AMGWPM 07

Episode 7. In an Unknown Land (2)

The teachers were busily running around here and there. Children crying because kindergarten was still unfamiliar, children snatching each other’s toys. When five-year-olds gather in an unfamiliar environment, that place becomes hell. Various cries combined into a chaotic cacophony that drilled into the ears.
Amidst it all, Ayeon clung to my side, chattering away.

“Heeseong, when did you start playing piano?”
“Hmm… One year old? I often played on my dad’s keyboard. Like this.”

I raised my hand and pretended to play the piano. Ayeon also followed my hand shape and spoke.

“I played on my dad’s too. Do you have more chocolate bars?”
“…Here.”
“Okay! Thank you!”

All the chocolate bars in my pocket were snatched by Ayeon. Having figured out how to open the wrapper, Ayeon put the chocolate bar in her mouth as soon as she received it. That small mouth, munching and chattering, was fascinating.
I turned my head away from Ayeon and looked elsewhere. The teachers were not proceeding with lessons as they were busy comforting the children.

‘Well, I kinda expected that.’

Some children seemed ready to cry as soon as they entered the classroom. Even so, they tried to hold it in somehow, but once one child started crying, it erupted collectively. Now five children were crying, and the class was getting noisier.

“Wow!!”

One more added.
Just as the crying sounds were stacking chords—
Squeak-
The classroom door opened, and a woman in a black suit entered. Seeing the flower-shaped name tag on her chest, she seemed to be a teacher.

‘Who is that?’

I didn’t know who she was, but…

“Huh? That person!”

Ayeon next to me seemed to know. Curious, I asked Ayeon who she was.

“Ayeon, do you know that teacher?”
“Yep! She’s super famous!”
“Really?”
“Yeah! She plays the piano really well!”

At the mention of playing the piano well, my eyebrows shot up. I turned my head to look at the woman in front of the blackboard. With a familiar-looking expression, she whispered something into another teacher’s ear, then looked at the children and—
Clap, clap- made a sound, clapping her hands.
Instantly, a loud clapping sound echoed in the classroom. The children who had been playing until just now, and the children who couldn’t stop crying—all looked in one direction.
The teacher in the black suit said this:

“Who wants to play the piano?!”

She grinned, and the children all spoke as one.

“I do!!”

Ayeon and I were no different.

The children who still couldn’t stop crying ended up being comforted by teachers in another classroom.
The other children who wanted to play the piano left the classroom and lined up in two lines in front of the door.
Ayeon was, of course, next to me. She didn’t seem to plan on leaving my side.
Anyway, the children, including me, headed somewhere.

“Everyone, our kindergarten is very big! So if you get lost, you should stay right where you are.”

Teacher Mi-rae began to teach the children various things using this opportunity. Since the children were gathered in one place, they quickly started to focus. The children here were five years old, so if you got them to focus on something, they tended to get absorbed in it.
As if knowing that, the teacher actively started using surrounding objects.

“Everyone, let’s look at your necklaces once. What’s written there?”
“My name!”
“Right! And what else might be there? Any friend want to guess?”
“Hmm…? P… Peony?”
“Ah-jin, good job! From now on, you are the Peony Class. If another teacher asks you what class you’re in, you can say, ‘I’m in Peony Class!’ Shall we try once?”

Fitting for a good kindergarten, the teacher’s skill in teaching children was also extraordinary. The clear, distinct words that stuck in the ears raised concentration.
The children listened to Teacher Mi-rae’s words, and the teacher explained diligently.
Thanks to that, I could learn various things like basic information about the kindergarten or information about the class I belonged to.

“And, I wonder if any friend knows what my name is?”
“Me! You’re the teacher who plays the piano super well!”
“Right! Ayeon!”

The teacher continued.

“And I’m the teacher who will teach you piano. Please take care of me from now on. Understood?”
“Yes!!”

At the mention of teaching piano, everyone answered with all their might. I did too.
Learning something from someone was always a joyful thing.
Because of Ayeon, who was sparkling with bright eyes next to me, I also became expectant of Jung Mi-rae’s skills. How well must she play for this child to be staring so intently?

‘Ha… I want to play piano quickly.’

I started to get excited at the thought of playing the piano. I was also very much looking forward to what Jung Mi-rae would teach.
Well, I probably knew most of it. But still, since a very long time had passed, there might have been changes in music education, right?
Harboring that secret expectation, we arrived at the music room before we knew it.

“Now, everyone! Shall we go in together?”

The teacher said that and opened the music room door.
Inside, there was one grand piano and several small upright pianos.
The children exclaimed in wonder, “Whoa!”

“It’s super big!”

Even Ayeon, who had shown little change in expression until now, seemed surprised.
The teacher calmed such children and had them gather and sit in front of the piano.
And Jung Mi-rae, sitting on the piano bench, said this:

“For all of you to learn piano from now on, you need to become friends with the piano.”

Saying that, she played a very simple Do-Re-Mi. A few seconds of short piano notes. Just hearing that sound, the other children somehow looked excited.
Jung Mi-rae turned back to the children and spoke.

“Today, you’ll try playing however you want to play. Can you do it well?”
“Yes!”
“I wanna go first!”

The children spoke energetically. Lively children even raised their hands high, saying they wanted to play the piano first.
Perhaps finding that scene very cute, Jung Mi-rae and the other teachers laughed softly and said to the children,

“Everyone, but you’ll need practice, right? Over there, you see small pianos. Shall we first think about what song to play there?”

And she said that friends for whom it was their first time playing the piano should ask her to teach them.

“Heeseong, let’s go over there.”
“Okay.”

Ayeon grabbed my arm and headed towards the two upright pianos in the corner.

Ding-ding-dadan-♪

The children each diligently started playing the songs they wanted to play. Among the various pieces, I heard a few familiar ones. It meant the children here were that skilled.

“What are you gonna play?”

Ayeon asked while I was observing the children. Turning my head, Ayeon, who had leaned her body deeply towards me, came clearly into view.

‘What kind of girl is this bold?’

I leaned slightly away from Ayeon. Then answered her question.

“I’m thinking. What are you gonna do?”
“I’m thinking too.”
“Then, do you have a favorite song?”
“I don’t.”
“…What?”

I was genuinely flustered. A child who plays the piano has no favorite song? Does that even make sense?
Stunned, I was at a loss for words.

“T-then, what song do you usually listen to?”
“Classical. Mom often plays it.”
“Then, play that!”

Ayeon shook her head side to side. As if she couldn’t play it.
I asked just in case.

“Perhaps….”

But I wasn’t given the chance to ask Ayeon something.

“Ayeon! Do you want to try playing the piano?”

Jung Mi-rae was calling Ayeon.
Hearing Jung Mi-rae’s call, Ayeon ran over in one step.
Even if that kid played the piano well, she was still a child in the end. If someone who plays the piano well calls, I would run over too.
So, I decided to think about Ayeon later.

‘I can ask slowly.’

Ayeon was still young. Whatever problem there was, it could be changed slowly.
I also couldn’t think of a song I particularly wanted to play, so I looked around. While munching on a chocolate bar, that is.

“Heeseong, what is that?”

But I got caught before that.
The teacher said you shouldn’t eat snacks in the music room and confiscated my chocolate bar. I had hidden it until the very end!
Sighing deeply with regret, I watched the other children.

‘It was like this in the old days too.’

The house I lived in back then had a view of the street through the window. Horse carriages running on the road and people passing by were visible at a glance. In the distance, I could see steam trains and grasslands spread with large trees. The smell of people living and the smell of nature mixed, momentarily lifting my worries.
When music didn’t come to mind, when I felt like I’d get sick from composing, or just when I was bored—I always stuck my head out the window and watched the people passing by. Because my music contained the lives of people, observing people was my daily routine. It was the same now. I observed the children and kept in mind what kind of children were there.

Dan-♪

Like that, piercing through the noise of various upright pianos, the sound of the grand piano stabbed into my ears.

There were two reasons why Jung Mi-rae came to the music room.
One, to gauge the current level of the children.
Two, to find a child with talent.
Of course, the former reason was bigger. Because talent is something you gradually come to know and turn into conviction.
For now, to check the children’s interests, their level of interest in the piano, and their skills, she called the children.
After calling the children one by one in order and observing them, Jung Mi-rae had this thought:

‘Most have learned piano. We can proceed with the basics quickly.’

Jung Mi-rae thought she could teach the children who had never learned piano at all with focused instruction.
After sending off about 5 or 6 children like that, Jung Mi-rae called Ayeon.
As she was a child she personally had expectations for, Jung Mi-rae watched the child with bright eyes, wondering what performance she would hear.

“Ayeon, what kind of songs do you usually listen to?”
“I listen to classical!”
“I see. What’s the most recent classical piece you listened to?”
“Um… Beethoven? I don’t remember the title….”

Jung Mi-rae looked at Ayeon as if she found her cute. The child bringing her index finger to her mouth tugged at her heartstrings.

‘So cute.’

After the piano, Jung Mi-rae’s next favorite thing was children. Among the reasons for working as a teacher at the kindergarten was also to see children.
Jung Mi-rae smiled faintly and spoke.

“Then, shall teacher play a song for you?”
“Really?”

Ayeon’s eyes widened at Jung Mi-rae’s words. At the child’s vivid, surprised reaction, Jung Mi-rae smiled broadly and placed her hands on the keys.
And she fell into thought for a moment.

‘Is it okay to play…?’

It was a momentary hesitation, but she decided not to think about it. It would be fine to play a very short piece.
Like that, the thin, slender fingers began to run along the white and black paths.
However, Jung Mi-rae realized not long after. The wrist supporting those thin fingers, which had been running here and there…

As much as she tried to ignore it, the tingling pain in her right wrist clouded Jung Mi-rae’s mind.