The Reborn Genius of an Arts High School - Chapter 132

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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 132.
Hye Ran had taken over Blank long ago.
A business inherited in exchange for stepping back from SS Group management.
Myung Hee’s voice came through the receiver in response to Hye Ran’s greeting.
-Yes, Aunt. You’ve been well, haven’t you?
She wondered what this was about.
After a perfunctory exchange of pleasantries, the real question came soon enough.
-It’s about the Blank event you’re currently running. Did you remove any artwork from it in the middle?
How did news travel so fast?
“Yeah, something like that happened. But how did you find out?”
Of course, she had her suspicions.
Hae Yun probably let something slip.
Hae Yun was Hyun Min’s friend to Hye Ran, and a friend of his father to Myung Hee.
Though not frequent visitors, they were connected through a deceased loved one, making them meaningful acquaintances.
Moreover, Hae Yun had been instrumental in uncovering the full story of this incident.
Hadn’t he called directly to reveal that one of the artworks in this exhibition had a problem?
Of course, the artwork wasn’t withdrawn immediately after his call.
Because of what Hae Yun said, they ended up re-verifying the artist’s credentials, which had seemed fine on paper.
-Ah, well.
Myung Hee answered after a brief pause.
-My son has an artist he’s been looking after.
“……Not the eldest…so you mean the second one?”
Hye Ran recalled Hyun Min, whom she’d seen in childhood.
She was puzzled at why Hyun Min’s name came up now instead of Hae Yun’s.
“Hyun Min paints, doesn’t he? Why would he be backing up an artist?”
-Her name is Ye Ji. Hyun Min does like painting, but it seems he has no intention of actually painting himself.
Ye Ji? That name—she’d heard it from Hae Yun as well.
He’d said it was because of that girl that he’d called directly and was taking such pains with this matter.
But that wasn’t all.
The curator had said that artwork number one, the one they were all in an uproar about, was also created by Ye Ji.
The numbering system was quite simple.
They’d simply numbered the artworks in the order they arrived at the gallery.
Though they’d decided on this method as the fairest approach, unfortunately the best work had arrived first, and the curators found themselves troubled.
They’d showered it with praise, saying it had the talent to naturally command people’s attention with its finish and design concept.
Naturally, it was a name that stuck in the mind.
Ye Ji.
Yet when she heard that her nephew’s grandson was acting as that artist’s manager, she almost laughed.
Just who was this Ye Ji?
-She must have gone to see the exhibition today. She saw it then and…. What on earth happened?
Hye Ran shared with Myung Hee what she’d confirmed.
It wasn’t something to be made public, but it wasn’t something that couldn’t be told to family either.
The reason Na Mi Rae’s artwork was removed so quickly wasn’t solely because of Hae Yun’s call.
“She falsified her credentials on the submitted documents, so her eligibility was revoked.”
After receiving his call, there was no way she could let it slide. Hye Ran investigated further.
When she contacted the art museum listed in the credentials, they too had quite a commotion.
It turned out the museum’s curator was an acquaintance of the problematic artist.
They’d naively fabricated false credentials in exchange for money, thinking they wouldn’t be caught.
A gallery was a place where dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of artists passed through in a year, depending on the number of group exhibitions.
Since it was common to forget even one artist’s name, if they hadn’t verified things this thoroughly—
It was something they might have overlooked entirely.
-Ah, I see…. Thank you for telling me. I’ll pass on your regards to Hyun Min along with my regards.
As she listened to Myung Hee’s response, Hye Ran found herself recalling Hyun Min, whom she’d seen only a few times as a child.
He was a quick-witted boy with a mischievous streak.
Among the many things she could hold, that kid always picked out the single best one.
“All right, I understand.”
With business concluded, the two exchanged light pleasantries and ended the call.
Hye Ran turned her gaze back to the gleaming mother-of-pearl artwork, its intricate inlay creating a beautiful luminescence.
Blank only exhibited artworks; it held no ownership of them.
Technically, it should be returned to the owner, but in this case, identifying the rightful owner was ambiguous at best.
In the end, Hye Ran decided to send the artwork to Hae Yun.
After all, he was the one who had the original owner in his care anyway.
“Whether he destroys it, burns it, or whatever—he can figure it out.”
But Hye Ran found her curiosity growing about the name Ye Ji, which kept surfacing throughout this incident.
“If she’s really that outstanding, I’ll see her soon enough.”
And with that, Hye Ran set aside her curiosity.
In this world, many people sparked fleeting curiosity.
Whether it lasted was something they had to prove themselves.
***
As incidents and troubles continued without end, time flew by.
What had happened to Na Mi Rae.
Or more precisely, how she had collapsed.
Ye Ji could learn all the details through Hyun Min and Han Gyu.
Especially the stories she heard from Han Gyu came closest to the heart of the matter.
Setting aside credential falsification, the sheer audacity of orchestrating such a thing.
Exploiting one person’s talent was no small matter.
Yet after hearing everything, the first thing Ye Ji asked was this:
“So, is this Da Som person still painting?”
To ask something so ordinary yet unsettling as the final chapter of an ugly incident.
The expressions of Hyun Min and Da Hye, who were listening to the call together, shifted slightly, but Ye Ji had little interest in anything else.
In any case, the artwork that had captivated even Ye Ji’s attention, brimming with infinite potential—
The real creator of that work would continue to pursue art.
Her first instinct was to see a genuine work, free from the taint of greedy hands.
-For now…. she’ll probably keep working at Muyoung’s studio. I’m sure she’ll continue her personal work too?
“That’s a relief.”
If she got to see the work that Da Som had presented herself, rather than a grand commission, what would it feel like?
In any case, for Ye Ji, it was enough that one hidden artist had found freedom behind this incident.
Though the method had been wrong, she was grateful that things had been resolved before they spiraled further.
People with such talent should never be allowed to sink.
Perhaps it was only sympathy born from old memories, a sense of kinship.
But that was how Ye Ji received the incident.
-Muyoung says you shouldn’t worry about it anymore and just focus on your work.
“Understood. Please give my regards to Grandfather.”
After that incident.
People naturally showed little interest in artwork that had been pulled down after only three days.
The exhibition was quickly reorganized, and the missing piece was barely noticeable.
The public is remarkably passionate and cold.
Being forgotten was instantaneous.
“Wow…. Is this what corporate marketing looks like?”
Ye Ji marveled at the advertisements and articles plastered everywhere.
The event itself was being promoted extensively.
With each passing day, word-of-mouth grew on top of viral interest, and sponsors launched their events.
The quality of prizes given for voting and verification was impressive enough that countless visitors lined up to attend.
Thus, Blank’s group exhibition to discover new artists concluded with great success.

The results of the event were announced immediately.
[ Award: Ye Ji (Artwork No. 1) ]
She’d heard that originally they were supposed to reveal the vote count as well.
But the gap between first place and everything below was so vast that only the participants’ rankings were made public.
A successful event doesn’t end with announcing results.
In fact, what came after was what mattered most.
Soon an avalanche of publicity poured in, announcing Ye Ji’s award-winning work, and the media erupted.
Amid a flood of congratulations—
Ye Ji’s mind was reeling too much to enjoy the joy of winning.
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Artist Ye Ji, hello.
This is the Exhibition Planning Team at Blank Seoul Headquarters.
First, we sincerely congratulate you on being selected for the final award in the after such fierce competition.
…(omitted)…
In this regard, we are providing an outline of support and future schedule regarding your solo exhibition in New York.
Exhibition Venue: BLANK New York (Gallery Floors 1 & 2, New York, USA)
====
Meetings for the next exhibition were scheduled immediately.
On top of that, interview requests kept pouring in, leaving even Hyun Min dizzy.
Since she wanted to continue doing bigger, internationally recognized exhibitions—
There was no reason to conservatively refuse interviews.
Besides, Blank’s planning team wanted to publicize their exhibition’s success, so—
They were doing everything in their power to ensure the journalists’ articles presented Ye Ji in a favorable light.
Making the most of this opportunity was only natural.
“You have three interviews lined up for this weekend, and you need to go to Blank directly after school tomorrow, so you’ll have to miss one day of the special class.”
Things were so hectic that it was affecting even her special weekly classes, which she attended three times a week.
Young heard the news and, offering congratulations, assigned an enormous supplementary assignment in place of the make-up lesson.
She’d given homework so substantial that even the existing students couldn’t complain.
“Do it if you can~ or don’t, and someone else will be happy, right?”
Young had said it in a spiteful way, but Ye Ji could read his true intent.
Interviews and meetings were, after all, external business at best.
They weren’t painting.
So even amid all that, he was telling her to keep working on her art in her spare time, it seemed….
Or perhaps Ye Ji was just interpreting it favorably because she thought well of Young.
‘Maybe it really is just a petty prank.’
But after spending late hours in tedious conversations with adults, to spend the entire night holding a brush—
Whether Young’s intention or not, it was a kind of healing time for Ye Ji.
Days passed in such a whirlwind.
The humid air of full summer and the sharp, scorching sun.
As Ye Ji made her way through the difficult morning commute and cooled off in front of the air conditioner, Hyun Min confirmed her schedule once again.
“Ye Ji. Today’s the one.”
Hyun Min’s vague statement, but Ye Ji understood immediately.
If there was a schedule she had to be careful about at school, there was only one.
A schedule as Goyo.
And there was only one Goyo schedule she could fit in right now.
An interview with Seong Jin Ho from Metro Newspaper.
***
Seong Jin Ho had arrived at the meeting place far earlier than the appointed time.
The Korean restaurant, divided into private rooms, was an appropriate place to meet face-to-face for the first time, but something about it kept nagging at him.
‘Is Goyo really a high school student?’
He hadn’t yet definitively confirmed Goyo’s true identity.
But the problem was the information about the Next Canvas winner.
That artist whose work he’d assumed was Goyo—just a third-year high school student?
All sorts of doubts assailed him, from whether he’d gotten it wrong, but he was certain.
The owner of that artwork was definitely Goyo.
So then, that high school student was naturally Goyo—
Why couldn’t he accept it so easily…….
“…….”
In any case, today they’d decided to meet in person.
Once more, Jin Ho wondered if he’d picked the wrong place and waited for Goyo.

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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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