Chapter 5
Unloved piano
Wasn’t there a saying that if coincidence repeated, it was fate?
I can’t believe it. Park Sang-yeon, I can’t believe I’m seeing him again!
Minju almost pinched her cheek.
“Oh, I didn’t know it was your house.”
“I thought you were a tuner, but I didn’t know you were a pianist as well. If you don’t mind, I’d like to keep listening to it.”
The best pianist in the world said he wanted to hear more of her poor performance.
Minju wanted to hide in a rat hole because Sang-yeon seemed to be teasing her.
Sang-yeon came behind Minju’s back, as she was hesitant. Then, he wrapped Minju’s forearms with his arms and gently pressed her down to put her back on the piano chair. It was a perfect back hug.
Sang-yeon’s lips came close to Minju’s ears without time to measure the distance between the two.
Indeed, all of this happened so quickly.
As she was so nervous, her chest swelled up and her toes shriveled.
Unlike Minju, who kept swallowing her dry saliva with burning lips, Sang-yeon calmly put Minju’s hands on the keyboard and stepped back.
She was all set, but Minju still hesitated.
Can I really play Park Sang-yeon’s piano in front of him?
As Minju was immersed in such trivial thoughts, Sang-yeon’s warm eyes seemed to say:
Go on…
Thanks to his support, Minju started playing again. But she stopped after a few notes.
“I can’t do it, I’m too nervous.”
She spoke her mind, but fortunately, she did not dare to say the real reason why she was nervous.
“This kind of opportunity is rare…”
Sang-yeon tried to persuade her once again, but Minju looked into Sang-yeon’s eyes for a long time and shook her head.
“All right, as you wish… By the way, is one of your parents dead?”
What the hell was this guy saying? Minju was so surprised that she could not say anything.
Come to think of it, she had never been asked this question in her life, and she had never talked about her parents first.
Ten years ago, it was still a cold February day between winter and spring.
Like the ambiguous weather during the change of seasons, Minju, a senior in high school, was in a awkward position before graduating from high school and entering college.
This transition period, when she was neither a teenager nor an adult, was just like vacations as she could feel strange excitement and freedom at the same time.
In addition, Minju’s classmates were envious of her because she had already received a notice of acceptance from the music college she wanted and had already paid for her college tuition.
Minju, who had nothing much to do at her school desk, left school a little earlier than usual. She was just listening to Mozart’s Piano Sonata No. 8 first movement… She hummed the melody, played in the air with her fingers, and climbed the stairs cheerfully at a fast tempo.
When she soon reached the end of the hallway on the second floor of the old Jugong apartment, a cold wind coming from somewhere disturbed Minju’s hair.
She typed in the door entry code and opened the front door. The living room in the house, which was not well lit because it was on a low floor, instantly brightened.
Minju was frozen by the incredible sight in front of her eyes and stayed on the porch.
Her mother and father were leaning against each other and hugging each other, and the floor was full of blood.
At that moment, the music she was listening to stopped. Then, a mysterious mechanical and cruel sound rang in Minju’s ears as if tearing them apart.
It was clear that tinnitus began at this moment.
Nevertheless, Minju had no courage to look into her past, and was living without realizing the cause of this tinnitus.
Minju’s head was noisy because of the memory of the day she had never recalled before Sang-yeon asked her this question, but fortunately, it was not noticeable.
“When Mozart wrote this song… I heard it was around his mother’s death, maybe?”
It was a song that she had played hundreds of times and thousands of times while preparing for the entrance exam… but she did not know.
“It was a performance made by someone who knew how it felt. Knowing and understanding are two completely different concepts. By the way… How’s this guy doing?”‘ll
Minju, who was briefly mesmerized by Sang-yeon’s insight that penetrated her, barely came to her senses and answered.
“Ah… well, I mean… I think… I don’t think it was loved.”
Sang-yeon also smiled awkwardly because he seemed to have hit the nail on the head.
“That’s rather accurate… Good! Then, every Monday from next week, you can come and play with him instead of me… Could you please do that?”
“Yes, well, it would be a honor for me…”
“Then I look forward to your tuning and see you next week.”
Sang-yeon only talked about tuning the piano and went back to the second floor.
The distance that was so close and friendly just now was back to its original position.
“Well, how do I tune it? If you tell me what you want, I’ll try to match it as much as possible.”
“Do whatever you want, tuner-nim, think of it as your piano.”
Think of it as my piano.
It’s been a while since I had my own piano. If I think it’s my piano, can it really be mine?
There was a limit to Minju’s dream of playing the piano in her small rooftop room. In this hellish country, the size of a dream was proportional to the size of your house.
It was absurd to dream of becoming a pianist without a piano. A passing dog would laugh.21
The first thing Minju did after losing her parents a decade ago, was to sell her piano at a used instrument store.
She had accepted reality with her head, but could not accept it with her heart, so she passed in front of the store every day.
It was only after seeing her piano leaving with its new owner with her eyes that Minju stopped going their on her way to work. And she completely gave up her dream of becoming a pianist.
The money she earned by working part-time at convenience stores and restaurants could buy food that would satisfy the hunger of her body, but it could not satisfy the hunger of her soul.
There was a person who woke Minju up, as she was detached from reality, meaninglessly spending her time alive. He was none other than the owner of the used instrument store.
“Hey, are you a student? Student!”
The owner opened the store door and came out as if he had been waiting for Minju to leave work before sunset.
“Yes?… Did you call me?”
“Uh, I’m in a hurry right now, can you look after the store for a moment? I have to go on a business trip.”
“Ah…”
“How about 5,000 won an hour?”
The owner paid 1,000 won more than the minimum hourly wage at the time, and Minju gladly accepted.
While the boss was on a piano tuning business trip, Minju sat alone at the used instrument store and passed time.
She dozed off for the first couple of hours as there were no customers, and played the piano for the rest of the time. She played the piano for three hours without resting. Like a crazy person.
The owner, who had returned from his business trip, smiled as he looked at Minju playing the piano passionately. If the he had not applauded after the performance, Minju would have played the piano all night.
“Wow, I’m sorry to hear this for free.”
“Ah… boss-nim is here.”
The owner handed to Minju an envelope containing her pay, as she stood up embarrassedly.
“You’re the student who sold the piano to our store, right?”
“You remember.”
“Come and play the piano whenever you want. Is it because the interior of the store is gloomy? People don’t know that this place sells pianos. I thought it would be better to hear the music of a piano coming from the store to promote it.”
“Can I really do that?”
Minju became a piano tuner like that.
Although she did not have her own piano, she was able to play all the pianos of the store to her heart’s content with the owner’s consideration, and she was able to fill the hunger of her soul.
The owner was surprised to see Minju’s red cheeks, as she returned to the store after the first tuning at Sang-yeon’s house, and asked.
“What’s wrong with your face? What happened at work?”
Minju saw herself reflected on the window glass. It was probably the face of a woman in love.
“What do you mean, work? I guess my cheeks are frozen because the wind is too cold.”
“You did a great job. Hurry up and come here to warm up.”
Minju smiled humbly as she touched one of her cheeks that were hot rather than frozen.
That night, Minju stayed up all night.
From the moment she unexpectedly encountered Sang-yeon, to their conversation and momentary touch… Everything was so vivid that she could not sleep.
Interestingly, all her five senses became clearer as she closed her eyes.
Her heart pounded as if Sang-yeon was hugging her from behind and whispering love words in her ear. She was afraid that everything she went through today would disappear like nothing and become just a dream if she fell asleep like this.
Because Minju wanted to feel this special day longer, because she wanted to hold onto it a bit longer, she could not fall asleep.
After spending the night with her eyes open, she ran out of the house. She started running because she thought that it would be better to raise her heart rate to its maximum, but when she came to her senses, she was already in front of Sang-yeon’s house.
Minju was so embarrassed because she almost rang the doorbell.
‘What are you doing here? You can ring this doorbell only on Mondays. Wake up!
Laughter came out loud. She could not help but laugh, wondering what kind of expectation she had to come all the way here. She felt the air enter her lungs as she laughed.
Minju began to run again, breathing the cold air of dawn.
Lord of Love… I believe that just as you prepared Rebecca for Isaac and Boaz for Ruth 31, you have also prepared the person who suits me best.
I hope that my spouse, whom the Lord will grant me, will be a wounded man. I hope that through all the processes of loving, healing each other’s wounds and becoming one, we will never forget that the owner of our lives is the Lord.
Lord, I also want him to be a man with a strong sense of responsibility. I pray that he will resemble God, faithful to his role and duty and knowing how to keep his promise, both at home and in society.
Finally, Lord! Allow my future spouse the power to defend and protect me. Power, stamina, wealth… Let him have these three strengths to save me from this troubled world on behalf of God.
So Lord, show me your presence so that I can believe that you are here. Amen!
Although Minju never said his name, she prayed to God that she wanted him.
Thinking that having her own piano was impossible, but still having a strong desire to have one… Minju was dreaming for the first time since she gave up being a pianist.
This ridiculous dream of Park Sang-yeon.
TL notes
[1] In case it’s not clear, Sang-yeon is talking about the piano.
[2] A Korean saying, it means that it was ridiculous.
[3] Rebecca, Isaac Boaz and Ruth are all biblical figures.