Teacher's pet

White ivory keys and black despair

To help students feel less anxious about their studies, the university here in Seoul offers a variety of activities that help you to juggle many new experiences. It also gives you an insight into how other student's programs are helping them to succeed in their future careers. For instance the university hires a cultural center near their campus to allow students to regularly have cultural activities.

Those who study the music program oftenly arrange concerts, those who learn modern dance programs organize dance competitions and encourage other students to participate and try modern dance. We,the ones from the photography program, are also involved in hosting student's photography exhibitions or workshops that allow others to test their skills in photography.
It is a good opportunity to meet new people and to share our knowledge and experiences with our campus neighbors.

It was the students from the music program who were organizing a free concert for their colleagues. The building was just some minutes away from the campus and it was a rather old but still beautiful concert hall  that was specially designed to host events like this. The insides of the building were classically designed to resemble a shoebox. There was an auditorium where the public could listen and see the artists and the stage. The place wasn't huge but it was just enough to fit in a small orchestra.

There were rows of dark red cloth chairs in the auditorium. The chairs were arranged in a semicircular pattern and in the middle was  the stage where a giant piano was placed in all its glory. The lighting on the stage was mainly composed of soft lamps that cascaded over the piano. The lamps were casting a diffuse light and wrapped around the piano to reduce the shadows on the stage. The piano was clearly the main character this evening.

We arrived  pretty early and we got to sit in the front row. We really wanted to have a clear line of sight between us and the artists who are going to perform this evening.
Like usually I was in the company of our small group of exchange students from the international program. The ones that I really can call my friends were Sarah and Lucas. I knew Sarah since high school and she really was my best friend. We met Lucas at the university back in Sweden when we all started to study photography.

As time passed by the auditorium was full of students and on the stage we could see some of the music teachers of the university.
Near the piano was a very elegant woman in her thirties. She looked more like a model from catwalks. Even though she wasn't tall  her features were so different in a good way. Her slim figure was leaning against the piano and she was talking to some other teacher. There was something about her that made me think of the snow queen from Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tail.
I heard a voice from my left side that said:
"Oh! Professor Kim Gyeo-Wool is here! Of course her pet it's going to perform!"

That was a girl from the international program that studies modern dance. I don't remember her name but she is half Korean and half English. She was raised and born in London but decided to follow her mom's advice and went to study abroad in Seoul. She couldn't speak much Korean, just on a beginner level.

"And who this" pet" student might be?" My curiosity was making me wonder who this person might be because everyone seems to can't wait for the performer to come out on stage and play the piano. Especially the female public.

"Well it's Min Yoongi of course. Mrs. Kim allows just a few of her favorite students to perform at these kinds of concerts .
But he's definitely the best one! He's so good that he's already playing for Seoul's philharmonic orchestra. And that's a huge deal."

"Really? It's he that good at piano?"

"Well yeah, he truly is!  But rumor has it that Mrs. Kim helped him. It's extremely hard to get to play at this level especially for a young student. Almost impossible! But everyone knows that Yoongi's her favorite! And she has all the reasons to like him and not only for his qualities as a performer..." she was whispering the gossip with a mischievous smirk on her face.