Chapter 93
Chapter 93
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 94
Chapter Title: Beethoven's Shadow
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Yeonwoo played up to the part that Park Jeonghun had demonstrated and then stopped the piano.
Unfortunately, that massive fairy didn't show itself.
Did it mean his playing wasn't worthy of its appearance? Was his skill still too lacking?
Yeonwoo felt disappointed, but on the other hand, he was impressed by Park Jeonghun.
The man had grown old and lost the flashy techniques of youth along with his strength, but in their place, he had gained the depth of years.
In fact, Park Jeonghun's fairy—which had nothing to do with age—had appeared before Yeonwoo and even demonstrated its piano playing.
"Yeonwoo, what are you doing?"
Unaware of this, Heo Ok spoke to Yeonwoo, who was staring blankly ahead.
Yeonwoo turned to his grandmother at her question and said.
"Who made this piece?"
"Oh dear, I forgot to teach you the most important part. It's Ludwig van Beethoven, the man known in Korea as Beethoven."
Now knowing whose apparition that massive fairy's silhouette belonged to, Yeonwoo repeated the name Beethoven to himself.
"Is he still alive?"
Park Jeonghun burst into laughter at Yeonwoo's question.
"Of course not. He was born in 1770. And he passed away in 1827."
"Wow... He lived such a long time ago."
Yeonwoo was genuinely shocked. In his world, there were no musicians from such ancient history.
It hit him anew that classical music truly had a long history.
"I love Beethoven. When I conduct an orchestra, his pieces are always my top priority."
Ah, so that's why his fairy only reacted to Park Jeonghun's playing?
But wait—conducting?
"What's conducting?"
"It's leading an orchestra—the person who coordinates all the instrumentalists to guide the music."
"Oh...!"
Such a job existed.
Yeonwoo was amazed.
"If there's a chance, I'll show you an orchestra performance soon."
"Yes!"
Yeonwoo nodded eagerly.
He had grown curious about the world of classical music.
This piece was really good, though.
Yeonwoo played the Fate Symphony again. This time, he blended in his grandmother's piano style and some jazz.
Listening to the jazz arrangement of the Fate Symphony, Park Jeonghun let out a soft chuckle.
"You really love jazz, huh?"
"Can't fool the blood."
"No, it's because the person teaching you only showed you jazz."
Even as he said this, Park Jeonghun didn't stop Yeonwoo's playing.
Truth be told, despite his words, he didn't dislike jazz.
Jazz had its own flavor, with its long history.
What he hated were the modern songs made with virtual instruments.
Songs produced by computers?
He could never accept that.
He believed every song needed to be played live by people to capture its profound depth.
Look—even now, the music was alive and breathing.
Then, suddenly, Yeonwoo stopped playing the piano.
"It sounds great. Why'd you stop?"
"Grandpa, this note here is a little off."
Yeonwoo said as he pressed one key. Park Jeonghun looked puzzled at his words.
"Hmm, I don't really hear it that way..."
"It's true. Yeonwoo's ears are super sensitive."
Park Jeonghun chuckled again.
"If Beethoven were alive, he'd be awfully jealous of that friend."
* * *
After returning home, Yeonwoo began seeking out classical music to listen to.
And he started realizing that all music was rooted in classics.
Even chord progressions originated from classical music, and what they called the "money chord"—named for how lucrative it was—traced back to the Canon.
From Yeonwoo's perspective, he'd avoided it precisely because everyone used it so much, but to think it was all based on classics.
"Ah..."
In the end, Yeonwoo realized he'd been ignoring the fundamentals in his music activities.
He went back to the beginning, studying music's origins step by step.
Music that began with classical underwent a revolution in the modern era with the birth of blues and jazz.
Those two gave rise to today's diverse genres.
And at the forefront of that pinnacle stood Yeonwoo now.
Having realized this, he dove deeper into classical music.
Yeonwoo's classical journey, starting with Beethoven, led to famous composers like Schubert, Robert Schumann, Brahms, Wagner, and Chopin.
Then it went further back in time.
He met Bach and Vivaldi, and finally encountered Mozart.
Among countless musical geniuses, when people asked who was the greatest in history, many pointed to this man: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Watching his music and operas, Yeonwoo received another shock.
"Were these written to be sung?"
Just as he'd tested singers' limits himself, Mozart had left behind impossible pieces centuries ago, as if challenging vocalists to try singing them.
Yeonwoo began seeking out arias from Mozart's operas.
The opera stage was a bit shocking.
The vocalists seemed to be teaching exactly how to do vocal production and technique.
When producing singers so far, Yeonwoo had relied on Kim Beomsin's fairy, but he felt he needed to study this aspect.
In conclusion, classical music seemed to be telling him to study music properly.
'No thanks.'
But Yeonwoo rejected the classical-style studying it demanded.
The more videos he watched, the more classical music felt overly conservative. Or rather, the people doing it.
They seemed obsessed with preserving tradition.
To learn classical, you'd have to study under them, but Yeonwoo thought that would actually hinder him.
Better to learn from the fairies.
With that in mind, he recalled that massive presence again.
Beethoven's fairy.
He wanted to meet it once more.
The moment he thought of it, Park Jeonghun's fairy covered his eyes with a stern expression.
"Why?"
Park Jeonghun's fairy shook its head side to side.
"I'm still not there yet?"
Park Jeonghun's fairy looked down at him sternly and nodded.
"Hmph."
Yeonwoo snorted at Park Jeonghun's fairy.
"I'll meet it soon."
Park Jeonghun's fairy gave a look of skepticism, but Yeonwoo ignored it and sat at the piano.
Beethoven's piano began to flow through Yeonwoo's hands.
Blue fairies burst out and mingled wildly, but Beethoven's fairy didn't appear.
A child might grow impatient, but Yeonwoo didn't.
As the apparition of history's greatest musician, it wouldn't show itself easily.
If he worked steadily bit by bit, Yeonwoo thought he'd meet it sooner than Park Jeonghun's fairy expected.
* * *
While Yeonwoo was immersed in the world of classical music, August—peak summer—had come and nearly passed.
In the meantime, High Teen Rock 'n' Roll wrapped up with a smash hit final rating of 15%, and Lee Si-eun's OST High Teen Rock 'n' Roll rode the drama's popularity to keep battling for #1 on daily and weekly charts with great results.
The song competing with High Teen Rock 'n' Roll for the top spot was none other than Chae Hayeon's 'There Must Be a Reason to Keep Living'.
This song, which calmly unpacked sorrow, gained massive popularity contrary to expectations and skyrocketed Chae Hayeon's value.
Thanks to it, broadcast appearances and ad offers were pouring in.
Meanwhile, Yoo Jaehyuk and Invincible finished their domestic tour and returned to daily life, except for scheduled events.
Park Su-hyuk went back to running the shop with his wife, while bassist Kim Tae-hyun and An Sang-gil used their settlement money to open an academy together.
Yoo Jaehyuk holed up at home, enjoying his own time.
Hadas, which had succeeded not just in Korea but Japan too, entered a hiatus, giving members maximum rest time aside from occasional personal live streams, activity on the popularity-boosted Hadas YouTube channel, or ad shoots.
Meanwhile, in Japan, Yuri & Annosuke were sweeping up phenomenal popularity.
They performed their recorded songs at events and group concerts nationwide, while actively continuing broadcast activities.
JOP rated them the most successful debut artist in the last five years.
At this point, Yuin was starting to be seen as a Midas touch in both composing and producing—success with every touch.
With this much, one could be the center of buzz, but Yeonwoo went even further at just 7 years old.
A mere 7-year-old genius boy was dominating the music scenes of Korea and Japan, influencing Asia and beyond.
Plus, with his exceptional looks, Yeonwoo's popularity soared endlessly.
His Korean fandom had reached 80,000, forming a fanbase that even established idols couldn't ignore, and in Japan, they called him the Prince of Music—Ongaku Oji—adoring him.
As a result, SSHIN's official YouTube channel unexpectedly exploded in popularity.
With subscribers from both Korea and Japan, the SSHIN official channel surpassed the gold button with 2.4 million subscribers, and Yeonwoo's videos easily hit over a million views— the most popular one reaching 6 million.
Interest in his every move kept growing.
Amid this, at some point, Yeonwoo began uploading videos of himself playing classical piano.
He played pieces by well-known composers like Beethoven and Mozart, eventually turning to this person's works.
None other than Frédéric Chopin.
The great composer and pianist who, alongside Franz Liszt, left the most achievements in piano history.
Yeonwoo's piano, which had chased only jazz, reached the conclusion after meeting classical that to understand everything about piano, he had to know this man.
Starting with Chopin's Etudes [practice pieces].
These boasted such high difficulty that most music college students majoring in piano faced them as entrance exam pieces—some even shuddered upon hearing them.
But Yeonwoo found Chopin's Etudes fun.
Unlike prior etudes that forced mechanical repetition, Chopin's felt like actual performances despite being etudes.
Thanks to that, casual listeners watching Yeonwoo play enthusiastically thought, "Wow, he plays well," but piano majors reacted differently.
- A 7-year-old played this?
- F*ck, I couldn't play this and missed the college I wanted, but Yuin could get into it right now even for auditions.
- Wow... I couldn't play it with hands that small and had to retake...
Most majors fell into self-loathing upon hearing Yeonwoo's piano.