God of Piano

Rowoon whispered that to himself. He got a Walkman and over the past year he has already shown decent enough growth. The important thing was not to run fast right away, but where it stood at the very end.

If you rush to get something right now and your form collapses, it’s like splitting the belly of the goose that lays the golden eggs. Rowoon let go of his greed.

‘First of all, I have to get used to the Mirage Rubato and the eyes of music… and then.’

I want to receive Beethoven’s blessing.

Bach, Chopin, Beethoven. All the songs Rowoon prepared for the California Conservatory audition were theirs. And Bach and Chopin both blessed him at some point. Even Chopin’s blessing has grown a notch.

But Beethoven did not give him any blessings. It was the moment when Rowoon’s expectation that he would naturally receive a blessing if he passed a certain score was wrong.

‘Should I buy your favour? or not······.’

It was a lofty goal. Rowoon thought about it, and at the end of his thoughts, he got an answer. He just did what he had to do and that was enough. study, practice What else could you need?

There was quite a bit of time left before admission. During that time, Rowoon intended to improve his skills even more. Although not official, he was a student of Chopin, a student of Bach, and a student of Beethoven. Can’t you show the skills to become someone in the honor of your teacher?

Chopin’s pieces were not meant to be played as much as possible, but others’ pieces were different. Debussy, Ravel, Liszt, Rachmaninoff, all kinds of music played in his hands, and all kinds of life flowed into him.

Of course, it wasn’t just finding new musicians like that. Beethoven’s Sonata No. 2 and Bach’s Goldberg Variations, which he played at the audition, often came to Rowoon’s hands. And somehow, despite their long playing time, they had no choice but to boast the best growth rate. Because the time spent on it was different, and the sincerity was different.

It was about a week before the briefing session for freshmen.

Rowoon’s playing score exceeded 70 points.

#

The orientation of the California Conservatory is not much different from that of other schools. Freshmen gather early in the morning at the plaza in front of the hall to receive student ID cards, and get introduced to counselors or teaching assistants with students from the same department.

After gathering in the auditorium and briefly explaining the school’s traditions and rules, they gather separately for each department to listen to explanations about their major subjects and future school life, and after lunch, they gather again to take classes under the guidance of a counselor. is to apply.

It could be said that the atmosphere was quite different from the orientation in Korea. Of course, that doesn’t mean this orientation isn’t the right atmosphere for making friends. Here and there you could see students scanning each other, and some of them even showed some movement.

Rowoon did not show any particular movement. To be honest, my friend, I thought it would happen on its own after some time, and since I woke up at 6:00 in the morning, my body still feels tired. Rowoon wasn’t a person with high tension because he was running around trying to make friends.

And above all, he already had a friend by his side.

“are you okay? You look sleepy.”

The taciturn boy asked anxiously. It was Gregor. He had given up halfway through the California Conservatory, but at the end of the day he was accepted on the waitlist. It was unfortunate. In the future, whenever I ate meatloaf, I would no longer feel bitter.

“… I’ve heard a lot of useless things.”

Rowoon sighed and shrugged. Presentations about how to shout the slogan of the California Conservatory, how to deal with an earthquake or shooting incident, or something that Rowoon couldn’t be interested in generally took up most of the briefing session.

“I want to take a class soon.”

“I know. However, I heard that freshmen can only take one lesson every 15 days. to the professor.”

“…was there such a story?”

“You weren’t paying attention right?”

“Honestly, I did doze off a bit in between…”

It is difficult to describe Rowoon as sincere when it comes to things other than the piano, even as a joke. But Gregor wondered if Rowoon was able to grow up to this point because of that.

“You seem to have put your mind at ease just because you entered second place.”

“No, it’s not really like that…”

Rowoon paused for words and looked around. After hearing Gregor’s words, something suddenly came to mind.

“But aren’t you the face of the chief?”

“Do you see the girl over there?”

“I see. It is a problem because there are too many.”

“There is an Asian girl over there. The one who dyes his hair yellow and has short hair.”

“······uh. Is that him?”

“huh. Heather Hong. He is the runner-up at the Chopin Youth Competition.”

“Chopin…”

Rowoon said the name for nothing. It was the name of a musician he thought he was closest to, and at the same time couldn’t get that much closer to.

Rowoon asked involuntarily.

“Is he of Korean descent?”

“······well? Matching country by last name is not my specialty. don’t you know?”

“Mr. Hong is everywhere.”

“Why don’t you ask me directly? I guess it’s a bit clichéd for a pickup line.”

“It’s not like that.”

Rowoon shook his head in disgust. After going through an ambiguous breakup with Kate, he said he had promised that this would be the end of a casual relationship.

However, even so, Rowoon’s eyes could not help but continue to look at Heather. Thinking of him as the person who made Chopin’s music his own even without a Walkman made me conscious. To be precise, I must say I was a little jealous.

‘······Still, I’m the only one who can properly understand Chopin.’

As long as Walkman was with him, Rowoon would be the first and last pianist to fully understand Chopin. No, even without the Walkman. There is probably no other person in the world who has accepted even a small part of Chopin’s life like him.

And now he…

“He… is he watching us?”

It was then. Gregor said in a slightly embarrassed voice. Heather was looking at them. Did you hear their conversation? There was quite a distance for that…

They couldn’t think long. Heather was striding toward them. It was directed towards Rowoon. She stopped and spoke calmly.

“hi.”

“hi?”

“I came here because I wanted to ask you something. Is it time?”

“It’s about time… do you know me?”

“huh. know. Isn’t that Luo Yuan?”

“······Just call me Ron. Because everyone calls it that.”

“good. theory. Nice to meet you. Heather.”

“know. He said he entered the top class.”

“Oh my, has it already been rumored? that’s right. i hit it well piano.”

Saying that and shrugging his shoulders didn’t seem like the type to shy away from anyone. Rowoon looked at Heather with a strange expression.

“So, what business does our chief have with me?”

“I don’t have anything to say about business, and I have a few questions.”

“…anything you’re curious about?”

“Yes, Chopin, can’t you play it just once?”

It was an unexpected request. Rowoon looked at her with a blank expression as if it was difficult to follow this conversation. Heather finally opened her mouth, as if realizing that my explanation was insufficient.

“I heard that from the guys who auditioned on the same day as you. Are you saying Chopin is amazing? I heard you really captivated the judges.”

“So you want to hear it?”

“There are no other reasons, but first of all, Chopin is quite special to me.”

Heather shrugged.

“I liked it enough to win second place in the Chopin Competition for teenagers.”

The nuance of saying runner-up was strange. It was hard to tell whether she was proud of it or self-help.

Normally, it would be a request that you wouldn’t even have to refuse. However, Rowoon shook his head. He had reasons why he couldn’t play for her.

“sorry. Chopin is quitting.”

“······what? What do you mean you’re hanging up? Chopin is not a cigarette.”

“I thought it was more dangerous than cigarettes to me.”

“Are you kidding? Are you serious?”

Heather also took pride in not losing to quite a few people if she was smart, but this conversation was far outside the scope she had imagined. However, Rowoon replied calmly.

“Do you have any reason to lie in your first meeting?”

“… it’s not there, it’s not there. But why? Why did you hang up?”

“I feel like I only play Chopin. and······.”

Rowoon hesitated for a moment. It was obvious that what he was going to tell her now would sound like a joke or nonsense to Heather.

But to be honest, it didn’t really matter. It was annoying to come up with a reason why there was none, and it was annoying to avoid an answer. Rowoon proudly told the truth as it was.

“Beethoven gave me advice. I think you should stay away from Chopin.”

#

[ The playing score is 70 points! ]

[If the conditions are met, the hidden lesson function is unlocked! ]

[ The name of the new lesson is ‘Private Tutoring’! ]

[ For every performance score of 70 or higher, you can ask the composer a question directly! ]

＜ Private Tutoring (1) ＞ End

＜ Private Tutoring (2) ＞

These were the notifications that came to Rowoon’s playing score when he reached 70 points. ‘Private tutoring.’ The content of the lesson seemed pretty simple. You can ask the composer directly. Every time you play, once.

You may be wondering what questions you need when you are already receiving note-by-note advice through correction notes. However, this questionnaire and notes were different. The correction note conveys what the composer wants to say to Rowoon, but that does not mean that it is an answer to Rowoon’s question.

In that sense, this private tutoring meant that Rowoon no longer had to be frustrated in the face of a problem.

······No, I thought so.

When he got the right to ask questions about Beethoven, Rowoon pondered for quite some time on what questions to ask. Of course, each time I play again, I can get another question, but I couldn’t say that the first question I handed to Beethoven was strange.

And in fact, Beethoven was scary too. Just looking at his notes right now, his attitude was never gentle or kind.

So Rowoon picks and chooses questions, and brings out something that will satisfy Beethoven’s curiosity while not offending Beethoven as much as possible.