Chapter 4

4. Arpeggio (Arpeggio, Spread Chord)

(Chopin. Etude No. 1.)

The moment I peeked at the sheet music, I felt it.

'So, the principal really doesn't intend to give me a scholarship.'

In the principal's memory, I must have been a student with poor skills, and as a middle schooler, I was quite moody, so I probably didn't seem diligent.

To give a scholarship, which is essentially the principal's personal funds, to such a student, I would have felt hesitant too.

After all, it's not easy to get someone to take money out of their pocket.

I know this well, having gone through a time when I couldn't even earn a million won a month until I joined the orchestra at the age of thirty-two.

So, I decided to do it properly.

To play so passionately that the principal would genuinely want to support me.

In that sense, 'Chopin Etude No. 1' was actually a beneficial piece for me.

A difficult piece where the left and right hands move completely differently.

Even the right hand has to swiftly traverse a wide range of notes, exceeding a tenth.

It's not an easy piece, often played for entrance exams or to practice arpeggios.

"Whoosh"

I placed the sheet music on the stand and took a deep breath.

This situation is clearly quite unreasonable, yet strangely, as my fingers moved toward the keys, a smile immediately formed on my face.

Perhaps it was because I was experiencing the absurdity of returning to my childhood.

For some reason, I could hear the vivid sound of the etude from the mere ink and paper of the sheet music.

And the moment my fingers touched the keys.

Ding-

I knew exactly what I had to do.

Arpeggio.

The notes that quickly ascend and descend the scale ripple like waves.

Since my hands were not yet prepared, I focused more precisely on my right hand as I pressed the keys.

The music from the sheet music was guiding me on how to play.

With my hand on that melody, my fingers moved naturally with the flow.

Thanks to this, I could focus more on not repeating the same mistakes as yesterday.

Especially at the point where I had made a mistake while playing Debussy's Clair de Lune.

The size of my hands had subtly changed from two days ago.

The force I applied and the sensation at the tips of my fingers were all different.

So, I played with my whole body.

Pressing the pedal and leaning my body to apply weight to the keys.

Giving enough emphasis at the staccato points while keeping the smoothly flowing waves uninterrupted.

Finally, I finished the piece with a heavy, forte note, similar to the introduction, and looked up.

Everyone in the music room stared at me, frozen in place.

Clap, clap.

Then, Senior Jeongseok, who had been looking at me with a smile, clapped his hands, and the classical club members and the principal gave me a round of applause.

The performance seemed to have produced a more beautiful melody than I had expected.

***

A week passed.

After that, the principal's attitude changed dramatically, and he even allowed me to practice alone until 9 PM after school.

Fortunately, the tuition and practice room issues were all resolved.

Thanks to this, I could focus on the piano.

Turning a body that had nothing into a performer's body was not an easy task.

Calluses formed on the tips of my fingers.

My joints felt sore as muscles began to build up.

Additionally, while my body from my previous life could maintain a proper posture even when relaxed, now I had to consciously correct even the basics.

Focusing on every little detail, my seven days passed in a flash.

Knock, knock.

Then came a knock on the door.

Senior Jeongseok was standing in front of the door, looking at me, though I didn't know how long he had been there.

"Are you hungry? Let's eat something."

He extended his hands, which he had been holding behind his back as if they were a gift, and there was a seasoned chicken.

I quickly prepared a chair for Senior Jeongseok to sit on and a table to place the chicken.

"Have you been practicing until 9 PM every day lately? Isn't it tiring?"

"Hmm, to be honest, I'd rather skip school and just practice."

I said this while tearing a chicken leg, feeling a bit bitter.

It was already mid-October.

Soon, it would be time to fill out the application for the preparatory school entrance exam, and the most important practical exam was just around the corner.

However, I was not yet fully prepared as a performer, and I hadn't even told my father, who was against the preparatory school, that I wanted to play the piano.

Honestly, the issue with my father was more concerning than the entrance exam.

In fact, I had a falling out with him over this issue until 2030, which made my heart even more restless.

"Oh. Why? Is there a piece that's giving you trouble?"

But it seemed like Senior Jeongseok heard it as a different story.

He looked at me with interest, his lips forming a circle.

"Hmm, the pieces for this year's Mihyang Preparatory School entrance exam are Debussy, Chopin, and Liszt. But no matter how I listen, I can't get a feel for them."

I didn't want to bring up my family issues in front of a senior, so I answered as if I was seeking advice for the entrance exam.

"Feel? You mean the feel? Didn't you play Chopin's Etude well?"

"That was just a lucky coincidence, really."

"So, you knew Chopin's Etude No. 1."

Then, Senior Jeongseok nodded as if he understood something.

"Seonghyun, you've been playing the piano by yourself, haven't you?"

"Because I love it."

"Chopin's Etude No. 1 is a common entrance exam piece."

"I knew that."

When I said this with confidence, Senior Jeongseok smiled broadly, wrinkles forming at the corners of his eyes.

This was a good sign.

Senior Jeongseok, known as a tiger, occasionally showed this curious smile in the past,

and in such cases, it was almost always because he had anticipated the conversation and had prepared a gift.

"Cough."

What kind of gift had he prepared? Senior Jeongseok cleared his throat.

"Seonghyun, the ability to recognize problems in your own performance is a tremendous skill. I'm not sure exactly what you mean by 'feel,' but I think if you listen to other people's performances, you might get a better grasp of it. What do you think, Seonghyun?"

Hmm, so Senior Jeongseok was going to play a good performance for me?

I thought about his words and nodded.

Indeed, there were few people as skilled as Senior Jeongseok.

"Then, I'll talk to the principal, and tomorrow, instead of school, wait for me in front of your house."

"Huh? Why?"

"There are a few students preparing for Mihyang Preparatory School in the M Studio I'm affiliated with."

"Eh, M Studio?"

But Senior Jeongseok's gift far exceeded my expectations.

"Oh. Do you know what that place is?"

Senior Jeongseok smiled, finding my intense reaction amusing.

Do I know? Is that even a question?

Rather, it would be more surprising if I didn't know about M Studio.

It was the place where the genius pianist Kim Minho, who had opened my ears, was affiliated.

***

Jeongseok drove to Seonghyun's house early in the morning.

Officially, it was a field trip, but in reality, Seonghyun was going to meet his rivals for the entrance exam.

Rivals from M Studio, which only accepted talented students.

Jeongseok recalled the conversation from the previous day.

"I knew that."

Seonghyun's matter-of-fact response when asked about Etude No. 1.

He had suspected it might be the case after Seonghyun's performance in front of the principal, but it was clear that Seonghyun had already been preparing for the preparatory school entrance exam on his own.

His favorite composer was Debussy.

The piece he had been practicing was Chopin.

Jeongseok was convinced that Seonghyun had already identified the pieces for this year's entrance exam and was preparing in advance.

But why was his body so unprepared as a performer?

This question had been on Jeongseok's mind since Seonghyun's perfect performance in front of the principal.

The most common reason was family opposition.

If he came from a conservative family, his parents might have deliberately prevented him from studying music.

As a result, he might have only been able to practice the piano in the music room late at night.

"Hmm."

It would be easy to explain his name on the club list by saying he just followed a friend.

Reflecting on the day they first met, it seemed like a plausible scenario.

And, though rare, he had heard of cases where a serious illness had left a student's body in poor condition.

The basic skills that didn't match his skilled technique.

Perhaps it was a rare case, but he thought it might explain the talented child's situation.

"Hmm, I can't ask, hmm."

While pondering this, Jeongseok's car arrived in front of Seonghyun's house.

Seonghyun, wearing a navy coat, was waiting.

"Did you sleep well?"

Jeongseok tried to clear his thoughts and asked brightly.

"Yes!"

But Seonghyun's response was much more energetic than when they met after school.

"Why so energetic? Are you nervous?"

"Huh? Not nervous. Just excited."

"Excited?"

"Yes. This is the first time I'm seeing middle school students who are formally preparing for the preparatory school entrance exam."

Middle school students?

The phrasing was a bit odd, but for Seonghyun, who had been preparing for the entrance exam alone and apart from his peers, it would certainly be a fresh stimulus.

"That's great."

Jeongseok nodded, satisfied to see Seonghyun's happy face.

Actually, with the entrance exam approaching day by day,

the most efficient approach would be to have him listen to his own performance and practice the pieces mechanically.

But there was something different about Seonghyun.

This child was a genius.

Was it right to confine such a genius within the framework of his own performance?

Perhaps it would be a more enriching experience for a genius to see and hear various students in similar situations.

Fortunately, Jeongseok's careful decision had elicited a tremendous response from Seonghyun.

And Seonghyun, who had no idea, was about to meet two other geniuses with talents equal to his own at M Studio.

One, a child who always played the piano boldly and had already swept the top spots in numerous junior competitions,

and the other, who, though overshadowed by the former, consistently secured second place.

What would happen if Seonghyun, the third genius, were placed between them?

Jeongseok smiled, imagining the exciting possibilities.

He looked at Seonghyun, who was sitting in the passenger seat, looking calm, and chuckled.

'He probably can't even imagine it.'

Jeongseok smiled even wider, curious about how Seonghyun's face would change when he met the two geniuses.

***

I tried to calm my excited heart.

'Kim Minho, he must be there.'

To think I would meet him so soon.

Since I returned to the past, this was the first time my heart had raced like this.

Jeongseok's car smoothly headed toward the parking lot of a massive building in Gangnam.

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