AMGWPM 06

Episode 6. In an Unknown Land (1)

On the way back home.

The inside of the moving car was strangely quiet.

Not knowing what was going on, I just listened to the idol music my mother had turned on.

‘What’s this? Did I do something wrong?’

Even with my old mind, at times like this, I felt like I had become a child again. The quiet atmosphere seemed to weigh down on my entire body. To lighten the mood, I spoke softly to my mother, who was quietly looking out the window.

“Mom, what were you doing with the teacher?”
“Huh? Oh… She explained in detail what kind of place the kindergarten is. It’s a really great place.”
“Right! The piano was really nice!”

It was a question I asked because I had overheard them talking in front of the music room door.

“That’s not it. An aptitude test… Hmm, it’s not about checking how much Heeseong likes the piano or how well he plays.”
“Really?”
“Yes. Because Heeseong plays the piano too well, so.”

My mother explained it simply, worried I might not understand. Not having to take a test was fine by me.
However, once my question ended, the car fell quiet again.
Mother turned her head and stared at Father for a moment. It was her habit whenever she had something serious to discuss.

‘Is there something serious going on?’

I thought to myself, fidgeting with my feet.

“Heeseong.”

Mother called my name softly. Simultaneously, classical music softly filled the car instead of the idol songs. My mother’s cautious tone made me swallow hard instinctively.

“Heeseong, you played the piano incredibly well? Mom didn’t know that.”
“Heehee, I wanna play piano again.”
“Really? Then, let’s play a lot when we get home.”
“I’m gonna play a whole, whole lot!”

Such childish expressions. Had my mental age gotten younger from living as a child?
Still, my mother would understand my expression immediately. She nodded slowly and said,

“I see. Our son could even sense such a difference.”

…Huh?

Mom spoke in a voice that seemed to tremble. “Mom failed to notice that our son had such outstanding talent in the piano.”

I quietly held my breath. It was a voice I had never heard before. As if admitting her own fault, she even bowed her head deeply. This was something I had never experienced in my past life, so I was flustered. Father just quietly held the steering wheel.

“I was right by your side, yet I didn’t know about my own son’s talent. Mom is sorry.”

Only then did I seem to understand the reason for their quietness. Were they worried that they might have let their child’s talent go to waste? That they might have prevented outstanding talent from shining by simply thinking their child liked the piano?
But that was an unfounded worry. In my past life, I only started learning music properly around the time I was almost 10 years old. This life was on a different level from the past. I had parents who loved music, and I could access music sooner than anyone else. The two people I had observed for four years would do anything difficult for my sake. They always watched over me, worried the baby me might get hurt. They even bought me various toy instruments because I liked music.
So, even if the two of them didn’t know about my talent, it wasn’t a big problem. Even if I started music late, it would have been fine. Because if I worked harder than others, I could solve it.

“It’s okay! I just like music.”

I smiled brightly. Father, who was looking at me through the mirror, also gave a faint smile.

“Heeseong loves music. I believe you would have done well no matter what. Dad believes that.”

The car still slid along the road. However, rain was falling from the darkened sky. The softly flowing classical music and the sound of rain gently tickled my ears. The sound, completed as one piece of music, enveloped our family. It seemed so sticky that it wouldn’t come off easily. An evening in November passed like that.

Five months had passed.
What did I do during that time?
Of course, I played the piano.
Well, I also took walks around the neighborhood or went to play at kids’ cafes, but most of the five months was spent playing the piano. Classical, New Age, etc. Regardless of genre, I played whatever I wanted to my heart’s content.
Mother and Father also supported me so I could play the piano better.
Then, I heard some happy news.

‘Son! Let’s go to kindergarten now!’

I was accepted into Han-seol Kindergarten. And today was March 2nd. The long-awaited first day of school had arrived.
In the car heading to kindergarten. Our family was listening to music as usual, but it was a bit noisier than normal.

“Son, don’t cry. Don’t fight with your friends!”

‘Father, I’m 5 years old….’

Father grabbed my shoulders and spoke with a grave expression. Perhaps because it was my first social life, Father seemed more nervous than I was.

“Heeseong, you didn’t forget your supplies, right? Let’s check if you packed everything properly.”

Mother also seemed anxious, constantly telling me to check my supplies.
After listening to them for a week, I thought I would go crazy.

“I packed everything!”

I answered hurriedly. If I didn’t, they seemed like they would keep talking. Upon hearing my answer, my parents toned it down. The car, with only the music getting louder, arrived quickly at the kindergarten.

“Heeseong, welcome!”
“Teacher! Hello!”

As I entered the kindergarten entrance, a teacher greeted me. It was the teacher wearing the blue apron I had seen during the entrance briefing in February. There was a name tag on her chest, with the name ‘Cha Yu-ra’ written on it. And she was one of the teachers who would look after me for a year. I think the other teacher’s name was ‘Park Jeong-ah’.

“Now, Heeseong. Let’s say goodbye to Mom and Dad.”

Following Cha Yura’s words, I turned my body to look at the two of them. Mother bent her knees, and Father bowed his waist.

“Heeseong, have fun playing.”
“That’s right, if it’s hard, tell the teacher. Dad will come right away.”

Mother and Father spoke with smiles. Their words always gave me strength.
I also raised the corners of my mouth and spoke.

“I’m off!”

The two waved until the moment I entered the classroom.
Entering the classroom, several children were sitting. They were playing with toys or tightly hugging dolls.
I was about to go sit in a corner too, but the teacher called me.

“Now, Heeseong, can you stay still for a moment?”

Saying that, she put something around my neck. It was a necklace with my name on it. It seemed like they were giving it out so others wouldn’t get confused, since it was the first day.
After receiving the necklace, I sat in the corner. And I took a chocolate bar out of my pocket. It was a snack my mother gave me to share with friends, but…

‘There are no kids to share it with.’

Both then and now, I was clumsy at making friends.

‘Well, thanks to Cho-gi, I got a little better, but…’

Still, that didn’t mean my original personality had gone anywhere. Might as well munch on the chocolate bar.
Just as I was zoning out while munching on the chocolate bar.

“Hello?”

I turned my head towards the voice. Among the many children who had entered the classroom in an instant, one child was approaching me. A cute child with black straight hair, droopy eyes, and wearing a pretty white dress. It was the child I had met the day I visited Han-seol Kindergarten for the consultation.

“Hello.”

I greeted back the same way. I didn’t have anything particular to say.
But upon receiving my greeting, the child walked over with big steps and plopped down right next to me. And then stretched out a hand. As if asking for something.
With a dumbfounded expression, I looked at the child and spoke.

“…You want to eat this?”
“Yep.”

‘How can you be so entitled?’

Flustered by the child’s sudden action, but since I still had a few more chocolate bars my mother packed, I gave one to the child.
However, after receiving the chocolate bar, the child just stared blankly at me.

“What?”
“Open it.”

Haha.
The child, not even the daughter of a rich family, very brazenly demanded that I open the chocolate bar for her. Once again finding it ridiculous, I said firmly,

“Ask Teacher. I’m busy.”
“Open it. You play piano well.”

What does that have to do with this?
I shook my head side to side again.

“What do I get if I open that for you?”
“Hmm….”

The child pondered deeply. The posture of propping up chubby cheeks with small hands was quite cute.
After thinking for a long time, the child opened her mouth.

“Then I’ll be your friend!”
“Huh? Friend?”
“Yep. You don’t have any friends.”
“…….”

Do babies in Korea dig into people’s wounds this well? ‘Cho-gi, I miss you.’

I coughed a few times and said to the child.

“Kid, stop saying weird things.”
“You’re a kid too.”
“Ah.”

I kept forgetting because there was a real kid next to me. I hurriedly continued.

“T-then, how do you become friends?”
“Um… Mom said friends are people who call each other by name.”
“Name?”
“Yes! But I won’t tell you mine.”

The child said with a grin. It seemed like she was trying to look like she was smiling evilly, in her own way.

‘Kid, the person in front of you might be older than your parents.’

I blinked and slightly raised my hand. And I pointed towards the child’s chest area.

“What? Is there something on my clothes?”
“No, there’s a name there, right?”
“Name? Huh, huh?”

All the children in the classroom had a tag with their name and class attached to their chest area. The child in front of me was no exception.
The child flustered, looking back and forth between the name tag and me, and then started to sniffle.

“Sniff… This, this way I won’t make friends…”

I was flustered too. How could I not be when she was about to cry in front of me all of a sudden? And since a few eyes in this large classroom were subtly looking at the child in front of me, I hurriedly comforted her.

“D-don’t cry! I’ll tell you my name too! Here!”

I thrust my name tag in front of the child’s eyes. The child sniffled, wiped away the slightly pooled tears, and slowly began to read my name tag.

“Yoon… Yoon Heeseong.”
“Heeseong. Call me Yoon Heeseong.”
“Okay. Here, this.”
“Alright, Ayeon. Pretty name.”

We called each other by name. Ayeon seemed satisfied, smiling brightly.
We tried to ask each other questions we were curious about while talking. Why do you like the piano, when did you start playing, etc.
But I decided to save the questions for Ayeon for later. Because the classroom, where other children were gradually entering, was…

“Wow!”

…getting noisier and noisier.

Jeong Mirae.

A woman who won an international piano competition at the age of 17.
She proved her skills and traveled the world, but.
Crash-!
Unfortunately, she got into a traffic accident, making further performances difficult.
While working as a piano instructor like that, she met her benefactor.

‘Mirae, I’m going to open a kindergarten with the money I’ve saved up. Can you teach piano to the children?’

Jeong Mirae accepted that offer and was now teaching piano to children at Hanseol Kindergarten.
While at Hanseol Kindergarten, Jeong Mirae had one small wish.

‘I want to nurture a child with outstanding talent with my own hands. And so that child can stand on the world stage…’

However, it had already been almost 5 years since she started working at Hanseol Kindergarten. Yet, Jeong Mirae had never seen a child with real talent.
So, she was contemplating resigning from Hanseol Kindergarten.

‘One more year. Let’s try just one more year.’

With that thought, Jeong Mi-rae left the staff room.
Today was the kindergarten entrance ceremony, so there were no classes. However, she had to introduce herself to the children with talent in piano, so she hurried her steps.

‘Peony Class, Peony Class…’

She traced her memory and headed towards the class where new students with talent in piano were gathered.
A moment later, Jeong Mi-rae arrived at a certain classroom.
Squeak-
She opened the door to the classroom where the children would be waiting.

“Eww!!”

However, what reached her ears was the sound of children crying.