Volume 4 / Chapter 131
TL: LightNovelCafe
[TN: Your final weekend dose :P]
When Jun Hyuk came back to the dorms, he started daily life again. He wrote out notes while reading a book in the library. The only change was that he spent more time in front of a piano.
After about a week since he got back from Japan, he got a call from the front desk saying that he has a guest. He thought about who would come looking for him and rushed to the cafeteria on the 1st floor.
There was an Asian woman in her 30s sitting alone in a cafeteria empty because of the break.
“Jang Jun Hyuk?”
Natural Korean. Jun Hyuk could guess who it is.
“Yes. Are you by chance a lawyer?”
“Yeah. That’s right. My name is Lim So Mi.”
Jun Hyuk shook the hand she held out.
“Ah, you’re the person Teacher Jo Hyung Joong spoke about.”
“Yeah.”
Her business card said Katherine Lim.
“You didn’t have my cellphone number? You could have just called me.”
“I just wanted to come. I would get to see the famous Clayton as well. I also heard that you were always studying at school. I wanted to check.”
“Excuse me? Are you watching me?”
“Not watching, but checking.”
He had expected her to be warm from what he heard in Japan, but she has a dry tone.
“Can I smoke here?”
“No. It’s a non-smoking area. There’s a separate room for smoking, but do you want to go there?”
“No, let’s just go out. I saw a nice cafe out front. Smoking rooms are uncomfortable for no reason. It’s not a crime to smoke or anything.”
As soon as they sat down in the cafe, the lawyer lit a cigarette. She took a delicious puff and her cold expression seemed to relax a bit.
“I’ll formally introduce myself. I’m a second generation immigrant and I’m 36 years old. I’m divorced with one daughter. It’s not Harvard law, but I graduated from Columbia law which is also pretty well known. I’m living in the suburbs of New Jersey and I make enough money to live comfortably.”
“Excuse me… I didn’t ask you.”
Jun Hyuk was confused as to why she was suddenly revealing her personal information.
“Still. I know a lot about you, but you don’t know anything about me. I’m telling you in advance that’s unfair.”
She talks about fairness of minor things like this. Jun Hyuk started to like this cold lawyer.
“I don’t have a good impression of Korean study abroad students. I’ve seen a lot of immature kids who are just rich and don’t study, getting into all kinds of trouble.”
“I’m not like that.”
“Yeah, I know. I looked into you. You’re impressive.”
Lim So Mi put out her cigarette and quenched her thirst with coffee.
“You just have to keep two things in mind if you want to work with me. Don’t get into unnecessary trouble and call me. Drunk driving, drugs, girls. I don’t take care of those kinds of things. And if you left something to me, trust me. Whatever the result is.”
She seemed to resemble Baek Seung Ho. Is it her confidence?
“I was told that I can talk to Lawyer Baek Seung Ho in Korea about anything related to money. Is that right?”
“Yes.”
“Then I can talk to him about contract results?”
“Yes.There’s no reason to tell me as well.”
“That’s good.”
She did not want to have to report everything to a young kid.
“Then I have something to tell you too.”
“Yeah.”
“I’m not going to do anything other than write songs for the time being.”
“I guess that means you want me to look over the contract articles carefully?”
“I guess so.”
Lim So Mi smiled slightly and took out a document from her bag.
“Very well. This is a contract saying that you’re electing me as your agent. You can sign here. Also, you can be assured with this since Lawyer Baek already looked over this contract.”
When Jun Hyuk signed the contract, she put it back in her bag.
“So the first thing I have to do is to go to LA?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. Leave it to me. Then shall we get up now?”
When Jun Hyuk stood up, Lim So Mi gave him a paper bag that was sitting next to her.
“And take this.”
“What is this?”
“I heard you like tonkatsu. I made some. There’s sauce inside as well, so get some instant rice from the Korean supermarket and eat it together. Just microwave it. Do you have one?”
“Yes. We have one in the cafeteria.”
“Great. Then I’ll call you when I’m back from LA.”
As Jun Hyuk watched Lim So Mi while she stood the collar of her coat and left, he thought that she was similar in some ways to Yoon Kwang Hun. Her cool tone, and even in her pretending to be indifferent. She seemed to be someone with a warm heart.
***
Two days after he signed the contract with Lim So Mi, Jun Hyuk received a call from her.
“Is this Jun Hyuk? I’m Lawyer Lim.”
“Yes. Hello.”
“The contract with LA Sound is complete.”
“Okay. Thank you.”
“But you turned out to be a much more impressive person than I had thought.”
“Excuse me?”
“You made a large label like LA Sound hang on and ask for favors.”
Lim So Mi’s voice sounded a little pleased.
“Oh, the record contract?”
“Yeah. They made a fuss asking to make just three more.”
“So what did you do?”
“What else would I do? I made it clear that there wouldn’t be anymore. I got to act a bit pompous thanks to you.”
“Yes .Thank you.”
“Then I’ll see you in New York.”
Jun Hyuk hung up the phone and ate the last piece of tonkatsu.
‘Whew – I barely ate all of that. This woman’s cooking is the worst.’
***
As the weather warmed, the students who went to their hometowns started coming back one by one. Jun Hyuk’s roommate, Danny, opened the door to the dorm and came in and showed how happy he was to see Jun Hyuk with an exaggerated voice.
“Jun! My maestro! I’m back. Did you miss me? Ha ha.”
Danny pulled out his violin before he even put his luggage away.
“Listen to this. This is the fruit of my efforts during the break.”
While Danny played the violin, Jun Hyuk thought about how he would tell him the news.
“What do you think? Isn’t it pretty good?”
“Danny. Sit down for a second. I have something to tell you.”
“What is it? Why are you so serious? Was it bad?”
“No. It was really great. It’ll be perfect if you’re just careful with three parts.”
“What? There are three?”
Danny thought back to his performance to figure out what three parts Jun Hyuk was referring to, but Jun Hyuk’s words made his mind go blank.
“Danny, we have to dissolve our quintet now. You need to make a different team. I think it’ll be better for you to play in a string quartet from now on.”
“What? Why?”
Danny kept thinking about the word dissolve, and could not hear anything else.
“First, Coline can’t do it.”
“Coline?”
“No. I’m sure it’s better to hear the details from Coline himself. And…..”
“And what?”
“I’m going to fall out too. I’m going to focus on the piano from now on.”
Maintaining a quintet when two people out of five dropped out is impossible. Jun Hyuk saying that he was going to focus on the piano rang like thunder in Danny’s ears.
“Jun. Are you preparing for the competition? Since there are 4 years left until the Chopin Competition, the Long Thibaud next year? No. The Chaikovsky Competition this June?”
“No. I’m not interested in competitions. I just want to think about piano a little more.”
Jun Hyuk needed to tell Danny who was lost in shock, one more thing.
“Lastly… I’m leaving the dorms.”
“You’re leaving the dorms? You… Are you living with Amelia?”
The shock on Danny’s face was incomparable to what he had shown until now.
“Yeah. Amelia and I decided to do that. We already have a condo leased.”
The last thing shocked Danny the most. He could not speak for a long time.
The first thing Danny said to break the silence was so unexpected that even Jun Hyuk was surprised.
“Can I go visit?”
“What?”
It is a quintet that cannot be maintained because of Coline, not just Jun Hyuk. And Danny had wanted Jun Hyuk to choose to focus on the piano.
Moving out of the dorms is a choice that anyone would make if their relationship with a girlfriend gets deeper. It is not something to be opposed to just because he is upset about it. Danny knew well that if he had a girlfriend, he would look into houses to live in together right away.
A friend should congratulate and be happy for him.
“Of course. Come over whenever you want. Ha ha.”
Danny came back to his cheerful state and started talking to Jun Hyuk,
“But you need to take some lessons from me.”
“Lessons? What lessons?”
“The things you can’t ever do and what you have to be careful with while living with your girlfriend. Things that naive guys like you would never know. Listen carefully.”
Danny’s long lecture began.
“First is the toilet lid…..”
