The YouTube Views Were Off

The YouTube view count was off.

After the preliminaries I went through the finals without a single mistake, playing exactly the way I had practiced, and when it was over I walked away with the grand prize.

Is this even right...?

The grand prize usually went to fifth or sixth graders. At this age, being older was an advantage. This time, I smashed that piece of common sense to pieces.

It's fine. I earned it by being good.

Age was meaningless in the end. Skill was what mattered. And looking at it that way, I didn't think a single person today had played better than I had.

The moment my name was called I started walking toward the stage, and from up there I found myself looking up at the judges and the other winners. The looking-up part was because of the height difference. It was enormous.

One hundred and thirty centimeters.

That was my height right now. Pretty tall for a first grader, considering the average for girls sat at a hundred and twenty-one.

I can get my hopes up this time, right?

Something felt different. I had always been shorter than the kids my age. Shorter than the girls, even. This time around I was a girl and I was still taller than the boys. My growth could slam to a halt later on, of course, but that didn't really matter. If I stopped before I even cleared a hundred and sixty, I was planning to add height to the system window too.

Ah.

In the classroom most of the kids were shorter than me, so I got to breathe the air up top. Not here. The judges were all adults, and every other winner was anywhere from two to five years older than I was.

"Congratulations."

"Thank you."

I took the plaque and the certificate from the judge, then turned around and waved at Mom, Dad, and Lee Ha-jun.

This feels good.

It was the first time I had ever received an award like this, and on top of that, this many people were celebrating me. I could feel dopamine slamming through my entire body.

I was coming down from the stage in an excellent mood when someone tapped me on the shoulder from behind. I turned around, and I couldn't help being surprised. A middle-aged man with a kindly, heavyset face was dripping with sweat.

"Hi there."

"Hello."

"I enjoyed watching you play."

"Thank you."

He hesitated for a moment, then spoke.

"Would you like to become my student?"

"Your student?"

"Yes. From what I can see, you have talent. No — you're already complete. Once your body finishes growing, you'll be able to play every piece of music that exists ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠in this world."

"Thank you."

I'm EX rank. Of course I should be able to play everything.

"Hmm. Would it be alright if I think it over and contact you?"

"Of course. I've written my information here, so get in touch once you've made up your mind."

I took the slip of paper from him, then asked,

"May I ask your name?"

"Im Seong-deok."

I heard his name and headed down from the stage. My family was waiting.

"Yena, congratulations on the grand prize!"

"Thank you, Mom."

I hugged her and turned the offer over in my head.

Doesn't seem half bad.

In my previous life I had avoided running into people. Nobody had liked me, after all. This life was different. Not everyone liked me, but most people did, and most of the strangers I passed on the street didn't grimace when they saw my face — they smiled. What that taught me was that appearance really did take up a staggering share of the world, and that unlike last time, looking good was working in my favor.

It was fun, though.

More than anything, watching people clap for me with genuine expressions on their faces after I played had been pretty enjoyable.

Should I keep competing?

Honestly, I had planned to enter this one competition and then never do another. I was only going to play piano through elementary school anyway.

It's not like I'm going to make a living off piano. No reason to keep going to academy in middle school.

But I was thinking differently now.

Do I really need to quit?

Now that I had found a reason to play, there didn't seem to be any point in stopping.

If I'm going to do it, I might as well do it from the very top.

Competing against elementary school kids with EX-rank piano skills would almost feel like bullying.

Should I ask?

I needed to hear what Mom and Dad thought, so I told them about meeting the man named Im Seong-deok.

"I think it's great. You're doing it because you want to, right? And if you're going to learn, you might as well learn from someone who's actually good. Of course, if you ever start hating piano, you can quit anytime. You can't live doing something you don't want to do."

"That's right. Like Mom said, if you don't want to do it anymore, you can stop. Dad will put food on the table!"

Their words warmed my chest all on their own.

Yeah. If I want to do it, I do it. If I don't, I don't.

Money couldn't be a problem in my life anymore anyway.

Let's live doing what I want.

Living that way was what Mom and Dad wanted for me. And ultimately, it was what I wanted too.

That same evening, I called Im Seong-deok.

"Hello?"

"So. Have you made your decision?"

"Yes. I'll be your student."

"Wonderful."

"But I have one condition."

"And what's that?"

"I'd like you to guarantee my time."

"Hm? What do you mean by that?"

I thought about it. Was piano fun enough to pour my entire life into? The answer was no.

Playing is enjoyable, and showing what I can do on stage and getting applause is nice — but it would be a waste to only do that.

Piano wasn't my only ability. If I put my mind to it I could be a pro gamer, a singer, a composer. With this many things I could do, wouldn't it be a shame to only play piano?

"Could we do lessons just once a week?"

"Is there a reason?"

"There's so much else I want to do besides piano that I don't think I can put a lot of time into playing."

He tried any number of things to talk me out of it, but in the end Im Seong-deok agreed.

"Let's do it that way. If you have that many things you want to do, you can't just sit around playing piano."

"Thank you for allowing it."

"Alright. Then I'll see you this weekend."

"Yes."

I hung up and thought that my life from here on out was going to be a lot more fun.

A week after the competition, I arrived at Hwaryeong ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠University. With Mom.

"So this is Hwaryeong University? The school itself just oozes artistry."

She was right. There was a fountain at the front gate, and on the fountain stood a statue of a man and a woman wrapped in each other's arms. I looked it up, and this was the finest arts university in the country.

I was surprised he was more famous than I thought.

The search results said he wielded enormous influence in Korea's music world, which caught me off guard. I had figured anyone serving as a judge would be fairly high up, but I hadn't expected ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠him to be this high up.

No need to get nervous, though.

I just had to play well. And I was confident I could play well.

My piano skill was EX, after all.

I met Professor Im Seong-deok in his office.

"Haha. Thank you for coming all this way."

"It didn't take that long, so it was fine."

While Mom and Im Seong-deok talked, I zoned out. I didn't really have anything to say anyway. After I had been staring into space for who knew how long, Im Seong-deok turned to me.

"Well then. Shall we take a look at your skills? Are you ready?"

I grinned. I was confident, after all.

I swallowed as I looked at a piano I estimated cost a considerable amount of money. I clearly wasn't the penniless person I had been in my previous life, but my habits were still the same as before.

It's just that I haven't really spent any money yet.

I was planning to wait until Bitcoin hit its absolute peak, so I still didn't have any cash on hand. Even if I had money, it would have been a problem. I wouldn't have had a way to explain it to Mom and Dad.

I'm not making money just so I can live well by myself.

More than anything, I wasn't particularly desperate for money right now. Dad was alive. Mom was healthy.

I have to stop it. No matter what.

This time, I was going to make sure both of them lived long lives. To do that I needed to eliminate the causes, and I already had an idea of how.

For now, let's focus on playing the piano.

Two people were looking up at me from below the piano with shining eyes. One was Professor Im Seong-deok. The other was Mom. I set my hands on the keys, and pressed down.

Listening to Lee Yena play, Im Seong-deok found himself certain once again. This child had the skill to dominate the world.

She's already a finished product.

Right now she simply couldn't play every piece, because her body hadn't fully grown yet.

Once she's in high school, she'll be able to handle most anything.

When that time came, this child would surely astonish the world.

Let's just enjoy this.

That was a story for several years from now, of course. For the moment, Im Seong-deok decided to simply sit and enjoy the performance.

The evening of the day I came back from my lesson with Professor Im Seong-deok, I opened YouTube.

Anything interesting?

To someone who had come from 2037, the quality of the videos going up in 2014 was something I could never be satisfied with. They still had that peculiar flavor old videos had, though, so I was enjoying them in my own way.

I was browsing when my eyes locked onto one of them.

The reason my eyes locked on was simple. My face was plastered across the thumbnail.

Who filmed this?

Phones hadn't been banned, so someone must have recorded it on the sly.

Well. A video like this isn't going to get many views.

The video was bland. My face was in it, sure, but with the distance between the seats and the stage you could barely make my face out, and the piano sound didn't come through properly either. I figured the view count would be pathetic. From the perspective of someone who had come from 2037, this video was below standard.

But there was something I had overlooked.

The fact that it was currently 2014.

"?"

The view count was off.