Chapter 17

17

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In a dark alley, Xiaoming leaned on an old street lamp, its light dim and dusty, and dragged his bicycle along.

Clunk, clunk, a few unpolished stones and the thick leaves of the camellia tree were crushed under the bicycle wheels on the uneven path.

Jangseok turned the bicycle handle and emerged from a side alley. A familiar scene unfolded before him. It was the backyard of Seok’s Furniture Store. Jangseok dragged his bicycle to a spot slightly away from a roughly parked truck and swung his leg over.

The kickstand of the parked bicycle made a clunking sound as it lowered.

Jangseok, having loosely locked the bicycle wheel, turned away without hesitation.

Thud, thud. A moment later, his shadow fell on the glass window of the back door, the only source of light in the dark backyard not illuminated by the street lamps.

At the same time, the doorknob turned, and the door opened.

“You’re here.”

Ding, the wind chime attached to the back door jingled. As he turned his eyes to look for his parents who should be in front of the furniture store, a sound leaked from a closed room inside.

The voices were not of just two people. Though the sound was small, it was lively and fast.

‘Who’s come to visit?’

Next to the workshop, the innermost room of the furniture store was where his father, Jang Hyundo, and his mother, Baek Myunghui, chatted and rested when there were no customers.

Jangseok’s steps naturally headed in that direction. Having been taught to greet elders when he arrived, Jangseok opened the door.

As soon as he opened the door, he saw the familiar face of Baek Myunghui.

“Mother, I’m here.”

“Oh...! Is that Jangseok?”

Baek Myunghui turned her head to the left in response to the greeting. Following her brightened face, Jangseok’s gaze naturally turned as well. There, he saw his father, Jang Hyundo, Jang Chae-young, and an unfamiliar face.

“Father.”

“Yeah.”

After greeting Jang Hyundo, Jangseok nodded at Jang Chae-young. As he slightly bowed to the face he couldn’t quite remember, a voice reached him.

“Jangseok Oppa, it’s been a while.”

“Yoon Yuran. Do you remember?”

Jang Chae-young’s brief introduction followed.

Yoon Yuran?

Ah, the closest friend of Jang Chae-young, whose name he had heard so often it was etched in his ears. She must have come to visit. Jangseok nodded casually.

“Hello. Enjoy your visit.”

“Y-Yes...? Yes! Of course!”

Yoon Yuran’s expression was unusually bright, as if she were greeting a close friend’s older brother, but that wasn’t Jangseok’s concern.

“Have you eaten?”

“I’m fine. I’m not hungry.”

“Really? But it’s dinner time... Oh, right, you started drawing today, didn’t you? How was it?”

It was a question about the figure drawing. Under his mother’s watchful gaze, Jangseok rolled his eyes. Was it fun? He didn’t ponder for long. Jangseok’s head nodded up and down.

“It was fun.”

It was fun. Quite a bit.

A slight smile formed on Jangseok’s lips, and the corners of Jang Hyundo and Baek Myunghui’s mouths also curved softly. Their expressions conveyed that it was enough that Jangseok had enjoyed it.

“That’s good. But why are you at the furniture store? Did you forget something?”

Ah, Jangseok nodded. In fact, Jangseok, who usually would have walked home, had a reason for coming to the furniture store.

“I need to look for something in the workshop storage.”

The workshop storage. More precisely, he was interested in the miscellaneous items inside the storage.

This place, Seok’s Furniture Store, was originally a workshop set up with the money Jang Hyundo had earned by working as a part-time teacher and carpenter in his youth.

The rent was cheap not only because it was in a remote location but also because the contract had been signed a very long time ago.

Over the years, traces of Jang Hyundo’s younger days had accumulated here.

These traces could be found throughout the furniture store, and one of them was the storage inside the workshop.

At first glance, it seemed like a storage room filled with miscellaneous items. Inside, there were things that the young Jang Hyundo, who had a lot of material desires and was full of enthusiasm, had bought while restraining himself from buying things he wanted to eat or have.

Therefore, for Jangseok, who couldn’t buy materials at will, the furniture store’s storage was like a treasure box.

“Ah, do you want me to help you look?”

“No, it’s fine. But Father, are there any materials in the storage that I shouldn’t use?”

“The storage?”

“Yes. I need to look for some materials for a piece I’m submitting to Mr. Go Doo-han’s solo exhibition... Is there anything I shouldn’t touch?”

“Hmm? There’s nothing you shouldn’t touch. Take whatever you need.”

To Jang Hyundo, the storage was just a place to store things that were too valuable to throw away but had no practical use. Since it had been untouched for so long, he would welcome it if Jangseok used something.

“I understand.”

“Oh, if it’s Mr. Go Doo-han’s solo exhibition... You mean the drawing exhibition?”

“Yes. The theme of this drawing exhibition is...”

At that moment, Yoon Yuran, who had been listening to Jangseok’s conversation with his parents, opened her eyes wide. She then poked Jang Chae-young, who was reading a manga, and whispered.

“Did you hear? He’s submitting a piece...! Your brother is participating in some kind of exhibition?”

“I... don’t really know... Is that so?”

Jang Chae-young responded casually while flipping through the pages. A new volume of a long-awaited manga had just been released, and her attention was completely on the book.

“I’ll ask him later.”

Don’t interrupt. Jang Chae-young grabbed a handful of snacks, and Yoon Yuran nodded vigorously.

“Yes! If so, we should go too, so let us know in advance.”

“Us?”

“Yes! If the number one and number two fans don’t go, who will?”

Huh? Jang Chae-young looked at Yoon Yuran with a puzzled expression. When did I become a fan...?

“I’ll go then.”

“Okay.”

“Sure.”

While Yoon Yuran and Jang Chae-young were bickering, the conversation seemed to have ended, and the door clicked shut.

“Oh...!”

While Yoon Yuran looked at the closed door with a regretful expression, Jang Hyundo, who was peeling a tangerine, tilted his head in confusion. He turned to Baek Myunghui and asked.

“But what materials does he need for a drawing piece?”

“Huh? Oh, really?”

Jang Hyundo and Baek Myunghui looked at each other.

‘What materials?’

‘What materials?’

As regret and confusion crossed in the inner room, Jangseok slipped into the workshop next door. With his father’s permission, he had no hesitation.

Jangseok’s feet quickly moved towards the storage in the corner of the workshop.

Clunk. The sound of the door opening echoed in the empty furniture store. At the same time, a musty smell seeped through the door crack.

The smell of dust and dry air, mixed with the scent of coffee grounds and phytoncides placed by his mother, created a unique, lake-like aroma.

‘It’s been a while.’

Jangseok’s hand felt along the storage. Passing the flashlight placed next to the door, he touched the switch inside.

Click. A small bulb on the ceiling lit up. Despite the flickering, it didn’t hurt his eyes, suggesting it was almost at the end of its life.

Even if it didn’t, the small bulb on the storage ceiling couldn’t illuminate the entire space with the items piled up everywhere. Jangseok used his phone’s flashlight to light up the storage.

Boxes stacked from the floor to the ceiling were revealed.

Despite filling three walls with angle shelves, boxes still protruded from the floor, giving an idea of how many boxes were in the storage.

The flashlight illuminated design markers and oil paints. Various materials that his father, who worked in sculpture, didn’t need filled the space.

Although the necessary items for sculpture and the pencils and erasers for drawing, which he had used up since middle school, were gone, this place was like an art supply store to Jangseok.

‘Where could it be?’

Jangseok stepped further into the corner, moving the pile of boxes on the floor. His eyes scanned the angle shelves.

What Jangseok was looking for today in the storage was colored pencils, specifically wax-based oil pastels, Prisma.

Prisma. The cores are soft, but the wax base gives them excellent color and density.

He wasn’t looking for them to color with. He was drawing a sketch, after all.

‘It has to be a sketch for the drawing exhibition.’

However, he didn’t force the color of the pencils. He just wanted to use a different color for the sketch. It was especially necessary for this piece.

Jangseok’s memory superimposed the scene he had seen earlier.

The sky where red and blue fought fiercely for their place.

To express this, what he was looking for was appropriate. Jangseok’s hands and eyes moved around. Since the next day was the weekend and his first visit to Go Doo-han’s studio, he had to find it today.

‘Where did he put it?’

Since colored pencils are needed for sketching, they should have been placed in a visible spot... Thinking this, Jangseok turned around. At that moment, a can rattled as a box shifted.

‘Huh?’

Can. The Prisma Premier colored pencil case was made of metal. Jangseok’s body turned towards the sound.

“I found it.”

The Prisma colored pencils in the metal case were revealed. When he opened the lid, the plastic display stand was missing, and the pencils were bundled by color with thick rubber bands.

Things have improved a lot.

Compared to his previous life, tools like Posca pens and colored pencils were easily accessible to art students. Technology had made life easier, and it seemed to apply to the realm of art as well.

While thinking this, Jangseok reached into the corner of the storage. To prevent mold, the storage was filled with paper and newspapers.

So, he could easily get paper from anywhere. When Jangseok brought his hand back, a few faded papers were stuck between his fingers.

‘Let’s see.’

Jangseok drew a line on the yellowed paper. A vivid color popped up on the faded paper. Red. It was as vivid as if he had drawn a red line on the floor.

The color was so vivid it penetrated the dusty paper. He liked it. Maybe he should draw something. Jangseok drew a few lines.

Each time he drew, the line on the paper transformed into a clear image, like a pomegranate seed bursting. It was the back of his father, who was working in the workshop. Just as Jangseok was about to start drawing seriously, recalling that moment,

“Jangseok!”

“Jangseok Oppa!”

A voice came from the crack of the storage door, which wasn’t fully closed. It sounded urgent.

What’s going on?

Jangseok quickly got up.

However, the storage door opened faster. In the light flooding in, what filled his vision was a phone.

“Oppa! Look at this! I just got a DM on Instagram...! You have to see this!”

Instagram? DM?

Jangseok took the phone.

Jangseok’s eyes widened.

A new sculpture on the account? If it was new, one thing came to mind. The cradle with high relief he had made with his father before winter break. As far as he knew, it was the only new sculpture in the furniture store.

Could it be?

Jangseok pressed the left arrow to enter the account that received the DM. It was the Seok’s Furniture Store account.

It seemed to be an account set up for promoting the furniture store. At the top of the account was a photo, presumably taken recently in the workshop.

It was the cradle he had repaired. It seemed the photo had been posted on the Seok’s Furniture Store account.

“When did you...”

Jangseok’s question was left unfinished.

Because of the number of likes on the photo of the cradle.

493 likes.

While he wasn’t very familiar with Instagram, it was a high number. Considering the account wasn’t well-known, it was a sufficiently high number for a single photo.

Compared to the past, it was like a small firefly’s attention, but Jangseok’s mouth tightened. It was the first time in this life that he had received recognition from so many people.

Even if it was just likes, it was meaningful. As Jangseok stared at the number of likes, Jang Chae-young’s phone buzzed again.

The face of the person sending the DM was familiar.

Huh? Jangseok’s thumb moved to the other person’s profile. When he pressed it, the account linked.

The first thing Jangseok saw was text.

Professor Lee Min-hyuk from the Department of Linguistics at Korea University.

A professor who had read and translated Dante Alighieri’s work 100 times over 40 years and was recently gaining popularity on TV.

Jang Chae-young’s lips curved into a wide smile, finding it amazing that someone who often appeared on TV had contacted her.

“Professor Lee Min-hyuk wants to commission Oppa!”

18. A sky as white as the snow that fell at dawn