The Reborn Genius of an Arts High School - Chapter 126

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

Chapter 126.
Ye Ji, who was at School, felt inwardly flustered by Emma’s sudden contact.
Even more bewildering was Emma’s request to meet her in person.
Regardless of their personal connection, didn’t she have a project with Blank right now?
After saying she’d check her schedule and hanging up, Da Hye, who was beside her, asked a question.

“Is that really okay?”

Da Hye seemed worried too.
Ye Ji had also been reluctant to meet for that reason.

“Back then, it was written in the email. The judges’ personal opinions play no role whatsoever in the results.”

That was Emma’s argument—so it didn’t matter.
Since the rules themselves were that way, Emma’s point had merit.
If you picked apart every detail outside the rules, there’d be no end to it.
Hyun Min being Ye Ji’s employee could also be construed as problematic, if one wanted to look for issues, couldn’t it?
Of course, it would be closer to nitpicking.

“…Still, it feels awkward. How about I swing by your Studio and take a quick look?”

Ye Ji agreed with Da Hye’s suggestion.
There was nothing wrong with being careful.
And to such words from Ye Ji, Emma seemed to grow even more pleased.

***

The day before heading back to New York.
Emma, who had readily agreed to Ye Ji’s proposal, came directly to her Studio.

“Hey, hi there. Hi~ Looks like you’ve grown even taller?~”
“That can’t be! I’m nineteen!”
“Kids these days keep growing until they’re twenty.”
As if that would happen!
Some boys did grow that late occasionally, but Ye Ji had stopped growing fairly early.
Emma, by contrast, was tall for a woman, so Ye Ji gave her a playful sideways glance.
She was definitely teasing.
At Ye Ji’s expression, Emma broke into light laughter.

“Alright, alright. I’m joking. Anyway! How’s your submission piece coming along?”

She made no attempt to hide it—her curiosity about the work was immediately apparent.
The fact that she brought up the artwork right after asking how Ye Ji was doing made it easy to read her intentions.

“So that’s why you came?”
“My, why do you have to hit the mark like that?”

Emma didn’t deny it and, with an unabashed grin, set down a pile of snacks she’d brought.
It looked like she’d raided some bakery—a bag stuffed full of bread and pastries.
“Why’d you buy so much?”
“To take home too. And I heard Seong Su works here as well?”
“Ah, well, yes.”
It had been several days since he’d last come to the Studio.
He must still be in Korea, but Seong Su had been keeping himself shuttered away.
At Ye Ji’s explanation, Emma nodded and began wandering around, looking at things rather than sitting down.
“And I wanted to see your face one more time while I was at it. Speaking of which, when does your School break for summer?”

Emma, who freely looked around and poked into this and that, was scatterbrained and restless even when in her right mind.
“Around mid-July, I think.”
“Mmm~”

She’d asked but gave a somewhat lukewarm response, moving on—and at that expression, Ye Ji couldn’t help but laugh.
It was obvious she’d come wishing she could see the artwork before leaving.
The way she kept wandering without pushing too hard was a bit amusing.

“The work is upstairs. Would you like to go up?”

Normally she would have offered Emma a cup of coffee.
But Emma’s interest was fixed on the artwork, so she’d likely hate anything that dragged out the time.

“Yes! Let’s do it.”

As expected, Emma answered at once, and together with Ye Ji, she headed upstairs.
As always, Ye Ji worked on multiple pieces simultaneously.
As a result, her workspace quickly became cluttered.
Seven easels were scattered about, but the work she was focusing on and completing stood out clearly.
Its notably high finish naturally drew Emma’s footsteps toward it.

“…….”

Emma stopped in her tracks, staring at the work intently.
Though the piece wasn’t fully finished, Emma was someone who made her living evaluating and studying artworks.
At this stage, she could easily gauge the piece’s quality and how it would look once completed.
“Yes. That’s the piece I’m submitting this time.”
The Sketch, which had been refined down to meticulous proportions with Da Hye’s help last time, had transformed into a brilliant composition.
The focal point was two Crowns of distinctly different sizes.
A circular Crown viewed entirely from above, its perspective compressed, sat on shallow water.
Ripples spread from the two Crowns at the center, undulating.
Above the Crowns, the surface was richly adorned with glittering ornaments.
The water reflected the densely jeweled surface, its replicated illusion rippling.
For Ye Ji, it was an unusually ornate work.
It was a piece brimming with powerful self-promotion, as if brazenly showcasing her own talent and worth.

“……Isn’t this a bit much?”

At Emma’s murmur, her expression now serious, Ye Ji looked at her in slight surprise.
Was something off? She’d attempted something new, but was it overdone?
Just as such concern crossed her mind, Emma continued.

“What happens if you unleash something like this in a Competition among Newcomers?”
“……What?”
“You don’t know what overkill means?”

Oh, was that what she meant!
Ye Ji brushed away her initial surprise and spoke.
Emma was considerably older than Ye Ji, but her manner of speech made her rather easy to get along with.

“You suddenly got serious and startled me.”
When Ye Ji protested, Emma still wore a stern expression as she spoke.
But her eyes were full of mischief, so Ye Ji could tell it was a joke.
“If you were that desperate to get to New York, why not just sign an Exclusive Contract with us instead!”

At Emma’s pitch, never missing a gap, Ye Ji couldn’t help but laugh again.
It was a relief that she was pleased with it.
Though she had no intention whatsoever of revising or changing the work based on her evaluation.
It was better to hear encouraging words than to lose heart in the middle of preparation.

“More importantly, I’ve only ever entered youth-focused Competitions.”

Though Ye Ji was nearly an adult, her official track record as “Ye Ji” wasn’t particularly extensive.
Before she recalled her past life, she’d been struggling to keep up with academics, unable to find her footing.
And after she recalled it….
‘I was doing too many things at once, so I didn’t keep track like that….’
Though still technically a Newcomer, she’d necessarily split her name between commercial and fine art, managing both.
And since she kept her commercial work private.
To others, Ye Ji didn’t seem like someone with much activity under her belt.
“That’s true. You should’ve entered a few more Competitions.”
Emma also pointed this out as if she found it strange.
“That’s why I’m doing this now. While a Solo Exhibition is nice, I wanted to test my abilities against a wider field.”
How would she be evaluated when compared to adults?
A simple assessment that she could paint well wasn’t enough—she craved more.
To be a creator who wasn’t forgotten among countless artists, remembered again and again, there was only one path.
She had to be not just a capable artist, but an exceptional one.
***

“At the very least, you’ve surpassed the Newcomer stage.”

Emma answered Ye Ji this way and laughed, but inwardly she thought it was a disaster.
Ye Ji, standing right in front of her, seemed to be receiving her words as 70% joke and 30% praise.
But in truth, it was 70% sincere and 30% joke.
In other words….
‘This is really serious trouble….’
Emma looked at Ye Ji’s work again, her expression troubled.
The distinctive traits of her delicate brushwork and the expressive power of her composition were unmistakably clear to her eye.
Moreover, from the subtle intersection of vivid yet harmonious color choices came a sense of stability.
And from there, a subtle sense of being moved.
Even she, who habitually examined professional craftsmanship before artistic merit, felt this subtle emotion woven through the work.
The ability to evoke feeling in the human heart was art’s highest value.
A work that moved the heart naturally lingered in memory far longer than one merely recognized as intellectual.

‘What if the gap in level is too wide?’
Setting aside all these considerations and evaluating it simply as visual art, the quality was undeniably high.
It was as if real gems had been affixed to the canvas—the brilliance shone from within.
But up close, it was merely Oil Paint, color mixed with color.
Pigmented strokes with substance harmonized in diverse ways, creating an Optical Illusion-like splendor.
If one work stood so far above the rest, wouldn’t the fundamental purpose of this project become muddled?

“Still, in the end, it’s decided by voting, right?”

Unlike Emma, Ye Ji evaluated her own work with ruthless objectivity.
“You know as well as I do—skill alone doesn’t guarantee success. Since this is a space for Newcomers to gather, perhaps a work with more freshness will score higher.”
Whether the general public, encountering Ye Ji’s work without background knowledge, would feel the same thing.
That’s what Ye Ji seemed eager to find out.
But Emma wanted to push back against Ye Ji’s words.
‘Does she really think her own work lacks freshness right now…?’
Nineteen years old. A high school student racing through the final stretch of the teenage years—radiant, overflowing confidence and pride.
This was an emotion no ordinary person could express.
Wasn’t that singular boldness emanating from the work precisely that “freshness” she spoke of?

“Well, that’s something you can only be sure of once the results come in….”
But since she couldn’t simply gush with praise either, Emma awkwardly nodded.
And looking at the work once more, Emma surveyed the rest of the space.
It was hard to believe this was a high school student’s workspace.
A space where eerie orderliness and clutter coexisted, like the Studio of an established artist who’d held dozens of Solo Exhibitions and sold work.
To others it might look messy, but she could see the logic.
Easels arranged side by side by similar color palette or thematic expression.
Partially used Paint containers and emptied tubes were stacked in two piles; dozens of palettes were in active use.
And completed works already neatly stacked in the back.
‘…Was it really just one Solo Exhibition?’
The career seemed questionable—this was the space of someone with her own established routine and rules.
“So, you’re leaving for New York tomorrow?”
Breaking off from Emma’s gaze, Ye Ji abruptly asked.
Emma was certain. There was something more to this child.
Now that she thought about it, Young Heon’s actions in actively discouraging her from signing an Exclusive Contract were also odd.
He must know something about Ye Ji’s secret that even she didn’t understand.
Emma narrowed her eyes and stared intently at this mischievous little thing for a moment, then nodded.
“Now I understand why Young Heon treasures you so much.”
Suddenly?
Ye Ji’s expression said as much, but Emma felt something come into focus.
Everything Young Heon lacked, Ye Ji possessed in full.
The optimism about the future that was lost after high school.
The confidence that vanished along with faith in herself.
Even the emptiness gained by exaggerated behavior to hide it all.
Emma had always believed that Young Heon reaching his current position was a result of sublimating even that deficit into art—a mark of genius.
But Ye Ji was a different breed of genius altogether.
Perhaps, she thought, an exchange with this girl might bring him profound change.
It was a premonition, a feeling intensely strong.

“It’s nothing much. I am leaving tomorrow. So just keep getting along well with that guy from now on!”

After finishing the Studio tour.
Emma and Ye Ji headed back downstairs and chatted away, surrounded by all the snacks Emma had brought.
Casual talk—you could call it gossip, really.
Mostly anecdotes from Emma’s work, though if Ye Ji was aiming for the overseas market, it was information well worth knowing.
After spending quite a while that way.

“Ah! I really need to go pack my luggage now.”
“Time really flew. Take care on your way back.”

Ye Ji saw her off, and Emma replied warmly.

“Yes, let’s definitely see each other again!”

With the conviction that they’d likely meet again in the not-too-distant future.
Emma had completed all her business in Korea.

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