Chapter 71

071. Unexplained Relief

I held my breath and waited.

For Bruner to cry her heart out.

Thanks to this, an unusual silence fell over the concert hall.

But no one in the audience found it strange.

At least for now, they seemed to be lost in the aftertaste, just like me.

...I slowly lowered my bow and looked down at the stage.

It took quite a while for the applause to be heard.

Though not as explosive as before, I left the stage with the dense sound of applause behind me.

My first recital ended like that.

And a little while later.

When I returned to the waiting room, I found this headline in an article.

At the end of the recital, we all held our breath and cried.

#

“What is this, it feels a bit strange.”

As I opened the door to the waiting room, Lee Ho-ik scanned me from head to toe.

With a ridiculous smile, he sat on the sofa, and one by one, familiar faces came in.

Yang Han-gil and others, who were in the same class as me in the first year.

Looking at them, I also felt my appearance was strange. The discomfort I hadn't felt due to tension and excitement slowly crept up. I quickly untied my bow tie and unbuttoned one button of my shirt. I felt better.

In the meantime, another bouquet was added to the pile on the table. It was the one Yang Han-gil brought. As soon as I thought, "That's odd?" Yang Han-gil chuckled and added,

“This one was bought by Chae Yeon.”

“Sure enough. I was thinking it was strange that you bought it.”

After all, he once passionately argued about the uselessness of flowers at a drinking party. I somewhat agreed back then, but now... it's good. This must be due to Bruner's influence.

“...But?”

I raised the topic and looked around. Chae Yeon, who was supposed to have bought the flowers, was nowhere to be seen. One of my classmates pointed outside.

“To the restroom.”

“Oh.”

I nodded and started chatting with my friends.

Given the nature of the performances, which ranged from about 10 minutes to several dozen minutes, I was worried it might be boring, but surprisingly, everyone listened intently and their eyes sparkled.

Just as I was about to thank them for coming, Chae Yeon quietly entered the waiting room.

Lee Ho-ik turned to look at Chae Yeon and said in amazement,

“Oh, you’re perfect.”

“M-mo.”

Chae Yeon came over to me, pretending to be nonchalant.

I could tell what he meant by "perfect." She had been crying, hadn't she?

“Thanks for the flowers.”

“...If I had known there would be so many, I would have bought something else.”

Chae Yeon looked at the table and smacked her lips. Lee Ho-ik interjected annoyingly.

“So you should have bought chocolate.”

“That’s what you want to eat!”

Despite this, she seemed to be wondering if it was true and looked at me. I smiled.

“I like flowers.”

“Really...?”

She raised an eyebrow.

“This is geranium, and this is lisianthus. These two are not even in other bouquets.”

Mentioning the difficult (?) flower names, Chae Yeon and the others' eyes widened.

I was equally surprised. Before the regression, I had no interest in flowers.

But Bruner did. Before he met music, his only joy in the city was looking at flowers.

“See!”

Chae Yeon, now more confident, was met with a narrowed gaze from Lee Ho-ik.

“But you didn't really know these flowers, did you?”

“Huh? Ah, hahaha. This is... the flower shop lady did it for me...”

The kids burst into laughter. I also smiled.

Having become so integrated with my past life, I feel like a complete Han Seo-ho when I see my friends.

I felt I made the right decision to return to my original high school.

Of course, I still wonder what it would have been like if I had gone to a specialized arts high school.

It was a place I had no reason to go to, given my inherent aversion to competition. But my thoughts have changed a lot through the concerto.

And that confirmed it.

I still have a lot to learn.

I've talked with many great artists, but I still don't know everything about music.

So, when the opportunity arises to learn something new in the future,

I will gladly jump into it.

#

“...”

Kim Se-jin scratched his nose in front of the noisy waiting room door.

Although he was given a free pass to the waiting room, seeing his face...

When he finally arrived at the waiting room, he wondered why he came here. It felt like he was drawn here by something.

He had a guess. The incredible performance. It was like a magnet for a performer, and he was inevitably drawn to it.

He had so many questions about the performance.

For example, how did Tchaikovsky's The Seasons, March produce such a sad feeling? Why did Liszt's La Campanella sound different from the previous semi-final? Why did he interpret Rachmaninoff's Prelude in that way?

In the past, out of pride, he would never have asked such questions. He would have gone home and practiced the piano to play better. But now, it was different. He often found himself wanting to spend time talking about performances.

Of course...

“Still, not now.”

Scratching his head, Kim Se-jin quietly turned around.

At that moment, two voices alternated from the other side of the corridor.

“I wanted to buy something delicious to thank everyone, but it’s a shame.”

“With Seo-ho’s friends here, it must have been awkward to stay. Su-a also had to leave quickly. When the kids come to record next time, I’ll buy something.”

“Yes, really buy something delicious... Oh?”

The nod turned towards him.

Kim Se-jin awkwardly greeted the two.

“Ah, hello.”

During the concerto, he met a few times in the waiting room, so he knew this was Han Seo-ho’s mother.

“It’s been a while. Did you come to see Seo-ho?”

“Ah, well...”

“Can you call Seo-ho for a moment?”

“No, no, it’s fine. I have to go...”

Kim Se-jin quickly waved his hands.

Han Seo-ho’s mother, who seemed disappointed, then the middle-aged man next to her introduced himself as Seo-ho’s father and said,

“I enjoyed the concerto performances.”

“Ah, thank you.”

It didn’t seem like just a formality. Han Seo-ho’s father continued,

“I watched all of them online. I even joked that Kim Se-jin’s touch was so light, it seemed like he was using a different keyboard. I was so surprised by how light his touch was, but the sound was not light at all...”

Kim Se-jin was a bit dazed by his sincere and admiring reaction. It had been quite a while since the concerto, and this was the first time he received such a reaction. Usually, journalists only asked about his second-place finish or tried to create a rivalry with Han Seo-ho. And his own father...

“Seo-ho said he learned a lot. I did too.”

Kim Se-jin, who was savoring the bitter taste, asked back.

“Really?”

“Ah, I work in music, so I play the piano a lot. I tried to imitate it, but it’s not easy.”

He shook his head and laughed, then added sincerely,

“Please continue to give us great performances. It would be great to interact well with Seo-ho and grow together.”

“...Yes, thank you.”

“Thank you for coming. I’ll let Seo-ho know.”

Han Seo-ho’s parents smiled and waved.

Kim Se-jin bowed and left the way he came. He put on his cap and replayed the conversation in his mind.

“Together... grow...”

These two words still floated in his mind.

Was it the ease of a parent whose son came in first?

“...”

He didn’t think so.

#

Shin Su-a got off the bus after saying goodbye to her friends.

She was shocked to learn that the next bus would arrive in 30 minutes.

“A taxi...”

Her gaze turned to the road.

“No.”

She firmly decided and started walking quickly. Naturally, the thoughts she had been putting off began to surface.

“...I don’t think it’s stage fright.”

She felt her face flush. Of course, she might have overcome it through the Tchaikovsky concerto, but she had never properly asked the person. However, it wasn’t important today.

To her, who had watched Han Seo-ho’s performances quite a bit, today’s recital was quite shocking.

“I fully enjoyed the performance...”

He played well. He didn’t play well. This part was good. That part wasn’t. Such analysis by a violinist couldn’t even enter her mind.

She was just absorbed in Han Seo-ho’s performance.

She even felt like she might cry while watching the performance.

It was an old emotion, hard to calculate how long it had been.

Even now, quite a while after the recital ended, the aftertaste still lingered.

Her heart beat fast.

It felt like she was seeing the performance that made her dream of the violin again.

Back then, she really thought she would stand on such a stage.

She even imagined performing a solo recital at Carnegie Hall.

But the wall to the future was high, and the reality of the ground was getting lower and lower.

The gap was stark. She was tired of even feeling resentful.

...As Shin Su-a inserted and turned the key, the inside became noisy.

A young child, not even up to her waist, ran up and hugged her.

“It’s me—!”

#

On the way home.

I rolled around in the back seat in casual clothes.

The concert must be over, and the reaction to the last piece, "Familie," was surprisingly good, so I felt relieved, like a student who just finished the college entrance exam.

“People were seen crying at various points, but especially at the last piece, many people were really crying.”

“Really?”

“Yes. And at the end, when everyone held their breath and was still, it was really spine-chilling.”

Mom swept her arm. Then, with a puzzled look, she said to me,

“But your dad was laughing in that situation?”

“Huh? Ah... the performance was a bit messy, wasn’t it?”

I felt my legs tremble. But Dad immediately shook his head.

“No, it wasn’t that.”

“Then what? How was it? I don’t think it changed much from the last time you heard it...”

“Well, the melody changed a bit, and a few parts of the composition were different. But the impression I got while listening was very different.”

“How so?”

I quickly sat up straight.

“I don’t know why, but... I felt relieved.”

“Relieved?”

“It’s strange. I felt strange too. Feeling relieved from such a performance. But I really felt that way. It felt like seeing a long-desired scene... like a long dream coming true...”

“You’ve always wanted to stand on such a stage. Maybe you’re projecting your unfulfilled dream onto your son. Isn’t that what parents do?”

“Is that it? It felt a bit different... I don’t know. Maybe you’re right.”

Listening to Dad’s story, I felt a bit strange, but I soon thought it could be true and looked out the window.

The light reflected on the Han River was rising. The night view was also piling up in my mind. Dad, as if remembering something, looked at me in the rearview mirror.

“By the way, do you remember the teacher from Hwawon Arts High School who visited my company last time?”

How could I forget? The guy with a mustache that looked like Pringles.

“I remember. He said to visit the school sometime.”

“That’s right. This time, under his leadership, a few famous domestic performers are doing mentoring. They plan to talk about music as well as performances. If you’re interested, would you like to come? What do you think?”

Hwawon Arts High School, known as the best arts high school in the country.

I recalled the thoughts I had while looking at my friends in the waiting room.

And I smiled and said,

“It sounds interesting.”