The Genius Composer Starts Again - Chapter 6

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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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“…Wow.”

Lee Hyun-ji’s exclamation was the first to ring out in the practice room.

“Seol! You practiced a lot during the break!”

She looked at me with admiring eyes.

“To be able to sight-read this right away. That’s amazing.”

“This isn’t first-year level, is it?”

Han So-yeon and Yu Da-yeon also clapped their hands together.

“And without making a single mistake.”

“Dong-hyeok oppa’s arrangements are always difficult, so everyone usually struggles with them.”

Everyone looked at me as if they found it fascinating. I scratched the back of my head awkwardly.

‘Is this really that impressive?’

By my standards, it wasn’t a particularly difficult performance.

After all, I had already spent over 10 years in front of instruments.

But I suppose my finger work was too flashy for a first-year.

“I didn’t see you in the practice room during the break, so I wondered what was going on. Did you secretly go into seclusion training somewhere?”

“Something like that.”

I brushed it off vaguely.

If it was Lee Hyun-ji, she would know my skill level from the semester, so the current change must seem puzzling.

“Thanks to that, the arrangement really came alive. How is it? This arrangement is pretty good, right?”

Choi Dong-hyeok also asked smugly from the side.

“Definitely… the technical difficulty is high, but that’s why. When you play it this smoothly, the song’s persuasiveness suddenly shoots up.”

“It seems like it would be very polarizing though.”

“Professor Baek Ga-hee would really hate it for sure.”

Each person took turns giving their impressions.

“Seol, how was it for you?”

“Me?”

“Yeah. Since you played it yourself, you’d know better. How was it? This arrangement.”

How was it, he asks.

Well, obviously…

‘It’s a mess.’

It felt like it was full of superficial style with a bunch of unnecessary embellishments. But if I said that honestly, he’d probably get upset.

As I was choosing my words for a moment, Choi Dong-hyeok couldn’t wait and stepped forward again.

“Ah! How about we try it like this?”

Choi Dong-hyeok picked up his guitar again.

After quickly tuning it, he played a slightly modified version of the first measure from the existing melody.

“Oh, that’s nice.”

Han So-yeon reacted immediately.

“Breaking up the rhythm a bit and rearranging the chords makes it much easier to listen to. Or how about this?”

Yu Da-yeon picked up her violin and added a different melody.

“This is good too.”

“What about stretching the tempo slightly here?”

After going back and forth like this several times, the melody was much better than when Choi Dong-hyeok first arranged it.

“Seol. Could you try playing this again?”

“Yes. Of course.”

“It’ll take some time to fix the sheet music. Um… Could you possibly improvise some slight modifications to match the arrangement?”

Since we just wanted to get a feel for it anyway. It wasn’t a particularly difficult request for music majors.

“Yes. I’ll do that.”

“Shall we give it a try?”

Choi Dong-hyeok counted the beat once more.

One, two.

Once again, the song flowed smoothly over the keys. At first, I faithfully reproduced the sheet music that Choi Dong-hyeok had written.

‘Here we go.’

Choi Dong-hyeok began playing the guitar in a style slightly different from the sheet music.

I followed him, laying down deeper bass notes with my left hand and filling in light, bouncing chords with my right.

The pedal, briefly pressed and released, breathed life into the melody.

Guitar and piano intertwining and colliding with each other.

The two rolled together like perfectly fitting puzzle pieces. Choi Dong-hyeok looked slightly surprised, then grinned broadly.

His expression showed that he was enjoying this ensemble.

When the guitar climbed toward the climax, I released the harmony one beat ahead, making that melody shine even brighter.

-♩♪♬♪…

I gently pressed and let flow the final chord, lifting my foot from the pedal.

Then the same silence as before descended again.

“…Wow.”

Han So-yeon blurted out with a dazed expression.

“Hyun-ji. Where did you find this kid?”

“With the accompaniment supporting like this, it’s so much better.”

“Earlier there was a slight feeling that the guitar and piano were drifting apart. But now it really sounded like one complete song.”

As Lee Hyun-ji quickly gave her impression, Yu Da-yeon also nodded in agreement.

“Did you improvise that arrangement? For something improvised, the completion level is incredibly high.”

I had just organized the chords and refined the notes a little as I always did. It was rather bewildering that they were so surprised.

Everyone’s attention was focused on me.

I felt awkward for no reason.

“I just… thought it would be better this way. Did I play too much on my own?”

“No! It was totally helpful.”

“I see that we can proceed like this. Definitely.”

I suppose it was skill that didn’t match first-year level.

‘I should play more moderately next time.’

I couldn’t control myself because I felt good playing piano after so long.

“So you can arrange like that too. I learned a lot.”

Choi Dong-hyeok grinned.

“It would be much better if we modify it like this. Then we should emphasize this part too, and explode here…”

Seeing him mutter while making modifications, the song’s quality improved significantly.

It meant he was a genius who could figure out two or three things from hearing one. I thought he’d be pretentious after seeing his superficially stylish arrangement, but his skills were better than expected.

“Ah, I wish Seol could accompany me in the actual composition exam too~.”

Choi Dong-hyeok muttered while subtly acting friendly.

“Right. Then even if the arrangement skills are a bit lacking, couldn’t we somehow cover it with technique?”

“There’s no way that would work.”

“I’m just saying.”

The conversation continued with laughter mixed in.

“Well then, is it my turn now?”

Han So-yeon stepped forward with a smile. I rummaged through the pile of sheet music to find Han So-yeon’s piece.

“If I had known this would happen, I should have made the accompaniment more difficult. At least to fool the ears with flashiness. But please take care of me?”

Han So-yeon winked at me and picked up her flute.

“Then, let’s start!”

The flute rang out softly, followed by the piano.

It was a short but well-completed arrangement.

After that, we took time to play each person’s prepared arrangement one by one and give feedback.

Each time, the songs changed little by little, and Yu Da-yeon even asked me directly, ‘How should I arrange this to make it better?’

Each time, I shared the musical ideas that came to mind.

People’s eyes gradually changed as if they were seeing something wondrous.

“Wow. It’s already gotten this late.”

“I know. We were so focused we lost track of time.”

By the time we closed the piano lid, it was already dark outside.

Everyone was busy organizing their respective instruments.

Since I played piano, I didn’t need to pack up an instrument separately. Just as I was thinking about heading out, Lee Hyun-ji quietly approached me.

“Seol. Once again, thank you for today. You were a huge help. Both with the accompaniment and the arrangement.”

“It was nothing.”

“You were amazing.”

Lee Hyun-ji gave me a strange look. Perhaps the expertise built up over ten years felt like a wall to her.

“You must have practiced a lot during the break. …You’re planning to transfer departments, right?”

Then the others who had been listening suddenly chimed in.

“What? Seol is transferring departments too?”

“But your piano skills are so good? That’s kind of a waste.”

Choi Dong-hyeok and Han So-yeon had somehow positioned themselves on either side of me.

“Your arrangement skills are just as good as your piano skills.”

“That’s true.”

“Come to think of it, your friend is in the Composition Department, right? That girl you’re always with. Her name was… Mun Ah-rin? I think that’s right. Is it?”

At Lee Hyun-ji’s question, I curled up the corners of my mouth.

“Yeah.”

“So that’s why you want to transfer departments?”

“Something like that.”

Then Choi Dong-hyeok made a big fuss.

“You’re transferring departments because of a friend? Really?”

“It’s not just that, but something like that.”

Before my regression,

I couldn’t even prepare for the department transfer exam.

Mun Ah-rin had said.

With your current skills, it’s still impossible. Instead, I’ll help you, so let’s start by making practice pieces.

If you work hard, your skills will improve, won’t they?

I believed those words completely.

But even when I made practice pieces, all I got was “it’s a bit lacking.” Before I knew it, instead of transferring departments, time just passed while I was on leave.

When I lost my hearing, I despaired and dropped out entirely.

It was probably from that time.

‘That I became Mun Ah-rin’s shadow, living like a machine that churned out songs.’

So all the theory in my head was learned over her shoulder through Mun Ah-rin.

I had never received proper education.

‘So I do want to learn composition properly.’

But more than anything…

I was curious about Mun Ah-rin’s expression.

When I succeed in transferring departments, what kind of expression will you make?

‘At this point, you haven’t committed any sins yet. You haven’t made me deaf, and you haven’t stolen my songs.’

You haven’t even heard my first original composition yet.

If that’s the case.

Can you, as you are now, truly congratulate me on my department transfer?

When did you decide to take everything away from me?

The key to looking into your true feelings was now in my hands.

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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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