The Reborn Genius of an Arts High School - Chapter 74

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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 74.
At Hae Yun’s question, Hyun Min nodded without hesitation.
“Yes. That’s why I have quite a few things I’d like to ask about.”
Speaking while looking at Han Gyu, Hyun Min appeared both oddly slick and remarkably clear about what he wanted.
The more Hae Yun looked at him, the more he was the spitting image of his mother.
Would Shin Myung Hee, who worried he couldn’t fathom his son’s intentions, know?
That his second son was a carbon copy of himself.
In any case, Hae Yun found Hyun Min’s words quite intriguing.
He’d been planning to offer Ye Ji some advice about assistants anyway.
That girl would inevitably neglect everything else in favor of her work—just like he had.
Moreover, there was something admirable about the way the boy thought.
The second son of a conglomerate family with everything.
That position was the easiest one to slip off the rails from.
A man reduced to second place in so many things by nothing more than the order he was born.
Human greed has no end. Especially not in a conglomerate family with so much to possess.
The struggles between eldest and younger siblings in TV dramas weren’t mere fiction.
Most conglomerates tore themselves apart over such matters, or saw their family bonds shattered entirely.
The late former chairman of SS Group, once Hae Yun’s friend.
Because Shin Myung Hee had been an only child, he’d been spared such worries, yet the birth of two grandchildren had been both a joy and a concern to him.
But amusingly, his second son harbored thoughts like those.
If he were watching from heaven, he would surely be quite pleased.
“A man with such modest ambitions? That won’t do.”
And yet he would certainly have said it that way.
Thinking of his old friend, Hae Yun added another curt remark, and Hyun Min laughed.
“I don’t think it’s that modest, sir.”
Hyun Min’s eyes glimmered with a peculiar light as he spoke.
“You can see for yourself—Ye Ji. Can you even guess what she’ll do, or how far she’ll go?”
Supporting that, backing it up from beside her.
Hyun Min didn’t think that was so modest.
Such geniuses were rare even if you actively sought them out.
And on top of that, his own specialty happened to be something that could help Ye Ji?
“Seizing an opportunity like this—wouldn’t that be true ambition?”
The luxury of being able to live joyfully while not surrendering the quietness of one’s own life.
An indulgence without peer.
Meeting Hyun Min’s gaze, which seemed to hold that conviction, Hae Yun let out a soft laugh.
Now that he looked, it wasn’t just Shin Myung Hee he resembled.
He also bore a likeness to the late former chairman who had elevated SS Group to the dignity of a true conglomerate.
“Peculiar fellow.”
Hae Yun stared at Hyun Min for a moment, then rose from his seat first.
“Your life is your own—do as you see fit. I’m going for a walk! Don’t follow.”
His intention in saying that and leaving was transparent.
He was clearing the way so Han Gyu and Hyun Min could talk at ease.
As a result, Han Gyu found himself seated across from Hyun Min in an oddly awkward mood.
“All right then. Ask me anything you’re curious about.”
***
“(Yes, thank you for your trouble. I’ll be in touch again soon.)”
Ye Ji ended the call from Montrableux and opened her calendar.
It was a conversation confirming that the exhibition date had been finalized for early next year.
Though she was only hearing about it now, the vacant slot in her packed exhibition schedule was no accident.
Remarkably, Chloe had given up her own exhibition dates for Ye Ji.
‘…I should thank her properly.’
That someone from a past connection had grown into a fine adult.
That was a genuinely warming thought.
As Ye Ji held her mobile phone in thought for a moment.
“Ye Ji! Have you been waiting long?”
Da Hye approached with a cheerful greeting.
It finally felt like a proper break day.
Though she’d still need to prepare for the Celian project going forward.
But couldn’t she afford at least one day of leisure?
“If you’re busy, we could just meet at the studio, but here you are anyway.”
And seriously, isn’t this weather crazy?
Hyun Min, who arrived last, grumbled.
High summer heat.
Brilliant sunlight and the sound of cicadas drifting in through the cafe’s glass walls.
Ye Ji picked up her drink glass, beaded with water as the ice melted, and shrugged.
“I prefer to go to the studio only when I’m working.”
A clear separation of workspace helps me concentrate.
Of course, there are people like Sung Su who use the studio for all sorts of purposes.
But Ye Ji still preferred things to be clearly divided.
“I’ve been there, you know.”
At Da Hye’s teasing remark about Hyun Min, Ye Ji burst out laughing.
Last time, when she’d come to see Ye Ji off at the airport, the adults had been there too, so it wasn’t a relaxed atmosphere.
Since they hadn’t been able to chat comfortably that day, the three friends now had plenty to talk about.
The story about Kobayashi in particular captured both friends’ interest.
“That absolute crazy—”
“Ahem….”
Hyun Min covered Da Hye’s mouth before she could get into coarse language out here.
Hearing the full story again in detail, it was an absolutely sordid situation.
It was only thanks to Ye Ji’s exceptionally strong willpower—steel-like, even—that things hadn’t gone worse.
If she’d been an ordinary teenager, she would’ve been a prime target for manipulation.
“Anyway, I fell for her tricks myself, so at least there’s that.”
Whenever people with good backgrounds and the drive to work hard started developing twisted superiority complexes, it always ended up like that.
“I mean, honestly, if you just moderately applied yourself, you could live comfortably off the interest alone—so why do people twist themselves like that?”
Hyun Min found it utterly incomprehensible.
As for Kobayashi, the story ended with the fact that she’d ruined her own work.
After that, the conversation moved on to the friends she’d made there.
Ethan and Lucas, and Elisa too.
As Ye Ji briefly recounted their stories, something occurred to her.
“Oh, that’s right.”
As the conversation naturally extended to the awards ceremony, one worry came to mind.
“I agreed to collaborate with Celian, but I’m nervous about doing it under my own name.”
Though she had won the award in Montrableux this time.
The sudden opportunity to work with a luxury brand came to someone with virtually no other credentials.
Of course, it was a good opportunity.
She was curious about whether her skills would translate in commercial art rather than pure fine art.
But the art world is conservative.
An artist who’d only recently made a name for herself jumping straight into a commercially heavy project wouldn’t look good to many.
If it were the old her, she wouldn’t have thought much about it….
“……?”
At the silence from her friends, Ye Ji belatedly looked up.
Hyun Min, who’d been stealing bites of her cake, froze and stammered out a question.
“What, what? What… where? Where are you collaborating with… where?!”
Da Hye also stopped dead, eyes wide.
Only then did Ye Ji realize.
Oh right. She hadn’t mentioned the Celian meeting at all.
“Oh, that. It’s something I was going to do with Sung Su….”
So where exactly had she failed to mention this?
“Celian? That Celian in the luxury section of the department store we know?”
When Da Hye pressed for a clear answer, Ye Ji nodded awkwardly.
“Yeah, that Celian. That Celian wanted to work with Sung Su, and I kind of ended up joining in.”
Had Sung Su and Celian’s representative heard Ye Ji’s words, they would have both immediately disagreed.
Her involvement wasn’t something that could be described as “kind of ending up joining”—it was a necessary element.
“Wow, that’s really amazing. Wow….”
A collaboration with a luxury brand. Wow….
Da Hye made sounds of admiration while casually reaching for the snacks laid out.
Da Hye, who demonstrated the feat of stuffing an entire plump macaron into her mouth, asked a question.
At her outrageous behavior, Hyun Min shook his head.
“How does that even fit in your mouth?”
Before Da Hye could snatch everything, Hyun Min grabbed a cookie beside him and asked back.
“Anyway, so you’re saying because you’re jumping straight into something like that, it feels awkward?”
“Wouldn’t it? Collaborations mean you take the criticism together too.”
The starting point of this whole project.
Ye Ji’s involvement with Sung Su began with the provision of a safe, comfortable workspace.
Because it was an exchange of favors, Ye Ji didn’t want to impose any burden if she could help it.
Moreover, she didn’t want this project to become the subject of unnecessary gossip because of her.
“Then it’s simple. Use a pen name.”
Hyun Min offered a straightforward solution to Ye Ji’s worry.
Why would you even worry about that?
At what seemed like Hyun Min’s silent question, Ye Ji hesitated this time.
“Oh.”
So that would work?
“Or better yet, do all your commercial activities under a separate pen name. You can’t manage public activities anyway.”
At Hyun Min’s words, Ye Ji shook her head.
It wasn’t that she couldn’t do it to that degree.
“I can manage at least that much….”
“No, you can’t. And honestly, that’s also one of your strengths. Can’t be helped.”
Da Hye even stepped in to quickly counter Ye Ji’s protest.
Because she was that oblivious by nature, she hadn’t fallen for Kobayashi’s scheme in the competition either.
“You don’t even use hashtags when you post photos normally.”
“And I had to tell you what hashtags to use for your works too.”
Hyun Min readily agreed with Da Hye’s point.
Since they were right, Ye Ji had nothing more to say in protest and pouted slightly.
“But now that I think about it, you do get quite a lot of DMs, don’t you? Are you managing those at all?”
Ye Ji didn’t answer Hyun Min’s question in words.
She quietly opened her account’s DM folder and showed it to them.
It had been quieter while she was in France, but recently messages had been flooding in like crazy.
How did everyone even find out?
The moment the news of winning the Montrableux Youth Competition broke, her DM inbox was flooded—interview requests from all sorts of newspapers, inquiries about purchasing her works.
Unwanted contact from strangers filled her DM folder.
And she’d left every single one unread and ignored.
“Wow…….”
“No, with this many coming in, how are you even supposed to know what to reply to and what not to?”
She’d need to pick out legitimate outlets to speak with, not just contact every media outlet and journalist.
The same went for discussions about her work.
But figuring out, one by one, who was contacting her and for what purpose?
That felt to Ye Ji like cruel, repetitive labor.
For her, external activities were mere necessities, nothing more.
The work right in front of her, time with friends and family.
Everything else paled in priority.
Yet in the end, when it came to Ye Ji’s dreams, she couldn’t afford to ignore it entirely.
‘To show my work to many people.’
She had to sell it to some degree, display it, make it known.
If opportunities arose, she’d need to be able to seize them.
“I’m still just a student, so I’m trying to adapt slowly.”
Ye Ji knew her words sounded like an excuse, but there was nothing she could do about it.
Hyun Min, scanning through Ye Ji’s account with its daunting pile of unread messages, looked back at her with a distant expression.
“Just do it. Use a pen name. Especially if you’re going to do commercial work—definitely do it.”
In the industry, people could start saying this kid was rude enough not to even reply.
Better to do commercial work under a pen name where your real identity wasn’t exposed.
Or else….
“Or, how about I just create an account with a pen name and manage it for you?”
After a brief pause, Hyun Min came out with an unexpected proposal.
“I mean, Hyun Min does handle that kind of thing well.”
Da Hye added a word of agreement that it would be better that way.
“Anyway, if he’s wasting time digging around the internet, at least managing your account would be more productive.”
At Da Hye’s blunt, almost harsh remark, Hyun Min let out a hollow laugh.
“Excuse me, I do have to study, you know. Da Hye.”
“Sure, and I’m the pope.”
The banter between the two didn’t quite register with Ye Ji.
Certainly, whenever there was a moment when the power of the internet or information was needed, Hyun Min had always been a great help.
Of course, there was no reason for her to refuse his offer.
“But really, it’s okay? Won’t you lose a lot of time?”
“Oh, are you confident that even with a pen name you’ll become that famous?”
Once he put it that way, there was nothing left to say.
As Ye Ji fell silent, Hyun Min laughed softly and continued.
“So in exchange for me helping you manage that, promise me one thing.”

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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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