The Reborn Genius of an Arts High School - Chapter 31

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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 31.
Hyun-min, who had been listening to their conversation, nodded exaggeratedly as he spoke.
“Yeah, that does sound about right. I mean, Ye-ji, going from first in the entire school to dead last would be pretty historic.”
“Still, there’s no way I’d actually end up last, right?”
While Ye-ji clenched her fist in response to Hyun-min’s teasing.
Da-hye suddenly grew serious and opened her mouth again.
“Actually, speaking of that.”
At Da-hye’s sudden shift in tone, Ye-ji straightened her posture as well.
“What if you looked over my work, and in exchange, I helped you with the tutoring I’m taking?”
Da-hye’s proposal came from a direction Ye-ji had never considered.
She herself had reached a point where she could afford to attend academy on her own.
Recently, her work had unexpectedly sold for a high price, giving her some financial breathing room.
But the tutors Da-hye studied under were all top-tier instructors obtained through her parents’ connections and standing as doctors.
It would be beyond Ye-ji’s means to secure teachers of that caliber.
“Your parents are okay with it?”
“Of course! Look at what you’ve done right now.”
Private lessons from a domestic master artist.
Displaying a large work in a prestigious gallery.
And on top of that, selling it out completely.
Plus, the Youth International Competition—she’d passed the first round and was waiting for second-round results.
“If you help me with art, I should be the one saying thank you. Boring classes would be so much better if I attended them with you.”
Da-hye replied as though stating the obvious.
If she was saying it that way, Ye-ji had no reason to decline.
Beyond mere grades, one’s common sense and personal refinement inevitably showed through in one’s learning.
She had no intention of neglecting her studies.
“Alright then, let’s do it that way. I’ll adjust my schedule, so just let me know later.”
At least this way, she wouldn’t end up with shamefully poor grades.
At Ye-ji’s words, Da-hye nodded readily.
By now the classroom had filled with students, and the bell signaling the start of the day rang out.
***
A company chairman actively managing operations proves busier than one might expect.
“The strong performance of luxury boutiques has been continuing recently.”
Of course, Myung-hee was the type who knew her own limits.
She lacked the ability to decide and oversee everything about the businesses she managed.
Instead, Myung-hee excelled at hiring and coordinating the people who assisted her.
In that manner, she was excellent enough not to fall behind any other enterprise.
“It seems to be sales generated by the increase in luxury consumption among younger demographics.”
“As idol ambassadors have proliferated, barriers to entry for younger generations have lowered considerably.”
“This generation tends to enjoy autonomous consumption, independent of the value judgments of the establishment.”

As Myung-hee listened to the management team’s meeting, her thoughts inexplicably drifted to Ye-ji.
Young and green as spring grass, yet possessing a certain subtle depth.
Not that she affected sophistication beyond her years in some affected way.
Regardless of others’ standards or opinions, she judged and decided autonomously.
An attitude born from placing life’s value in present experience.
Difficult for the establishment to understand, yet all new directions emerged from such judgment.
‘That’s exactly what gave her the feel of a bright, capable kid these days.’
Ye-ji was quick to read a room, but she wasn’t the type to cower to it.
She didn’t perform unnecessary gestures for what one might ordinarily call a “big-spending customer.”
Most would seek long-term profit by flattering Hae-yun or herself.
But Ye-ji did not.
Rather than flattery, she simply observed proper courtesy.
Yet this wasn’t arrogance overestimating her own worth—she had a clear grasp of her abilities.
‘Since this is my first work to sell, I’d like to sell it to people who truly appreciate its value.’
Myung-hee found Ye-ji’s words lingering in her memory.
Just as that girl had said.
Setting aside the significance as a gift and the secondary reasons like Hae-yun’s eye for art, looking solely at the work’s appraisal.
That was precisely it.
Enough to purchase one of the Four Seasons.
Her impulse to buy the entire collection was motivated by other overlapping layers of desire.
‘For her to have grasped that…. That’s no ordinary perception.’
This was her first transaction of a work.
Moreover, the total sum involved figures in the hundreds of millions of won.
To venture out alone to such a place and make such a decision and judgment?
‘I really do like her.’
She had proven herself to be no ordinary bet.
Had it not been Ye-ji, Myung-hee would have deemed her parents irresponsible.
But Ye-ji was different.
Her parents simply trusted their child and entrusted matters to her.
With merely a year or two before adulthood, such acumen was more than justified.
Myung-hee, who had briefly drifted into thought, wrapped up the management team’s meeting.
“Shall we identify a marketing direction capable of capturing young customers and discuss it again next time?”
As Myung-hee moved to conclude the meeting, the room quickly organized itself.
Once she set clear direction, the rest of her staff would bring results on their own.
That was what a chairmanship entailed.
Not interference in every detail, but unwavering clarity on direction.
If a superior wavered, uncertain what they even wanted—that was the worst of all.
“Well then, see you at the next meeting.”
The staff filed out with their farewells.
Myung-hee remained in the vast conference room, standing before the window overlooking Seoul’s skyline.
And she stared intently at her phone.
She had given her contact information last Friday.
She’d thought perhaps Ye-ji hadn’t reached out over the weekend, but no message from her had arrived even now.
‘Surely she’ll contact me?’
She was certain the girl was no ordinary case.
The fact that she didn’t seem overly invested in a corporate chairman’s status was refreshingly surprising to Myung-hee.
Conversely, all Ye-ji knew about Myung-hee was that she was a major conglomerate chairman.
Aside from that fact, what kind of person was Myung-hee to Ye-ji?
‘……Just some unknown woman?’
Perhaps a commission from some unknown woman didn’t particularly appeal to her.
If Ye-ji were simply moved by money, she’d have sold all of Four Seasons to Myung-hee at once.
‘No, regardless, she’d at least contact me.’
She was a girl who understood propriety and decorum.
Having exchanged business cards, she’d surely convey her decision directly, even if it was a refusal.
Though their encounters lasted mere fleeting moments, Myung-hee was certain.
Reading and assessing people was her specialty and strength.
Myung-hee held confidence in her judgment of Ye-ji.
‘Whatever she does, she’ll do it properly.’
Myung-hee had spent her life learning business management, so she possessed no expert knowledge of art.
Yet through running department stores and cultural enterprises, she’d formed her own convictions.
The essence of art lies in observing something, feeling aesthetic sense, and being moved to admiration.
Myung-hee believed no one was a complete outsider to aesthetics.
All humanity possesses sufficient aesthetic sense to regard something as beautiful or feel wonder at it.
‘Ye-ji has exactly that sort of talent.’
Ye-ji’s work was beautiful.
Even without elaborate explanation, it was enough to feel that beauty at a glance, to sense that emotion.
And that beauty was constructed with the artist’s clear intention and design.
What the masses perceived as beautiful sufficed, but in truth, that was the hardest thing in the world to achieve.
……
Myung-hee turned and placed a call to someone.
“Hello, Jeong. I trust you arrived safely?”
It was Hae-yun.
She’d only just realized there was a place worth calling out of courtesy as well.
“I was busy over the weekend and didn’t get to reach out.”
[I’m sure you were busy.]
Hae-yun’s typically blunt response came through the line.
Their connection dated back far.
Though she was now a major conglomerate chairman, as a child she’d been an ordinary little thing tagging along after her father.
Among the various people she’d met following her father in those days was Hae-yun.
Because of that, whenever she spoke with Hae-yun, childhood nostalgia would surface, and old speech patterns would slip out.
“In any case, you were probably out having dinner with that precious student Ye-ji that day. You wouldn’t have remembered me anyway.”
Hae-yun didn’t respond.
Silence was affirmation, so Myung-hee laughed lightly.
“Did you head back down to Jeongeup?”
[Of course. Seoul’s too chaotic—my head would split.]
The exhibition opening had gone without incident.
After a few casual remarks, Hae-yun asked.
[So, did it appeal to you?]
The sentence lacked a subject, but it was impossible not to understand what he meant.
He must be asking about Ye-ji’s painting.
“Of course. That’s why I even mentioned making a reservation.”
[And she’s contacted you?]
When Myung-hee didn’t answer immediately, laughter drifted through the line.
At the sound of Hae-yun’s mocking laugh, Myung-hee found herself defending as if making excuses.
“It was an overwhelming proposal. She probably needs time to think.”
[Overwhelming? That girl? Come on. The reason has to be something else entirely.]
It was probably something far more trivial, Hae-yun went on.
[Most likely just that she rests on weekends, that’s all.]
It was a trivial reason, almost absurdly so.
Yet Myung-hee couldn’t help thinking that with a girl like Ye-ji, even that was quite possible.
At the same time, she realized how fond Hae-yun was of Ye-ji.
“So, what do you think? Will she accept my offer?”
[Isn’t it just that you’re doing this to show off to your son? Tsk.]
Hae-yun clicked his tongue at Myung-hee’s words.
[How long are you going to keep him hidden? Not even showing his face once, going around like that?]
This was precisely why Hae-yun was pointedly harsh with Myung-hee.
Despite decades of knowing each other, he had never so much as seen the shadow of her second son’s face.
Of course, it wasn’t only Hae-yun.
Myung-hee’s second son remained unknown throughout politics and business.
In his earliest years, he’d been exposed alongside his older brother, so his existence was confirmed.
But at some point, he had disappeared from view.
“If I were hiding him, I’d be boasting about him instead.”
This wasn’t something Myung-hee had orchestrated.
As a chaebol family member, drawing attention was an inconvenience, a price paid for enjoying privilege.
But her second son’s thinking differed.
One day in elementary school, after learning his home was no ordinary family but a chaebol household.
That boy had consistently wanted to hide his identity in pursuit of an ordinary life.
What could she do if that was his wish?
“Young people these days are like that, I suppose. Their own will is so firm. What can we do but yield?”
Hae-yun seemed to agree.
“In that regard, Ye-ji is quite pleasant to see.”
That stubbornness resembling his son’s.
Young people not yet twenty striving to forge their own paths.
At such times, the answer lay not in imposing direction but in watching and supporting them.
She really was growing old.
When had she acquired such an aging perspective?
“Well, all we can do is wait and see.”
Art necessarily possesses cultural influence.
In that sense, Myung-hee intended to acquire a few pieces of Ye-ji’s work for herself.
The SS Group subsidiary department stores and hotels spanned dozens across the nation, and artistic pieces for their spaces were perpetually in demand.
The numerous department stores, hotels, and buildings her group owned.
Works with a young sensibility were always welcome.
“Seo Tae-gyung must have had quite the upset stomach over this.”
[What can he do?]
Of course, the director of Seohwawon had profited from this work transaction as well, but the possibility of it being a one-time event was high.
Seohwawon remained fundamentally an exhibition space centered on traditional Eastern painting.
Ye-ji’s work teetered precariously on that boundary.
[If he has any sense, he’ll realize he needs to actively search out what young artists are doing these days.]
At Hae-yun’s words, Myung-hee understood.

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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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