Everyone was welcoming me with open arms. I had never felt such warm hospitality, not even during my days as a prosecutor’s intern.
Principal cellist Emanuel and timpanist Michael rushed over and hugged me tightly.
“Oh, Hyun, my closest friend—!”
“Emanuel, what are you talking about? Hyun was closest to me—!”
“Michael, where do you get that confidence? Fine, let’s settle this now. Hyun, who were you closer to in Korea, me or Michael?”
Emanuel and Michael were still like cats and dogs. I couldn’t hide my smile as I greeted the other members.
Most of them were members I had played with in Korea, but there were some new faces, likely new recruits.
Their faces were filled with tension, no different from new recruits in the military. At that moment—
“Hyun, how did you figure it out?”
Chloe had approached me without me noticing. Her small voice was effective in drawing everyone’s attention.
“When playing the horn, there are times when you have to use a technique called gestop. If the player’s hand is inside the bell and bent into a shape, the pitch changes. At the beginning of the second movement, there’s a technique called hand-stopping where you completely block the valve with your hand to create a sharp, metallic sound instead of a soft one. But in this performance, the horn wasn’t completely blocked. To be exact, it was about two-thirds blocked.”
“Wait, wait. Charles, is what Hyun said true?”
Emanuel couldn’t hold back and looked sharply at Charles from the horn section. Charles just nodded repeatedly, looking bewildered.
Of course, it was natural to be surprised. The moment the horn appears at the beginning of the second movement is so brief that it could be described as a blink of an eye.
“Hyun, how can you know such things?”
Emanuel asked with exaggerated gestures. Concertmaster Dmitri also looked curious.
How should I answer this? It was the same at the Chappelle. When Maestro Eden Simeon asked me how I solved the mysteries of the Chappelle, I could only answer that I just knew.
While others view the orchestra from a flat perspective, my eyes and ears approached it multidimensionally.
“Hyun, can you do it one more time if it’s okay?”
At that moment, Emanuel’s question brought silence. It seemed they couldn’t believe it. Maestro Spencer also looked at me with interest.
Well, it was an interesting scene from the first day. I nodded without hesitation.
“Is this a hidden camera?”
The new members of the London Symphony couldn’t understand the current situation. Finding the wrong parts of a symphony was an impossible task.
At first, they thought the seniors were playing a prank on them. But then, an unknown boy appeared.
“Horn—!”
An irresistible voice pierced their ears. The words from the boy’s mouth were unbelievable.
The part the horn plays in the second movement is so short that it’s almost impossible to catch it. Moreover, an orchestra is a blend of many instruments’ melodies.
How did he find the discordant horn melody among all that? And even know how much the valve was blocked?
“Christine, are we dreaming right now?”
“Maybe it’s like those hidden camera pranks that are popular on TV these days?”
“I never understood people who believed in unrealistic Orientalism, but now I think I get it.”
Even in the following symphony, the new members doubted their eyes.
It was a performance led by principal cellist Emanuel. They listened with full tension, but instead of finding any mistakes, they were overwhelmed by the fantastic melody.
But the Asian boy found the mistakes again, like a ghost.
“What the…”
Even the senior members were already speechless. Concertmaster Dmitri, usually cold as ice, and Maestro Spencer could not hide their surprise.
He seemed completely unphased, as if he had been playing with the London Symphony for a long time.
It was beyond belief. Christine herself couldn’t even make eye contact with the Maestro, but the Asian boy was already comfortably joking around.
At that moment—
“Maestro, should we put Hyun in the first violin section?”
Dmitri’s remark made the new members’ eyes widen.
In an orchestra, the significance of the first and second violin sections is immense.
The positions aren’t divided by skill level, but typically, the first violin requires high-level technique and dazzling skills.
New violin members often build experience in the second violin section before moving up to the first. Plus, the Asian boy was just a provisional member.
“Dmitri. First, we should introduce Hyun to the new members. The existing members already know what kind of person Hyun is, but the new members must be confused by the current situation. They probably think we’re joking.”
At Spencer’s words, Dmitri nodded and introduced Kang Hyun to the new members.
Upon hearing Kang Hyun’s name, some new members gasped after thinking deeply.
It was no wonder; he was the person who had stirred the classical music world a few months ago. The eternal maestro Gustav had personally attended his solo recital, after all.
“Hyun, the new members probably don’t know who you are. Could you show them the proper posture for a violin player here?”
Spencer didn’t miss the dissatisfaction on the new members’ faces.
They had entered the London Symphony through grueling efforts. But the Asian boy in front of them seemed to have parachuted in.
“Would you mind taking the posture?”
Christine picked up her violin. Though she reluctantly complied due to the Maestro’s words, she didn’t understand. The other new members felt the same.
Hadn’t they played the violin all their lives? How could someone correct a posture that was already second nature?
The boy adjusted Christine’s shoulder and arm height, even her foot spacing.
“Try playing again.”
Christine internally scoffed at the confident boy. With such an imbalanced posture, surely the bow would produce a grating sound.
“By now, he must have arrived?”
Baek Jung-hoon spoke regretfully, his lips pursed.
“It would have been nice if you could have gone too, Jung-hoon.”
“No, you might not know, but you can’t just go to places like London or Berlin on a whim. If I get better, I might be able to go someday.”
“If you speak like that, what will become of all the musicians in Korea? Humility is not a virtue for you or Hyun, at least by my standards.”
Im Hyera, the director, said as she handed over a contract.
“Jung-hoon, I heard your contract with your agency ended this time? If you don’t plan to renew, consider joining us. Although we don’t have many musicians yet, you know we’re like one-man armies. If you sign with us, we’ll support you as much as we can.”
Baek Jung-hoon was taken aback by Im Hyera’s sudden offer.
She’s a ghostly woman. How does she know his contract has ended?
But this was a privilege. Among classical musicians, the most coveted place to be affiliated with was Jeil Gallery.
Like London and Berlin, you couldn’t just enter on a whim.
I’ve heard that some famous domestic musicians expressed their intention to sign, but Im Hyera turned them down.
“Can I think about it?”
“Of course, review the contract as much as you like until you’re satisfied.”
The reason Baek Jung-hoon wanted to join Jeil Gallery was simple: Kang Hyun was affiliated with it.
Just witnessing his musical talent up close was an endless source of inspiration. It must have felt like how musicians who watched Bach, Beethoven, or Mozart felt.
“By the way, I heard Hyun made a promise to you. Is it true?”
“Yes, he promised that I would perfectly play the score he gave me within a month.”
Though he wanted to sit at the piano and look at the score right away, he had one more question.
“By the way, Director, who accompanied Hyun as his guardian this time?”
“Oh, as a guardian?”
Im Hyera gave a mysterious smile. Usually, she would have gone as his guardian like in Italy, but this time was different.
“Probably, the person who likes Hyun the most.”
“The person who likes him the most?”
“Dmitri, how are the members reacting?”
Spencer had discreetly stepped away to give Kang Hyun and the members some time to meet. He didn’t want to spoil the atmosphere, especially since some members found him intimidating.
But he couldn’t help but be curious. Especially about the reactions of the new members.
“Maestro, do you know how I felt when I first went to the Chappelle?”
“When you participated in the Queen Elisabeth Competition, wasn’t it the most intense time?”
“That’s right. Before I arrived at the Chappelle, I thought I was the best. But the violinists I met there shattered that illusion. It felt like facing an insurmountable wall. The new members probably feel the same way I did back then.”
Kang Hyun was young. While talent was crucial in music, experience was also invaluable.
But despite his youthful appearance, Kang Hyun had an incredible depth of thought. As if an old man resided within him.
“Christine was so surprised she couldn’t close her mouth. As the most talented among the new members, she must have felt it the most. Finding a posture that fits a musician’s body perfectly, rather than a standardized one, is something even virtuosos can’t do.”
“But Hyun does the impossible as if it’s nothing.”
“Exactly. We know from previous experience, but for the new members, it must feel like witnessing magic.”
It wasn’t an exaggeration to call it magic. After correcting Christine’s posture, the change in her playing was astonishing. The melody became more stable and rich.
Even Christine, who was playing, couldn’t hide her surprise. Imagine the shock of those who witnessed it.
“Maestro, do you plan to assign Hyun to the first violin section?”
As the concertmaster responsible for the entire string section, Dmitri asked about Hyun’s position. But Spencer hesitated to answer, remembering Hyun’s performance at the graduation ceremony.
At that moment—
“Maestro, may I come in?”
Despite everything, Kang Hyun himself sought the conductor’s room. Spencer looked up at the sound of the knock and saw Hyun enter.
“Did you greet the members well?”
“Yes, Maestro. We had a lot to talk about since it had been a while. Did I take too long?”
“No, not at all. Let me ask you one thing. Hyun, what do you want to learn from our London Symphony?”
As Spencer and Dmitri’s eyes focused on him, Hyun answered without hesitation.
“I want to learn conducting.”
