Devil’s Music - Chapter 136: Stalker, Orchestra, and Zoo

Geon rose early in the morning and followed Olivia to the elephant enclosure. While Geon hoped to care for the baby animals, his experience with young and vulnerable animals was limited. Eventually assigned to chores around the enclosure, Geon spent the early hours clearing piles of elephant dung and sequentially cleaning up the enclosure, mainly focusing on removing waste.

Returning to his quarters after the zoo’s opening hours, Geon collapsed onto the sofa after showering.

“Phew! This is tough. I really admire zookeepers. How do they do this every day?”

Taking a moment to quench his thirst with a refreshing drink, Geon sat in front of his electronic keyboard and glanced through the sheet music for “parachute.”

“Let’s start from the basics of orchestration.”

Pushing the “parachute” sheet music aside, Geon retrieved a stack of scores from his bag. After sorting through them, he sat back in front of the keyboard with precisely forty-nine sheets.

“Mendelssohn’s ‘Lieder ohne Worte’ has a simple left-hand part on the piano. Let’s try overlaying ‘parachute’ on this simple piece.”

Geon attempted to overlay the melody of “parachute” on the left-hand performance of the first movement of “Song Without Words.” However, the mismatched harmonies resulted in dissonance, similar to subsequent attempts with Venetian boat songs and spring melodies. Frowning throughout the performance as if hearing noise, Geon eventually removed his hands from the keyboard.

“Hmm… This method seems more suitable for composing from scratch. It’s not the right approach for arranging existing pieces.”

Rummaging through his bag, Geon retrieved several orchestral scores. Spread out on the bed, Geon began transcribing them, meticulously copying each note by hand. After more than six hours of intense focus, neglecting lunch and experiencing aching muscles, Geon sat up on the bed, clutching his sore waist.

“Hmm… Transcribing the works of masters seems to be beneficial. I feel like I’m starting to grasp the overall flow of the compositions. Just a little more.”

Stretching his body and flexing his shoulders against the wall, Geon resumed transcribing while seated on the bed. Most of the scores he was transcribing belonged to Debussy, and his aim was to understand the scale of various orchestras by transcribing them.

After about two more hours of focused transcription, Geon looked up to see the late afternoon sunset through the window.

“Time flies.”

Getting up from his seat, Geon leaned against the window frame, stretching his legs and loosening his cramped shoulder muscles. A groan, as if expressing dissatisfaction with the prolonged work, emanated from his body. After a moment of relaxation, Geon looked out at the sunset, folding his arms and lost in thought.

“Accessing ‘parachute’ with diatonic harmony would be difficult, wouldn’t it?”

Diatonic harmony, a theory that predates the use of the seven-tone scale in modern music theory, emphasizes horizontal flow of melodies while harmony focuses on vertical progressions of chords. In simpler terms, it’s music where there are primary melodies and corresponding melodies flowing alongside them, such as in French folk songs like “Tourdion” or Pachelbel’s famous “Canon in D.”

“Hmm… Even if I stick to conventional harmony, I can’t entrust the arrangement of reggae music to Damian, who knows nothing about orchestration. Ultimately, I’ll have to do it myself. I’ll consult Damian for the final touch.”

Geon pulled out a notebook and listed the names of orchestral instruments to be used. Contemplating over various instruments, Geon frowned, focusing particularly on brass instruments.

“The problem lies with brass instruments. It’s challenging to pierce through dozens of violins with just one brass instrument… The two trumpets are an issue.”

Geon began adding orchestral scores below the piano sheet music for “parachute” he had prepared in advance. One crucial aspect of orchestration was deciding where to place instruments, where to rest them, which instrument would take the lead at which point, and which instruments’ sound would be subdued.

“Approaching ‘parachute’ with diatonic harmony seems simple in theory, but… I need to solve the volume issue to finish it.”

As Geon continued to work on the scores, he heard the distant sound of approaching footsteps. Before he could look up, a delighted smile spread across his face. As the pattering footsteps drew closer, Geon laughed heartily and spread his arms wide. Even before the door swung open, Geon was already smiling. Ricky rushed into his embrace, wagging his tail happily.

“Haha! Ricky! Had fun today too?”

As Ricky snuggled into Geon’s arms, wagging his tail happily, Geon laughed heartily. Meanwhile, Pye quickly followed suit, running up to Geon and starting to act cute. Geon chuckled as Pye nibbled lightly on his hair and began licking his face. In no time, Geon found himself covered in bear and lion drool.

“Oh, you guys! Now I have to wash up.”

Geon headed to the bathroom to freshen up, with the two baby animals sitting patiently outside, waiting for him. By the time Geon finished washing up and emerged, Olivia was standing at the open door. Geon waved as he approached.

“Oh, Olivia. Has the zoo closed?”

Smiling, Olivia held the door open with one hand.

“Yes, I just finished. How’s the work going?”

Geon, towel-drying his slightly damp hair, replied.

“Um, it’s a bit of a headache. It’s not an easy problem to solve.”

Leaning against the doorframe with her arms crossed, Olivia asked.

“Oh? Tell me about it. What’s the problem?”

Grinning mischievously, Geon replied.

“It’s orchestration. It’s too complicated for anyone who doesn’t do music to understand, you know? Haha.”

Pointing a finger, Olivia said.

“My grandfather used to say that. The solution to all the world’s difficult puzzles is surprisingly simple.”

Geon chuckled.

“Yeah… It sounds like a wise saying, doesn’t it? Haha.”

Seeing Geon laugh without further explanation, Olivia asked again.

“Come on, spill it. Do you know the answer? Maybe I can help.”

When Geon gestured towards the couch as if indicating for Olivia to come in, she unfolded her arms and sat down on the couch. Geon, handing her a drink already stocked in the refrigerator, sat down on the couch and said, “An orchestra is a composition of sounds produced by many instruments. When creating this music, the most important thing is the ‘arrangement.'”

Olivia nodded her head in agreement. “I know that much. I may not know the names of instruments other than the violin or cello, but anyway, a lot of instruments are involved, and several players with the same instrument sit together to perform, right?”

“That’s right, Olivia. Even with the same violin, there are times when the same melody is played and times when it’s not.”

“Really? I thought the same instrument always played the same note.”

“Haha, yes. Someone who can easily recognize it even during a performance would probably be a major or a prodigy.”

“So? Is the arrangement the problem?”

“Well… it’s not exactly the arrangement of the melody, but rather a matter of volume.”

“Volume? You mean the loudness of the sound?”

“Yes, it’s about how to blend the sounds together to produce harmonious music.”

After a moment of contemplation, Olivia suddenly smiled brightly. Approaching Geon, who was holding her hand awkwardly, Olivia, with a face full of laughter, said, “I might be able to help. Let’s go.”

As Geon took Olivia’s hand, Olivia, pulling Geon up, held his hand and went outside. Ricky and Py followed closely, but thanks to Olivia’s firm grip, Geon was too busy to resist. As they walked up a slightly elevated hill behind the accommodation, they soon reached a hillside with a bright view below. Feeling refreshed by the cool breeze, Geon, who was admiring the view below the hill for a moment, saw Olivia laughing without saying a word.

“It’s a nice place. I didn’t know there was such a place behind the accommodation. But why did we come here?”

Smiling, Olivia gestured below the hill. As Geon looked down again at Olivia’s gesture, he saw the Bronx Zoo at a glance. From giraffes in the distance to lions and gorillas, polar bears and monkeys’ cages, large aviaries were all visible. The Bronx Zoo, nestled in the middle of the forest, seemed like a work of art just by looking down from above.

Geon, gazing down at the zoo for a moment, said, “Nice. Does it mean to cool our heads for a moment while taking a breath?”

Olivia squeezed his hand tightly. As Geon looked at Olivia, who was squeezing his hand, Olivia closed her eyes and pressed her hand to her ear.

“Listen.”

Geon, looking at Olivia with a puzzled look, closed his eyes again and looked down at the zoo. The lions’ roars.

Gorillas panting.

Elephants’ trumpeting.

Zebra’s snorts.

Monkeys’ chattering.

Wolves’ howls.

Birds’ cries.

The sound of trees swaying in the wind.

And the wind resonating in the ears.

All the sounds of nature were united without a single discordance. Every sound of nature, which sometimes sounded noisy when heard alone, was united without a single discordance. A look of amazement spread across Geon’s face as he closed his eyes and concentrated on the sound, his eyebrows twitching.

Olivia quietly released the hand she was holding as she watched Geon, who had closed his eyes again and looked down at the zoo. Although Olivia went down the hill to return to the accommodation, Geon’s eyes remained open for a long time. As the sun set and darkness approached, the sounds changed. Perhaps due to the decrease in air temperature surrounding them or simply because animal sounds differed during the day and night, the sounds of nature changed. However, even then, there was not a single discordance in the sounds of nature.

Geon’s eyes opened wide as he shook his eyelids, which were trembling with tears.

“This is it!!”

In Geon’s eyes, birds flying above the darkened zoo and the freedom of the animals looking up at them entered. The sounds of nature, which filled the zoo devoid of noisy cars and people, rushed into Geon’s body once again along with the refreshing feeling provided by the sight from above.

Spreading his arms wide and closing his eyes again, Geon laughed heartily.

“This is it. The sound of nature. The sound I should have been looking for was the sound of nature! Haha.”

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