TL: LightNovelCafe

  Editor: Isleidir

  No one could speak. Jina became nervous because of the sudden silence and turned her head from side to side, hoping for someone to speak.

  “Tara.”


  “Yeah.”


  “I live in the U.S., but I’m Korean. Will you tell the foundation legal team to act on this so I can adopt this child?”


  “Sure. There won’t be any issues since this girl…… Jina doesn’t have parents either. I’ll take care of it right away.”


  “Thanks. Oh right, Tara. I’m sorry for yelling at you earlier. Truly.”


  Tara winked and smiled with the phone to her ear.

  Jun Hyuk sat in front of Jin and spoke calmly and affectionately.

  “I’m going to teach you. You have the voice of an angel, no, of heaven. I’ll create heavenly music for you, so you sing. People will think of the songs you sing as heavenly music. What do you think? Incredible, right?”


  When the hotelier hesitated because she was not sure whether Jun Hyuk was talking to himself or not, Jun Hyuk kept talking.

  “You hear the dry land barking that it’s thirsty, right?”


  With a glance from Jun Hyuk, the hotelier quickly started speaking in Hindi.

  “And the sound of flies flying around in the bathroom is beautiful? You want to express the passion coming from the hot sun? With your voice, I mean.”


  Jina nodded her head vigorously. And she started to chat away again.

  “She says that there are no songs. She wants to sing about the sound of the land crying, flies batting their wings, and the hot sun, but she says that there are no songs.”


  “I’ll gift those songs to you. I’ll make whatever you want to express, so sing as much as you want. What do you think?”


  Jina nodded her head again and smiled brightly.

  “Then do you want to live with me? I’ll make songs for you like I just did, let you eats lots of delicious things, and make it so you can sleep in a cozy bed, so come with me.”


  When Jina got the translation of what Jun Hyuk was saying, she got surprised and shook her head.

  “She says that she can’t. She’s saying that she can’t leave without the permission of her owners, the men from before.”


  Then, one of the maids held Jina and started speaking rapidly.

  When the maid was done talking, Jina got on the floor with the maid’s help, bowed over to kiss his feet and would not get up.

  “Excuse me. What on earth did you say to her?”


  Jun Hyuk was surprised by Jina’s sudden actions. When he yelled toward the maid, she bowed to ask him for understanding and spoke,

  “Sir. This girl doesn’t know complicated things like that. She only knows that she’s a slave and that she has an owner. I told her that her owner has changed. I understand your intention to protect her, so just say that you are her owner for now. That is how she’ll follow you. You can help her understand that she’s not a slave once you get to America.”


  Jun Hyuk felt embarrassed that he had thought he and Jina overlapped even for a moment. He was an orphan, but this girl is a slave. The weight of their pain will have been completely different.

  Jun Hyuk stood Jina up, kneeled in front of her, and slowly embraced her.

  “You’ll come to realize on your own that you’re not a slave. I’ll make it so that happens soon.”


  ***

  The Commander had left as though he would be able to handle everything quickly, and came back after only one day.

  “That child Jina was someone that didn’t exist.”


  “What? What does that mean?”


  “First off, Jina’s parents didn’t have birth registration. Of course that was the same for Jina. That’s why it took some time.”


  Commander Akhtar handed a manila folder over.

  “But we quickly created documents. Her name is Jina, her age is 10. We made her birthday yesterday when she met you, Maestro. Will you be going back to America today?”


  “We’ll have to. I’d like to take her back as soon as we can and see her ability.”


  “Then I’ll bring over someone from the adoption agency. Jina will become that person’s companion. She will become your daughter completely once everything is settled in America.”


  “Thank you, Commander. I won’t forget all you’ve done for us.”


  “It’s nothing. What I’ve done for you? It’s overwhelming for me to even think of Jina becoming a world-renowned singer through you. And I’m happy with just the fact that I was able to help.”


  Jun Hyuk handed a small envelope over to the Commander who looked pleased.

  “What is this?”


  “The kids you talked about yesterday. The ones you said were sent to a facility first……”


  “Yes.”


  “Please use this for those children. And JS Foundation will continue to provide sponsorship.”


  Commander Akhtar dropped the envelope when he saw that the check inside was written for $5 million, and sat blankly for a while.

  He had heard rumors that Jun Hyuk would have made enough money to buy entire countries if he didn’t donate so much. The Commander thought that those rumors could be true.

  Commander Akhtar put the envelope away and bowed his head.

  “Thank you. I’ll do my best so those children can live like people.”


  That was not the end however. Jun Hyuk’s continuing gift was more surprising than the amount that he was donating.

  “We’ll invite you for the first day that Jina stands on stage. Come see for yourself how the girl you rescued yourself grows up.”


  ***

  Yoon Kwang Hun looked at Jun Hyuk and the little Indian girl he brought, and just blinked.

  “‘Father, didn’t I always say that the human voice is an incomplete instrument? But this child is the only exception.”


  “So…… so you’re saying that this child has a perfect voice?”


  “Yes. It’s beyond perfect. It’s better than any instrument created by humanity. She can create various tones and changes emotions within moments. The range she can cover is beyond imagination.”


  A child who is just 10 years old? It was unbelievable, but Jun Hyuk is speaking with confidence. He cannot not believe this.

  “And her ability to remember notes is the same as mine. She memorized a piano song that I played for around 30 minutes perfectly.”


  Yoon Kwang Hun remembered his first meeting with Jun Hyuk when he said that he memorized Marlowe’s symphony in its entirety. If Jun Hyuk felt even a little of what he felt back then, it is inevitable that he would be so excited.

  “When will I be able to hear this child’s voice?”


  “Listen for yourself once Jina gets a bit more stable. You’re really going to be surprised.”


  “So you’re saying you’ll adopt this child?”


  “Yes.”


  “Alright, then do that.”


  Yoon Kwang Hun did not say much else. Jun Hyuk did not bring it up to get permission either. It would be laughable for him to say something about a decision that an adult over 30 made.

  “What can I do?”


  “First, get us a teacher who can teach Jina English. And make a school for her too.”


  “What? A school?”


  “Yes, a school for Jina to attend. A school for children who can’t see like Jina. Young kids need to grow up among their peers in order to avoid becoming wicked like me. We need to make it so she has a normal childhood.”


  Yoon Kwang Hun frowned.

  “I’m against it.”


  “What?”


  “You said it needs to be normal. Is it normal to make a school for Jina? Wouldn’t it be normal to just enroll her in a special school in New York? It’s already abnormal for you to think about making a school for her and bringing friends to her. Shouldn’t you become a normal parent too?”


  Jun Hyuk imagined himself dropping Jina off at school every morning and attending parent teacher conferences. Like a normal parent. It wasn’t a bad picture.

  “Alright. Then look into a school.”


  “Fine. Until now is an issue of our family…… What’s going to happen to Maestro Jun?”


  He is reading the situation clearly. There was an aftertaste left in Jun Hyuk’s words and he laughed when Yoon Kwang Hun noticed this.

  “Well it’s as you already guessed. I’m only going to focus on teaching Jina for at least 5 years from now on.”


  “Alright. Do as you want.”


  He is declaring that he will halt all activities for 5 years. Yoon Kwang Hun did not say much about this decision either. Since it is something that he has already decided, he needs to settle the matters after.

  “First, we’ll have to look around for a conductor to take over JS Orchestra. Is there someone you have in mind?”


  “Yes. I was thinking of Berlin’s Serill Petrenko. If he doesn’t want to do it, the Board of Directors can decide.”


  “Petrenko?”


  “Yes. He’s the first conductor to put Inferno on stage. Whether he used a shortcut or not, it’s true that he’s the person who delved deepest into my music.”


  “Okay. I’ll be sure to bring him.”


  “And……”


  “What? Is there something else?”


  Jun Hyuk scratched his head and spoke up cautiously.

  “I haven’t been able to tell Amelia about this yet. She’s coming back next month…… Be there when I tell her.”


  “Ke ke. Are you scared?”


  “Yes. If I say I want to adopt when we haven’t even gotten married, she might kick me out.”


  Yoon Kwang Hun could not stop laughing for a while. Jun Hyuk watched this and frowned.

  “Are you having fun?”


  “Oh, it’s not because of that. It’ because of her name.”


  “What? Name?”


  “Yeah. When you adopt her, her name is ‘Jina Jang’. That’s okay, but it’s ‘Jang Jina’ in Korean. Isn’t the nuance a little strange? He he.”


  Yoon Kwang Hun did not stop laughing, ignoring Jun Hyuk’s burning up.

  There was another reason why he could not stop laughing. He and Jun Hyuk do not have a drop of the same blood, but he is walking in the same path.

  The fate of taking in a child off the street with no relation to himself. Will Jina take the same path when she grows up?

  However, he stopped laughing when he remembered something he had been forgetting.

  “Oh. I’m becoming a grandfather all of a sudden.”


  Yoon Kwang Hun had become a complete old man.