Chapter 6: Faster 2
Red Ginseng Candy.
Wearing a large grin, I unwrapped one of the candies and threw it inside my mouth as the fragrant aura of red ginseng spread out throughout my body.
Ah this is it.
Enjoying the flavour, I rolled it around with my tongue when a dull voice echoed from the side.
“…You really like red ginseng candies?”
“Un? Isn’t this nice?”
Seeing me proudly waving the red empty package, Lee Suh-ah stared at me with an expression as if she had bitten on a lemon. Why’s she like that? I was tilting my head when Lee Suh-ah dragged Song Mirae over to a corner before starting a chit chat.
Curious, I pointed my ears a bit and could hear some of their words.
“…You give something like… just because his body is… idiot.”
“My uncle liked it though?”
“Uncle… have you given… to other guys…”
“Why would I give a present to other guys?”
Song Mirae wore a bold expression and Lee Suh-ah heaved out a sigh.
“Alright. The person himself likes it so I guess that’s fine.”
Then, she shot a glare at me.
“Even your taste is totally like an old man. I should’ve figured it out when you wanted a mint-flavoured candy last time.”
“No, what’s wrong with mint?”
“Don’t tell me you like mint chocolate as well?”
“…That’s…”
*
“…”
Ku Mingi quickly carried his feet. The sceneries of the corridor sped past him and from within, some of the students gave greetings. Normally, he would’ve kindly given a response but the current him was indulged in his thoughts.
‘Jo Yunjae…’
Suddenly, the memories of the past resurfaced. That first time he had seen Jo Yunjae at the interview – that old memory.
Thinking back, it wasn’t anything special. It was just that he had heard something interesting walking past and was thus interested, and had merely held it once because of that unique hearing ability.
It was similar to an impulsive buying like when seeing a new product in the market. Later, he would forget that he had even bought it, and neglect it before ultimately throwing it straight into the bin – that kind of student which he had picked without a real reason.
“Hmm…”
But that kind of student had shown a full mark in the music dictation test and distinguished himself apart before showing amazing diction skills in the Concerted Music lesson. Plus, there was the diligence shown in the Improvement Concert with his earnest development.
Up to here, he had evaluated him as ‘a disciple worth growing’ but nothing more. However, the new image shown by Jo Yunjae in the lesson room this time had broken his thoughts into pieces.
A talent never seen before.
A singer that could sing any song if they were inclined to, a charming opera singer like an eight-coloured bird. Ku Mingi had labelled him like this,
‘Heaven-defying’
All the songs in the world… no, there was no need to even be able to sing that much. If he could sing half of that, or perhaps even another half of that; singing the masterpieces of composers stacked over countless years without any restriction…
He would be able to lay his hands on a repertoire of songs incomparable to other opera singers. And that shocking change of vocalisation would bring a massive earthquake to the world of classics.
“…”
A smile appeared on Ku Mingi’s lips.
Kim Wuju.
At the start, he was planning on taking him in as a disciple. Kim Wuju was definitely worth taking in as a disciple, or in fact it was correct to say that he was overflowing with the potential.
Timbre, vocalisation, technique, diction… no matter in which aspect, he surpassed the boundary of norms – an extraordinary genius.
‘But there’s no need for me to be the teacher.’
A perfected genius was a word fitting of Kim Wuju.
Even if he did raise him, no-one would think that it was thanks to Ku Mingi’s abilities. Kim Wuju was already someone walking down his own path after completely mastering the traditional methods so he might not even consider Ku Mingi as his teacher.
On the other hand, how was Jo Yunjae?
A beginner amongst beginners who had never learned opera before. And naturally, he had never hired a teacher before nor did he have any other teachers aside from him. Finding that hidden gem and refining it into the one and only gem of the universe…
Just the thought was enough to have his heart thump in excitement.
“…”
He who had been walking with a grin raised his hand to knock the door.
[Principal’s room]
Glancing up, he could see those words hanging. After waiting for a bit, a voice telling him to come in was heard from the room and Ku Mingi pushed the door open.
A room painted by the red sunset entered his eyes. Scanning through the elegant wooden furniture, expensive paintings hanging here and there, ceramics and the various instruments, Ku Mingi then turned his gaze towards the front.
[Principal Song Muntak]
Ku Mingi glanced at the nameplate decorated by the fancy handwriting before greeting the principal.
“Hello.”
“Right. You’re here Mr Ku? Sit.”
The principal Song Muntak gave off the same, easygoing old-man vibe but it looked like his forehead had expanded compared to before. When Ku Mingi who had been staring pitiably at the retreating hairline sat down, Song Muntak amiably opened his lips.
“Right, it seems like it’s been a while since I’ve met Mr Ku. Nothing wrong right? Did you want something like this maybe? There’s no tea ready…”
Seeing the red candy being reached out, Ku Mingi politely shook his head.
“Red Ginseng… I’m okay. There’s enough energy in my body you see.”
“I see… those are good times. There was a time when I was full of energy as well…”
Like that, words similar to a complaint continued falling out of his mouth. The fact that he had conducted in the past; the things that had happened in the opera ensemble; back when he was famous during the university…
After repeating the same stories that Ku Mingi had heard a dozen times already, the principal finally started the main topic.
“Yes, that was how I met the maestro back then in LA, and it was through that connection that I was able to invite him to the ‘Master Class’ this time… Right didn’t you say you had something to say regarding the master class?”
“Yes.”
The principal slowly locked his fingers together and asked.
“What is it”
“I have a special talent to recommend for this year’s ‘Master Class’.”
Song Muntak who had been leaning back raised his body with interest and seeing that, Ku Mingi gave a nod.
Master Class.
Literally, they were going to receive a lesson from a master maestro of one field and was similar to a kind of a lesson. A lesson with multiple students gathered and giving them advice.
However, in this ‘master class’, the scale of the person teaching was leagues different. A legendary pianist, a violinist with their name etched in the books of history, opera singers raging through the world, conductors that have experienced conducting countless ensembles…
The Future Performing Arts High School annually invited those people to teach for a ‘master class’, to show the students a wider world.
Tilting his head, Song Muntak observed Ku Mingi before opening his mouth.
“Recommend huh… the chance to attend the master class is equally given to all students so what do you mean recommend?”
Indeed, in normal master classes, several hundreds of students gathered and listened to the lecture. Regardless of the recommendations or whatnot, any student from the Future Arts High had the right to listen.
And yet talking about recommendations…
Ku Mingi opened his mouth as light flickered in his eyes.
“You’ve mentioned that Maestro Timothy Dickson wanted to meet some of the talented children.”
“… I did say that. And we have already formed a list of students who we would be showing to the Maestro.”
“There’s a student I would like to recommend to that list.”
Hearing that, the gaze in Song Muntak’s eyes deepened. At the end of his gaze was Ku Mingi staring back with a confident light in his gaze.
Who was Timothy Dickson?
He was one of the best conductors of the United States and was the previous music director that had led New York Metropolitan Opera. Even apart from that, he was someone that had led countless ensembles before.
In one phrase, he was a legend amongst the legends. If not for his personality that enjoyed travelling and meeting students after retirement, inviting him like this would’ve been impossible.
It was a chance to meet with such an important figure face to face so naturally, they had already picked out a number of students after debates upon debates. Making a dull expression, the principal opened his mouth.
“Didn’t we decide already to have it done accordingly to the admission rank? We’ve already decided on it so…”
“That’s true but isn’t this a truly special occasion? That Timothy Dickson is coming all the way here to give advice and… if it’s a talented child, we should add at least even one more.”
Hearing his explanation, Song Muntak made a frown. Teacher Ku Mingi. It’s been a while since they had met and yet he had brought quite a difficult request with him. Teacher Ku Mingi’s position was too high to downright reject his request as well…
After some contemplation, Song Muntak opened his mouth.
“Who in the world is that student for you to be like this?”
*
This may have been too obvious, but there were mid-sem exams in performing arts schools as well.
Mid-sems. When that test which had great implications on the final marks was right before their eyes, even the opera students that were carefree started to get fired up.
“…Oi. What’s factorisation?”
Throwing my gaze towards Noh Jusup who had asked that with a dumb expression, I saw an opened maths textbook. It was completely clean.
Wow… how can textbooks be that clean; he had been commuting for over a month though. I shook my head at the sight of the silent Noh Jusup before giving a reply.
“When a building becomes a factory.”
“…”
“Just joking. A factorisation is…”
After listening to my explanations for a bit, Noh Jusup gave a big yawn before collapsing onto the table.
“Whatever. Why study? Opera singers just have to sing well.”
Well, doesn’t mean opera singers should be stupid.
I was about to say that but decided against it and turned my head away. He was my roommate and naturally, I had already said that countless times. I’ve talked about studying together and tried teaching him but he always said he couldn’t be bothered.
Even though I was trying to teach, the one being taught was disinclined to learn so what else can I do? It’s his life.
With a shrug, I looked to the side and found a model student – Han Dasom tilting his head.
“Yunjae, this… why is there no ‘to’ here?”
She seemed quite focused as she pointed at one of the questions in the English textbook. Right, the ones seeking help should be like this.
With a nod, I glanced over the questions and discovered that they were all things I knew. In the first place, English was something I had studied after French so there should be no problems at the high school level.
“Verbs like ‘make’ or ‘have’ sometimes can have verbs coming straight after them…”
Seeing her nod her head, I glanced around and saw students studying hard in the library. Ever since around 2 weeks before the test, the school had roughly been in this atmosphere.
Noh Jusup was on his phone playing games at the side while Lee Suh-ah was studying off in a corner, seemingly vigilant of me. I would usually study with Han Dasom like this with Chloe joining in from time to time.
Han Dasom was surprisingly good at maths and science so she matched me who was good in humanities quite well. Thanks to that, my maths and science skills had gone up considerably.
Is it because my body had turned younger? It seemed that my brain was working quite well. Did perhaps something happen as the mature mind from before the time travel merged with the young body?
It felt like my concentration had gone up by a lot. With such thoughts, I moved the pencil around and the fingers were extremely light.
“Group them like this~”
Look at this. I was filling the question sheet with answers and yet there weren’t many places where I got stuck at – it even felt enjoyable since the questions were being solved easily.
While I was in the middle of going through the questions like that, I felt a gaze on me and raising my head up, I found Han Dasom staring at me. Her eyes were sparkling in envy.
“Yunjae you’re really smart…”
“Un?”
“You’re not asking me as many questions as before either… maybe I’m just in the way…”
“No way. You’re the one that lent me these questions as well.”
Seeing Han Dasom going ‘hehe’, I scratched back of my neck. Now that she had mentioned it, it indeed had been a while since I asked her a question.
…Did I really get smarter?
After some thought, I shrugged my shoulders.
Right, how hard could the first semester of high school freshmen be? There was also the fact that I had studied in between practices while resting my throat so that must’ve been another reason for this kind of result.
It would probably be harder to keep the marks after going up to the second grade… I need to at least get one scholarship before that though. I was in the midst of those thoughts when the speaker attached to the library suddenly made a noise.
[Freshmen 10th class, Jo Yunjae. Jo Yunjae. Please come to the principal’s room, the principal’s room immediately.]
Un? The Principal’s room?
Tilting my head, I was staring at the speaker when Han Dasom made a worried expression.
“Is anything wrong…?”
“I have no idea. I don’t think I did anything either.”
It was in the middle of the exam period as well so what would I have done? I’m not entering any concours nor have I left the school grounds either, and besides, it was the principal’s room and not the staff room. I haven’t seen the principal a single time after the admission though.
Did I do something unknowingly?
Blinking my eyes, I was in thought and it seemingly wasn’t something common either judging from the rowdy voices of the surroundings.
“Who’s Jo Yunjae?”
“Has the principal called anyone to his room before?”
“I can’t even remember his face.”
“The tenth class so… the music department?”
If I went there late and another announcement was made, it would disturb the people studying. Thinking that I quickly turned my gaze away from them towards Han Dasom.
“I’ll just go for now.”
“Wait…”
After searching through the bag, Han Dasom carefully took something out and placed it on top of my palm. It was chocolate covered in black packaging. Feeling the warmth that had brushed past my hand, I raised my head and found Han Dasom smiling bashfully.
“It’ll go well.”
“…I’m just going there to see the teacher but, thanks anyway.”
With embarrassment, I turned over the chocolate and it was from the brand I liked, with 60% cacao. Quickly I unwrapped the chocolate and threw it inside the mouth as the melting texture wrapped the tongue.
Closing my eyes for a bit, I thought.
…Sweet.