Chapter 16
I’m translating the chapter into formatted HTML now, keeping the narration fluid and moving the system notice into a styled block as required. After that I’ll do a quick pass to make sure the dialogue breaks and the final talent reveal are cleanly separated.CHAPTER_TITLE: The Night of the Violin and the New Talent
Slowly.
I began to play the violin, very slowly.
I had never even held a bow before, and this was the first time I’d so much as laid a hand on the strings.
♪-♩-♪♩♬-♪
My fingers found the strings and my bow moved on its own, like those of a veteran who had spent decades performing.
The melody flowed out so delicately that it was hard to believe I had never learned the violin at all.
Each trembling note seemed to wrap itself gently around the rooftop night air.
The violin felt almost alive.
Cutting through the smooth, polished background of refined classical music, the melody took over the space and echoed through it.
It was aching and lonely, yet somehow hopeful.
Just listening to it made me imagine the scene: standing alone at a train station at dawn on a freezing winter day, breathing into my hands while waiting for a train that might not come for who knew how long.
The bartender who had been working. The customers who had been murmuring to one another. All of them stopped what they were doing and looked only at Kang Seo-jun, listening to his music.
♪♩-♪-♩♬-♩♪.
At last, my performance came to an end.
Clap, clap, clap!
As if they had been waiting for it, applause broke out.
“...Ah.”
I came back to myself only then, after having drifted away into a trance.
Every eye in the bar was on me.
My face burned in an instant.
“Th-thank you...”
I gave an awkward bow, then quickly gathered up the violin and my equipment and hurried down from the stage.
Thump-thump-thump!
My heart pounded hard.
Being the center of attention still doesn’t come naturally to me.
It had been a drunken, impulsive performance, that much was true.
But now that my senses had returned, the embarrassment was still there, unchanged.
Even so, the positive feeling outweighed the negative by a wide margin.
That was a lot more natural than I expected.
For something I’d never touched before, I had played it perfectly.
All I had done was tune it, really, yet there hadn’t been a single mistake, not even a trace of awkwardness.
And more than anything else, the decisive thing was this.
I really like the sound of the violin itself.
I usually listened only to songs with electronic sounds or lyrics mixed in.
This felt like hearing one of my favorite songs in an acoustic version.
And I can play this whenever I want.
Just thinking about it put a smile on my face.
It almost seems too good to leave as just a hobby.
If the cost of learning songs had been a little lower, maybe I would have tried all sorts of different things.
Tap.
At that moment, a lime-colored cocktail was placed in front of me.
“Huh... I didn’t order this.”
The bartender smiled and pointed to the side.
“It was sent by the gentleman over there.”
A gentleman, not a lady?
When I looked over there, I saw a man with his hat pulled down low giving me a slight bow.
“I enjoyed your performance.”
“Ah...!”
“It’s one of my absolute favorite songs, so I wanted to thank you for the music. You were incredible.”
“Ah, thank you.”
Not only had he listened so well to my first performance, he’d even bought me a cocktail. I was past grateful and straight into overwhelmed.
“If it’s not too forward, may I sit beside you?”
“Oh, yes. Of course.”
It was a little awkward, but he had bought me a drink, so refusing would have been rude.
“Just one seat over, though...”
“Pardon?”
“Being right next to someone is a little too much pressure for me.”
“Ahaha, understood.”
He sat one seat away.
Hmm...?
The feeling was strangely familiar.
Somehow I feel like I’ve seen him before.
His silhouette was still partly hidden by the hat, so I couldn’t see him clearly, but something about him made me think this wasn’t our first meeting.
Come to think of it, even when he stood up and walked over, his proportions were unreal.
He was about my height, but his face was incredibly small.
He doesn’t seem like an ordinary person.
An influencer, maybe? Something like that?
“Would you like to toast?”
“Yes, let’s.”
I leaned in a little to clink our cocktail glasses together.
And then.
“...!”
His face came fully into view.
“Actor Choi Kang-san...?”
He was the lead in the historical drama I’d gone to as a background extra.
The main character who had practically cut me down as he passed by.
He grinned and held a finger to his lips.
“It’s a secret.”
“Ah, yes, yes. Sorry.”
Choi Kang-san had been studying my face for a moment, then suddenly opened his eyes wide.
“We know each other, don’t we?”
He snapped his fingers, like he had recognized me.
“That Qing dynasty envoy from back then...? You’re the actor who was speaking Chinese so well, right?”
“Oh, yes. That’s me.”
“I thought you looked familiar. What a small world. Nice to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you too. But to correct one thing...”
I said carefully,
“I’m not an actor.”
“...Huh? You weren’t?”
“No. I went there as part of a background-acting gig, and when someone suddenly couldn’t make it, I filled in for the role by chance.”
“Ah...! Right. That’s what happened. I was in the middle of an all-night shoot at the time, so I forgot.”
Choi Kang-san asked half-jokingly, half-seriously,
“You ever think about trying acting for real?”
“Not at all.”
I even waved my hands, but he asked with clear confusion,
“Why not? You were good at it. You’ve got talent.”
“Being the center of attention is stressful for me. And I don’t want to be famous.”
“Ah, seriously?”
He nodded as if he completely understood.
“Same here. It’s just too late for me already. Haha!”
Maybe because we’d already seen each other’s faces once.
Or maybe because we were both men and there was no room for awkward misunderstandings.
For whatever reason, talking to him didn’t feel difficult or uncomfortable at all.
“Aren’t drama shoots busy? How did you end up here in Jeju?”
“We’re on location here in Jeju.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yeah. I shot from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. today. Tomorrow’s at least an evening shoot, so I’ve got a little time to spare and figured I’d have a drink.”
“Wow, that’s brutal.”
“Oh, it’s nothing. This is the kind of work you bunch up and finish when things are busy.”
Choi Kang-san leaned forward with interest.
“By the way, how did you know that song?”
“Pardon?”
“The piece you played earlier. Sun on the Roof.”
“Ah, it was used as an OST in my favorite movie. I picked it because it seemed perfect for this place.”
“Whoa, seriously? No way.”
He burst into a bright smile, like a child who had just met a new friend.
“That movie is one of my favorites too.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. You mean the French film Night on the Youth Train, right? I decided I wanted to become an actor after seeing that.”
“Ohhh...! It isn’t a very well-known film in Korea, so meeting someone who knows it is really nice.”
“I’m more pleased than you are.”
Genuine warmth rose on his face.
“How old are you, by the way?”
“I’m thirty.”
“I’m twenty-eight. Mind if I call you Hyung-nim?”
“Ah, yes. Sure.”
“Then you should speak casually to me too, Hyung-nim.”
Since Choi Kang-san had reached out first, the wall between celebrity and ordinary person collapsed in an instant.
But the important thing was this.
“I-I’ll...”
My wall was still standing firm.
“Let’s do that next time we meet.”
“Haha, sure.”
Choi Kang-san let out a hearty laugh and asked,
“So, Hyung-nim, what do you do for work?”
“Just office work. A regular advertising company.”
“Oh, nice. Hyung-nim, hire me sometime.”
“I’m not the one who makes that decision. Still, if the chance comes up, I’ll recommend you once.”
“Haha, thanks. Since we met like this, want to exchange numbers?”
“...My phone number?”
“Yeah. Let’s meet again sometime and talk about movies. Our tastes seem pretty similar.”
It was a little burdensome, sure.
But he doesn’t seem like a bad guy.
Besides, if anyone ought to be cautious, it would be the celebrity toward the ordinary guy, not the other way around.
And honestly, having one celebrity friend doesn’t sound bad.
Since I worked in advertising, there might be times I’d need a favor.
And it would probably be fun to hear all sorts of behind-the-scenes stories.
“Do you use SNS? Want to follow each other?”
“...I only really have an account sitting there.”
“Still, let’s follow each other.”
He took the lead and followed me right away.
“Anyway, is the drink to your taste? This is a cocktail called a gimlet. It’s famous for being something artists liked, so...”
Echo of Pixels
Rank: B+
Passive Effect: The user fragments emotion and packs it with precision into digital pixels. Anyone who encounters it can grasp the emotion and subtle nuance embedded in the image perfectly. The possibility of misunderstanding disappears, and the force of communication is maximized.
Huh?
Wait a second, if I read this correctly...
This seems perfectly optimized for making emoticons.
---
I got back to my room at 4 a.m.
I had meant to go to bed around 2.
But Choi Kang-san had been so enthusiastic in conversation that I couldn’t bring myself to excuse myself first.
Of course, I’d also stayed because the conversation itself had been genuinely fun.
We really clicked.
We had only talked for a few hours, but somehow it felt like the easy familiarity of friends who had known each other for years.
-You are now mutually following ChoiKangSan.
That’s amazing. Really amazing.
Not only had I ended up speaking to a celebrity like a hyung and little brother, I’d even become mutuals with him on SNS.
I had come to Jeju just to relax a little, maybe write a blog post or two, and do some casual hotel-hopping.
But from the violin performance to my connection with Choi Kang-san, I’d gained far more than I expected.
Though, of course, it’ll probably just end up being a mirage of one night’s memories.
Even though we exchanged numbers, I didn’t expect he’d actually contact me.
Both Choi Kang-san and I had drunk quite a bit, and it really was a fun conversation because drunken people tend to think they understand each other.
But once the alcohol wore off, it wouldn’t be easy for a celebrity and an ordinary person to mix.
Let’s just think of it as a story I can brag about at drinking parties.
That alone was satisfying enough.
***
Tuesday lunchtime.
My mother called.
“What’s going on?”
-Son, the package arrived. You sent meat? And it’s hanwoo?
Her voice through the phone was bright with excitement.
-It looks incredibly expensive. Wasn’t that too much? You should be eating it yourself, Seo-jun.
“No, Mother. Please enjoy it. I’m eating well too.”
-Thank you, son. The color is beautiful.
“I’ll send it often. Is there anything else you need besides meat?”
-Oh, no, that’s fine. Seoul’s expensive enough already, so you should take care of yourself first.
“I’m sending it because I have some room, too.”
I didn’t mention that I’d started side jobs.
If she thought I was grinding myself down with a second job just to make money and send gifts home, Mother wouldn’t feel at ease.
“I got a bonus this time.”
-Oh, really? That’s great!
She asked in a pleased voice.
-Anyway, I’ll enjoy the meat. If you need any side dishes, should I send some?
“Just kimchi, please. I’ll handle the rest myself.”
-All right, got it.
It had been a while since I’d heard my mother’s voice.
Yeah, meat really is the best.
Who knew she’d be that happy?
It was worth every bit of the effort it took me to buy top-grade hanwoo.
That’s why everyone works so hard to make money.
Once again, I found myself thinking I’d been right to start side jobs.
Still, a violin isn’t exactly the easiest thing to turn into a side hustle.
I’d been turning the problem over in my head the way I always did whenever I got a new talent, but there weren’t as many options in music as I’d hoped.
Using a violin in an office-worker band would be a little too unique.
And joining a full orchestra was too grand a move, not to mention completely out of reach with my main job.
Maybe busking is the most realistic option?
I had seen violin performances on YouTube before, out at places like the Han River, Hongdae, or Sinchon.
But that doesn’t appeal to me.
Standing in front of other people was the last thing I wanted.
I’ll just keep the violin as a hobby.
I needed something enjoyable that gave me room to breathe, not just another source of income or side hustle.
“Heeheeheehee.”
Just then, a happy laugh came from beside me, and a rolling case loaded with coffee suddenly appeared in front of me.
“Manager Kang. Pick whatever you want to drink.”
Wondering who it was, I turned to look and found Park Manager there.
“What, did you buy this with the company card?”
“Nope~ Bought it with my own money~”
He’d looked like death yesterday, but today his energy was completely different.
The vibe was obvious enough that I could guess it right away...
“Did your coin go up or something?”
“Bingo!”
He shouted proudly and plopped down beside me.
“It went all the way down to minus seventy percent, but today it came right back to break-even!”
“Incredible... Is that even possible?”
“Ripple finally finished its lawsuit!”
“...?”
“You don’t know what I mean, do you? In short, that means the only direction left is up. That Ripple coin, you see...”
Honestly, even listening to him, I didn’t really understand what he was saying.
Park Manager really does have the heart of a beast.
If it were me, I would’ve cracked mentally, sold at a loss, and spent forever regretting it.
And yet he’d held on through all that.
“Wow, Manager, you were still holding that?”
Kim Assistant Manager came over from nowhere.
“I sold mine at around minus thirty percent...”
“Hey, I told you a rescue rally would come sooner or later.”
As I listened, I found myself blurting out before I could stop myself.
“If you’re going to be that happy just getting back to even, why not put it in a savings account instead? The principal is guaranteed, you know?”
“There’s no such thing. Stop lying.”
“...Fine, fine. So did you actually break even?”
“Nope?”
Park Manager blinked and asked back.
“Why would I?”
“You said you only wanted to recover your principal.”
“Not enough.”
He shook his head firmly.
“Honestly, I’ve had it rough all this time.”
“...?”
“For all the suffering and mental damage I’ve been through, I need at least ten percent... no, fifteen percent profit.”
I think this guy might actually be insane.
The more I looked at him, the more painfully I felt that investing in coins or stocks just wasn’t something I should ever do.
As expected, side jobs are the best...
Ding.
Before I could even finish the thought, a new notification appeared at just the right moment.
The Echo of Pixels.
Rank: B+
Passive Effect: The user fragments emotion and captures it with precision inside digital pixels. Anyone exposed to it will perfectly grasp the emotion and the fine nuances embedded in the image, eliminating the possibility of misunderstanding and maximizing communicative power.
Huh?
Hold on, if I’m reading this right...
This looks tailor-made for making emoticons.