6
## Chapter 6 — Want to Do Some Night Work With Me?
“Is this person seriously performing while wearing a mascot costume?”
Pianist Park Huiyeon had never once worn a mascot costume in her life.
But even at a glance, the rabbit suit in the video looked unbearably hot and stuffy for the middle of summer.
The narrow visibility alone would make playing the piano difficult, yet he was performing in *that*?
And not just anything—
but *La Campanella*, a piece difficult even for professionals?
Though puzzled, Park Huiyeon decided to simply listen first.
♩♬♪♪
“Hm, very clean.”
Imagining herself as a competition judge, Park Huiyeon began evaluating the rabbit’s performance.
The introduction was extremely smooth, and the rhythm was flawless.
It was exactly the kind of perfect performance she preferred.
There was no impatience in the playing, and the crystal-clear bell-like tones unique to *La Campanella* delighted the ears.
“Hoh, the technique’s impressive.”
Just being able to play *La Campanella* effortlessly already guaranteed a certain level of skill.
And the hands sticking out from beneath the rabbit costume weren’t even particularly large.
Judging from the build, the rabbit was definitely male, yet despite having relatively small hands for a man, he continued delivering an elegant and flashy performance.
But—
“This alone isn’t enough.”
The rabbit’s skill was certainly amazing, but not enough to truly shock Park Huiyeon.
A piano major could produce this level of performance with a few weeks of intense practice.
Getting 3.7 million views and causing such a commotion over *just this* felt a little excessive—
That was what she thought.
Then—
Ding.
“Mistouch.”
A split second.
Ordinary people wouldn’t have noticed, but as an experienced professional, she instantly realized the performer had made a mistake.
If this had been a competition, points would’ve been deducted.
Since Park Huiyeon pursued perfection, she felt disappointed at that moment.
But then—
♬♪♩♩
“……Huh?”
Even she, who had been clicking her tongue moments earlier, froze when an unbelievably beautiful chord suddenly pierced her ears.
She had almost considered closing the video, but the suddenly transformed *La Campanella* left her staring blankly.
Having performed *La Campanella* thousands upon thousands of times herself, she could tell immediately.
The piece now being played was no longer Liszt’s *La Campanella.*
And yet—
it was undeniably still *La Campanella.*
‘He rearranged it?’
To begin with, *La Campanella* itself had originally been Liszt’s rearrangement of Paganini’s violin concerto.
Countless musicians had rearranged it afterward as well.
But this version—
Park Huiyeon had never heard anything like it before.
Which meant the rabbit mascot’s own originality was embedded within this *La Campanella.*
“Did he plan this rearrangement from the beginning…? No… no, that’s not it…!”
At first, it had clearly been Liszt’s original composition exactly as written.
Then suddenly, it changed.
“The moment he made that mistouch, the song suddenly… ah, no way…!”
Did he rearrange the piece midway to cover the mistake?
If so, then—
“Improvised rearrangement?!”
He rearranged the piece *while performing it?*
Was that even possible?
Especially with *La Campanella?*
♪♪♪♩♪♬♬
As though confirming her suspicions, the rabbit’s rearranged *La Campanella* still carried an unfinished, raw quality.
And yet—
“……Ah.”
It was beautiful.
The rabbit’s hands were slightly too small to perfectly perform Liszt’s original *La Campanella.*
But instead of being restricted by his weakness, he used it to his advantage, creating short yet rich trills.
*La Campanella* meant *little bell.*
The rearranged version made it feel as though hundreds of tiny bells were ringing inside her head.
The original piece was already famous for its dazzling technique—
♪♬♬♪♬♬♪♬
—but the rabbit’s hands danced across the keyboard with such speed and elegance that it looked like a performance itself was dancing atop the piano.
Though still unfinished, it was a completely new *La Campanella* that captivated both eyes and ears.
“…I want to try playing it once. …No, what am I even thinking?”
Park Huiyeon muttered unconsciously before startling herself.
Originally, she was a pianist who strongly disliked rearrangements of classical music.
To her, classical music was most beautiful when it preserved the original composer’s colors intact.
And yet—
even to her, this rearranged *La Campanella* was incredibly alluring.
So alluring that she wanted to obtain the score and try playing it herself.
—WOOOOOOAH!
—CLAP CLAP CLAP!!
And after the rabbit finished performing—
the audience watching on the street erupted into thunderous applause with ecstatic expressions.
Park Huiyeon completely understood how they felt.
If she had heard a performance like that in person, she too would’ve applauded just like them.
—Encore! Encore!
—Wow, that was seriously insane…
The audience continued gasping in admiration, still unable to shake off the lingering emotions.
Among them was someone who shouted:
—Rabbit-nim! What’s your name?! You’re a really famous pianist, right?!
At that question from the video, even Park Huiyeon, sitting behind the screen, stiffened slightly.
Because she too desperately wanted to know who the man beneath the rabbit mascot costume was.
But—
—Well…
The rabbit hesitated awkwardly, seemingly troubled about revealing his identity.
“Judging from the voice, he sounds like a man in his twenties…? Who is he? Did one of my juniors have this kind of talent?”
As Park Huiyeon tilted her head in confusion, trying to guess the rabbit’s identity—
—My name is creep. I work as a faceless pianist.
“creep…?”
The moment the rabbit revealed his alias, Park Huiyeon immediately began searching online.
“Coincidentally, there’s also a faceless painter named creep causing a stir in the art world lately. But that must just be a coincidence.”
Even though both belonged to the arts, painting and piano were entirely different fields.
Leaving aside the faceless painter creep, she searched specifically for the faceless pianist creep.
But unsurprisingly, nothing came up.
“Either he’s a completely unknown pianist… or someone intentionally hiding his identity.”
One thing was certain—
the faceless pianist creep was a genius beyond imagination.
The melody of the improvised *La Campanella* still echoed in her ears.
How long had it been since another person’s performance had shocked Park Huiyeon this deeply?
And she wasn’t the only one astonished by creep’s performance.
[The Appearance of a Hidden Piano Genius…? Who Exactly Is the Faceless Pianist creep?]
[Who is the Korean Liszt? …What an Amazing La Campanella!]
Not only Korea, but even foreign media outlets began focusing their attention on the new piano prodigy called creep.
Realizing she had already fallen a step behind, Park Huiyeon clicked her tongue and made a phone call.
“Hello? Yeah, it’s me.”
—Noona! You saw the video I sent, right?! creep is seriously a ge—
“Yeah, I already watched it. That creep kid really is a genius.”
After hearing creep’s performance, Park Huiyeon realized something.
Perhaps this faceless pianist was the person capable of achieving the ideal she herself could not.
“So hurry up and find him. Before anyone else does.”
And so, led by Park Huiyeon, the Korean piano world began desperately searching for the sudden genius known as creep.
---
By the time the red sunset slowly faded beyond the horizon, my part-time job had finally ended.
“Thank you so much for today! Hurry and sit down! Hehe, I’ll bring you a bowl of curry right away!”
The owner, who had enjoyed an incredibly successful day of business, was smiling brightly.
“You had beef curry this morning, so how about chicken curry this time?”
“Oh, I like everything! Thank you!”
“No, I’m the thankful one! Just wait a little!”
Leaving behind the owner humming happily as she entered the kitchen, I opened my notebook.
On the blank pages, I drew staff lines and began writing musical notes.
It was the score for the rearranged *La Campanella* I had played today.
‘To think I managed to perform something like this. I got lucky.’
Artists supposedly experienced moments of sudden inspiration only once or twice in their entire lives.
I instinctively knew today had been one of those moments for me.
Since an opportunity like this might never come again, I needed to preserve today’s realization carefully.
“Done.”
Just as I finished the crooked yet incredibly precious sheet music, the owner brought over the food.
Chicken curry topped with a mountain of king prawn tempura.
“Wow…! Owner, this portion is huge…!”
“Hehe, this morning it looked like you really liked shrimp tempura, so I added extra. Ah, and here’s your pay for today.”
“Thank you!”
The moment I accepted the envelope containing my wages, a strange wave of emotion washed over me.
Because this was the first part-time paycheck I had ever earned in my twenty-six years of life.
And then—
“……Huh?”
After opening the envelope, I froze in shock.
“U-Um… I think you gave me the wrong amount.”
“Nope. I gave you the right amount.”
“Huh? But I came here expecting a daily wage of 150,000 won, yet inside the envelope there’s…”
Eight 50,000-won bills.
400,000 won.
More than double what I was originally supposed to receive.
Seeing my confusion, the owner smiled warmly instead.
“After everything you did today, of course you deserve that much!”
“…Ah.”
“Thank you, seriously. Customers said the curry was delicious and promised to come back again. It’s all thanks to you.”
The way she looked at me while saying that felt genuinely emotional.
“If things hadn’t worked out again today, I was honestly considering closing the restaurant. Thank you. Truly…”
“……”
Only then did I fully realize just how grateful she was toward me, and a deep sense of pride filled my chest.
“…Then I’ll gratefully accept it.”
“Yes, haha. And enjoy the curry too. If it’s not enough, I’ll give you more!”
“Oh, then after I finish this bowl, I’ll have another!”
“Hehe, I could give you fifty bowls or even a hundred.”
And so, after happily finishing the curry the owner prepared for me, I packed my things and left the restaurant.
She waved goodbye until I disappeared into the distance.
It felt as though not only my stomach, but even my heart had become full.
---
“400,000 won… That’s quite a lot of money at once.”
With this much, I could probably survive another week.
But it still wasn’t enough to finish my cross-country trip and return to Seoul.
“Maybe I should rest for today and look for another short-term job at the next destination…”
Summer days were long, but darkness would soon settle over the streets.
I looked around for somewhere to stay the night.
That was when—
“Hey there, piano man who looks like he’s got nowhere to go!”
“……?”
Turning toward the voice calling out to me from the dim street, I spotted a familiar face.
“…Oh, you’re…”
It was the middle-aged customer from the curry shop who had spent over 50,000 won and requested *La Campanella.*
More importantly—
this person recognized me? How?
As I stared at him warily, the middle-aged man grinned.
“You’re the rabbit mascot from earlier, right? I saw you leave the curry shop. Same voice too.”
“…Ah.”
Most people couldn’t identify someone just from their voice alone.
‘Does he have sensitive hearing?’
Maybe he worked in music.
The unfamiliar middle-aged man acting friendly immediately put me on guard.
“Yes, I *was* the rabbit earlier… but what exactly do you want?”
“What do I want? Well, of course I’ve got something.”
And then—
Grab.
The man stepped closer, placed a hand on my shoulder, and laughed heartily.
“Hahahaha! I just *had* to tell you your performance today was incredible!”
“…Huh?”
I had been cautious around him, but his easygoing smile caught me off guard.
Meanwhile, the man continued speaking with an expression overflowing with excitement, as though he had truly been deeply moved.
“I don’t know much about classical music, but that thing you played earlier—that was improvised, right?”
“Huh? Ah, yes. It was improvised.”
“Damn… your fingers were dancing across the keyboard like you were possessed or something, and the whole thing felt like it was setting my free spirit on fire! You know what I mean? Hahahaha!”
Even afterward, the man kept passionately praising my earlier performance like an excited child.
It seemed he had genuinely loved my playing.
‘He doesn’t seem… like a bad person? People who truly love music usually aren’t bad.’
As my guard slowly lowered, the man smiled and asked:
“But how’d a student like you end up playing at that curry shop? Is it run by your family?”
“Ah, no. I’m actually traveling right now, but I ran out of money…”
“Aha! Then I really did find the right person!”
The moment I mentioned running out of money, the man suddenly looked strangely excited, almost like he’d been waiting for that answer.
“Kid! I’ll pay you double! How about coming to my place tonight and doing some fun night work?”
“………What?”
Night work…?
The moment I heard those words, my brain completely stopped functioning.