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Episode 10
“Next.”
At Beck Ga-hee’s merciless dismissal, the student was seen tearfully gathering their sheet music.
Jung Tae-seong inwardly clicked his tongue, ‘Ugh.’
‘There’s no need to go this far.’
It was true their skills were lacking, but there was no need to humiliate them like this.
Nevertheless, Jung Tae-seong didn’t step forward to stop Beck Ga-hee.
‘Unfortunately, it’s not like she’s wrong.’
Giving ample time to students who wouldn’t reach the passing line anyway would only delay the exam progress.
Then, not only the students taking the exam later but also the professors’ condition would inevitably suffer.
If they couldn’t make sound judgments, they might miss a precious rough diamond.
‘It’s heartbreaking, but reality is cold.’
Perhaps hearing harsh criticism early on and giving up might be a more beneficial path for students with ambiguous talent.
The other professors likely thought similarly, which is why they didn’t add any further comment to Beck Ga-hee.
Maybe they were even thankful to Beck Ga-hee for willingly playing the villain.
It was right at that moment.
‘Huh? That student?’
The face of the student just coming up on stage looked familiar.
It was the student Jung Tae-seong had taken notice of while proctoring the dictation exam.
‘The name was definitely…’
Jung Tae-seong looked at the name written for the last order of Group 9.
Yunseol
Yes. That was the name.
The single-character name was unique, so it had stuck in his memory.
While others were sweating and struggling to write down even one more note, this student had alone, nonchalantly, filled in the correct answers.
She must have an exceptionally keen ear, even among those with absolute pitch.
‘I wonder what she’ll do.’
This time too, Yunseol’s face showed no sign of tension.
She bowed briefly and went to sit at the piano.
As she placed her fingers on the keyboard, she finally smiled faintly.
As if meeting a welcome friend after a long time.
-♪
The first note rang out.
At that moment, all the professors lifted their heads.
‘There’s no stiffness from tension.’
A common mistake students make is that their whole body tenses up, preventing the notes from flowing smoothly.
But Yunseol’s performance lacked that awkwardness.
-♩♬♪♬♪
The subsequent melody was also astonishing.
Dreamy chord progressions, unfamiliar yet sophisticated rhythms, a delicate melody layered upon a solidly built structure.
All of it came together in perfect harmony.
‘This… isn’t a quality a student could produce?’
Even more so, it wasn’t a piece suitable for revealing during a transfer exam.
Jung Tae-seong forgot to take notes and stared at the stage. He even had the illusion that he was watching a ‘performance,’ not an ‘exam.’
Beck Ga-hee paused her pen for a moment.
The professors beside her exchanged glances.
A professor who had been watching with arms crossed from start to finish had now uncrossed them and leaned forward.
Jung Tae-seong subtly curled the corners of his mouth.
‘Looks like everyone’s thinking similarly.’
He watched the performance with interest.
Yunseol continued playing the piano with a gentle smile lingering on her face. She seemed to be freely roaming on her own stage.
-♬♪…….
The final chord faded, and the hall was submerged in a stillness as if breath itself had stopped.
The professors’ eyes were all wavering.
Jung Tae-seong said nothing, savoring the last lingering resonance.
Then, Yunseol rose from her seat and bowed again towards the professors.
Clap, clap!
“Bravo!”
Only then did one of the professors clap and praise.
“Not just your piano skills, but your composition talent is also remarkable. Student Yunseol
“Indeed. I was astonished.”
An elderly professor, who rarely praised others, removed his glasses and wiped them with a handkerchief, chiming in.
“It’s been a while since I’ve heard such a good performance.”
As this amicable atmosphere continued, Beck Ga-hee abruptly interjected.
“Just a moment. Student Yunseol
“Yes.”
“This piece, are you sure you wrote it yourself?”
The blatant message in that question was unmistakable. The professors all looked at Beck Ga-hee simultaneously.
“It’s hard to believe a student wrote this themselves. These days, professional composers sometimes do students’ assignments for them as pocket money.”
With that coldly thrown suspicion, the atmosphere instantly shifted.
“Come to think of it…”
“Though it is a bit excessive for a student’s work.”
Some nodded in agreement,
“Professor Beck. How can you suspect without concrete evidence?”
“Once you start doubting, there’s no end.”
Others resisted.
Jung Tae-seong stepped back and observed the situation.
‘It’s understandable why such suspicion arises.’
There was only one reason.
It was too outstanding.
When people face something they cannot comprehend, they are bound to doubt.
And that doubt isn’t always wrong. This was far more plausible than thinking a composition genius had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
‘But if you have ears, you’d know.’
That performance was real.
It wasn’t something a fake could imitate by trying.
Moreover, Jung Tae-seong had watched Yunseol throughout the performance. That breath, the expressions that came alive on stage.
That was not the attitude of someone who had stolen another’s piece.
Even thinking that, he didn’t step forward to defend Yunseol
‘If her skill is real, she’ll face countless such suspicions in the future. If she can’t endure, it’s better she falls now.’
He turned his gaze back to Yunseol on stage.
Her face still had youth. It was hard to believe she had just delivered that spine-tingling performance.
Young prodigies are common.
The art world overflows with gifted children and prodigies. But Yunseol had something a little special.
‘Experience. That realm only years can build, you have it.’
She possessed something young prodigies rarely obtain.
To Jung Tae-seong, the thorny path ahead of Yunseol was clear.
‘If she doesn’t have a vessel deep enough to handle her talent… only pain greater than death awaits.’
In that case, wouldn’t living an ordinary life be happier for the individual?
So, this was a kind of test.
‘Now, how will you navigate through this?’
On stage.
Yunseol paused briefly to steady her breath, scanning the professors. Then she met Beck Ga-hee’s piercing gaze head-on.
“Are you asking me to prove it’s not plagiarism?”
“Correct.”
It was an unreasonable demand.
While proving plagiarism is easy, proving it is not plagiarism is notoriously difficult.
But arguing that principle wouldn’t completely escape such suspicion.
It would only end with ‘insufficient evidence.’
However, Yunseol soon nodded.
“Understood.”
That’s possible?
Jung Tae-seong eyes widened too. Whether she knew the professors were murmuring or not,
Yunseol sat back down at the piano.
“I’ll briefly show you the process I went through when creating this piece.”
Yunseol’s hand brushed across the keyboard.
-♩♬♪♬♪
It seemed like the melody heard just moments ago would continue, but soon the latter part changed.
-♬♪♬♪…….
“Initially, I thought of developing it like this. But it felt too monotonous, so I changed it like this.”
Then, a new harmony was layered in. Now the mood of the piece was distinctly different.
Beck Ga-hee’s eyebrow twitched. The professor next to her unconsciously let out an exclamation, “Oh-ho.”
“But when I did that, it strayed far from the feeling I wanted.”
Yunseol connected the melody again.
Same theme, different flow.
Three, four versions were born on the piano in an instant.
Then, finally.
-♩♬♪♬♪
At last, the piece found its place.
It was a fragment of the perfectly polished self-composed piece she had played earlier.
“…This is how I completed it. Since I first recorded it with MIDI, I can submit the file if needed.”
Yunseol calmly withdrew her hands.
Silence flowed through the exam hall once more.
“This is…”
The professor beside her couldn’t continue speaking and clamped their mouth shut.
It was understandable. She had clearly shown a developmental process impossible for anyone but the actual creator, making the plagiarism suspicion raised moments ago seem absurd.
“With this level, it’s certainly…”
“Seeing the process like this, it’s convincing.”
As the professors murmured themselves, Jung Tae-seong uncrossed his arms.
His previously relaxed gaze cooled and settled.
Only one thought crossed his mind.
A name suddenly surfaced.
Jung Do-hyeon.
‘The one you’re looking for… could it possibly be that student?’
