WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Hydrogen B
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 66: Let’s Do It the Old-Fashioned Way
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“What’s Guardian?”
“A new company created to handle security, guard services, and audits for Leviathan subsidiaries.”
“...
Security and guards are one thing, but what company handles audits too? Does that make any sense?”
“It doesn’t. It makes even less sense when you know who the CEO is.”
“Who is it?”
“That son of a bitch.”
“If you mean that son of a... Wait a second! You can’t mean that mad dog?”
“Is there another son of a bitch?”
“How does that make any sense? You’re giving that bastard audit authority over our group? Isn’t that practically telling him to cut off our heads!?”
“It was the Princess’s order.”
“Even if it was the Princess’s order...!”
“Enough. Do not overstep yourself. She may lack sound judgment in many ways, but the Princess is still the Princess.”
“Even so, how could she fall for the clan’s enemy and sell out her own clan!”
“Be patient and wait. The Elders will not simply stand by forever.”
Grit! “How dare that shameless old pervert trick our innocent Princess into doing this...!”
* * *
“My ears are itching terribly.”
“If necessary, I can reserve you a room in intensive care.”
“...
I meant it feels like someone is talking about me nonstop. I did not mean my ears itch so badly that I feel like I could die at any moment.”
“That is fortunate.”
“Just say you’re disappointed. Don’t give me goosebumps by saying something you don’t mean.”
Even at Rimon’s words, she did not so much as twitch an eyebrow.
She merely stopped herself from calling 119, as though she truly regretted it, and continued in a cold voice.
“If you have no further instructions, may I take my leave?”
“What’s the rush?”
“The Princess instructed me not to interfere with the Sword Duke’s personal time unless necessary.”
Speaking with finality, Weiling, the woman dressed as a man, added in a cold voice.
“Of course, if the Sword Duke wishes to review each subsidiary’s security systems and guard structure and prepare manuals, I would gladly provide you with work.”
“...
Run along, then.”
“Yes. Please excuse me.”
As though she had expected that answer, Weiling immediately turned on her heel and left the room.
Watching her go, Rimon clicked his tongue.
“What an inflexible woman.”
[That isn’t inflexibility. I think she just absolutely hates you, Team Leader.]
“It’s the same thing. Basic workplace etiquette says you don’t show it, no matter how much you hate your boss.”
[Coming from someone who used to grab the bureau chief by the collar and shake them whenever he felt like it, that isn’t very convincing.]
“And you, who talked back to every word your boss said, are convincing?”
For a while, Rimon bickered with Yoo Na-gyeong, the bluebird perched atop his head, over who had been the more exemplary employee.
What ended that unproductive discussion was Yoo Na-gyeong’s observation.
[Anyway, you should be grateful you found such a good subordinate, Team Leader. I’m one thing, but do you think capable secretaries like Ms. Weiling are common?]
“I have some doubts about you, but I admit she’s competent.”
Several days had already passed since Li Qing-yu had saddled Rimon with both the CEO position at Guardian and a secretary named Weiling.
Rimon had done nothing during that time.
But much had happened at Guardian.
Official notices had been sent to the Leviathan subsidiaries run by the Black Dragon Clan. Basic information on each company had been organized. Employees who could be put to immediate use had been recruited.
All of that had been done in just a few days, and Weiling had handled almost all of it alone.
“No wonder the Princess values her so highly.”
[She’s an elite of the Black Dragon Clan. Of course she’s one of the best talents in the world.]
“Well, that’s true. Martial artists who have reached the realm of psionics tend to be good at most things.”
[Unlike you, Team Leader.]
“...
Why are you dragging me into this?”
[Why do you think?]
Rimon clenched his fingers, as though he would not let baseless slander pass, but Yoo Na-gyeong did not budge.
She merely snorted and struck him with a cold, hard fact.
[You summoned a world-class violinist like Julia to teach you, yet you’ve been stuck at the repeat sign in your lessons every day.]
Rimon frowned.
Unlike Guardian, which was progressing smoothly thanks to Weiling’s competence, his violin lessons had reached a complete standstill.
That was why, a little later, Julia wore a helpless expression as she watched Rimon attend class in the guise of Lee, a black-haired young man created with a Constellation’s power.
“Lee, you still can’t do it?”
“Regrettably.”
“You’ve been doing your preparation and review properly, right? You haven’t been slacking off?”
“It feels awkward saying this myself, but lately I’ve been devoting myself to studying for the first time in ages, sleeping only an hour a day.”
“Then why do your eyes look so wide awake?”
“I’m naturally very healthy.”
Julia regarded Rimon’s shameless answer with suspicion for a moment before letting out a small sigh.
It doesn’t seem like he’s lying.
His claim to sleep only an hour a day was surely an exaggeration, but she knew Rimon had been making an effort.
His attitude was somewhat arrogant, but he had always been serious during lessons.
The problem was his results.
“Then why can’t you read sheet music yet?”
“Once you get older, it becomes difficult to get new things into your head.”
“Setting aside the fact that someone your age shouldn’t say that, even grandfathers over eighty can easily learn to read simple sheet music.”
Julia looked dumbfounded.
She could have understood if he had struggled with technical material or difficult passages.
But he had already received intensive instruction for days and still could not read even the simplest score.
“I don’t understand how anyone can look at this sheet music and play from it. What kind of brain does it take for these tadpoles to look like sounds?”
“Lee, if you put it that way, most of humanity has strange brains.”
“That’s exactly my point.”
At this point, Rimon’s excessive self-regard was almost impressive.
As Julia watched him boldly declare that the only thing wrong was these bizarre tadpoles, not himself, she sighed.
She had expected him to be difficult to teach because he knew absolutely nothing about music.
But she had never imagined he could not even read sheet music.
It was an obstacle she had never encountered in her life.
Hmm, this is a problem.
Rimon was equally troubled.
Thanks to the cursed violin, the starlight remnants lodged in his body had diminished considerably, and they continued to melt away little by little whenever he played.
Even so, he was not taking violin lessons because he had ample free time.
His instincts as a Sword Master, honed across countless battlefields and brushes with death, told him that this was more urgent than anything else.
In fact, the same performance was becoming less effective at melting the starlight remnants with every passing day.
This won’t do.
He had gone to the trouble of pushing all his work onto someone else, only for his lessons to remain stuck in place.
Rimon had no choice but to suffer even more frustration than Julia.
The problem was that no matter how hard he tried to cram it into his head, even staying up all night, he simply could not understand sheet music.
Tch, learning something at this age was never easy.
He had always been a practical sort.
He had learned everything through direct experience and training with his body.
After spending centuries with no interest in music, there was no way it would easily settle into his mind now.
Bards and musicians in the old days could sing and perform perfectly well without these tadpoles, so why did this nonsense have to be invented...?
As he grumbled about young people these days and longed for the past like a legendary old fogey, Rimon suddenly blinked.
“Do I really need to be able to read this?”
“What do you mean?”
“Can’t we skip the sheet music and move on to the next step?”
“...
Lee, do you think that’s possible?”
Already troubled enough, Julia felt her headache grow worse at Rimon’s absurd suggestion.
“Sheet music is the foundation of all music. Trying to learn violin without knowing how to read it is like trying to grow a tree without roots.”
“Still, not being able to read sheet music doesn’t mean I can’t play.”
“I’m telling you, you can’t learn properly that way.”
“It seems like I won’t learn properly this way either.”
“...”
“Think about it. There are people who can’t learn even basic swordsmanship for years, then cut people down on the battlefield, grasp swordsmanship, and become Sword Masters.”
Julia furrowed her brow at Rimon’s bizarre comparison.
If this were a music college and Rimon were an ordinary student, his proposal would not even be worth considering.
But his learning ability was so catastrophically poor that, if this continued, the entire course would end with her teaching him only sheet music.
As someone who believed in open education, she had no choice but to consider it.
The problem was the current situation.
“Fine, let’s say we skip sheet music. Then what exactly do you intend to learn, and how? Are you finally going to try playing the violin?”
“That would be difficult for now. It would be over if you heard me play and ran away.”
“Then how am I supposed to teach you?”
Julia’s expression soured.
No matter how terrible Rimon’s playing was, she had no idea how to teach a student who could not read sheet music and would not play.
Even the bluebird pecking at snacks in the corner of the practice room shook its head, as though there was no hope for him.
But Rimon answered calmly, as though he had already considered that much.
“We’ll do it the old-fashioned way.”
“The old-fashioned way?”
“Julia, before you’re a teacher, you’re a musician, a Musikạntin, aren’t you?”
“Strictly speaking, I’m more a violinist, a Geigerin, than a wandering musician, but why?”
“What does a musician do?”
“...?”
Julia looked at Rimon in confusion for a moment.
Then she froze.
At last, she understood why he had deliberately called her by the old-fashioned term musician, and what he meant by doing things the old-fashioned way.
Leaving her behind, Rimon stood.
He brought over Julia’s violin case from one side of the room, held it out before her, and spoke.
“If you’re a performer, then perform. Let me hear your finest playing. I’ll take care of the rest.”
Long ago.
Before sheet music had been systematized.
Like the musicians of old, who learned and passed down countless performances simply by watching and listening, he was saying that if she only showed him, he would learn on his own.
Julia could only stare blankly at Rimon as he flashed a broad grin and said something completely insane.
Footnotes:
[1] 119: South Korea's emergency number.
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