Chapter 34
Chapter 34
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 35
Chapter Title: Pee Sonata
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The day after meeting Shunji.
Yeonwoo gazed at Himari's fairy. At first, he thought it was a piano fairy, but after spending time with Himari's fairy, he learned what abilities it possessed.
Himari's fairy was a composition fairy. Considering that Himari had become world-famous for her composing skills rather than her piano playing, it wasn't strange at all.
And Himari's fairy was extremely generous to those who played the piano well. (This was Yeonwoo's impression; in reality, it was generous to Heo Ok's piano.)
Thanks to that, he had easily received its abilities.
The downside was that most of the abilities were things Yeonwoo already knew instinctively, so they weren't particularly necessary.
It was just a matter of clearly understanding what he had only vaguely pondered before.
The one fortunate thing was that it allowed him to add more depth to emotions? It meant he could now infuse his intentions into the music more clearly.
Using that ability, Yeonwoo...
"This is Booger 2, Fart 2."
He developed the first and second movements of what Jiyeong had named the Sonata to Make Kids Laugh.
"[Is... this even possible?]"
Shunji spoke to Himari, who was standing by as interpreter instead, and she replied with a pained expression.
"[I'm at a loss too.]"
Shunji was plunged into shock and horror at the fact that the themes of these sophisticated pieces, which felt like high-level classical music or jazz, were nothing more than poop and farts.
-What's the title of this magnificent piece? It feels like Chopin has come back to life!
-...Booger.
-??
-What's this jazz piece? It reminds me of jazz's Mozart, Duke Ellington.
-Fart.
...Ugh, just imagining it was dizzying.
"[Who would think such music is about boogers or farts!! This is taking the joke too far.]"
"[But it's just expressing what he felt, exactly as is.]"
"[Hah, at this rate, we'll get piss or shit next.]"
"[How did you know? No piss yet, but shit is done. Third movement.]"
"[......]"
Shunji silently stared at Yeonwoo.
Yeonwoo, with the most innocent expression in the world, blankly gazed at the piano before starting to play again.
Not poop or farts this time, but free jazz apparently.
"Huh...."
He was momentarily flustered by the theme of the piece, but soon found himself immersed in Yeonwoo's performance.
What an incredible kid.
Barely half a year? And in that time, he'd reached a level comparable to Heo Ok at her peak.
'This is a true genius.'
Himari and Heo Ok were the same, but Shunji was the biggest genius hater.
More precisely, he detested the media hype around some Japanese kid being called a genius.
He was stingy with the label of genius.
The world-famous Himari was, by his standards, just a mediocre imitating Heo Ok, and Heo Ok was a genius only in effort.
In other words, no musician in this era had earned the label of genius from him purely on musical merit.
In that sense, the boy before him was the first true genius Shunji had encountered in his 80 years of life.
It smelled good. The smell of money.
He coveted this genius.
He wanted to turn these damn tracks—even from a mediocre's perspective, the titles were demoralizing and crushed self-esteem—into an album right away.
"[Himari, isn't there some way to persuade Heo Ok? No matter how I think about it, it's a waste to let this kid rot away.]"
"[...I tried talking to her, but she said she doesn't have the authority to decide. She just said her son wouldn't allow it.]"
"[Son, her son, huh. So that's why Heo Ok is leaving the kid alone.]"
Knowing that Heo Ok had abandoned her son and daughter to cross over to Japan and even America, Shunji stroked his chin.
"[She won't let anyone have funny ideas.]"
At the chilling voice from behind, Shunji flinched.
"[W-what funny ideas! I was just admiring the kid's genius.]"
"[I heard everything you said.]"
"[......No, but think about it. Do you really think it's right to let talent like this go to waste?]"
"[That's for Yeonwoo and his dad to decide.]"
"[Oh... I see.]"
Shunji looked at Yeonwoo.
Since Yeonwoo's dad was in Korea, he needed to target Yeonwoo first.
The kid was still young, so with some sweet-talking, wouldn't he come around?
To do that, he needed to make a good impression first.
"[So, you want to learn guitar?]"
First, give the kid what he wanted.
"Shunji Grandpa is asking if you want to learn guitar?"
"Yes!!"
"[Hmm, have you ever played guitar before?]"
Hearing Shunji's words through the translation, Yeonwoo got up from his seat and fetched his own guitar.
Just like kids carry around their attachment plushies, Yeonwoo had brought the attachment guitar his dad bought him.
"[Cute little guitar. Why don't you play something for me?]"
"He wants me to play the guitar?"
"Yes!"
Yeonwoo got into position and began playing the guitar.
Shunji's eyes went wide.
It would be weirder not to be surprised by Yeonwoo's technique.
Who in this modern world could replicate Wes Montgomery's style exactly?
"[Did you meet Wes Montgomery's ghost or something? The technique is spot-on. Ask where he learned it.]"
"YouTube!"
At the word YouTube, he grimaced.
"[You learned it from YouTube videos?]"
"[What's so impossible about that?]"
"[Hmm... Guess geniuses are different no matter what they do.]"
A 6-year-old boy self-taught Wes Montgomery's technique via YouTube.
Piano wasn't enough; now guitar too?
The more he watched, the more he wanted the kid.
"[Guitar is a truly fascinating instrument. But why do you want to learn it? You already play piano this well.]"
"I made a song, and it seems like it would go well with guitar. I made it using a program, so it's fine to listen that way, but I want to play it myself."
At those words, Shunji's expression lit up with interest.
"[Really? A guitar solo... What kind of song is it? Can you play it for me?]"
Hearing that through Himari, Yeonwoo nodded and began playing.
After showcasing a short, fast run, Yeonwoo said,
"In the middle, I want to go ziiiing, but piano just goes ding! To express ziiiing, it has to be dddrrrring!"
The way he said it confirmed he was still just a kid. A kid without systematic training.
But so what.
No amount of study could ever catch up to Yeonwoo's talent.
Shunji listened quietly to Yeonwoo before asking the manager,
"[Do you have an electric guitar here by any chance?]"
"[We might have all kinds of pianos, but......]"
"[Then go buy one.]"
"[Pardon?]"
"[There must be a music store around here somewhere. Or even Bic Camera or Yodobashi. Go buy a cheap one, anything.]"
Shunji said that and tossed a bundle of 10,000-yen bills from his wallet to the manager.
"[I'll go right now.]"
A short while later, the manager returned with a guitar.
"[Even when you buy one, you bring back total crap.]"
Grumbling that the guitar wasn't to his liking, he still skillfully tuned it and plugged it into the amp.
Getting into position, he looked at Yeonwoo and said,
"[The guitar is the flower of all band genres, the center of everything. Even in jazz bands, you might skip the piano session, but probably never the guitar.]"
"[You should say bass guitar precisely.]"
"[Isn't bass a guitar?]"
When piano came up, Heo Ok couldn't hold back and interjected, then shut her mouth again.
Pleased at winning the argument for once, Shunji flashed a toothy, grumpy smile and turned back to Yeonwoo.
"[And the genre where the guitar shines most beautifully is......]"
His hands began playing the guitar dazzlingly.
The fast run that followed was none other than the piece Yeonwoo had just played on piano.
A completely different feel from piano—flashy and wild for sure...
"[Rock.]"
It was unbelievable that this performance came from an old man nearing eighty. Satisfied, Shunji looked at Yeonwoo.
"Too loud!!"
...Yeonwoo was covering his ears.
"[What, it's too loud......!]"
Rock was undoubtedly one of the great music genres representing the modern era.
But cranking the volume to maximize the rock feel was enough to make Yeonwoo plug his ears.
"[Oh dear......]"
Making a troubled face, Shunji turned down the volume and played a more subdued rock version of Yeonwoo's song.
Only then did Yeonwoo nod and say,
"Grandpa, you're amazing. It sounds even better than what I imagined!"
Hearing that translated, Shunji puffed up and said,
"[Uh-hah-haha-ha! I am the Midas touch of this island!]"
Mid-self-praise, Shunji suddenly asked,
"[By the way, what a great song. This kid really knows how to craft a killer tune. Himari should take notes.]"
"[Me too!! ...I'll work harder.]"
Himari, momentarily bristling, couldn't stand up to the president and tucked her tail.
"[So, is this song complete?]"
"Yes."
"[What's the title?]"
This song was the final, fourth movement of the Sonata to Make Kids Laugh.
"Pee!!"
"...."
Shunji, who had poured his active-era passion into a full-throttle performance, heard the title and stared at the ceiling.
An unfamiliar emotion surged from somewhere.
'Did I get all worked up just to play a song called Pee......'
It was what Koreans call a reality check.
Shunji was speechless, and his first lesson ended on an anticlimactic note.
* * *
Shunji left to get some air, and Himari went into the recording studio for composing, leaving just Heo Ok and Yeonwoo in the studio.
Yeonwoo looked at the electric guitar Shunji had left behind and picked it up.
Not a kids' guitar, it was definitely big for Yeonwoo to hold.
Yeonwoo sat in a chair and held the guitar in an awkward position.
"Do you like the electric guitar?"
Heo Ok asked Yeonwoo with a warm smile.
"The sound is fun."
Saying that, Yeonwoo tried playing jazz on the electric guitar.
He said the sound was fun, but in truth, Yeonwoo's gaze was on the fairy.
Shunji's yellow fairy, the first to appear in Yeonwoo's 6-year life.
Shunji's fairy reacted differently from the other clones.
When good music came out, the clones emitted blue light and spawned blue fairies like mad.
But this one didn't light up much even for the same songs.
The fairies spawning from it were the same.
Different evaluation criteria, probably.
What could it be?
Yeonwoo tried playing the Sonata to Make Kids Laugh on guitar and piano.
The existing blue fairies cheered, but the yellow fairy was lukewarm.
What about something else?
He played free jazz on piano.
This one definitely got no reaction.
This guy was indifferent to jazz.
Come to think of it, Grandpa was a jazz guitarist but didn't seem to like jazz much—maybe that was reflected?
Stopping jazz, Yeonwoo played Cold Night, the first song he'd given someone else, sung by Kim Beomsin.
That was when it happened.
Shunji's fairy, which had been indifferent, suddenly jumped up.
If it had a face, it'd be (ㅇㅁㅇ!!) exclaiming "Ooh!!" in admiration.
And it shone with brilliant yellow light, spawning countless yellow fairies.
Seeing that, Yeonwoo followed up with Fly High and Rising, the songs he'd given to Hadass.
The yellow light filled the surroundings so brightly it hurt the eyes.
What was it?
Did it like pop songs?
Yeonwoo pondered, then tried playing the awkward song from Ladies, which had failed miserably against Hadass.
As blue and red fairies spawned wildly indicating like and dislike, Shunji's fairy looked even more displeased than the others.
What was it?
This time, he tried some clumsy classical.
Better reaction than expected.
Yeonwoo turned on the Mango player and played the current No. 1 song.
It lit up brightly.
He was starting to get a feel for it.
Yeonwoo played a recently released song that hadn't charted but sounded good to him.
The yellow fairy didn't react.
Vaguely, Yeonwoo felt he understood what this yellow fairy, Shunji's fairy, responded to.
'You... you're an adult, aren't you?'
Shunji's fairy was a child that reacted to adults' tastes.
The moment he realized that, the yellow light pouring from Shunji's fairy felt like pure gold.