The Reborn Genius of an Arts High School - Chapter 112

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 112.
About thirty minutes prior, things had come to this.
According to what Ye Ji had heard through Se Hee, the Special Class was composed of one second-year student and four third-year students.
Two from Western Painting, one from Oriental Painting, two from Design.
Unfortunately, it seemed the Sculpture Department wasn’t participating at all this year.
Last semester, with Kang Hyuk from Sculpture, it had been diverse and interesting.
Still, with someone from Oriental Painting coming this time, she’d surely gain fresh perspectives.
‘Hmm, well…. The thing has a personality that’s a bit….’
Se Hee did make a somewhat uncertain expression in response to Ye Ji’s expectations.
But she didn’t think there would be any real problem.
After all, hadn’t Kang Yura herself been a student with quite a bit of talk behind her back about her personality?
You had to experience people to truly know them.
Click.
When Ye Ji opened the door to the Practice Room assigned to the Special Class, two students who had already arrived were visible.
“Hi there,”
A male student wearing modest glasses responded first to Ye Ji’s greeting.
“Hey. You’re Ye Ji, right? I’m Song Ji Ho. Design.”
As she exchanged greetings with him.
The other person didn’t seem to hear Ye Ji’s words and offered no acknowledgment.
Sharp, cutting eyes.
Without needing an introduction, Ye Ji could tell this was the problematic Oriental Painting student Se Hee had mentioned.
The name she’d heard from Se Hee was Han So Min, wasn’t it?
Ji Ho also smiled awkwardly at the subtle tension.
Fortunately, another male student entered shortly after, so the uncomfortable moment didn’t linger.
“Oh, hey. You got here early.”
This new arrival was someone Ye Ji was acquainted with.
A classmate from first year in the same class, Choi Woo Jin from Design.
“You’ve gotten pretty famous lately.”
“Famous? That’s too much.”
“Don’t you dare be that modest—it’s annoying.”
“Then how about I admit to half of it?”
Woo Jin burst out laughing at her playful retort.
While they exchanged this idle banter.
Han So Min let out a scoff-like sound in response to Woo Jin and Ye Ji’s conversation, then pulled out her earbuds.
At that point, Ye Ji was certain.
‘She doesn’t like me.’
They were strangers meeting for the first time, but it wasn’t difficult to guess why she disliked her.
It was only natural that exceptional people received both admiration and jealousy.
Moreover, Ye Ji was actually far more accustomed to such jealousy and animosity.
The dislike of fellow classmates at the same school ultimately meant nothing—she couldn’t fathom why others didn’t understand that.
“Hello!”
It was then that the final member of the Special Class.
The only second-year student made her appearance.
“I’m Lee Ha Eun, a second-year!”
Perhaps the thought of attending class alongside her seniors had made her nervous?
Ye Ji blinked as she watched Ha Eun greet them with an energetically disciplined demeanor far more than necessary.
Now that she thought about it, the name sounded familiar.
“Wait, weren’t you the one from the festival…?”
The first-year who had suddenly flipped a table and destroyed Ye Ji’s painting.
“Yes! That’s right! I was so, so, so, so incredibly sorry back then.”
Ye Ji waved her hand at Ha Eun’s overly polite behavior.
While the excessive attitude was startling, she had expected it and could respond naturally.
It was fortunate that Se Hee had already told her that Ha Eun was a fan of hers.
“No, you even helped with the promotion back then.”
“That’s something I should have done anyway.”
“Either way, we’re even from what happened then. So how’d you end up in the Special Class?”
“Well, the thing is, I’m a huge fan of yours, senior! To get to take class together like this…”
A sharp, cutting voice suddenly severed Ha Eun’s enthusiastic rambling.
“Hey.”
The owner of that sharp voice was, naturally, Han So Min.
“Keep it down.”
Han So Min lashed out at Ha Eun with a piercing tone.
“If you want to make such a fuss, go outside and hold a fan signing. Aren’t we here to take a class?”
“Oh. …I’m sorry.”
Ha Eun looked as though she wanted to fire back.
But treating her as a senior, she quietly offered an apology instead.
Seeing the situation take an unfavorable turn, Ye Ji pressed her fingers to her temple.
Becoming famous was like a double-edged sword—the more people who liked her, the more who would inevitably dislike her.
Since Ye Ji understood this well, Han So Min’s attitude didn’t particularly bother her.
But.
…
Seeing Ha Eun’s expression of displeasure, a different thought arose.
It wasn’t all fine just because she wasn’t bothered by it.
The person who liked her artwork and what she accomplished felt discomfort.
Once she realized that, it seemed wrong to just let it pass without saying anything.
***
Han So Min was the top student of the Oriental Painting Department at Cheonglim High School.
She had a certain pride about that.
To practice Korean art in Korea.
Even if it was a difficult path, she appreciated herself for pursuing art with genuine philosophy.
Was that all?
She was the daughter of Han Mu Young, considered the most successful among the students of Jung Hae Yun.
She alone carried on his legacy.
‘Step by step, that’s all I need to do.’
Carrying expectations on her shoulders as she followed her father, she had picked up brush and ink since childhood.
She believed her own talent lay in her capacity for discipline and effort.
Though her regular academic grades weren’t outstanding enough to draw particular attention, once she expressed her distinctive character as an Oriental Painting student,
she had believed everyone at school would then recognize her true worth.
But then, one day, Ye Ji suddenly emerged and overturned all those assumptions.
“She’s close with Professor Jung Hae Yun too.”
“She even had an exhibition at Seo Hwa Won.”
While practicing in her father’s studio, she heard his disciples murmuring.
Jung Hae Yun was a master whom those who painted Oriental art revered.
Seo Hwa Won was their goal, their dream gallery.
Ye Ji had obtained all of that.
And yet chose Western Painting instead.
Moreover, she was the same year at the same school.
Han So Min couldn’t help but hear her name with increasing frequency.
“I’d hoped she’d come to Oriental Painting instead.”
Even the Oriental Painting instructors would casually mutter such things whenever they got the chance.
Wasn’t this situation truly absurd and ridiculous?
She was first in this department.
Yet somehow her name was overshadowed by Ye Ji, who was first in Western Painting—she couldn’t understand it at all.
Ye Ji’s demeanor also didn’t sit well with her.
That tendency to flaunt herself as though she could do anything well.
To reinforce this, Han So Min was also dissatisfied with the Special Class system itself, which seemed created specifically for someone extraordinary like Ye Ji.
Yet here she was, having come to that very class.
All of it.
Han So Min was deeply displeased and irritated.
The fact that her emotions were irrational and illogical, merely stemming from her own feelings, only amplified her irritation.
‘Who doesn’t know that?’
And yet she couldn’t bear the dislike.
That was the problem.
While suppressing these feelings, the presence of a second-year who couldn’t stop pouring out admiration for Ye Ji grated on her nerves even more.
Han So Min lashed out at Ha Eun as though venting her frustration.
She was aware herself that this was venting, but at this point, what could she do about it?
Let people curse her behind her back, say whatever they wanted.
Perhaps that’s why she expressed her anger in such an exaggerated way.
It was the only way her own existence seemed to register.
“If you want to make such a fuss, go outside and hold a fan signing. Aren’t we here to take a class?”
“Oh. …I’m sorry.”
The second-year Ha Eun looked displeased but held it back, suppressing her response and offering an apology.
But that contradiction between her words and expression only made Han So Min more uncomfortable.
Why? Is what a senior other than Ye Ji says amusing?
Just as Han So Min was about to say something else.
“You were just bringing up the festival thing. If you wanted to study alone, you should’ve stayed in the classroom longer before coming here.”
Ye Ji spoke up to Han So Min.
There was no fault in what she said.
But precisely because of that, Han So Min felt even worse.
Why did Ye Ji always receive attention so naturally while she remained obscured?
It felt as though her light was eclipsing her.
Though it might be paranoia.
‘Or maybe it isn’t?’
What if people really were being overshadowed by her commotion?
What if she herself was being harmed by it?
Such thoughts made Han So Min’s voice grow louder and sharper.
“If it were just chatting, I wouldn’t have said anything. You probably enjoy hearing people sing your praises, but other people don’t, you know?”
“Hey, Han So Min. Why are you saying that?”
Though Woo Jin tried to stop her, Ye Ji’s brow also furrowed as if displeased.
At that, Ha Eun stepped forward again.
“I apologize for being loud. But are you jealous of Ye Ji or something?”
Pathetic.
That was what Ha Eun’s voice seemed to add.
It was only natural that Han So Min, her weak point struck, bolted from her seat.
***
It was only with Young’s intervention that Ha Eun and Han So Min finally let go of each other’s hair and sat at opposite ends of the classroom.
Looking at the two of them, who showed no signs of apologizing, Ye Ji pressed her temples as if suffering a headache.
From Ye Ji’s perspective, she truly couldn’t understand how things had escalated like this.
“In any case, you all need to be together for at least this semester…”
Young kept glancing between Ha Eun and Han So Min, who still radiated coldness.
Asking them to reconcile seemed counterproductive.
And he wasn’t the type to insist that students get along perfectly.
“Just don’t fight, at least.”
At the very least, it shouldn’t interfere with the class.
At Young’s words, the two fresh brawlers acquiesced and shifted their seats slightly.
At least neither of them seemed willing to quit the Special Class over this incident.
‘Getting this lot to work together would be asking too much.’
Though he’d never intended to do group projects overlapping with last semester anyway.
Even as the thought occurred to him, Young smiled to himself.
In fact, he rather enjoyed this sharp atmosphere.
He even felt as though it had worked out well.
‘This kind of thing is necessary sometimes.’
Wasn’t it true of famous musicians as well?
Even those who attracted major events and media attention often drew greater inspiration from the wounds or episodes received from ordinary friends or lovers.
Especially someone like Ye Ji had an unusually high threshold for negative emotion.
Not that it took some massive event to shake her mental state.
Small, personal moments—the diverse emotions that arose between people.
Those were exactly what could bring new inspiration.
Watching Ye Ji seated in the center like the eye of a storm, pressing her temples, Young was convinced this class would be quite interesting.
“Well then. We’re late, but shall I start with introducing myself?”
***
The next day.
With the weekend approaching, Ye Ji met with Hyun Min for another meeting regarding Hansung.
“Oh, Han So Min? Yeah, I know her.”
At Ye Ji’s question—which had been bothering her since yesterday’s chaotic Special Class—Hyun Min answered readily.
True to his reputation as someone well-connected throughout campus, he knew everything.
“Top of Oriental Painting, and arguably one of the more contentious people in that department—scrappy type.”
Ye Ji nodded at his explanation.
True enough—the extreme statements and overly sharp tone.
She seemed like someone who carried problems with her.
‘Though Ha Eun, who grabbed her hair first instead of losing ground, also seemed far from ordinary…’
That was what bothered her the most.
If Ye Ji had been alone, she could have simply ignored that type of animosity without feeding it.
But it seemed Ha Eun couldn’t manage that.
Judging by how she bristled first at meaningless provocations directed at Ye Ji…
“Hardcore fans and anti-fans are always a matched set.”
After hearing about yesterday’s situation, Hyun Min chuckled and said as much.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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