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Episode 5. Little Star (2)
I held down the C note for a long time.
The deep resonance I hadn’t felt in so long tapped lightly against my heart.
It wasn’t the hollow, thin sound of a keyboard.
The rich, concentrated tone of the grand piano’s strings gently melted my ears.
‘Yes, this is it. This is it!’
My lips curled up on their own at the sound—so full and dense—that was impossible to feel from a keyboard.
The timbre of the grand piano, heard live for the first time in ages, brought tears to my eyes.
‘What piece should I play?’
Since this was the first time playing a grand piano in this life, I wanted to play a piece meaningful to me.
I was always like that.
I didn’t know since when, but I enjoyed pulling out some memory and speaking with my hands, no matter what piece I played.
It was the same when listening, but it seemed even stronger when performing.
My belief was that even a clumsy piece could become great music if it held a memory.
So, even with three-year-old fingers…
No matter how strangely I played, if it contained a memory, it would surely be good music.
Therefore, the piece I would play was essentially already chosen.
I put strength into my small fingers.
– other-♪
The piano melody continued thinly.
“…Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star?”
I heard the little kid’s reaction beside me but paid no mind.
I was playing “Little Star,” just as the child said.
However, I also included a memory that had long been asleep.
I originally didn’t know what a star was.
It was nothing more or less than a celestial body floating in the sky.
But through a very small契机, stars took on a special meaning for me.
However, the star I wanted to speak of with my hands wasn’t one burning in the universe beyond the sky.
It was an infinitely small star, listening to the scent of grass and the sound of insects.
‘Haven’t you decided on the baby’s name yet?’
I once asked my friend that question.
In our twenties, we got married quickly, as was the trend of the time.
Sadly, I was unmarried.
I was too obsessed with music and living to have a chance to meet women.
The guy I hung out with had ‘luckily’ married and had a child.
That traitor.
Anyway, about a month after my friend’s wife gave birth…
The guy was holed up in his room, unable to come out.
Whenever I asked what he was doing, he’d just say he couldn’t decide on the baby’s name.
That day, I couldn’t take it anymore and broke into my friend’s studio.
‘Come out now! What’s so hard about naming a daughter…?!’
I couldn’t continue when I saw the state of the room.
Hundreds of completely different words were densely written on a single sheet.
And thousands of such sheets were scattered on the floor.
Do-Do-Sol-Sol-
The two notes I played connected precariously.
How you press the keys can change the song.
Whether you press long, fast, or with syncopation…
Any way you play is ultimately an act of making the music better.
As the right hand played Do-Do-Sol-Sol, the melody…
The left hand played the root note.
With the now richer sound, the star from my memory grew clearer.
‘Hey, are you alright?!’
My friend was lying among the thousands of sheets.
He looked pale, as if he hadn’t eaten well, so I hurriedly picked him up.
Luckily, conscious, he spoke with parched lips.
‘You… give this to Lucy…’
He handed me a sheet he was holding.
Lucy was my friend’s wife.
I looked at the handed sheet, and something was written on it.
Danika
That was the word on the paper.
After handing me the sheet, my friend started to say something.
‘You know, I’m now…’
However, the words didn’t continue.
Right after saying that, he let go of the arm he was barely holding up.
In shock, I shook him wildly.
‘H-hey! You! Hey! Wake up, you punk.’
‘…Ugh.’
‘Damn it.’
He had just fallen asleep.
Having a mischievous personality, he always annoyed people.
But since he was a good person, I threw him onto the bed.
Afterward, I cleaned up his messy room.
While doing so, I found a certain book.
‘Huh?’
The book had the word ‘Danica’ written in it.
Only then could I understand the meaning of the word.
La-La-Sol-
The calm melody hit the walls of the music room and returned to me.
Though the volume was reduced, it still sounded serene.
I stretched the notes Do and La long.
The highest note in “Little Star” was drawing out emotion.
A high note that stirs human emotion.
Clearly in the bright key of C Major, but by stretching the note, I slightly neutralized that feeling.
However, you can’t just stretch it mindlessly.
Then it becomes a completely different piece, so I played only the notes of “Little Star.”
Do–Do-Sol-Sol-La–La-Sol-
Since this was clearly a happy memory, but now a recollection I could no longer bring back…
I played a “Little Star” mixed with two emotions.
The meaning of the little star in my memory was…
‘Morning star…’
It meant a star shining brightly just before dawn.
Like a star shining at the very end of the night.
It held my friend’s wish for it to shine brightly in this chaotic era.
Knowing that heart, I played “Little Star” infused with memory and emotion.
I put into “Little Star” my friend’s joy and his heart’s desire to give the best possible gift for the small child.
One might think putting so much meaning into a simple song is excessive, but it didn’t matter.
Infusing emotion, embedding memory.
That was my method and reason for making music.
*Do-*
For the last note, I released the strength from my fingertips.
This was my blessing for Danica’s future in my past life.
Although it was a past long gone, it was my heart’s wish for it to have been a happy future.
I gently placed my emotions atop the melody.
Finishing the performance, I put strength into my shoulders.
And after taking a breath for one beat…
“Hmm! That was very good!”
I comforted myself.
It was what he always said when I played using father’s keyboard.
Hearing it every day, it must have become a habit without me realizing.
I turned my head.
Standing beside me was the little girl with her arms crossed.
“…Not bad?”
The girl said, puffing herself up.
It was as if she was declaring, ‘No matter how well you play, you’re beneath me.’
However, seeing a small child do that was just amusing.
I grew curious about this kid.
“What’s your name?”
The girl hesitated at my question.
Then, looking as if she was thinking for a moment, she finally opened her mouth.
“Why do you want to know?”
“I’m curious.”
“Hmm…”
The girl deliberated for a very long time.
It seemed she was determined not to give her name carelessly.
After a moment of waiting, the child finally opened her mouth.
“Fine. My name is…”
However.
I never got to hear the little girl’s name.
Swoosh.
The music room door opened, and a woman stood at the entrance.
“Daughter.”
At the soft woman’s voice, the child in front of me sharply turned her head.
Then, without a word, she ran to the door and hugged the woman.
With a final wave of her small hand, the child finished her goodbye.
‘She disappears like the wind. Well, I’ll see her again someday.’
That’s what I thought.
If fate allows, we’ll meet face to face again.
With the talkative child gone, silence descended upon the music room.
– Tan-tan-♬
I pressed the piano keys meaninglessly.
Only the teacher and I, who lacked presence, remained in the music room.
“Teacher, do you want to play together?”
I called the teacher sitting alone on the chair to play the piano together.
She looked very, very bored.
“Ayeon, weren’t you bored waiting?”
“Nope.”
Ayeon mushed the snack her mother gave her.
While driving, the child’s mother gently explained about Han-sol Kindergarten.
Since it was the kindergarten the child would attend, she wanted the child to listen.
However, Ayeon had no interest in such talk.
The child’s head was filled only with the piano.
Waking up to play the piano, eating and playing the piano, playing the piano until bedtime.
That was Ayeon’s daily life.
And the child’s parents would do anything for her sake.
If it could be done with money, they gladly did it.
However, it was excessive.
All under the pretext of doing it for the child.
But Ayeon found it burdensome.
She just wanted to play the piano quietly, but people kept coming to her side.
She heard people call her a genius and such, but she wasn’t interested.
“I saw some boy at the piano earlier. Did he play well?”
Ayeon mushed her snack and recalled Heeseong’s performance.
The “Little Star” played by the boy slightly shorter than her.
However, the “Little Star” Heeseong played was not little at all.
It seemed like he was just playing, but listening to it, it was completely different.
Ayeon’s heart shook at the performance she heard for the first time in her life.
Captivated instantly by the performance, Ayeon lost herself and appreciated Heeseong’s playing.
At that moment, it felt as if only Heeseong and the grand piano existed in the music room.
For Ayeon, hearing a peer’s performance for the first time in her life was a huge shock.
She was moved by Heeseong’s “Little Star,” which played a feeling she herself didn’t know, but…
‘…Not bad?’
For some reason, Ayeon, who felt embarrassed to just praise him, gave him the best expression she could muster.
It was the same now.
“…It was good.”
“Really? I’d like to hear it.”
The faint smile on the child’s face caught her eye.
She was surprised by the child’s unusual reaction but didn’t show it outwardly.
Ayeon quietly opened the window.
Strong wind tousled the child’s hair, but she paid no mind.
“…I want to hear it again.”
Ayeon murmured quietly.
The child’s murmur scattered in the wind, so her mother wouldn’t hear it.
The luxury sedan carrying Ayeon slid smoothly along the road.
“The entrance exam is at the end of November. Before that, you need to take an aptitude test.”
In the principal’s office, Yoon Young-hoon and Shin Ji-eun listened to the principal’s explanation.
Hearing what Han-sol Kindergarten did and what facilities it had, the two were impressed.
They came to understand very well that it was an exceptionally outstanding educational institution.
Accordingly, getting in was not easy.
“How do we take the test? Is there anything specific we need to prepare?”
“Just prepare one of the pieces from the list we provided.”
The two listened attentively to the principal’s explanation.
As if to show it wasn’t an ordinary kindergarten, you needed a certain score on the test just to apply for the entrance exam.
“Ah, and if we judge the child to have exceptional talent in music, they don’t need to take the separate test.”
“How do you judge if they have talent?”
“We judge by video or by observing them directly.”
And so, the couple’s consultation was coming to an end.
Yoon Young-hoon and Shin Ji-eun resolved to get Heeseong into this good kindergarten.
For the child’s future, the two would do anything.
Of course, within their means.
“Then, I’ll send you the guidance text today.”
“Yes, thank you.”
“You said the child is in the music room?”
“That’s right. He’ll probably be playing the piano over there.”
“Is that so? I’m curious too. May I go see with you?”
“Of course! We’d be honored.”
Yoon Young-hoon, Shin Ji-eun, and the principal headed to the music room.
Sunlight, gradually lowering between the windows, was filtering in.
Only a faint piano sound resonated in the empty hallway.
‘Huh? Is another teacher playing? That’s a shame.’
A melody capable of moving people’s hearts by controlling dynamics and tuning the notes struck the ears sharply.
Though it was a common children’s song, it didn’t sound common at all.
Hearing the piano sound, the principal felt a bit disappointed.
According to the couple, the child in the music room was 4 years old.
But the piano performance now reaching his ears was quite polished for a 4-year-old to play.
Of course, such children existed occasionally, but they were rare.
‘But is it Teacher Mirae? I think this is the first time I’ve heard this performance.’
So, hiding his疑问, the principal opened the music room door.
“Wow! Heeseong, my friend. You play the piano incredibly well!”
However, the scene in the music room was beyond the principal’s expectations.
A teacher clapping and exclaiming in admiration.
And the small child sitting at the piano, hands on the keys.
The child was scratching his head, seeming embarrassed.
‘Did that child just play… no way?’
In an instant, having finished all judgment, the principal looked at Yoon Young-hoon and Shin Ji-eun and said:
“…I don’t think a test will be necessary.”
“Yes… Thank you…”
Yoon Young-hoon also struggled to continue his words.
Shin Ji-eun just blankly stared at her child.
She knew her son loved the piano and had talent, but…
‘Did Heeseong play that well?’
However, it was a performance with a different feeling from any music Heeseong had played at home.
Yoon Young-hoon and Shin Ji-eun stood dumbfounded.
“Huh? Mom! Dad!”
Oblivious to his parents’ inner thoughts, Heeseong just spoke brightly.
And so, the two thought this:
‘Could Heeseong’s talent be what people call a genius?’
