The Genius Composer Starts Again - Chapter 38
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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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Swoosh.
I quietly entered the lecture hall and sat down.
Fortunately, it seemed no one paid attention to a single student briefly stepping out and coming back in.
The professor was looking at his book while droning on with some explanation.
Just then, Mun Ah-rin handed me a small note.
“…?”
Puzzled, I unfolded the note to find round, bubbly handwriting that read:
[ Nothing’s wrong, right? You suddenly rushed out after looking at your phone. ]
Mun Ah-rin wore her usual expression. Eyes gently downturned, with an innocent look as if she was worried sick about me and didn’t know what to do.
I forced a smile and picked up my pen.
Scratch scratch.
[ It’s nothing like that. I just really needed the bathroom. ]
At that, Mun Ah-rin smiled slightly and nodded.
I directed my gaze forward. While listening to the professor’s rambling with one ear and letting it out the other, I mulled over the phone call I’d just had with Min Chan-hyeok.
-Hey, Seol! You can talk right now, right?!
-Just for a moment. But what’s going on? You’ve never urgently looked for me in the middle of class before.
-Hey hey. I’m not exaggerating. My life just flashed before my eyes, I’m telling you!
-What happened?
-Do you even know who I just met? …Jeong Do-hyun. Jeong Do-hyun is looking for you!
-What?
-To be exact, not you but the composer YULE! I don’t know why, but he seems completely obsessed. He suddenly called me over and demanded I tell him your identity, or else he’d cut off my livelihood!
-….
-I kept my mouth shut and pretended not to know for now. But who knows. That bastard might go around interrogating all the V-Tunes staff. Then he could hear about you coming in and out of my studio.
-…That’s true.
-I’ll do my part to keep the staff’s mouths shut. But I figured you should know about this, so I’m calling you.
-Thank you for looking out for me.
-Forget it, that’s embarrassing. Anyway, I’ll let you know if I hear anything else, so keep that in mind. Don’t even come near this area for a while.
-Yes. I’ll do that.
-Alright. Hanging up!
After finishing the call, I had to hurry back to the lecture hall. Thanks to that, my head was filled with the contents of our conversation.
I opened my water bottle cap and took a sip. The cold water flowed down my esophageal walls, seeming to cool the burning heat a little.
The gears of thought meshed together in sequence.
‘I’d prefer not to have my identity discovered by Jeong Do-hyun if possible.’
There were various reasons.
Jeong Do-hyun was the very person who helped Mun Ah-rin manipulate the entertainment industry at will. Relying on such a Jeong Do-hyun felt uncomfortably like following Mun Ah-rin’s path from before my regression.
Moreover, from my pre-regression impression, Jeong Do-hyun was an uncomfortable and unpleasant existence. His characteristic arrogant attitude never became familiar even before my regression.
Furthermore, Jeong Do-hyun was a school official. If I wanted to keep student Seol and composer YULE separate, there was nothing good about meeting someone who could serve as a bridge between the two.
‘I’ll need to be careful for a while.’
If I stayed faithful to my role as student Seol, the connection to YULE would gradually become blurred.
I was already incredibly busy with the flood of assignments and preparing for the upcoming scholarship recital.
‘…What if Jeong Do-hyun comes to the scholarship recital?’
But the idea of that busy bastard personally attending an undergraduate-level recital was absurd in itself.
I shook my head alone and muttered to myself.
‘That’s not going to happen.’
***
-♪♩♪♬….
As the last note rang out, Jeong Tae-seong opened his closed eyes.
Cho Yun-je withdrew his trembling hands. Jeong Tae-seong pondered something, then slowly began to speak.
“Yun-je.”
“Yes, Professor.”
“The sound is clean. That’s always been your strength.”
“Thank you.”
As always, he started with praise. But Cho Yun-je bit his lips tightly.
It was praise about ‘piano technique’ rather than ‘composition.’ In other words, that was about the only praiseworthy aspect of Cho Yun-je’s piece.
“But…. Hmm.”
Jeong Tae-seong closed his mouth again. He seemed to be gauging where to start the conversation.
Before long, he found his words again.
“Yun-je. In the trilogy of birth-life-death, you’re handling the very first part, ‘birth.'”
“Yes.”
“In that sense, your role is extremely important. You could either dramatically capture the audience’s attention, or completely lose it.”
No matter how great a masterpiece might be, if the beginning was lackluster, it would be hard to draw interest.
As long as the opening start and closing finish were decent, people would think ‘it was a good piece’ regardless of what happened in the middle.
“But your piece, Yun-je… It’s good. Really good. But it’s boring.”
Thump.
Cho Yun-je felt a shock as if his heart had dropped.
“Of course, being pleasant to listen to is important too. Good harmony, proper rhythm, comfortable chords. But that alone isn’t enough.”
“….”
“I think you need to reconsider. Bring me a new draft by next week.”
“…Yes. I understand.”
Cho Yun-je barely managed to nod. It felt like a ringing tinnitus was echoing in his ears.
Jeong Tae-seong leaned back against his chair and muttered.
“Ah, right. Since it’s a trilogy after all. How about connecting ‘birth’ and ‘death’? In a circular structure.”
It was a sudden idea.
“Have the question posed in birth reach death. Conversely, have the question posed in death be answered by birth. Like a Möbius strip, life continues—how about incorporating that kind of message?”
“…Are you suggesting I collaborate with Seol?”
“That wouldn’t be a bad idea either.”
Collaboration.
That single word pierced his heart. To Cho Yun-je, it sounded exactly like harsh criticism: ‘Your skills are so poor that you need Seol’s help to make it somewhat listenable.’
“I told you. It’s not that your piece is bad. But it would be nice if there was something with a bit more kick to it.”
Was he saying that I couldn’t fill that empty space myself?
Cho Yun-je felt something surge up from within. His throat burned hot. His pride scratched at the inside of his throat.
“Seol reserved the practice room today. Building B, Room 302. Go have a talk with her.”
Jeong Tae-seong flipped over one of the nearby sheet music and scribbled something down. Then he smoothly handed it to Cho Yun-je.
“The result would be interesting if you two worked together, don’t you think?”
At his grinning face, Cho Yun-je forced the corners of his mouth up in response.
Still holding the paper, Cho Yun-je stood up from his seat.
“Then I’ll go talk to her.”
“Yeah, yeah. Come together next week.”
“Yes.”
Cho Yun-je bowed and grabbed the handle of the professor’s office door. At that moment, a question pierced his back.
“How is your mother doing?”
At Jeong Tae-seong’s question, Cho Yun-je’s body stiffened rigidly.
“Hearing your piano made me think of it.”
Cho Yun-je slowly turned around. A thick, mask-like smile was plastered across his face.
“…Yes. Take care.”
Well then. Cho Yun-je bowed once more.
Click.
After closing the door and stepping outside, the corridor air felt somewhat cold.
Cho Yun-je hurried his steps. He needed to do something before unwanted thoughts could surge up.
So he kept walking without a word.
Building B, Room 302.
When he came to his senses, he was standing in front of the practice room.
Knock knock.
Cho Yun-je knocked on the practice room door. But there was no response.
Once more, knock knock.
It was the same.
Cho Yun-je carefully tried turning the door handle. The door wasn’t locked and turned without resistance.
Swoosh.
As he slightly opened the door, music leaked through the gap.
-♬♪♬♩
“…”
Cho Yun-je stopped right there.
The music was dancing freely. The piece seemed to be heading toward its highlight. The right hand climbed higher and higher in pitch.
A small dissonance settled on top of it. The slight discord actually sounded pleasant.
His heart pounded along with it.
From very far away, death was approaching.
But the narrator welcomes it with open arms. As if the slowly approaching death were the greatest blessing of all.
At that moment, a lightning-like realization struck Cho Yun-je.
‘This kid is a real genius.’
And the thought that followed was:
‘Even if I died and came back to life, I could never compose like this.’
Thud.
Without realizing it, his grip loosened and he dropped the paper. At the same time, the music stopped.
“Who’s there?”
At the voice that came, Cho Yun-je couldn’t help but step backward.
“Hello?”
The sound of footsteps grew louder. Cho Yun-je couldn’t bear it and turned around to flee.
“Huh?”
When Seol peeked her head out, there was no one in the corridor.
Only a single sheet of paper with clear shoe prints and the faint lingering scent of cologne proved that someone had been there.
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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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