At first, I thought he was just copying my swing.
Actually, that alone would've been pretty impressive, but if you listen real close, it's totally different from what she showed him.
He was following the swing like he'd read it in a book, but there was definitely something new there, too.
It wasn't anything too crazy, though.
Like I said, it was straight out of a textbook – I mean, it was basically all clichés, and the structure was super simple.
But the more he played, the richer the melody got.
He was, like, arranging it on the fly, right there at the piano.
Could a six-year-old really do this?
It's not impossible.
It's rare, but you do get these kids who are, like, total geniuses showing up every now and then.
So, basically, my grandson's a genius.
Heo Ok, a jazz pianist and ex-professor of music at some big-shot Japanese university, felt a fire light up inside her.
It was that burning desire you get as a teacher.
Was this how Kensaku Segoe felt when he faced off against Jōhō in Go?
Was this how Sean felt about Will Hunting in Good Will Hunting?
Heo Ok pushed down her sudden urge to start teaching and asked her grandson.
"Is it fun?"
At those words, Yeon-woo was startled and turned around.
She saw him all hunched over, looking totally scared.
He looked like that because of his past, but Heo Ok was too caught up to notice.
She silently sat next to Yeon-woo and played exactly what Yeon-woo had been playing.
Yeon-woo's eyes widened as he looked up at Heo Ok.
"To play the piano, you need to have good posture, and your fingers should be curved as if holding an egg..."
Heo Ok, who was about to teach the basics as if possessed, suddenly recalled the past.
'Like holding an egg. Now, try playing. No, that's not how you play it. Again!!'
Her own voice shouting angrily.
And a little boy sitting at the piano, looking totally intimidated.
That boy was her son, Ji-hoon.
The second she saw Ji-hoon's face in Yeon-woo, Heo Ok stopped herself.
She remembered her son, tears pouring down his face, saying he hated the piano because she was so strict.
Her son was born with perfect pitch, a valuable talent for a musician.
Not that fake perfect pitch you learn by practicing, but real perfect pitch – the kind you're born with, where you can hear even the tiniest differences in sound.
Back then, she was the one who'd taken that raw talent and turned it into something dull, instead of letting it shine.
Recalling that, Heo Ok placed her hand on Yeon-woo's head.
Yeon-woo flinched, but soon looked at Heo Ok quietly.
"You should do what's fun. You can play whenever you want, you don't even need to ask. Go for it."
"......"
At those words, Yeon-woo looked at the keyboard.
Yeon-woo's eyes sparkled.
As if staring blankly at the keyboard, Yeon-woo placed his fingers on the keys again and began to play the swing.
He was still clumsy at playing the piano, but Yeon-woo's swing continued.
Yes, this is enough.
Heo Ok emptied her mind.
Being greedy just makes you miserable.
A few days later, in the morning.
"I'm off."
As always, Ji-hoon left for work early in the morning, saying goodbye to young Yeon-woo.
After seeing his father off and watching his father's car leave from the balcony, Yeon-woo went to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator.
He grabbed some bread, jam, and butter from the nearly empty fridge – pretty much the only things that always got restocked.
"...?"
Yeon-woo's eyes caught sight of an unfamiliar object.
What is this?
He took it out.
Ah...!
It's ham.
He had forgotten, but he remembered his grandmother saying she would buy ham so he could put it on bread or put it in a sandwich.
Yeon-woo's eyes sparkled.
At his uncle's place, he could only stare at stuff like that, never eat it.
All he got there were their leftovers.
Yeon-woo was so excited, he toasted the bread, spread on some jam and butter real thin, and then piled on two whole slices of ham and took a big bite.
Yeon-woo's eyes widened.
It was so delicious.
He scarfed down the toast, made another one for his grandma, washed his hands real good, and sat down at the piano.
Since playing the swing last time, Yeon-woo's day had completely changed.
He takes care of his own meals and sits down at the piano.
The second he put his hand on the keys and hit middle C, it was like these fairies were all, "Welcome back, Yeon-woo!"
And right in the middle, there's this grandma fairy, totally the boss of them all, sitting there with her legs crossed and this look on her face like she's all that.
"So, what's up today?"
Yeon-woo just thought the question, and the grandma fairy got up and pointed at the keyboard.
The other fairies just stared at the keyboard, like, "Huh?", following where the grandma fairy was pointing.
The grandma fairy wanted him to play exactly what she'd shown him, note for note.
Yeon-woo nodded as if he understood and started playing the piano.
He kept adding more and more, and now he had a whole minute of swing going.
It started out simple, but now it was getting pretty fancy and full.
But a minute just wasn't enough.
He had it down perfectly now, but after playing the whole minute, he looked at the grandma fairy, all bummed out.
"Can't you show me more?"
Yeon-woo looked at her with pleading eyes, but the grandmother fairy shook her head firmly.
Her firmness showed that she would not teach him any more.
"Just a little bit more? Please?"
At Yeon-woo's question, the grandma fairy shook her head again and pointed to the keyboard.
And then pointed to Yeon-woo.
"Play that part again?"
Seeing the grandmother fairy shaking her head, Yeon-woo carefully asked.
"Wait... you want me to make up the next part?"
Only then did the grandmother fairy nod.
So, basically, that whole minute she taught him was just, like, a starting point for him to make up his own stuff.
Getting the general idea, Yeon-woo looked at the keys.
What should he do?
Yeon-woo recalled his grandmother's performances.
Even Yeon-woo thought swing was kinda old-school.
He liked the swing because of the fairies dancing around all crazy and the happy vibe, but the music itself? Yeah, even though he thought it was a bit dated.
I mean, it makes sense – real swing music started back in the 30s.
He wanted something faster, something with more oomph.
As soon as Yeon-woo pictured the notes, the fairies were all over the keyboard, like they'd been waiting for this.
Yeon-woo's fingers flew, chasing after the keys the fairies lit up.
And he realized.
His little hands just weren't fast enough, and he wasn't good enough yet to play what he was hearing in his head.
Yeon-woo was frustrated.
I can hear it in my head, but I can't play it!
Yeon-woo gave the grandma fairy this look like, "This isn't fair!"
The grandma fairy just sighed, like, "Fine, whatever," and waved her hand at the other fairies.
And then, bam – Yeon-woo could hear the music he'd made up, but only in his head.
He listened, tweaked things here and there, and the fairies would jump back in, playing the new and improved parts.
And just like that, he had this new swing – faster, more rhythm, and totally not old-fashioned.
Yeon-woo created music that was about two minutes long and remembered it as sound.
But the big question was... when would he be able to play it?
He wanted to actually play it, not just hear this imaginary fairy music in his head. Or, at least, hear someone else play it.
While Yeon-woo was worrying, he saw the grandmother fairy.
Ah, that 's right.
Maybe he could ask his grandma?
But how?
He wished he could at least hum it or something, but he couldn't even do that.
It was when Yeon-woo was worrying.
"Hey, I didn't hear any music. What's up? What are you doing just sitting there?"
Right then, his grandma walked in.
Yeon-woo's eyes lit up the second he saw his grandma, still half-asleep and without her glasses.
Maybe his grandma could help him figure it out.
As far as Yeon-woo was concerned, his grandma was the best piano player ever – she could do anything.
Yeon-woo grabbed his grandmother's hand and pulled her to sit in front of the piano.
Heo Ok let him pull her along, looking at him like, "What's going on?"
"What is it? You want me to play something?"
Yeon-woo sat next to her and played his song super slowly.
Slow enough for her to memorize it.
"Hmm... you made this?"
Nod, nod.
Yeon-woo nodded.
His grandma watched him, then played back what he'd just shown her.
Yeon-woo shook his head and tapped out the beat on the keys.
Heo Ok got it – he was showing her the tempo, the speed he wanted.
She played it back at his speed, and Yeon-woo looked super happy and started showing her the rest.
Heo Ok smiled as she looked at Yeon-woo.
"So, I'm your instrument now, huh?"
Any other student of hers would've been terrified, like, "Oh my god, I'm so sorry!", but Yeon-woo didn't even blink.
Neither did Heo Ok.
Heo Ok grabbed a notebook and started writing down the notes instead of just playing along.
When Yeon-woo looked at her with a puzzled face, Heo Ok said.
"This is sheet music. It's like... a written-out version of the music. You can read it and play without having to memorize everything."
Although he didn't know letters well, Yeon-woo understood Heo Ok's words.
She wrote it all down super fast, right as Yeon-woo played.
As the song came together, Heo Ok's face totally changed.
"Is it over now?"
Nod, nod.
"Alright, let me try playing the whole thing."
Heo Ok got all serious, unfolded the sheet music she'd scribbled on, and started playing Yeon-woo's very first song.
It was swing, as expected.
Totally different from before – faster, bouncier, but still kind of like a kid's song.
It was like... if you took a nursery rhyme and turned it into swing.
But it wasn't simple, either.
It was too complex to just memorize.
After playing for a little over two minutes straight, Heo Ok just stared at Yeon-woo, totally blown away.
Meanwhile, Yeon-woo listened carefully, then put his hand on the keyboard and played one little part.
As soon as Heo Ok figured out which part he meant, Yeon-woo changed it up.
Heo Ok fixed the notes and tried it again.
That part that had been kind of blah before was now all bouncy and interesting.
He was still changing the song, right then and there.
'This child...'
This wasn't just some kid who was good at music.
This was the kind of genius that any musician, even the legends, would recognize – the kind that comes around maybe once in a hundred years.
He was a genius among geniuses, no doubt about it.
Heo Ok got chills all over.
