Pianist's Village

"Is it a problem not to have friends?"

"Well, not having friends at that age can be a problem. In fact, being on your own can be better than falling in with bad friends, as long as you don't stray too far. But making good friends in your teens is like practice for making friends later in life."

Soo-hyun and Ji-ye were talking while eating after Jaehee and her father had gone home. Soo-hyun pouted after hearing Ji-ye's answer.

"I don't have any friends either."

Ji-ye said with a smile,

"That's why it's better. You two can be friends. There's an old saying that love between a man and a woman is like the morning shadow, it gradually fades, but friendship is like the evening shadow, and it lasts until the sun of life sets. It's very important to make friends."

Soo-hyun's interest was piqued.

'The old men said something similar: "When you go out into the world, make sure to make friends." I was hoping for a male friend, but I'm a bit bewildered because I never thought it would be a female friend.' 'Can I do it? She seems like a quiet person, but would she accept me as a friend?'

Ji-ye replied with an even deeper smile.

"The only way to have a friend is to be one yourself."

'How to become a friend... Ultimately, it means I have to approach her first. Honestly, I don't feel the need to do that.'

Ji-ye said, seeing the denial in Soo-hyun's expression.

"Even if you meet a friend you want to get to know, you won't be able to get close if you don't take the first step and just wait for them to approach you. How about you think of it as practice?"

'Practice is important in everything. That's what the two old men said over and over. Even if you practice endlessly, you'll still make mistakes in real life. Even if you practice playing perfectly with your eyes and ears closed, you can still make mistakes in a real performance. That's why they told me to practice non-stop until I completely mastered it.' "Does making friends require practice too? Like playing a musical instrument, is it okay to make mistakes?"

"No, not at all. There's no such thing as a perfect person in the world. They say we grow together by holding hands and supporting each other through our mistakes, and by turning a blind eye to the mistakes of friends who turn a blind eye to ours. It's different from a musical performance."

'Turning a blind eye to mistakes... I don't know. Simply put, I think it's a relationship where I forgive their immaturity and my immaturity is forgiven. I thought it would be something like just holding hands, going to school, and playing together, but it was harder than I thought.'

The next day, Ji-ye was busy from the morning. Soo-hyun squatted next to Ji-ye, who was putting on makeup, wearing her best clothes, and even polishing her shoes.

'Where are you going, Sister? You look so great, I guess you're going on a date.'

"Haha. No."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm going to submit my resignation."

"What's a resignation letter?"

Jiye smiled brightly.

"I'm thinking of quitting my job at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs."

Soo-hyun showed a surprised expression, and then his eyes quickly trembled.

'Are you leaving me, Sister? Is that why you're quitting?,' he wanted to ask, but somehow he felt that his heart would hurt a lot if he heard the answer.'

Ji-ye said, stroking Soo-hyun's head as she looked at him with sad eyes.

"To be by Soo-hyun's side. Chairman Park Ki-jun of Geumhwa Asian hired me. He asked me to stay by Soo-hyun's side."

'Hired...? That's the act of giving money and a job, right? She's accepting money to stay by my side. In a way, it might seem a bit pitiful, but the reason doesn't matter. Right now, Soo-hyun just wants Ji-ye by his side.'

Jiye smiled brightly.

"Yes, only the affiliation will change, and I will still be by your side."

Nothing had changed. Soo-hyun nodded and suddenly asked.

"Uh... So you're not going to Switzerland?"

"No, I want to stay with you. Is that okay with you?"

Soo-hyun's round eyes, seeing Ji-ye's smile, gradually spread into a smile.

"Of course! That's the best!"

"Haha, really? Really?"

"Really, really! I love it!"

Soo-hyun excitedly kicked the floor.

'It seems like this is the first time I've seen this boy act like a boy his age,' Ji-ye praised herself for making the right decision.

"I'm going out now to submit my resignation to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Then I'll go straight to Kumhwa Asian Group and draw up an employment contract. I'll be back before dinner. And you know you have a preliminary call tomorrow, right? You have to go to school, so get ready."

'What preparations do I need to make to go to school?'

At this moment, Soo-hyun was excited that he could continue to be with Ji-ye and meet many friends when he went to school tomorrow. Soo-hyun, who was smiling with the aforementioned expression, suddenly became dazed and put his hand on his chest. Ji-ye, who sensed something strange in Soo-hyun's blank gaze, asked.

"What's wrong? Where does it hurt?"

Soo-hyun, who had been quietly feeling his heartbeat, slowly turned his gaze to Ji-ye and asked.

"This place feels strange."

Ji-ye smiled brightly as she looked at the chest Soo-hyun was holding.

"How so?"

Soo-hyun said, rubbing his chest.

"My heart is pounding, and I'm trembling. I'm not cold, but I'm shaking. And I just want to get up and run. Is that an emotion?"

"Yes, that's joy. It's one of the most positive emotions a person can feel."

She would have liked to put it more elegantly, but Ji-ye was no expert in this field. All she could say was that it wasn't a bad feeling and that the more he felt it as he lived, the better it would be. At that moment, sitting next to Soo-hyun, able to explain the emotions he was feeling, Ji-ye also felt great joy.

Ji-ye was humming a song as she polished her shoes more cleanly.

'I made the right decision here!'

After a while, Ji-ye left the house after telling him several things to keep in mind. Soo-hyun didn't have much to do when he was alone. Just watching TV, reading books, and playing the piano. Of all the moments, the time spent in front of the TV passed the slowest because nothing he watched was very interesting.

'It's eleven in the morning. Sister Ji-ye said she would be back in the evening. What am I going to do until then?'

Soo-hyun, who had been worrying about it, chose, as expected, the piano. No friend allowed him to spend time with him so generously. Soo-hyun sat down in front of the piano. The music stand was empty because he hadn't bought any sheet music yet. But it wasn't really necessary. All the songs Soo-hyun knew how to play were in his head.

'What song should I play?'

Soo-hyun, who had been thinking quietly, looked out the window and smiled brightly. He remembered that Jaehee, who lived downstairs, had responded with the violin when he played the Paganini piece that Uncle Franz had taught him. But that was all. Those were all the violin-related songs Soo-hyun knew. Soo-hyun, who put his hands on the keyboard, smiled mischievously.

'Let's see how you respond. If you're not home, don't worry about it.'

Soo-hyun's right hand began to dance on the keyboard. Faster, faster. But very playfully. It was Chopin's Waltz in D-flat major, Op. 64, No. 1, also known as the 'Minute Waltz' or the 'Dog Waltz'.

'When my uncle taught me this song, he said it was created after watching a puppy run around in circles trying to catch its own tail. It's a very playful song.'

A four-bar introduction composed only of the right hand was followed by a dazzling and fast 16-bar performance.

"The first note is a little longer, as if the three beats are flowing. Play the last two notes of the right hand carefully, without adding an accent. As you sing the triplet in the right hand, the left hand carefully plays the bass notes. Be meticulous until the end, but don't let it become too heavy."

Frederick Chopin's teachings were very detailed. He taught how to play each syllable of a musical score by isolating it and spent days perfecting a single score. This didn't mean that the student had to practice it for several days. It just meant that Chopin himself took several days to explain it. It was very fun to learn his music, which was so delicate and sensitive. Because it was completely different from Franz Liszt, who played as if he were a giant ship moving through the sea, breaking ice, without any concern for playing a little differently.

'When my uncle played this piece, he told me to forget about the metronome. He told me not to control it with the rhythm. He told me to play it with rubato, with a constant emotional sway.'

Soo-hyun played each note perfectly, remembering Chopin's teachings. The song, which was played at a dizzying speed, like its nickname, Waltz, suddenly ended after less than two minutes. It's like a dog that was spinning around trying to catch its tail, and suddenly stops for no reason and stares at its owner.

Soo-hyun stopped playing and looked out the window with playful eyes.

'Are you going to answer me today?'

Outside the window, where there had been silence for a moment, a very heavy, heavy response from a violin was heard.

"Huh?"

'Are you feeling unwell? Why are you reacting with such a sad and heavy performance?'

But for a moment, those thoughts captured his attention as his ears perked up at the unfamiliar but beautiful melody. The abstract lyrical expression was at first glance difficult to explain in other words the meaning it contained. But music is amazing. It makes even abstract words feel so real on the skin. The rhythm repeatedly sped up and slowed down. It seems very heavy, but it's a song with a rhythm that becomes more interesting the more you listen to it.

The faces of two old men with serious expressions, fighting over something trivial, came to Soo-hyun's mind and he couldn't help but smile. The song Soo-hyun gave as a greeting lasted about 2 minutes, but the response was heard for more than 7 minutes.

'Jaehee must be kidding too. Haha. I still don't understand why it's so easy to have a conversation through music, but it becomes difficult when you choose conversation as the medium.'

Jaehee's performance stopped, and there was silence for a moment.

'That's it for today. I should go buy some books for the old men.'

Soo-hyun, who had already received a debit card from Ji-ye, ran to his room, changed into his tracksuit, and put on his shoes. Soo-hyun, who had checked all the "things to check before leaving the house" that his older sister had strongly recommended, was surprised when he opened the front door. There was someone standing in front of it.

"What a surprise!"

A girl with her bangs covering her eyes was standing in front of the main door, hesitating as she shyly held her other wrist with her other hand. Soo-hyun, who was momentarily speechless with surprise, just looked at Jaehee, then closed the front door and went out into the hallway and said.

"I was just about to leave."

Jaehee lowered her head and fidgeted with her fingers, not knowing what she wanted to say. Soo-hyun looked at Jaehee and asked.

"Is the old man not here?"

Jaehee nodded her head slightly.

"Are you home alone?"

Jaehee nodded again.

"Same here. I was alone too. I was about to go to the bookstore."

Jaehee just lowered her head, perhaps because it wasn't something that needed an answer.

'What should I do in this situation? Jaehee said she didn't have a mother. Her parents divorced. She said it didn't mean she didn't have a mother, but that they couldn't live together. I don't know why, but I think the child must feel lonely.'

"Do you want to go to the bookstore together?"

Jaehee nodded her head quickly. He wasn't sure, but Jaehee seemed happy.