Chapter 5
Just One Picture (1)
Beeeep-.
Memory is a strange thing.
Sometimes, something you thought you had completely forgotten becomes as clear as yesterday the moment you face it again.
Sehyeon Arts High School dormitory.
I could not clearly remember the number of the room I had lived in back then, but when I turned the corner of the hallway, one door caught my eye.
Yes, that was my room.
Suhyeon grabbed the doorknob, opened the door, and stepped inside.
Whoosh-.
A familiar smell stimulated his nose.
The ordinary but nostalgic smell of memories came from the metal beds, wooden desks, textbooks and workbooks, and art supplies.
The dormitory at Sehyeon Arts High School had two students per room.
There were two beds, two desks, and two lockers, with enough space left to put down a small table and sit around it.
So during seasons like this, when the weather started getting hot, it was normal to wander around the library or practice rooms where the air conditioner was cool instead of sitting in the cramped room, and then return late.
“There’s no one here.”
As expected, the room was empty.
Perhaps his roommate had hurriedly changed clothes after class and left, because only her school uniform was scattered around the room like a shed skin.
Park Seonhwa.
A friend with an extremely lively and unique personality. Had she gone on to study art and then gone to France?
She had not received much attention at Sehyeon Arts High School because her practical skills were lacking. Rather, she became famous after graduation.
Who would have known?
That clumsy Park Seonhwa was the only daughter of Kang Yujin, the representative of Ilsun Gallery.
And that she would later become the representative of Gallery Sua.
‘Looking back, this place really was a mountain with gold mines buried everywhere.’
Suhyeon smiled faintly and shook his head.
Since Sehyeon Arts High School was a prestigious arts high school, children from wealthy families were as common as stones on the road. After all, art was not something families without money could easily provide through early education.
There were children of owners of famous companies, families of artists, politicians, and celebrities.
Even though they wore the same school uniforms, there was something obviously luxurious about them.
Suhyeon had often felt intimidated for no reason and isolated himself to avoid those kids.
But thinking about it again, why had he needed to avoid their harmless approaches so much?
Some of them had genuinely approached him with pure intentions.
‘It was just an inferiority complex.’
Because he thought that he would never have been able to attend Sehyeon Arts High School without a scholarship, he had built a wall himself and kept his distance.
For that reason, Suhyeon had spent an awkward year with his dormitory roommate, Park Seonhwa.
Park Seonhwa had been extremely interested in Suhyeon, who was ranked first in practical art, and had tried to become close to him.
But Suhyeon had always put up a wall.
Of course, Park Seonhwa’s strange behavior had also played a part in why he kept his distance.
“Just one picture. Give me just one of your drawings.”
It was not like asking for one bite of someone’s lunch.
Park Seonhwa would sometimes beg the other students to give her a drawing.
Some students showed interest in drawings that had nothing to do with entrance exams and simply handed them over, saying, ‘Here you go.’
“Forget it. What is it?”
“What? Why is she asking for someone else’s drawing?”
Many students became wary of her and treated her like a strange person.
And Suhyeon—
“Can you show me your drawings?”
“They’re not really worth showing.”
He kept his sketchbook tightly closed and would not even show it to her.
‘This time, I can show her as much as she wants. I’ll even give her whatever she asks for.’
Click.
Suhyeon opened the locked locker and took out his precious sketchbook.
‘I’ve drawn quite a lot.’
Since he spent so much time alone, both the amount of his drawings and his skill had inevitably increased.
‘I drew constantly after school and during breaks, so I was always running out of paper.’
Suhyeon had found his own subjects outside of entrance-exam art from an early age.
Back then, he had been careful about revealing them, but looking back, it was something he regretted.
‘I should have shown them to people more and made it known that they were mine. It would have been even better if someone like Park Seonhwa had noticed them.’
Later, Park Seonhwa displayed drawings she had received from her friends during her days at Sehyeon Arts High School at her gallery, Gallery Sua.
She displayed not only drawings from her high school days but also works she had collected afterward.
Thanks to her excellent eye for art, the exhibition was a huge success.
At the same time, interest in the new artists who unexpectedly appeared at the exhibition grew rapidly.
‘Were people like Im Hyeonho, Park Geonyeong, and Seo Jinhee able to enter the world market with Park Seonhwa’s help?’
He remembered being surprised when he learned about it later.
Unlike other rich kids, Park Seonhwa never used her background to show off, so people simply thought of her as a strange girl who lacked talent.
‘She acted strangely, but she wasn’t the kind of friend who would steal someone else’s drawings or use them for herself. If anything, she was the kind who would help others. So this time, I’ll open my heart and get along well with Park Seonhwa. I’m also curious how she will judge my drawings with that excellent eye. And it might even bring me an unexpected opportunity.’
Just as he was lost in thought—
Beep-.
The dormitory door carefully opened, and Park Seonhwa entered.
“Oh, Suhyeon. You were here. Did you eat?”
“Yeah. Just a little.”
“Whoa.”
At Suhyeon’s answer, Park Seonhwa stopped in surprise.
“Why?”
“What happened? You answered my question right away.”
“Huh?”
Had he not merely avoided her, but actually lived without talking to her at all?
He could not remember the details clearly and stumbled over his words.
But when he saw the slightly moved expression on Park Seonhwa’s face, something similar to guilt tightened his chest.
“Did I do that?”
“No. I guess you had every right to be angry. I tried to force you to show me your drawings.”
Park Seonhwa walked over, grabbed Suhyeon’s hand, nodded, and apologized, saying that everything had been her fault.
“I won’t do it again. I was too pushy that day, wasn’t I?”
“No. What’s so difficult about showing someone a drawing? I was just being too sensitive.”
When Suhyeon answered while roughly guessing what had happened around this time, Park Seonhwa looked even more touched.
“Are you serious?”
“Huh?”
“You’re really going to show me? Your drawings?”
“Uh, yeah. Sure.”
“Haah. That’s a relief.”
Park Seonhwa released his hand and simply sat down on the floor.
“I was really worried. I thought you were going to hate me.”
“Come on. Why worry that much?”
“You really got scary angry. I was being a little mischievous, but I didn’t think you’d get that angry.”
Park Seonhwa’s eyes became slightly teary.
It seemed that she had rushed at him without thinking and had also been hurt by Suhyeon’s sharp reaction.
“But about the drawing… Can I show it to you next week instead of now?”
Suhyeon looked at Park Seonhwa and smiled before speaking.
“Next week?”
“Yeah. There’s a drawing I want to hear your opinion about, but I think I’ll need some time to finish it.”
“Whoa. Then you’re going to show it to me first?”
“Ah… I didn’t really think of it that way, but I guess I won’t show it to just anyone.”
“Waaaa! I’m so happy!”
Park Seonhwa smiled brightly, grabbed Suhyeon’s hand, and jumped up and down.
They were at an age when they could laugh happily even at the way a leaf fell, but wasn’t this a little too much emotional fluctuation?
Suhyeon stared blankly at Park Seonhwa for a moment.
“Then, since today is Friday, when next week?”
“How about Monday? I think I can finish it over the weekend.”
Suhyeon nodded and smiled faintly.
There were already many drawings in his sketchbook, so he could have shown her one of those.
But there was a reason he wanted to draw something new.
He wanted to show Park Seonhwa a drawing worthy of the eye for art she would have as the future representative of Gallery Sua.
And he also wanted to test his current abilities and see how far he could draw after returning to the past.
“Okay, then Monday morning next week. Let’s meet before class starts.”
Park Seonhwa hummed as she took out her diary and drew a bunch of stars in the box for next Monday.
Suhyeon talked with the excited Park Seonhwa for a little longer before packing his art supplies and slowly heading toward the practice room.
“Ten sheets of three-quarter drawing paper and one eraser, please.”
After leaving the dormitory and passing the department building, Suhyeon entered the art-supply store in the basement of the Art Department’s practice building.
The school art-supply store usually opened and closed according to class hours, but today it was staying open a little later.
“Oh, Suhyeon. Long time no see.”
The store lady greeted Suhyeon warmly and handed him the paper and eraser.
“Ten sheets of regular paper, right? The paper quality got a little better this time. Try it once and tell me what you think.”
“Yes. I will.”
Rustle.
The rough texture of the paper made Suhyeon excited.
For some reason, he felt like he was going to draw something good.
Giggle, giggle.
As he passed through the hallway of the practice building, he heard students laughing and talking.
Second-years? Or third-years?
The department building was quiet, but the practice building was crowded.
The first-years had gone home early after finishing their drawing exam, so it seemed that the seniors had stayed behind to draw.
Then there was no reason to attract unnecessary attention.
Suhyeon walked carefully, looking for an empty practice room.
There were many seniors at Sehyeon Arts High School who acted tough just to establish their authority.
There was nothing good about getting involved with those kinds of people, whether in the past or now, so avoiding them was the best choice.
Fortunately, a small drawing room was empty.
Creak.
Suhyeon quietly opened the door and entered.
Click.
He turned on the fluorescent lights.
Drawing boards and easels were neatly arranged in one corner, and familiar plaster statues were placed on stands.
It was a cozy space that somehow made him feel at ease.
Swoosh.
Suhyeon took out an easel and settled into his place.
He fixed the paper to the drawing board and quietly stared at the blank sheet.
A gaze.
What kind of gaze should I draw this time?
His heart began to pound as he thought of the subject.
All of Suhyeon’s drawings in the past had started from a gaze.
He had captured two or more different perspectives and expressed the differences between them.
It had started from something very small.
“That’s red?”
“Then that’s yellow?”
Two children were arguing on the street about the names of colors.
Suhyeon happened to see them and thought the children were very cute.
And he realized that perhaps people would spend their whole lives arguing like this, never managing to close the distance between them.
‘Even when looking at the same scenery, the same person, the same situation, or the same object, everyone feels something different.’
Sometimes the difference was so small that it could be ignored.
But at other times, the gap was so enormous that it could never be overcome.
Suhyeon enjoyed finding, revealing, and comparing those differences.
Using a tree as the subject, he drew a lush summer and a bleak winter.
Using an apple as the subject, he drew one hanging beautifully from a tree and another bruised and rolling on the ground.
He discovered the ugly side of something someone considered beautiful.
He captured the usefulness hidden in something that had been thrown away.
Depending on emotions, the person looking at it, age, and experience, the same subject could be expressed in completely different forms and colors.
As Suhyeon immersed himself in his subjects like that, he developed his own techniques and artistic style.
Dreamlike paintings such as , , , and had been conceived that way.
Of course, because he disappeared just before his first exhibition, he lost his chance to make them known to the world.
Later, Kim Minjun stole them and took all the glory for himself.
‘This time, I’ll let everyone know that I’m the true owner of those paintings. And I’ll announce them much earlier, too.’
Swoosh-.
Suhyeon lowered a heavy gaze and raised his shoulder as he began filling the paper with lines.
It was time to transfer onto a new sheet the paintings that had filled his mind all this time.
