Chapter 31

31

* * * *

Early in the morning.

The house was pitch dark. From the bedroom, voices and the light of a lamp seeped out. It was the sound of Baek Myung-hee and Kang Hyun-do preparing for work.

"......Have you ever taught Seok how to do wood carving?"

"Wood carving?"

Kang Hyun-do, who was putting on his socks, shook his head.

"I've never taught him."

"Then how can our Seok be so good at wood carving?"

Is it talent? But that seems strange. Baek Myung-hee, who was sitting at the vanity applying sunscreen, tilted her head.

Seok had consistently attended a sculpture academy since middle school. It seems odd for him to suddenly discover a talent for wood carving now.

The way he handled the tools needed for carving in the warehouse last night was not ordinary, which also raised suspicions.

It seemed as if he knew exactly what was needed for what. A seasoned skillfulness that couldn't be explained by mere talent was evident in Kang Seok.

But if it's not talent, the 'Boramae New Family' sculpture he made for the crib doesn't make sense.

What is it? As Baek Myung-hee pondered in silence, unable to find an answer, Kang Hyun-do smoothly broke the silence.

"Seok was in the Buddha statue making club until he was in the first year of high school. Didn't he learn it then?"

"Oh, right! The Buddha statue making club. Seok was in the Buddha statue making club? Oh, my. Why did I forget that?"

Baek Myung-hee nodded while squeezing more sunscreen.

Now it seemed all the doubts from last night were resolved. That's it. The Buddha statue making club. Cheonghua Arts High School is known for its rigorous and demanding curriculum. If he studied for a year, it's not strange that he knows more than the average person.

"Still, our Seok is amazing. Not everyone who learns becomes good at it."

"That's true."

Baek Myung-hee now turned to face Kang Hyun-do. In the past, she would have quickly left after a brief word, but lately, their conversations have been getting longer.

And Baek Myung-hee didn't mind that.

"Anyway, when Seok moves up to third grade this time, I think I should meet Mr. Jeong Byung-kwon."

"Mr. Jeong Byung-kwon? Why?"

"Why not? Why didn't he believe in Seok more? Sending a kid who's this good to a liberal arts high school is ridiculous. I need to tell him that to his face!"

Baek Myung-hee still vividly remembered that day.

Kang Hyun-do, who rarely drank soju, kept sipping it, while Kang Seok had the online lectures turned up loud in his room, and she was crying silently. The memory still stung her heart.

She wouldn't be satisfied until she got an apology from Jeong Byung-kwon. Baek Myung-hee firmly closed her mouth and looked at Kang Hyun-do.

Kang Hyun-do averted his gaze. While Kang Seok is good now, his art practical scores at that time were terrible.

"Alright. Even if we don't go, there will be parent-teacher meetings every month when he's in third grade. We can talk to him then."

"Really?"

"Yes."

Kang Hyun-do got up to put on his coat. "Why didn't he believe in him more?" As a parent, he couldn't blame anyone for not shouting encouragement and support.

Kang Hyun-do shook his head.

At that moment, Baek Myung-hee, who seemed to have forgotten her anger, walked over to put on her coat and hummed.

"Really, who does he take after to be so good? You. Shouldn't you ask Seok for some tips?"

Kang Hyun-do laughed along with Baek Myung-hee.

"I've already learned the secret."

"Really?"

Baek Myung-hee, with wide eyes, asked. Kang Chae-young's rabbit-like eyes must have come from Baek Myung-hee.

Looking into Baek Myung-hee's large, full moon-like eyes, Kang Hyun-do whispered the secret.

"Seok says......"

Kang Hyun-do recalled the night they carved together, shoulder to shoulder.

– "Seok, how can your hands move so confidently? Huh?"

– "Well......Just wait until you see it, and then cut away everything else."

.

.

.

Crack!

The sound of sawing echoed continuously in the workshop.

The size was enormous, and the hands moving the saw back and forth were strong and fast, producing a sharp, tearing sound. This was to quickly remove the corners except for the parts that would form the sculpture's shape.

After a short while, the last corner fell off with a thud.

If a professional woodworker saw this, they might have asked about his experience, as the cuts were remarkably clean. However, Kang Seok's expression was indifferent.

Kang Seok simply took a deep breath.

He had just cut away eight unnecessary corners. Between the lines drawn with a pencil and the diagonally cut corners, there were gaps and curves.

Kang Seok walked to the workbench and grabbed a gouge. A gouge is a tool used to carve wood by striking it down.

At first glance, it might look like an axe, but unlike an axe, which has its blade parallel to the handle, a gouge has its blade perpendicular to the handle. It resembles a hammer or a hoe.

Kang Seok adjusted his grip on the gouge and struck it down, looking at the pencil lines.

Crack! Crunch!

At the same time, a sound like a large object biting into something erupted.

His movements were mechanical, striking without hesitation but careful not to hit himself.

Kang Seok wielded the gouge with fiery determination.

Crunch!

While it was easier than splitting marble with a single strike, sculpture is an art that doesn't allow for mistakes. Unlike oil painting, where you can add layers, or sketching, where you can erase, there's no room for error in sculpture.

Crack! Crunch!

Kang Seok struck the wood with the gouge at a steady pace, neither too fast nor too slow.

This was to remove parts that would take a long time to refine with a chisel, and also to save time.

The sculpture began to take shape under Kang Seok's relentless hands.

From the front, it began to resemble a triangle, and from the back, a trapezoid. The balance was so well-maintained that it didn't wobble at all.

Kang Seok struck the lower part of the triangle roughly. Crunch! A chunk of wood tore off with a dull sound.

After repeating this dozens or hundreds of times, many parts had fallen off, and a crude shape that suggested something began to emerge.

"Huff."

After bending over for a long time, repeating the mechanical movements, Kang Seok kicked the sculpture aside and straightened his back.

His back cracked as he stood up. Working on the floor to maximize the use of his body's energy, he was quite stiff.

'I should sign up for a gym soon. No, gyms are too expensive. Maybe I should go running instead.'

Whether it's a gym or running, he needed to start exercising. Sculpture, which involves handling rough materials like wood and stone, requires strength and endurance.

Even with modern tools like power drills to assist, it's still the same.

'Machines have clear limits. You can't achieve the delicate and smooth texture with just machines. To create large-scale works, you ultimately need strength and endurance.'

The larger the work, the more grand it becomes, doesn't it?

Imagining himself wielding a hammer and chisel on a marble twice the size of what he handled in his past life, Kang Seok put the gouge down on the table.

He wanted to start the next task immediately, but he had to go to school now.

Kang Seok looked at the wood with lingering eyes and then turned away.

It was time to go. He grabbed his bag. Watching the rising sun and feeling the sweat, he felt a new sense of purpose.

Good.

This is living.

Feeling the sweat drenched in his back, Kang Seok shivered with excitement. It was exhilarating. When he was carving the Boramae birds, he didn't sweat much and felt lukewarm, but now he felt more satisfied.

Anyway, let's go.

Kang Seok stepped out of the furniture store.

Today was the final day of his 12-day journey.

* * * *

Caw, caw!

A white morning. A crow flew up from Go Doo-han's workshop garden.

Go Doo-han, who had glanced at it, straightened his head. The workshop chairs were empty.

Despite this, the smell of pencil lead and wood filled the first floor, perhaps because everyone was working day and night for the upcoming exhibition.

Go Doo-han, familiar with the smell, was watering a pine bonsai when the woman in front of him subtly covered her nose with her collar.

"It's been a while since I smelled this. It's nostalgic."

At the words of the woman in front of him, Seol Yeo-jin, Go Doo-han snorted.

"What do you mean by 'a while'? You said the same thing when you came here three months ago."

"Was it only that long?"

"Yeah, so stop coming by. I'm worried you'll poach more of my people."

Go Doo-han muttered, picking up a brush.

"What have I taken? If you think about it, you always make people feel left out."

Seol Yeo-jin shook her head, as if she couldn't stop him.

If anyone should be shaking their head, it's me. Go Doo-han picked up the brush and drew a line of patience in his heart.

Seol Yeo-jin, the director of the Peony Gallery.

This woman, born into a wealthy family, had grown up like a pampered flower, following the path from a prestigious middle school to a prestigious high school and university. Originally, she was a founding member of Go Doo-han's group.

More precisely, she was one of the first apprentices Go Doo-han took in.

It's hard to believe that a girl who had never done housework in her life was so perceptive, quick to understand, and well-liked by all her peers and juniors.

That was Seol Yeo-jin.

"What do you have to feel left out about?"

While speaking, Go Doo-han almost threw the brush in a fit of anger.

Back then, he thought Seol Yeo-jin, with her delicate eyes, was a truly lovely apprentice.

But Seol Yeo-jin, seeing her peers improve, experienced despair for the first time in her life. The girl, who had never tasted failure, broke her pencil and left Go Doo-han's studio.

– "If I can't do it, I'll take a different path."

The problem wasn't just that she left. Seol Yeo-jin whispered sweet words to a few of Go Doo-han's cherished apprentices, and they left together.

"Damn."

"Why are you cursing again?"

She had stripped Go Doo-han of his resources with just a few words.

Since that day, Go Doo-han called Seol Yeo-jin a witch. A witch who lured his apprentices away with a sweet candy house, like the witch in Hansel and Gretel.

"Are you asking because you don't know?"

"I don't remember doing anything to deserve your curses today, Master."

You call me Master so easily. Go Doo-han looked at Seol Yeo-jin with a complicated expression. It wasn't a look of pure hatred.

He understood the lack of talent.

How thick and solid must that wall of despair have been for her to break her pencil?

From the fact that she ultimately couldn't leave the art world and established the Peony Gallery in Gwanhun-dong, it was clear that she was struggling with broken wings.

Seeing her former apprentice floundering with broken wings made him feel sorry.

Feeling sorry for an apprentice who couldn't rise above despair and also for the other apprentices whose wings she had broken, and feeling sad and regretful for an apprentice who gave up sketching so easily and chose a different path.

It was a complex emotion that couldn't be described with a single word.

Still, he, who always held solo exhibitions at the gallery Seol Yeo-jin ran, was a sentimental master.

'Love and hate go hand in hand.'

Thinking about it, Go Doo-han's preference for talented people, like pearls in the mud, among ordinary people, was largely due to Seol Yeo-jin.

Someone who doesn't need to taste despair.

Someone with extraordinary talent that makes giving up after tasting despair unlikely.

Someone with the potential to bloom if nurtured.

All the opposite of Seol Yeo-jin.

Like Kang Seok.

Go Doo-han tightly closed his mouth. There were many hurtful words, but today, he chose to swallow them.

And with a reluctant frown, he asked,

"So why are you here?"

"Again, you go straight to the point."

"If you're not going to talk, leave."

"Ah, I really don't get along with you, Master."

Seol Yeo-jin sucked on a candy. The pampered flower had long rotted in sugar water. How many candies does she eat every day? Her teeth must be in bad shape.

Go Doo-han clicked his tongue and finished wiping the pine tree.

He was already in a bad mood from not seeing Kang Seok for a while after going to school today, and Seol Yeo-jin's visit only made it worse. Go Doo-han frowned.

His face was so angry that if he had a tail, it would be wagging fiercely.

Seol Yeo-jin, quickly sensing Go Doo-han's worsening mood, quickly handed him a piece of paper.

Indeed, her perceptiveness was faster than a nine-tailed fox. Go Doo-han frowned as he took the paper.

"What's this?"

Seol Yeo-jin twirled her finger in her hair and spoke softly.

"Please pass this to Kang Seok. I wanted to give it to him myself, but it's too early to visit his house in the morning, and going to his school might make him uncomfortable. I thought it would be appropriate to pass it through you."

This time, it's through you, Master.

Go Doo-han, looking at the cunning fox, turned his gaze to the paper.

As he read the paper, his pupils gradually dilated.

"Hey. This is......!"

A mural proposal.

The paper was a proposal from the Peony Gallery to commission Kang Seok for a mural. In other words, it was Seol Yeo-jin's love call.

"Yesterday, after losing the exhibition rights, I did some late research on Kang Seok."

The lollipop moved up and down. Crack. Seol Yeo-jin's teeth bit into the candy, filled with calm anger at herself for not recognizing his talent.

"He did an incredible work."

"......Incredible work?"

What is it? Go Doo-han tried to recall. Did Kang Seok do such a work? At that moment, Seol Yeo-jin, as if saying, "You know," threw out a word.

"Creation of Adam."

"Oh."

The mural Kang Seok created on the 8th floor of the Renaissance Mall. It was incredible. Go Doo-han sometimes goes to the Renaissance Mall to see the mural.

Word has been spreading among art circles, and the mall's popularity has been rising. It seems Seol Yeo-jin found out about it last night.

"If I had known, I wouldn't have let it slip. I would have kept in touch like Professor Park Ji-yeop and you. How could you not tell me, a beautiful apprentice, about this?"

Seol Yeo-jin clenched her fists and pounded her thighs, a gesture of frustration. Crack, crack. The strawberry-flavored candy was being ground down by Seol Yeo-jin's teeth.

"Anyway, please pass this to him."

The gesture, filled with a desperate desire to establish a connection before it's too late, made Go Doo-han nod.

Go Doo-han's eyes were skeptical. He knew Kang Seok was quite busy these days, though he didn't know the details.

He had heard that Kang Seok was taking on a sculpture commission and was working on a human anatomy project with Park Ji-yeop. Would Kang Seok have the time to take on this project?

If you ask me to pass it on, I will, but