Ch.221216 – Agitato

“How did you know I was here, NoName?”

Daniel asked, stirring her red soup with her spoon in a figure-eight pattern.

“You just ran out without thinking. There’s only one park if you follow the main road straight ahead.”

“If I’d gone somewhere else, you would’ve had to search for quite a while. I’m glad we met like this.”

“I wouldn’t have had to search anyway.”

“Huh? Why?”

I took her left hand and spread her palm open.

I gently tickled her palm, tracing along her palm lines with my fingertip.

“Ah! That tickles, NoName!”

“Just bear with it a little. I’m just removing this.”

Like making cotton candy, I twirled my index finger and pulled out a very thin golden thread.

“What is this?”

“It’s my aura.”

The yellow thread disappeared cleanly like cotton candy dissolving in water as soon as I closed my fist.

“Why was that coming from my hand?”

“I put it there earlier. That way I could tell where you went.”

“Hey, that’s location tracking…! You could’ve just said so… I guess they teach all this stuff at the academy?”

“Well, something like that.”

Saying “I learned it at the academy” really becomes an invincible argument, doesn’t it?

I should use that excuse well in the future.

After dinner, we left the park and wandered aimlessly through the city center to help digest our food.

“The team leader must be really mad at me…”

“If you know that, send her a text message now.”

“Won’t she be just as angry no matter what I send?”

“That’s not the right way to think about it. You don’t apologize expecting things to change—you apologize because you did something wrong.”

“Okay, I’ll send one right away.”

“Good thinking.”

The more we talked, the more I realized Daniel was quite seriously avoidant as a person.

Whenever a relationship seemed like it might go sideways, she’d cut ties from her end first.

Ironically, she was the one who needed the psychology of human relationships class the most, yet she slept through lectures and skipped team meetings because of her tutoring job.

“I didn’t sleep through every class. The professor’s voice is just a bit sleep-inducing.”

“Setting that aside, why did you schedule your tutoring to overlap with class?”

“Originally, it was scheduled right after class. Team meetings always ended early, so the timing worked perfectly. But the student’s mother kept asking me to start 30 minutes or an hour earlier, so I had no choice.”

“You should have refused right away.”

“Yeah, I know… if it was going to end so miserably anyway…”

She pressed her forehead as it throbbed with pain.

Issues tied to one’s livelihood were always difficult to compromise on.

But putting everything else aside, the main problem was that Daniel hadn’t explained her situation to her team members.

It was natural for them to complain when she kept missing team meetings without any explanation.

“Didn’t you think about asking for their understanding?”

“No… who would look at me favorably? Besides, I’d have to spill all my family issues to explain.”

“I don’t know what your family situation is, but if that’s what’s needed, then that’s what you should do.”

“Yeah.”

“Does it not sound convincing coming from a kid?”

“What? No, no! I didn’t think that at all, NoName.”

Sure you didn’t. It’s written all over your face.

Stubborn people need to have their spirit broken from the start.

Advice only works when their mind is a blank slate.

It was around the time when the western sky was changing from red to navy blue.

“Then let’s make a bet. If you win, I’ll go to Dayeon and explain why you couldn’t attend the team meetings. If I tell her, she won’t be too angry. That way, it’ll be less awkward for you at the next meeting, right?”

I stopped walking and made the proposal to her.

Her eyes reflected the neon lights, sparkling with various colors.

“But if I win, you have to go to the next team meeting and apologize to everyone in person.”

“Do we really have to make this bet…?”

I nodded.

She would have no choice but to accept the bet.

This wasn’t about enticing her with the prize—the bet itself was the bait.

“I heard you all had a lot of conversations during the first team meeting. I also heard that you have claustrophobia and can’t use the capsule.”

“Yeah. It’s because of childhood trauma.”

“That’s a shame. Professor Pi and Maestro were quite fun. Would you like to compete with me?”

I pointed to the building right next to us.

[King of Kings Arcade]

“Playing offline is fine, right?”

Maestro was a game that came out in the early days of capsule distribution.

Since the capsule platform alone wasn’t enough for promotion and user acquisition, they initially placed real instruments in arcades that could be linked with the game.

It was no different from other offline rhythm games, except the instrument was a violin.

I planned to thoroughly crush her pride here.

“The professor said something, you know. That I might play better than you.”

“…!”

“What do you think?”

No Korea University music student would let that slide.

“This is my life.”

Daniel’s eyes widened.

For the first time, she spoke with genuine gravity in her voice.

The word “life” carried a strong accent.

* * *

[Beethoven, Sonata No. 8 Op.13 ‘Pathétique’ 2nd Movement]

[Difficulty: ★]

[Adagio cantabile: Slowly and in a singing style]

Life is a blessing.

Daniel was born blessed to a father who farmed ginseng for five generations and a mother who ran a violin academy.

In their countryside house with a yard,

When her mother’s beautiful violin melodies and father’s baritone voice filled the air,

The newborn baby with distinct features resembling her parents would laugh gleefully,

And their Golden Retriever would bark along, completing a wonderful chorus.

[#1 Jūdex: SS Rank / 1,000,000 points / Accuracy 100%]

[#1 NoName: SS Rank / 1,000,000 points / Accuracy 100%]

“If only our lives were this easy.”

She increased the difficulty.

[Brahms, Violin Sonata No. 2 Op.100 1st Movement]

[Difficulty: ★★]

[Allegro amabile: Fast and lovingly]

It was a piano academy where the clumsy violin performances of immature children could be heard.

A three-year-old child toddled in, holding her grandmother’s hand.

The little girl watching her mother’s passionate teaching from the back of the classroom yawned widely.

To relieve the child’s boredom, her grandmother handed her a child-sized violin to play with until her mother’s lesson ended.

When her grandmother plucked a violin string with her finger, it accidentally produced a clear ‘do’ note.

The child followed, plucking the violin strings with her tiny fingers,

Ten times, twenty times,

Picking out three notes—’do’, ‘sol’, ‘la’,

And began to sing the lullaby her mother whispered in her ear every night before bed.

[Twinkle, twinkle, little star!]

Do-do-sol-sol la-la sol.

And just like that, the child fell in love with the violin.

Her mother’s expression turned to astonishment at witnessing a prodigy.

[#1 Jūdex: SS Rank / 1,000,000 points / Accuracy 100%]

[#1 NoName: SS Rank / 1,000,000 points / Accuracy 100%]

“I don’t remember any of that, whether it happened or not. My mom would tell me about it like a cuckoo bird every day.”

She increased the difficulty.

[Brahms, Violin Sonata No. 3 Op.108 4th Movement]

[Difficulty: ★★★★☆]

[Presto agitato: Very fast and impatiently]

After observing her daughter for over seven years, Daniel’s mother confirmed her talent was genuine.

The only downside was her practice time.

Daniel had weak arms and hands, making it difficult for her to hold the violin for long periods.

Around that time, there was much industry talk about a game called ‘Maestro’ released by Yamaha.

Many academy instructors raised their voices against its domestic introduction, fearing for their livelihoods, but turning a blind eye was nothing if it was for her daughter.

[From today, let’s increase practice time to 10 hours.]

The initial goal was Yeil School, the country’s top arts middle school.

In virtual reality, there was no risk of injury, and it consumed less physical energy.

Her mother first entered the capsule herself to practice various pieces and discovered it provided almost identical effects to real practice.

[Use this avatar when you practice.]

An avatar based on what 10-year-old Daniel might look like 15 years later.

Her chest was noticeably fuller, and she was much taller at 175cm than her mother.

Her talent already surpassed any child her age.

So her mother looked even further ahead.

If she mastered adult performances from childhood, it would only be a matter of time before Daniel reached the level of a ‘master.’

Plus, being able to produce the sound of a multi-million won violin for just 10,000 won a month made Maestro an obvious choice.

[Mom, what is this… I failed… I failed!]

That couldn’t be possible.

The path from Yeil School to Korea Arts High School to Korea University’s Music Department was ruined from the start.

News reports repeatedly criticized early virtual reality education, but they never reached her mother’s ears.

Research showing differences between learning using only brain waves versus using the entire nervous system, especially in young users, seemed too abstract.

[This is all because you didn’t practice enough.]

Practice time increased to 16 hours.

Middle school became meaningless if it wasn’t Yeil School, so she quit.

The only goal was Korea Arts High School!

In the end, her mother was right,

And the girl had to be wrong.

A ‘sight-reading genius’ entered Korea Arts High School.

[#1 Jūdex: SS Rank / 1,000,000 points / Accuracy 100%]

[#1 NoName: SS Rank / 1,000,000 points / Accuracy 100%]

“Being good at sight-reading means absolutely nothing. Everyone practices hundreds or thousands of times anyway. What matters is which teacher taught you and for how long. What good is being a sight-reading genius? What’s the point of playing accurately when everyone says my performance sounds terrible?”

After entering the duet, the difficulty increased automatically.

This was an unavoidable force of the system, of fate, even if she didn’t want to increase it further.

[Walton, Violin Concerto 2nd Movement excerpt]

[Difficulty: ★★★★★★★★☆]

[Poco a poco piu agitato: Little by little, more agitatedly]

The mysterious heavy player ‘Jūdex,’ who once made ‘Maestro’ buzz with excitement, completely disappeared at some point.

Daniel felt more happiness in being liberated from the dreaded capsule than in being admitted to the arts high school.

She was recognized as highly skilled in terms of pitch and rhythm, but she never understood what it meant to infuse emotion into music.

Still, the fact that she managed to enter Korea Arts High School showed the power of talent combined with lessons.

For the past six years, Daniel prided herself on having survived what she considered hell—her mother’s practice demands bordering on abuse and her father’s indifference disguised as non-interference.

But an even greater hell awaited her.

The family’s finances deteriorated.

The violin is an instrument with very high maintenance costs.

Renting a decent instrument costs 5 million won per month, and purchasing one exceeds the price of a car.

The bow costs at least 5 million won, and cases for the instrument and bow must be purchased separately.

Monthly practical exams and competitions, plus lesson fees outside school-provided classes, could cost between 300,000 and 500,000 won per day.

The total cost ranged from 20 million won to over 100 million won per year, which wasn’t uncommon among students.

Even an ordinary middle-class family couldn’t afford music school entrance preparation.

[What are you saying? Dad was scammed?]

They were already taking out loans and pouring in money beyond their means.

Her mother firmly cut off contact.

[You just focus on what you need to do. Mom and Dad will take care of family matters.]

In her first year of high school, her father was deceived by an acquaintance who promised to build a smart automated farm, losing about 300 million won.

Her father’s farm was mortgaged to the bank and eventually lost ownership.

In her second year of high school, Daniel’s mother quit the violin academy and sold the building at a low price.

Daniel now had to carry her mother’s dreams as well.

In her third year of high school, they sold even their countryside house with its beautiful yard full of memories and love, and the family moved to her grandmother’s house.

Daniel was abroad for a competition and learned about her grandmother’s death—the one who first introduced her to the violin—belatedly.

[Is it because of me? Is all this happening because I wanted to play the violin?]

Her father, who regretted missing his daughter’s competition due to work, fell for an investment proposal he would normally have ignored.

Her mother, who had sacrificed her entire life obsessing over her daughter’s success, now suffered from neurasthenia and spent all day crying at home. Sometimes she would wake up in the middle of the night shouting “Korea University Music Department.”

[No, sweetheart. Grandma’s house is quite livable too. Are you doing well at school? Getting along with your friends?]

Daniel hung up the phone with her father.

Speaking to the powered-off phone, she let out a bitter laugh.

[Why ask something so obvious… With our home in this state for three years, how could I possibly have a normal school life…]

Daniel had no friends throughout her three years of high school.

It would have been fortunate if that were the only issue.

‘Again on my desk…’

She was erasing graffiti from her desk with a tiny eraser when she irritably threw it toward the blackboard.

* * *

I don’t know how Daniel and others read sheet music to perform, but I can say my method is somewhat different.

First, I convert the sheet music into a 3D model in my head, setting a new axis for sound intensity.

Then I recall the left and right hand movements of someone who has performed the same music.

This way, I don’t have to interpret the piece myself—I can reproduce what others have played.

This is why my performance of Caprice No. 24 was praised by Professor Pi as masterful.

On the other hand, my first-ever performance of Kariri’s cover song received somewhat harsh criticism.

[You’re really good, but… hmm… don’t you play a bit stiffly like Daniel?]

[Oh, that’s exactly what I was thinking, Professor!]

[How strange… I thought she was one of a kind.]

My claim that I played the violin better than Daniel was, of course, a blatant lie.

How could I catch up to someone who had practiced over ten hours a day for more than a decade?

I didn’t expect Daniel to believe it so firmly, but anyway.

That didn’t mean I planned to lose this bet.

[Scoreboard]

[#1 Jūdex: Accuracy 99.58%]

[#2 NoName: Accuracy 99.13%]

The accuracy gap was widening.

Maestro is very harsh in its evaluation, despite having performance correction mode online.

Calculating the remaining notes, Daniel would need to make mistakes in at least three places for me to barely catch up.

Daniel’s eyes, reflected on the screen, never blinked as she stared at the sheet music.

Her skill was monstrous.

Was there any possibility?

It happened when the performance was nearing its end.

Ding-!

A strange sound came from Daniel’s violin.

The violin string had broken limply.

[#1 NoName: S Rank / 986,392 points / Accuracy 99.16%]

[#2 Jūdex: S Rank / 933,948 points / Accuracy 95.14%]

[Congratulation!]

[The final winner is ‘NoName’!]

“You won, NoName.”

Daniel immediately acknowledged the outcome.

Was the broken string intentional or an equipment issue?

Daniel never revealed the truth.