The Reborn Genius of an Arts High School - Chapter 43

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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 43.
“You’re going to do it, right? That piece for the director?”
Yeji nodded at Dahye’s question.
Without hesitation, she’d chosen the Canvas.
It meant one thing.
Yeji had already finished conceptualizing what she would paint.
As Yeji squeezed blue paint generously onto the Palette, Dahye asked as well.
“Do you know what you’re going to paint?”
“Yeah. I just need to paint it now.”
Having pulled out the Canvas, Yeji approached Dahye.
They’d exchanged tutoring opportunities for private lessons, but the real reason was friendship.
Yeji wanted Dahye to achieve good results too.
Dahye was ambitious and competitive by nature.
But what was unusual was that she didn’t hunger for first place itself.
Her greatest goal was to improve beyond her past self.
That way of thinking was quite impressive to Yeji.
She hoped to keep such a healthy-minded friend close and maintain their good relationship.
“So, today we should focus on Human Figure Watercolor like what they do in the Practical Exam, right?”
“Yeah! That should work!”
As Dahye prepared Drawing Paper and watercolor Paint, Yeji pulled out her Tablet.
She’d prepared for Dahye in advance, holding such feelings in her heart.
“Today, let’s prioritize establishing the basic structure quickly first.”

Yeji selected a portrait photo similar to those the teacher used during class and displayed it on the Tablet.
The most important thing in drawing the human body wasn’t what appeared immediately to the eye.
The structure of bones and joints beneath the clothing and skin.
Only with understanding of that could one draw natural proportions and stable poses.
The process of finding and selecting photos that showcased such poses became a form of study for Yeji herself.
“Especially you, Dahye—you’re good at matching proportions and balance.”
Moreover, Yeji thought Dahye had considerable talent in Anatomical Expression.
Perhaps inheriting it from her doctor parents, Dahye was skilled in the sciences.
She was strong not in relying on intuition, but in fields requiring precise measurements and theory.
“Rather than focusing pointlessly on watercolor tones, it’d be more effective to emphasize what you do well.”
The natural length of the bones in limbs and the Golden Ratio.
The talent to match such things as if measured with a ruler.
It was a talent even Yeji found difficult to replicate.
It seemed Dahye didn’t realize it herself, so Yeji had mentioned it several times.
Recently, her skill had definitely improved.
She’d begun actively using that aspect herself.
“It’s a part very different from me, but art’s all the same anyway.”
The more you practice, the stronger you become.
Surprisingly, art was a field where effort mattered more than talent.
If you persevered without giving up and continuously refined your craft, effort could eventually overcome most talent.
Dahye’s strength was something Yeji didn’t possess.
Yeji had talent and effort specialized in emotional aspects rather than such calculated painting.
“Anyway, let’s finish this in an hour and move on to the next piece.”
At Yeji’s words, Dahye nodded with considerable determination.
At that sight, Yeji suddenly recalled a distant memory.
Very long ago, sometime. Back when she’d given small instruction to Chloe in her shabby home.
Was Chloe around this age back then…?
‘Would Chloe have seen the piece I submitted to the Art Competition?’
Such a thought crossed her mind, but Yeji quickly shook her head.
The past was merely the past.
Now she and Chloe were just people who’d brushed past each other briefly.
She shouldn’t attach any further meaning to it.
As Dahye’s Pencil began to scratch across the paper, Yeji prepared to start working too.
“…Let me just….”
Yeji laid the Canvas she’d prepared flat on the ground.
She lifted a large bottle of Paint over the Canvas lying on the floor rather than on an easel.
Thick blue oil Paint dripped onto the pristine white Gesso-primed Canvas.
Yeji, having squeezed out a generous fistful, took up a large brush like a paint roller.
Her unflinching hand began to spread the blue Paint across the background, filling it all in.
With the large Canvas laid flat on the ground, she couldn’t stay in one spot.
She shifted direction constantly, filling the Canvas with vivid blue.
Only then did Yeji drop deeper black in patches across the Canvas.
Since she already had the concept fully formed in her mind, there was no need for a Palette.
Black Paint dropped one drop at a time where she wanted added depth.
They blended with the still-wet blue, shifting into a dark, murky blue tone.
Around the one-hour mark.
The Canvas had taken on the appearance of a deep, rippling expanse—like still, deep water.
“…I’m really, really curious about this, but why can’t you just put it on an easel and paint?”
Dahye, who’d been practicing for an hour as Yeji instructed, finally asked the question she’d been holding back.
Yeji had been moving about constantly, changing direction as she painted on the Canvas laid on the floor.
From Dahye’s perspective, it was more than distracting—it was maddening.
Even during school exams, there are always people who get on your nerves.
Thinking of it as a kind of concentration training, she’d held her tongue, but curiosity remained.
Yeji answered Dahye’s question.
“Ah, then Directionality emerges.”
The Impasto technique—applying Paint thickly to create dimension.
It was Yeji’s most confident and frequently used method.
But naturally, thickened Paint settles downward due to gravity.
To prevent that, she laid it flat to work—Yeji’s explanation made Dahye tilt her head further in confusion.
“All works naturally have Directionality.”
Of course every piece has top, bottom, and orientation.
So why was that a problem?
At Dahye’s counterquestion, Yeji herself adopted a puzzled expression.
“…Is it not that obvious?”
A work’s Directionality emerges as the work is being created.
The top, bottom, left, right of a work—such orientation isn’t determined before the piece is made.
It occurs as the artist’s intention guides the brush across the Canvas, forming shapes.
Then what if the intention is for there to be no Directionality?
“I’m planning to create a work without Directionality, so I can’t have the Paint flowing downward.”
She didn’t want unintended gravity creating that sense of orientation.
At Yeji’s words, Dahye’s expression grew confused.
Don’t people generally consider it obvious that artworks have Directionality?
Even abstract pieces gain orientation the moment they’re displayed and hung on a wall.
“Anyway, when you receive the work, you’ll hang it on a wall, right? Once it’s hung, the top and bottom are determined?”
“That—I’m leaving that for the person who receives the work.”
Yeji’s intention was a work without Directionality.
But if the person who purchased the work wished, they could impart that orientation themselves.
Dahye finally looked at the Canvas again with a half-understanding expression.
Like a stilled flow in a quiet underwater landscape, deep blue filled the Canvas completely.
“Are you done with this? You should establish the light and shadow on this side first….”
By then, Yeji had moved positions and offered brief feedback on Dahye’s painting.
Even as Dahye absorbed Yeji’s words, she glanced back at her friend’s canvas.
‘Intention….’
Perhaps she’d been approaching her own work with shallower contemplation than she should?
With that sudden question, Dahye alternated her gaze between her own painting and Yeji’s.
***
The weekend passed, and Monday came around again.
Yeji arrived at School as usual, only to face congratulations from all directions.
“It’s Yeji!”
“Congratulations!”
“So you’re going to France in the summer?”
“Ohhh~ Yeji~!”
Faced with the flood of responses, Yeji could only answer awkwardly.
“Um, yeah. Thanks….”
She hadn’t posted anything on social media about it—where had everyone heard?
She wondered, but the answer was obvious.
“I thought you’d obviously post it on social media!”
“What, was I not supposed to say anything?”
It was thanks to Sehee and Hyunmin, with their loose tongues and wide networks.
If you had to pick the biggest gossip in second year, it’d be Hyunmin, but among the girls, Sehee was no slouch.
Having told both of them the news, it was really just a matter of time before it spread throughout the School.
“No, it’s not that it shouldn’t be said. I was just a bit embarrassed.”
Because of them, the news had already spread around School before Yeji could announce it herself.
Since the overseas trip was scheduled for Summer Vacation, it was unrelated to the academic calendar.
Still, the homeroom teacher kept asking if anything was needed.
If Yeji won an award this time, the School would want a piece of credit.
There was an undertone of wanting to have a hand in it.
“It is pretty annoying though. The School never even tells us about Art Competitions like this.”
After School, at a Cafe in front of the building where they’d gathered to study, Dahye spoke with clear displeasure.
The School was always entrance exams, entrance exams.
Nothing but singing the university song.
They never provided various Art Competitions or opportunities from overseas countries.
For a private high school, how many students got into which universities mattered.
So naturally they’d call such things a waste of time.
“Besides, would anyone who tried make First Round Qualification? Didn’t you say the competition ratio for this Art Competition exceeded 500 to 1?”
Sehee, who’d joined in somewhat by chance, spoke up.
Not everyone who had the opportunity could seize it.
Her point wasn’t wrong, but somehow Dahye wasn’t satisfied.
“That’s exactly why—why does the School draw the line first? There could’ve been more students with potential who didn’t even know about it?”
Yeji agreed with Dahye’s point.
The institution’s fixation on entrance exams didn’t seem appealing.
Of course, the School wasn’t digging holes just for fun….
“Wow, what is this? Seriously delicious.”
Throughout this, Sehee was eating a cake she’d ordered along with her drink, exclaiming in wonder.
She really did have a talent for being bright.
“Oh, but I shouldn’t eat more. The calories are too high.”
Watching her mutter to herself, Dahye also burst into laughter and shook her head.
Nominally they’d gathered to study, but the three with their textbooks didn’t concentrate for long.
They’d probably covered one Korean reading passage.
Dahye, who’d been staring hard at the problem book with her head tilted, suddenly asked.
“So what are you doing over the Summer Vacation?”
At Dahye’s question, Yeji blinked, taking a moment to understand her friend’s intention.
Over the Summer?
“Oh, because the collaboration with Sehee’s uncle and going to the Art Competition overlap?”
As Yeji asked back, Dahye nodded while sipping her coffee.
She hadn’t forgotten the plan to work together with Sungsu over Summer Vacation.
“I already asked my uncle about it, actually.”
Even though the Art Competition was a big opportunity, after all, Sungsu had been the prior commitment.
Yeji had submitted the Canvas, and the First Round Qualification results had come Friday.
She’d reached out early Saturday morning to confirm the schedule with Sungsu, but he hadn’t answered the call.
Sungsu had already left Korea.

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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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