For The Musical Genius (Novel) - Chapter 15

Chapter 15

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‘Just how.’

How long had he been standing there?

Chairman Wang’s penetrating gaze showed no sign of leaving me.

A gaze that seemed to pierce through people. Eyes so sharp that the notoriously strict professors at the Judicial Research and Training Institute would look like lambs in comparison. There’s no point in beating around the bush – I’m already in Buddha’s palm.

“Grandfather has already thrown away everything unnecessary, hasn’t he?”

Chairman Wang’s foresight was unparalleled in its excellence. When he liquidated previously successful subsidiaries and invested his personal wealth to acquire semiconductor factories, everyone in political and business circles said Chairman Wang had finally gone senile. The media predicted he would end up with an empty can.

But what was the result? What more needs to be said when Jeil Group would later take half the global semiconductor market share – it would only hurt my mouth to speak of it.

“Hmm, you say this old man has thrown away everything unnecessary?”

Chairman Wang showed a peculiar smile as if he didn’t understand. But I know the hidden blade in that smile. After all, he’s someone who mercilessly cuts off unprofitable ventures, even when it comes to his children.

As proof, the third son Son Hong-won, lacking business acumen, lives his entire life unemployed without even a decent position in Jeil Group’s subsidiaries. Compared to his youngest daughter inheriting the department store business, he’s truly ruthless. If only our grandfather had learned from this disposition. By the way.

Chairman Wang’s gaze suggested he still had questions. What day is it today that both Son Il-sun and Chairman Wang are staying at this mansion?

“Yu-ha.”

Then a savior-like figure appeared beyond the door.

“Oh my. Chairman! Hello.”

“Haha. Thank you for yesterday’s performance, Teacher Park.”

“Ah, no. I was honored to perform at such an occasion.”

Park Sun-young bowed with an excessively nervous face. Perhaps because of the timely appearance of the music teacher, Chairman Wang rose from his seat with a regretful smile.

“Well then, let’s continue our conversation next time, Hyun-ah.”

What does this mean?

But Chairman Wang walked away without waiting for my answer. Is it my imagination that his retreating figure seems somewhat excited?

* * *

“What? You can’t read sheet music?”

Park Sun-young’s eyes widened.

She seemed quite shocked by Kang-hyun’s statement that he couldn’t read sheet music. To understand a composer’s intentions and match musical balance and proportions, one needs to study the score until it’s worn out. Yet at the banquet, Kang-hyun had gone beyond understanding the score to create new music. Even Park Sun-young herself couldn’t tell if she had been dreaming.

“Th-then how did you play the violin?”

Park Sun-young even stammered, showing how flustered she was. How should I answer this? I had learned violin before. But that was in a very distant past I can barely remember.

Should I say when I held the bow, my heart pounded and I naturally became one with the violin? And that I echoed the melody flowing in my head? No way. That would be perfect for being labeled crazy.

“The piece I played was one I always practiced following others.”

Park Sun-young stared at me with her mouth wide open. Even Son Yu-ha, listening beside us, wore an expression of disbelief. Park Sun-young tried to understand the situation, seeing Kang-hyun’s unwavering eyes. There were occasionally such prodigies. Weren’t there children who could play piano keys without reading sheet music?

‘But this…’

Beyond standard levels. No matter how she tried to understand, her mind couldn’t accept it. How was such a performance possible without understanding musical notation? Even after the gathering ended, Kang-hyun’s performance remained clearly etched in Park Sun-young’s mind.

Could this child be playing tricks on her?

“Wait. Let me see your hands.”

Park Sun-young hurriedly opened Kang-hyun’s palms.

‘They’re… clean.’

The white skin was as pure as a baby’s. Both the right hand that holds the bow and the left hand that presses the strings. The expected calluses and worn fingertips were nowhere to be seen. Like the palms of someone who had never held a violin.

‘Impossible.’

Beautiful melodies come from the fingertips.

Mature technique and bowing can’t be achieved by mere imitation. Especially vibrato using the wrist – without practice, the pitch would be muddled. The left fingers that pressed the strings had moved freely between strings as if dancing. There was no sense of pressure and release.

Gulp.

Though a short life, Park Sun-young had played violin her whole life.

Could she perform as well as Kang-hyun did at the banquet? She could imitate, but couldn’t perfectly replicate it. Such rich emotion was never possible through imitation. Though Yu-ha was talented and hardworking, Kang-hyun surpassed her.

Then are there people born with talent? She didn’t know about other fields, but in music, there certainly were. The musical prodigy Mozart began composing at age five and performed before the Empress at six. Look at those calm eyes. If he were lying, he should be sent to acting school right now.

“You really have never learned music professionally?”

Has this young lady been fooled all her life?

“Yes, really.”

Park Sun-young’s eyes wavered and her Adam’s apple bobbed greatly. She thought she had met a genius who would make his mark on the music world.

* * *

“Father, has Hyun left?”

Chairman Wang nodded briefly at Son Il-sun’s question.

“Chairman Yu called, seems there was an urgent matter.”

He had planned to have tea after the music lesson. But just as the lesson ended, a call came from Chairman Yu that seemed quite urgent. Regret was evident in Chairman Wang’s eyes. Son Il-sun caught this expression and continued.

“Father, Hyun is truly remarkable, isn’t he?”

This wasn’t just flattery to please Chairman Wang. Son Il-sun still felt his hair stand on end remembering the violin performance at the banquet.

“You want him?”

“Isn’t it natural? Father, you’ve always said that talent isn’t obtained but discovered. He’s no ordinary child.”

Chairman Wang nodded. He had indeed said such things to his son before. But this case was somewhat different. Meeting that child gave him an odd feeling at times. Could it be described as feeling like conversing with a seasoned adult? Moreover, his occasional glances were so deep they could hardly be considered a child’s eyes.

“Grandfather!”

The father and son weren’t the only ones captivated by the boy.

His granddaughter, running as if about to fall, added without pause.

“Hyun oppa is really a genius, grandfather.”

She kept talking about everything that happened during the music lesson, but how much of it should be believed? Children tend to like exaggerating, after all. Chairman Wang lovingly stroked his granddaughter’s head. Then.

“Oh right! Why aren’t grandfather and dad going to work today?”

Yu-ha became curious about her grandfather and father’s presence at the mansion despite it being a weekday.

“We’re expecting a guest today. Someone you’ve seen before.”

Son Il-sun answered his daughter’s curiosity on behalf of Chairman Wang. What kind of guest could warrant both Chairman Wang and Son Il-sun waiting together?

Just then.

“Chairman, the guest has arrived.”

Son Il-sun’s secretary bowed to Chairman Wang.

“Did he take a taxi again?”

“No, this time he used our car.”

Chairman Wang showed a satisfied smile. Given his personality, this was quite a concession. Though he was known to be unpretentious. It had been quite surprising when he first appeared without even basic secretarial or security staff.

“Then let’s go greet our guest.”

Father and son rose together and walked. Yu-ha followed closely behind with a curious expression.

Arriving at the garden with its splendid landscaping trees, the guest was walking with another secretary beyond the stone steps. As Chairman Wang and Son Il-sun moved toward the garden to meet him.

“Huh?”

Yu-ha tilted her head. As her father said, it was someone she had seen before. Definitely the foreign gentleman who had been sitting with her father at the banquet. Why was he visiting again? Why were grandfather and father so pleased? She would have preferred if it were Hyun oppa.

“Driver Kim, is that really true?”

In the car returning to Ichon-dong, I couldn’t hide my excitement. Driver Kim, who had driven grandfather’s car for many years, smiled broadly and confirmed it. Smiles appeared simultaneously on both their faces for a simple reason. Mother was coming to Seoul. And to grandfather’s mansion in Ichon-dong, no less.

My heart was pounding so much I couldn’t even remember what I’d learned in today’s music lesson.

“Uncle, I’ll go up first.”

I practically ran up the stairs as soon as we arrived at the mansion. The housekeeper, having somehow learned of it, was waiting for me at the entrance. Her teary eyes made my heart swell.

“Mother!”

Entering the mansion, mother was sitting on the sofa. Caressing the house that held old memories. When she saw me, she smiled awkwardly, looking like a shy young girl.

“You could have told me you were coming, I would have gone to the terminal.”

“No, son. I didn’t know I’d be coming up so suddenly either. Grandfather sent a car down early this morning.”

Grandfather wasn’t in the mansion yet, probably still before returning from work. He must have many thoughts about meeting his youngest daughter after so long. To think he would make such a big decision. In my past life, grandfather and mother’s reunion never happened. I still clearly remember mother’s sorrowful eyes looking at grandfather’s portrait at the funeral.

“Oh my, look at me. I brought abalone porridge for father.”

Mother hurriedly took out a thermos from her bag. Worried it might spoil in the summer heat, she had not only put it in a thermos but even wrapped it in newspaper.

“Mother, I’ll put it in the kitchen.”

I stood up, taking the thermos from mother’s hands.

Despite the years that had passed, mother hadn’t forgotten grandfather’s favorite foods. She must have had little time, receiving the call early in the morning, yet she still prepared food like this. How happy grandfather would be – I recalled how he had enjoyed mother’s marinated crab.

As I was unwrapping the newspaper from the thermos.

“Huh?”

The crumpled newspaper caught my eye.

“The Eternal Crown Prince Visits Korea?”

A headline large enough to dominate the newspaper. Complete with a man’s face prominently displayed. In the photo taken against a royal background, a foreign man with dignified beauty was smiling. Though his attire was different, surely.

“Gardner?”

It was him.

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