Genius of a Performing Arts High

Act 9: Whimsically 11

There was a saying that you could tell a person from how their house looked.

Though I couldn’t remember precisely where I heard it, it was probably something I heard while drinking because those kinds of boring stories would usually only leave the mouth when the brain was drowned in alcohol. It was one of those so-called proverbs of a drunkard.

But those useless proverbs would prove to be correct once in a while.

‘Bright.’

The house I entered after being welcomed by Chloe could be summarised in that one word.

It was bright – that was the obvious first impression anyone would have. White walls reflected light brightly, contrasting with the few pastel green furnishings placed around. The rooms were spacious with lots of empty space in the middle.

It gave me a thought that perhaps Chloe grew up to be that innocent because she lived in a house like this.

‘Well, it hasn’t been that long since she began living in Korea though.’

With a wry smile, I glanced around the house before finally stopping my eyes on Chloe. After the holidays began, it was my first time meeting her and… as expected, she hadn’t changed much.

That bright smile with her lips raised up was the same, as well as her green eyes, rich with warmth.

‘I guess it’s because it’s only been two weeks since the holidays began.’

Organising my thoughts, I asked how she had been.

“Have you been well during the holidays?”

Tapping on the sofa in the living room, she urged me to take a seat and smiled.

“Yes~ Went around playing a lot and last weekend, Sok… ah, Sokcho! I went there!”

Sokcho… She went to the ocean with her family because it was summer huh.

In excitement, Chloe then started energetically talking about the things that happened at Sokcho. She said it was rare going to an ocean and that she enjoyed it despite the crowd, as well as how she ate something called Spicy Stew for the first time…

She talked with a bright smile before suddenly frowning and throwing a question.

“But why is the Spicy Stew called a Spicy Stew?”

“Nn?”

Curious as to what she meant, I looked at her and she returned a rather serious gaze back.

“Isn’t it a Fish Stew because there’s fish inside?”

“…I don’t know. It’s spicy as well right? Maybe that’s why?”

Tilting her head, Chloe opened her mouth.

“I thought Soybean Paste Stew was called that because there was soybean paste inside… then why isn’t it called Salty Stew…?”

I watched her contemplating with a frown and broke out into a grin.

This girl was cute sometimes.

While talking about a few other things, I glanced around the house when a question suddenly popped up in my head.

“By the way, are your parents not inside? Shouldn’t I greet them at least?”

It was funny I only thought of it now but because she brought me to the living room so naturally, I thought they would be coming out any time soon. Blinking her eyes, Chloe seemed to be processing my question before whispering softly with a smile.

“Ah, they’re both out~ That’s why I wanted to do it today. Huhuh.”

“If my parents are here, it would be harder to practise”, she added while giving a chuckle and standing up.

“Should we practise now?”

“Uh… Mm, yeah.”

Arriving at the practice room, I realised that it was quite well-decorated. Albums and music sheets stacked here and there with a large speaker installed. In the middle of everything in an intimidating posture was the grand piano.

It was apparent with a glance that it was a practice room designed with a lot of money.

But more importantly, there was another reason I liked this practice room.

More than anything, there was this human-like vibe to it.

The albums weren’t just placed as decorations evident from the several scratches on them. The music sheets had its edges worn out and the audio was stopped in the middle.

It was a scenery which made me feel the weight of Chloe’s sweat and hard effort, and feeling that residue of passion, I opened my mouth with a faint smile.

“It looks cool.”

“Huhuh.”

She seemed to be happier than ever as she flew forward to the piano seat with a tall nose. Then, she gently placed her hands on the keyboard and asked.

“Since you came to my practice room, I should play you a song~ Do you have anything you want to listenn?”

“Umm…”

“If you don’t, I’ll play the one I’ll be doing for this concert!”

Energetically, like she was overflowing with excitement, she spoke and I returned a smile.

Yeah, we should start with a performance since we were at a practice room. Time to hear her piano after so long, I guess.

Seeing me stand next to the piano, Chloe gave me a smile before closing her eyes and quickly raising her left hand.

Then, she slammed down as a low note fell with a roar.

“Hmm…”

The abrupt start to the performance was rapidly connected by the right hand’s melody that aimed to quickly chase after it. On top of the low note supporting the melody, stories of harmony were built.

Hearing the performance which resembled two separate performances of the right and the left hand, I raised an eyebrow up.

‘This is…’

It was a song I heard before.

That wasn’t the end – it wasn’t just a random song I heard of. I remember watching this being performed live in front of me – it was the song Chloe played earlier in the semester.

Fantasie by Schumann.

“…”

However, it was clearly different from back then. I thought while watching the left hand falling in depression and the right hand waving and singing.

Chloe had a hard time with Schumann’s Fantasie because of that.

It was difficult enough to play the two melodies straight up. It required a multitask of the relaxed left hand and the threateningly rapid right hand.

However, an experienced pianist should be able to do that easily after years of practice if that was all there was to it.

Then why was it difficult?

That was because the main melody had to be properly sung in the midst of that busy multitask. No matter how difficult the digestion of the notes were and no matter how confusing it was, the song had to flow naturally so that the listeners couldn’t tell.

That dream-like melody which befit the name fantasy.

No matter how dazzling the background was, the spotlight towards the protagonist had to be still there right? In the past, Chloe couldn’t give this spotlight properly and sang a song plain enough that I, a non-pianist could tell.

‘But now…’

I watched Chloe performing with deeply sunk eyes of seriousness.

Before me, I could see the fingers dancing around. Countless notes filling up the small music sheet were being easily digested by Chloe’s right hand. In alignment with those fingers, the keys were pressed with force as the strings vibrated and the melody flowed.

It was beautiful.

Closing my eyes, I listened to Chloe singing Fantasie as a smile slowly surfaced.

‘Chloe has really changed a lot.’

Like that, beneath the warm rays of the sun, I appreciated her performance.

*

“How was it?”

After the song, seeing Chloe cautiously looking up at me, I thought.

How was it? It was great of course.

However, that most likely wasn’t the answer she wanted to hear and was perhaps looking for a reply that could help her musically; a proper feedback…

‘But I don’t know pianos.’

Scratching the back of my neck, I opened my mouth having no other choice.

“It’s really good. Since you fixed everything I barely managed to point out in the past, there’s nothing else I can say. You must have practised really hard.”

“I did! Because this was my prac songg.”

This was her prac song?

With slight surprise, I met Chloe’s eyes with mine. Although I didn’t know much about the theories behind piano, I could still tell apart easy from difficult songs because my years of listening to pianos were quite long.

Judging from the instinct I gained from all that, Schumann’s Fantasie… should be on the difficult side though?

“Huhuh.”

When she saw the admiration on my face, Chloe shrugged her shoulders and made a boastful expression.

Hoh, full of confidence huh.

Letting out a grin, I decided to play along with her boasting.

“So, did you do well in the prac test?”

Chloe’s nose seemed to be soaring up into the skies.

“Of course~ I came first after alll.”

Naturally, I knew about it since Chloe had received an award herself at the hall on the last day of the term. I forgot what the name of the award was but if I remember correctly, it was somewhere along the lines of high-achiever something.

She received it right next to me who received the freshmen highest achiever award.

While I was having a flashback, Chloe let out words similar to complaints.

“But this didn’t receive as much credit as I thought during the prac test and… the other song got better marks. Why, I wonderr?”

What? They preferred another song? Even after listening to this performance?

With my eyes widened, I asked.

“What was the other one?”

“It was this…”

Saying that, Chloe immediately played a piece – a lively song with a rapid development. Compared to Schumann’s Fantasie just then, it was contrary in a lot of ways.

It was bright as the left and the right hand built up music in harmony. Unlike Fantasie, there weren’t any parts sticking out and resembled tough bricks built up in a pile. It was a song that required a rigid, traditional, standard method.

After finishing that song without making a single mistake, Chloe removed her feet from the pedal and tilted her head.

“…It’s this song but isn’t this like, too simple? Why did this have a higherr score?”

“…Hmm.”

Crossing my arms, I fell into deep contemplation.

Indeed, compared to the overwhelming performance of ‘Fantasie’, the second song was simple. To put it nicely, it was simple and otherwise, you could say it was too normal, because it was a song that only required the basics that had been built up – the standard expressions and techniques.

In comparison to Fantasie which had to be performed as if singing while containing separate tempos for the left and the right hand, it could be seen as a boring song.

‘And yet the boring song had a better evaluation huh…’

Soon finding out the reason, I nodded and gave her a reply.

“Because it is simple… I think that’s why it received a higher score.”

“What?”

Chloe frowned with a completely clueless expression and seeing that, I quickly organised my thoughts.

Prac tests.

Unlike concerts and concours, prac tests were different, and were unique tests. The objective of prac tests, which were held at the end of semesters, was to evaluate the students’ accomplishments throughout the semester. Therefore, it had a slightly different goal compared to concerts and concours in which students would flaunt their skills.

In other words, it was this.

While concerts evaluated students on how good they were, the prac tests would check whether the kids properly digested the lessons or not. Thus, the objectives of prac tests could be defined as finding out the foundations of the students, rather than their highest capability.

That was why the marking criterias were different as well.

Rather than,

‘Since they did well on this, let’s give them more marks!’

It was closer to,

‘Since they couldn’t do this, we will deduct marks from them!’

Basically, marks would be deducted whenever there were mistakes.

“So that’s why a song that could show off a firm foundation as well as the skills learned in school without a mistake was evaluated higher than the other one.”

“Ohh…”

After hearing my words, Chloe opened her mouth in an ‘o’ shape and looked at me. On her face, there was admiration, and she seemed curious about how I knew about it.

But seeing that look on her face, a bitter smile sneaked onto my lips.

I had gone through this before the time travel so I should have known about it and yet didn’t even remember it until now.

‘That was why Elf King received a less favourable evaluation huh.’

Thinking back, perhaps it could be considered natural because compared to Tristesse, Elf King was a unique song, very different from the norm.

It wasn’t suited for prac songs.

“…Ehew.”

And yet I had been wondering why Elf King received less reception…

Feeling rather ashamed of myself, I heaved out a sigh when Chloe stiffened her body before looking into my eyes. Curiosity befell her green pupils.

“Then what about the Prac High-achievers Concert?”

“Nn?”

Tilting her head, Chloe fell into thought.

“For prac tests, simple songs are better… while unique, complex songs are bad… but on the Prac High-achievers Concert…”

I watched her contemplate while rolling her eyes around and smiled.

“Like I said, prac tests are complete opposites to other concerts in how they are marked.”

“?”

Blinking her eyes, she seemed to be taking in my words as her face gradually changed. From doubt, to understanding and from comprehension to joy.

“If simple songs are better for prac tests…”

Chloe replied with a flicker in her eyes.

“Complex, difficult songs will be better for concerts!”

I gave her a nod.

“Yeah. Both you and I chose perfect songs.”

“Huhuhuhuh.”

A bright smile resembling the sun hung from her lips. Her eyes bent in crescents full of life as her white teeth reflected off light. Endless laughter poured out and her cheeks cutely bulged out.

It was a smile that made onlookers happy as well and seeing that, I felt my heart warm up.

‘Chloe…’

She had a smile like this huh.

Thinking that it was a satisfying discovery, I smiled.