A Musical Genius Who Plays Memories - Chapter 7

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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 7. In an Unknown Land (2)

The teachers were busily running around here and there.

Children who burst into tears because the preschool was still unfamiliar, and children who snatched each other’s toys.

When 5-year-olds gathered in an unfamiliar environment, that place became hell.

Various screams combined into a chaotic cacophony that pierced the ears.

Even in the midst of all this, Aeyeon stuck close to my side and chattered away.

“Hee-seong, when did you start playing piano?”

“Um… when I was 1? I often played on daddy’s keyboard. Like this.”

I raised my hands and pretended to play piano.

Aeyeon also followed the shape of my hands and said.

“I played on daddy’s too. Do you have more chocolate bars?”

“…Here.”

“Yeah! Thank you!”

All the chocolate bars in my pocket were taken by Aeyeon.

Having mastered the art of tearing plastic wrappers, Aeyeon put the chocolate bar in his mouth as soon as he received it.

That small mouth chewing and chattering was fascinating.

I turned my head away from Aeyeon to look elsewhere.

The teachers were busy comforting the children, so class wasn’t proceeding.

‘Well, I figured that would happen.’

I had seen several children who looked ready to cry as soon as they entered the classroom.

Even though they tried their best to hold it in, once one child started crying, the tears burst out collectively.

Right now 5 children were crying, and the class was getting noisier and noisier.

“Waaaahhh!!”

One more added to the count.

Just as the crying voices were building into a harmony.

Creak-

The classroom door opened, and a woman in a black suit entered.

From the flower-shaped name tag on her chest, she seemed to be a teacher.

‘Who is she?’

I didn’t know who she was, but.

“Oh? That person!”

Aeyeon beside me seemed to know her.

Curious, I asked Aeyeon who she was.

“Aeyeon, do you know that teacher?”

“Yeah! She’s super famous!”

“Really?”

“Uh-huh! She’s someone who plays piano reeeally well!”

At the mention that she played piano well, my eyebrows shot up.

I turned my head to look at the woman in front of the blackboard.

With a familiar expression, she whispered something in another teacher’s ear, then looked at the children and.

Clap clap, she clapped her hands making sounds.

Suddenly, loud clapping echoed through the classroom.

The children who had been playing just moments before, and the children who couldn’t stop crying.

Everyone looked in one direction.

The teacher in the black suit said this.

“Anyone who wants to play piano!”

She smiled broadly, and all the children spoke with one heart and one voice.

“Me!!”

Aeyeon and I weren’t much different.

***

The children who still couldn’t stop crying were eventually taken by the teachers to be comforted in another classroom.

The other children who wanted to play piano left the classroom and lined up in pairs in front of the door.

Naturally, Aeyeon was next to me.

This kid has no intention of leaving my side.

Anyway, the children including me headed somewhere.

“Everyone, our preschool is really big! So if you get lost, you have to stay still right where you are.”

Young Teacher began teaching the children various things during this time.

Once the children gathered in one place, they quickly began to focus.

Since the children here were 5 years old, they easily got absorbed in something when focused on it.

The teacher seemed to know this and began actively using surrounding objects.

“Everyone, let’s take a look at your necklaces. What’s written there?”

“My name!”

“That’s right! And what else is there? Any friend want to guess?”

“Um…? Mo…ran?”

“Ajin! Well done! From now on, you are all Moran Class. When other teachers ask what class you’re in, you can say ‘Moran Class!’ Shall we try it once?”

Befitting a good preschool, the teacher’s skill in teaching children was extraordinary.

Clear words that stuck in the ears drew up concentration.

The children listened to Young Teacher’s words, and the teacher explained enthusiastically.

Thanks to this, I could learn various things like basic information about the preschool and information about the class I belonged to.

“And does anyone know what my name is?”

“Me! You’re the teacher who plays piano really well!”

“That’s right! Aeyeon!”

The teacher continued speaking.

“And I’m the teacher who will teach you piano. Please take care of me from now on. Understood?”

“Yes!!”

Everyone answered enthusiastically at the mention of being taught piano.

I did the same.

Learning something from someone was always a joyful thing.

Because of Aeyeon beside me with sparkling eyes, I also had expectations about Jeong Mi-rae’s skills.

How well must she play for this child to be staring so intently?

‘Ah… I want to play piano quickly.’

I began to get excited at the thought of playing piano.

I was very much looking forward to what Jeong Mi-rae would teach.

Well, I probably know most of it.

But since so much time has passed, couldn’t there be changes in music education?

As I harbored some expectations, we had arrived at the music room before we knew it.

“Now, everyone! Shall we go in together?”

The teacher said this and opened the music room door.

Inside, there was one piano and several small upright pianos.

The children made “Woooah!” sounds in amazement.

“It’s really big?”

Even Aeyeon, who had shown little change in expression until now, seemed surprised.

The teacher calmed such children and had them sit gathered in front of the piano.

And Jeong Mi-rae, sitting on the piano chair, said this.

“For everyone to learn piano from now on, you need to become friends with the piano.”

While saying this, she played a very simple do-re-mi.

A few seconds of short piano notes.

Just hearing that sound, the other children somehow looked excited.

Jeong Mi-rae turned back toward the children and said.

Jeong Mirae turned back toward the children and spoke.

“Today, you’ll play whatever you want to play. You can do well, right?”

“Yes!”

“I want to go first!”

The children spoke energetically.

The lively children even raised their hands high, saying they wanted to play the piano first.

Finding this scene quite adorable, Jeong Mi-rae and the other teachers laughed softly and spoke to the children.

“Everyone, you still need practice, right? Look beside you, there are small pianos. Shall we think about what songs to play there first?”

And Jeong Mi-rae told the children who were new to piano to ask her for help.

“Heeseong, let’s go over there.”

“Okay.”

Aeyeon grabbed my arm and headed toward the two upright pianos in the corner.

– Ding-ding-da-ding-♩

The children each began earnestly playing the songs they wanted to play.

Among the various songs, I heard several familiar ones.

This meant the children here were quite skilled.

“What are you going to play?”

While I was observing the children, Aeyeon asked.

When I turned my head, Aeyeon, who had leaned deeply toward me, caught my eye.

‘What kind of girl is so bold?’

I slightly tilted my body away from Aeyeon.

Then I answered Aeyeon’s question.

“I’m thinking about it. What are you going to do?”

“I’m thinking too.”

“Then do you have a favorite song?”

“I don’t.”

“…What?”

I was genuinely bewildered.

A child who plays piano doesn’t have a favorite song?

Does this even make sense?

I was speechless from the confusion.

“Then, what songs do you usually listen to?”

“Classical music. Mom plays it often.”

“Then play that!”

Aeyeon shook her head.

As if she couldn’t play it.

I asked, just in case.

“Maybe…”

However, I wasn’t given the chance to ask Aeyeon anything.

“Aeyeon! Would you like to try playing the piano?”

Jeong Mi-rae was calling for Aeyeon.

Aeyeon ran over in one stride after being called by Jeong Mi-rae.

Even if that child played piano well, she was still a child in the end.

If someone who plays piano well called me, I would run over too.

So I decided to think about Aeyeon later.

‘I can ask slowly later.’

Aeyeon was still young.

Whatever problem there was, it could be changed slowly.

I also looked around since no song I wanted to play came to mind.

While eating a chocolate bar.

“Heeseong, what’s that?”

But I got caught before that.

The teacher said no snacks were allowed in the music room and confiscated my chocolate bar.

I had hidden it until the very end!

I sighed deeply in disappointment and watched the other children.

‘It was like this in the old days too.’

The house I used to live in had a clear view of the street through the window.

I could see carriages running on the road and people passing by at a glance.

In the distance, I could see steam trains and meadows scattered with large trees.

The smell of human life mixed with the scent of nature temporarily eased my worries.

When music wouldn’t come to mind, when I got frustrated while composing, or when I was just bored.

I always stuck my head out the window and watched the people passing by.

Since people’s lives were melted into my music.

Observing people was my daily routine.

It was the same now.

I observed the children and kept in mind what kind of children there were.

– Ding-♩

Through the noise of various upright pianos, the sound of the grand piano pierced my ears.

***

There were two reasons why Jeong Mi-rae came to the music room.

First, to assess the current level of the children.

Second, to find talented children.

Of course, the former reason was bigger.

Talent is something you gradually learn about and turn into conviction.

For now, she called the children to check their interests, enthusiasm for piano, and skills.

After seeing the children one by one in order, Jeong Mi-rae had this thought.

‘Most of them have learned piano. I can move quickly through the basics.’

Jeong Mi-rae thought she could focus on teaching the children who hadn’t learned piano at all.

After sending away 5 or 6 children, Jeong Mi-rae called Aeyeon.

Since she was personally expecting something from this child, she watched with bright eyes to see what kind of performance she would give.

“What kind of songs does Aeyeon usually listen to?”

“I listen to classical music!”

“I see. What’s the most recent classical piece you heard?”

“Um… Beethoven? I can’t remember the title…”

Jeong Mi-rae looked at Aeyeon as if she found her adorable.

The way she brought her index finger to her lips made her heart flutter.

‘So cute.’

What Jeong Mi-rae liked second most after piano was children.

One of the reasons she worked as a teacher at the preschool was to see children.

Jeong Mi-rae smiled gently and said.

“Then shall the teacher play a song for you?”

“Really?”

Aeyeon’s eyes widened at Jeong Mi-rae’s words.

At the child’s clear reaction of surprise, Jeong Mi-rae smiled brightly and placed her hands on the keys.

And she fell into thought for a moment.

‘It should be okay to play…?’

It was a moment of hesitation, but she decided not to think about it.

It would be fine if she played a very short piece.

So her thin, long fingers began to run along the white and black path.

However, Jeong Mi-rae realized not long after.

The wrist that had been supporting her thin fingers as they leaped here and there.

She tried to ignore it, but the throbbing pain in her right wrist made Jeong Mi-rae’s mind dizzy.

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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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