"That's right. I've heard that Yoon Seo plays the piano very well. I haven't heard it myself, but the members of the Guild of Leaves all praised him."
Yoon Seo had only played the piano once during the Guild of Leaves' founding anniversary. The guild members had looked at him with starry eyes and begged him to play again, so he never performed in front of them again.
"I really want to hear it."
"I want to hear it too."
"Well, if you really want to hear it, I'm willing to play."
The three of them directly asked for a performance. Of course, Yoon Seo was trying to ignore them. However, he found himself unable to move away.
"I also want to hear it. It would be very meaningful if the first time I heard a live piano performance was from you."
Kwon Jihan said with a deep gaze and a smooth tone.
If it were anyone else's request, he would have ignored it, but for some reason, he couldn't disregard Kwon Jihan's.
Before he knew it, Yoon Seo was sitting at the piano, and the other four had even brought chairs and were preparing to watch. Soo Jaehee raised his hand.
"Do you take requests?"
"No, I don't."
The cold rejection made Soo Jaehee lower his hand in disappointment.
'Alright. I'll just think of this as reducing the number of piano performances here.'
Yoon Seo lightly pressed a few keys. The piano was out of tune, but tuning it now would take too long, so he just started playing.
He could only play five pieces. After deciding which one to play, he chose the shortest one and placed his fingers on the keys.
On a leisurely afternoon, the clear sunlight streamed through the front window, and the sight of a beautiful person playing the piano with a calm expression was beautiful. From just the image, it seemed like the ambiance was perfect for closing one's eyes and savoring the beautiful melody…
However, the piece being played was so fast and lively that there was no time to savor anything.
The piece Yoon Seo chose was Rimsky-Korsakov's "Flight of the Bumblebee." Although he couldn't play "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" or the school bell, he could play "Flight of the Bumblebee."
The tempo was so fast that it ended quickly.
'That's 202.'
He mentally counted the number of performances and played the final note.
"..."
There was no reaction from the audience, so Yoon Seo looked up and saw the four men staring at him with their mouths open and blank eyes. Park Soobin was the first to clap, belatedly.
"Yoon Seo, you play really well. I could barely see your fingers."
"Isn't this 'Flight of the Bumblebee,' hyung? It's an incredibly difficult piece, and you played it without even looking at the sheet music. I thought you were a professional pianist."
"Damn…."
Even Hong Euiyoon, who was surprised, was impressed by how well Yoon Seo played.
"What can't you do, hyung? How can you be so good at everything? You're good at drawing, baking, knitting, and now you play the piano well too?"
Kwon Jihan's words were confusing, whether they were praise or grumbling, but it seemed to be praise.
"And you're Seo Chaeyoon too. It's really unbelievable."
"What do you mean by that?"
"It means you don't need to be so perfect."
Yoon Seo found it even more absurd to hear the exact words he wanted to say to Kwon Jihan, but he held back, worried that Soo Jaehee might misunderstand their relationship.
"Could you play another piece, Yoon Seo? Something with a bit more atmosphere this time. I was honestly preparing to get sentimental, but the previous piece was so intense that it surprised me."
"I'm not interested."
In fact, the other pieces Yoon Seo could play were over five minutes long, so he didn't feel like playing them.
"Hyung, wouldn't it be great to hear from a real pianist who can play the piano after such a long time? For the sake of the piano…"
"I'm not doing it."
"Hey. I'll give you this piano, so play some more."
"No, thank you."
Yoon Seo decisively wiped his hands and covered the piano.
Seeing his unyielding expression, Soo Jaehee, Park Soobin, and Hong Euiyoon looked at Kwon Jihan. This was because Yoon Seo had previously agreed to Kwon Jihan's request. Kwon Jihan, appearing to be contemplating for a moment, said,
"Alright, let's stop."
The three men looked betrayed. Kwon Jihan continued,
"Play it only when I'm around. I'll be the only one to hear it."
The three men then looked at Yoon Seo, eagerly anticipating his reaction.
"..."
Yoon Seo had the most incredulous expression, as if he had heard something as absurd as "Look at that mushroom flying high in the sky."
"Oh, Jihan hyung. Who are you to claim exclusivity? You and Yoon Seo hyung are practically on bad terms."
"What do you mean bad terms? Hyung and I are close."
"Lies! I know everything. I know it all, but… I can't say it… and that's also been decided."
"What nonsense? Even this sweater was given to me by hyung."
"Really?"
Soo Jaehee, still overwhelmed by the gift of the sweater, had just realized that the sweater Kwon Jihan was wearing was knitted by Yoon Seo. Soo Jaehee quickly turned his head to confirm with Yoon Seo. Yoon Seo nodded vigorously three times.
"Ah… They say fighting with a knife is like cutting water…"
Soo Jaehee muttered in dismay.
"Let's, let's share a bit. I'm offering to give you the piano as well."
Hong Euiyoon was still clamoring for more performances.
Park Soobin, however, remained quiet.
Only Park Soobin noticed Yoon Seo's slightly reddened ears.
'Looks like they got close while Yoon Seo was in the hospital.'
I was the first to spot Yoon Seo.
I had been watching him for a year…
Park Soobin felt a bit bitter.
***
"This way, hyungs."
Soo Jaehee resumed guiding them. While the other spaces were also full of pretension, the grand piano room was the most extravagant. When Soo Jaehee mentioned that there was also an aquarium in the house and began introducing the tanks and fish, Park Soobin asked him,
"Jaehee, have you been here often?"
"This is my third time, and it already feels like home."
Soo Jaehee grinned.
After finishing the house tour, they sat in the living room.
Now, they began discussing the main purpose of their meeting.
"During the two weeks Yoon Seo was absent, Seokyoung was extremely busy. They even temporarily increased staff for the customer service and security."
Park Soobin informed Yoon Seo.
The flood of phone calls, the sudden arrival of reporters, the surge of inquiries from hunters…
While Yoon Seo could understand those, the frequent attempts to break in by Seo Chaeyoon's fanatics and hunting organizations made him feel guilty.
"Even foreign hunters attempted to break in secretly at night yesterday. It's not even a national military command, and yet they dared to try at Seokyoung's headquarters."
"You've done a lot of work…"
"To embrace Seo Chaeyoon, this is the least that's expected."
"..."
Yoon Seo, feeling embarrassed, just sipped his tea.
"Anyway, despite the various issues, rest assured that the fact that Yoon Seo is Seo Chaeyoon is kept strictly confidential."
"If necessary, I could make a statement on SNS to tell them to just leave you alone. I have a lot of followers, you know. …Do you happen to use SNS?"
"I don't."
Although he had an account, it was as good as nonexistent. He had created it due to a will's request to 'gain 10,000 SNS followers,' but had yet to post anything.
"If you create one, I'll follow you! I have over 50 million followers, but only three followings: the Guild's official account, Seokyoung's official account, and the World Wildlife Fund's official account. Even with 50 million followers, it's still quite something."
Hong Euiyoon proudly boasted, but Yoon Seo didn't quite understand why it was something to be proud of. Was following the World Wildlife Fund account really impressive?
"Don't you want to start SNS, Yoon Seo? Not under your name, but Seo Chaeyoon's. I bet you'd hit 100 million in a day."
Considering the current global population slightly over 6 billion, Yoon Seo took it as a joke and didn't respond.
"Does Jihan hyung's account have over 300 million followers? Even though he hasn't been active for over a year, it keeps growing."
Kwon Jihan had an SNS account? Yoon Seo quickly pulled out his phone.
"I haven't checked."
"Have you quit SNS now?"
"I haven't quit."
"But even though Hunter Kwon Jihan has 300 million followers, he follows 123 accounts… I only follow three."
Hong Euiyoon grumbled. Yoon Seo was puzzled about why Hong Euiyoon took pride in having a low number of followings and quickly searched for Kwon Jihan's SNS account.
There were as many as 402 posts.
With an indifferent expression, he pressed the follow button. He planned to check it out thoroughly when he got home.
Kwon Jihan, who saw Yoon Seo's actions from the side, smirked, but Yoon Seo was so focused on the reality of Kwon Jihan that he didn't notice.
"Anyway, I have no intention of using SNS. Let's continue with the conversation."
"Ah, yes."
It was now time to hear the message that the family of the Revengers wanted to be conveyed.
Park Soobin and Soo Jaehee turned on the U-pad screen. Names of people requesting messages were displayed. Even a glance showed there were over a hundred.
"Please answer only to the extent you remember. It's been over 10 years and with more than 1,200 people, it's understandable if you can't recall everyone."
'To the extent you remember.'
What a strange thing to say. Yoon Seo nodded calmly.
***
"First, the Revengers' Namgung Shimhae and Kim Jinhae asked if you could answer this. Hyung, do you remember a Hunter named Kim Seohae among the Revengers?"
"Of course, I remember."
"Kim Seohae was the older brother of the two. They're curious if he left any last words before he died, or if they can know what his final moments were like."
"Kim Seohae was a remarkable person. He often talked about his younger siblings, saying he had younger siblings around my age, and that they were very mature and impressive. He died during the mid-phase of a major dungeon raid."
"Did he leave any will?"
"A will…"
Catch 10 red sea breams in the early morning
Yoon Seo hesitated and then said,
"He didn't leave a specific will, but he loved fishing. He often expressed his wish for his younger siblings to enjoy fishing… so perhaps he wanted to leave some words along those lines."
"Fishing?"
"Yes… if possible, in the early morning…"
"Early morning fishing…"
"Perhaps he hoped to catch 90 cm red sea bream…"
"90 cm…"
"Perhaps he wished for more than 10…"
"..."
Soo Jaehee looked puzzled. Park Soobin was the same. Hong Euiyoon remarked, "Why suddenly red sea bream? I feel like having sashimi," and tried to order from a sashimi restaurant. Yoon Seo deliberately sipped his tea with a blank expression.
"Hyung, you also enjoy fishing, right? You two must have gotten along well."
"Yes, well…"
Kwon Jihan rubbed his chin thoughtfully. His gray eyes narrowed as if assessing something.