The Genius Composer Starts Again - Chapter 9

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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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-♪♩♬♪♬

A short melody flowed out.

The students perked up their ears and desperately wrote down notes on their sheet music.

Scratch, scratch—the sound of pen tips scraping against paper could be heard from all directions.

Irregularly changing rhythms, with beats coming in off-tempo in the middle.

Everyone was struggling with the high-difficulty ear training problems.

Jeong Tae-seong walked among the students with silent footsteps, monitoring for any possible cheating.

‘Oh no. They missed one harmony. Oh, they got close but it’s a shame. They need to raise it by a semitone.’

While looking at the students’ answer sheets, Jeong Tae-seong muttered to himself.

Before long, the test had become even more difficult.

Two voices overlapped at once. It was a high-difficulty problem requiring them to catch both the piano’s right-hand melody and left-hand chords simultaneously.

The harmonies were so complexly intertwined that even professional performers would have difficulty catching them at once.

‘Hoh?’

There was a student who caught Jeong Tae-seong’s attention.

While everyone else was squeezing their eyes shut and struggling to solve the problems, there was one student who maintained a peaceful expression alone.

The faces of those burying their heads as if they might dive into the staff paper, busily moving their hands lest they miss a single note, were filled with a characteristic desperation.

Among them, this student’s appearance was particularly out of place.

‘Did they give up on the test?’

That thought naturally occurred to him. And for good reason—it looked like they were just doodling.

Jeong Tae-seong quietly headed toward that student. He checked the exam number and name written on the desk.

‘Piano Department, Seol.’

It was an unfamiliar name.

Although it was a different department, promising talents usually became known early on.

He had never heard this name before.

It meant they were just one among the mediocre students.

‘Did they just apply for transfer to the Composition Department as a casual attempt?’

If that were the case, that completely carefree attitude made perfect sense. Jeong Tae-seong inconspicuously glanced at Seol’s test paper.

‘…!’

His eyes widened.

A completed score lay there. The pitch, rhythm, and harmonies were all accurate.

He would have believed it if someone had replaced Seol’s test paper with the answer key.

‘Perfect pitch.’

To complete a score this quickly, one would need at least that level of ability.

Of course, this wasn’t particularly rare within the arts university.

‘But even if someone is born with perfect pitch, they usually slip up on rhythm or harmony….’

Had they honed their skills through thousands, tens of thousands of training sessions? They seemed too young for that to be the case.

‘A natural talent?’

Jeong Tae-seong unconsciously broke into a grin.

His gaze lingered on the name ‘Seol’ for quite some time.

***

“What should I do. I really screwed up badly. I think I’m going to fail.”

“Hey. We all screwed up equally. Don’t worry. This test really seems like they failed at difficulty adjustment.”

“Right? It wasn’t just difficult for me, was it?”

“Isn’t the ear training test a bit too much?”

Murmur, murmur.

The students gathered in small groups and talked about the test. Some lamented with tearful faces, while others tried hard to compose their emotions.

Sight-singing, ear training, harmony, and even the arrangement test.

Most of the tests were finished, with only the original composition presentation remaining.

Since it was a format where students were called one by one to perform their own compositions, the waiting time had already exceeded two hours.

‘This is boring.’

I sat quietly and muttered to myself.

‘Were the tests… really that difficult? I’m not sure.’

The series of tests went more smoothly than expected. At least from my perspective.

Sight-singing was just looking at a sheet of music and singing along. There were some rhythm variations, but it wasn’t particularly difficult.

Ear training was just writing down what you heard, and harmony was basic fundamentals that everyone should know well.

The arrangement test was somewhat tricky among them. But it was a simple 4-bar melody, so it was easy to modify in various ways.

‘This should be enough.’

Since I didn’t want to stand out unnecessarily, I finished with a moderate level of completion.

Instead, I had earned points on other tests, so there shouldn’t be any chance of failing the transfer.

‘I’m also wondering what to present for the original composition.’

There were dozens of songs stored in my head. Which one would be most effective to bring out?

If I performed 【Mercury】, passing would be a sure thing, but I wanted something that would leave a more moderate impression.

While I was pondering this internally, a supervisor entered the waiting room and shouted loudly.

“Group 9, please come in!”

It was the group I belonged to. The students next to me took sharp breaths and stood up from their seats.

Everyone looked clearly nervous.

I slowly got up from my seat and stood at the back according to my exam number.

“This way!”

Following the supervisor’s guidance inside, I saw a place that looked like a small performance hall.

The professors were sitting in the front row, busy scribbling something on paper, apparently grading the previous group.

The student who had been at the front of Group 9 nervously stepped onto the stage.

“Please begin.”

When one of the professors said that, the student sat down at the piano.

-♪♩♬♪….

A gentle melody flowed from their fingertips.

‘Not bad.’

But it wasn’t good either. As much as it was moderate without any particular rough edges, it lacked the striking impact that would catch the ear.

The professors nodded briefly, then soon wore indifferent expressions.

“Stop.”

Not long after, one of the professors stopped the performance.

It was a sharp-featured woman with long hair pulled back tightly and thin gold-rimmed glasses.

‘I remember. She was the professor that Mun Ah-rin found particularly uncomfortable and difficult.’

Her name was probably.

“Professor Baek Ga-hee. You could listen a bit more before deciding….”

Right. Baek Ga-hee. It was unusual, so it stuck in my memory.

When one of the professors whispered to her, Baek Ga-hee responded coldly.

“Listening more would just be a waste of time.”

It was a merciless evaluation.

The first student cautiously spoke up.

“Ah, there’s still more in the latter part. If you could listen to that and then evaluate…!”

“Next.”

Faced with Baek Ga-hee’s cold dismissal, they had no choice but to return to their seat with drooping shoulders.

Soon after, the next student took the stage. Perhaps because of what happened before, their face looked very nervous.

I could see their hands trembling as they pressed the piano keys.

-♩♬, ♪♪♩♬….

“Stop.”

After just a few bars, Baek Ga-hee interrupted the performance again. The student’s face had turned pale.

“You made a mistake, didn’t you?”

“…Yes.”

“Step down. Next.”

The atmosphere had turned indescribably cold. In the heavy silence, the third and fourth students’ turns passed in order.

Not a single person completed their entire piece.

The third student’s piece seemed decent enough that they listened a bit longer, but the moment any part grated on their ears, they cut it off immediately.

“Next!”

Finally, my turn came.

I passed by the fourth student as he walked down the stairs with a dejected expression.

When I came up, the lighting was so strong I could barely see the audience seats.

I bowed vaguely toward where I assumed the professors were sitting, then sat down at the piano.

I was naturally enchanted by the symphony of black and white keys.

It was a proper instrument I hadn’t seen in a while—not a keyboard or the old piano from the practice room.

The moment I placed my fingers on the keys, I could tell.

‘…This is good.’

How long had it been since I felt this sensation? I felt my heart strangely lift.

I wanted to play.

A truly magnificent performance. One worthy of this excellent piano.

It wasn’t for someone’s evaluation or to pass the exam.

With such a fine instrument before me, a desire to show proper respect naturally welled up.

For a moment, I completely forgot that this was an exam hall, and the professors’ attitude of ‘let’s see if you can even try.’

-♪

I gently pressed a key with my fingertip.

A clear resonance spread through the air.

I was so glad to hear it that a smile spread across my face without realizing it.

I steadied my breathing and placed both hands on the keys.

-♩♬♪♬♪

Beautiful melody began to ring out.

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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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