A schedule that began at the crack of dawn.
"This building."
The moment the photoshoot ended, instead of heading back to the dorm, I went with Manager Yeongho to a secondhand instrument store we’d looked up the day before, making sure to arrive before the evening grew late.
"Is this the right place?"
From the outside, the interior looked deserted, just as I’d expected.
Inside, there was only one middle-aged gentleman, seemingly in his fifties.
Yet, strangely enough, that alone inspired a sense of trust.
"Yes, this should be the used piano shop. The name matches, too."
Sure enough, the moment I stepped through the door, the musty scent of aged wood greeted me.
"Hello, I came by after calling yesterday afternoon~"
"Ah! The young lady who said she’d come look at the piano yesterday?"
As expected, the shop owner was a tuner. Seated in front of a piano, he carefully set down the hammer he’d been working on and rose from his seat.
Then he paused.
Squinting his eyes, the tuner—
A question mark flashed across his gaze.
An uncertain expression.
"Hey, miss, you look like someone I’ve seen a lot somewhere?"
Honestly, it was a familiar situation.
"Right? I’ve seen you somewhere before."
Even if it wasn’t on TV, my ads were plastered everywhere, exposed to anyone who simply walked down the street. Older people would often stop me to say I was pretty and ask if they hadn’t seen me somewhere before.
"Yes, hello. I’m I Do-hui."
I felt a little proud, but I answered with a light smile, keeping my composure.
"Ah, oh, that’s right, I Do-hui! It is I Do-hui! How could I not know this face! Ah, aren’t you that idol girl who plays the piano like crazy?!"
I hadn’t expected the man’s reaction to be this intense afterward.
"I fell for your performance, so I just watched your YouTube videos over and over, you know? I’m a huge, huge fan! Hahaha!"
He swung his arms so wildly that I thought the phone in his hand might go flying, sending thumbs-ups everywhere.
"Really?"
"I told you, look! Look! I pressed the like button so hard, like this!!"
I’d assumed he might have just passed by a billboard or seen an internet article, but seeing the like on my piano performance video, he seemed to be the real deal.
'Am I actually famous for my piano, too?'
After winning the grand prize at a competition last year and writing the song for our debut trailer, I’d been living solely as an idol, so I’d grown somewhat numb to it.
"Hold on, I have to get your autograph first! Hurry, give me your autograph first!"
Still, it seemed I really was famous in this scene, too.
Experienced tuners were usually people with deep roots in the classical music industry.
"Ah, yes, an autograph. Of course, of course."
"Wow, famous people even sign so boldly!"
Only after signing for him
was I able to take a leisurely look around the shop.
"Play them to your heart’s content~"
Perhaps because it was just past lunchtime on a weekday, the shop was relatively quiet.
─♩♬♩♪♩
I tried the keys of the used pianos one by one.
Only upright pianos—no grands.
Every single one produced a very bright tone.
'They’re really well-tuned.'
In the midst of it, the tuner gestured for me to come over.
"Hey, Miss Do-hui, how about this one!"
─♪♩♫
"Ah, the sound is cleaner than the others. The age seems old, though."
"This one is over twenty years old, but the owner was an obsessive type. They absolutely avoided humidity, never turned a fan toward the piano in summer, and only blasted the air conditioner!"
"Ah~"
"And how do I know? A friend of a friend! A guy who’s a professor at a music college—this was his daughter’s piano! Hahaha!"
"I see. Definitely, aside from the exterior, the sound doesn’t feel secondhand at all."
"That’s why if you’re buying, you should buy one like this. Good quality and cheap!"
It was certainly a well-maintained piano, enough to be introduced with such pride.
Of course, the proper voicing he’d done during tuning was probably an important factor, too.
It seemed the online reviews calling him a skilled tuner weren’t fabricated after all.
"But sir, did you personally tune every single piano here one by one?"
"Well, of course? How many years do you think I’ve been at this? I’ve done nothing but this my whole life. Who would I hand it over to~"
"Ah, I suppose so?"
"But why? Do you have a specific sound you’re looking for?"
"Ah... yes, actually there is, but I was worried it might be rude."
"What do you mean? It’s only rude if there’s no seller. Hurry and tell me."
After a brief hesitation, I finally spoke.
"Honestly, all the pianos here seem to have more or less the same tone."
But the moment he heard my words, the tuner laughed heartily, his face breaking into a pleased smile.
"Wow, you can tell? As expected, kids who are good have a different ear. You always have something you’re looking for!"
He gestured briskly and cheerfully.
"Yes, that’s how performers should be. Obsession! And stubbornness!"
I could only nod along.
"Ah, ah... that’s right. Yes, yes."
"That’s why the people who come to the shop don’t realize I tuned them all similarly. Only decent pianists notice once in a while, huh?"
"Ah~"
"Oh my, a popular star! A popular star noticed! I’m feeling so good right now?!"
"Haha... yes, it’s just that they all feel bright. I wondered if you specialized in that."
"Oh my, of course not? I can do it all. But since I’m a businessman, I have no choice but to display them with a bright tone in the shop?"
"Ah, yes, I suppose you would...?"
"Of course~ Oh, then you’re looking for a dark tone?"
"Yes, yes. I need a piano for this special stage performance."
"Oh my, for a performance?! Just say the word, just say it! I’ll tune it all for you! I can do it!"
"Uh... yes."
A booming voice, closer to a shout than mere heartiness.
As I watched the tuner’s back while he went to grab his tuning hammer, my eyes met Manager Yeongho’s.
'His energy level is on par with Chiyo unnie.'
'Do-hui, his energy is totally your level, isn’t it?'
Manager seemed to be thinking the same thing as me.
Anyway, the tuner sat before the well-maintained piano and asked how he should tune and adjust it.
"...Yes?"
"Tell me. I said I can do anything."
"First, the tone needs to be made darker."
"Okay, and?"
"Well... usually when a tuning is done, it’s to fix a sharp sound, or a dull, muffled sound, right?"
"Oh, exactly."
"But I’d like you to make it sharp and ringing again... if possible."
"Sharp? Oh, this perfectly fine one?"
"Yes, new pianos are almost all well-tuned, so to get a more provocative sound, I came to a used shop on purpose."
"Hmm... well, alright. Sometimes there are pianists who like a thunderously sharp sound, after all."
The tuner didn’t look entirely pleased,
but he eventually nodded.
"Is there anything else? Besides a dark, sharp tone?"
Actually, this had been the hardest thing to say.
Although I was already standing in front of the piano.
"It’s these keys I’m pressing."
"Ah~ don’t tell me you want a different sound there, too? Wow, what kind of stage are you planning?"
"No, it’s not that. I’m going to use some cluster techniques."
"Clusters? Ah~ you mean slamming down on the keys?"
The cluster technique did have its own performance name,
but as the tuner said, it was simply a striking method anyone might have tried playfully as a child, slamming adjacent keys with the palm or forearm.
"Yes, but these keys I just pressed are notes that I never use at all in the new song, except when I slam them like this."
"Wow, a new song? So the special stage is a new song! And on piano, too—this is really something to look forward to?"
"Yes, but I need to make the stage a bit flashy, so there are several scenes where I strike the keys violently, bang bang..."
"Oh, why are you hesitating again? Speak comfortably. I told you I’ll do it all. Sharp sound, dark tone, and more!"
It was only natural that I had to hesitate.
"Then... could you break a few of those keys so that once pressed, they don’t come back up..."
Because my intention was to ruin this really well-maintained piano, which had even been tuned well, into a thoroughly battered piece of merchandise.
"Hmm... well, alright. I said I’d listen, so I have to do it."
Fortunately, he didn’t seem to mind much.
"Thank you. And this highest section here is something I won’t touch at all. So I think it would be good if you just removed the keys."
"Leave it empty? The stage must be really special... well, if you don’t play this part... alright."
"And these two keys right here—when struck hard, I want the white ivory tops to fall off from the recoil, so could you make the adhesive loose?"
"...I see."
And only now did the tuner’s tone shift, as if to say, well, I suppose that makes sense.
"If I’d known this, I wouldn’t have fixed it up."
"Haha, but my new song is pretty heavy on performance... so I need those kinds of scenes..."
Actually, I just hadn’t noticed.
He might have been grumbling since a while ago.
The dialect popping out here and there had a distinct Chungcheong-do flavor.
"Right... well, an artist’s heart can be like that. This piano has seen the world in its twenty years, too."
"Um, I’d like to leave it here for repairs afterward, too..."
"Eeh~ there’s a separate guy for repairs, I suppose~ I still live for the joy of fixing old junk~"
...Is he really from Chungcheong-do?
"But I still have one more..."
"Stop dawdling and speak. What, you think one more will change anything?"
"Um, I want to be able to see the hammers hitting, too."
"Aah, the lid? You want the top panel removed?"
"...Yes, the top panel."
"I have to do it, what can I do. Right?"
No... I only said it because you told me you’d do everything earlier...
"Oh goodness, when the war comes, this’ll make good firewood."
That’s why I came to buy a used one...