The Reborn Genius of an Arts High School - Chapter 30

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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 30.
A sudden reservation?
Ye-ji’s eyes widened at Myeong-hee’s proposal.
Hae-yoon, caught in the middle of a conversation about it, offered nothing but a reluctant expression.
There was no further comment.
“I’d like to gift the work of an emerging artist to someone who collects pieces before they become famous.”
Myeong-hee added that she was certain they would love Ye-ji’s work, given its current status.
“They’re someone truly important to me.”
The expression on Myeong-hee’s face as she said this held a certain tenderness.
So this person must be genuinely very important.
“Do you think it’s all right for me to give my work to such a person?”
Myeong-hee gestured for Ye-ji to sit back down.
The favor of a large corporation’s chairman—the kind you only saw on the news—was quite burdensome, to be honest.
But if it was a result of trusting Hae-yoon’s eye for talent, it wasn’t something she couldn’t accept.
“You two must be quite close.”
“Close? Not a chance. I only knew his father.”
Hae-yoon spoke with clear displeasure, and Myeong-hee merely shrugged.
It seemed something had hurt Myeong-hee’s feelings, but she didn’t appear to mind much.
Of course, that seemed to make Hae-yoon even more uncomfortable.
“If Hae-yoon considers someone a good person, then I think we can trust Ye-ji’s work.”
But that was separate from the matter of the artwork itself.
As Ye-ji deliberated, Myeong-hee continued.
“I don’t think this is something to discuss at the Gallery.
If it’s not meant for the Gallery, then this isn’t really the place to discuss artwork transactions.
Myeong-hee gathered her coat and stood, speaking as she did.
“Think it over, all right? Let’s talk more privately later.”
And then she placed her own business card on top of Ye-ji’s hand, where Park Seong-su’s card had been.
“…You have a business card…?”
So even large corporation chairmen carry business cards.
It wasn’t something she’d thought about before, but actually holding one was remarkable.
A business card with the title of chairman, no less.
Myeong-hee laughed at Ye-ji’s comment.
“I honestly don’t know how long it’s been since I took one out.”
She’d dug it out from the very bottom of her bag, Myeong-hee said with a light tone, winking playfully.
It was almost childish for someone her age.
Once Myeong-hee left the conference room as well, only Hae-yoon and Ye-ji remained.
Ye-ji, feeling more exhausted than drained, stood staring blankly at the two business cards in her hands.
Noticing that evening had arrived, she turned to Hae-yoon and asked.
“Have you had dinner yet?”
Hae-yoon grunted at her question and pushed himself to his feet.
“Let’s go. Let’s get some food.”
***
“Ah, I’m dying.”
Ye-ji collapsed onto her bed, exhausted.
The evening meal with Hae-yoon had turned into a full gathering with the rest of the family.
With Han-gyul and her parents added to the mix, it had been pleasant.
Of course, the fatigue that came with it was something else entirely.
“Still… I’m grateful it ended well.”
Her first exhibition, with her own work on display.
Yes, her first exhibition.
…….
Ye-ji suddenly recalled her first exhibition from her past life.
That one had been far more pathetic than this.
A time when everything except her own work looked like garbage—a rather twisted period.
But thinking about it now, she’d simply lacked restraint and had been arrogant.
Perhaps it was entirely her fault that it took so long to hold her first solo exhibition.
‘This time, I won’t make that mistake.’
She would pay closer attention to those around her and share the experience with others.
Art only gains meaning when viewed and felt together, after all.
Though exhausted, sleep didn’t come immediately.
Ye-ji reached for her phone.
‘Park Seong-su….’
The person whose business card she’d received today.
Since it was a common name, the search results were numerous, so Ye-ji added a keyword.
Photographer Park Seong-su.
“……What?”
When searching online, certain images appear everywhere repeatedly.
Images that countless people imitate, reference, and draw inspiration from.
Photography especially circulated this way often.
Unlike paintings, photographs frequently circulated without attribution.
Images that became the wallpaper or profile pictures of countless people, simply because they were beautiful.
‘I’ve seen these photos in so many places….’
Most of the photographs Ye-ji found by Park Seong-su were those famous ones.
Most were peaceful scenes of people and animals together, with a warm, gentle feeling.
Among them, one photograph caught Ye-ji’s eye—a young girl and a deer.
A dark-haired girl in a white one-piece dress and a deer with fur of the same color.
Their faces leaning against each other, their eyes gazing forward.
The dreamlike work seemed to suggest a metaphor for communion between nature and humanity.
With a blue sky as the backdrop, the color harmony was exquisite.
‘But… something feels familiar.’
The girl in this photograph.
She’d only ever seen her in lower-quality images before, but looking at it like this, her face felt oddly familiar.
A strange sense of déjà vu washed over her.
Anyway, that aside.
So that man was the creator of this work.
He didn’t look like the type to take such refined, color-harmonious photographs, to be honest.
“The only Korean photographer affiliated with Mirok Gallery….”
Ye-ji unconsciously read aloud a passage from the article she was reading.
Mirok was a contemporary art gallery that specialized in photography exhibitions.
Only internationally recognized photographers were affiliated with it.
So he was this famous.
‘He seemed so timid.’
Thinking of Seong-su, who’d practically fled the situation, Ye-ji browsed through various articles and posts about him.
She’d thought that meeting Shin Myeong-hee was enough of a heavyweight encounter for one day.
But it turned out Park Seong-su was no ordinary person either.
Moreover, the fact that he’d actually purchased her work made Ye-ji’s spirits lift unexpectedly.
To be honest, recognition from a fellow artist who was famous meant more to her than the approval of a corporate chairman.
‘When should I reach out to him?’
Shin Myeong-hee and Park Seong-su.
Despite the exhibition being over, it felt like she had a stack of homework left.
***
After the eventful opening ended, a regular weekday returned.
As always at school, Ye-ji was surrounded by Da-hye and Hyun-min.
“So what happened?”
“Yeah, tell us!”
Da-hye and Hyun-min were grilling her in meticulous detail about what had transpired at the opening.
She’d given them a rough outline over messenger, of course, but that hadn’t satisfied their curiosity.
“There’s nothing more to tell. Everyone agreed to meet again later, and I haven’t reached out to anyone yet.”
Though I was thinking about it today….
At her words, Hyun-min and Da-hye spoke in unison.
“Contact the chairman first.”
“Park Seong-su! Reach out to Park Seong-su first!”
At their swift and contradictory responses, Ye-ji pulled back slightly.
No, actually, she’d planned to contact both today.
“Wouldn’t you be more curious about the corporate chairman?”
That was Hyun-min’s position.
“No, think about it. No matter what, a chairman would mostly be in Korea.”
In contrast, Da-hye held up her phone as she spoke.
“Photographer Seong-su operates mainly out of New York and doesn’t come to Korea often!”
“Isn’t it just courtesy? He bought the work, so he was just being polite to the artist.”
“Would there be any reason for a buyer to do that to the seller?”
“…I suppose not.”
As Ye-ji listened to Hyun-min and Da-hye’s exchange, her own curiosity grew.
What could someone so famous possibly want from her? Why had he given her his business card at all?
“Would we even get an answer by speculating?”
Ye-ji decided firmly that she’d contact both of them today.
It felt more comfortable to reach out to the elder first.
At her words, Hyun-min nodded in agreement.
Once the topic of celebrities had been exhausted, Da-hye quickly asked another question to satisfy her curiosity.
“Anyway, did all the works sell?”
“Yeah. After the exhibition, we’re sending them out divided by season.”
But who was paying for shipping—her or the Gallery?
In Paris in her past life, the gallery had covered it, she thought.
As Ye-ji pondered such practical questions, Da-hye suddenly lowered her voice and asked conspiratorially.
“So how much was it in total?”
That’s what you’re really curious about, isn’t it?
Ye-ji waved her hand modestly.
“Well, the gallery takes half, so it’s not all mine anyway.”
“Does that matter right now? Either way, the important thing is how much it sold for.”
Da-hye had a point.
For most people, the work’s value was simply the selling price itself.
How much got divided or taken along the way didn’t really matter.
Seeing Da-hye’s eager expression, Ye-ji lowered her voice a bit more.
“Each piece sold for a million won….”
She didn’t want to make a fuss about it, but it certainly wasn’t a small amount, so her words trailed off.
A million won per piece. That was two hundred fifty pieces.
If you did the simple math…?
“……Two hundred fifty million?”
“Keep it down!”
As Da-hye jumped up in surprise, Ye-ji pushed her back into her seat with a warning.
The classroom before morning assembly was already chaotic and noisy.
After Da-hye glanced around and sat back down, Hyun-min spoke up.
“But Ye-ji only gets half of that.”
“Even half is—!”
That’s still not a small amount!
As Da-hye shook Hyun-min’s shoulder excitedly, Ye-ji stopped her.
“Even so, it’s just the price of one car, the kind that every kid here has at home.”
Feeling a bit awkward, Ye-ji spoke with an unwarranted modesty.
Hyun-min laughed at that, even more taken aback.
“Come on, even so, earning over a hundred million at once is a different story, you know?”
Ye-ji nodded at Hyun-min’s words, but it was a strange feeling.
Over a hundred million won was certainly a huge sum, yet it didn’t quite feel that way.
Looking at it as the necessary funds to pursue art without restrictions going forward, it was actually spent rather quickly.
It was just enough to cover her tuition without needing to burden her parents, allowing her to work and study comfortably for now.
That was about all it amounted to.
Da-hye flopped back dramatically.
“Suddenly I feel pathetic preparing for midterms.”
Ye-ji bantered back playfully.
“You’re forgetting something—I’m taking those midterms with you too.”
I’m going to bomb them.
Ye-ji said it definitively, shrugging her shoulders.
Ye-ji was actually grateful that Da-hye didn’t hide her envy or sense of inferiority, but expressed such feelings plainly.
Those emotions only became twisted when suppressed.
“I haven’t even reviewed, let alone prepared. This semester’s grades are going to be a complete disaster.”
Last semester, she’d done advance studying before her memories of her past life returned.
Thanks to that, even while focusing on art, she’d managed enough studying in spare moments to rank as the top student in school.
But this semester?
From summer break through now, since school started.
‘I spent all my time just drawing.’
Even if she studied now, it was uncertain whether she could catch up with where her classmates were.
Was high school life always this hectic?
It was a relentless succession of trials and tribulations—one ending only for another to appear.
Hyun-min, listening to their conversation, exaggerated a nod and spoke.
“That actually sounds likely. Man, Ye-ji, going from top student to last place would be pretty historic.”
“No way I’d actually end up at the bottom though.”
As Ye-ji clenched her fists at Hyun-min’s teasing.
Da-hye’s expression suddenly turned serious as she opened her mouth again.
“Actually, speaking of which.”
At Da-hye’s sudden shift in tone, Ye-ji straightened up.
“I have something to tell you.”

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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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