Chapter 140
The screen changed and a typical Southeast Asian scene appeared.
This was Thailand, synonymous with Southeast Asian tourism. We could see how they mistreated Thai elephants.
On the screen, a foreign tourist was seen sitting sideways in a chair hanging from the back of an elephant. Their faces were pixelated, but you could see that they were smiling and enjoying their trip. In front of them, hanging from the elephant's neck, a Thai man could be seen holding a black iron club with a hook at the end.
[This is an object called a bullhook, and it is used to tame elephants.]
When the Thai man stepped hard on the elephant's face, it flinched and moved in the direction the Thai man indicated. Every time the man took a picture of the elephant's face, it moved away, emitting a squeal, as if in great pain.
Children with frowning faces. It was a heartbreaking scene of abuse. But soon something even worse came to light.
The screen changed and we saw baby elephants confined in tiny cages that you would never imagine could hold elephants, with only their faces sticking out.
[This is a ritual called Phajaan.]
Several Thai men stabbed the baby elephants' ears, trunks, and faces with sharp spears. With each stab, blood gushed out and the screams of the baby elephants could be heard. But there were people who stroked the baby elephants with indifferent faces.
They say this ritual is to subdue the elephants. A total of 100 Thai elephant calves arrived here this year. Of them, 51 died during the ritual. Of the remaining 49, 26 lost their minds and were put down.
The screen changed again to a scene of tourists on an elephant ride.
[Do the tourists who ride elephants know that the elephant they are riding is one of the 23 elephants that survived the Phajaan ritual?]
The members who were watching the screen suddenly stood up and shouted in outrage.
"Those damn dogs!!"
"Those things are also human! How ridiculous!"
"Do those things happen? I rode one when I was young in Thailand. Are you saying that the elephants I rode were also children who survived a ritual like that? Oh my God!"
Yeong-eun was also angry. But when she couldn't hear the TV over the children's shouting, she turned around and said,
"Quiet. You need to hear what I'm telling you. Sit down."
The children, who had not yet calmed down but could not ignore their senior's words, sat down in their seats, grumbling.
The screen changed again to Ghana, Africa. A cattle farm was seen in someone's backyard.
This is the house of Ignatius, the director of the elephant sanctuary at Kakum National Park. The boy was staying here.
Soo-hyun appeared again. His face was shining despite wearing only a dirty T-shirt and shorts, perhaps because he was helping out in the heat. The children were ready to swallow their saliva again and get into the screen.
A camera angle of Soo-hyun opening the door for the congratulatory speech and entering. And then, when the elephant appeared there with terrible wounds, the voice of a man who appeared to be a police officer was heard from off-screen.
"Isn't this elephant an African elephant?"
Soo-hyun on the screen looked at the elephant with a bitter expression and said.
"This is a Thai elephant. I heard that he suffered abuse his whole life while being used for elephant rides, and then he was rescued by an animal welfare society and sent to Africa."
The screen zoomed in on the elephant's wounds. Deep wounds that could not be seen with open eyes. Deep wounds that made you wonder if it was brave to be alive, and the helpless eyes of an elephant were visible. The side view of Soo-hyun with one foot on us said:
"I also want to play a song for Toto. I want to comfort him."
A piano, carried by colleagues from the elephant shelter, was brought into the barn. Soo-hyun also ran quickly to help them and pushed the piano. As the screen changed and showed Junwoo sitting on the sofa in the living room of Ignatius's house, the children began to cause a commotion again.
"Oh! It's Junwoo!"
"He's on American TV. I knew Junwoo could cause trouble, but he caused a huge accident! Haha."
Junwoo, who struck an awkward pose, looked like a robot. The PD's off-screen question came first.
"What kind of person is Soo-hyun?"
Junwoo swallowed hard and spoke in English, looking nervous.
"Soo-hyun is a world-renowned pianist. He's only seventeen, but everyone who knows him knows him."
"Why?"
"Soo-hyun won the International Chopin Competition for Children and the International Beethoven Competition for Youth, and is currently studying at the Vienna University of Music, Austria. By the way, I am also the same age and attend the same school."
"How amazing! Is it true that you are a disciple of Professor Lech, who was a visitor four years ago?"
"That's right. We met at the Chopin Competition."
"Did Junwoo also join?"
"No, I only participated in the German Beethoven Competition. By the way, I came in second."
"That's amazing."
"Haha, don't mention it."
"I heard that Soo-hyun was a genius out of the ordinary at school. Were you educated as a gifted student from a young age?"
Junwoo's face hardened slightly. He said with a short sigh.
"Soo-hyun has no parents."
"…"
The PD's silence. There was probably confusion.
"Then did your grandfather teach you to play the piano? Or a relative?"
"No, Soo-hyun has no relatives. He did it all by himself, with no one else."
"Is that possible?"
Junwoo on the screen pointed to where he thought Soo-hyun was and said.
"Do you see him? It's possible."
"I see. Why is Soo-hyun alone?"
Junwoo covered his mouth with his hand and coughed in vain before speaking.
"Do you remember the train accident that happened in Switzerland 11 years ago?"
"Yes, I remember. At that time, Korean tourists suffered a lot of damage."
"All 88 passengers died, and a little boy was reported missing."
"That's right. I saw the news about that boy… huh?"
As the PD stopped talking, Junwoo smiled brightly.
"Do you remember?"
'The sole survivor of the train accident in Switzerland. I saw the news that the boy won the Chopin Competition. Could it be Nam Soo-hyun?'
Junwoo nodded, snapping his fingers.
"Bingo."
The screen turned to the PD. Joe's surprised face was seen and a female voice was heard.
[Surprisingly, the boy I met in Africa was the genius pianist Nam Soo-hyun, the sole survivor of the Swiss train accident 11 years ago.]
The screen was filled with breaking news and newspaper articles about the train accident in Switzerland. News about Soo-hyun's award was also shown.
Why is this boy here?
The screen changed and the congratulatory speech began again. All the colleagues who had moved the piano left, leaving only Soo-hyun and Toto in the congratulatory speech. Toto, the elephant who was on guard while many people were coming and going. Soo-hyun spoke on the screen.
"Can I only film if someone is here? Toto is anxious."
The female voice flowed again.
[We decided to continue filming with a fixed camera so as not to disturb Toto's and the boy's time.]
A quiet celebration. On the screen, which was filmed from multiple angles like a CCTV screen, Soo-hyun was seen sitting in front of the piano and Toto was looking at him. As Soo-hyun said, Toto seemed to calm down a bit when the people left. But he kept his distance from the piano and just looked at Soo-hyun.
After a while, as Soo-hyun's quiet performance began, subtitles appeared instead of the voice actor's voice, as if trying not to disturb the feeling of the music being conveyed to the viewers.
-S. Rachmaninoff, Piano Sonata No. 2, Op. 36. This piece was composed by Rachmaninoff, who was feeling anxious about composing, as his opportunities to conduct and perform the piano became more frequent from 1909, and he rented a room where Tchaikovsky had stayed in Rome in December 1912. However, while composing, his two sons contracted typhoid fever, and the couple, who were distrustful of Italian doctors, traveled to Berlin for treatment. Although the children fully recovered, the piece remained with the sadness and worry he felt as he watched his beloved children suffer.
A cascading bell effect and a rhythmic play of notes. A piece that showed the essence of Rachmaninoff's romantic pianism. The dark beauty conveyed deep passion and sadness, and burned with virtuoso musical phrases.
I'm deaf.
I'm blind.
What do you wish?
Please tell me, with gestures I can understand.
No matter how much I begged, they didn't stop.
It hurts, please stop.
Please release me from this suffering.
A sword flying towards a disgruntled gaze.
The blade of a spear flew without fail despite the pleading gazes.
I was cold.
At night, the wound cried out as the cold wind seeped through.
I was sick. I was very sick.
Toto's heart seemed to be contained in Soo-hyun's sad music. The elephant and the child. The two gazes met and the music simply merged, but the orchestra members watching the screen could barely hold back their tears with their mouths covered.
Toto's ears fluttered as he watched the boy play absentmindedly. Toto's nose was seen stroking his wounds. Toto, who was stroking his wounds very slowly, stealthily approached Soo-hyun who was playing the piano. Then a figure was seen lying on its side right in front of us, where the piano was installed. It was almost as if he wanted to take a break now. Soo-hyun, who was watching Toto as he played, almost stopped playing for a moment. Soo-hyun's eyes, looking at Toto as he continued to play, looked somewhat uneasy. Soo-hyun, with his eyes tightly closed, shook his head vigorously and continued to play.
The language of Soo-hyun conveyed through his performance. Probably only Toto had heard it.
It's okay if you don't try too hard.
After the cold winter is over,
Your turn to bloom has come.
Don't try to wake the setting sun.
The moon just rising is more beautiful.
When the heavy, creaking door opens,
Through the rain that hits the air,
You will see the people you want to see.
In your twilight, when you don't even know what's exciting.
I will sweep away all the old, dusty memories.
Open the creaking door.
It's okay if you don't hesitate.
You can do whatever you want with this one.
It's okay now.
The screen zoomed in on Toto's eyes. Toto looked at Soo-hyun with blinking eyes. The elephant's eyes slowly closed. And soon, Soo-hyun stopped playing and began to stroke the elephant that was lying down. I couldn't take my eyes off the screen with the silence as the background music. Soo-hyun, who was sitting in front of Toto and gently stroking his closed eyes, gradually began to cry.
"Hehehe…"
'Did Toto, who died alone in an empty barn, be happy during his last moments?'
Soo-hyun's trembling voice, who was hugging Toto's head and sobbing nonstop, was transmitted through the screen.
"I'm sorry… I'm sorry…"