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Hee-jin’s eyes widened at the professor's words.
“Thank you!”
Although the order of performance wasn't based on grades, the first slot was always the most spotlighted position. At the mention of her parents being proud, Hee-jin’s face flushed a soft pink. Seok-hyun stared intently at her.
“Pretty...”
The voice mumbling beneath his lips was so quiet that no one else could hear it. Only Seok-hyun recognized his own voice and stored the thought in his heart.
“Are you happy because you got praised?”
Even as he spoke to Hee-jin while heading back to the practice room after the lesson, Seok-hyun didn't actually expect an answer. However, to his surprise, Hee-jin—who had consistently ignored him until now—actually replied.
“Then would I not be happy?”
True enough. It would be strange not to be happy after receiving praise. Even as he nodded, Seok-hyun continued to ask grumpily.
“Why? Because your parents will be proud?”
He was merely repeating the professor's words, but perhaps because of his sarcastic tone, Hee-jin stopped and looked down at Seok-hyun.
“Do you think they wouldn't be proud if Noona was bad?”
“…Stop following me.”
Seok-hyun flinched when he saw that Hee-jin’s eyes had already turned red like a rabbit's. Glaring at him with distorted eyes, Hee-jin turned around and walked away. For the first time, Seok-hyun remained standing still, unable to follow her. His heart pounded violently, and he felt as though he had done something bad.
The music camp staff, as well as the resort employees, all knew that Seok-hyun followed Hee-jin around like a puppy, but only Hee-jin ignored him. She remained silent no matter how much he tried to talk to her or gave her delicious snacks. Seok-hyun began to intentionally interfere with her practice.
“Right there. You were pointed out for that during the lesson, and you're making the mistake again.”
“…….”
This was possible because he possessed absolute pitch and an exceptional memory. Seok-hyun prided himself on remembering the details of Hee-jin’s lessons perfectly. At that precise correction, Hee-jin glanced at him.
Before Seok-hyun could even feel happy that she was finally looking at him, her gaze returned to the sheet music. As he watched her practice the part she had just gotten wrong, the corners of Seok-hyun’s smiling mouth drooped.
He wanted to divert Hee-jin's attention from the violin to himself, but he had no idea how to do it. He was curious about Yoo Hee-jin. He wanted to know her, and he wanted her to look at him. Thoughts he had never felt before urged him on.
This was a first for him. How could he get Hee-jin’s attention? Seok-hyun’s gaze fixed on the violin resting beneath Hee-jin’s chin. A violin that produced nothing but messy sounds despite the heart and soul Hee-jin poured into playing it. Nevertheless, Hee-jin held it dearly, as if it were a violin worth billions. Seok-hyun did not take his eyes off the violin until Hee-jin finished her practice.
Only the moonlight from outside the window illuminated the darkened room. The door opened silently, and the carpet on the floor erased even the smallest sound of presence. *Click.* The sound of the violin case's metal latch ringing briefly sounded exceptionally loud.
Opening the case with a deft hand, Seok-hyun glanced at Hee-jin, feeling that the violin was lighter than he had expected. Because she had practiced late for tomorrow's completion ceremony concert, Hee-jin was fast asleep, so deeply that she wouldn't notice if someone carried her away.
He could have just taken it and left, but Seok-hyun gripped the head of the violin firmly and hoisted it above his head. He wanted to smash it right in front of Hee-jin's eyes. He wanted to show her that such trash wasn't worth that much devotion. He also wanted to see her reaction.
*Thwack!* As he slammed it onto the floor, the bridge popped off first, and cracks spread around the f-holes. That alone was fatal for the instrument, but he struck it again.
The body shattered, and the chin rest came off. He only stopped after the fingerboard was broken as well. With a satisfied expression, Seok-hyun looked down at the violin, which had turned into useless pieces of wood. These scraps of wood, which could no longer be called an instrument, would no longer be able to hold Hee-jin's gaze.
After staring at the wreckage of the violin for a long while, Seok-hyun felt a chill and turned his head. Hee-jin was sitting up, perhaps awakened by the noise.
Her large eyes looked at the floor and then up at Seok-hyun. Her eyes were so large that the detailed movement of her pupils was clearly visible.
When Seok-hyun met those eyes, sparkling like glass beads, his heart pounded. It felt as if someone were beating a drum right in his ear. Leaving that loud resonance behind, Seok-hyun walked toward Hee-jin. Now that he had seen her reaction, he had to explain why he had done such a thing.
“Noona.”
*Thump.* Hee-jin practically tumbled off the bed. Though her knees must have hurt from hitting the floor, she didn't care and crawled forward. Hee-jin's mouth hung open as she slumped down in front of what had once been a violin.
“Ah….”
A sound that didn't even form a word dropped from her lips. Thinking he was being ignored again, Seok-hyun frowned for a moment in dissatisfaction before sitting down beside her.
A piece of wood with a broken string hanging from it caught his eye. As he gently touched it, he found the string to be thicker and sharper than expected. Just as he thought he might cut his hand if he wasn't careful, Hee-jin snatched it away. Seeing her embrace it as if it were something precious, Seok-hyun quickly spoke.
“A better violin than this trash would suit you, Noona. I'll talk to Grandfather and get you the best one.”
If Hee-jin played with a good violin, she would be able to produce a much more beautiful sound. She wouldn't need to push herself as if she were abusing herself just to overcome the difference in the instrument.
Then, she would surely be grateful to him for breaking the violin like this. He was delighted that such a simple method could satisfy both Yoo Hee-jin and himself.
Of course, Seok-hyun was confident that his grandfather would appreciate Hee-jin's skill. Despite her young age, her skill was not inferior to the other prodigies his grandfather sponsored. No, she produced a more beautiful sound than them even with such a crude violin.
Ah! It would be great to just have Hee-jin live at our house. Seok-hyun's imagination grew larger and more specific.
His grandfather liked students with promising futures, and there were plenty of rooms in the house anyway. There were four guest rooms alone, so she could use one of them. Seok-hyun smiled, thinking of a room close to his own.
Of course, Seok-hyun was aware that breaking a violin was a bad act. It was natural for Hee-jin to be angry. But thinking about how she would smile brightly and be thankful later made him grin.
“Noona, are you listening to me?”
However, Hee-jin's reaction was different from what he expected. He thought she would get angry and scream asking why he did it, but she said nothing, only clutching the remains of the violin.
Above all, she didn't even look at Seok-hyun. Tears flowed incessantly from her large eyes, but those eyes were empty, as if the soul had departed.
“…….”
Only then did Seok-hyun sense that something was wrong. If Hee-jin had lunged at him in a great rage, he would have at least known what emotion she was feeling.
But this lack of reaction was not in his expectations. A surge of anxiety rose within him. A feeling that things were not going according to plan overwhelmed Seok-hyun.
It suddenly occurred to Seok-hyun that the violin he broke might not have been just a simple violin. That realization seeped in slowly like a shadow, sending a chill down his spine.
✾ ✾ ✾
The news that Seok-hyun had broken Hee-jin's violin spread instantly. Chairman Go's secretary, who had come along to look after Seok-hyun, was severely reprimanded for this incident.
The problem started with handing over the master card in the first place. Entering the practice rooms was one thing, but the dormitories were another story. The secretary had permitted it, thinking Seok-hyun had that much discernment, so the secretary had no excuse.
On the morning of the completion ceremony, Hee-jin's mother, who received the news before leaving home, could not hide her bewilderment.
Since Chairman Go's secretary had personally apologized and promised compensation, the broken violin wasn't the biggest issue, but she was worried about her daughter. Fortunately, she wasn't physically hurt, but it was said she seemed deeply shocked.
“Hee-jin!”
When she rushed to her daughter, Hee-jin's face was devastated. Though it had only been a week since she last saw her, Hee-jin looked gaunt, her cheeks sunken and her eyes hollow. Hee-jin, who had been sitting blankly like someone who had lost their soul, lifted her head. After confirming that only one person was running toward her, she burst into tears.
“Mom! Where's Dad?”
“Ah, that is….”
Hee-jin's mother could not hide her awkwardness when Hee-jin asked for her father. They had originally planned to come to the concert together, but when contacted about this incident, he said he couldn't come because the child was sick. How hypocritical it felt when he asked her to convey his apologies instead. While she hesitated, unable to tell the truth, large tears fell from Hee-jin's eyes.
Dad isn't coming. A profound despair clouded Hee-jin's face. All her plans to act spoiled—telling him that Go Seok-hyun was a strange kid, that he broke her violin, that the precious violin her father bought her was now unusable—became futile.
Hee-jin's parents were in the process of divorcing. Hee-jin knew that this music camp completion ceremony was her last chance to perform in front of both parents.
Because they always showed only smiling faces in front of her while she played the violin, even when they fought normally, Hee-jin desperately hoped that through this concert, her parents would reconcile and get along. The reason she had skipped meals and immersed herself in practice from morning till night at the camp was all for that one moment.
“Is it because I couldn't protect the violin Dad gave me… is that why Dad is disappointed and not coming?”
“Hee-jin, that can't be. Your father is just busy….”
“We promised to come together. To watch me perform together…!”
In the end, Hee-jin collapsed. The thing she had desperately hoped for vanished like a bubble and became meaningless. What Go Seok-hyun had broken was not simply a musical instrument called a violin. He had crushed the one goal Hee-jin wanted to achieve: the hope of reclaiming her precious family.
If the violin hadn't been ruined, would her father have come to see her? Watching her on stage, would her mother and father have reconciled and asked to live together as three again?
In her mother's arms, who kept apologizing, Hee-jin thought of Go Seok-hyun breaking her violin. The image of him smiling brightly when their eyes met was still vivid.
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