The Reborn Genius of an Arts High School - Chapter 63

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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 63.
The Seine River, summer sun sinking toward the horizon.
Ye Ji and Elisa met before the sunset beyond the Eiffel Tower.
“(Thanks for making time for me.)”
Before darkness fell entirely.
Ye Ji nodded at Elisa’s cautious demeanor.
“(No, don’t worry. You must have a lot on your mind.)”
The fact that she’d resolved to stand up for Ye Ji meant something.
Whether or not it actually helped, that intention mattered.
At Ye Ji’s remark, which seemed to catch something she hadn’t said, Elisa gave a rueful smile.
“(You already know what I’m about to tell you, don’t you?)”
She could guess the general shape of it.
Though she had some intuition, she didn’t actually know for certain.
Ye Ji shook her head.
“(Not exactly.)”
At Ye Ji’s answer, Elisa got straight to the point.
“(Kobayashi has been telling strange things about you around the competition.)”
Ah.
Ye Ji let out a light sigh.
In the days she’d been absorbed in her work.
Kobayashi seemed to be constantly trying to mingle with the other participants.
She’d have had plenty of opportunity to spread gossip in the gaps.
“(She’s been saying that maybe you knew the theme in advance because you’re close with the kids from the first group, and….)”
Elisa frowned as she continued speaking.
How should she phrase this?
She looked troubled, but in the end, there was no good way to soften it.
After all, English was the language Ye Ji and Elisa used when they spoke.
Since it wasn’t Ye Ji’s native language, Elisa stated it bluntly and concisely.
“(She’s saying you’re acting superior, looking down on the other participants, and not trying to fit in with anyone.)”
At Elisa’s words, Ye Ji burst into laughter without thinking.
“(Ridiculous, I know. But that’s really what’s being said.)”
At that, Elisa sighed and continued.
“(She didn’t say it in exactly those words, but that’s how the other kids are interpreting it.)”
She could see the shape of the situation well enough.
The first evening, at dinner.
Recalling Kobayashi, whom she’d observed briefly there, made it easy to understand.
A smiling face and kind tone, a gentle manner.
But beneath that mask, her words and actions had a subtle edge.
She’d probably spun things to favor herself.
Ye Ji had turned down Kobayashi’s offer to have dinner together twice now.
She would have kneaded those facts skillfully to paint herself as the wronged party.
‘Ye Ji doesn’t want to eat dinner with us.’
‘She seems to get along fine with Ethan from the first group, though.’
‘Well, you’d need to be at that level to fit in with someone like her, right?’
With subtle phrasing like that, she’d made people misunderstand.
“(She worded it in a way that’s easy to deny she meant any malice, didn’t she?)”
When Ye Ji asked for confirmation, Elisa nodded.
“(Exactly. That’s precisely how it went.)”
People who spread rumors this way weren’t unfamiliar to her.
Somehow, Ye Ji found her thoughts drifting to the past.
‘Julian used to be exactly like that.’
Of course, back then she wasn’t very sociable and had a rather sharp edge to her.
Though her manner was like that, she’d never spoken badly of anyone or slandered them.
But Julian had distorted that reality, twisted it in his favor, and spread rumors about her.
Back then she’d been an adult, and the viciousness and scope of those rumors were far worse.
Compared to that, being called arrogant was child’s play.
“(So that’s why the kids have been acting that way toward you these past few days…. It’s not your fault, and I hope it hasn’t interfered with your work.)”
“……Hmm?”
While Ye Ji was lost in thought, Elisa said something that seemed odd.
Ye Ji didn’t understand what Elisa meant at first.
She had no choice but to ask for clarification.
‘Acting that way?’
Who had been treating her badly, and how?
At Ye Ji’s confused expression, Elisa hesitated.
“(The other kids…… haven’t been treating you badly…. You really didn’t notice?)”
Elisa seemed just as bewildered at Ye Ji’s blank look.
In these past few days, if someone had been treating her badly….
“Ah…….”
Now that she thought about it carefully, there were a few things that seemed off.
As Ye Ji recalled various incidents, she answered in a slightly deflated voice.
“(Are you talking about how my water bottle went missing, and they wouldn’t hold the door for me, and they shared snacks without including me…. Things like that?)”
At Ye Ji’s words, Elisa started to say something but clamped her mouth shut.
Those were just a few of the things that had happened over the past several days of work.
Small, trivial acts.
The kind you could dismiss if you didn’t pay attention—but how easy was that really?
When incidents like these repeated among peers, it’s usually called bullying.
Isolating a person mentally, mocking them, bonding as a group against them—a cowardly act.
With each repetition, Elisa’s heart grew heavier.
Yet at the memory of it, Ye Ji let out a soft laugh.
“(First of all…. Thanks for telling me. But honestly, I don’t really care about that stuff.)”
If something like this had happened at school, it would’ve bothered her.
But the situation now was entirely different.
Only two days left in the Art Competition.
They couldn’t make her uncomfortable beyond this point.
If they did anything so blatant that it hurt their own evaluations, it would damage the competition itself.
Kobayashi’s behind-the-scenes maneuvering was far too light to warrant such risk.
At most, she’d made herself seem unlikable—that was all.
“(Besides, we’re not going to see each other long-term anyway.)”
So Ye Ji truly didn’t mind.
As long as they didn’t touch her work.
This level of psychological gamesmanship was something she could dismiss as just rivalry tactics in a competition.
But that was only her acceptance of it.
“(Of course, just because I’m okay with it doesn’t mean Kobayashi’s actions are forgiven.)”
The children who’d been swayed by her weren’t entirely blameless, but Kobayashi was the worst.
Ye Ji looked out toward the Eiffel Tower, its orange hues growing fainter.
Kobayashi Ai.
The one who orchestrated this situation.
She had clear guilt.
Surprisingly, hate is something people invest a great deal of energy into.
To think the girl did this as mere one-dimensional rivalry against Ye Ji was a shallow reading.
As Ye Ji saw it, this was designed to disrupt everyone in the competition.
‘Because that’s gotten everyone to pay attention to me.’
Elisa was the prime example.
She’d spent these past days unable to focus on her work, her attention pulled to the whispers surrounding Ye Ji.
Kobayashi Ai had simply used Ye Ji’s reputation as bait.
She’d scattered the concentration of all her competitors.
When Ye Ji shared this reasoning briefly with Elisa, anger flushed her face red.
“(But for now, let’s leave it alone.)”
Watching Elisa’s reaction, Ye Ji spoke with ease.
The sun sinking, the heat easing slightly.
Leaning back against the Bench where she sat, Ye Ji spoke with leisure.
“(There’s that saying, isn’t there? If you wait long enough, you’ll see your enemy’s corpse float past.)”
After hearing Ye Ji’s words, Elisa took a deep breath.
She was completely right.
It would only hurt her to dwell on it further.
The way to avoid playing into Kobayashi’s hands was to be as indifferent as Ye Ji and let it pass.
To act meek while manipulating the other participants like that.
The attitude Kobayashi displayed—as though she stood above all the other competitors—was truly repellent.
‘(She really is angry.)’
Elisa’s feelings came through clearly in her expression.
“(Don’t worry about it. Just focus on your work.)”
Ye Ji continued, as if to soothe her.
“(We came here to paint, after all.)”
This was the moment to focus on the purpose she’d come to Paris for.
Hearing Ye Ji’s words, Elisa managed to compose her expression and smiled softly.
“(You seem so much more mature than me.)”
“(It’s Eastern wisdom.)”
Ye Ji laughed and answered her jokingly.
It was a point well-taken, but ultimately something only she would know.
With a lighter heart, Elisa nodded.
“(I called you to help me, but it feels like I ended up being the one helped.)”
At Elisa’s words, Ye Ji shook her head.
Kobayashi was seriously mistaken about something.
“(I see us as colleagues before we’re competitors.)”
To someone desperate to win this Art Competition, it might seem presumptuous.
But Ye Ji meant it sincerely.
In the end, art couldn’t exist in isolation.
A peer in the same profession carried real weight.
Unless one abandoned the field entirely.
We are destined to remain intertwined throughout our lives.
Even if we compete briefly now over selection, that was a mere instant against the span of those years.
“(……Thank you for saying that.)”
At Ye Ji’s words, Elisa sat quietly gazing at the sky, somewhat moved.
Then, as if on impulse, she offered her hand.
“(In every sense of the word, let’s continue to do well together.)”
Perhaps she really would gain one true friend from this Art Competition.
Ye Ji clasped her hand.
“(Are you heading back to the Hotel now?)”
“(Ah, I think I’ll stay out a bit longer to get some air.)”
Elisa looked disappointed, but Ye Ji wanted a moment alone to walk and collect her thoughts.
Watching Elisa’s retreating figure as she headed back to the Hotel, Ye Ji found her thoughts circling back.
She’d told her not to worry and to let it go….
‘But really, it’d be hard to just leave it at that.’
Ye Ji took a light breath.
The wind by the riverside at sunset was fairly cool.
Not a sentiment that paired well with such beauty, but there it was.
“…….”
She really didn’t want to leave Kobayashi alone.
She’d never been the magnanimous type to begin with.
Even if she were the kind whose corpse drifts away on its own.
‘It’s better to make it drift away sooner.’
With that decision made, Ye Ji brushed off her clothes and stood.
***
Hyun Min was leisurely passing the time at his computer.
Most people his age would spend time gaming, but Hyun Min was different.
He had something more interesting than games.
Specifically, researching information about people in the art world.
Of course, being the son of a conglomerate, he naturally heard certain things.
The information that accumulated stayed with him like experience points, and based on that, the works he purchased soared in value in the near future.
The saying “you see as much as you know” was as true as anything.
And with the capital to act on what he could see, he’d been born equipped with that from the start.
So how could games possibly be entertaining?
[Ye Ji: By the way, do you guys know]
[Ye Ji: This Art Competition I’m in]
[Ye Ji: Is there someone named Kobayashi Ai among the participants?]
At the sudden notification on his mobile phone, Hyun Min shifted his gaze to just check the alert.
It was the group chat with Da-he and Ye Ji.
With his hands resting on the keyboard, Hyun Min immediately began searching for information about someone named Kobayashi Ai.

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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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