The Reborn Genius of an Arts High School - Chapter 87

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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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Chapter 87.
“Wow.”
Young-o surveyed the scene and could only exhale in wonder, unable to form words.
The site was worse than expected.
Of course, the original setup had been a disaster in its own way….
“Think we can pick this up tomorrow?”
At any rate, today had ended well enough.
Over the course of a single day, the Art Department’s booth had been, quite literally, packed.
Word had spread properly after the first few groups fled in alarm.
Many students had left looking forward to coming back tomorrow.
Young-o’s words were met with sighs from the students.
Just two days for the festival.
To wrap things up after only one day felt like such a waste….
“Still, we got through without anyone getting hurt, so that’s something.”
“There were definitely a few kids who thought their hearts stopped.”
“As long as they didn’t!”
Young-o’s cheerful remark helped ease the mood a little.
Ye Ji recalled the first-year students who had come back about ten minutes earlier, realizing the havoc they’d created.
‘Oh no, what do we do….’
‘We’re so sorry! We’re really so sorry!’
Even the culprits seemed ready to kneel in apology, aware they’d made a serious mess.
It was hard to blame them in a situation like this.
If anything, you could say they’d been too good at being scared.
‘It’s fine, go help with promotion instead.’
With no other choice, she’d sent the first-years off with the cool demeanor of a good senior, but.
“I’m not even sure we should be promoting this.”
The problem remained unsolved.
The highlight of the Escape Room was the painting hanging in the final chamber—Ye Ji’s work.
A pair of enormous eyes that seemed to burst through the classroom wall, dominating the space.
There was an unsettling quality to those vast eyes watching the students unlock the final safe.
That eerie dread induced genuine fear in them.
But the bottom of the painting was smashed to pieces.
Even though it was a light table the first-year had knocked over, the painting had been done on thin plywood.
There was no way the flimsy plywood could withstand the impact of the table crashing into it.
“There’s no way to fix this, is there?”
“Doesn’t seem like it….”
At Ye Ji’s question, Dong Ha also clutched his head in anguish.
A mangled painting wouldn’t feel scary anymore.
Especially since the lower part of the eye painting had cracked, distorting even its form, making it all the more ambiguous.
“I can’t ask you to repaint this today.”
Ye Ji sighed briefly at Dong Ha’s words.
Touch-ups might have been possible, but….
Ye Ji, still thinking, asked Dong Ha again.
“The point of this was to create pressure on survivors while they enter the safe code, right?”
Right?
Ye Ji asked Dong Ha once more about the intent of the scene direction.
Dong Ha watched the situation seriously, nodding, then glanced sideways at Ye Ji.
“…Do you have some kind of idea?”
Ye Ji nodded.
“We stocked up on materials generously.”
Ye Ji recalled the advice she’d heard from Ethan earlier.
Amateur performances by students for students.
Following his advice that they rarely go without problems, Ye Ji had spoken up in advance.
They’d decided to secure enough backup materials to handle any situation that might arise.
It was possible, after all, since the entire festival booth was structured around practical training materials.
“The human figurine models that the Sculpture Department brought—there are still a lot left, right?”
At Ye Ji’s words, one of the Sculpture Department students gathered to the side answered.
“Yeah! We can bring more too.”
“Then let’s bring all of them. We still have extra waterproof tarps, right?”
As Ye Ji asked again, Dong Ha nodded.
“Yeah, we have more. You were the one who said to bring plenty of everything….”
Dong Ha paused mid-answer, as if remembering something.
Waterproof tarps and leftover human figurine models….
A concrete image forming in his mind, Dong Ha clapped his hands together and gestured.
“Hey, Park Da Hye. Go grab whatever paint’s left.”
“Oh? Okay. Kang Hyun Min, help me out?”
“Yeah, sure.”
Young-o raised her eyebrows as the students suddenly burst into coordinated motion.
They’d spent days together decorating classrooms, and now it was clear they understood each other without words.
“What is it? Tell us too. What are you planning?”
Ye Ji answered Young-o’s question.
“Well, it’s like… this way….”
Like this…!
Ye Ji looked around, wanting to draw something to show them, her hands opening and closing.
Right then, Dong Ha beside her quickly handed over the back of a document and a pen.
Ye Ji immediately began sketching lines on the blank paper.
“I thought we could use that broken crack.”
The overall frame of the large eye painting Ye Ji had drawn wasn’t completely destroyed.
What had broken from the impact was specifically the lower portion.
Ye Ji sketched this roughly on the paper, then added lines below it in rapid succession.
As several more lines were added, it began to look like dozens of human figurine models stacked below the pupil.
Stacked heads, torsos, hands and legs….
“What if we pile them up and stage it like they’re pouring out?”
A peculiar exclamation burst from the students listening to Ye Ji nearby.
Their reaction mixed derision with admiration at the grotesque imagination.
“We can get a table easily enough, right?”
Completely changing everything at this point would definitely be inefficient.
But if they maintained the original staging while making the sense of revulsion even stronger….
As Ye Ji showed them the sketch, everyone rose to their feet.
They all held the same image in their minds now.
“Hand models! Get all the hand models. Bring more!”
“We have tons at our academy!”
“Hey, should we go grab them?”
Without Ye Ji saying more, everyone moved as one in purpose.
Once they’d all imagined the same vision, each found their role and filed out of the classroom.
All day today, the Art Department’s booth had been unanimously a success.
‘That was really scary, you guys.’
‘Yeah, I’m coming back tomorrow.’
Sincere recognition from their peers.
Energized by this, without exception, all her friends began moving with true enthusiasm.
Students from other departments had finished their first day and were either heading home or cleaning up their own booths.
But the Art Department gathered again, putting their heads together.
“Wouldn’t it be better to just bend the legs more?”
“Let’s add another hand here too.”
The students who had carefully laid out the waterproof tarps began stacking various materials on top.
“What if we paint more eyes?”
“Oh, that’s good. You guys want to paint more over there?”
“What if we just completely detach the upper body heads?”
“No, no. How about we break them instead of removing them?”
“This side? The left head? We’re breaking it?”
……The conversation wasn’t exactly pleasant to overhear.
Yet paradoxically, everyone sat gathered with bright faces and excited enthusiasm, offering ideas one by one.
Their intensity was such that Ye Ji couldn’t find an opening to say anything.
Suddenly, Ye Ji thought back to when she’d first enrolled at Cheonglim Art High School.
Art students prepare for university entrance starting in middle school.
This was a place where students who’d survived such fierce competition gathered.
The prevailing atmosphere was that everyone saw each other as implicit rivals.
But lately, she’d begun to feel they were becoming true friends.
Perhaps it was because she herself was no longer bound by that comparative evaluation.
“How about this?”
Caught up in the excitement, Young-o was joining in naturally.
Eyes distinctly different from the surroundings, rendered so realistically they seemed to crawl under your skin.
As Young-o painted them, her friends around her recoiled in horror.
“Ugh, that’s too good!”
“Teacher! If you draw like that, what happens to my eyeballs?”
“Dull, murky eyeballs have their own charm, you know.”
Watching them joke and laugh among themselves, Ye Ji reflected.
Everyone was now sharing memories and friendship together, unlike before.
This wouldn’t be just her own illusion.
Though an unexpected situation had emerged, it was hardly a problem.
Materials, time, and good-natured hands ready to help.
Nothing was beyond repair.
***
The final day of the Cheonglim Festival, which was the second day.
Usually, what trended on social media were videos from the Practical Music Department or Dance Department.
Even short clips of dancing and singing that carried different intensity and technique drew attention.
But this time was different.
-Aaaaaahhhhh!
Videos of students screaming and collapsing flooded social media tagged with Cheonglim Festival.
Visitors to the booth had filmed their reactions on their mobile phones and posted them.
Though the focus wavered, the deliberately shaky footage actually made the Art Department’s booth seem even more realistic.
Dance Department students in zombie makeup contorted and lunged forward.
All manner of paintings rendered in strange red and blue lighting.
Students shrieking and overreacting amid it all.
Videos shared where they teased each other’s reactions began uploading to social media—it was becoming a phenomenon.
And that buzz began spreading beyond the school, reaching the outside world.
[This was made by students??]
[What’s the quality tho]
[Schools can do that? Those kids are gonna have heart attacks]
[This looks so fun]
[I wish I’d gone to Cheonglim Art High….]
[Not like you can just go to any school you want]
[Kids who study well play well too….]
A particularly theatrical scream from a male student rode the algorithm far and wide, drawing countless comments.
The school’s official account didn’t miss the opportunity either.
They posted about the Art Department booth with the tone: This is what students do at Cheonglim Festival!~
What drew everyone’s attention in particular was the final room’s staging.
The enormous eye painting Ye Ji had drawn on the first day, overwhelming in scale and vividness.
People were amazed that it had transformed in just one day.
The pupil now broken open, and from it bursting forth a massive cluster of human figurine models.
[Wow, what’s the direction? So grotesque.]
[Wait, it’s different from yesterday? I gotta come back today.]
The result, touched by every Art Department student’s hand, became a phenomenon in multiple ways.
“At this rate, isn’t our department the star of Cheonglim Festival?”
Hyun Min said it with confidence, and no one could argue.
The Art Department’s booth had undoubtedly become the center of attention.
In the end, they ran past the scheduled time and had to continue operating right up until the very last moment before breaking down.
Moreover, the second day’s schedule extended late, unlike the first day.
Tonight there was a performance at Yerim Art Center.
Though it was time for departments that could showcase on stage, there were also special performances from senior alumni who’d become idols or musical actors.
Because of this, students working late would sometimes pop out to watch.
The Art Department students, who had to maintain their booth until just before the performance, moved together to the venue.
“All the good seats are probably taken already!”
Da Hye rushed ahead, saying she’d claim a spot, and you could see her retreating back.
Watching her go, she suddenly remembered last year around this time.
When her work had been displayed at Yeonsilzong.
Anger, vindictiveness, stubbornness.
She’d had to resurrect her damaged artwork while feeling emotions like those.
But now she was savoring the incomparable moment of youth.
“Those Art Department kids, huh.”
“What? Why didn’t you wipe off the makeup?”
“Hey! Look at those guys!”
As the Art Department entered Yerim Art Center without removing their stage makeup, a small commotion erupted.
The friends from the Dance Department club who had the most grotesque makeup were nearly monopolizing all attention.
While teachers made faces, what teenage students wouldn’t raise a little mayhem once in a while?
As if celebrating an early Halloween, everyone enjoyed the chaos until the performance started.
As everyone bustled about trying to secure front seats.
Ye Ji suddenly stopped, catching sight of Kang Yura sitting quietly alone in the back.

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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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