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And now, without further ado, let's continue with the chapter!
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Chapter 54
Just three performances. Professor Lee Chan-ho, who was surprised by the first performance, had his mouth wide open at the second, and was lost in thought at the third.
'Oh, this is ridiculous! I knew he was a genius. But the geniuses I knew were children who were formed through relentless practice. Soo-hyun said he had only heard this music once and had seen the sheet music the night before. This must be the first time he's playing this piece. But how did this happen? It is said that the legendary pianist Franz Liszt played a piece perfectly even when reading it for the first time. But that was only possible because he was Liszt. The boy in front of me is definitely not Liszt. He is just a fourteen-year-old middle school student. But that boy played the score perfectly at first sight.'
Professor Lee Chan-ho could not offer any advice or teaching. Because it was already perfect. Students who see sheet music for the first time usually practice with their left hand first. This song has four sharps. It also has a natural sign. And, since it's a musical instrument that doesn't have finger numbers written on it, it would surely take quite a bit of time to get used to it. But Soo-hyun was different. From the first moment, there was not a single mistake. If there was something slightly lacking, it was that he couldn't express his emotions when he played it for the first time. But even this approached perfection in the second and third performances.
But the boy frowned and looked at the score with his arms crossed, as if something didn't seem to be to his liking.
"The pedal effect is strange," Soo-hyun said.
'I can't help but laugh. You've only played it three times and you're already using the pedal?
"Ah, I see. Haha. Can I really teach this child? What should I teach him and how?"
Soo-hyun looked at the pedal and frowned.
"Why is that?"
"The pedal feels strange."
"Hmm?"
'It's different from the pedal of the piano Soo-hyun practiced on for seven years. Also, since the duration of the notes on a modern piano is the same, an unexpected dissonance is created.'
Professor Lee Chan-ho leaned down and pressed Soo-hyun's feet with his hands as he spoke.
"It's because it's a song that requires you to use the pedal, either by cutting it short or using a half pedal. Do you want to try it like this?"
'Well, there are still things that can be taught.'
Professor Lee Chan-ho looked up and said after looking at the time.
"I should go see Jooyoung. It's a bit late. Practice a little more and go. Don't practice too late."
Professor Lee Chan-ho left and Soo-hyun was left alone in the small practice room. After practicing pedaling a few times, Soo-hyun closed his eyes and concentrated.
'Beethoven loved Giulietta Guicciardi. But his love for a noblewoman did not come true. I don't know who she was, but if he wrote a song like this, it means he was left with anger at the end of his love.'
Soo-hyun began to play the instrument while pressing the pedal, sending a poem filled with his heart.
In your life too,Carried by the moonlight reflected on the lakeshore,A very cold wind will blow, like a cold wind.The moonlight hides behind the dark clouds.Traces of painful and cold memories.On your beautiful and bright forehead,Someday, when the sunset lingers,My wounds and scars,To the place closest to your heart.Turning like a blind man to close the door,You in my empty house.
A poem full of anger rather than a letter to a loved one. This was the heart of the 'Moonlight' Sonata performed by Soo-hyun. Before Soo-hyun, who had perfectly assimilated every note, could open his eyes, a strange sound was heard.
Squeak…
It was the door. It opened.
'Is someone here?'
Soo-hyun opened his eyes and saw the practice room door ajar. But it was strange. The hallway behind the door was dark. Soo-hyun looked up and saw the window facing the practice room. The hallway lights were shining brightly.
'What could be happening? Why is there a cave where there should be a hallway?'
His body trembled without him knowing it.
'I read it in a book. As your heart sinks, your pupils dilate, your pulse and breathing increase, your peripheral blood vessels constrict, you sweat, and you get goosebumps. This resembles the physical response to the emotion called fear.'
"Is this… fear?" Soo-hyun muttered to himself. He suddenly remembered Uncle Frederick's words. Soo-hyun bit his lip and muttered what his uncle had said. "When you're scared, the fox looks bigger." He summoned his courage and opened the door wide. The entrance was lit by the lights from the practice room, but in the distance, a dark cave with no end in sight gaped open.
'There's no light? It would be nice to have at least a lighter. But there's no way young Soo-hyun would be carrying a lighter.'
"Huh?"
It was a completely dark cave with nothing inside. In the distance, a small light was seen flickering. Blinking, blinking. A light flickering slowly but steadily.
'Should I follow that light? I'm still scared. I think it would be better to go into a cave than to be trapped here. If it's weird, I've lived through it since I was a child, right? What could be more terrifying than living with dead people for seven years?'
Soo-hyun walked slowly into a place darker than the abyss, into a deep darkness where he couldn't even see his hands.
After walking more than a hundred steps, he stopped counting. The light was still far away. Luckily, Soo-hyun had no such memories. The only thing Soo-hyun feared was the darkness. A darkness where he could see nothing. He walked again for a while, but the light still didn't get any closer. He must have walked three hundred meters. At that moment, he heard a loud bang and a star appeared before his eyes.
"Ouch!!!"
He had hit something hard. He couldn't see, so he fumbled with his hands until he touched a wooden wall and a doorknob.
'The light is still far away, but what is this door?'
As he carefully turned the doorknob, a cold winter wind blew in. He tried to open the door a little more, making as little noise as possible. As his heart began to pound, a book flew from inside the door and hit the door with a loud noise.
Bang!!!
"Yikes!"
Startled, he stumbled back. Soo-hyun barely managed to calm his trembling legs and looked inside. A man with a red, pockmarked face. He looked to be in his forties, but his hair was white. He was wearing a red vest over a white shirt and riding breeches. He had a grumpy expression.
'Why is this man here? He's not Korean. What country is he from? What language should I speak?'
"Excuse me, sir…" he began in English.
He spoke while holding the doorknob, but the other person just glared at Soo-hyun.
'Not an English speaker?'
"Entschuldigen Sie, mein Herr…" he tried in German.
A flicker of reaction appeared on the old man's face. He strode over, grabbed Soo-hyun by the collar, and pulled him inside. Soo-hyun stumbled out of the cave, dazed. The man slammed the door shut.
Soo-hyun looked around the place he had arrived at. Dark brown antique furniture, pale vermilion lights, sheet music and fountain pens scattered on the desk. The outside was visible through a small window behind the bed. The outside world was white from the falling snow.
'Where on earth is this?'
Soo-hyun, who cowered at the sight of the old man with his arms crossed by the closed door, asked in German.
"Hey… where is this place?"
The old man, who had been staring at Soo-hyun without saying anything, finally came back with a sketchbook and a pen and scribbled while staring at him.
'What are you doing?'
When he was shown the sketchbook with large letters, Soo-hyun laughed.
"It's cold outside! If you're here, close the door quickly and come in."
'Did you throw a book at a stranger just for that? Are you crazy?'
"I was rude, I apologize," Soo-hyun said, bowing his head politely.
He apologized immediately, but the old man still looked at him with an angry expression. He remembered that the old man had written something in his sketchbook.
'Could he be someone like Jaehee? I don't think so.'
"Are you, by any chance, deaf?" Soo-hyun wrote in the sketchbook the man handed him. The old man snatched the sketchbook back, his hand brushing against Soo-hyun's, and he flinched in surprise. The old man frowned and looked at what Soo-hyun had written, turned his head towards the window, and then looked back at Soo-hyun. Then, suddenly, he grabbed Soo-hyun's hand tightly and opened the door he had come through. The black cave was gone, and a forest turned white by snow appeared.
Soo-hyun, who was dragged by the old man's ignorant power, looked around the house desperately.
'Log cabin. I see a log cabin covered in white snow. It looks like a familiar house.'
"It's similar to Uncle Franz's house."
Not just the house. The back of the house to which the old man had forcibly dragged him. Just like Franz's house, there were six zelkova trees. The only difference was that there was only one piano.
"Hey, hey! Sir! Put this down!"
Did he hear what Soo-hyun said? The old man stopped. Then he stared at one point. Soo-hyun followed the old man's gaze and looked at the zelkova tree, then tilted his head. At the far right of the six giant zelkovas, a tree slightly shorter than Soo-hyun was sprouting.
'Haven't I seen something like this at Uncle Franz's house?'
The old man stared at the tree, then turned his head back to Soo-hyun and showed him something he wrote in his sketchbook.
"You're the guy they were talking about."
'Who are those guys, sir?'
The old man, who was staring at Soo-hyun, who was flustered, wrote something again and showed it to him. Soo-hyun looked at the writing in the sketchbook and looked back and forth between the writing and the man's appearance with astonished eyes.
"That, that kind of…!!"
In Soo-hyun's eyes, the writing in the sketchbook held by the grumpy old man was visible.
Ich heiße Ludwig van Beethoven. (My name is Ludwig van Beethoven.)