Becoming An Idol Wasn’T On My Plan [EN]: Chapter 191

“…No. But it feels a bit, whoa—like.”

So, he doesn’t have perfect pitch. This time, I played the original melody along with a melody raised by a half step.

“Does this sound like a different song?”

“Yes. It’s different. It feels like something strange is mixed in.”

“Right? This one.”

*Ding—*

“And this one.”

*Ding—*

“People hear them as the same note. That’s why they have the same name. Bongju, even if you grow taller, you’ll still look like Bongju, so people will call you Bongju.”

Of course, originally, it was said that overtones overlapped, so the brain couldn’t distinguish them, but explaining that would take all night. I’d have to start with frequency.

“…Wow, that’s really, really amazing.”

I took a moment to stretch, taking advantage of the brief pause in Bongju’s barrage of questions. Answering each question that arose while playing, it seemed like quite a bit of time had passed. *When will he arrive, Father… Wait.*

Sensing a presence, I turned around and saw a man and the teacher staring blankly in our direction.

*Oh my god, when did they come in?*

I looked towards Chae Hamin. There, that crazy rabbit was leaning against the piano, fast asleep as if he had fainted.

“Bongju, your father’s here.”

I woke Bongju, who was still lost in his thoughts. Startled, Bongju turned around and quickly got up.

“Ah, Father.”

“Ahem, Bongju, let’s go home. Say goodbye to the teacher, too.”

“Ah… yes.”

A voice dripping with regret. As Bongju got up, I tapped Chae Hamin’s shoulder.

“Ugh! No way!”

“No way what.”

*Get up quickly; what are you going to do if you’re already dreaming?* Chae Hamin seemed to grasp the situation even in his dazed state and got up.

“Thank you for looking after our Bongju.”

A slight smell of oil. Fatigue was evident on his face, as if he had been doing hard labor. Yet, he stood upright, as if he couldn’t show his son a weak side. He seemed like a strict father.

“Ah, no! We were the ones begging Bongju to play with us!”

*If you say that, I’ll be lumped in with ‘us’ and become a weirdo, Hamin. What adult begs a young kid to play with them?*

“Bongju, you need to say goodbye.”

“Plea, please teach me again tomorrow, just a little bit…”

Bongju, with his bowl-cut hair bowed deeply and his body slightly twisting, requested a promise instead of saying goodbye.

I squatted down and held out my pinky finger.

“Promise.”

Bongju carefully linked fingers, shook them a few times, and then smiled brightly.

* * *

In the temporary lodging near the filming location, I lay down on the sofa in the living room.

“What is ‘eo-jjeol-ti-bi’…, Donghwa?”

Ryoo Ideun sat next to me, muttering.

“…What are you saying, you crazy *hyung* [older brother/male friend]?”

“No, today the kid said to me…, ‘The teacher is not a chair,’ and then said ‘eo-jjeol-ti-bi,’ so I was wondering… what on earth that means.”

I know what ‘eo-jjeol’ means, so it probably means roughly ‘shut up’.

“Doesn’t it mean to shut up and stay still?”

“But, but! In my day, watching TV was the most enjoyable thing in the world. So, wouldn’t that mean the teacher is good?”

“It must mean that if you’re going to entertain me like TV, then shut up and stay still.”

Seriously, these days, preschoolers are scary. They even make abbreviations for treating a person like furniture. It would be nice if Ryoo Ideun wasn’t so obsessed with working out.

“Even if he says that, everyone liked Ideun *hyung*. He played with the kids the most. *Hyung* enjoyed it too, he’s just saying that.”

Lee Hyunjae judged coldly.

“That’s right, actually. I was just acting cute.”

Ryoo Ideun dropped his pitiful expression and smiled contentedly. Then, he shouted for our youngest to come over and pulled him by the neck. Lee Hyunjae was disgusted and pushed Ryoo Ideun away, but he was too physically weak.

“How was it for you, *hyung*?”

“…I just taught them piano.”

“Then I should teach the kids exercise too. I should start with squats.”

You crazy bastard.

Waking up in the morning, Chae Hamin, who was drinking vegetable juice, whined sleepily.

“Donghwa-yaa, don’t just play with Bongju, play with me too today-yaa.”

Get lost. I have to teach our Bongju piano.

“Seeing that… Hamin *hyung* isn’t normal either…”

At Lee Hyunjae’s words, Seokjoon put down the bread he was eating and placed his hand on Chae Hamin’s forehead.

“Hmm—no fever—”

“Jun *hyung*… always says he’s not normal.”

Ugh, the start of a peaceful day. Once this broadcast is over, there probably won’t be many opportunities to heal, so I should enjoy it as much as possible now.

* * *

“Today, I told my dad it’s okay to be late.”

Bongju, who arrived first, jumped up and said. He must be disappointed. Still, he’s a precious son.

The teacher, who was preparing together, smiled brightly as he watched Bongju smile.

“Then, Donghwa-ssi, instead of preparing, would you like to play with Bongju for a bit?”

He seemed genuinely happy to see Bongju smiling. It’s amazing how someone can be so warm to others.

I sat at the piano with Bongju.

*Ding—*

Bongju immediately pressed a key.

“Do. This is Do.”

“That’s right.”

Then, he immediately ran his fingers down the keyboard. His touch was careful, like a craftsman handling pottery.

“I, I memorized everything. I even looked at the keyboard layout on my dad’s phone and memorized it all.”

A smile naturally came to my face.

“There were 88 keys in total.”

“Usually, yes.”

“Are there cases where there aren’t?”

“There are also ones with 97.”

*Ding—*

I pressed the leftmost key.

“Nine more lower sounds than this one.”

“…I don’t think I could distinguish them.”

That’s right. Usually, 88 keys cover all the sounds that humans can distinguish. Those keys are said to be used for the richness of the sound, but I’ve never actually seen or heard them, so I don’t know.

“But why 88 keys?”

“Why do you think?”

“Maybe… is that all people can hear?”

“Well, sounds are much more detailed than that.”

I pressed two adjacent keys in succession.

“There are a lot of sounds in between these. But only 88 of them are selected.”

“…Ah, are these the only ones that sound pretty?”

What, how does he know? I’m a little taken aback.

“Yeah, the sounds in between sound a bit like noise.”

“It’s amazing, really. I’m curious why, but is it difficult?”

“You’ll probably understand around middle school.”

No, I don’t think that’s in the curriculum. Logarithms are probably taught then, but you won’t learn what that has to do with scales.

“I want to get older for the first time. I didn’t want to get old quickly when I saw adults.”

I stroked Bongju’s hair and handed him sheet music.

“Sheet music.”

“Can you read it?”

“I can only read the solfège [a system for teaching sight-reading].”

“I’ll have to explain the rhythm first.”

In the next two days, let’s at least make it so he can play ‘Airplane’. Just having a hobby to focus on when you’re young can help you get through it.

Bongju used to hide himself behind books that he didn’t really want to read, so if he uses sheet music as a shield instead, he might really forget the gazes of others.

* * *

“Teacher, why do adults get married?”

*For the propagation of the species. I recommend the book ‘The Selfish Gene’ by Richard Dawkins. It was written a long time ago, but it’s still a good reference.*

“Just like Younghee grows up and goes to middle school, there are cases where people have a path to follow like stairs.”

“Teacher, Teacher, what’s your ideal type? My ideal type is an actor like Hyun Bin!”

There’s a reason why the word ‘ideal’ is attached to ‘ideal type’. It doesn’t exist in reality. And I’m a person with withered romantic feelings, so I’ve never thought about that in my life.

“A kind person.”

“Teacher, I read the word ‘hope’ in a book yesterday, what does it mean?”

*According to Nietzsche, it’s the worst of all evils. It prolongs human suffering. I agree about half way.*

“The feeling Daesik has when he does his homework, thinking he can play when he’s done.”

“Teac—cher! I don’t want to go to school! Why do we go!”

There are various theories about that, which one do you want? I can teach you the opinions of various people like Marx or Rousseau.

“If you don’t go, your guardian will scold you, can you handle that?”

I thought as I answered the questions pouring in one at a time. *I want to die; it’s exhausting to be conflicted between what I want to say and what I’m allowed to say.*

On the other hand, unlike me, Chae Hamin seemed to be skillfully talking to the children. He was praising a child’s hair clip, saying, ‘Wow, that’s pretty! Teacher used to wear things like angel headbands a lot when he was young!’ By the way, why did you wear something like that?

“Wow, Teacher, you look so smart! You’re cool!”

*I’m not smart, I’m just terribly pessimistic; I’m not cool either, I’m closer to being pathetic. Don’t grow up to be an adult like this later, Daesik. Like Hamin hyung over there… well, maybe not quite, you should grow up like Ryoo Ideun, even if you’ve never seen him, okay?*

I smiled and tempted the children by showing them a fairy tale book.

“Should we read this together?”

“No! Super boring!”

Your tone is really beautiful. I can feel that language is developing rapidly. I guess this is how you get left behind in culture.

“Oh dear.”

Well, these days everyone has a phone in their hand, so there’s no way fairy tales would be fun.

“Then how about this?”

‘Eastern Philosophy Made Easy’. I can make full use of my major and read it to you. With footnotes, even.