Genius of a Performing Arts High

Act 8: Lively 5

‘What in the world?’

Song Muntak stared at the student before him with a dumbfounded look. The student in front who had a height reaching up to around 170cm gave off an old man-ish vibe and had a yellow nametag on his clothes.

It read, Jo Yunjae.

Looking at him like this, he appeared like an extremely average student of the Future Arts High – just one of the hundreds of students. And if he had to give him another title… it would be that he was a student whom teacher Ku Mingi was taking note of.

He had decent singing skills but showed off a great ability in learning various vocalisation methods. However, all of the above couldn’t explain what had happened today.

With squinted eyes, he stared at Jo Yunjae and opened his mouth.

“Good job on your performance today.”

“Uh… Thank you.”

Behind Jo Yunjae who bowed with a confused look, Song Muntak saw a blonde female student tilting her head. She had the same yellow nametag.

He twitched his eyebrows.

‘A freshman student called Chloe, was it.’

It was a student he obviously knew because even without considering the fact that she was a rare foreigner, she was the top student of the piano department.

Because of the things he had heard beforehand from Song Mirae, he had some expectations for her from this performance. However, she was already good so how much more could she have improved?

That strange expectation had changed drastically after seeing her perform. It had changed to a surprise which he had not been expecting.

‘This is like a maestro’s piano…’

Song Muntak thought back and the song that had been sung by the three back at the concert hall was still vivid in his ears. The duet that resonated sorrowfully… or rather, the trio.

Right. It would be correct to say that the piano was also singing. The ultimate level a pianist was looking for – the stage of performing ‘as if singing’ had been grasped by that frail girl.

“…”

With his mouth firmly shut, Song Muntak stared at Jo Yunjae and could see him quietly trying to comprehend the situation.

Jo Yunjae.

Song Muntak had already checked the students he had touched.

A student called Han Dasom had risen up to be one of the top sopranos of the freshmen from the very bottom, while Chloe had reached a level that was unthinkable for a high schooler and Song Mirae who had been ignoring his words; stubbornly holding onto the position of a soprano had finally found her place.

…This much was already an enviable nurturing ability but after hearing the performance today, Song Muntak had no choice but to shoot out of his seat immediately.

Song.

Of course, the song was good because Yu Minji was a trustworthy talent.

However, he could tell that the three beautiful melodies with different colours mixing into one had definitely been touched by a veteran. Yes, a veteran. Without a ‘conductor’ who understood songs deeply and researched heavily for a long time, that song would never have been made.

That performance was only made thanks to understanding the timbres of everyone and fixing subtle expressing skills and habits. Then, who had led the practices and who had harmonised the song into one?

Yu Minji?

Song Muntak who hadn’t felt that from the previous presentation finally looked deeply at Jo Yunjae.

“…How did you guys practise?”

“Sorry? Ah… It was usually us three practising together.”

“I knew it.”

“?”

He let out a smile while touching his chin as excitement filled him up to his throat. Although he acted calm, he was in a great turmoil inwardly due to this unbelievable talent.

Song Muntak quickly imagined Jo Yunjae’s future in his head. After receiving his full-on support, Jo Yunjae would grow into a perfect ‘conductor’. He would become a conductor of the stage who could discover the talents of dozens of members at once and bloom them perfectly while weaving their songs into one.

People would call a conductor like him,

‘A Maestro’.

Imagining that he himself would be able to make that future happen, Song Muntak felt like his head was boiling. He quickly grabbed Jo Yunjae’s shoulders and shouted while letting drops of saliva fly.

“You. Let’s go to the conducting department.”

“…Sorry?”

“I’m saying you should be a conductor!”

“???”

*

“I’m saying you should be a conductor!”

“???”

Dumbfounded, I looked forward and saw the principal’s flushed face which resembled a boiled octopus.

…What was happening right now? Like, seriously. What on earth was happening?

I stood still blankly before quickly organising my thoughts.

Uh… right. Today was the song presentation of the composing department. I sang as a performer and received a lot of applause because the song seemed to have been a success.

The end.

…No matter how much I racked my brain, the only thing I did today was singing and yet the principal was grabbing me with overexcitement and babbled on and on about how I should be a conductor.

Good at sing = conductor.

I, who could not find any connection between the two was in serious puzzlement.

“Me? A conductor? Why?”

“Why?? You’re asking me why? Of course it’s because you need to be a conductor!!”

“…I like singing though?”

“What?”

As if he had heard utter nonsense, the principal scratched his ears before holding me again and trying to persuade me.

Why would you sing; you are a talent that must be a conductor; you could be the best conductor; follow me; I won’t hold back anything to support you…

Hearing the endless fall of sweet suggestions, I soon lost interest.

Being the best conductor and receiving unconditional support.

But so what?

After some thought, I opened my mouth apathetically.

“I will sing.”

“Right. That’s a good choic… what?”

Seeing the principal dropping his chin, I formed a faint smile because I felt slightly amused.

“I want to sing after all.”

This was my honest feeling.

Thinking back, I had always been the same. Because I wanted to sing, I had entered this school and because I wanted to sing, I practised like crazy. Because I wanted to sing, I tried hard and because I wanted to sing, I gave up on singing.

But now, having come back in time, I did not want to give up.

It won’t be easy for sure. Becoming someone who could sing ‘ their own songs’, and not as a jukebox of an ensemble was way too difficult in opera.

Only the truly skilled ones that had gone through several tests could make a living while singing their own songs.

‘Right. Like Kim Wuju.”

Staring at Kim Wuju standing far away, I vowed to myself. To stand on the stage where only geniuses could get on, I had to jump over a genius.

“…Alright. Although I don’t know why you’re so obsessed with the opera department… hnn? Where are you looking at?”

Song Muntak tilted his head while looking at me and soon followed the end of my gaze. His eyes that slowly turned over finally reached Kim Wuju and suddenly widened. It seemed like he was startled.

…Why was he like that?

Curiously, I observed where he was gazing at and found a familiar girl standing in front of Kim Wuju who was standing off at a distance.

Song Mirae.

When I saw Song Mirae giving a smile with her slanted eyes facing me, I suddenly felt a chill running down my spine.

Ah, don’t tell me…

Don’t tell me he’s thinking that I vowed to sing while looking at her…

“…”

But of course, soon, the principal’s vicious expression entered my eyes.

“No, this is…”

*

The day after that day when I barely escaped the principal’s hands, the results of the song presentations were announced, with the ranks hanging on the main dashboard of the school website.

Our group had received resounding full marks.

It was a result I had been somewhat expecting because the markers weren’t very stingy on Improvement Concerts. Besides, since our group had no points to deduct on in terms of the song quality, harmony between performers and song expressions, it could be said that receiving full marks was an obvious result.

I knew about the marking criteria beforehand, so it wasn’t that difficult to tackle.

On the other hand, Kim Sukwon’s group stopped at 89 points. Although the song itself was okay, there was disharmony between the accompanist and Kim Wuju as expected. In addition, because of the performer’s attitude of ignoring the intentions of the composer and playing whatever he wanted, Kim Sukwon had marks deducted instead.

You reap what you sow.

I was thinking that it served him right while staring at Kim Sukwon’s scores when a shadow appeared above my desk.

“What you doing?”

When I raised my head up in response, I saw Jun Shihyuk’s face.

Why was he talking to me all of a sudden?

I tilted my head and looked up when Jun Shihyuk coughed once before stealing a glance at me.

“You did quite well during the song presentations. Good job.”

“Un? Thanks.”

“Kuhum. Um…”

After rolling his eyes around a bit, he opened his mouth.

“Did you listen to my song?”

“Your song?”

I wasn’t sure what he was talking about, but after some thinking I slapped my thigh. Ah right, he presented on the same day as well right?

Since I wasn’t in the right mind, I didn’t get to hear it. Feeling somewhat sorry, I replied with an awkward smile.

“Um sorry… I didn’t hear it. There were so many things happening that day so…”

“…”

Behind Jun Shihyuk who became frozen, the door was shoved open.

“Everyone! Please sit down!”

After entering the room lively, teacher Kang Heewon glanced at us and gave a grin.

What did she bring for us today…?

I heaved out a sigh because of the ominous premonition that always followed the teacher’s entrance when she opened her mouth.

“Guys, you remember the UCC Contest we had last month right?”

It’s already been a month huh. While listening to her speak, I nodded my head when she suddenly started clapping with a smile.

“Today! The results of the contest have been announced! And besides, the winner of that contest is in our class!”

“Ah.”

Perhaps because they had been somewhat expecting it, the students were rather apathetic in their response.

Well, it was possible to check by just going on youtube after all. After touching several buttons on my phone, I could find a video of Han Dasom and me which had more than 300k views.

…It was more popular than I thought.

When I moved to Song Mirae’s channel which I had subscribed to, a video with around 10k views greeted me. If they put their own faces as the thumbnail, there would’ve been at least several times more views and yet they put some strange school scenery on it…

I was contemplating why they would’ve done that before soon coming to a realisation.

It’s Song Mirae after all.

I was nodding my head when teacher Kang Heewon called us up and gave the prize as well as the ticket. There was a piece of paper with the prize written on it as well as two stiff tickets.

“This is the prize – the ticket for the ‘Tosca’ opera~. It’s on next week so apply for leave and go watch it!”

“Yes.”

Carefully, I grabbed the ticket and slowly read through it.

‘Tosca’ by Puccini.

A performance, by La Stella.

“Kya…”

With a joyful heart, I read that name and carefully placed the ticket inside my pocket.

It was La Stella – one of the top opera companies in Italy. To think that I would receive an opportunity to directly watch the performance of a large scale opera company of bigshots!

Han Dasom seemed happy about going to see the opera as well and was grinning bashfully.

Seeing that face, I made a bright smile.

The veteran actors of La Stella.

If I observed them well… wouldn’t I be able to grasp clues about ‘embedding emotions’ which was making a slow progress?

*

“Hmm…”

Kwak Jungsoo stared deeply at his phone. On the large screen fitting his large hand, a youtube video was being played on it. A male student sat opposite a female student and they were singing together.

It was the video of Jo Yunjae who had been his disciple.

“…”

He was watching the two perform with a smile when an old man sitting next to him tilted his head and asked.

[What are you watching?]

[Ah, it’s a video of my disciple.]

[Oh, is it that disciple who you complimented so much on? Let me have a look as well.]

When Kwak Jungsoo handed the phone over with a faint smile, the old man received it and appreciated the song with a few nods. After nodding his head in line with the beat, he made a smile.

[Good. I can feel the love he has towards songs. You have a good disciple.]

[…Thank you. Sir.]

Kwak Jungsoo was happier than when he himself was complimented.

It was quite natural in fact because the legendary tenor of Italy, his teacher who he respected so much had acknowledged his disciple. The old man watched Kwak Jungsoo with a smile before tilting his head.

[But this friend; is he walking the path of popular music? I thought for sure that he was an opera when I heard it from you…]

[No. He’s an opera major.]

[Uun?]

The old man blinked his eyes before giving a nod.

‘An interesting person’, thought the old man.

According to Kwak Jungsoo, he was a genius of songs – a genius with extraordinary expression skills and learning speed, as well as the ability to steal his vocalisation method through self-study.

Is it because of those talents that he could sing popular music so casually?

After some thought, the old man raised his head and stared at Kwak Jungsoo.

[Oh, right. You’re done with preparing for the performance right?]

[…Yes, but, are you really sure I can stand on the stage?]

[This again? I know your skills better than anyone else, and I’m telling you that you can easily stand on the stage.]

[…You should have told me earlier.]

[Huhu. Didn’t I? I said that we required a tenor urgently right?]

The old man then looked outside the train at the scenery a bit, before opening his mouth.

[Besides, wouldn’t it be easier to touch the hearts of the people if the performance was done by a native of that country? Well, just think of it as paying for the lesson fees and all the meals you ate at my place.]

[Okay.]

Within Kwak Jungsoo’s pupils reflected on the window, memories of the past resurfaced.

Spending time in Italy, while receiving lessons again from his teacher who was the foundation of his vocalisation method and learning how to instruct others.

Thinking back on those times, a thought suddenly popped up in his head.

Did he now have the qualifications to teach a disciple?

“…”