My Brother was a Genius - Chapter 4

I got a teacher

There is a band called Aka blues.

It is a band with a higher level of recognition in abroad rather than in Korea.

The band is famous for making experimental songs.

The band was made up of four members.

Vocalist, guitarist, bassist, and drummer,

The most famous among them was none other than, the guitarist.

Won Seong

A guitarist who has been called a guitar prodigy since childhood. His is very famous for his unique music style and he is a worldclass artist.

He often collaborates with well-known foreign bands.

That Won Seong is now….. in front of me.

In my previous life, I read an interview about him, where it said about him running a studio as a hobby.

But never thought it was in my neighbourhood.

“Do you know Blue Aka..?”

“Yes, I’m a big fan of your work.”

“How amazing. Not many people know about Aka blues in Korea.”

Seong who said that, smiled bitterly.

” It’s nice to meet someone who knows Aka blues.”

“Me too….it’s a great pleasure.”

Won Seong is famous not only as a guitarist, but also as a producer for Aka blues.

All of Aka blues’ albums were created by this man.

And that Won Seong said that he would teach me.

“Are you really going to teach me.”

“Yeah….., if you are uncomfortable, you can decline.”

I shook my head as hard as I could.

Learning from a world class musician, that too for free.

Who would refuse such a once in a lifetime opportunity.

“I will be in your care.”

” Then how about we start the class today. Do you have any other plans.”

“No…I’m fine as long as you are okay.”

********

Won Seong is a very unique person.

He told me that, there was no need to be polite, and asked me to speak how I would speak to a friend.

He also didn’t like being called as a teacher, rather preferred being called as Senior.

Lastly, he is extremely reluctant to speak about his own story.

That’s a bit sad, since I wanted to hear a lot of stories about Aka blues.

But apart from those things, Seong was very good teacher.

Genius people often cannot teach others, but Seong was not like that.

From the very basics to things that should never be missed, everything was explained in an easy to understand way.

He doesn’t talk about the ‘going with the flow’ or ‘inspiration’ that Geniuses often talk about.

That alone is enough to give him a perfect score as a teacher.

In addition, Seong listened to the song I made, and gave very constructive feedback.

To be honest, I liked this part the most.

“Wouldn’t it be better to lower the tone a little bit for this part..? I think it’s a bit high for Hajun to sing.”

“Oh that’s fine. This song is not for me to sing.”

That’s surprising ……….. I thought it was Hajun’s song.”

” I’m just making the guide.”

Then who owns the song.”

“My sister.”

Seong spoke, as if he felt sorry for me.

“Does that mean, you don’t want to be a Singer…?”

“ Yes.”

I nodded my head with confidence.

u That’s………..unfortunate. If it’s Hajun, I think you can become a good singer.”

A bitter smile came out of my mouth.

It was because, I used to think so too.

Objectively speaking, my singing ability is pretty good. However, for me this is the peak stage of my talent, while for many others this age is the beginning stage of their talent.

No matter how hard I try, my singing ability doesn’t get better than this, while others in my age starts growing at a lightning speed.

Had I known this in advance in my previous life, I would have given up on my dream of becoming a singer right away.

At the disappointed Seong, I spoke with a smile.

“You will change you mind once, when you listen to my sister.”

Rather than giving an elaborate explanation, I just kept it short, which made Seong to make a curious expression.

**********

” Suyeon, would you like to go to karaoke this evening.”

At my friend’s sweet suggestion, I sighed.

Normally, my friends never invite me to a karaoke.

Because, whenever I get my hands on the mic, I would never leave it and would continue singing for the entire allotted time. And my friends will be only listening to my songs the entire time.

So the invite today was a rare occurrence.

If it was yesterday, I would have gladly accepted, but today is bit different

“Sorry, today I have a more important appointment than karaoke.”

Hearing my refusal, the mouths of my friends dropped down.

“Oh my god, Suyeon rejected karaoke. Did everyone bring umbrella today…… there will be a heavy downpour”

“No…there might be huge blizzard in the evening.. I should call my mother and ask her to be careful.”

If I keep standing here, they will continue to tease me, so I just ignored them and ran out of the class.

After all, today is the happiest day of my life.

Today I didn’t stop at the cosmetics store, where I normally spend an hour looking at the beauty products.

Today, I didn’t stop at the food stall where I would stop everyday to buy my favourite Bungeo-ppang.

As soon a I reached home, I removed my shoes hurriedly and went inside.

“I’m home.”

As I entered the living, I saw my brother, who was sitting on the couch and having…….tea.

“Oh….Suyeon….Aren’t you too early.”

Lately, my brother is weird.

Before, he used to be always in a rush…as if 24 hrs. Isn’t enough for him.

But now he seems to be too relaxed and too……..mature.

Before, it used to feel like, my brother was living in a world where only he existed.

But now, it seemed, there is mom and me in that world, and strangely…….. he became non-existent.

He even quitted the singing class which he longed to join for a long time.

“Suyeon….why are you sweating like this…..did you come running.”

“No………..”

“Go and take a shower…”

Before, he never cared about me

But now…..

I like the weird brother more, than the normal brother.

As I was taking shower, the words of my brother from few days back came to my mind….

Never say its a stupid dream…

For me, my brother is music…

I wanted to be a singer, because I wanted to be like my brother.

I wanted to be like my brother, who kept moving forward for his dream.

I wanted to be like my brother, who was filled with passion whenever he talks about music.

I wanted to be like my brother, who shine every time, when he stood on the stage.

So I never cared about my dream..

I was happy as long as my brother’s dream came true.

I wanted to support his dream like my mother…..but

My little sister’s dream is far superior.

As I came down after changing clothes, thinking about my brothers words.

He was still sitting in the couch and drinking….tea. How long is he drinking that tea.

While I was wondering about my brother, he noticed my presence and spoke.

“Do you really want to learn from me.”

“Yes.”

“ You can attend the classes now, since I have quitted.”

“No… I want to learn from brother.”

Seeing my conviction, brother sighed.

Yesterday, after listening to my singing, brother said, my singing was great and I could improve a lot if I attended a professional singing class.

I was on cloud nine since my brother acknowledged my singing.

But I didn’t liked the idea of learning from others.

I wanted to be a singer like my brother, so why should I learn from others, when I can learn from the person himself.

After all, he is my first music teacher.

cough

Brother drew my attention which was lost in my own thoughts and continued to speak, sitting cross-legged on the couch.

“Ok…now sing a song.”

“What….again?”

I spoke unconsciously at brother’s words.

“In a singing class….of course you have to sing.”

I thought he would teach me some singing techniques, before asking me to sing.

But this is not bad either.

Yesterday I got flustered and couldn’t sing properly because he asked me to sing suddenly.

Today I would sing perfectly, and get more compliments from brother.

What should I sing……yesterday, I sang from a drama….then today….may be… from a movie.

Lets sing the song from the movie that’s trending recently…

1 Last night I dreamt of san Pedro…..just like I never gone…/ knew the song….

As I opened my eyes after finishing the song, I looked at my brother, who was in deep thought.

After few seconds, he looked at me and began to speak

” Its good…”

What…just that….even after putting extra effort, all the compliment I get is just good.

As I was sulking within myself, my brother stood up, walked towards me, and once he reached close to me….patted my head., and said

“ Your singing was great….even pros lose face in front of your singing. Don’t worry that I’m the only one complimenting you. Soon many Geniuses of the music industry will compliment you.”

The corner of my lips went close to my ears

I was happy

Not because many Geniuses will be complimenting me.

Because my Genius complimented me.

After all, in my world

My Brother is the only Genius.

“ Those were comments as your brother, now as your teacher….you are using too much of vibrato, which, when you overuse, there are chances of getting your vocal cord damaged.”

“So get rid of all you gimmicks. For your style, it’s much better to sing plainly, rather using many techniques.”

Hearing too many unfamiliar words from my brothers mouth, responded.

“Vibrato….is it a new ice-cream flavour… so you’re saying that eating lot of ice-cream may damage my throat….is that right…!?”

Hearing my response, brother sighed and said…

“Before singing, let’s learn the terminologies.”

As such… began my first music class, rather….the vocabulary class.