Reset Life with Infinite Talents - Chapter 26
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
Infinite Talent Reset Life Episode 26
8. Size
‘Hello.’
Johann waves his hand in greeting to Nolan Mason Moon.
“Th, then shall we get into the lesson?”
The Art II Teacher tries to look at the students.
Emily Sherman. The daughter of the BlackRock LA Branch Manager.
Even at Fairmont School, where upper and upper-middle class children attend, she’s from a top-tier family.
Emily’s friends Joy Brown and Lucy Miller also come from formidable families, and Flash is a famous troublemaker at school.
They’re bad for the heart.
“T, today we’ll draw our neighbor with the background!”
Unlike regular art classes that alternate between theory and practice, Art II is conducted 100% through practice for students interested in art or planning to pursue art studies.
The teacher takes out drawing books, pencils, and erasers from the carrier she brought and distributes them to the students.
Then the students sit on the lawn in front of the pre-arranged desktop easels.
But…
“We don’t have easels, Teacher.”
Emily and her friends raise their hands.
“There aren’t enough drawing books either.”
“Ah! Ah!”
What a disaster. The Art II Teacher quickly turns around.
“J, just wait a moment! You have 2 hours! Draw on your own!”
‘Where are you going, Teacher!’
Johann scratches his cheek while watching the children make sad faces.
‘I feel sorry for no reason.’
He didn’t know they would be this afraid of Emily and Flash.
“What on earth have you guys been doing?”
“…We didn’t do anything wrong. Right?”
“Yeah!”
They’ve never done anything bad like bullying, threatening, or stealing money from others. The children are just scared on their own.
Unlike Emily and her friends who feel wronged, Flash and his friends turn their heads away.
“I, I’m still apologizing! Dad told me to keep apologizing.”
To endure even when getting annoyed while apologizing. That the other children must have suffered much more than his annoyance.
So he’s enduring and apologizing every day.
“…Right.”
‘Right. This can’t be helped.’
Herbivores that run away just from smelling a wolf’s scent, even when the wolf is full and has no intention of hunting.
This was just instinct.
Rattle rattle!
“Huff! Huff! D, did you wait?!”
Sweat was pouring like rain from the teacher’s face as she pulled the cart.
“Emily! Let’s draw each other!”
“Huh? Yeah! Sure!”
Emily glances at Johann and sits in a triangle with her friends.
“Johann, you draw with me.”
Flash’s friends are already looking at each other and fooling around.
Finding it amusing how they playfully hold up pencils toward each other like painters in movies, Flash laughs and picks up his pencil.
“Sure… wait a moment.”
An incongruous sight caught at the edge of his vision.
Johann looks at the Asian Students gathered in three groups.
‘Why is he alone…’
Mason Moon is clearly within a group but moving his pencil while looking somewhere else, not at people.
“Hold on.”
Johann approaches Mason Moon.
“Moon.”
“J, Jefferson?”
‘As expected.’
The drawing book only contains cloud shapes.
Johann looks at the group around Mason Moon.
Children who hastily avoid eye contact when their eyes meet.
‘They must be Korean Students.’
Their overall feeling is similar.
‘He’s being ostracized.’
He doesn’t know the reason, but Mason Moon is being excluded by the same Korean Students.
He can roughly guess the reason. The One Who Became a Star catches on.
‘Only Moon doesn’t have a wristwatch.’
Only Mason Moon’s shoes are from mid-to-low price brands.
Subtle ostracism due to differences in wealth.
‘They learned something nasty.’
“Moon, want to draw with us?”
“Huh? Huh?”
“Can we take Moon with us?”
“Uh, yeah. Y, yes!”
“Moon, let’s go.”
“W, wait!”
The flustered Mason Moon grabs his easel and drawing book with his free hand, and Johann smiles toward his friends.
“It’s good if we all draw together.”
“…Hello? You know my name, right?”
“Fl, Flash Thompson… I, I’m Mason Moon.”
“Right. You draw Johann, Johann draws me, and I draw you Moon… Hmm.”
“Flash. You draw me, I’ll draw Moon, and Moon draws Flash. Moon, Flash. Is that okay?”
“Yeah!”
“O, okay.”
If it were up to him, Flash would want to draw Johann and have Johann draw him, but doing it Johann’s way seems best.
Flash holds up his pencil and closes one eye, while Johann watches Mason Moon frantically start sketching.
‘Start with cross guidelines.’
The center line crossing the middle of the face.
The One Who Became a Star’s Observational Power awakens.
Swish!
Johann’s pencil drew a line on the drawing book.
* * *
‘What’s this?’
His hand feels off like last time.
The spy The One Who Became a Star who had to act various jobs and personalities in all kinds of places across different countries.
He had some knowledge about art, and through his excellent memory, he would draw montages of objects, buildings, and people he remembered.
‘But…’
Johann alternately looks at the drawing book and Mason Moon.
‘That’s not right?’
It’s similar but wrong. The size and placement of the eyes, everything is off.
He can’t draw what he sees with his eyes as he thinks it should be.
Johann enters the library and accesses the life of ‘The One Who Became a Star’.
“Ah.”
He was mistaken.
‘This person… has no talent for art.’
Thanks to his excellent observational power, he could capture the key points well, but he had no artistic talent.
‘His drawing skills are at an ordinary person’s level.’
It seems he was mistaken because of his deep knowledge about art.
“Hmm.”
Johann looks at his hands.
The frustration he felt from not being able to draw what he saw exactly as it was.
Johann nods his head and opens his mouth.
“Search. Art.”
Rumble!
The galactic river and celestial bodies of the universe surge as countless orbs fly toward him.
Johann hastily added other conditions, and a considerable number of the flying orbs returned.
Even though quite a few had returned, the orbs still filled his entire field of vision.
‘No, they’re not orbs.’
It’s one.
A single orb so enormous that it looks like a dark red universe.
[Adolf Hitler, The Genocidal Dictator]
All sorts of ominous emotions seep out from the massive dark red orb.
“Go back.”
Groan!
Johann watches ‘Adolf Hitler, The Genocidal Dictator’ return with what seems like a regretful cry, then his eyes light up as he sees one orb.
An orb about the size of two and a half fists, glowing cheerfully in beige like ‘Ines de Fresang, The Speaking Mannequin’.
There are orbs both larger and smaller than this one, but for some reason he can’t take his eyes off it.
“Hmm. If it’s about this size…”
A size that would fill his capacity limit if he doesn’t remove ‘The One Who Became a Star’. It’s really a precarious limit.
Having thought that far, Johann closes his mouth for a moment.
‘This moment has come.’
The moment of absorbing two beings at once.
His heart pounds.
His body grows hot.
‘I wonder what will happen.’
Will his own ego be crushed, or will two or three egos mix together?
Johann lifts his trembling lips and grabs that being, pushing it into his chest.
-Ehehe!
* * *
“Ah…”
Johann opens his eyes and lets out an exclamation.
They didn’t mix.
Like water and oil, they don’t mix with each other, yet like warm water and bath salts, they harmonize while revealing each other’s presence.
A feeling of being completely full with no more room inside.
If even one more spoonful were added, it would feel bloated.
‘This is my current limit.’
The gamble he attempted, trusting in his own ego established through accessing countless beings and ‘The One Who Became a Star’, had succeeded.
It was a moment when a smile naturally formed.
‘And…’
Johann looks into the life of the being he just absorbed and lets out a deep sigh filled with pity.
A child born with autism who was only interested in drawing pictures.
Thanks to his parents’ efforts and care, he submitted an application to art university and took the exam, but died of illness without hearing news of acceptance – a pitiful being.
A child who wanted to draw until the moment he died.
This was why. This was why he smiled so brightly.
Johann’s eyes grow hot as he tears a page from the drawing book.
‘Draw.’
The pictures you love.
Johann smiled sadly and picked up the pencil.
Scratch!
His hand moved without hesitation.
“Hmm. Hmm.”
‘Everyone’s doing well.’
Children with above-average skills, as if there was a reason they chose Art II.
Although there are various problems like the distance between the eyes being slightly awkward or the placement of the lips, this level can be sufficiently corrected with a few practice sessions.
‘The future of the art world is bright.’
He doesn’t know how many of these children will advance to art university, graduate, and make their names known in the art world, but if he could nurture even one of them that way, he could be satisfied.
The teacher, who had been smiling contentedly, looks at Emily and the others, then turns his gaze away.
‘Let’s leave those kids alone.’
They’re clearly children who came to play instead of attending regular classes. If he bothered with them unnecessarily, it would only cause troublesome incidents.
As he turns his body that way, one boy enters his sight.
“Huh?”
‘Is he… smiling?’
He’s not fooling around.
He’s happy. He’s enjoying himself.
And on top of that, his hand rapidly moving across the drawing book.
‘My successful classmates were like that…’
His classmates who remained in the art world and made their names known, unlike himself who switched to teaching.
Monsters born differently from others.
Those who possessed the talent to imbue even a single line with extraordinary meaning, yet considered staying up all night as routine while putting in effort.
The teacher quietly approaches behind Johann.
And…
“Good heavens.”
The boy in front had a photograph in his drawing book.
* * *
The child loved drawing pictures.
The flowing clouds.
The setting sun.
He loved transferring them just as they were onto drawing paper.
But the outside was scary.
The startling sound of dogs barking.
Ear-splitting car noise.
Flashing vision.
So the child liked photos.
Objects whose shadows never changed.
Landscapes that made no sound.
That’s why the child’s room, the child’s house was covered with photos.
Photos of people, landscapes, objects – everything and everywhere in the world.
That way, the child could go anywhere in the world from that place.
Then one day, the child became thirsty.
I want to see the scenery next to that photo.
I want to see more.
I want to see more things.
The child’s world had become cramped.
I wanted to see everything in the world, not photos where time had stopped.
The One Who Became a Star gently nudges that child.
Shares experiences of traveling all over the world.
‘He’s happy.’
Screaming with joy, moving his hands excitedly.
The One Who Became a Star feels the same way.
He’s delighted to be able to fully draw things he knew in his mind but couldn’t express.
Excitedly urging him on.
Needless to say, Johann himself.
‘This is fun.’
It’s enjoyable.
His body naturally sways with the frustration that has finally disappeared, the lines that draw as he wants, and the synergy created by working together.
A humming tune flows out as he draws Mason Moon, capturing him with his eyes and remembering with his head, as if printing him out.
And…
“This is a drawing I made…”
Could this really be a drawing he made with his own hands?
A thrill runs through his entire body.
“Whoa!”
“Wow!”
When did they all gather behind him?
The children including Flash and Emily, the students taking Art II are amazed.
“What, Johann! Why are you so good at drawing?!”
“This is crazy! This is a photo!”
A black and white photo without color.
The children jump around at the magical drawing skill, but the Art II teacher was surprised for a different reason.
‘Hyperrealism…’
Hyperrealism.
A new art movement that emerged in America in the late 1960s, characterized by depicting things extremely vividly and perfectly like real objects.
But Johann’s drawing was different.
He drew Mason Moon hyperrealistically like the real thing, but you could fully feel Mason Moon’s thoughts and emotions through the drawing.
The timidity pressing down on his hunched shoulders.
The will to concentrate contained in his protruding lips and widened eyes.
His pulled-back bottom contained discomfort about an unwanted position.
It perfectly expressed the Korean identity of trying to do well at assigned work even in an unwanted position, the current psychology of Moon Mason.
This went beyond the realm of simple hyperrealism.
‘Only 11 years old…’
But what was even more shocking was that only 40 minutes had passed since class started.
‘God-given talent.’
“Um, may I ask who you learned art from?”
“I didn’t learn from anyone.”
“Huh?”
Lies that now come out smoothly.
No, it was true that he didn’t learn. The talent of the being he absorbed and accessed was innate, never learned from anyone.
“Hello. I’m Johann Jefferson.”
“…This is impossible.”
The wolf boy that every teacher at Fairmont School knows.
“Johann! Draw me next!”
“What are you talking about! Johann! Draw me first, not Emily!”
“Hey! Flash!”
The Art II teacher stared blankly at Johann calming down the bickering children.
The god of art had sent his avatar down to the world.
* * *
“Please! Please, absolutely!”
“Haha. I’ll think about it.”
“You don’t need to think! You were born to do art! So you’re thinking of starting next week?! Right?!”
Even with Emily and others nearby, the Art II teacher can’t see them.
He must catch him. Somehow he must raise this child to be a giant in the art world.
That sense of mission is blinding his eyes.
Johann, who struggled to remove the teacher’s hand that was gripping tightly and wouldn’t let go, looks at Emily and Flash who are hugging their drawings happily.
‘Are you happy too?’
A question directed not at his friends but at the absorbed being.
He can’t hear an answer, but he seems to hear joyful laughter.
“I’ll draw you guys next time.”
“Really? You promise?”
“Of course. Oh, right. Moon.”
“Huh?”
Mason Moon, who had been swept along with them, is startled.
“Here. This is yours.”
Johann tears out a page from his drawing book and hands it to Mason Moon.
“You’re giving this to me?”
“I drew you, so naturally you should have it.”
“…Th, thank you!”
His eyes welling up with tears, this seems to be his first such gift.
“And you give what you drew to Flash too.”
“Me, me too?! No, I…”
“Oh! Right. You drew me, didn’t you? It’s okay if it’s not good! I couldn’t draw Johann well either!”
“You didn’t draw Johann, you drew a monster.”
“…Don’t rub it in.”
Johann ignored Emily and Flash who were arguing again and looked at Moon, and Moon, who had been restless, reluctantly tore out a page from his drawing book and handed it to Flash.
And even the friends of Emily and Flash who had been talking among themselves look at the drawing.
“…Oh, my goodness.”
Johann also looks at the drawing in surprise.
Eyes full of mischief and an upturned upper lip, a prominent nose and cheeks and shadows that still haven’t lost their sulkiness.
‘He expressed the characteristics well.’
It’s like seeing the fundamentals of drawing.
He has talent.
“Moon, you draw incredibly well too?!”
“What, you had this kind of talent? That’s amazing?”
“Me? N-no, I don’t?”
“You don’t? …Even with this level of skill?”
“Yeah. Mother said people who draw this well are common….”
“…Are there only monsters in Korea.”
Flash said what Johann wanted to say.
‘He definitely has talent….’
‘The One Who Became a Star’ was saying so.
The ‘Art Student’ he absorbed today says he draws better, though.
“I’m going to the restroom for a bit.”
There’s something he wants to confirm.
“Okay! Come back soon!”
Johann temporarily parted from his friends and went to the restroom, closing the stall door and entering the Library.
“Check reading list.”
Rumble!
The Galactic River and celestial bodies surge as orbs fly over and align themselves.
Johann looks at the topmost one, the ‘Art Student’ he read today.
“This size just from natural talent.”
The size of orbs varies based on life’s trajectory – natural talent and abilities developed through acquired effort, experience, realizations from that, fame, influence, etc.
The ‘Art Student’ possessed rich expression that could capture various things in a single drawing, but conversely had only that one talent and couldn’t even show it to the world.
Even so, an orb of this size meant his talent was that exceptional.
But Johann knows of a similar existence.
Johann looks at Bruno Mars’s orb, which only has the job title ‘Producer’ written on it.
An orb the size of a torso, despite having accomplished nothing special except being somewhat known in LA.
“A size that rivals Giselle….”
‘The Body, Giselle Buncheon,’ who has already made her name known worldwide, and the unknown Bruno Mars have similar orb sizes.
Overwhelming talent that naturally brings to mind the word ‘extraordinary.’
“What would happen if this person’s abilities and talent were recognized in the future.”
How large would this orb become.
He can’t even dare to imagine.
What’s certain for now is that Larry has a first-place lottery ticket in his hands.
“There must be more existences like this, right?”
Beings who were born with great talent but couldn’t bloom, or don’t know what talent they were born with.
The synergy between ‘The One Who Became a Star’ and ‘Art Student’ was so satisfying.
“It seems….”
From now on, he’ll need to examine the Library more carefully.
It was a moment when his daily pleasures increased by one more.
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE
