NOVEL NEXT Chapter 215
Even when trapped in a capsule, music was my indispensable sleeping pill.
I can’t even count how many times I’ve listened to Brahms’ works.
Music stimulates the brain and leads us to another world.
Harmonious melodies evoke various images,
the sound of a snake slithering, the chirping of a bird, a sound like someone being chased,
Yet, in all the sensory images that come to mind, there is no trace of the performer.
Only the “intention” of the performer exists.
I realized this simple truth when I was thirteen in my past life.
At the Acropolis Square, where my mother Tenebraia’s burning ceremony was taking place.
There, a hideous minstrel was performing on an instrument resembling a guitar called a ‘mandolin’ in front of a fountain, garnering quite a crowd.
After listening to his performance, I had the audacity to ask that blind man a rather impolite question.
“How can people like you this much and be so enthusiastic about you?”
He bared his yellowed teeth and answered.
“Joyful music blinds people’s eyes.”
It was truly a statement that felt like a slap to the face.
No, in fact, I had been hit in the head by a stone thrown from the crowd… for interrupting the performance.
His words later provided the clue to extinguish the erosion of jealousy.
I tried to meet the minstrel again to offer him a tip, but he was nowhere to be found in the capital of Kaizen.
My thoughts wandered.
The performance had ended without me realizing it.
Applause erupted.
Just like that debutant.
My heart raced so hard it wouldn’t calm down.
Now I get nervous over such things too, huh.
*
The ‘Bark (Crescendo of Fools)’ is focusing on classical music entertainment as its main content.
“This is really awesome. No editing needed at all, right?”
“Maybe we can just switch the content to show the professors’ reactions?”
“Won’t they think it’s another prank?”
The college PDs nodded in agreement.
I don’t know how long Na-me has been playing the violin, but it can’t be more than a year.
Even child prodigies who started playing the violin at three struggle to complete pieces at this age.
To achieve this level of skill with a violin that doesn’t fit her well?
“But wouldn’t it be better if they think it’s a prank?”
Getting such a reaction from music school professors is no easy feat.
In fact, that’s exactly the kind of reaction they wanted from the professors.
“Professors! We’re here again!”
“Huh? I thought you were returning the violin?”
“We decided to borrow it for just one more day.”
Before the professor’s round glasses could shoot an inquisitive glance, they played the video they had just recorded by the pond.
Having over 30 years of experience, the professor recognized the piece’s title the moment he heard the first note.
‘6 minutes and 30 seconds?’
But the video was a bit long.
Na-me’s “Caprice No. 24” was played a bit slowly.
The professor stroked his chin and listened intently to the melody captured by the camera.
After hearing the arpeggio with 18 consecutive notes in a phrase, and the Coda of the Picardy third, he swallowed a silence.
Right after, a small laugh burst from her lips.
“…?”
All the music students, nervously waiting for the professor’s evaluation, had question marks floating above their heads.
“When did you prepare something like this again?”
“What?”
“Isn’t this also an automatic violin? But it’s so convincing that not one listener realized!”
“…!”
“Hey, but I won’t get fooled twice.”
The professor recalled the memory from two months ago when he got pranked by the automatic violin content from the Bark friends.
They had concocted a plan where it appeared that a college student was playing, but it turned out that a real violinist was playing remotely from the other room, evaluated by the professors.
He never forgot that speaking carefully around these V-tube-obsessed kids was essential.
On the other hand, the Bark PDs cheerfully rejoiced.
A man pretended to be oblivious and said,
“Professor! Our video source won’t come out like this. You should evaluate it as per usual!”
“Oh, I’m sorry! You’re going to edit this, right? Let me see…”
The professor grabbed the microphone resting on the desk.
His gaze transformed instantly into that of an evaluator.
“Um, the music was really nice. It was enjoyable to listen to. I’d say my ears were delighted the entire time, and it felt like this kid treated every note with care. Especially when articulations came in, it infused the piece with an energetic, vibrant feel.”
“Are there any areas for improvement, Professor?”
“Why are you asking me that?”
The students threw deliberately mischievous questions.
The professor also responded with a smile and shared his thoughts.
“Hmm… The most uncomfortable part I felt was…”
“Oh, yes!”
“It’s right before the double-stopping part, right?”
“Before the part that sounds like a donkey?”
“Exactly. Everything else was fine, but that part seemed to slow down significantly… and also that arpeggio that goes up quickly, right? It should rise smoothly, but the pitch came out shaky. Can we rewind the video?”
“Yes, yes!”
They jumped to 5 minutes and 45 seconds.
“That’s right. The violin’s chin rest is shifting, isn’t it? The shoulder is a bit tense, and that’s the sound coming from the lack of proper fixation.”
“Wow…!”
The students were once again reminded of the professor’s greatness, easily catching even the smallest details from just the sound.
“And yet, this kid finished the piece perfectly without a single mistake from start to finish. The octave handling, the triple stopping—perfect of course.”
“Perfect…”
“So I was thinking… it feels like an adult is playing with a children’s violin? You know, when students try their first toy violin, it often doesn’t go as well as expected. You get what I mean?”
“This violin is a Matteo Goffriller, Professor?”
“Exactly, it seems like the mistakes that can occur when the violin doesn’t fit are clearly captured by someone in the back, but I’m sorry…! Did I misspeak? Should I start over from the beginning?”
“No! You can keep going comfortably!”
“Hahaha, it feels like I messed up the content because of me… Anyway, I really felt this kid is deeply knowledgeable about the violin, and what’s fascinating is that it feels quite mature for a child.”
“What makes it feel mature?”
“Normally, kids tend to miss the details they should showcase due to the pressure to hit every note accurately, but in this regard, she seems very seasoned.”
This was the professor’s sincere opinion.
Across the entire piece, the forms of both a child and an adult coexist.
Would such interpretations of a piece emerge if an adult mimics a child? She didn’t know, not having experienced it herself.
“It was really unbelievable, as if she were possessed by the spirit of a musician. If I hadn’t watched the video together, I would have believed someone around my age was playing, given how well she infused emotion. Is it like when those white-haired masters pretend not to be great, yet their skills shine through? But everyone, why are you laughing?”
“Don’t tell me the actual performer isn’t just gray-haired but even bald?”
The professor recalled what he just said.
There was surely no slip of the tongue.
Of course, he only spoke the truth without embellishment, but there was a small chance.
Then, a shocking truth broke out from the students.
“Ta-da! Actually, it wasn’t a prank; that was the real prank!”
“What…?”
In reality, there was no such thing as an automatic violin.
Na-me perfectly played Paganini’s Caprice No. 24 at the age of 8, albeit at a slightly slow tempo.
In other words, it wasn’t an adult mimicking a child, but a child impersonating an adult.
“Wait a minute, can we rewatch the video from the start?”
For the first time in his life, the professor doubted his own eyes and ears.
*
After finishing the improvisation concert at Jahayeon, I hurried to the lecture building where I had agreed to meet the people from the Sephiron Foundation.
Looking at the violin alone, the one from Kaizen seemed slightly better, but if I brought in a Stradivari, the tables could turn.
Though, it has been scientifically proven that high-priced violins made with the latest technology from the United States produce better sound quality than those from the 17th century.
Price doesn’t always represent quality.
“Sorry for being late.”
A chilly breeze rushed in, sending goosebumps across my skin.
The large lecture room in the Natural Science Department of Korea University was so spacious that it could easily fit two to three hundred people, but it was overall dark.
Only the front area was brightly lit, so I moved over there.
“Hello! Are you Na-me?”
The awkward Korean from the real-time translation magic stuck to my mind.
“I’m Robert Fuller, a professor teaching number theory at MIT. This is my protégé, Emily Mayakovsky.”
“She’s not a protégé; she’s just a subordinate. Dr. Fuller doesn’t even teach professors. Anyway, I’m very glad to meet you, Na-me.”
“Yes… Nice to meet you…”
This character is quite unique…
The bald uncle looking like a chairman of an American corporation introduced himself as Robert Fuller.
With a blonde-haired Emily Mayakovsky, exuding a typical Slavic vibe.
After a brief handshake, we quietly sat side by side on the front row, waiting for him to speak.
“Wow, when they told me Korea University lends out 28 Dong, I wondered what they thought of us to offer such a shabby building, but I hear it was remodeled last year! Hahaha! After 30 years, wouldn’t it make more sense to tear it down and build a new one instead of remodeling? Right?”
“Ah, yes… But why did you rent such a spacious lecture room?”
Isn’t it a bit too much, even if it’s spacious?
I expected something like a small elementary school classroom, but this was certainly over the top.
“It’s to prepare for the possibility of more people. That’s what Professor Fuller said.”
Ah, he’s a bit four-dimensional. I get it. The dark circles under his subordinate’s eyes are telling.
“Just as I heard, Na-me seems truly sharp! So, may I ask if we could meet here about three times a week to discuss questions regarding proofs?”
“What kind of questions are you asking so many of?”
“A lot. A whole lot! In fact, I haven’t organized the list of questions for today, so we can look over that next time, but I want to ask one personal question first.”
“Go ahead.”
“What does this Korean alphabet mean?”
He presented his phone to me, showing a picture of my paper.
[ㅁㅊㄱㅈㄹ]
“I had such a hard time with the mysterious symbols scattered throughout the paper. There are dozens more like this.”
“This is something I’m curious about too, Na-me. What does MCGJR mean?”
“Likewise.”
“Yes?”
“It stands for WLOG in English. Without Loss of Generality. It means ‘likewise.’”
“Oh my god.”
The bald uncle rubbed his forehead.
What… Did I think I’d be writing a paper at this point?
It turns out all my personal jargon made it into that jumbled writing.
“Then this too, don’t tell me…?”
It seems the visits to Korea University won’t end in two or three times.
By the way, why are they using only English acronyms even though Korean is such a wonderful language?
Long live the Republic of Korea.
*
At Korea University’s Natural Science Department Large Lecture Hall, abbreviated 28 Dong.
The fingers of two women overlapping as they pressed the button for the elevator to the 3rd floor were accidental.
“Are you a PD from Hicks Studio? What brings you here…?”
A woman carrying a violin case asked. She was one of the students who had asked Na-me to perform earlier.
“Why is a Bark member here of all places?”
The woman responding sharply with a squinty-eyed glance was Woo Da-yeon, the PD for Hicks Studio’s physics content.
“I asked first.”
“I’m in the Department of Physics and Astronomy too, so what’s wrong with being in the same natural science building?”
As Woo Da-yeon crossed her arms in retort, the first woman let out a chuckle as if finding it absurd.
“This building only holds general classes for first-years, you know? You look like a senior just by appearance.”
“What? Did you say all you want? Then why is a music major here?”
“I came to take a general class.”
“Ah? A string major came to biology class all of a sudden, right, junior?”
“…”
The fierce competition to recruit Na-me escalated between the 1.5 million subscriber science & magic channel ‘Hicks Studio’ and the 1.5 million subscriber classical music channel ‘Bark’.