Chapter 3
“Explain. Now.”
Even after arriving home, Uncle’s questions didn’t stop.
‘I don’t even know what I’m supposed to explain.’
There was only one clear answer:
That I remembered my past life as Franz Liszt while I was in a coma.
But I didn’t want to be treated like some lunatic.
So I joked.
“Well, I guess my past life was Franz Liszt or something.”
“…What?”
Uncle looked dumbfounded for a moment, then quickly pulled out his phone.
“Wait a minute—don’t tell me…”
He tapped the screen rapidly.
“…This guy suddenly started speaking foreign languages and became a math genius after waking up from a coma. You’re not one of those cases, are you?”
Things were rolling along nicely on their own.
I just shrugged silently.
“We need to upload this before it’s too late. I asked people not to steal the views, but there were so many I’m sure some didn’t listen.”
Since it was just a live performance video, there was no need for editing. That meant we could upload it right away.
The account to be used was the promotional channel for Myung Piano, and apparently, he had already gotten the password from Mom and synced the account.
“We’ve got to monetize this. It’d be a waste to let even a single view go for free.”
Well, if you say so.
Fortunately, they had just barely hit 1,000 subscribers, which met the monetization requirement.
“Ah, crap. What should the title be?”
You’d think it was something serious—Uncle began agonizing deeply.
“Ugh, we’re running out of time…”
“Then just upload it as is.”
“How?”
“Something like, ‘A performance of a piece by Franz Liszt, the greatest pianist, composer, and conductor in history—’”
“You really have no sense for titles.”
He was clearly irritated.
“And in Korea, people recognize Beethoven, Mozart, and Bach more. If we call Liszt the ‘greatest,’ we’re just inviting criticism.”
He was genuinely annoyed.
But I kept my expression blank.
If I showed irritation now, I’d lose.
“Ugh, whatever. There’s no time to think. I’ll just go with something intuitive.”
Right then—
Creak—
Mom, Bae Myung-seon, cautiously opened the door.
Her face peeked through, full of curiosity.
“Oh right, I forgot to ask. How was Hyesung’s performance today? I’m not expecting much, but I am curious.”
Hm, you could have high expectations.
I just hoped she wouldn’t be too shocked.
“Well, sis,”
Uncle gave a meaningful smile.
“There are no words.”
“Huh? Why?”
He pressed the upload button as he spoke.
“Just… see for yourself?”
At that moment, a notification popped up on the phone saying the upload was complete.
[Yoo Hyesung Street Piano Performance at Nodeul Island (Mazeppa + Snow Clearing) (14:33)]
“…You’re kidding. He played a Liszt piece?”
Yeah. Mom was already visibly shocked.
A full day had passed since the video was uploaded to the Bright Tone Myung Piano channel.
“Holy crap.”
Bae Hyun-seo let out a gasp after checking the view count.
[Views: 6,480]
“Six thousand four hundred?”
The video had already far surpassed their subscriber count in views.
That might not sound impressive, but…
Hyun-seo scrolled through the video list on the Myung Piano channel.
Every other video had three-digit views.
None of them even matched the number of subscribers.
Yet this video, with no clickbait in the title, was standing out with a shocking number of views.
It was no wonder he was surprised.
YouTube is cold and harsh—it doesn’t hand out algorithm boosts to small channels.
Hyun-seo started reading the comments. Dozens had already piled up.
At first—before seeing the video of his nephew playing—he worried there might be hate comments.
But now, strangely, he felt no anxiety.
If anything, he was confident.
—This is insane. Freaking incredible.
A promising start.
He continued reading the comments one by one.
—I can’t believe this is a street performance. Even recitals don’t have this level.
—Liszt pieces are hard even for active pianists, but this was flawless.
—Looks like a middle or high schooler. I’m excited to see their future. Hope they make Korea proud!
—That “Let’s clear the snow” comment at the end gave me chills. So witty for someone so young. My ears are blessed ^^
—Ms. Myung! Who is that guy?
└I want to know too ㅠ
└Could it be the son you mentioned before!?
Two days passed.
[Views: 100,720]
“Ten… a hundred thousand!?”
He was supposed to be working on his resume, but he couldn’t concentrate at all.
The real-time view graph was skyrocketing.
It had already become the most-viewed video on Bright Tone Myung Piano.
No doubt about it—this was the algorithm’s blessing.
But with popularity came problems.
The quality of the comments was starting to degrade.
On the first day, they were clean.
But then a self-proclaimed music student opened the floodgates.
—I’m a piano major at Berklee, and this is about competition-level for youth contests.
└? Berklee doesn’t even have a classical piano department.
└Caught lying lmao 😂
After that, the comments turned into a chaotic community board.
—Yo wtf, this came up on my algorithm, and it’s nuts.
—Liszt illegally resurrected, captured live at Nodeul Island.
└”Illegally resurrected” I’m dying 😂😂
—That baby-faced kid going “Let’s clear the snow” while grinning was mad charming. Dude’s a natural.
└For real lol
└Why is he so handsome??
—I was at Nodeul Island that day… how did I miss this? ㅠ
—Snow started falling mid-performance?? Insane.
└At first, I thought it was a planned effect…
└Wait, did he improvise “Snow Clearing” on the spot??
└No way, man… you can’t just improvise a Liszt piece like that 😂
—Who is this kid? Was he active abroad?
—I just started piano. Can I reach this level in three months if I really practice?
└LMAO bro
└Three months?! Are you crazy 😂
Three days… four… five…
And finally, after a full week—
[Views: 620,108]
“…I’m speechless.”
Six hundred thousand.
That single video had surpassed the total views of the entire Myung Piano channel.
Still, Bae Hyun-seo felt something missing.
‘Ugh, if only I had chosen a better thumbnail and title, it might’ve hit a million already…’
Of course, with the current growth rate, hitting a million wasn’t far off.
But he couldn’t shake the feeling they had rushed the upload.
Meaning, this might not even be the best possible outcome.
If he had known it would blow up like this…
He would’ve taken more care with the title.
At least, made a proper thumbnail.
‘But if I change it now, the algorithm might get messed up…’
He wasn’t clueless—after all, his sister ran the channel.
He had picked up some tricks.
One of them: YouTube’s “Click-Through Rate” system.
The algorithm pushes videos that get a high percentage of clicks when shown to viewers.
But this video, despite its success, had a low CTR.
The thumbnail only showed a back view, and at a glance, it looked like a typical street performance.
If they’d put his brother’s face front and center, maybe people would’ve clicked just for his looks.
So he made up his mind:
Next time, if they ever recorded another video—
“It’ll have to be perfect.”
He clenched his fists with resolve.
[Recent Subscriber Growth: +3,802]
[Total Subscribers: 4,811]
Bae Myung-seon, owner of the Myung Piano channel, was dumbfounded.
“……”
It wasn’t just the rising subscriber count.
There was something bigger.
The original purpose of creating the account.
[Hello! I saw your YouTube video and wanted to ask: do you offer adult classes too?]
[I’d like to inquire about signing up. My kid got interested in piano after seeing the outdoor video! Is that your son in the video?]
[Hi, I’d like to visit the academy. May I call you?]
Floods of messages. Missed calls.
Myung-seon left them aside for now and replayed the video.
It must’ve been the tenth time she’d watched it in the past week.
The more she watched, the more amazing it seemed.
And the more she watched, the harder it was to believe.
‘He wasn’t even this good before… And it’s Liszt, too.’
The screen went black. The 14-minute video ended abruptly.
But the lingering emotion was as strong as ever.
‘Could this really be one of those cases?’
She thought back to the article Hyun-seo had shown her—
A person who changed drastically after waking from a coma.
Still without answers, she called Hyesung to the academy.
No matter what, she needed to see him perform in person to believe it.
She’d watched the video over and over, but this would be her first time hearing it live.
“We’re here, sis.”
“Oh, I remember this place now.”
Since Hyesung didn’t remember the academy’s location, Hyun-seo had come with him.
Click—
The private lesson room door closed.
Myung-seon softly called out to her son.
“Hyesung.”
“Yes?”
“Inquiries about enrollment have shot up.”
“Oh, that’s great.”
“Do you know why?”
Hyesung tapped his own chest with his thumb.
Bold, for her own son.
She smiled briefly.
“Hyesung, I’m really thankful to you—”
“Of course.”
“…? Anyway. So, would you mind performing here?”
Hyesung smiled gently.
“Should I play the same piece?”
“…Huh? Oh, sure.”
He was seeing right through her.
Like he knew she wanted to confirm with her own eyes.
He did a quick warm-up on the keys.
And from that moment, Myung-seon was already mesmerized.
Soon, Mazeppa came to life from her son’s fingertips.
“……”
Her jaw dropped, and she didn’t close it for a long time.
No recording could compare to this live performance.
That evening, after Hyesung’s performance at Myung Piano—
“…You ready?”
At Hyun-seo’s question, Hyesung nodded.
“Okay, I’m pressing it.”
“If it’ll lead to better results, go ahead.”
“Alright, for sure.”
Hyun-seo gulped.
“Are we really ready for the consequences?”
“Isn’t it you who should worry, Uncle?”
“…No, we’re in this together now.”
“If you say so.”
“Yup.”
Emboldened, Hyun-seo pressed the upload button.
Exactly ten minutes later—
“YAAAAAAAHHHK!”
Myung-seon’s shout echoed from the living room.
They expected this.
Hyun-seo leapt into bed.
“Quick, pretend you’re asleep!”
“That’s my bed.”
“Then get in here!”
BANG—!
The door flew open violently.
Myung-seon’s shrieking voice pierced through the blankets.
“Whoever did this, fess up NOWWWWW!”
KBC Broadcasting Station, Meeting Room
“Hmmm…”
Producer Kim Ki-shik, who oversaw the classical music program, was busy preparing a special episode.
The topic: Franz Liszt.
A Korean pianist had recently won the Liszt International Piano Competition for the first time ever.
His name: Ji Jae-won.
With all the buzz, the program decided to plan a feature.
“PD-nim! PD-nim!”
A writer suddenly burst in through the door.
“You have to see this. I mean—wow…”
“What now?”
“Well, on the way to work I was watching YouTube, and—”
“Get to the point.”
PD Kim, uninterested, rubbed his ears.
The writer cleared her throat.
“So, I stumbled on this video of someone playing a Liszt piece. It’s got over a million views already—just three days after being uploaded!”
Of course, she was still excited.
Her words were jumbled.
Especially since the current special was about Liszt.
She pushed her phone toward him.
“It hit a million in three days! Only three days! It must be blowing up—YouTube even recommended it to me.”
“Really?”
The PD raised an eyebrow lazily and glanced at the tablet.
[Mom’s Real Reaction to Her Piano Genius Son 🤣🤣🤣 Mouth Wide Open Like a Fly’s Gonna Fly In LOL]
[Views: 1,020,459]
The PD chuckled.
“What a clickbait title…”
In the thumbnail, the mom’s mouth was wide open.
Someone had even drawn a little cartoon fly entering it.
“Is this some kind of hidden camera prank?”
If it was, then—
Kim Ki-shik pressed play with a bored expression.