The Genius Composer Starts Again - Chapter 30

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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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“Huh?”

Jeong Tae-seong was momentarily flustered by the sudden change of topic.

She said she was upset that Seol left first. Why is she suddenly bringing up the scholarship student?

‘Come to think of it, student Seol didn’t show any sign that someone was waiting for him. If he had heard that student Mun Ah-rin was waiting, he wouldn’t have agreed to the suggestion of meeting other scholarship students first…’

Just as that sense of unease began to snowball, Mun Ah-rin suddenly burst into loud sobs and buried her face in both hands.

“Sniff, sob. A-actually… Seol has been acting strange ever since he transferred to the Composition Department…!”

Jeong Tae-seong’s suspicions were cut short there, unable to develop further. He had no time for other thoughts with a student crying so hard.

“Calm down first, okay?”

“Sniff. Y-yes…”

Mun Ah-rin accepted the tissue Jeong Tae-seong offered and gently dabbed at her eyes.

‘Right. She’s crying like this, so it can’t possibly be a lie.’

There would be no reason for such a lie either. It seemed like some misunderstanding had occurred between her and student Seol.

“Are you feeling a bit better?”

“Yes… Thank you, Professor. I got carried away for a moment and showed you an embarrassing side of myself.”

Mun Ah-rin hung her head low as if ashamed.

They might act like adults, but weren’t these students barely over a year out of high school?

It was a time when they were clumsy with friendships and immature at controlling their emotions.

‘Even if I can’t step in and solve this myself, I can at least listen to her story.’

Jeong Tae-seong served a cup of warm tea and asked in a gentle tone.

“So. What happened with student Seol?”

“Oh, no! I was just talking nonsense.”

Mun Ah-rin waved both hands frantically in strong denial.

“I’m worried you might misunderstand Seol for no reason, Professor.”

“Hey. What misunderstanding! I’m not that kind of person~.”

“No. It seems like Seol became a scholarship student too, so you’ll be meeting with him often, won’t you, Professor?”

“Well. That’s true, but…”

The scholarship status would be officially announced soon anyway, so it wasn’t much of a secret.

‘Though it is a bit uncomfortable to reveal it privately like this before the official announcement.’

But it was also awkward to flatly refuse a crying student.

“Student Seol is my student, but student Mun Ah-rin is also my student. You’re both equally precious to me, so how could I ignore Mun Ah-rin’s difficulties because of student Seol?”

When Jeong Tae-seong persuaded her earnestly, Mun Ah-rin’s eyes trembled slightly.

Mun Ah-rin gripped the warm teacup with both hands, then nodded as if she had made up her mind.

“Actually…”

And the story that followed was quite shocking.

“I was already confused when Seol transferred to the Composition Department. He always used to consult with me about things like this. I was surprised when he passed, but I sincerely congratulated him! But…”

Mun Ah-rin bit her lower lip.

“That’s when it started. I began to feel that Seol was… subtly excluding me.”

“Excluding you?”

“Like when I missed that assignment! Seol said he needed to work twice as hard to catch up with the other students, and that if he submitted it as an assignment, he could get feedback from you, Professor, so he wanted to do my part too. But when the assignment was due, he acted like he never said that and made excuses.”

Come to think of it, there was one time when Mun Ah-rin, who diligently did her assignments, had forgotten one.

‘I thought the atmosphere was strange, but something like that happened?’

Before the surprise could fade, other stories continued.

“That much was okay. Seol is busy too, so he could forget. But small incidents kept happening after that. Each time I told myself it was just my imagination…”

Mun Ah-rin shed tears again.

“…This scholarship position, I could have gotten it originally, right?”

“Huh? Th-that’s…”

“A graduating senior definitely told me that. After they graduated, one spot would open up, and it seemed like I would get it. They said they saw the materials in your office, Professor.”

Jeong Tae-seong felt a sinking feeling.

His office was always messy, so he hadn’t paid attention to that detail. It was still unconfirmed, but Mun Ah-rin had known about it early on.

“I told Seol about the scholarship. Back then, Seol clearly said he wasn’t interested. Because unlike me, Seol doesn’t need the scholarship money.”

Mun Ah-rin fidgeted with her fingertips.

Only then did Jeong Tae-seong remember that Mun Ah-rin was always busy juggling part-time work and studies.

‘That’s why I found her more admirable.’

On the other hand, as far as he knew, Seol had his tuition paid by some company. He heard it was the company his late father had worked for.

“He definitely said that, but when I said I wanted to become a scholarship student, his expression changed. I told myself no, that couldn’t be right, and tried to comfort myself…”

Jeong Tae-seong didn’t know what to do as Mun Ah-rin burst into tears again, seemingly overwhelmed by emotion, so he patted her consolingly.

“Professor. Am I really misunderstanding? Is it just a series of coincidences?”

Mun Ah-rin looked at Jeong Tae-seong with eyes that seemed to say, ‘Please tell me that’s right. I don’t want to suspect my friend.’

“Even so, he could have given up the scholarship, couldn’t he? Am I being too much for thinking that way?”

“Ahem. No, that’s not it, but…”

Jeong Tae-seong could only give vague answers without taking anyone’s side.

‘This is troublesome. What should I say?’

If everything Mun Ah-rin said was true, then Seol was unilaterally bullying Mun Ah-rin.

Looking at his behavior, didn’t it seem like he was childishly tormenting Mun Ah-rin out of jealousy or inferiority complex?

‘Even if I asked whether this was true, student Seol would deny it. That means one of them is lying.’

Neither the neat-faced Seol nor the tearful-looking Mun Ah-rin seemed like they would lie.

“*Sniff*. I’m sorry, Professor. I tried not to say anything, but I guess I wanted to confide in someone.”

“Oh, no. You did well. Just talking about it like this helps you feel much better.”

“Yes. Thank you.”

Mun Ah-rin wiped away the tears in her eyes and forced a bright smile.

Seeing that, Jeong Tae-seong felt a sharp pang in his chest.

“I should get going now. I feel like I’ve taken up too much of your time, Professor.”

“Hey, you don’t need to worry about that.”

“I’ll be going first.”

Mun Ah-rin bowed politely.

Just as she was about to open the door and leave, Mun Ah-rin turned around quickly and asked:

“Oh, Professor. What would happen if one of the scholarship students couldn’t participate in the scholarship recital due to unavoidable circumstances?”

***

***

A second-by-second clock ticked away on the computer monitor screen.

With each breath, tension dried up my throat, and my pounding heart was loud enough to be noisy.

Min Chan-hyeok sat in his chair with his upper body leaning far forward. He was glaring at the monitor with bloodshot eyes.

I also sat beside him, just staring at the clock. I tried to wait calmly, but my fingertips had grown cold.

“It’s almost time.”

“Yes.”

The second hand was already in the 50s.

51, 52, 53…

“58.”

Min Chan-hyeok counted the numbers.

“59.”

I followed along.

“60…!”

The moment we refreshed, the screen flashed and changed.

A new album music video had been uploaded to the V-Tunes YouTube Channel.

<Shatter>.

The title created from the source’s name was revealed to the world. Below Lee Ha-in’s name, the composer was listed in small text.

Composed by YULE.

At that moment, my heart sank.

At that moment, my heart sank.

It had truly been thrown into the world bearing my name. My song had been released as completely my own.

Somehow my breath caught, and it took a moment before I could exhale. I noticed the comments starting to pour in one by one, the soaring view count, and the rising number of likes.

“How is it?”

Min Chan-hyeok asks.

“How does it feel to debut, YULE composer?”

Even at his playful question, I couldn’t readily respond.

After carefully choosing my words for a while, I finally opened my mouth.

“…I feel alive.”

Finally.

Min Chan-hyeok looked at me like that and chuckled.

“Right. A composer only truly exists when they release their music. It’s a bit grandiose, but not entirely wrong either.”

He probably had no idea what emotions I was feeling. At most, he’d think a rookie composer was just happy about successfully debuting.

But for me, it was different.

It was truly proof that I was alive.

“Huh?”

Just then, Min Chan-hyeok seemed to discover something and leaned close to the monitor.

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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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