed to be looking for something at the counter.
A few seconds later, he attached something to his chest.
When the young man lowered his hand, what he had been covering became visible.
It was a name tag with his three-character name written on it.
“I’m Kim Sang-jin, owner of Cafe Jazz Holic.”
The young man, no, Kim Sang-jin introduced himself as the cafe owner.
His bright smile made it look like he was ready to serve customers.
It was truly befitting of the owner of this wonderful cafe.
‘…Owner?’
But wasn’t there one word that didn’t quite fit?
That face and… owner?
It seemed I wasn’t the only one surprised.
“Owner, you said? You look young, that’s impressive.”
“My parents passed it down to me. Please, have a seat first. I’ll bring your drinks right out. What would you like?”
“Oh, it’s fine…”
“We’re from the same kindergarten, so I can give you a free cup of coffee.”
“I’ll gladly accept!”
“Haha, thank you.”
Mother ordered an americano and I simply asked for a glass of milk.
Mother briefly went outside the shop toward the car where Father was sitting.
It seemed like she was going to tell him what had happened so far.
‘Now then, let me see what famous albums they have here.’
In the meantime, I wandered around the shop.
There were things I hadn’t discovered earlier when I was just skimming through.
“Oh!”
I had learned about city pop when composing Blue Night last time.
Father had taught me about city pop then and played several albums as examples.
One of those albums was here.
It was a pretty album with a city shining in the dark night drawn on it.
I unconsciously swallowed my saliva.
‘I want to listen to it…!’
I wanted to listen to it right now.
But I thought I shouldn’t touch the CD carelessly, so I just looked.
“Is there something you want to listen to?”
That’s when Kim Sang-jin spoke to me.
In that short time, his apron had gotten damp.
To make all the drinks in such a short time, he seemed quite skilled.
“You already finished making the drinks?”
“I’m just brewing the coffee. You seemed like you wanted to listen to music, so I came to help.”
“Ah, I see. Then I’ll…”
My mouth stopped as if it had hit the emergency brakes.
There was no other reason.
‘Should I ask for a recommendation instead?’
The reason was simple.
I thought maybe this person might introduce me to a song I didn’t know.
A good musical idea might come from that.
‘And I’ll get closer to him while I’m at it!’
I was curious about what this person had said to Ajin in front of the mirror.
“Please recommend something, hyung!”
“Really? Why?”
“I’m curious about songs that other people like.”
“Hmm, this won’t be easy…?”
But contrary to his words, his hands were already moving.
His right hand, passing between various albums, soon picked up one album.
‘Ooh?’
He immediately showed me the album cover.
The cover showed a woman in pink clothes.
She was wearing headphones with space in the background.
‘Ah, I can’t…’
I tried to read what looked like the band’s name at the top of the album cover, but there wasn’t time for that.
“Want to come over here?”
I followed him toward where the piano was.
He opened the piano cover.
Then a CD player that had been hidden under the piano cover came into view.
The player looked quite luxurious, and I unconsciously swallowed my saliva.
He soon opened the album and placed the CD in my hand.
“This is my favorite album. I especially like the second track.”
“Wow…!”
“Want to try putting it in?”
“Yes!”
When Kim Sang-jin pressed a few buttons on the CD player, something popped out.
A tray that anyone could see was meant for placing a CD on.
I placed the CD on it.
“Now, give it a listen.”
With his words, music began flowing throughout the cafe.
“Wow!”
“When you play music in this cafe, you can hear it everywhere in the shop.”
Looking now, there were speakers throughout the ceiling and walls.
They had been hidden by other decorative items, so I hadn’t noticed them until now.
To hide them so seamlessly.
The designer’s taste seemed impressive.
-Bring it back to life!
The cafe was filled with exciting rock sounds.
It was so loud that even Mother, who had been talking with Father, came inside.
“The sound is incredibly loud!”
“Right? This place is away from residential areas, so we can play music without worrying about complaints.”
He said that while turning up the volume slightly more.
The exciting music continued to play.
If I stayed here, would I be able to listen to music like this every day?
If so, that would be wonderful.
Somehow feeling like there would be many masterpieces here, I unconsciously started drooling.
‘Ah, this isn’t the time for that.’
Right now, buying what Father wants comes first.
Just then, Kim Sang-jin, who had gone to make drinks after seeing Mother enter the store, said loudly.
“Please wait just a moment!”
I sat at the table with Mother.
My eyes were watching Kim Sang-jin making drinks, and my ears were listening to the exciting music.
Then suddenly, I had this thought.
‘Does that person manage this store all by himself?’
Even just the space excluding the area marked as a stage was quite spacious.
There were about 5 tables too.
Looking now, there were even stairs leading to the second floor in the corner of the store.
But it seemed customers couldn’t use them.
‘Is it like a secret space? Like Chuchoo…’
Am I addicted too?
Why does Chuchoo come up naturally?
I tapped my cheeks to wake myself up.
‘Are there employees or something?’
If so, that would make sense.
I didn’t know well what condition this store was in, but there must be employees.
Otherwise, managing this spacious store alone wouldn’t look easy.
Anyway, right now it was a matter that had nothing to do with me.
“Here, sorry for the long wait!”
Kim Sang-jin came with cold iced americano and warmly heated milk.
Starting the morning warmly like this made me feel good.
‘It’s already 11 o’clock, so it’s not morning?’
Well, what does it matter.
Drinking warm milk makes me feel good, so it didn’t really matter.
It’s a leisure I wouldn’t have been able to feel originally anyway.
‘Wait, thinking about it, can’t I go back to preschool now?’
It didn’t matter either way, but I wanted to spend a little more time here.
I couldn’t ignore this music sound filling the space.
I also thought it would feel good to perform here.
While I was lost in appreciation by myself, Mother was doing her business.
“So you’re selling this?”
“That’s right.”
Kim Sang-jin had brought a small master keyboard at some point.
It was really small in size.
If I put my young arms against it, it would fit perfectly.
‘It must be precious indeed.’
He kept fiddling with the master keyboard.
His eyes looked wistful too.
Mother must have noticed this too, as she opened her mouth.
“It seems precious, but may I know the reason you want to sell it?”
At Mother’s question, Kim Sang-jin was silent for a moment.
I realized that his contemplating expression was gradually hardening.
It seemed like something serious had happened.
“Well, I might have to close the cafe soon.”
“What?”
“Why!!”
Mother and I spoke at the same time.
***
It wasn’t that big of a story.
The store wasn’t doing well.
The kind of story anyone might have.
“I don’t pay monthly rent or anything, but sales keep dropping.”
His cafe honestly couldn’t be said to be very popular.
The outskirts where people couldn’t come often.
Ordinary menu.
The only distinctive feature was the numerous albums.
So while regular customers didn’t come, musicians came often.
But even that was a thing of the past.
“So to summarize, you lost customers to another store, is that what you’re saying?”
Shin Ji-eun perfectly summarized Kim Sang-jin’s situation.
A new cafe had opened not far from here.
A store exactly like Kim Sang-jin’s.
Similar in sensibility and even interior.
It was subtly different somewhere, but the overall atmosphere was similar.
“Oh! This looks exactly the same!”
Hee-seong’s words while flipping through photos of the other cafe stabbed Kim Sang-jin’s heart.
But as the conversation continued, there was one thing Hee-seong couldn’t understand.
Was there a connection between the store’s sales and selling that old master keyboard?
‘It doesn’t seem like there is.’
Hee-seong thought to himself.
There’s probably a story behind it, but there’s no need to bring it up.
The child thought so.
“But how did you become the owner?”
“Ah, my mother passed it down to me. As soon as I became an adult.”
“Then, how old are you now…?”
“25.”
“Are you taking care of Ajin by yourself?”
“That’s right.”
At Kim Sang-jin’s answer, Shin Ji-eun couldn’t hide her widening eyes.
Unlike her reaction, his response was too calm.
As if accustomed to it, he showed no signs of difficulty.
“This master keyboard was given to me by my father as a birthday present a few years ago.”
His mouth continued speaking like an unbroken fishing line.
His words flowing smoothly captivated Hee-seong and Shin Ji-eun’s attention.
“But now I don’t need it anymore. Because I have that piano.”
Kim Sang-jin pointed to the huge piano sitting prominently in the area decorated like a stage.
Everything here was old, but only that piano was shining brightly.
It meant he had taken good care of it.
‘There’s no need for it, so I’m throwing it away.’
It was truly a reasonable statement.
It was a remark that revealed Kim Sang-jin’s personality – someone who wanted his younger sibling’s smile more than holding onto memories.
But separate from that, Hee-seong felt something strange.
If just moments ago he had been gently caressing it with careful and longing emotions.
Now he was gripping the edges with such force they might break.
‘This person must have some story too.’
Hee-seong could instinctively tell.
He wanted to look away, but somehow it seemed related to his friend, so he couldn’t ignore it.
“Oh my, the atmosphere has gotten too heavy. I’ll apologize once more for Father’s actions.”
“No, it’s fine. Our husband got hurt on his own. He would have fallen by himself even if left alone.”
As the conversation between the three continued, the coffee and milk gradually diminished.
Hee-seong quietly observed the stage.
A stage was a place where someone performed.
And this place was a cafe.
‘Is this like a small performance hall?’
Hee-seong suddenly had that thought.
The tables were where the customers sat, and that stage was the performers’ space.
Otherwise, they wouldn’t have designed half the shop as a stage.
Curious, Hee-seong asked Kim Sang-jin.
“Do you have performances here too?”
“Huh? We do have performances. Oh, that’s right!”
Kim Sang-jin clapped his hands as if remembering something.
“Would you like to come back tonight? We have someone performing for the first time in ages!”
At the sudden invitation, both Shin Ji-eun and Hee-seong were flustered.
‘I didn’t expect this?’
Cold sweat began trickling down his cheek.
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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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