episode_0106

“But… there’s no law against wearing a swimsuit and sitting on a piano chair….”

Yoon Gwan-cheol frowned, his temples twitching.

I, with a poker face, can only laugh inwardly.

“Did I insult the piano…? Where did you see that…?”

Music changes with the times.

In ancient times, people chased away fear by pounding rocks and bones to make rough sounds.

As time passed, drums made of leather and flutes made of horns encouraged the courage of tribes.

Finally, as humans began to use proper language and tone in words, music was born through repeated intonations.

With the advent of the calendar and the dominance of Christianity in the world, music became a means of praise, worship, and expressing the united faith of believers.

On one hand, secular music and songs flourished, led by music poets. They sang about life, soothing tired bodies and minds with healing songs.

As humans gained leisure in life, music began to transform into a more popular culture.

Through the Renaissance and Baroque periods, harmony and scales were established. Finally, proper classical music, which we now call sonatas and concertos, began to emerge.

Following the footsteps of the father of music, Bach, and the teacher Handel, many pioneers of classical music appeared.

At this time, in the mid-18th century to the early 19th century, classical music developed around Vienna, Austria.

But do we only call the music of this era classical? No. Nowadays, we lump Romantic and post-Romantic music after the classical era together and call it classical music.

Whether you majored in music or took a music history class, most ordinary people see “classical music” as just that, classical.

We currently recognize and enjoy the music created by the pioneers of music from one or two centuries ago as classical art.

But what about one or two centuries from now? Will people still listen to classical music then?

It’s hard to say. A modern genre of music called “millennium” may have emerged, blending all music genres. People may no longer listen to classical music.

Perhaps orchestral music composed for movies or games, performed by a full orchestra, will take over most concert halls under the name of classical music.

Generations change, audiences change, and people’s interests change, so it’s natural.

Just by watching orchestras perform game or anime music in concert halls, you can see how musicians are trying to blend with the modern era.

Of course, some may frown if musicians perform half-naked, but what I did was just a one-time event.

Anyway, if the number of classical music fans increases, isn’t that a good thing?

Is there really a difference between a gamer who had no interest in classical music but started to appreciate it after attending an orchestra performance of a game they enjoyed?

“I… just want to communicate with people who love the piano…. Everyone enjoys my performances….”

In the early days when subscriber growth was slow, I used to wonder who was subscribing to my channel by clicking on each profile.

Most of them had anime profile pictures, but occasionally, people majoring in classical music or even running classical music channels would pop up.

Yes, someone who loves classical music would find inspiration from Aclert’s channel or learn how to empathize with those who are not interested in classical music.

This is definitely not a boast, as you can see from the DMs that came to Aclert a few months ago.

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[ LarGishimo ]

Hello, Aklerd.

We are LarGishimo, providing various content that combines classical music and entertainment for the mobile generation.

Our flagship content includes talk shows with talented musicians, live performances, hidden camera pranks with music legends, and a young musician talent camp to discover and introduce the future of Korean classical music.

We are reaching out to you to invite you to participate in a hidden camera content on our channel. The temporary content title is ‘Pro vs. Amateur Blind Test.’ We will gather renowned professors as judges, and you and a pianist with competition experience will take turns playing the same piece to see if the audience can distinguish between the two!

One piece will be a classical piano solo, and the other could be one of the music pieces you have shared on your channel….

……

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In the past, I didn’t respond to that offer, but I couldn’t help feeling a bit pleased after reading that DM.

In essence, it was nothing less than acknowledging Min Chaewon as a professional musician.

Of course, why wouldn’t they? If the production team didn’t know that the competition between a pianist with competition experience and her would not work if the levels were too different?

Unless it was spam or phishing, the genres and styles of the music each person played were different. They respected each other as top-tier in their respective fields.

‘Right now, it’s 1.5 million…’

Two years later. On the day she stopped her activities, the subscribers surpassed ten million.

It may not seem that impressive, but when limited to just piano players, it was a ranking within reach.

Since there was no place that accurately provided statistics, it was just speculation, but as a fan, I could say for sure.

In the past, I was someone who introduced people to the charm of the piano.

I never belittled the piano.

“I play the piano because I like it… I don’t know what’s wrong with that.”

After spewing out her self-assertions, Hitomi-chan realized she carelessly blurted out her thoughts and tried to backtrack.

Thinking of Hitomi-chan, I started to feel unnecessarily apologetic.

“Uh, I mean… I didn’t mean to say that you’re… bad or anything…”

Normally, this would make the other person feel sorry and back down. But maybe because he was the final boss, Yoon Kwancheol didn’t back down easily.

“Sorry for eavesdropping, but I heard you harmonizing with Yooji. It was excellent, a classic.”

The man with narrowed eyes continued speaking, each word heavy with suppressed anger.

“I’m angry because you know how to play such excellent classics, so why waste time playing music for these pathetic people in this corner?”

An impressive man.

He didn’t understand what I was trying to say just now.

There’s no wall that doesn’t have a wall like this.

Is he someone who can’t be convinced by words?

Maybe he’s just uncomfortable with our conversation.

I’ll just tell my story.

Is this some kind of collective soliloquy or something?

“Chaewon. You are destined for greatness. You are not someone who should settle for small things and be satisfied. Look at the bigger picture. Look at the forest. Don’t you see?”

I stared at Yoon Kwan-chul with a dumbfounded expression.

“Hah, pitiful humans, aren’t they…?”

Hitori-chan began to show her anger.

“W-who are you calling pitiful humans…? Are you saying my dad is a pitiful human too…?!”

“……”

Yoon Kwan-chul was speechless at Yoon Ji-chang’s words.

Watching this tense situation, Yoon Ji-yu kept shifting her buttocks on the sofa, looking anxious.

“They’re not pitiful humans. They are precious people…! Are you saying those who pay to listen to your performances are pitiful? You’re the worst as a performer! The worst! The worst!”

But as I kept pushing forward without being pushed back, I felt a strange sense of exhilaration in that sight.

Her tightly clenched hands seemed to be speaking.

Well done, well done, our Chaewon. Impressive!

“So, does that mean competitions are meaningless? Armchair experts are better than prominent judges in the music industry. Is that what you meant?”

“T-that’s not what I meant! Please don’t insult my performance and fans!! If you keep doing that, I’ll insult you and your fans who spend a lot of money to listen to crappy performances!”

Crack. Yoon Kwan-chul’s teeth grinding made a sound.

Finally, he began to waver.

The momentum of this fierce battle started to shift towards me.

Seizing the opportunity, I drove a strong wedge to win the fight.

“I…! If I receive recognition as being on par with the winner of the competition… then you must acknowledge it and apologize! Apologize to all my subscribers too! Bow your head and apologize!”

Ask.

Please ask.

Take the bait!

“Fine. But how do you plan to receive such recognition? It seems like you’re not planning to participate in the competition.”

I forcibly lowered the corners of my mouth that were trying to rise. The conflicting forces of trying to rise and trying to fall made my lips tremble.

“W-well… there is a way!”

I showed Yoon Kwan-chul the DM list from Aclert and specifically the content proposal sent by the Larquisimo channel.

“W-what do you think…?”

Trying to act confident but suddenly becoming timid, Hitori-chan, Yoon Kwan-chul coughed and said, “Alright, fine.”