Reset Life with Infinite Talents - Chapter 75

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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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Infinite Talent Reset Life Episode 75

 

 

LA Outskirts, a three-story building with a wide lawn.

“Welcome!”

A large Black Woman approaches.

“You’re the ones here to perform today, right?”

“Thank you for accepting our sudden request.”

“Oh no, we’re the ones who are grateful.”

The helping hands that were cut off when the economic crisis hit.

Not only sponsorships, but even volunteer work like this had been reduced to 10 percent of previous years.

“Let me show you around the Center first.”

The Black Woman leads the way, pointing to the Elderly Veterans gathered in the lobby.

“As you can see, everyone staying at our Center are veterans who served from World War II to the Vietnam War…”

“World War II?”

“Haha. Until recently, we even had someone who served in World War I.”

“Ah.”

That’s right.

This was a Veterans Home.

It was a welfare facility jointly operated by LA and the Veterans Association.

“This is where the veterans stay…”

A room equipped with a single sofa, bed, TV, and restroom. The beige and green floral wallpaper was striking.

After that, the Black Nurse showed them the multi-room where they could play card games or chess, the cafeteria, library, and fitness room.

“And they take walks in this outdoor garden and play gateball like that.”

Thwack! Crack!

Four elderly veterans and staff putting balls into small goal gates.

This was the entire layout of the LA Veterans Home.

A total of 36 veterans were receiving care, and 10 staff members were helping with their daily lives.

“Do you have any other questions?”

“I didn’t see any electrical wires in the rooms. Is there a reason for that?”

Everyone looks at Johann.

The Black Nurse’s eyes light up.

“Wait. Johann, there were electrical appliances though.”

Johann shakes his head at Sophia’s question.

“There are electrical appliances, but all the wires are buried.”

The TV was also fixed to the floor, and there were no mirrors in the restroom.

Same with the hair dryer.

“There weren’t any in the rooms either.”

“Wow, this young student has good observation skills?”

If Johann had been a volunteer from school, she would have given him extra points.

She smiled sadly.

“Some people trip over wires, and those who aren’t mentally stable often self-harm with electrical wires.”

All the veterans here were over 70 years old.

If they tripped over a wire and fell wrong, they might never get up again.

Self-harm was the same.

During bedtime when nurses and staff went home, if they wrapped wires around their necks or broke mirrors to self-harm, they couldn’t be saved.

Sometimes they would use those mirrors to harm other veterans, but there was no need to mention that.

“Ah…”

“Is there a reason they do that?”

“…Even adults get scared sometimes.”

The memories of that day that torment them every night.

And they can’t bear to see themselves old and helpless.

The Black Nurse swallowed those words again, but Johann understood what she was trying to say.

Wolf Mother was the same.

The first day they encountered the bear, the day Johann re-entered the library, the day all the brothers nearly died.

‘After that day, she would wake up having seizures even while sleeping peacefully.’

And she would see Johann and the brothers safe, feel relieved, and go back to sleep.

Johann was the same, and so were the Wolf Brothers.

Even after hunting bears several more times, the fear of that day never disappeared.

‘So this is why they called it a battlefield.’

They were still trapped in that place, that time, that moment of terror where bullets rained down.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

“Well then! Shall we go inside?”

To the lobby where the instruments to perform and the audience were waiting.

 

Elderly Veterans gather in front of the piano placed in one corner of the lobby.

“Kid.”

Johann looks at Marta.

“What you’re going to learn here today is piano.”

“Piano?”

Something strange to say.

Marta chuckled and waved her hand, and Johann tilted his head as he sat in front of the Elderly Veterans.

Curiosity, anticipation, pride, boredom, annoyance.

Gazes filled with various emotions reach Johann.

“What brings you here? Did you come to volunteer?”

“Yes, I came to volunteer.”

“Really? He says he came to volunteer!”

“Oh my, how admirable.”

“Which school?”

“Fairmont School.”

“You go to a good place!”

“That boy’s gonna make the girls cry with those looks.”

Joy fills the Elderly Veterans’ eyes and mouths.

Once their mouths opened, curious questions poured out.

That was the moment.

Dum tan!

‘Erik Satie?’

Erik Satie’s Gymnopedies No.1.

At the touch that was like morning sunlight or a peaceful afternoon, the Elderly Veterans’ eyes widened, then their mouths closed and the noise disappeared.

It wasn’t forcing.

It gently caressed.

It closed their eyes and simply took them to a time that was peaceful and warm.

‘Mother…’

It was a day when his belly was full.

The cool breeze that brushed past him as he lay with his head on Mother’s belly, and the brothers hugging and rolling around playing with each other.

Mother sighs at the brothers who are working hard to empty their bellies today too, and Johann bursts into giggles at the tickling vibration.

An ordinary day that was always there.

Those good days he can never return to now.

Was he the only one feeling this way?

Johann looks around.

‘He’s just like me.’

Bitter yet warm smiles spread across everyone’s faces.

Everyone is reminiscing about those good old days.

Ding!

“…Bravo! Wonderful!”

“Whew! Whoo!”

The elderly who can stand up rise and applaud, while those who cannot whistle.

Guide Martha Argerich places her hand on her chest and bows her head. Then she gestures for him to come over.

“Now you try playing.”

“Yes.”

A performance following the master’s performance.

However, there’s no sense of pressure.

If she’s Martha Argerich, then this side is Emil Gilels.

“Ooh!”

“You better do well, Kid!”

Is it because of Martha’s performance just now?

Or is it because a Young Child is about to play piano?

Gazes full of goodwill and anticipation pierce Johann’s entire body.

‘A piece with a similar flow should work.’

Back to those good old days again.

Johann slowly closed and opened his eyes, then placed his hands on the keyboard.

Ding-!

 

* * *

 

“Debussy?”

Debussy’s Clair de Lune. Commonly known as Moonlight.

A masterpiece of impressionist music, capturing soft melodies and a dreamlike atmosphere.

‘…Amazing.’

Amazing once again.

How can an 11-year-old child express such imagery?

Esa-Pekka Salonen begins to see it.

A field where a campfire burns.

Two People dancing under the gently pouring moonlight.

Beautiful, a time one wants to return to.

Salonen smiles gently and closes his eyes.

“Pfft!”

“…Ms. Martha?”

“That little brat. He doesn’t understand at all.”

Martha, giving a look that suggests the same applies to you who orchestrated this, points to the Elderly Veterans.

“Huh?”

Salonen’s eyes widen.

 

Johann’s eyes waver.

‘Why?’

“Yaaawn.”

“Hmm.”

Completely different reactions from Martha’s just before.

Some are dozing off, others are chatting with their neighbors.

‘Why can’t they enjoy my performance like they did hers?’

What’s different?

‘There’s nothing wrong with my performance.’

Was the song selection wrong?

Or is it because he’s young?

Or is it because Martha is a woman?

All sorts of thoughts swirl through his mind.

Ding-.

“…Bravo!”

“You play well? You could become a pianist!”

The reaction is much worse than Martha’s just before.

‘This is a first.’

Seeing such a lukewarm response is the first time since coming down from the Forest.

Johann once again fell into thought, trying to find the difference between Martha and himself.

That’s when it happened.

Dum ding!

“Huh?”

Erik Satie’s Gymnopedies No.1.

The piece Martha had just performed flows from the Speaker mounted on the Lobby Ceiling.

“Oh! Sorry! Turn off the music quickly!”

“Yes, yes!”

“Hoho. Sorry, but could you pause your performance for a moment? It’s time for their Medicine.”

With those words, Nurses come with Medicine Packets and water to distribute to the Elderly Veterans.

Johann looks at Martha.

She bursts out laughing.

“Puhahahahahat!”

‘I’ve been had!’

It was a piece they heard every day.

Since it’s a piece that makes the Elderly Veterans perform certain actions, they naturally concentrated on it.

Johann furrows his brow.

“How long have you known?”

“Ha, about 20 years ago? Puhahat!”

Elderly Veterans easily lose track of time.

The same goes for Nurses working in such nursing homes.

Since you never know what might happen, even though they stay tense every day, being human, there are moments they unconsciously let pass.

So when it’s time for important activities like waking up, meals, walks, they play music like this, and one of the Veterans Home playlist pieces is precisely this Erik Satie’s Gymnopedies No.1.

Erik Satie’s Gymnopedies No.1 that you can hear at any Veterans Home nationwide.

“Phew! Well, that was just a prank.”

No, it wasn’t entirely a prank.

She was confident she could elicit the same response regardless of what piece was performed.

“Don’t think I can do it?”

“…No.”

She probably could.

‘I can guess.’

The weight of life that her fingertips press.

The weight of time that only she, having lived through an era similar to theirs, can express seems to evoke their response.

‘Then I can do the same.’

If he completely entrusts body control to ‘Emil Grigoryevich Gilels, Steel Touch’, he could solve her homework in an instant.

‘But…’

“That would be a bit boring.”

“Hmm?”

“No. Let me try once more.”

“…Oh? Haha. Alright, give it another shot.”

Marta presses Johann’s chest with her index finger.

“The answer is inside you.”

Her eyes seemed to say that he already knew the answer to this question.

‘Inside me?’

“…Ah, what the.”

He realizes.

Why she said today’s lesson would be piano, not classical music.

That’s why he’s puzzled.

‘Well… should I give it a try?’

The audience who had taken their medicine were waiting.

Johann closed his eyes and entered the library.

“Search. 1940s. Piano.”

 

* * *

 

“The kid’s pretty good.”

“I think he plays better than my grandson?”

“Your grandson played piano for you?”

Joy spreads across the elderly veterans’ eyes as they watch Johann.

It was only natural.

Such a small young child had traveled a long distance to perform piano for old people like them who could die any day.

How admirable and grateful was that.

They were confident they could listen to his performance all day long.

“I’m hungry….”

“You ate two hours ago. Be patient.”

“When did I eat food….”

Tiriririririring!

Everyone looks at Johann.

Small fingers moving dazzlingly across the keyboard.

A lively performance that struck their ears and made their bodies sway.

“I know this….”

This music.

They knew it so well.

This genre.

The song they heard when they were very young.

The song they danced to with their friend’s lover, secretly from their parents, before leaving for the battlefield.

“Bebop!”

“My goodness!”

The knees of those born in the 1920s began to straighten.

 

Salonen looks at Marta with his mouth agape.

Could she have intended this?

‘Why on earth?’

“…Ahahahahaha!”

“Ms. Marta?”

“That kid. He completely misunderstood.”

She got hit with a good one.

“…You didn’t intend this?”

“Not at all.”

But it somewhat aligned with what she had been trying to teach.

“Salonen, what do you think piano is?”

“…A musical instrument.”

“Right, it’s a musical instrument.”

Just an invention that humans made for humans – nothing more than a musical instrument.

“It’s never something noble.”

Many people are mistaken.

Instruments like piano and violin were clearly created initially to satisfy the vanity of the wealthy.

Only the wealthy listened to them, and they existed for the wealthy.

But as time passed, they gradually came down, down to the lower classes.

Thus they became known to all people, and from then classical music was born.

“Now it’s classical music. But back then it was the latest music.”

“That’s right. So what?”

“So I just thought it would be good to study piano.”

“Don’t get buried in stuffiness?”

“Correct.”

Since piano is just a musical instrument, she hoped he wouldn’t be trapped by the prejudice that classical music is stuffy.

She hoped he would play freely – hitting one note hundreds of times, combining this song with that song.

Since there was an audience who would smile no matter how he performed, people who would see it as their grandson’s cute antics, there would be no reason for his confidence to drop.

But suddenly it’s bebop.

She laughed as if absurd, then twisted her lips.

“Well, that’s fine too. Whatever genre he plays, the end result is classical music anyway.”

“…That’s true.”

It was an unchanging truth that classical music was the beginning and pinnacle of all music in the world.

 

* * *

 

Everyone returns to that time.

To that time when they didn’t care about marriage, future, or money.

To that time when even with empty pockets, nothing was frightening.

To that time when they swayed their bodies to bebop performances flowing from the radio, yearning for love.

Tiring!

“Wheeeeek!”

“Wheek!”

“Encore! Encore!”

‘Phew.’

A smile forms on Johann’s lips.

‘This is piano. This is a musical instrument.’

A great invention that could make anyone of any age or gender happy.

‘It doesn’t seem like the answer those two people wanted….’

That was the fault of those who tried to teach strangely.

He had done nothing wrong.

“Then the next song….”

Tap tap!

Johann looks at two elderly men who had somehow approached his side.

“Kid, do you happen to know jazz?”

In their hands were old trumpets and saxophones.

Johann’s lips twist into a smile.

Johan’s lips twist.

“Can you keep up?”

“Heh heh heh!”

“Uh ha ha!”

“Then here we go!”

As the piano quickly leaped forward, the saxophone and trumpet sounds thunderously followed.

Now everyone stood up and swayed their bodies.

 

* * *

 

“Haah.”

The next day, at the Veterans Home.

An Old Man sighs as soon as he opens his eyes.

He recalls last night’s events.

Jazz, cool jazz, bebop, rock and roll, ballads.

How long had it been since he heard real music like this?

Yesterday felt like returning to the old days.

The songs they enjoyed together yesterday still ring in his ears.

“But I won’t be able to hear them anymore.”

Being able to enjoy something like yesterday would probably be quite some time later.

That’s usually how the cycle works for people who come to volunteer.

“Only a very few come every week.”

The Old Man smiles bitterly as he gets up and heads to the lobby.

“Haah.”

“Huuu.”

Seeing the Elderly Veterans sitting listlessly, occasionally glancing at the piano and sighing, the Old Man’s bitterness deepens.

‘The aftereffects are severe.’

The Old Man shook his head and headed outside, while the Nurses and Staff Members watched anxiously.

“Sh-should we ask them to come back?”

“Force them to volunteer? Are you out of your mind?”

“But…”

Seeing the Elderly Veterans even more listless than the day before yesterday, they don’t know what to do.

“Come on, it’s only temporary anyway, so everyone get back to work.”

“Yes…”

The Black Nurse who dispersed the Nurses and Staff Members approaches an Old Man.

An Old Man who is one of the persons of concern at the Veterans Home.

“Jason, how’s your stomach? If you’re hungry, shall I get you a snack?”

When he throws a tantrum about being hungry, she has to coax him with snacks like this and take him to his room.

Once he starts throwing a tantrum, even two Male Nurses can’t control him.

She gripped the call bell tightly while watching for his reaction.

But…

“What are you talking about? I just ate.”

“…What?”

“Do you think I can’t remember eating an hour ago?”

“Oh, my God…”

His severe dementia had improved.

‘Suddenly? Why?’

“Could it be?”

There was only one thing different from usual.

The Black Nurse recalled yesterday’s performance.

 

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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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