Superstar From Age 0

Chapter 664 Part 1

[LA/ Two days before the charity concert]

Gray bought a bouquet of flowers and followed Rebecca to somewhere.

‘But is it okay to broadcast this documentary?’

Lim Yeon, who was immersed in the show, thought with a displeased expression.

The genre of documentary was supposed to show the face and life of the cameraman, and even though ‘that world’ was not a real world, she hated to see Gray Vainy, as a fan, suffering and depressed from his slump.

‘George will edit it properly.’

She trusts him. George.

‘Wait, is this the edited version?’

She wondered, seeing the subtitles on the screen.

Lim Yeon’s thoughts stopped when Gray and Rebecca arrived at a place that she never imagined.

!

She thought they were going to meet some relatives when they said they were going to see a fifteen-year-old boy, but the place they arrived at was a cemetery. Ding- ding-. The church bells rang.

While Rebecca placed the bouquet on the tombstone she guided them to, she received a phone call and left the spot. As if on cue, someone appeared.

“Oh my! Aren’t you the violinist Gray?”

A middle-aged woman holding a bouquet asked in surprise, seeing Gray.

“Ah, yes. Hello.”

“Nice to meet you. I love your music. My son did too.”

As the middle-aged woman placed her flowers next to the bouquet that Gray left, Lim Yeon and the audience had a hunch who the son was.

“Whenever I feel sad, I listen to your music. It reminds me of the times I listened with my son.”

“…Thank you.”

“…Would you mind playing something for me? My son was always in the hospital and never got to go to your concerts. He really wanted to go… Any simple piece would do. Just one song, please.”

It would have been rude in any other situation, but the audience felt pity for the woman, considering the place. Fifteen. Such a young age.

As if he had prepared it beforehand, George handed Gray a violin.

The audience teared up at the mother’s request for a music that would let her son sleep peacefully without nightmares and dream of good things.

Some of them, who had lost their families, were already crying.

Gray took the violin,

Slowly. Quietly.

Calmly. Peacefully.

He played a [Lullaby] for those who were in an eternal sleep.

The affection and love of the ones who were left behind, wishing that you would forget all the nightmares that tormented you and just dream of happiness, resonated with the hearts of the listeners. ʀ𝒶NO͍𐌱ΕṨ

“Thank you so much. Gray.”

The mother of the dead child said with reddened eyes.

As if he expressed her feelings, this soft and gentle piece full of love must have reached the child who had gone far away.

“Don’t mention it.”

Gray smiled faintly and looked at the mother who had lost her child.

He thought of his own mother who would be waiting for him at home, seeing her expression that was both sad and happy, full of worry and love.

“…”

What would I do if I can’t play the violin anymore?

He had been tossing and turning all night, worrying about that.

He hadn’t reached the extreme point yet, but he felt hopeless and gloomy.

If he died, his mother would be sad and worried like this too.

Then Gray wished that his mother wouldn’t be sad for too long.

He hoped that she would remember the happy and joyful memories instead of the sad ones, and smile instead of crying.

The child who was sleeping here probably thought the same.

“Can I… play a song for you?”

“Huh?”

“I really want to play for you.”

The middle-aged woman nodded. George’s eyes sparkled, appearing on the screen after a long time.

Gray rested his chin on the violin.

This piece was a letter from the dead to the living.

As if representing the heart of the child who loved his mother but couldn’t wake up, Gray slowly drew his bow.

The weak sound gradually became stronger. It felt like the dead was coming back from the end of death.

The dead crossed the slowly flowing Styx river and stood in front of the living.

And with a cold but slightly warm hand, he held the hand of the one he left behind.

He held it tightly.

[Gray’s Violin Piece NO.5: Good Night]

Please don’t be sad or suffer or toss and turn for too long.

It’s enough to just remember the happy and joyful memories once in a while.

A reply from the dead who wished the living to sleep well.

“Your son would want you to stop being sad too. To remember the good times instead of the sad ones.”

“Yes… Thank you… Really…”

The audience heard the woman’s sobbing and small sniffles from their seats.

***

[LA/ Lodging]

Gray, Rebecca, and George sat around and talked.

“Let’s go to Downlock?”

“Yeah! It wouldn’t hurt to visit after a long time, right? We still have time until the charity concert the day after tomorrow. And we have nothing to do!”

“It would be nice to have a scene like that in the documentary too. To show where you grew up.”

It was common for a celebrity’s documentary to show the place where they were born and raised at least once.

They would also add some interviews from the neighbors who would say things like ‘He was a special child from the beginning!’ or ‘We were so close!’ whether they were true or not.

‘But…’

Was it a misunderstanding?

She felt like there was a strange connection (musical, too) wherever they went.

‘Come to think of it, the destinations so far were also chosen by Rebecca or George.’

Even if it was a (fake) documentary, it was a movie that needed a story with a beginning, a climax, and an end, and some incidents.

Maybe that was why. It didn’t seem like Gray, who was in a slump, would do anything on his own.

She buried her questions for a moment and looked at the screen.

***

[Downlock/ Gray Vainy’s Hometown]

“Downlock hasn’t changed.”

“Indeed.”

Gray agreed with Rebecca’s remark. The audience who remembered [Over the Rainbow1] nodded too. It should have changed somehow, but Downlock was the same.

“Shall we go see the old house?”

“Yeah. Let’s do that.”

Gray’s old house. A small and old apartment.

The audience’s hearts raced when they said they were going to see the house they saw in [Over the Rainbow1].

Did it change? Or did it stay the same?

The way to the old house.

The familiar dirtiness and chaos of the streets, and the graffiti that were drawn randomly, welcomed the three children and the audience.

“Wow, these graffiti are well done!”

“Huh? Yeah-”

-they are.

Gray was about to answer, but he stopped in his tracks.

He was so used to them, they were always the same scenery, that he had overlooked the graffiti until he heard Rebecca’s admiration. Then they caught his and the audience’s eyes.

“That’s a violin, right? And that’s a cello!”

“There’s a piano and a flute too.”

They were instruments.

“Gray! This is the sheet music for Over the Rainbow!”

“There are classical sheet music too. Do you know this piece, Rebecca?”

“It’s Spring from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons.”

They were music.

Ah…!

Gray took a deep breath without realizing it, and looked around.

Along with him, the screen showed the changed appearance of Downlock. Lim Yeon, Park Seong-ah, and the audience widened their eyes.

“…Why…why did it become like this…?”

…Indeed.

The audience was stunned, just like Gray, and stared at the change of Downlock.

It was not the gloomy and dark Downlock they saw in [Over the Rainbow1].

It was a sight they couldn’t see in the previous Downlock, and it somehow made their hearts swell.

“…Gray?”

“Mister…”

“It’s been a while!”

The hand of the old man he held was still big.

No, it seemed a bit smaller. It was because Gray had grown.

“Downlock…has changed a lot. Mister.”

“It’s thanks to you.”

“…Me?”

“Yes. Downlock’s violinist, Gray Vainy. You proved that you can be a great person even from Downlock, so everyone got hope.”

Gray looked around with a flustered face.

The morning of Downlock, with the sun rising.

In his memory, it was always full of dark, hard, and tired people, but the sight he saw was completely different.

He heard the children’s voices. He heard the adults’ conversations too.

But there was no sound of crying that hurt his heart, no sharp voice that tore his ears, no loud voice that made his heart sink.

There was only laughter and joy.

He hadn’t seen the laughter and conversation of Downlock’s people, who were busy traveling around the world.

They sounded like music to his ears. The sound that lingered in his ears warmed Gray like the sun.

It was a happy morning. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

“Gray? Is that you, Gray?”

“Gray?”

The older brother who lived in the same building, the neighbor, the shop owner, the residents of Downlock recognized Gray. They had sincere and happy faces.

Gray looked at each face and remembered.

They all supported him.

“I,”

He felt something hot filling his throat.

“Can I, play for you?”

Gray’s voice trembled. But his eyes were clearer than ever.

The residents of Downlock smiled widely.

“Of course!”

“What’s the big deal if you’re a little late!”

“Let’s hear how much you’ve improved!”

The residents of Downlock also remembered the little boy who practiced the violin every day six years ago.

They felt ashamed just by seeing how hard he worked.

Maybe that was the reason for this change.

When Gray looked at George, he handed him a violin as if he had been waiting.

Gray rested his chin on the violin.

And he started to play, drawing his bow as if the sun was seeping into his body.

He played a melody that greeted the morning, remembering the morning of Downlock’s residents he had just seen, and the happy days he had in Downlock when he was young.

His beloved one, his mother, woke up the young Gray.

The old but clean blanket smelled of sunshine.

That made him more cozy and he didn’t want to get up. He heard his mother’s laughter.

The young Gray, who was half asleep, also smiled.

His mother said, ‘You have to get up now.’

Yes. He had to get up.

He had to eat a delicious breakfast, meet his precious friends, and learn the violin from his teacher.

Today would be a really, really happy day.

‘…Now, in Downlock, those days will unfold too.’

With that feeling in his heart, [Gray’s Violin Piece NO.2 : Good morning] flowed from his violin.

Huuuk-

The music was cheerful and beautiful, but tears blurred his vision. He was glad he had brought tissues.

‘It’s Seo-jun’s movie, after all.’

Lim Yeon, Park Seong-ah, and the sprouts all wiped their tears with the tissues they had.

Some of them had run out of tissues because they were soaked, but the sprouts who sat next to them, whom they had never met before, kindly handed them new tissues.

And so, the bond between the sprouts, not unlike Downlock, grew.

***

The appearance of Downlock slowly faded into darkness, and a new place appeared.

It was completely different from before, a normal cafe scene. It looked like the interview shooting scene that often appeared in documentaries.

As expected, it was an interview shooting.

The subjects were Gray Vainy’s friends, Rebecca Riss and George Patrick.

Unlike the sprouts’ expectation that they would talk about Gray, the first question was unusual.

“What made you decide to shoot this documentary?”

…Wasn’t it because of the boss’s pressure?

The audience thought, when George opened his mouth with a crooked face that he didn’t show to Gray and Rebecca. His displeasure was very clear.

“I didn’t want to do it at first. The documentary shooting.”

The audience opened their eyes wide.

…You did? George?

“And I didn’t want to make my friend do something he didn’t want to do. I didn’t want him to worry about anything other than the performance and the violin. Even without the documentary, Gray was…doing well.”

“Then what made you change your mind and shoot it?”

“It was because of the performance in New York.”

“I heard that performance was very brilliant?”

George and Rebecca nodded at the same time. The sprouts did too. The concert at the beginning of the movie was very, very brilliant. They were all in awe.

“It was brilliant. We were just amazed by it. So…because the performance was so brilliant, we didn’t notice Gray’s condition. We were just stupidly happy to see him on stage.”

The scene of Rebecca and George congratulating him with a bouquet of flowers and smiling came up again.

The meeting of flowers and flowers, the scene that the sprouts had shouted in their minds to show them more.

Gray’s eyes widened as he buried his face halfway in the bouquet of flowers. He had a smiling face, but everyone could tell. He was a 12-year-old Gray who seemed to burst into tears at any moment, trying hard to hold back his sobs.

Gray had been suffering from a slump since then.

Gray…!

The sprouts who hadn’t noticed it before covered their mouths.

Stupid sprouts! Bad sprouts!

How could they not notice that!

“His face didn’t show it, but it was a face that a friend could recognize.”

Just like, when they found out the identity of that scammer teacher.

Helpless.

Desperate.

Their hearts sank, just like Rebecca and George. But seeing Gray’s face that didn’t want to show it, they had no choice but to smile and move on.

“Gray was kind, and he wanted to be famous enough, proud enough, for the people who supported him. So he performed and played, and stood on stages around the world.”

“Forgetting the reason why he wanted to play.”

Gray was the one who crossed the sea to reach a wider, farther world for the people who cheered him on, but before he knew it, he lost his destination, his direction, and wandered in the vast sea.

“We looked for a way to help Gray. Hoping that it would help him a little, even if we couldn’t solve it.”

“We also came up with a pretty good plan. But it wasn’t enough with just our two’s power. So we borrowed the power of the broadcasting station. That’s why we accepted the documentary offer that we had refused.”

Ah, so that’s why.

They remembered the two kids who went to find Gray early in the morning. They thought it was too sudden, but it was all for their friend.

“What’s the good plan?”

“Do you remember the old musician in Cleveland? Suddenly playing the violin, it was out of the blue, right? There were also the three musketeers in Chicago, and the Linda family in Kansas City who played instruments as a whole family. And suddenly playing at the cemetery… Isn’t it too strange for a coincidence?”

It was.

There were too many musical elements everywhere. Nodding their heads, satisfied with their own deduction, unlike Lim Yeon, Park Seong-ah opened her mouth wide as if she didn’t know.

“It was all planned by us.”

And George uttered a word that would surprise all the audience who were watching the movie.

“Those people were the ones who sponsored Gray.”

?!?!

The surprised audience had no time to calm down, and George and Rebecca continued.

They opened their eyes and mouths wide as they heard the stories of the old musician in Cleveland, the three musketeers in Chicago, and the Linda family in Kansas City.

“And…”

George paused for a moment and opened his mouth.

“The person we met at the cemetery was sponsoring Gray with Ad. He said that while he was hospitalized, Ad’s happiness was listening to Gray’s performance on the crowdfunding site.”

Heuk!

There was a sound from somewhere in the audience. But they all felt the same and didn’t care.

“He said he wanted to hear Gray’s performance in person if he got better and discharged.”

That, no way, that…!

After the surprise, sadness came rushing in. They thought it was just a passing scene, a chance encounter, but who would have thought that it had such a meaning!

‘I have to see it again…’

If it had been released, they would have run N times.

Wiping away the tears that flowed, Park Seong-ah thought.

George and Rebecca, who explained the Downlock incident, opened their mouths.

“And now there’s only one plan left.”

“Originally, this was the most important plan.”

“What’s the last plan?”

The reason why they had to shoot the documentary. The reason why they had to borrow the power of the broadcasting station.

“There’s a charity concert left. To be exact,”

George said with a smile.

“It’s a concert for Gray Vainy.”

They’re crazy…!

The audience covered their mouths.

Awesome! George! Rebecca!

***

[LA Charity Concert/Bread Hall]

The waiting room of Bread Hall.

Gray was quietly looking at the violin on the table.

The audience’s hearts also lightened as they wiped away the tears that flowed from Gray’s face, which had become lighter.

Gray, who was waiting in the waiting room, moved to the audience seat before the charity concert started.

The people sitting around him greeted Gray lightly. Gray also smiled and held their hands. Gray’s face brightened with the happy people.

Rebecca and George sat on either side of Gray.

“Hmm. Are you filming this too?”

“I’m going to put a little bit in when I edit.”

Hehehe.

Now that they knew George and Rebecca’s plan, the sprouts thought that their act of playing dumb was so cute.

Well done! George! Rebecca!

Soon the audience seat darkened.

Beep—

The alert sounded, and a fluttering silence settled in the concert hall.