Pianist's Village

The red sun at the mountaintop. In vermilion, or pink, Squeezing out its juice, Where trails of light extend into the air. The beautiful light is so dazzling that I try to cover it with my hand. A dark light flows between my fingers.

A fairly high spot even in Baeksa Village. Though houses were still lined quite high on the mountain behind, nothing obstructed the view from the old, peeling floorboards of Yeong-hu's small house courtyard.

Soo-hyun has never properly enjoyed a sunset. The beauty of the sunset over the mountain ridge rusted into a breathtaking twilight color, and the sun leaving the world seemed to have no regrets.

'Beautiful.' 'It would have been great if the gentlemen had been able to see this view. Those two in that sunless place will never see another beautiful sunset, will they?'

"Have you eaten?"

A small house. Luckily, it wasn't a house with a rough plank roof. It was a small house with an old but solid cement roof.

Yeong-hu asked, stepping out of the house, which was clean enough not to be unpleasant, yet had a neglected but comfortable appearance, despite the aluminum door creaking when opened.

"No, I haven't eaten yet."

"Ramen?"

'I vaguely remember the word ramen.' 'When I was little, I insisted my mother make me soup, but she said it was unhealthy and only prepared it very occasionally.' 'Now that I think about it, why did I never think of eating ramen after returning?'

"If you give it to me, I'll gladly eat it, sir."

Yeong-hu chuckled.

"Hey, what part of Joseon are you from? Why are you so polite? It's too much. Relax."

Soo-hyun stared blankly at Young-hoo, who headed to the kitchen to boil ramen. Uncle Frederick had already said it.

'There's something called courtesy in the heart. It's like affection, and that pure courtesy flows outward and expresses itself in external actions.'

But people from the outside world say he's being too courteous to himself.

Since it wasn't just Yeong-hu who said that, Soo-hyun decided to think about it a little more.

Yeong-hu, who had poured water for the ramen, crouched in the kitchen and asked.

"Did you tell your sister?"

"Yes, he's coming to pick me up."

"Yes, that's good."

The ramen Young-hoo prepared cooked quickly.

Soo-hyun, who brought a pot of ramen with very sour, well-fermented kimchi, placed it on the table and began to eat it, looking straight ahead. He was impressed by the taste of the ramen, which he was trying for the first time in a long while.

'It tasted as good as an elegant restaurant meal made with very expensive ingredients that Professor Lech had bought for me.'

Young-hoo smiled as he watched Soo-hyun eat with a moved expression, but with a straight back and closed mouth, eating quietly and without making a sound. Then, as if he had filled his stomach, he picked up the violin.

Yeong-hu said, pointing at Soo-hyun with his bow.

"Beautiful forms flow from divine pride. Heaven is music."

'I haven't tried all the ramen yet. It takes Soo-hyun a bit longer to eat than others.'

But when Soo-hyun put down his chopsticks and curiously watched the song Choi Young-hoo would play, the sad violin melody resonating against the backdrop of the sunset entered his ears.

Soo-hyun, who watched Young-hoo's face as he closed his eyes and concentrated on playing, followed suit and closed his eyes, concentrating on the music that stimulated his ears.

The performance may not be excellent, but the emotions the music conveys are.

Soo-hyun's face, which had remained impassive, suddenly turned strange. It was as if someone whispered in Yeong-hu's ear while playing the piano.

'How are you?' 'Can you hear the longing that has no echo?' 'I suddenly wanted to ask you how you were.' 'Are you not at the end of a long, lonely wait?' 'In the undulating reservoir of longing' 'In that place where there is no waterway, born alone' 'Don't you feel lonely and search for a way out?' 'I suddenly want to ask.' 'How are you?' 'What song is this that makes me feel such strong longing? Who do I long for?' 'Is it a person? Or is it a hometown?'

Soo-hyun knows what longing is. It was probably the emotion he felt most in the last seven years.

Perhaps that's why Soo-hyun, who is listening to the performance, is so engrossed in it.

At that moment, the rusty entrance gate of Yeong-hu's house creaked open.

Soo-hyun's concentration was interrupted by an unknown noise, and he looked towards the main door. Three grandmothers entered one after another, waving their hands as if dancing and singing.

"A miracle cries out in the mist of the Yeongsan River~ The gulls cry beneath the Samhakdo lighthouse~~"

The grandmothers entered other people's houses as if they were their own, laughing, dancing, and even spinning around holding hands.

This time, two grandfathers entered through the open door. Like the grandmothers, they swayed and sang.

"My hometown, Mokpo, which I miss, is a port. Mokpo is a port. The clock's ticking cries."

'A sad, broken note.' 'I haven't heard many sung voices, but this is the first time I've heard that style of singing.'

When Young-hoo stood up and began to play a musical instrument, he moved among the grandmothers, and the elders began to dance and sway their bodies even more.

The performance ended soon, but the elders continued singing and dancing.

Young-hoo, who was watching the elderly people dance and sing the chorus over and over again as if they were singing a round song, smiled happily and silently approached and sat down next to Soo-hyun.

"You look happy?"

"Yes, very much."

"I asked you if you were happy despite being poor."

"...."

'No answer was needed.'

Because they obviously looked like happy people.

Though he wore old, worn, and torn clothes. Though he wore rubber shoes with fur around his ankles in the middle of winter.

Even though their faces were covered in dead skin cells, as if they hadn't even applied lotion, they looked happy.

Seeing Soo-hyun lower his head slightly, Young-hoo felt he had regained his senses and reached back to brace himself before looking at the sky.

"So, you dreamed of being a violinist since you were little?"

Yeong-hu's confession began suddenly.

But he looked at the sky without looking at Soo-hyun, as if he were embarrassed.

"But I couldn't do it."

'I think so. It must have been money.'

"My family was poor."

'As expected.'

"My parents passed away young, and my grandmother raised me. My grandmother sold vegetables in the market. But she knew I wanted to play the violin, so she sent me to a local academy."

Yeong-hu held up three fingers and smiled.

"For three whole months. As you can see, I don't have much experience. But I still remember everything I learned at the academy my grandmother sent me to. I really wanted to do it. No, I wanted to listen to it. Music performed by real musicians."

"I know it's hard to make music."

"But why is it so hard to listen?"

"Why didn't you listen to me?"

Yeong-hu, who was looking at the sky, smiled slightly.

"Don't you know how much a concert ticket costs?"

"I don't know."

'Such an innocent child, yet so pure.'

Yeong-hoo shrugged, as if he no longer felt any resistance to Soo-hyun's question.

"Even tickets for famous musicians' concerts in Korea cost 500,000 won. The cheapest tickets usually cost more than 140,000 won. Even if I get up at dawn and work until sunset, it's hard to get the cheapest tickets."

Soo-hyun didn't know how much 140,000 won or 500,000 won was worth.

'He simply thought it was expensive for Young-hoo.'

"Even when famous foreign musicians visit Korea, the ticket price can easily exceed one million won. It's something I can't even dream of. But I promise myself I'll go someday. If you live day by day, you can't dream, right?"

Soo-hyun stared at Yeong-hu and then nodded at the elders who were still singing.

"Are they like that too?"

"Haha, they're better than me. They're the ones who want to go to the dinner show that trot singers put on at the end of the year."

'I didn't understand what he was saying. It's normal for Soo-hyun not to know what trot is or what a dinner show is.' 'Anyway, it seems difficult for these people to go to cheaper concerts.'

"Soo-hyun."

"Yes."

"You said earlier that you like classical music, right?"

"Yes."

Yeong-hu looked at the clothes Soo-hyun was wearing.

It was different from the branded clothes children wear nowadays, but the fabric was very luxurious.

"Are you studying music now?"

"Yes, for now."

Yeong-hu lay down on the bed and looked up at the sky.

"What is music to you?"

"...."

"Oh?"

"...."

"What's wrong? Are you chewing?"

"No."

"Then?"

"The truth is, I had never thought about it."

"Huh? You said your parents weren't home, so you asked for it when they were still alive."

"No."

"Your choice?"

"Yes."

"But you haven't even defined what music is to you?"

"...."

As he talked to Young-hoo, tens of thousands of projectiles burst from within Soo-hyun. The fragments mounted on Young-hoo's horse and pierced Soo-hyun's heart like rays of light.

Yeong-hu lay down with his arms crossed and his feet moving.

"Yes, you're still young. So think about it from now on. You don't have to answer quickly."

Soo-hyun tilted his head.

'What was music to me?' 'Music was an escape for me.' 'Music was an anesthetic that made me forget my pain for a moment.' 'Music was a source of oblivion for me.' 'But all of that was like a tree sheltering from the rain for a while.' 'The rain of pain is falling.' 'It was just an old tree about to break.' 'But what about the poor people in front of us?' 'A happy person even if they're not good at playing. A person who smiles and feels satisfied even if no one pays attention to them while playing in the street.' 'People who live in a moonlit neighborhood, where you feel like your thighs are going to burst when you walk, but these are old people who enter other people's houses to dance and sing to music that blends with the sunset.' 'Everyone seems happy.' 'Music is happiness for them.'

Soo-hyun asked Young-hoo, who was lying down looking at the sky.

"Is music happiness for you, sir?"

Yeong-hu, who was looking for stars in Seoul's invisible sky by moving his feet, spoke without hesitation.

"No."

"Sure?"

"Comfort."

Yeong-hu lay on his side and looked at Soo-hyun.

"You see how I look? That's me. I work at a remodeling site here. I spend all day carrying bricks up and down stairs. But, you know, music has a strange power to comfort even people like me."

Yeong-hu smiled and said as he met Soo-hyun's pure gaze, who was looking at him in silence.

"The dust I inhaled all day at the construction site, the dust that has settled in my heart due to my busy life. When I come home and sit here to play, I feel as if the dust of everyday life is cleaned from my soul. That's why music comforts me."

Yeong-hu nodded at the elders who were still singing.

"It will happen to them too."

That day, Soo-hyun was lost in thought and silent until Ji-ye arrived to pick him up.

Even though the elders who heard Soo-hyun's story from Yeong-hu prepared many side dishes for him, and although Ji-ye seemed worried and checked his body to see if he was injured anywhere, Soo-hyun was lost in thought as if he had lost his mind.