Chapter 2

“…?”

What is this? What’s going on?

I clearly fainted and lost consciousness.

Contrary to the obvious expectation of seeing a hospital ceiling or a small room, it was an unfamiliar place.

…No.

It’s not an unfamiliar place, but to be precise, it’s not unknown.

A room that is not at all unfamiliar.

‘This is… my room when I was a kid…?’

How did this happen? Am I dreaming?

“Sejin, are you awake?”

A familiar voice called from outside.

“You’ll be late for school. Hurry up and eat breakfast…!”

Sejin’s eyes widened. His mother, who had been frail and ill, was now calling his name with a healthy voice.

‘School…?’

Feeling strange, he looked down at his hands and saw the small, childish hands of a child, distinctly different from an adult’s.

‘Could it be…?’

Panicking, he turned his head and looked around, and a cheap violin caught his eye.

Seeing the violin with finger tape on the fingerboard, he immediately realized that he was in fifth grade, just starting to learn the violin. It was quite late to start with the intention of majoring in it.

Of course, at that time, he hadn’t thought about majoring in it yet….

‘No, that’s not the important thing!’

Thump.

Panicking, he kicked open the door and stepped out of the room, where he saw his mother, young and healthy.

“Sejin?”

‘What is this, is it real…? Am I dreaming?’

If it’s not a dream, then something truly unbelievable has happened.

* * *

Should I call it a miracle?

It’s hard to believe, but I’ve been given a second chance.

I’ve regressed to over a decade ago.

Not in the body of a young and mediocre adult, but in the body of a 12-year-old, full of energy.

‘But what was that last thing…?’

A sensation as if all my senses were boiling, and it felt like a hallucination was unfolding before my eyes.

If the emotions felt in a piece of music were visualized, would it be like this? Not just visually, but as if the imagery of the music was vividly depicted through all the senses.

It was definitely not an illusion.

‘Why did this happen all of a sudden?’

In the last moments of my life, did my desperation reach the heavens and awaken some special ability? Or perhaps this is what is referred to as ‘attaining enlightenment’ in music.

But I don’t know if it can happen again. To find out, I need to play the violin…,

Knock knock.

“Sejin, is something wrong?”

While trying to gather his thoughts in the bathroom, his mother called out worriedly from outside.

“No, nothing’s wrong!”

“Hurry up and come out to eat breakfast, you need to go to school~?”

Click.

When Sejin opened the door, Seonhee tilted her head slightly, noticing that her son’s demeanor was clearly different.

Sejin, who had been staring at his mother, silently hugged her tightly.

This is a time before all the tragedies happened. Although he’s still a bit confused about whether this is all a dream, the body hugging his mother is that of a 12-year-old child.

“Sejin? Did something happen at school yesterday?”

Sejin shook his head.

“No, nothing like that.”

“Still… if something happens, tell me anytime.”

Instead of giving hasty comfort or nagging, Seonhee held her son’s shoulder and patted it silently. The warmth of her touch made his heart swell.

Feeling the warmth, Sejin made a resolve. This time, I must protect my mother from getting sick. I must succeed and make her life comfortable.

‘…Oh.’

Still, that terrible disease must still be latent, right? Since I haven’t been reborn in a new body.

But it’s okay because I know about it in advance. I just need to be careful.

According to the doctor, the symptoms can be very mild and go unnoticed until a certain age.

Moreover, fortunately or unfortunately, I heard that a drug effective against this disease was developed just before my death in my previous life.

Although it didn’t help much in my case, which had already progressed, it can suppress the progression if used in the early stages. So, I need to be careful until then.

So, now is the time to think about how to live this new life, this second chance.

What should I do first?

After checking my current situation, I’m at the point where I’ve just started learning the violin.

Although it was just a group lesson after school, thanks to the teacher who recognized my talent and strongly recommended it, I was about to start individual lessons soon. I vaguely remember it was quite expensive.

There’s a saying: If you want to go bankrupt slowly, teach your child a string instrument.

It’s exactly that. Our family was already struggling, and the financial burden of the violin made our situation worse.

My mother, as a mother, must have tried her best to support me when she heard about my talent, but it didn’t end well.

“Mom, I don’t want to take violin lessons anymore.”

It’s a bit too late to think about it, but back then, I was too selfish. Even though our family’s financial situation was clear, I pursued my dream without considering the sacrifices of my family.

This time, I have no intention or reason to do that. I will definitely protect my mother.

“No, why! Sejin, if it’s about the lesson fees, don’t worry.”

Seonhee was startled by his sudden declaration.

“No, I don’t want to. For now… the after-school program is enough.”

Actually, I had a specific plan. In my previous life, I learned about it too late due to a lack of information.

Even if I had known then, I’m not sure if it would have been possible, but this time is different. I still have the memories from my previous life.

The considerable techniques I had mastered then.

Although my body isn’t used to them yet, the memory of practicing thousands of times until my fingers blistered, and the memory of interpreting and making the pieces my own, hasn’t disappeared.

Moreover,

‘That strange ability…’

For now, I’ve roughly named it the ‘imagery ability.’

It’s more than just imagery, as it involves all the senses, but if I think about the dictionary definition of ‘a phenomenon acquired through the senses being reproduced in the mind,’ it seems to fit.

Can I do it again?

Even if I can’t, it’s fine. Just living this second life is like having a cheat code.

So, I need to use this opportunity well…

“I want to join a special program.”

I must get into a gifted program.

* * *

“Kids, let’s start the lesson~!”

The atmosphere in the after-school violin classroom was chaotic.

The young female teacher started tuning the instruments, but the fifth-grade students, who were at the age of mischief, were busy playing and chatting.

To think I have to teach these kids… being a teacher must be an extreme job. Sejin, who hadn’t experienced a group lesson in a long time, felt a bit overwhelmed.

Sejin attended the now meaningless after-school program to gather information about the gifted program.

The place he originally thought of was the HanYang University of Arts (Hanyang University of Arts) Gifted Program.

However, it’s not the right time for admission, and even if it were, he unfortunately doesn’t have the necessary skills yet.

Although he has the memories from his previous life, his current body, which has just started learning the violin, can’t keep up.

Moreover, he hadn’t played the violin much in the last few years. His only participation was in a competition at the end.

So, he needs to practice for at least a few months to regain the skills needed to compete with the top students at the Hanyang University of Arts.

Therefore, he’s looking for a place to join before then.

Sejin’s elementary school is known as a center for arts education, putting a lot of effort into training student orchestras and related programs. One of these is a gifted program.

‘I’m sure there was a gifted program the school was recruiting for…’

When he asked his homeroom teacher, he was told to ask the orchestra teacher, who was also the after-school violin teacher.

So, he came to ask and ended up joining the class.

‘It’s been a while, this violin.’

Once he picked up the violin, nothing else came to mind.

It’s a cheap violin for beginners. Being a small fifth-grader, it’s not a full-size violin, and it’s both cheap and lacks sound quality.

But even holding such an instrument made him feel emotional.

His hands, which were intact unlike in his last memory, felt strange and awkward.

Although his fingers were stiff from not being used to the techniques, they were very different from the stiffened hands and feet from his illness.

Beep~~

Just the fact that his hands moved as intended made him want to cry.

Sejin tuned the A string to the beep sound from the tuner the teacher took out.

“…Phew.”

Adjusting the pegs to match the sound, Sejin placed the bow on the open string.

Closing his eyes, he focused on the sound.

The after-school teacher, Jihyun Choi, noticed his posture and thought it was excellent.

Most students, even after a few months, couldn’t properly place the violin under their chin, but this child had the perfect angle, the correct position of the shoulder rest, and even the way he held the bow was perfect.

She remembered recommending this child to his mother to take it seriously, as he showed considerable talent, even though she wasn’t an exceptionally skilled teacher herself.

Suddenly, a clear sound startled her.

La~~~~

A sound that cut through the screeching noises from the other students.

“…Huh?”

What was that? Just now?

A sound so beautiful it was almost painful. A sound she never expected to hear in an after-school class full of beginners.

Where did it come from?

No way, it couldn’t be that child…?

No, that’s impossible.

No beginner, no matter how talented, could produce such a sound after just a few months.

The violin is a difficult instrument. Just drawing the bow across an open string without pressing any notes is hard, let alone producing a good sound.

But the sound she heard… just one note, but it was so overwhelming that she would have believed it was a recording of a master’s performance.

Of course, it wasn’t a recording. Listening to a recording and a live performance are completely different, something even a fool wouldn’t confuse.

How did he do it?

“….”

Looking around, she noticed that the noisy children had become quiet, all of them unknowingly closing their mouths and staring at the source of the sound.

A prodigy violinist has returned.