"Hey, get lost."
A rude drunkard placed his hand on the pianist's thin shoulder, muttering some embarrassing obscenities.
This alcohol-soaked hand, and the rude man's words, pulled the talentless pianist out of his small, self-satisfied world.
"Who am I? Where am I? What am I doing?" The pianist's playing slowed slightly. Pulled from his own world, he was still a bit confused. The three great questions of life appeared in his mind, forcing him to devote some energy to thinking about them.
Who was he? He was a talentless pianist, thirty-eight years old, who had been playing for twenty-five years with no achievements to speak of.
Where was he? He was in a small, cramped, rundown, twelve-square-meter cheap underground bar. This was where he was performing today. The bar owner had hired him, a low-level pianist who could only play from sheet music, for a price lower than other places. Although the price was low, being able to play the piano was better than anything, so the pianist hadn't refused the job.
What was he doing now? He was playing the piano. This was his job today. Although he was just playing from sheet music, although there were only a few people in the bar, even if his music was just like a napkin, something that was "supposed" to be in a bar, he was willing to immerse himself in his own world and play his music for those customers.
But, but a rude, alcohol-reeking customer had interrupted his performance, telling him to get lost so that he could sit at the piano and play a song for his colleagues.
He didn't want to give up his seat. He absolutely could not.
So the pianist didn't respond to the customer. His fingers continued to fly over the keys. Before a piece of music was finished, no musician's hands should leave their instrument, nor should their body leave their seat.
"Hey! Did you fucking hear me? Get out of the way, now."
The rude customer pushed the pianist again. This time, his action made the bar owner walk over.
The owner yelled loudly at the pianist, "Don't you fucking cause trouble for me! If you don't get out of the way right now, you can get the hell out and never think about getting a job from me again!"
First, a request not to cause trouble, then it turned into loud intimidation. The owner stomped on the pianist's practically non-existent self-esteem and spat on it without a care.
The pianist didn't want to move. He just sat on the chair, staring at his beloved sheet music, striking the black and white keys. He felt his music flowing on the floor again.
And then...
CRACK!!!
A powerful slap sent the pianist flying from his seat. He fell beside the piano, the force of the blow making him see stars. In the end, he couldn't finish the piece.
His pride and his perseverance turned to nothing. He could only curl up at a corner table like an old dog with a broken back, pressing a wet towel to his cheek, trying to alleviate even a sliver of the pain.
The drunkard sat down at the pianist's seat and, right before his eyes, began to play. He played wildly and wantonly, his face greasy, spitting as he boasted loudly to his friends.
However, this drunkard, who was just playing for fun, produced a beautiful and soul-stirring melody.
In his piano music, all the noise in the bar vanished. The whole world was left with only that heavenly music.
Tears streamed uncontrollably from the corners of the pianist's eyes. He was completely shaken by this heart-piercing melody. These tears were both for the beauty of the music and for his own suffering.
The music gradually built to a climax. This small, twelve-square-meter bar became a unique, warm home that the pianist had never seen before.
This is true talent, the pianist thought to himself.
Everything about him was negated by this heavenly sound. Something stirred faintly in the pianist's heart. An impulse seized him.
He sprang from the corner like a madman, rushed to the piano, pushed the still-playing drunkard to the ground, and forcefully sat back down in the seat that should have been his.
"Aah, how can I play to surpass this talented performer?!" Staring at the sheet music before him, the pianist forgot how to play.
No, not forgot, but abandoned.
"How can I possibly surpass this talented guy with the old ways! That's it, I've got it!!!" A crazy idea echoed in the pianist's mind.
The next moment, he acted on the thought in his head...
The pianist began to frantically smash his head against the black and white keys.
The first hit, BOOM;
The second hit, CRACK;
The third hit, DING;
The sharp sound of the piano pierced the heavens.
A broken black key pierced the pianist's right eye. Some liquid flowed from his eye socket. Was it tears? Or blood? The pianist rubbed his face on the white keys. Something stained the pure white keys red.
He twisted his left arm and pressed it onto the keys. He opened his mouth wide and bit down hard on the edge of the piano. The pianist's teeth shattered from the force, embedding themselves in the piano. He rubbed his entire body against the piano, and the piano responded with a beautiful melody never heard before.
He didn't hate anyone. Not the people who ignored him, not the drunkard who demanded his seat, not the owner who thought he was worthless, not even his peers who climbed up through money and connections.
The pianist just loved the piano and wanted to play it forever and ever.
But the City wouldn't allow it. There was no room for survival in this cold city based on love alone.
When the pianist came to his senses, everyone in the bar was listening to his performance. The piano before him, covered in flesh and blood, was producing an incredibly sweet sound.
Everything in the world was insignificant compared to the joy of this moment. As the pianist played madly, the piano, which should have been broken, grew larger and larger, its keys extending along with it.
To keep up with his beloved piano, his arms also extended. To play better, to play with all his might, a new pair of arms grew from his shoulder blades, arms with longer, more skilled fingers.
The flesh and blood of the people in the bar formed a grand musical score, printed with bloody notes made of shattered bodies. The pianist believed that his own flesh and blood had also merged into it, becoming a part of the music.
"Aah, I, who was once trapped underground, am now one with the piano, reaching the pinnacle in music!"
The pianist exclaimed loudly. His aria-like words merged with the music, causing the Fixers standing before him to fall into a state of enchantment.
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