Becoming An Idol Wasn’T On My Plan [EN]: Chapter 192

“…Teachers, kids these days don’t read that kind of stuff.”

You can’t be sure with just one person. There must be one or two.

“I, I’ll read it!”

See, there’s Bong-ju, holding the sheet music and blushing. It would be fun to explore a bizarre system of thought that deviates from Eastern philosophy and logic together.

“Um, Bong-ju, should we read this, or play it together?”

But, I can’t drag in Bong-ju, who obviously raised his hand because he thought I wanted him to. Bong-ju seemed flustered, twisting his body this way and that before answering.

“Well, uh, but, the piano, the other kids…….”

Knowing that would happen, I snatched the tablet from Lee Hyun-jae in advance.

“Here, there’s a piano application.”

“What is this?”

Keyboards spread out on the screen.

“Try pressing one.”

Bong-ju carefully pressed a key, and a sound came out that was decent enough, though not as good as a real piano.

“Wow! Wow! This is amazing. It made sound even though I didn’t press it.”

That’s right, you didn’t press the keyboard.

I adjusted the screen to show about two octaves and placed it in front of Bong-ju.

“Can I really touch it?”

“Yeah.”

I plan to buy him a new one if he breaks it. Of course, I think it’s a problem with the company’s product if it breaks just because a kid touched it a little.

And then, a frenzy of ‘Flight of the Bumblebee’ followed. Bong-ju said he had imagined playing the piano in his head countless times last night, and he played a song that he had only briefly played with me today. Of course, it’s still rough and the rhythm is a bit twisted, but being able to play it at all is something.

“I, I can do it.”

“Yeah.”

“This, this is amazing. I didn’t know there were so many amazing things in the world!”

It is said that children should grow up being amazed. There are so many things in the world that they haven’t seen or learned yet, so it’s impossible not to be amazed.

And then, without a word, he stared intently at the next sheet music, muttering something to himself.

“Ah…, the rhythm, like this.”

Then he was laughing while playing, even though it was still a mess. When he played again, he refined the parts he had messed up a little more. I don’t know much because I didn’t learn the piano properly, but I don’t think this learning speed is normal.

“Is it fun?”

“Yes.”

I should recommend some piano songs that are good to listen to on a phone or something. I have a list that I listen to when I need to clear my head while working, so if I pick a few songs and tell him, the algorithm will take care of the rest. Now, when he’s alone at home, he’ll be able to focus more on the beauty of the sound than on loneliness.

“Wow, Bong-ju, what are you, why are you so good at it?”

It’s the kid who asked me to play the piano for him yesterday. I stepped back for a moment and watched what Bong-ju would do.

“Yeah.”

“This is hard, for me.”

“Me too.”

He doesn’t seem awkward, but he’s almost reflexively answering the words he hears, as if he’s feeling ecstasy from the piano sound.

“Do you want to try playing too?”

That’s definitely not genuine. It was a superficial remark made out of courtesy.

“No, I played a lot over there.”

“Ah, okay.”

Then his hand stopped, and he raised his head and paused, looking at the kid who spoke to him. He looked at the place where the piano used to be. An empty chair.

“Uh, Dong-hwa, Teacher, can I, can I play over there?”

“Sure.”

But, Bong-ju, do you know that the grapes just fell in front of you, and you kicked them away? [Referring to Aesop’s fable, meaning he missed an opportunity.]

I just wanted to create a comfortable refuge for him, but the refuge is so wonderful that he even forgot his original wish. I feel like I’ve made a big mistake.

* * *

Dinner time, we ordered Chinese food with the teachers and sat around a large table.

“Oh, right. Do you know? There’s Bong-ju in our class.”

“Ah, that kid. I was a little worried about him. He doesn’t express his emotions much.”

“Right. But, oh my goodness, he follows Teacher Dong-hwa so well.”

“Well, you have to be handsome.”

Teacher Lee nodded with a gloomy expression.

“No, it’s just that Bong-ju seems to like the piano. We don’t even know how to play the piano, and no one has ever told us anything about it. Teacher Dong-hwa is good at playing the piano, so.”

“Wow.”

Eyes of admiration, it’s burdensome.

“Dong-hwa, did you learn the piano?”

“The basic principles are the same as a keyboard.”

“Oh, so you’re a bit of a makeshift pianist.”

That’s right. So I don’t know the fingering well, so I didn’t even teach him that.

“His father was also very surprised. He said it was the first time he had seen him talk so much.”

“He’s very interested in pretty sounds.”

The teachers nodded vigorously at my words.

“Amazing. Pretty sounds, I don’t really know what that is.”

“Me neither. I don’t listen to music much these days. I don’t even know the idols…….”

At that time, an alarm went off on Teacher Lee’s phone. Then Lee Hyun-jae and Ryu Iden almost spat out the jajangmyeon [Korean-Chinese noodle dish] they were eating and laughed. Is it really that funny that it’s not on silent mode?

Even Teacher Lee’s face turned red, and she was trembling with shame.

“It’s a Ver-X notification sound.”

Ryu Iden quietly whispered in my ear. Ah, I see. X-ble is an app that only people who are into idol *deokjil* [being an avid fan] usually have. She just failed at pretending to be a normal person in an instant.

The teacher, who was trembling with shame, forced herself to overcome it and shouted with a bright smile.

“…I’m a fan! Blossence! Every song they release is great!”

“Waaaaah! Thank you! Guys, let’s give a formal greeting! Gather around, gather around!”

What is this, while eating? I let out a hollow laugh and got up from my seat. Another teacher and Seok-jun, who were just eating well, were caught off guard and got up, mumbling.

“To be blooming! We are Blossence!”

What are you doing?

Last day. Today, we just came to Children’s Grand Park.

“Do your best to take care of the kids properly today.”

I nodded at Teacher Lee’s words, who had become more friendly since ‘that notification sound’ was exposed.

All I’ve done here is teach piano, help the kids with their homework, and occasionally assist with the lessons prepared by the teachers, so I guess this special event is necessary for the broadcast. Actually, I don’t know. Can this even be broadcast?

“The PD [Producer Director] said he was happy that there were quite a few funny scenes when he edited it.”

“Iden hyung [older brother/male friend], you’re going to take all the screen time.”

“…I was only treated like an object.”

“It’s a scene that will definitely be included at the right time.”

“What about you, didn’t you have anything?”

“I only had quiet moments, so the cat class will be renamed the rabbit class.”

“So the amount of broadcast time will converge to 0?”

“Yeah.”

I think it’s not converging, but just fixed as a constant.

“But, last time, you and Simba took up a lot of screen time, didn’t you?”

“That’s, that’s an emotional code.”

There’s no way a piano lesson vlog will take up a spot on public broadcast. It’s more likely that a scene of me playing around with Chae Ha-min will be mixed in during a break.

“Anyway, we need to pull ourselves together.”

Because I’m not confident in leading this crowd well.

* * *

“Teacher, Teacher, piggyback, piggyback!”

Piggyback, kid. No, Ryu Iden is treated like a toy, so I guess it’s not wrong to think of him as a toy horse.

Seeing the animals trapped in various cages, I could definitely feel that the environment was different from the research institute I went to last time. There, the living space was much larger.

I sat down and made eye contact with the deer across from me. Ah, that guy, he’s giving me the look that he wants the feed that you can buy for 1000 won [Korean currency unit, roughly equivalent to $1 USD].

The first thing you can see the results of capitalism and urbanization is pigeons. The feeling people get when they see pigeons has changed from cleanliness to dirtiness.

This space is probably the same. Instead of nature being beautiful and friendly, or sometimes scary and making you tremble with fear, it has become nature as an object that can be subordinated and dominated…….

“Dong-hwa, there’s no time to think about that. Look over there quickly.”

“Why, Ha-min?”

“Over there, it looks like Bong-ju has made a friend!”

Oh my gosh, is this how it feels to see a child taking their first steps? It’s strange.

Bong-ju was looking at a piece of paper with the kid who had asked him to play the piano before. I feel like I know what that is.

“I heard that kid actually wanted to be friends with Bong-ju.”

“…Really?”

Just like you.

“Yeah, Bong-ju is a little mature! So it must have been hard to approach him. And he used to run away when they tried to talk to him.”

“Yeah.”

“But now he suddenly answers them.”

That’s because he’s not interested in what they’re saying, but because it’s about the piano. That piece of paper is probably a picture of piano keys. In fact, Bong-ju is moving his fingers around on the paper right now.

“It reminds me of the old days.”

“Me too.”

I remember when you talked to me.

“When I was young, I loved dancing so much that I only danced……. When I was actually dancing, I didn’t think about anything, I didn’t see other people’s eyes, everything was good.”

I thought I could somehow survive as long as I had books.

Bong-ju was nodding with a serious expression and moving his fingers, as if he was seriously talking about the piano. He easily opens his heart just because he likes the same thing; he’s really like a child. So, it was nice to see him being like a child.

I looked at Bong-ju’s smiling face and turned my head to look beside me.

“Ha-min.”

“Why?”

“You should have appeared a little earlier.”

“Huh? I wasn’t late today.”

“…I guess.”

That’s right, you’ve never been late. I just came to work early.

* * *

“Okay, the teachers are leaving today! Everyone, applause!”

Applause. Hmm, it’s not a bad feeling. It’s only been 3 days, but I’ve gotten attached to them since I’ve been seeing their faces all the time.

“Teachers…, are you not coming anymore?!”