Heavy clouds had blotted out the sun that day.

A fine spring drizzle was falling, and the Hanguk University campus had gone still beneath it.

The school had been buzzing with freshmen, but for a while even it held its breath and listened to the rain.

♪ Ti-ding~ ting-ting ti-ri-ri-ring~ ♪

A piano melody was spilling out an open window on the second floor of the arts colleges' music building, from a classroom for junior composition majors.

It was a lecture room, not a soundproofed practice room, and the high notes of the sonata rang out with a cold ache in them.

"What's that?"

"...The vibe on that is unreal."

"Is a professor playing?"

"Let's stay and listen."

Arts students passing by under their umbrellas quietly stopped walking.

None of them had heard the piece before, but its precise scales and harmonies, flowing as naturally as water, were a pleasure to the ear.

Artists were always thirsty for inspiration.

The piano stirred something deep in them and tugged at their souls.

A sweet piano sonata on a rainy day.

It flattered the connoisseur in each of them three hundred percent and then some.

♪ Tti-ri-ri-ri-ring ting~ Ti-ri-ri-ri-ri-ri-ri-ri-ring-ring~ ♪

Bright, lilting notes like a choir of angels danced in their ears, and smiles hovered on their lips.

Just listening, they could almost see a fantasy unfolding in front of their eyes.

A light, happy picture drew itself in their heads: flying on wings over a field of flowers, as if they'd been born to it.

The piano couldn't have sounded fresher.

Nothing tied it down. Nothing held it back.

The day's fatigue blew away. A clean, restful feeling slipped in through their ears and spread through their whole bodies.

These were arts students. They knew art could heal the heart.

For a moment they forgot the schoolwork stress that had piled on since the first day of the semester.

Their senses and emotions were wide open, so it hit them harder than it would have hit students from other departments.

They closed their eyes, opened their hearts wide and savored the…