A Musical Genius Who Plays Memories - Chapter 97

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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 97. Please (1)

My head hurt.

‘Ah.’

And at the same time, a familiar scene was unfolding.

There was the old mansion from the past.

As soon as I saw it, I could tell immediately.

The broken door, the old flower pot by the window.

And the large piano in the room and the window where the wind gently blew.

“Another dream.”

I could tell right away.

I don’t think it used to be like this, but lately I’d been having dreams frequently.

Should I call it a lucid dream rather than an ordinary dream?

It felt like experiencing reality rather than a dream.

“What is it this time…”

I was at a loss for words.

It was my home.

My own home where I let no one in.

But why.

“It’s been a long time.”

Why was that person standing before me?

Someone whose name I couldn’t remember, or rather, had completely forgotten.

He was standing in front of me.

A voice like scraping metal and wrists thinner than tree branches.

But his neatly dressed appearance had something incongruous about it.

He maintained the exact same appearance as when he came to find me in the past.

‘But I’m not scared.’

I wasn’t afraid.

There was nothing to fear like in the past.

Even if I woke up from this terrible dream, there were many people who would warmly embrace me.

That’s why this moment, cold as winter, could rather be called an opportunity.

“Why did you come?”

“Is there any reason I couldn’t find you?”

“I don’t remember inviting you.”

“You don’t have the right to do that. I come when I want to come.”

I was struck speechless.

Indeed, even in a dream, this terror engraved in my soul seemed unavoidable.

At that voice that tormented me terribly even when I stayed still, I unconsciously swallowed my saliva.

Though I knew what was happening before my eyes was a dream, the fear still couldn’t be easily shaken off.

“I’ll ask again. Why did you come?”

I asked with my eyes tightly shut.

If I didn’t do that, it felt like my mouth would be blocked by fear.

Every time I spoke with force in my sentences, it felt like all my strength was draining away.

“Right, I should tell you.”

He said, nodding his head slightly.

Each of his actions somehow felt refined.

Indeed, having filled his belly with the money I earned, I even felt disgusted.

‘What could it be?’

Even in the past, that person hadn’t come to find me very often.

No, he would just send letters with orders even for urgent matters.

I quickly racked my brain.

“Ah.”

I couldn’t help but let out an exclamation.

When that bastard came to find me, it was mostly when I was young.

But not now.

My right hand visible in my field of vision.

That hand was extremely gaunt.

There was some human’s hand covered in wrinkles.

“I’m here to retrieve those pieces of music you sold under different names.”

When I sold music under different names.

He had come to find me.

Saying those words.

And he cut off my fingers.

Remembering the past made my fingers tingle.

Though pain came flooding in like a tide, I had no intention of staying still like in the past.

Whatever it was, I would resist somehow.

‘Because I’m no longer your dog.’

I thought that as I looked at the person in front of me.

It was eerie, like a demon in the form of an aged old man was looking at me.

“Why are those your compositions?”

“Why, you ask? You’re still asking ridiculous questions. Who do you think made it possible for you to compose?”

“You seem to have forgotten who it was thanks to that you climbed to that position. Your head seems to have gone bad with age.”

I used the dream to say words I couldn’t say in the past.

It felt refreshing.

If I had known the future, I would have cursed him out refreshingly back then too.

“Keh, kahahaha!”

The old man in front of me laughed like crazy.

As if it was truly amusing, he even shed tears.

‘Ha, I’m screwed.’

That thought occurred to me.

This was intuition.

Decades of experience working under that person was telling me.

That I had touched something I shouldn’t have touched.

But it didn’t matter.

Since it was all a dream, I stood there with the attitude of ‘so what?’

‘Is this my original personality?’

Going wild without considering the consequences.

If I had grown up without incident, wouldn’t I have become a scoundrel?

Such a funny thought occurred to me.

“Pfft.”

I didn’t stop the laughter that was slowly emerging.

When I let out a small laugh, the old man said,

“Do you find it funny too?”

“Isn’t that obvious? How funny it is to see an old man laughing his belly off. It’s a shame there’s no mirror in the house.”

“What are you planning to spend the money on?”

“I spent it trying to run away from a crazy old man, but it was useless.”

“That’s why you should have stayed quiet.”

I was momentarily enraged.

But I immediately cooled my head.

‘He’s still good at gently scratching at people.’

Anyway, there wasn’t much I could say to that person in this place.

That’s why I planned to ask the questions I hadn’t been able to ask all this time.

Of course, he wouldn’t give me proper answers.

“Since you came to cut off my fingers anyway, let’s take our time.”

“Hmm?”

“Why did you do it?”

It was a question loaded with many meanings.

The evil deeds he had committed against me were countless.

Even though this was a dream, the situation unfolding now was also one of the evil acts that had ruthlessly trampled and torn my heart to pieces.

Perhaps that’s why.

I had no hesitation.

Like stitching together my torn heart piece by piece.

I threw countless questions at him.

“Why did you take me away?”

“….”

“And what was your reason for messing with the people around me too?”

“….”

The person in front of me was quiet.

As expected of a dream, he said nothing.

It felt like talking to a wall, but I didn’t stop.

If I didn’t ask these questions now, I felt like I’d never be able to ask them for the rest of my life.

Soon my fingers would be cut off.

But I didn’t stop talking.

“You treated me like that just for money?”

“….”

“…Why did you kill Mother?”

My mother from the past had an illness.

Actually, I’m not even sure if she was really sick.

I could only communicate with her through letters.

When I realized she was ill and went looking for her after much searching.

“She had passed away. But you were there at that place.”

“….”

“I thought you had visited out of respect since someone had died, but that wasn’t it.”

“….”

“You had come to confirm whether she was really dead.”

At the time, collapsed in grief, I didn’t realize this.

I followed whatever that person told me to do.

“Did you tell me to compose then?”

The old man had ordered me to compose in that situation.

Stupidly enough, I followed that order, and the best song of that year was born.

As time passed, I became angry.

Not at the person in front of me, but at myself.

Even though it was a situation so sad I wanted to die, I had written a song using my deceased mother as material.

And again, I had stupidly done as I was told.

“Does it feel good to kill people with poison? Does it feel good!”

I asked him with all my strength.

His smiling face, still grinning enough to make me want to hit him, infuriated me.

But because it was a dream, I couldn’t move my body.

I was only allowed to move my mouth like a puppet.

“Haha….”

The old man laughed.

He laughed like he used to.

Just like in the past, he laughed weakly like that before cutting off my fingers and then left.

Soon my fingers would be cut off, but I didn’t care.

I continued to stare at the person in front of me.

“Since you asked why, I’ll give you an answer.”

The man who had maintained his silence spoke.

I began to focus on that voice.

Even though this was just a dream, I wanted him to give me an answer I could understand.

‘I will never forgive you. But I want to understand.’

It was just a simple desire.

The heart and thought of wanting to forgive could never have existed in the first place.

But I desperately wanted to know the reason he had driven me to death.

I felt like that would give me some peace.

“Music that blooms from suffering is truly heavenly music.”

That’s what he said.

I was left speechless and had no choice but to close my mouth.

It was such shocking content.

At the same time, it was absurd.

“Just….”

Just for such a reason.

Me and Mother.

The people around me.

He had driven us all to death like that?

Just because the music would be better?

“You made Mother pass away for such a one-dimensional reason?”

“People are inherently simple. I am, and so are you.”

“Then you should have just tormented me!”

“Of course, your talent was good enough that would have sufficed… but I’m someone who doesn’t know satisfaction.”

The old man said this as he stood up from his seat.

And he turned around, about to leave.

Don’t go!

I wanted to shout that.

But as if my mouth was filled with water, no voice came out.

Even when I tried to move my body, it wouldn’t move.

Everything was disappearing as if the world was melting away.

However, only the form of that person moving away from his seat remained clearly intact.

He was sparkling like a statue buried in countless grains of sand.

No.

I could only watch it happen.

You shouldn’t be shining like that.

You’re someone who should be sunk to the bottom, buried in a filthy pit.

You, who tormented me, Mother, and my friend so terribly.

You shouldn’t be shining like that.

But I couldn’t speak.

***

“…He must have been tired.”

“He didn’t even eat dinner, but we should feed him.”

I heard voices.

My eyes opened automatically at the voices of two people who always embraced me warmly and caringly.

“Oh, Heeseong woke up?”

“Oh, why are you crying?”

Mother said in surprise.

When I touched my eyes at the sound of her voice, my fingertips were damp.

Cold tears were streaming down my cheeks.

“Did you have a scary dream?”

Father sat me down.

I hung my head low.

I was embarrassed.

At the same time, I was angry.

Even though it was just a dream, it felt like that person was speaking directly to me.

It seemed like tears burst out with a ‘pop!’ from indescribable rage.

‘Hah… Why do I keep having dreams like this?’

Having such a strange dream made me feel weird.

I felt frustrated knowing a secret I didn’t want to know.

And I couldn’t tell anyone about this.

‘Frustrating…’

I suddenly remembered the story.

That story I had been reading until I fell asleep in the car.

“Father! That story…!”

I tried to look for the paper with the story printed on it.

It was a really strange feeling.

The emotions I felt while reading the story.

The emotions that were mainly composed of anger and pity now felt different.

I felt frustration.

The reality of wanting to speak but being unable to was frustrating.

I had a strong feeling that this person must have felt the same thing.

‘And anger too.’

I thought that my current emotions might be this person’s emotions.

I suddenly wanted to compose urgently.

Simply put.

“No.”

Mother blocked my way.

I looked at her face, and she had a firm expression.

I was about to say something, but Mother was faster.

“You need to eat first.”

Mother’s expression was one born from worry.

Right, there was no need to rush.

Because I would never forget the emotions I was feeling now.

I didn’t know why I was having such dreams.

But since it was helping me, I planned to use it.

Let’s try it, once again.

This time, let’s sing about anger.

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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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