Chapter 111
Young-hoo's eyes, looking at the stage, wavered.
'This is Soo-hyun's music, Soo-hyun's world.'
Even to Sambok, who knew nothing about music, Soo-hyun's performance was amazing. It was not a matter of judging the technical aspects. To Sambok, the performances of ordinary piano prodigies and Soo-hyun's were the same. But something more was felt, because Sambok also felt what the boy was trying to say.
Unlike Young-hoo, who only looked at Soo-hyun with trembling eyes, Sambok looked at the people of Baeksa village. The image of people looking at their babies and grandchildren with tears in their eyes and an aching heart. Sambok looked at the people and realized that the emotions he had felt were not wrong.
"I've heard he's not a normal kid, but this is a bit much. Don't you think, hyung?" Sambok whispered.
However, Young-hoo was so engrossed in the story that Soo-hyun was telling him that he couldn't get away. When Soo-hyun finished playing and took the microphone again, the villagers moved away from their chairs as if to ask him to quickly tell the story contained in the music.
Soo-hyun, who made eye contact with the people, spoke in a low voice.
"As you all know, I am the sole survivor of the Swiss train accident."
An old woman wiped away her tears. After hearing about Soo-hyun through Young-hoo, the villagers had either looked him up on their own or heard about him from someone else. When the villagers found out that Soo-hyun, who looked pretty, kind, and innocent like a rich kid, was actually an orphan, most of them clicked their tongues and felt sorry for Soo-hyun.
But Soo-hyun was not sad. He said, looking up at the ceiling of the concert hall as if he were looking at an invisible sky.
"I was mistaken then. I thought I was left alone in the world. I had nowhere to go."
A child who was not in pain. But the stories that were told calmly… That made them feel even sadder. Soo-hyun said with a mischievous smile.
"It was a complete mistake. I was not alone and I had a place to go."
'What's the story? Young-hoo told me that the boy had returned to Korea and was living with an employee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. No matter how many people are around a child, parents are important to him. Even if you're pessimistic about being alone and having nowhere to go, no one will say anything. I think it would be less painful to see you cry, throw a tantrum, and kick your feet.'
But the boy was still smiling.
"Now I would like to tell you about the parents of my heart."
'Parents of the heart? What are you trying to say, Soo-hyun?'
After looking at the people who looked suspicious, Soo-hyun touched his hair, which had now turned almost silver, and said.
"There was a very handsome old man with silver hair who looked great on me. He was a man who protected me from the world with his quiet consideration. I found out after I was born that he was a mess at cooking, haha."
Sambok tilted his head and looked at Young-hoo.
"What is Soo-hyun talking about, hyung?"
Young-hoo nodded at Soo-hyun, who was sitting on the piano bench and talking nonsense.
"It seems you're talking about someone who took care of you for seven years."
"Ah, so that's why they were called the parents of your heart. They must have been very good people."
"Let's listen more."
Soo-hyun spoke with a clouded look in his eyes, as if he were reminiscing.
"My father used to leave me alone in the yard and teach me to be a man. He said I shouldn't cry even if I'm alone. He would hide somewhere and watch me, and after a while, if I held back my tears, he would come out and hug me tightly. My father, in my heart, watched me cry quietly from afar. He pretended not to notice until I let out all the sadness in my heart."
'How to raise a child. Sometimes, just watch over him instead of constantly nagging and giving affection.'
"The day I sat on my father's lap and sang a song. My mother came to visit me at dusk with wine."
'Well, I guess it's about your mother. Fortunately, he seems to have grown up in a decent family.'
But those who heard Soo-hyun's next words were surprised.
"I call her mother, but she's actually a man, haha."
The people looked at each other and murmured.
"Were they both boys? Oh my! They must have been at an age where they really needed their mother's care…"
"I guess it's hard for two men to raise a child. How important is a mother to a child?"
Soo-hyun could hear the voices of the people clicking their tongues. Soo-hyun smiled and said,
"She was a very small, petite, sweet, and always smiling mother."
The villagers nodded their heads.
'Thank goodness, even though he's a man, he seems like a good enough person to play the role of a mother.'
"He was always the one who would pat my shoulder or head and explain my mistakes with words. He was the one who would persuade me to the end, even when I was frustrated and had poor understanding. He was also the one who spent more time with me than anyone else."
'The most important role of a mother: to spend more time with her children than anyone else. That's all.'
"One day I asked, 'Who do you think created music?' My father said, 'Musicians.' But I wasn't satisfied. So I said, 'Maybe it was God?'."
'It's like a son telling an anecdote about his father.'
"Then my father said with a playful expression, 'No, maybe it's the devil?'."
The people laughed. Unlike mothers, fathers liked to play with their children.
"Then mom came and kicked dad's butt!"
The villagers burst out laughing.
"Hahahaha! A father like that deserves to be hit!"
"Even if he hits, it's still cheap, cheap!"
Soo-hyun smiled and took the microphone.
"And then my mother, holding me in her arms, sat me down on the piano bench outside the house and told me this."
'What did she say? What did the mother answer the child?'
Soo-hyun stood up from his seat, knelt on one knee as if there were an invisible child at the piano, and spoke.
"If you open the gates of heaven with your music, that music was created by God. If you open the gates of hell with your music, that music was created by the devil. Do you want to open the gates of hell?"
The people nodded their heads vigorously.
'She is truly a wise mother who persuades and makes her child think at eye level.'
Soo-hyun said as he sat down again.
"No, I want to open the gates of heaven. To prove my father wrong."
Soo-hyun giving his own answer. He seemed very cute because he spoke in the tone of a little girl. And Soo-hyun, who stood up again, sat down behind the piano again, leaned on another piano, crossed his arms, and smiled deeply.
"At that moment, my father was leaning on the zelkova tree and looking at me with this expression."
The villagers burst out laughing.
"Hahaha! That's right! Dad felt the same way!"
"Of course! Dad and mom love their children equally! Of course! Hahaha."
A very heartwarming set of stories. Stories that made you smile just by listening to them and reached people's hearts. At that moment, Joo-young and Junwoo appeared on the side of the stage. Soo-hyun, who was leaning on the piano, looked at the two friends and said,
"This music is a piano trio. It is music that opens the gates of heaven and says that music is the greatest gift from God. I will play it with my friends. The title is SHN Piano Trio No. 1 in E-flat major, OP. 3, 'As You Like It'."
Jooyoung and Junwoo sat down at the piano. Three people sitting opposite each other in front of a piano arranged in a triangle. Soo-hyun put down the microphone, looked into the eyes of his two friends, and spoke his mind.
'Let's play a cheerful song!'
'Okay! Let's show how much we practiced!'
'Let our performance reach the sky.'
Jooyoung nodded to count the beat and was the first to raise his hand slightly and then bring it down forcefully. A bold and dramatic introduction. Jooyoung, who was in charge of the bass, opened the music with a powerful but fast sound, like a door opening. It was a beginning like Beethoven's 'Fate' Symphony. Soon, as Junwoo and Soo-hyun played the alto and soprano notes respectively, the effect was created as if everyone were singing with one voice.
The repeated rhythmic pattern based on the E-flat major chord, which emanated a mysterious melody and subtle colors, resembled a ray of light descending from the clouds. The name of the first movement of the piano trio 'As You Like It' created by Soo-hyun was 'Adagio brillante'.
An old woman muttered with her mouth slightly open.
"My goodness… It seems like there are angels in white on the clouds, playing bells to the sound of magnificent drums."
Sambok, who was standing next to his grandmother, nodded absentmindedly. This was because he had imagined something similar. Joo-young's low notes sounded like majestic drums, and the angels walked three by three to the rhythm of Junwoo's soft third note. Soo-hyun's dominant chords felt like the sacred bells they were holding in their hands.
And then everyone's ears heard the poem that the three friends were sending.
Climb high to the clouds
Looking down on a deep valley
I feel the echoes of the canyon rising high.
As God's voice spreads further
More clearly from below
Louder than his voice
With a heavy cry.
Though I am withered for a time
Though joy leaves and hope recedes
The song in the clouds echoes, soaked in God's voice.
So the song of joy echoes all night.
Spring comes, carrying the heart to heaven.
My joy, my hope, my happiness.
Now it's time to finish preparing to go on a wandering journey.
Even I, who am now young and immature,
You, who look at me with similar eyes,
You will know that heaven is at your mother's feet.
A piano trio of three friends. Usually when you heard a piano trio, you heard three pianos playing dense notes. Full and rich music that could not be expressed by a single piano. But Soo-hyun's trio was different.
'Could this be an expression of the will to overcome the limitations of human hands?'
The deepest, lowest, middle, highest, and highest notes resonated with just the right amount of space between them, as if they were being played by a single pianist with six hands.
Sambok leaned over to Yeong-hoo and asked.
"Brother."
"Why?"
"Isn't Korea University the best university in our country?"
"Yes."
"Really? Are the children at the Center for Musical Education for the Gifted also at this level? I don't know if I'm watching the children's performance or if I'm watching the performance of a famous international pianist."
Young-hoo smiled brightly. It was funny that Sambok, who had never seen a performance by a pianist in Korea, let alone abroad, was saying such a thing. But Young-hoo also admitted it. It was as good as any performance he had seen in internet videos.
"I don't know the girl very well, but Junwoo came to our neighborhood once."
"Huh? Isn't that another boy besides Soo-hyun? It's the first time I've seen him."
"You were working at that time. That boy is so great that he won second place in the International Beethoven Competition."
"Huh, Beethoven?"
Even a layman in music knew Beethoven. Sambok, looking at Junwoo with new eyes, nodded his head deeply.
'Not only Soo-hyun is a genius. But, to me, Soo-hyun is the most amazing.'
Young-hoo smiled brightly after hearing Sambok's murmurs.
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