Translator: Wan ED/PR: Personal Ghost
20. Flapping of butterfly’s wings (4)
‘… I had to see it wrong.’
Yet, no matter how many times I checked, there was still a SRR rank supernatural violin item card stretched out.
“Why aren’t you taking it?”
Kwon Jane’s voice cut the heavy silence.
Lee Lena was startled again and then stammered:
“… Se-senior-nim? Isn’t that SRR rank card a supernatural violin? Is it something that I can just receive only with a grateful heart?”
“Instead of your heart, I want you to take the violin thankfully.”
“Yes? No matter what, this is too much, the value of this item is too big. It’s burdensome… senior-nim should be using it…”
“… Ok? Burden? I only use UR rank rarity supernatural violins.”
Kwon Jane’s expression said she completely couldn’t understand.
Kwon Jane’s gaze turned towards the card she was holding in her hands.
It seemed she was considering whether she should throw the item card like she did with Kim Yuri.
The hands of Lee Lena, who had noticed that, trembled a bit.
Because Lee Lena was trembling too much, Kwon Jane wasn’t able to use the method of passing by throwing like with Kim Yuri.
“… It’s not to your liking?”
“Th-That’s not the problem. Senior-nim, this, because of this…”
“You don’t like the platinum color? Should I prepare another color?”
“I like it, but that’s not…”
Kwon Jane’s expression turned gloomier little by little.
I guess she thought that Lee Lena didn’t like the item, so she wouldn’t accept it.
When the three of us froze, completely at a loss for words in front of Kwon Jane’s eccentricities.
“Jane, you’re still talking with juniors?”
The Eternal Lake’s team sub-master, Jared Lee, appeared.
In the game, Jared Lee was the one in charge of settling Kwon Jane’s unpredictable actions.
Here I should use Jared Lee and help Lee Lena.
“It seems that senior Kwon Jane-nim wants to give a gift…”
As my words blurred at the end, I looked towards the supernatural violin card held by Kwon Jane.
Jared Lee, who had followed my gaze, looked at the item card once, then at the trembling Lee Lena once.
He fell into thought for a while.
“Jane, if the person you see for the first time suddenly tries to push a gift on you, it would be burdensome.”
“… Okay?”
“In addition, they are still young children. And they’re barely seventeen.”
“I played a better supernatural violin when I was seventeen.”
“… That’s because the master craftsmen heard your music and personally came to Korea to give you a violin.”
Like before, Kwon Jane didn’t seem to understand, but it seemed that Jared Lee would stop her.
When everyone thought that considering the flow of the conversation, the talk should end well with that.
“Then will you take this supernatural violin? Lena-yang?”
“Yes?”
How did we end up with such a conclusion?
Jared Lee out of the blue hit the back of Lee Lena’s head, who was about to breathe in relief.
“Take it. Jane came to Korea after a long time and met her Eungwang School’s juniors, so she seems to be excited.”
It’s an extreme degree of just ‘excitement’.
Hearing those words, Lee Lena couldn’t simply move.
The superpower violin item card was stretched towards her like before.
Seeing that, Jared Lee spoke with a bitter voice:
“It may affect Jane’s performance. She is obsessed with weird things… She is performing in Korea after a long time, what should we do?”
The effect of those words was amazing.
Lee Lena hurriedly stretched out her hand and took the item card.
It looked like she was terrified of ruining Kwon Jane’s performance because of it.
“Th-Thank you…”
Lee Lena’s hands, holding the item card, trembled without showing signs of stopping.
Jared Lee, who had succeeded in the support fire, had a satisfied expression.
Kwon Jane was also smiling with a very pleased face, and then she looked at me this time.
No way, was she also thinking of throwing a bomb at me?
“There is nothing I can give to this junior. Is there something you want or request you may have?”
The world-famous violinist just made a remark that was like giving a blank check.
‘Kwon Jane’s personality – whatever I ask, she will really do it…!’
As if knowing that, color drained from Jared Lee’s face as he looked between me and Kwon Jane.
In comparison to his sly appearance before Lee Lena, he was thrown into confusion.
‘Something to request from Kwon Jane. Looking at what she did with Lee Lena, the situation will get more annoying if I refuse. What should I ask for?’
Kwon Jane’s appearance I saw in the game.
The events in this world.
The people who had come to this place today.
After recalling each one of them while thinking, I spoke up:
“Please play ‘for LENA’ as an encore song.”
It was the music I heard a lot as class bells today, but it was the music that my Playable Characters and the 2nd year class 0 who saved Jegal Jaegeol liked.
Kwon Jane chose the encore song based on her mood of the day, so there was a possibility she would select a different song than ‘for LENA’.
If they couldn’t hear that music live, many people would be sad.
“… I can’t.”
You gave a platinum and imperial topaz accessory and a SRR rank superpower violin without much thought, but can’t play an encore song?!
Do I have to come up with another request?
When I was worrying, Kwon Jane opened her mouth again.
“That’s because from the beginning I planned to play ‘for Lena’ as an encore song today. As I will play that song, I can’t accept your request.”
I gradually couldn’t understand what this genius violinist was thinking.
“Jane, there is no time…”
“… Okay.”
Kwon Jane activated a device and unfolded a hologram.
At the hologram, the device code was written.
As expected from a celebrity, there were several codes as if she used several different lines.
“I don’t check messages very often. With calls, it takes three or four times. Contact me when you think of what you want… You too.”
Kwon Jane looked at me once, and then looked towards Kim Yuri and Lee Lena, who were forced to accept gifts and were standing there blankly, with a smile as she spoke.
“Hey, Jane! Then let’s go to the waiting room… Do we have spare accessories? We may have to do make-up all over again.”
“Just leave this one, it’s not a problem.”
“Won’t do. The stylists are our only escape! Your performance must be perfect!”
Kwon Jane and Jared Lee disappeared from our sight.
The two people disappeared, but we stood in place, unable to respond.
Even I, who was the least affected by Kwon Jane’s bizarre behavior, was stupefied. I couldn’t imagine how much shock Kim Yuri and Lee Lena had received.
“Hey, what happened? I heard we can rest during senior Kwon Jane-nim’s performance, so I brought folding chairs. If we go to the staff waiting room, we can see both the audience and the stage!”
The time that seemed to stop moved again as Sawol Seeum appeared holding four folding chairs.
Looking at Sawol Seeum, who was smiling innocently in front of the three tired us, I had a feeling of barely returning to reality.
“What happened?”
“… senior Kwon Jane-nim came and went.”
“Really? If only I came a bit earlier.”
“… Wouldn’t Seeum be also swept away if he came earlier? Hahaha.”
“… Yes?”
Sawol Seeum had an expression of a mix of regret and doubt.
On the other side, the focus still didn’t return to Lee Lena’s eyes, and Kim Yuri was making a subtle face.
In spite of thinking that those two were weird, Sawol Seeum chirped as he chatted to us about what happened in the meantime.
Sawol Seeum talked about the stage lights and related installation process he handled while moving towards the staff waiting room.
Even while I sometimes confirmed Sawol Seeum’s words, the faint sense of incongruity in my mind didn’t disappear.
‘… Something bothers me.’
Kwon Jane’s actions or comments weren’t just strange once or twice.
There was a part that bothered me. I wasn’t able to think about it as just the unexpected actions of the whimsical art genius.
‘It’s the same sense of incongruity I felt during the conversation with Hong Gyubin.’
The clues were still insufficient, and I couldn’t draw a conclusion.
But Kwon Jane wasn’t a villain, so there was no need to worry too deeply right now.
“Can we put a chair here?”
“Yeah. Put them here and sit down. Great job, guys.”
“There is no problem if you don’t block a passage. Many thanks!”
With the staff’s permission, we unfolded the chairs and took our seats.
The staff seats we had grabbed were behind the special non-translucent wall, just outside of the soundproof wall.
From this place, we could see both the stage and the audience from the askew point.
‘But it’s sadly at Kwon Jane’s back so we won’t be able to see her upfront.’
I don’t think it was a problem as we could appreciate the performance from a closer place than the audience.
Beep—.
Not a long time passed, with Jared Lee’s signal, the short call to raise the curtain rang among the staff.
Kwon Jane walked towards the center of the stage with the accompanist and came into our sight.
‘In the end, both the hair and make-up were remade, huh?’
Kwon Jane had her tidy hair hanging loose on one side and was wearing a hairpin with a magnolia motif before.
This time, her hair was tied into a French pleat, and she had a tiara decorated with cornflower blue sapphires.
Clap-clap-clap—.
Receiving a fervent applause, Kwon Jane took her place on the stage.
She wasn’t holding a bow yet and was only holding a blue violin.
After the audience’s applause stopped, Kwon Jane’s fingers began to dance on the strings.
Cheerful pizzicato rang in the hall.
It seemed that there was a feeling of the wind sweeping through the hall filled with the audience.
‘It doesn’t seem to be a song which was among Kwon Jane’s released songs. Is it a new song?’
After the accompanist sitting in front of the grand piano started the performance, Kwon Jane’s hand stopped for a moment.
She materialized the bow in her hand from the item card.
When about two bars passed with piano accompaniment only, Kwon Jane moved the bow on the strings.
‘She is only playing on the strings and using the string’s vibration to create a sound, but it’s as if a supernatural wave flows out…!’
The full-swing performance started and at the same time, a few people in the audience started to cover their mouths.
It was to keep manners and repress the cheers and cries of admiration.
It showed the appreciation for the sound that was like the flow of refreshing and cheerful wind.
Every person and Jin in the audience, perked up their ears for the sound Kwon Jane was making.
“Wow, that’s a new song, right? To hear that wonderful latest song in person, it’s just like a dream…!”
“Yeah. It’s an unpublished song… I’m glad we came today…”
After the song ended, Sawol Seeum and Kim Yuri quietly admired it.
Lee Lena was clenching the supernatural violin card and tears dripped from her eyes as she looked at Kwon Jane’s back.
‘I should thank Hwang Jiho, huh.’
Kwon Jane’s concert proceeded smoothly.
At last, when the performance ended with the encore song ‘for LENA’ and it was time for stage goodbyes.
I saw the palm-sized butterfly appear in the air and swirled around the ceiling lights.
‘Butterfly…!’
Kwon Jane just in time finished the goodbyes and raised her bowed head.
She also discovered the butterfly, and her expression hardened.
Paat!
The shining piece of butterfly scale exploded as it disappeared.
Shining pieces turned into vowels and constants and the Latin alphabet, and then the butterfly disappeared.
I saw Kwon Jane’s eyes, who saw the butterfly, open wide.
I saw this ability before.
‘In the game, it’s the ability used when the Jeop, Nabiryeong, sends messages…!’
Kwon Jane said she came looking for the Butterfly.
From among the Jeop tribe members, I guess the Butterfly was Nabiryeong.
‘But, did she send a butterfly inside of the Eungwang School? Even if it couldn’t cause any damage, and considering Nabiryeong’s Gwangrim, it wasn’t something small. Did Nabiryeong already finish analyzing the Eungwang School’s barrier system at this time?’
Nabiryeong did what even the head of one of the Twelve Zodiacs wasn’t able to, she pierced Eungwang School’s barrier to send a message inside.
The butterfly wasn’t visible from the audience’s angle, but the eyes of 30-years-old Hwang-ho, who had sensed this chain of events, turned to a golden color, and he made a displeased expression.
“No way, really a butterfly…”
As if Jared Lee also discovered the butterfly, I heard him mumble.
Kwon Jane hastily returned to the staff room.
“Jared, I saw the scales of the Butterfly.”
“The scales? We’re talking about those scale pieces, right?”
“Yeah. The Butterfly left a message. But I don’t understand the words.” [1]
Kwon Jane’s blue eyes were shaking back and forth as if chasing after the butterfly, who had already disappeared.
*~*~*
[1] That last conversation – So actually in raws, Jared just specifies if Jane is talking about the scales, because the word 인편 can also mean ‘a message delivery/ delivered message’. Which is why I reckon Nabiryeong can send messages using the butterfly’s scales.
Translator’s note: Jo Uisin casually showing off his music knowledge once again…
Did you see a mistake? 🐞
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