The Reborn Genius of an Arts High School - Chapter 129

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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 129.
How had he figured it out?
Could Seong Jin Ho’s eye for art really be that sharp?
Ye Ji felt flustered by the unexpected claim.
She’d thought this piece was different from her work as Goyo—she’d even used new techniques this time.
And yet, if he could recognize it despite that, he truly deserved his reputation as one of the most prominent journalists in the field.
“What? Is something wrong?”
Da Hye asked when she saw Ye Ji lost in thought after hanging up the call.
Ye Ji shook her head in response.
“Probably not… it’s not that.”
“Probably not?”
Se Hee added her own comment to Ye Ji’s vague answer.
With just one interview under her belt, she couldn’t really know what kind of person that journalist was.
Since they’d decided Hyun Min would come this way and discuss it together, it made sense to look at the exhibition first.
“Let’s check out the exhibition first.”
Ye Ji stepped into the gallery with her two friends.
Seong Jin Ho’s article had some exaggeration, but she couldn’t deny there was promise in it.
There were many works with good direction.
But Ye Ji felt something oddly off about one particular piece.
…….
Number 43. A work done in mother-of-pearl inlay.
It definitely seemed like a good piece, and it looked skillful.
Yet there was something strange about it.
She was almost certain one of the exhibition’s rules was that team-made works weren’t allowed.
‘It looks like more than one person’s hands worked on this.’
There was something, subtly.
Details that seemed odd for a single creator.
Handwriting, for instance—most people would see it as all pretty much the same at a glance.
But a handwriting analysis expert could distinguish every subtle difference.
Paintings were the same way.
Just as Ye Ji’s identity emerged through her brushwork, the inlay artist’s habits would show in how they cut and placed each piece of mother-of-pearl.
Yet strangely, there were points where the consistency broke down slightly.
Especially—one hand clearly far more skilled, and another clumsily imitating it.
Two different touches combined.
As Ye Ji stared so intently she almost stepped into the painting, Da Hye caught a glimpse and spoke.
“This one’s pretty impressive, though.”
“Right? I heard mother-of-pearl is popular overseas too.”
Da Hye and Se Hee’s hushed voices.
To Ye Ji’s eye, if she lost first place this time, it might well be because of this work.
But… it still felt wrong.
She wasn’t an art appraiser, so she couldn’t use this feeling alone as proof.
‘Is this really the work of someone named Na Mi Rae?’
She’d already heard that this person worked with mother-of-pearl pieces.
Since there were no other mother-of-pearl works nearby, it was probably hers.
Ye Ji examined the piece more carefully.
Then a strange sense of familiarity struck her.
‘This is….’
She could see it was composed like a Western painting—specifically, inspired by Monet’s water lilies.
Ye Ji looked again at the piece’s theme.
The theme was Korean national identity.
But the motif was Monet’s water lilies.
The result of two unrelated works coming together wasn’t particularly bad, but because of that disconnect, the thematic expression felt markedly weakened.
Most viewers probably attributed the sense of dissonance they felt to that very thing.
Ye Ji resented how this piece drew attention among works where each creator had given their all.
She too had poured everything into her submission.
Her desire to measure her own level alongside adults, to have it recognized in this opportunity, was sincere.
And that genuine, earnest desire was palpable in the other works too.
In all of them except that one.
‘If that dissonance comes from inexperience, that would be a relief.’
But if she wasn’t misreading it, if someone had actually used shortcuts to catch people’s eyes….
She didn’t think she’d feel good about it.
“Let’s move on to the next one.”
Not knowing what Ye Ji was thinking, Da Hye and Se Hee continued examining the other works, murmuring to each other.
“By the way, how many pieces are there total?”
“I heard something like forty-something….”
“That’s way too many….”
Se Hee’s grumbling echoed—she’d already lost patience.
It was only natural that Se Hee’s concentration wavered compared to Da Hye.
Everything seemed obvious once you knew it all.
For Se Hee, who could only instinctively tell if something was good or bad, it was hard to stay focused.
“Ah, there it is.”
But even Se Hee recognized Ye Ji’s piece the moment she saw it.
Ye Ji’s work, placed at the end.
Since artists were forbidden from promoting their own pieces, the three of them remained quiet in front of it.
Se Hee was barely breathing, holding back the urge to ramble.
Only after they’d finally stepped out of the gallery did Se Hee exhale loudly and open her mouth.
“What? What? This piece is totally my style!”
Was it because she’d seen Ye Ji’s work so many times?
Or was it because this particular piece was on an entirely different level?
Se Hee, with her quick sense, had recognized Ye Ji’s work and gushed about it.
“It’s so sparkly overall! And colorful! And just so gorgeous~”
Da Hye nodded in agreement with Se Hee’s words.
Ye Ji too felt her mood lifting slightly as she saw her own piece and the viewers who lingered in front of it with smiles.
“Anyway, you worked hard. Regardless of anything else, isn’t one thing now crystal clear?”
Da Hye spoke gently, noticing that Ye Ji’s expression seemed troubled.
“Your work holds its own even compared to adults.”
Ye Ji let out a small laugh at Da Hye’s words.
It was true. That had been the whole point of entering this exhibition.
“We’ll find out the results when they come.”
“Even without results, I already know~”
Se Hee playfully countered Ye Ji.
It was the first time in a while the three of them had gone out together, so they found a cafe near the gallery to ease their regret at leaving.
“Hyun Min will be here soon anyway.”
Either way, there was nothing left to do about the exhibition now but wait for results.
It was time to address what remained unresolved.
***
About an hour later.
Hyun Min walked into the promised cafe, laptop in hand.
“……Did you three seriously clean out this cafe’s dessert case?”
With three high school girls gathered together, practically the entire dessert display had migrated to their table.
And Se Hee wasn’t even supposed to be eating while dieting.
Were they really going to polish off all this between the two of them?
“We were here so long we got a sugar crash. Want some?”
At Da Hye’s words, Hyun Min looked at Ye Ji.
Watching Ye Ji practically inhale the cream cake, it seemed like something more than low blood sugar.
Seeing what looked like stress-eating, Hyun Min shook his head and set his laptop down in front of them.
“Never mind. You eat it all. Anyway, about that journalist—”
Hyun Min immediately showed Ye Ji the contact from him.
Looking it over, the email didn’t read like a threat to expose her identity.
There were no especially pointed remarks or annotations, making it harder to judge his intent.
It almost seemed like he was asking out of genuine curiosity.
“I’m not sure how to respond to this…….”
Ye Ji herself didn’t know what the right answer would be in this situation.
Should she admit it outright, or deny it?
After swallowing a mouthful of the soft cake in one gulp, Ye Ji thought it through again.
Timing-wise, it was likely he’d contacted her after seeing the works and forming some conviction.
“Just ignoring him is also an option.”
Hyun Min said there was no need to proactively respond.
But ignoring the journalist’s inquiry also felt uncomfortable.
What if he just went ahead and published an exposé based on suspicion?
“Don’t you think we should at least hear what he’s thinking first?”
Ye Ji nodded at Da Hye’s suggestion.
Se Hee, meanwhile, wanted to eat the dessert in front of her, so she picked apart a meringue cookie crumb by crumb and popped them in her mouth.
Then, scanning the email, she spoke.
“But if someone really wanted to expose you, wouldn’t they ask more aggressively?”
Even entertainment journalists were like that.
“When they find scandals, after they’ve gathered huge evidence, they send it like ‘Look at this, we know everything! So let’s agree to reveal it at an appropriate level, yeah?’ That kind of vibe, right?”
Se Hee added a questioning “Aren’t I right?”
For a journalist who’d supposedly caught a major scoop about a public figure, Seong Jin Ho’s email was remarkably restrained.
To Hyun Min’s ear, it did seem plausible.
“How come you’re suddenly making sense?”
“Well~ Who do you think I am~”
Watching Hyun Min and Se Hee exchange typical high school banter, Ye Ji reflected.
At any rate, the assumption that he wasn’t someone without precedent seemed reasonable.
If he’d noticed on his own and reached out cautiously, then if they handled this with proper courtesy in return,
they could have a good conversation at a point of agreement.
“Right then. Let’s ask him why he’s curious about that first. Start there.”
“Okay.”
As Hyun Min nodded and sent a reply to the journalist,
the friends, gathered outside school for the first time in a while, began their usual casual chatting.
They were at the point where first semester was barely ending, but they were all—or more precisely, Da Hye and Se Hee—under almost unbearable stress.
“It’s that feeling of ‘just hold on another six months.'”
“I might literally waste away in that time….”
Se Hee replied with words that were half-joking, half-serious.
Meanwhile.
“Oh.”line>
Hyun Min made a small sound and gestured to draw the three of them’s attention.

“A reply already?”
“Yeah, the journalist immediately responded…….”
Having spoken, Hyun Min checked the email again and looked at Ye Ji.
“He’s asking for one more exclusive interview?”
***
At that same moment.
In Mu Young’s studio on the outskirts of Seoul.
…….
…….
…….
In the silence of those seated around the room, only Han Gyu and So Min’s eyes were moving at all.
Between Mu Young and Hae Yun, sitting across from each other at the head of the gathering, hung a chill.
Rather, the cold had thickened to the point where the very air around them felt frozen.
Mu Young stared at Hae Yun with something close to a glare, while Hae Yun refused to meet his gaze.
Hae Yun simply observed someone sitting in the corner, watching them carefully.
“……I…….”
Sitting before Hae Yun, under observation, was a woman in shabby clothes.
A woman wearing thick glasses of enormous thickness, an old t-shirt stretched out at the neck, and sweatpants.
The one shifting uncomfortably, not knowing what to do with herself—her name was Jeong Da Som.
“I’m… I’m so sorry…….”
She began by apologizing, lowering her head—the very evidence Hae Yun had uncovered.
Proof that Na Mi Rae had committed fraud.
When Hae Yun’s student Jeong Won deliberately dug into Na Mi Rae, the rumors that emerged were substantial.
All the dozens of testimonies Jeong Won confirmed pointed to the same story.
‘Na Mi Rae? Isn’t she the one who caused an uproar for stealing a junior’s idea during her graduation project?’
‘Wasn’t that resolved well? But I wonder what happened to that junior afterward.’
‘That junior? What was her name…. I don’t know either. I didn’t really know her, and neither did anyone else apparently….’
‘I was a teaching assistant back then, so I remember the incident. Was it Jeong Da Som? She had good grades, but no social skills…. I don’t think she had any friends.’
‘Plus her family situation was…. Not great.’
‘Student loans, work-study scholarship, and all that—she had to get everything.’
The deeper they dug, the more unsettling the story became.
Jeong Da Som, desperately poor, and Na Mi Rae, supposedly wealthy.
That the incident between them had quietly faded away might have involved more overt backroom dealings than expected.
‘She had talent, so isn’t she working as an instructor somewhere?’
As information accumulated and suspicion grew, Jeong Won resolved to find her herself.
But because she’d vanished as if she’d evaporated, tracking her down proved harder than expected.
She wasn’t an instructor, nor was she an ordinary office worker.
The lack of any clear profession or social activity made finding her all the harder.
Yet when they finally managed to track her down and ask about Na Mi Rae,
“Please, please just let this pass quietly!”
This was the result.

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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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