“Play it once?”
Baek Jeonghoon looked down at the sheet music in his hand.
Didn’t Kang Hyun write down the sheet music during breaks in recording sessions?
The notes seemed to have been written in a burst of inspiration, as if in one go.
He said it was still an incomplete piece. His heart pounded at the sight of the sheet music without a fermata on the double bar lines.
Dooong.
Long fingers pressed the keys cautiously. Baek Jeonghoon kept recalling the notes in his head, as he was not playing a familiar classical piece but an unfamiliar score.
He wondered what kind of thoughts Kang Hyun had when he composed these notes.
The notes were densely packed on the staff, as if they did not want to yield their space.
It felt like his fingers were tingling just from looking at the sheet music, like Liszt’s compositions.
Taking a deep breath, the long fingers began to move like springs.
His right foot kept moving on the pedal. It was a continuous forté that felt like his fingers were about to break.
Like a storm approaching, he tried to switch to delicate playing amidst the continuous thunderous sound. Baek Jeonghoon bit the inside of his cheek, not wanting to miss the timing.
For a while, the grand and heavy melody, reminiscent of Schubert’s “Erlkönig,” continued.
From the shiver that started at his shoulders and flowed to the tips of his fingers and back to pianissimo, Baek Jeonghoon imagined countless images with the ever-changing musical ideas.
His heartbeat, which continued to pound, seemed to tell him not to stop playing, but there were no more notes left on the staff.
“Why didn’t he finish it?”
He didn’t understand. Most composers complete their sheet music while sitting in one place.
Of course, there were instances of repeated revisions, but it was rare to defer the completion like this.
Perhaps Kang Hyun wanted this piece to remain unfinished. Musical ideas are like the wind, as the inspiration felt in a fleeting moment can disappear in the blink of an eye.
At that moment.
“Jeonghoon-ssi, what was that piece just now?”
“Oh, Director. It’s a piece Hyun was composing. It’s still unfinished.”
“I’ve never heard a piece that feels like a plot twist in a movie. The feeling of the piece kept changing constantly, and I thought you were playing several pieces in a row. Especially the grand part reminded me of the movie ‘The Godfather.’”
Director Im Hyera was right. The musical ideas kept giving twists, like watching a plot-twist movie. On the other hand, it also seemed like a piece that would fit well as a movie soundtrack.
Kang Hyun left a peculiar remark with this sheet music.
“Why didn’t Hyun finish the sheet music? He’s usually a perfectionist who doesn’t move until he completes it once he starts.”
“He said the musical ideas haven’t ended yet.”
“Musical ideas?”
Kang Hyun usually thought of a specific person while composing and drew the notes accordingly.
Knowing this, Baek Jeonghoon was curious. Who on earth was this grand and sharp person giving such stormy and twisting musical ideas?
Doo-doo-doo-dong―!
It sounded like thunder striking from a clear sky. Not only the uncles and aunts but also the cousins and their spouses all looked as if they had seen a ghost, with expressions of shock.
It was natural to be surprised. Just this morning, the grandfather, who had been lying in bed, stood up and scolded them so harshly!
At that moment, the eldest uncle, who had been sitting at the head of the table, stood up in a hurry.
“F-father―!”
Anyone would think he had taken acting lessons. Immediately, tears as big as chicken droppings fell from his sly eyes.
However, the grandfather’s sharp gaze showed no signs of softening. He just glared silently at the uncles and aunts.
“I heard everything while I was lying down. Bumjin, you said you’d take the chairman seat?”
“F-father. It’s not that. There’s no one to manage Dongju right now. If I, the eldest, don’t step up, who will?”
“Enough!”
At the grandfather’s stern voice, the aunt even hiccuped. The grandfather sat down at the empty head of the table and scrutinized each of his children.
The younger uncle looked extremely uneasy. Understandably, he was the one who caused the grandfather’s collapse and had been plotting all kinds of schemes. Just sitting still felt like his breath was being choked.
“Bumjin, Bumkyung.”
The grandfather called the two softly, but his gaze was so fierce that just looking at it made them break out in a cold sweat. The uncles straightened their backs in tension.
“Bumjin, I heard you formed another new material development team while I was bedridden?”
“With Kang in charge, the commercialization of graphene kept failing and getting delayed, so I took charge of the new material development department. The researchers we brought this time are reliable talents, unlike the Russian ones.”
“Reliable talents?”
The grandfather looked at the eldest uncle with a peculiar smile.
“Bumjin, do you know how Dongju Chemical got to this position?”
“Father, as the executive director, how could I not know the company’s history?”
“Then let me ask you. Recite the manufacturing process of Donghwa Detergent. I believe I asked you this question before, didn’t I?”
It seemed he didn’t expect the same question from years ago to be repeated. The younger uncle and even the eldest uncle couldn’t easily open their mouths, their lips quivering.
They were indeed fools. It was understandable. Otherwise, why would Dongju have been absorbed by foreign capital in their previous lives?
“I’ve repeatedly told you. If you can’t handle the tasks properly, I’ll leave Dongju to professional managers. But looking at you today, it seems neither of you is suited to be managers. One was sent to exile but crawled back to commit all sorts of atrocities, and the other is just coveting someone else’s bowl and doing unspeakable things.”
“F-father. That’s not true. I can develop a new material that will truly revive Dongju Chemical. Please trust me just once.”
“Trust you?”
Even a passing dog wouldn’t believe it, but the eldest uncle’s tear-streaked face looked quite serious. It was clear he had learned acting without anyone knowing.
“If the commercialization of graphene fails and I finish developing the new material quickly, won’t you think my choice was right then?”
“What if it turns out the other way around? If the new material development you’re so confident in fails, won’t you have any lingering attachment to the chairman’s seat at Dongju?”
The eldest uncle seemed quite confident in his words, as if he were betting his life on them.
The grandfather also seemed to have a thought, nodding briefly. Given his meticulous nature, this bet was bound to end not just with words.
“Everyone, leave. Bumkyung, you stay.”
The grandfather’s sharp gaze fixed on the younger uncle. It seemed like the sound of the forehead splitting could be heard already.
“Chairman Yoo has woken up?”
The teacup made a light sound as it was placed down.
“I need to hear the details from Hyun. How regrettable it is that I couldn’t witness the scene myself.”
Chairman Wang’s wrinkled eyes were filled with genuine regret.
He had been watching his close friend perform a play against his children.
He couldn’t imagine the shocked expressions on the children’s faces, as if they had faced the truth of a plot twist in a movie.
At that moment, Kang Hyun entered the reception room.
“Hyun, you seem to be quite a man yourself. You came to see this old man just when I was curious.”
Kang Hyun knew why Chairman Wang had called him. Chairman Yoo was busy with company affairs, so to hear the details, Kang Hyun, who was at the scene, was the right person.
How much time had passed? Chairman Wang, who had been listening to Kang Hyun’s story from the previous evening, clapped his hands together. It was as if he had watched the highlight of a movie.
“Honestly, I didn’t expect grandfather to wake up so soon. I thought he would drag it out a little longer.”
At that moment, Chairman Wang’s eyes sparkled like a sphinx presenting a riddle.
“Hyun, do you know how your grandfather and I first met?”
“How did you meet?”
“After the war, I came down from North Hamgyeong Province and started a business in Seoul. Your grandfather, who was born into a wealthy family in Chungcheong Province and also started a business in Seoul, and I first met in a detention center. We weren’t big shots then; we were nobodies. Your grandfather and I ended up in the detention center because we didn’t want to pay local taxes. We had a brawl with some gangsters. Back then, we had to pay money not only to the government but also to gangsters. The gangsters called it local tax, as if it were a legitimate tax.”
Kang Hyun’s ears perked up. He had never heard about his grandfather’s younger days. Chairman Wang, as if reminiscing about the past, continued with eyes filled with nostalgia.
“One day, your grandfather told me that he had found a way to deal with the gangsters who came to the factory every day to cause trouble.”
“A way to deal with them?”
“Yes, and not long after, the gangsters were really wiped out as if it were a lie. Your grandfather, who seemed stubborn and blunt, had lobbied the political circles. Do you know how shocked I was when I found out later? No one would have guessed that the single-minded man who seemed incapable of scheming would use such a method.”
Chairman Wang and Chairman Yoo surviving through those turbulent times was not just a stroke of luck. They had not only a headstrong nature but also resilience and flexibility.
“Hyun, you mentioned earlier that you were curious why your grandfather ended the act and got up from his seat.”
“Yes.”
“If you think about it in reverse, isn’t there an easy answer?”
Kang Hyun still didn’t understand. He hadn’t met his younger uncle separately yet. But Chairman Wang, lifting his teacup, added.
“There was no need to drag it out any longer.”
It was a night when the moonlight shone blue. The grandfather was looking down at the small pond flowing in the garden.
His wrinkled eyes seemed to carry many unspoken worries. Naturally, he had observed all the actions of his children while he was bedridden.
“Grandfather.”
At times like this, being silently by his side would be comforting. The grandfather, without a word, looked at the moonlit pond for a while before speaking.
“Hyun, can you see the big carp in there?”
“The one with the golden spots?”
“Yes, that one. It’s the healthiest one in here, but in this small pond, it’s ranked the lowest.”
It was the first time he knew that there was a hierarchy among the carps. Looking closely, he saw that the large golden carp indeed moved within a smaller area compared to the others.
The grandfather continued as if telling an interesting story.
“The problem is that it got greedy and ate too much food. People think carps have no thoughts, but that’s not true. Instinctively, they wait for the higher-ranked ones to slow down. They have a habit of attacking when they see an opening. If even the usually docile carps are like this, how much more would other creatures be?”
The grandfather seemed deep in thought, looking at the golden carp with a bitten tail.
There were many questions he wanted to ask, but he couldn’t break the silence.
How much time had passed? The grandfather broke the silence first.
“Your younger uncle and aunt are going to transfer their shares soon.”
“What?”
“Why are you so surprised? Didn’t you know that VH Company’s ownership includes this old man? I don’t know what you said, but they clung to it as if they had been waiting, even for a much lower price than initially offered.”
The grandfather seemed to have been handling things even while bedridden. The surprises didn’t end there.
“Bumjin. That child had been full of bravado since he was young. I let him be because I thought a man should have some bravado to grow into a bigger vessel. Who knew it would only make him full of empty bravado? Dr. Tikhonov reports to me every time. It seems like the commercialization of graphene has failed on the surface, but in reality, it’s steadily progressing.”
There was a reason he had bet with the eldest uncle from the start. However, given the grandfather’s meticulous nature, this wasn’t the only safeguard.
“Hyun, did your eldest uncle bring a new doctor?”
“Yes, I heard he’s a Korean-American.”
“His name is Andrew Song.”
“Grandfather, have you already met him?”
As soon as the grandfather got up, he went straight to Dongju, so it was clear he had already checked the new material development department under the eldest uncle.
On the other hand, it made him curious. It was a move he had never heard of in his previous life.
As the wind blew, shaking the moonlight on the water’s surface.
“Of course, I wouldn’t know.”
“What?”
“I was the one who brought Andrew to Korea.”
As if time had stopped, the moon on the water’s surface regained its full form, and the final musical idea was completed.
