The Healing Life of a Music Genius - Chapter 53



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The scale of the folk tale courtesy was bigger than I expected.

The first thing I noticed was the spacious grass playground. It was new to see something like this after looking at the sand field playground at Saebom Elementary School every day. Is it really the power of money? Out of curiosity, I touched the grass with my hands… and it felt a little foreign.

I found out that it was artificial grass.

Even arts middle schools competing for first and second place in Korea make some compromises. I guess there is no business when it comes to money.

Still, there were more than 5 buildings visible from this playground. What pipe, what pipe, what pipe.

He said there was also a separate dormitory building there.

I heard that it is run for students who come to study in Seoul from the provinces, but the competition rate is not that high.

Parents living in rural areas naturally want to leave their children at school for safety reasons. If that doesn’t work out, you have to look into boarding, but it ends up being more expensive.

However, Seolhwa is gradually increasing the number of students every year, and it is not easy to build a building…

This school also seemed to have its own problems with adults.

I nodded eagerly while listening to the explanation. Then I looked to the side. Lee Ha-eun continues her conversation like a chattering curator.

There was nothing he didn’t know.

“It’s almost like an encyclopedia of examples of folk tales. “Where on earth did you find out about this?”

“uh? This is the Sulwha prospective student cafe. This is something that was circulated in chat rooms once. “Don’t you know?”

Chat room?

Was there something like that?

Ha-eun showed me her smartphone. The chat is still live in real time. Stories about where the parking lot is empty, how the conditions are, how crowded the restroom is, etc.

Then, when the ‘Han Seo-jin Contest’ and ‘What about airplanes’ came up, Ha-eun suddenly jumped. It’s a surprise. She quickly hides her phone and looks at me.

“······ saw?”

I just shook my head and answered.

“no.”

“You saw it. “If you see me answering ‘no’.”

“······.”

“······.”

Lee Ha-eun, I heard you can be sharp sometimes.

After three seconds of silence, which seemed a bit long, Ha-eun suddenly started getting angry on my behalf.

“I won’t leave these alone later. What are they? What are you interested in all of a sudden? Whether you take the test or not. Whether you fell out of a plane or not. If you have time, why not practice more? is not it?”

“I guess they just do that because they’re stressed. They’re kids. And that probably won’t even last a month. I experienced it firsthand at Saebom Elementary School. “I don’t even hear people say I’m immortal these days.”

“But how can you talk behind my back like that? But you are so calm? “Aren’t you angry?”

“I don’t really care. “It’s not like everything they say is wrong.”

“hey! that is······! Phew. no. Let’s do mind control today. First of all, the practical test is more important. And they won’t be able to speak properly in front of you anyway. “Because they’re all cowards.”

“Maybe so.”

“So, you too, do your best. They’re no big deal. know?”

Lee Ha-eun taps my shoulder. Because he was shorter than me, his posture was a bit awkward, but it made me laugh for no reason. As I live, I receive all kinds of comfort from this person.

We soon arrived at the first floor of the main building.

There were various convenience facilities on the first floor.

Convenience stores, cafes, bookstores, and numerous vending machines.

There were tables and chairs here and there, so there was plenty of space to relax.

There were also various sculptures erected in between, and it definitely had a different feel from Saebom Elementary School.

We made our way through the crowd and took a seat at an empty table. I even managed to get two drinks from the vending machine on the way.

“I’m out of my mind.”

“I know.”

Since most of the entrance exam students came with their families, the number of people seemed to have doubled or tripled.

Ha-eun said she came with her mother, but she’s still walking around in circles because of parking problems.

I started chatting with Ha-eun as originally planned. Perhaps because it was before the practical exam, Ha-eun told me a number of things that had happened on the competition stage in the past.

‘I thought I’d forgotten everything…’

As I listened to Ha-eun’s story, memories came flooding back to me.

“······ Until then, I thought you were a foreigner? “I tried to talk to him, but he didn’t answer, so I thought he didn’t speak Korean.”

“For some reason, he asked my name in English. “I thought you were a strange kid back then.”

“Wow… that’s how you accepted my consideration?”

“You want me to change my position? What’s Your Name? What’s Your Name? “What would I have been thinking?”

Lee Ha-eun laughs.

But then.

Three boys asked if they could join our table. I looked around and it didn’t look like there was any place to sit. So at that moment she was about to ask Lee Ha-eun for her opinion.

“thank you.”

The boys answered first and took their seats.

Two next to me.

One next to Lee Ha-eun.

I tried to ignore them because I thought they might be a little strange, but when I found out, they turned out to be the ones who came towards me on purpose.

“Write it. But it seems like a face I’ve seen a lot somewhere. By any chance, don’t you remember me? Did you see us at the ‘Fairy Tale Gifted Talent Contest’?”

Lee Ha-eun glared at the boy straight away.

I also looked at the boy.

But it was a face that I couldn’t remember.

“I’m not sure.”

“okay? I’m trying to remember better now. Was his name… Seojin? Right?”

“But why?”

“That’s right! also. also. I wondered how a kid who always couldn’t win prizes at local competitions ended up here. So it was a little bit difficult. “It’s clear now.”

A bit of sarcasm.

I glanced at my smartphone clock. There was still about an hour left until the practical exam started.

‘I think I can leave at this point.’

They are children anyway. There is nothing left to fight with the kids. Neither money nor food comes out.

I don’t know why, but these kids came to pick a fight with me.

I couldn’t waste my time with these kids.

So I tried to tell Ha-eun to just go. If Ha-eun hadn’t suddenly pointed a finger at the boy.

“The identity of the shady kids in the chat room are kids like you. So what are you trying to do? “They say they come and do it on the day of the test…”

“What are you again? Can he be your younger brother? “If you’re young, you’re into it.”

“······.”

Even kids fight with each other because of their age.

However, this boy touched Lee Ha-eun’s Achilles heel. Haeun really gritted her teeth. He might get bitten if he doesn’t do well. I almost got bitten when I made fun of myself for being short.

I managed to calm Lee Ha-eun down by holding her arm. But Ha-eun didn’t stop there. He looks at the boy and shouts, “Ah~”.

“Now I see it’s you. When I was young, I was a kid who would ‘strategically’ choose competitions to avoid going to competitions. Right?”

“······ what?”

“You’ve met me once or twice. At that time, you took second place and I took first place. I heard that story from my teacher at the time. Everyone says that if you need experience winning competitions, you do that a lot. Don’t you remember me? really?”

“······.”

The boy slightly avoided Lee Ha-eun’s gaze.

oh···.

This story gets interesting.

Something like a food chain was created.

But the boy was not discouraged.

“so? It must be a lot different now, right? And in the end, you’re going to join the story just by ‘barely’ attending a piano academy?”

“How can I go to piano lessons…”

“Because there were rumors at that time. I heard you go to a small academy in Saebom-dong? “Even then, our professor told us that we managed to get first place.”

“······.”

“For your information, Seolhwa is a school that accepts only gifted students from all over the country. okay. Even if you say that, do you think he makes sense? This is where the kids who take first or second place in competitions come in. There are a lot of competitions in Korea, so you end up taking first place at least once, right? But what about him? “How many competitions have you won?”

The spark of the exciting story flew back to me.

“Why me all of a sudden?”

“If a kid like you comes here for no reason, the quality of the school will only drop. It doesn’t mean much. And there was an accident there? “Do you think this is a school you can apply to after taking a month off from practice?”

“In order to accurately evaluate the level, we are all taking the test together today. But why are you getting so upset by yourself? No way, you…”

I took a quick peek at the expected part.

“Aren’t you filling your self-esteem by doing this?”

“······ what?”

“No matter how anxious you are. Don’t fill your self-esteem by putting others down for no reason. For your information, I don’t even know you. So just go on your way. Don’t worry about exams. “What if I make a mistake and lose the story?”

“What did you say just now?”

“I just gave some advice for elementary school students.”

“hey.”

at that time.

“son.”

After successfully parking, my father appeared at the table. Even though I only gave him a rough idea of ​​the location via text message, he was able to find it.

The boy who was arguing with me and the gang next to him glanced at his father and then disappeared without a word. They say they won’t be able to speak properly in front of adults. It seemed like the children’s lives were also dynamic. Or maybe kids these days are just smart.

It seemed like Lee Ha-eun still wasn’t completely angry. I take a small breath. Then she suddenly looked back and forth between me and her father.

As if she realized something, Lee Ha-eun jumped up from her seat.

“Oh, hello. “My name is Lee Ha-eun.”

“I often heard stories from my son. Actually, I knew it before then.”

“Please?”

“Haeun was a student who always did well in competitions. As he followed his son around, he naturally found out. And you can feel comfortable in front of me. I have a test today, so don’t do that and just relax. Student Ha-eun, please sit down first.”

“······ yes. Thank you for your consideration. And you can feel free to talk to me.”

“all right.”

“······.”

Lee Ha-eun suddenly becomes a bit shy. Even the tone of speech changes. Anyway, he’s an amazing kid. There are many times when it is interesting to look at it carefully.

After a while, Lee Ha-eun’s mother also joined the group. He seemed to have had more trouble parking than my father.

After briefly greeting each other, we headed to the recital hall on the 3rd floor. From this entrance, entry was prohibited except for those involved.

After leaving my smartphone with my father, I entered the testing room. Ha-eun quickly follows suit. When we reached the end of the hallway, we had to have our belongings checked. The sound of a metal detector beeping. Next is the examination of the admission ticket. After that, we were able to sit on chairs placed in the hallway.

I see several students around.

A child whose legs keep shaking,

A child muttering while looking at sheet music,

A child chatting with the child next to him.

Each appearance was different.

Haeun, who was sitting next to me, also started looking at the sheet music. Even though it may be a song I have already memorized, I re-check the checklist carefully recorded in the sheet music.

I took one look at the clock hanging on the wall and quietly closed my eyes.

There are about 30 minutes left until the exam starts.

It was time to play it in my head two or three times.

Time passed quickly.

“We will start by drawing lots.”

In the order in which we sat on the chairs, we each took out the name tags in the opaque box. Deciding the order of testing.

It is conducted as a blind test and the order is mixed to ensure fairness.

From now on, I couldn’t even go to the bathroom properly.

Of course, you can go if you ask the supervisor, but if you miss your turn for the exam, it will be entirely the student’s fault.

“Please pick just one.”

It’s my turn. Without much thought, I pulled a name tag out of the box.

“You are number 10. “You can wear the name tag on your chest.”

“yes.”

Soon after, Ha-eun also took out her name tag. Number 19. The number is quite different from mine.

Entry was made up of 5 people. All you have to do is go backstage, wait, and play your song when it’s your turn.

Two songs per person.

The turn came quickly.

“Please come here and wait for numbers 6 to 10.”

Ha-eun pokes my side and gently holds out her hand. I chuckled and slapped his hand away.

“Do well.”

“you also.”

I entered the backstage following the director’s instructions. Mendelssohn’s piano piece could be vaguely heard, as if the previous player had not finished playing.

“uh?”

“······.”

But as it happened, the boy I saw on the first floor a moment ago was already sitting there. She checked her name tag and she was number 5. It seems like the first team’s last order. He stared at me quietly and then looked away.

“Please enter number 5.”

I was curious and listened to number 5 for a while.

When about 2 minutes passed like that.

‘The performance… is okay.’

The performance itself was plausible, as if skill and personality were separate things. Although we cannot predict whether he will pass or not, it was definitely a good performance.

I immediately turned off my nerves.

After finishing playing, number 5 returned to the backstage. Then, as he passes in front of me, he laughs. What a guy. Even elementary school students are quite scared these days.

Among the students in my class, there were some who couldn’t play until the end. If the judge rings the bell twice in the middle, it ends. Even if there are remaining performances, you must come off the stage immediately.

“Please enter number 9.”

Next it was my turn.

Even though it was a very stressful situation, I felt relaxed. Rather, my fingers were itching because I wanted to play quickly.

Maybe it was because of the kids who showed great performances in front of us. Those kids were playing the piano to their heart’s content, but since I was the only one who couldn’t play, I only became more greedy for playing.

“Enter number 10.”

Finally it was my turn.

I got up from my seat.

I followed the director, and there was a grand piano in the middle of the stage.

A blackout curtain was drawn in the direction of the audience. Thanks to this, no one in the audience could be seen. There’s probably a judge behind there.

I sat on the piano chair and adjusted the height first. And I looked at the clock. The number that started counting at 12 minutes soon went down to 11 minutes and 50 seconds.

The estimated performance time for the two songs I prepared was 9 minutes and 17 seconds. There was still room. There was no reason to rush.

I gently wiped the keys with the cloth on the grand piano. Be as careful as possible not to make any sound. And I gently touched the keyboard.

I took a slow, deep breath.

A rattling sound is heard beyond the blackout curtain. A small whispering sound can also be heard. I don’t know exactly what was being said, but there were definitely small noises like that.

I looked at the piano keys.

And I checked my watch again.

9:40

Just the right amount of time left.

You can start now.

For the audience beyond without any rush,

I started playing Chopin’s music.