Ch.215210 – Hidden Camera of the Hidden Camera

Even when trapped in the capsule, music was an essential sleeping aid for me.

I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve listened to Brahms’ works in particular.

Music stimulates the brain, guiding us to another world.

The harmonious melodies evoke various images,

The sound of a snake moving, birds chirping, the feeling of being chased by someone,

In all these sensory images conjured up, the performer’s figure is nowhere to be found.

Only the performer’s “intention” remains.

I realized this simple truth when I was thirteen in my previous life.

At the Acropolis Square, where my mother “Tenebreia” was being burned at the stake.

There, an unsightly minstrel was drawing quite a crowd, playing an instrument similar to a guitar called a “mandolin” in front of the fountain.

After listening to his performance, I gave the blind man a gold coin and asked him a rather impertinent question.

How could people be so fond of and enthusiastic about someone like him?

He showed his yellowed, protruding teeth and answered.

[Joyful music blinds people.]

It was truly like being hit on the head.

Actually, I did get hit by a stone thrown from the crowd… for interrupting the performance.

The man’s words later provided a clue to suppress the Corrosion of jealousy.

I tried to find the minstrel again to thank him, but he couldn’t be found anywhere in the capital of Kaizen.

My thoughts have wandered too long.

The performance had ended without me realizing it.

Applause showered down.

Just like that debutante back then.

My heart is beating so hard it won’t calm down.

I guess even I get nervous about such things now.

* * *

“Bark” (Babos’ Crescendo), a channel focusing on classical music entertainment.

“This is amazing. We won’t need any editing at all.”

“Should we just pivot to content that shows professors’ reactions?”

“Won’t they think it’s another prank?”

The college student PDs nodded in agreement.

They weren’t sure how long NoName had been playing violin, but it couldn’t have been more than a year.

This piece is difficult to complete even for young prodigies who’ve been holding a violin bow since they were three.

And she performed it with such skill on a violin that didn’t even fit her properly?

“But wouldn’t it be better if they think it’s a prank?”

It’s not easy to elicit such reactions from music professors.

That was exactly the kind of reaction they wanted from the professors.

“Professor! We’re back!”

“Huh? I thought you were returning the violin?”

“We decided to borrow it for one more day.”

Before the professor could shoot a questioning look through her round glasses, they showed her the video they had just filmed by the pond.

With over 30 years of experience, the professor recognized what piece NoName was playing from the first note.

‘6 minutes and 30 seconds?’

But the video was a bit longer.

NoName’s “Caprice No. 24” was played at a slightly slower tempo.

The professor listened intently to the rhythm captured by the camera, stroking her chin without saying a word.

After listening to the entire piece with its arpeggios of 18 notes per measure and the Picardy third coda, she swallowed hard.

Immediately after, what burst from her lips was a small laugh.

“…?”

The music students, who had been anxiously waiting for the professor’s evaluation, all raised mental question marks.

“When did you prepare something like this?”

“Pardon?”

“Is this another automatic violin? But it’s so convincing. Not one person listening could tell?”

“…!”

“Come on, I won’t be fooled twice.”

The professor recalled being thoroughly tricked by the Bark friends two months ago with an automatic violin prank.

They had pretended a college student was playing, when in fact a real violinist was remotely performing from the next room, creating content where professors evaluated the performance.

She knew she always had to be careful with these VTube-obsessed kids.

Meanwhile, the Bark PDs were celebrating.

One of the guys played it cool and said:

“Professor! If you say that, we won’t have any video content. You should evaluate it like you normally would!”

“Oh, I’m sorry! You’re going to edit this, right? Let’s see…”

The professor grabbed the microphone on the desk.

Her eyes instantly transformed into those of an evaluator.

“I really enjoyed the music. Throughout the performance, my ears were delighted. It felt like this child treats each note with care. The articulation was properly placed where needed, giving the whole piece an energetic, vibrant feeling. The bow movements were also nicely expansive.”

“Is there anything that could be improved, Professor?”

“Hey, why are you doing this to me!”

The students deliberately asked mischievous questions.

The professor responded with laughter and shared her thoughts.

“Hmm… the part where I felt the most dissonance was…”

“Ooh… yes, yes!”

“Right before the double stop section, right?”

“Before the part that sounds like a donkey?”

“That’s right. The rest was fine, but that part specifically seemed to slow down quite a bit… and then the fast ascending arpeggio part? It should flow naturally upward, but the notes seemed to tremble unstably. Could we replay the video once more?”

“Yes, of course!”

They moved to 5:45.

“Yes, see how the chin rest is shaking? There’s tension in the shoulders, and the sound is coming from improper positioning.”

“Wow…!”

The students marveled at the professor’s greatness, immediately noticing such minute details just from the sound.

“Nevertheless, this child completed the piece perfectly from beginning to end without a single mistake. The octave handling and triple stopping were absolutely perfect.”

“Perfect…”

“So what I thought was… it’s like… an adult playing a child’s violin? You know how when students first try a toy violin, it doesn’t work as expected. Do you know what I mean?”

“This is a Mateo Goffriller violin, Professor.”

“That’s what I’m saying—whoever is behind this clearly captured the mistakes that can occur when a violin doesn’t match one’s body type. Oh sorry…! I misspoke! Should I start over?”

“No! Please continue comfortably!”

“Haha, I feel like I’ve ruined your content… Anyway, I really felt that the… child? has deep knowledge of the violin, and what was fascinating was how un-childlike it was in some ways.”

“In what way was it un-childlike?”

“Usually, children are so pressured to play all the notes correctly that they miss details that should be showcased, but there was a sense of experience in those aspects.”

This was the professor’s honest opinion.

Throughout the piece, there was a coexistence of child and adult elements.

Would an adult imitating a child interpret the piece this way? She didn’t know because she’d never tried it.

“It’s truly as if possessed by something divine. If I hadn’t watched the video, I would have believed it was someone my age playing, given how richly emotional it was. Is this what it’s like when white-haired masters deliberately play poorly but their skill shines through anyway? But why are you all laughing?”

‘Could it be that the actual performer isn’t white-haired but bald?’

The professor reviewed what she had just said.

There were clearly no slip-ups.

Of course, she had spoken nothing but the truth, but there was always that one-in-a-million chance.

Then the shocking truth spilled from the students’ mouths.

“Ta-da! The prank was that there was no prank at all!”

“What…?”

There was no such thing as an automatic violin.

NoName, at the age of 8, had perfectly performed Paganini’s Caprice No. 24, albeit at a slightly slower tempo.

In other words, it wasn’t an adult imitating a child, but a child imitating an adult.

“Wait, can I see the video from the beginning again?”

For the first time in her life, the professor doubted her own eyes and ears.

* * *

After finishing the impromptu concert at Jahayeon, I hurried to the lecture hall where I was supposed to meet the people from the Cephiron Foundation.

Looking at just the violin itself, Kaizen’s was slightly superior, but if I had brought a Stradivarius, that might have changed things.

Well, it’s been scientifically proven that high-end violins made with the latest American technology actually produce better sound quality than those 17th century masterpieces.

Price doesn’t always reflect quality.

“Sorry I’m late.”

A cool rush of air gave me goosebumps.

The large lecture hall, spacious enough to seat 200-300 people, was mostly dark.

Only the front was brightly lit, so I headed in that direction.

“Hello! Are you NoName?”

The awkward Korean, translated through real-time magic, stuck in my mind.

“I’m Robert Fuller, who teaches professors who teach number theory at MIT. This is my protégé, Emily Mayakovsky.”

“I’m not a protégé, just an employee. Dr. Fuller doesn’t teach professors either. Anyway, I’m very pleased to meet you, NoName.”

“Ah, yes… nice to meet you…”

What unique characters…

The bald man who looked like an American corporate CEO introduced himself as Robert Fuller.

Emily Mayakovsky, with her blonde hair, had a typical Slavic appearance.

After a brief handshake, we sat quietly in the front row seats of the auditorium, waiting for him to speak.

“Whew! When Korea University said they’d lend us Building 28, I wondered what they were thinking giving us such a garbage building, but apparently they remodeled it last year. Hahaha! If it’s 30 years old, why remodel? Just tear it down and build a new one, right?”

“Ah, yes… but why did you rent such a large lecture hall?”

Isn’t this excessively large?

I was expecting something like a small elementary school classroom, but this was definitely overkill.

“We anticipated more people would join us. That’s what Professor Fuller said.”

Ah, he’s a bit eccentric. I understand now. The dark circles under his employee’s eyes are quite visible.

“You’re as intelligent as I’ve heard, NoName! So, would it be alright if we met here about three times a week to ask questions about your proof?”

“What could you possibly have so many questions about?”

“Many things. Very, very, very many things! Actually, I haven’t organized my list of questions today, so we’ll have to look at them next time, but there’s just one thing I’d like to ask personally first.”

“Yes, go ahead.”

“What does this Korean alphabet mean?”

He held out his phone to show me a picture of my paper.

[ㅁㅊㄱㅈㄹ]

“We really struggled with these mysterious characters inserted throughout your paper. There are dozens more like this.”

“I’m curious about this too, NoName. What does MCGJR mean?”

“Similarly.”

“Pardon?”

“In English, it’s WLOG. Without Loss of Generality. That’s why I wrote ‘Similarly.'”

“Oh my God.”

The bald man touched his forehead.

Well… I didn’t know I’d be writing academic papers back then.

It seems my hastily written notes included all my personal abbreviations.

“Then is this also…?”

It seemed like the number of visits to Korea University wouldn’t end with just two or three.

By the way, Korean is amazing, so why only use English abbreviations?

Long live Korea.

* * *

Korea University Natural Sciences Large Lecture Building, abbreviated as Building 28.

In the elevator, the fingers of two women accidentally overlapped as they both reached for the third floor button.

“Aren’t you the PD from Higgs Studio? What brings you here…?”

Asked the woman with a violin case on her back. She was one of the students who had NoName play the violin earlier.

“What’s a Bark member doing here?”

The woman who responded curtly with a glare was Woo Da-yeon, the physics content PD for Higgs Studio.

“I asked you first.”

“I’m in the Physics and Astronomy department, so what’s wrong with me being in the Natural Sciences building?”

Da-yeon crossed her arms defensively, making the other woman laugh in disbelief.

“This building only holds freshman general education classes. You look like a senior.”

“Excuse me? Are you done talking? Then why is a music student here?”

“I’m here for a general education class.”

“Oh really? A string major suddenly interested in biology, junior?”

“…”

Higgs Studio: a science and magic channel with 1.5 million subscribers.

Bark: a classical music channel with 1.5 million subscribers.

The fierce competition to recruit NoName had just ignited.