Chapter 3

003. Revealed Talent (2)

SoundFilm Studio.

Han Ki-joon, the father of Han Seo-ho and the representative of this place, entered the office. The employees who had arrived earlier greeted him.

Han Ki-joon, shaking hands with each of them, put down his crossbody bag. Park Jae-hoon, the team leader with curly hair, who was sitting closest, approached him quietly.

"Did you have a good trip?"

"Yeah, it was great. Until I read the email you sent."

As if he had expected this, Park Jae-hoon made a pained expression.

"Director Choi, that guy, was whining so much about needing background music for a hastily added scene that I thought I was going to go crazy. Sigh. I couldn't even say anything to Super A-class client Go Gang... "

"Is he still contacting you?"

"Since I played what you sent yesterday, he seems to have calmed down and is waiting quietly."

But Han Ki-joon knew this wouldn't last long.

In the film industry, where schedules are tight, it was uncertain when he would contact them again and act impatiently.

As a result, subcontractors like SoundFilm were so used to working quickly that it had become second nature.

"Do they need it by the day after tomorrow?"

"Yes, they said they will insert it with the additional footage and send it to the Film Rating Board right away."

Han Ki-joon fell into deep thought.

"The additional footage is 1 minute and 3 seconds long. Considering the post-production, we need to finish it by tomorrow morning at the latest... We're still short by about 20 seconds."

It's just the finishing touch that's missing. It's too long to just fade out, and it's not suitable for a loop...

"How about looping it once?"

That's too insincere.

One of the employees suggested this, and Park Jae-hoon, the team leader, responded with a look of disbelief.

"Make a round song? Hurry up and go to the meeting room and set up the projector."

"Got it!"

As the employee hurried out of the office, Park Jae-hoon clicked his tongue, and Han Ki-joon, who had been silently laughing, opened his crossbody bag and took out his laptop.

When he opened the laptop, which he had simply closed yesterday, the last project immediately appeared on the screen.

Han Ki-joon chuckled, making a sound like a deflating balloon. Seeing this, Park Jae-hoon, the team leader, stretched his neck and asked.

"What are you laughing at?"

"It's my son's work."

"Seo-ho's work?"

As a doting father, it would be against his nature not to boast about his son when given the chance.

Han Ki-joon turned his laptop around.

"Yesterday, my son showed interest in what I do for the first time. I taught him a bit about how to use Pro Tools, and he made this."

"Wait, how old is Seo-ho... Oh, 12 years old. At that age, he's starting to take an interest in his father's job, isn't he?"

Although he was a close friend, Park Jae-hoon, the team leader, who was a veteran in marriage and child-rearing compared to Han Ki-joon, chuckled.

The employees also began to show interest in their conversation.

"Aww, cute. Does Seo-ho play the piano?"

"No. He didn't even show much interest in music. When he was a baby, he would cry whenever I played songs."

"Who knows? Maybe he inherited your talent?"

A usually humorous employee threw out a sweet question.

Han Ki-joon's smile widened, even though he knew it was unlikely. Park Jae-hoon, the team leader, added:

"Let's listen to it. I'm curious about Seo-ho's first composition."

"He probably just pressed the keys randomly."

"Still, we have 10 minutes before the meeting. Let's listen to it as BGM until then."

"Whatever, BGM or not."

Saying this, his hand moved towards the play button.

"Ahem, shall we listen to it once?"

Click, he pressed the spacebar.

The recorded sound came through the laptop speakers softly.

The first note was C. The next was C#.

It was just going up by half steps, very slowly.

Just from this, the employees smiled warmly, imagining a 12-year-old child pressing the keys for the first time, amazed.

Han Ki-joon also crossed his arms and smiled like a proud father.

The scale started with C and ended with C.

Because he played it so slowly, the employees were really treating it as BGM, doing their own work.

"Cute."

"Indeed."

Park Jae-hoon, the team leader, laughed, and Han Ki-joon nodded. He hadn't expected anything great. What could a primary school student who had never learned the piano do? Just thinking about his son trying to make this sound made him feel loving.

But then.

The speed of pressing the keys became even slower. But it wasn't just pressing the notes in order like before.

He pressed one note, and after a while, another. It was as if he was searching for something, pressing the keys hesitantly.

"..."

Han Ki-joon felt a bit strange. Ignoring the fact that the notes were harmonious, they were so familiar.

He easily recognized where this familiarity came from.

It wasn't as flashy as if he had played it himself, and it was just a clumsy scale played with his right hand.

But it was definitely his own composition.

After receiving Park Jae-hoon's call and rushing home yesterday, he had hastily created this piece.

His head tilted to the side.

Even if he had heard it repeated many times, how could a child who had never learned the piano do this?

This thought was fleeting.

The melody that followed made Han Ki-joon's expression stiffen.

It was the part he had struggled with for an hour and eventually given up on, the part he had planned to discuss in today's meeting. His son's clumsy performance had surpassed it.

He couldn't create it any further. So, the melody should have stopped abruptly, like a broken bridge.

But.

The melody continued.

As if it were nothing.

Moving towards an incredibly perfect ending.

"Huh, huh?"

His mouth opened naturally, and his brows furrowed.

Doubting his own ears, he was still amazed by the continuing melody.

He was still pressing one note at a time, but each note Han Seo-ho pressed was far from simple.

The surprise that started with a question soon turned into astonishment.

And when the last note was pressed, completing the piece.

"What is this...?"

Han Ki-joon looked up at the sudden voice.

Park Jae-hoon, the team leader, who was the only one who had heard the project yesterday, looked bewildered.

#

Summer vacation.

At this time, most 12-year-olds would have similar things to do at home.

Study. Even though his mother, who had her own philosophy, didn't send him to cram schools unless he wanted to, she couldn't give up on the study materials when he reached the higher grades of primary school.

Yesterday, he had just returned from a trip, so he managed to avoid it, but today, a mountain of study materials awaited him.

Fifteen days' worth.

Perhaps the memory of suffering while doing this was still fresh.

But this time, he opened them with a calm mind and solved the problems without hesitation.

There were no difficult parts. It was a normal curriculum for a fifth-grade primary school student, and he solved it leisurely, yet it only took about 30 minutes.

'This feels like I've become a genius.'

He chuckled and left the room. Approaching his mother, who was folding laundry, he said:

"Mom, I finished them all."

"Already?"

"Yes."

Looking at the clock, his mother, surprised, raised an eyebrow.

"That doesn't make sense."

"But it's true."

"Bring them over."

In the past, those words were so scary.

Today, he nodded with a smile. He was confident. He didn't hide a few pages or fill them out carelessly as he used to.

His mother, who quickly scanned the materials, looked flustered. She seemed to have expected him to get them wrong.

"Did you really finish them all?"

Deciding that further confirmation was meaningless, she put down the materials.

Sitting next to her and helping with the laundry, he asked subtly:

"Then, can I go to Dad's room and play now?"

"The study room?"

"Yes."

"Why suddenly? It's where Dad works. Is it okay?"

"Yesterday, Dad said it was okay to play there."

"Really? Then, you have to be careful. Don't touch anything randomly."

He slowly nodded. Showing too much eagerness would make her doubt him. He calmly got up and entered the study. And the moment the door closed with a click.

"Great~."

Smiling, he quickly headed to the desk.

The desk was still filled with interesting equipment, just like yesterday. The complex box where the headphones were plugged in, the small piano called a master keyboard, and the messy wires and microphone.

Only the spot where the laptop had been was empty. It seemed his father had taken it.

"I can't record without it."

He sat down, put on the headphones, and placed his hands on the small piano. Then he thought. Well, what should I play? Yesterday, I continued what Dad was playing. So, today...

He licked his lips and pressed a key.

Click.

Huh? What?

Click.

Click.

No matter how many times he pressed, only the sound of the plastic keys being pressed was heard, and no sound came out.

'Is there a problem with the settings?'

He tried increasing the volume on the box where the headphones were plugged in and fiddled with several other things. But there was still no sound.

In the end, he concluded that it was because the laptop was missing. He felt disappointed. A piano that couldn't make a sound on its own. Why did it have such a grand name like master keyboard?

He grumbled and took off the headphones. But he wasn't giving up.

Waiting for his father, who often worked late, was too much for a 12-year-old body. He would be sleepy by 10 PM.

'What should I do...?'

He stared at the keys for a while. Then, an idea struck him, and he quickly closed his eyes.

Slowly, he applied pressure to his fingers, which were placed on the keys. Despite only hearing the sound of plastic keys colliding, he ignored it.

Instead, he recalled the sound corresponding to the key he had just pressed. Strangely, the sound echoed in his ears just by imagining it, quite clearly.

This time, he moved his fingers to the side. The next note. And the next.

Each time he pressed a key, the sound in his memory played back faithfully.

While it wasn't as good as the real sound, it was enough to play.

Thus, the study room began to fill with the sound of the piano.

This was...

Like he had really become a genius.

#

"Hey, you didn't sleep? I told you to go to bed first."

Han Ki-joon, sneaking into the house, awkwardly laughed when he saw his wife sitting at the dining table.

"I'm fine. I wanted to read a bit. Seo-ho also said he was waiting for Dad, but he fell asleep a while ago."

"Seo-ho?"

"He had a lot of questions. He was in his room all day. When I peeked, he was playing the piano enthusiastically."

"But it wouldn't have made any sound."

Han Ki-joon chuckled, put down his bag, and sat opposite his wife.

His wife then started to tell him about the backlog of stories she had.

From how Seo-ho quickly finished the backlog of study materials to how she checked them and couldn't find any mistakes.

She looked as happy as when they were on their European trip.

He finally understood what it meant to say that children were the greatest joy.

When his wife finished her excited story, Han Ki-joon also spoke up. He had a lot to say today too.

"I was also surprised by Seo-ho at the office today."

"Why?"

From how Seo-ho had followed his composition to how he had perfectly solved the part he couldn't, he told her everything. When he finished, his wife looked bewildered.

"So, you mean to say that our Seo-ho, who has never played the piano, completed the part you couldn't?"

"Exactly. If it weren't for Seo-ho, I wouldn't have been able to leave work today."

Once the main melody was completed, the rest wasn't difficult. With the arrangement direction already set, he quickly hired a performer to complete the piece.

"If it's that impressive... Should we have forced him to learn the piano? Isn't it a bit late now?"

His wife asked with a serious expression.

Han Ki-joon, as if waiting for this, shared his opinion.

"So, I was thinking of taking him to Professor Yoon."

"Professor Yoon... Your professor from university?"

"Yes, he's in charge of the gifted education at the Arts Center now. He was so disappointed that I didn't visit on Teachers' Day, so I promised to see him when I finished my busy work... "

"Will you take Seo-ho then?"

Han Ki-joon nodded, looking at his wife expectantly.

"Hmm..."

After a moment of thought, his wife finally nodded.

"I think it's fine. It might seem a bit much, but it's better than not knowing where Seo-ho's talent lies and letting it pass."