Chapter 38

* * * *

“Hey... Teacher. Do you remember me?”

Kim Yunseo quickly approached Jo Dongbeom.

“Of course I remember you, Yunseo. It’s been a while.”

“Yes, it really has been a while.”

Kim Yunseo quickly checked Jo Dongbeom. He was dressed in work clothes, the kind he would wear only in the workshop. And Jo Dongbeom only wore work clothes when he was in the workshop.

“You’re wearing work clothes. The gallery and the workshop are quite far apart, aren’t they...”

“Oh, I moved."

“Moved?”

“I heard that a leather workshop nearby was closing down, so I decided to take it over. Before I knew it, I had moved here too.”

“I see. But... What’s your relationship with Artist Kang Seok?”

What kind of relationship could make you come together? As she subtly brought up the main topic, Jo Dongbeom’s eyes turned to Kang Seok.

Kang Seok was carefully dismantling a glass sculpture wrapped in black packaging material. Since the contents were glass, he had to be extremely cautious, and he was working alone.

“This time, the artist came to the workshop to make glass flowers. Well, something like that... I lent him the workshop and got paid for it. That’s all.”

By now, the way Jo Dongbeom referred to Kang Seok had changed to "artist." Earlier, he seemed to call him something different. Kim Yunseo’s eyes narrowed.

“You seem to be quite familiar with him?”

“Spending time together every day can make you close quickly.”

“Is that so?”

No, it’s not. There’s something more. Just as Kim Yunseo was about to seize the opportunity to probe further, there was a somewhat rough sound, and something fell to the ground.

It was large and black but not very heavy. Both Jo Dongbeom and Kim Yunseo’s eyes followed the sound.

Their gaze stopped on the black packaging material that had been wrapped around the glass sculpture. It seemed Kang Seok had successfully removed all the packaging. He was now roughly pushing the large packaging material into the glass wall of the gallery.

Wait. Just wait. The packaging being removed means...! It means the packaging covering the glass sculpture is gone. Kim Yunseo’s head turned quickly.

Toward the glass sculpture.

“······!”

Kim Yunseo’s eyes, which were a deep brown, widened as she took in the glass sculpture, and she held her breath.

Peony.

Peony.

Peony.

Peony!

Her entire field of vision was filled with peonies.

Pale purple and white mixed in the delicate pink petals, and the scene was so vivid that she almost felt the non-existent fragrance of peonies paralyze her nose. It was a magnificent sight.

The hyper-realistic glass flowers were so lifelike that she would have believed they were real if not for the lack of fragrance. No, just by their appearance, they looked more like real flowers than actual flowers.

The buds, shyly curled into round shapes, were so full that they seemed ready to bloom at any moment. Moreover, the angles from which the buds were viewed were all different, allowing one to see the plump buds from any angle.

They looked so full and inviting, as if they were stuffed with soft, fluffy material, making one want to embrace them.

They were so large in size, so lush, and so soft and fluffy.

They were so wide that even with both arms stretched out, one couldn’t embrace them, and so tall that even if someone stood on her shoulders, they couldn’t reach the top of the sculpture. At a glance, there were hundreds of them.

If the wind blew, the petals would flutter. Each petal was so thin, and yet they were made of glass. How could they be glass?

She wanted to touch them to know, but as a work of art, she couldn’t just reach out. The opaque color of the petals made it hard to confirm just by looking.

Impressive. After a long moment of admiration, Kim Yunseo finally spoke.

“This... in just five days... and all by himself...”

It’s unbelievable. There’s no way that’s possible. If it were possible... Kim Yunseo nodded, finally understanding the excitement of the gallery director, Seol Yejin.

As the saying goes, you see what you know.

Kim Yunseo, who hadn’t majored in art, knew that Kang Seok’s work was extraordinary and valuable, but she was simply captivated by its beauty and grandeur.

She didn’t easily grasp how remarkable the person who created it was.

She didn’t know the effort that went into the work, so it couldn’t resonate with her.

But now, it was different.

Kim Yunseo had experience making glass flowers herself. She had spent half a day sweating over a piece of glass, trying to make a glass flower.

So, she knew better than anyone how much effort and time went into making just one of these. And there were hundreds of them.

Moreover, the glass peonies weren’t made using molds like the ones she used; each one had a different shape. No matter how carefully she examined them, she couldn’t find any that were the same.

This is really... Kim Yunseo repeated the words in her mouth.

She couldn’t deny it.

“...A genius.”

At Kim Yunseo’s mutter, Jo Dongbeom stroked his chin. A genius. What filled his mind was the countless pieces of glass that had been sacrificed to create the 999 peony sculptures.

Even though they were broken, they were so beautiful that he couldn’t melt them down and had gathered them in one corner of the workshop. Today, they had finally formed a small hill.

To create 999 beautiful peonies, he had made thousands of them.

To say that this was possible simply because Kang Seok was a genius would make his efforts seem diminished, and Jo Dongbeom couldn’t easily agree. He had watched Kang Seok work, and that made it even more so.

‘But to say he’s not a genius...’

It was terrifying.

The time Kang Seok invested in creating this work was too short. Someone might call it a masterpiece of a lifetime, but Kang Seok created it in just six days.

In just six days, he created flowers that were even more lifelike than the glass flowers displayed in the Harvard Museum of Natural History, which were made by the famous Blaschka family of glass artisans over 50 years, from 1886 to 1936, in their studio in Dresden, Germany.

Comparing a student who had only been exposed to glass for six days to the famous Blaschka family was absurd.

‘Really.’

Even an AI, which can read a scribbled note and create a perfect picture in less than three minutes, wouldn’t be as threatening. At least the AI doesn’t create incomparable and irreplaceable works of art.

Moreover, Kang Seok often left the workshop late at night, around midnight, to work on other projects. He didn’t spend the entire six days on this.

He was only eighteen.

As a glass artisan, he felt a mix of despair and awe. Was it a talent given by heaven? Or was it an effort that surpassed even that talent? Why don’t I have either of those? But if I were given them, could I act like Kang Seok, who stared at glass like a madman?

While he was caught in this cycle of suffering and enlightenment.

Light came through the glass wall. It seemed the sun had finally emerged from the cloudy sky.

As the sudden light entered, Kim Yunseo and Jo Dongbeom furrowed their brows. At that moment, the secret held by the glass peonies began to bloom.

.

.

.

The students of Go Doo-han, Lim Woo-hyun and Son Dong-wook, were hurriedly walking while cleaning their teeth with starch toothpicks.

“The potato soup is good, but the meat is too greasy.”

“I agree. It’s especially bad when we go there.”

They grumbled as they turned a corner. In the distance, the end of the Peony Gallery came into view. Due to the exhibition setup and personal exhibition preparations, the gallery had become as familiar and comfortable to Son Dong-wook and Lim Woo-hyun as a dormitory.

Dormitory.

As Son Dong-wook muttered the word, he thought of Jung Byung-gwan, who used to be part of their dormitory family.

“What’s happening with Jung Byung-gwan?”

“Byung-gwan?”

At school, he was called Teacher Jung Byung-gwan, but without the barrier of regular and part-time teachers, Son Dong-wook and Lim Woo-hyun called him by his name.

“What do you mean, what’s happening? He was holed up in his studio, and when he heard that his student, Teacher Go Doo-han, was having a solo exhibition, he must have been shocked. He’s probably collecting missed rumors in the faculty room right now.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

They both stared straight ahead in silence. Why didn’t they tell each other? Was there any particular reason? They just didn’t want to cause unnecessary trouble with a trivial matter.

They walked in silence, cleaning their teeth with starch, as if their heads ached.

As always, it was Son Dong-wook who changed the topic.

“Let’s have a drink.”

“Sure.”

They were already in front of the Peony Gallery. As they were about to enter, they noticed that the entrance glass wall was covered with black packaging material.

“What’s that?”

“...? Is there a work installed at the entrance?”

No, there wasn’t. The inner wall of the Peony Gallery’s entrance was always left blank. And when they talked to the gallery’s docents, they had agreed to leave the entrance empty.

But suddenly?

Out of pure curiosity, Son Dong-wook and Lim Woo-hyun quickened their pace.

At that moment, they saw a black head through the glass wall. The back of the head was familiar yet unfamiliar, and their gazes fixed on it. The black head seemed to find the black packaging material annoying and turned to push it further into the corner.

It was Kang Seok.

“Kang Seok?”

“Seok?”

What is he doing here?

They walked forward, their gazes fixed on the glass wall. They were now in front of the main entrance of the Peony Gallery. As soon as they stood there, the automatic doors of the gallery opened.

They immediately turned to the right and headed toward where Kang Seok was.

The first thing that caught their attention was a massive cluster of flowers. It seemed like a large floral arrangement of peonies, with hundreds of them attached to one wall. Hundreds of them.

‘Beautiful.’

‘Right.’

They couldn’t help but admire the beautiful scene.

“...A genius.”

Kim Yunseo, who was standing in front, muttered this around the same time. She was so captivated by the peonies that she didn’t notice Son Dong-wook and Lim Woo-hyun. Son Dong-wook tilted his head.

A genius? Who? Suddenly?

Kang Seok? He glanced at Kang Seok, who was attached to the glass wall, then his gaze moved to the man who was lost in thought, his chin in his hand. The man was only looking at the peonies.

Peonies.

...Are these real peonies?

Just as this thought crossed his mind.

Light pierced through the cloudy sky.

As the light passed through the glass and touched the petals, a change occurred.

Mountain leaf (山荷葉).

Like the mysterious flower that becomes transparent when it rains. As the light touched the glass peonies, the parts it touched became transparent. The light that passed through the petals was filled with various colors, painting the white wall in a riot of hues.

Light.

– ‘The petals are too thick, after all.’

This is why. This is why. Jo Dongbeom understood Kang Seok’s intention to maintain abnormally thin petals.

Why he kept using gold leaf, silver foil, iron oxide, silver powder, and manganese, mixing dozens of types to create colored glass, also became clear.

The silver powder turned yellow, the manganese turned olive, the iron oxide turned green, the silver foil turned gold, and the gold leaf turned purple. It was as if alchemy had been performed, and other flowers bloomed on the white wall.

The process of the unopened peonies revealing their colors happened in a short time as the light entered.

Kim Yunseo, Son Dong-wook, Lim Woo-hyun, and Jo Dongbeom.

The four adults were captivated by the magical art created by a person who was not even half their age. They remained rooted to the spot, admiring the glass flowers until the light slowly disappeared behind the clouds.

And as the sun slowly disappeared behind the clouds.

Lim Woo-hyun and Son Dong-wook, unaware that their starch toothpicks had fallen from their mouths, asked Kim Yunseo for an explanation.

“What is this...?”

Kim Yunseo turned around. But the answer came from elsewhere.

“Glass flowers. Pretty good, right?”

Lim Woo-hyun shook his head to one side. Hmm? No way? He seemed to be denying something, but at the same time, he looked at Kang Seok with a confident gaze. It’s unbelievable, but...?

“Seok. Listen. By any chance, did you... make this?”

Kang Seok answered straightforwardly.

“Yes.”

Oh my... The faces of Go Doo-han, who had considered teaching Western painting to a student without talent in sculpture, and Jung Byung-gwan, who had been distressed by his lack of talent, flashed through Son Dong-wook’s mind.

The answer was already decided.

* * * *

A night with the sky painted black with a black crayon.

Lying in bed, Kang Seok slightly turned his head to the side.

“Don’t.”

“Brother, just this. Just this much.”

“It’s not necessary.”

“Just this much.”

Snap. In the end, a cold cucumber covered his eyes. Kang Seok’s face was covered with cucumbers. Kang Chae-young had brought sliced cucumbers, saying his face needed to shine for the exhibition the next day.

“Do you know how much cucumbers cost these days?”

“I got these from a childhood friend of my mom who grows them.”

“You’ll get punished for playing with food.”

“There’s a whole box of cucumbers in the vegetable drawer, and if Mom can’t get rid of them, we’ll have to eat cucumber cold soup, cucumber stir-fry, cucumber side dishes, and cucumber pickles for a week.”

“...Is that so?”

Kang Seok quietly placed his hand on his belly. He didn’t particularly dislike cucumbers, but he didn’t want to eat a cucumber-based diet for a week.

Kang Seok quietly closed his mouth and felt the cold cucumber. Kang Chae-young subtly added another cucumber to Kang Seok’s forehead. A cucumber with soybean paste was hanging from her mouth.

“Let’s do a face mask after this. I’ll do it for you.”

“I’m going to the exhibition to see the paintings, not your face. Forget it.”

“But last time, your face wasn’t in the news, but this time, who knows?”

“You have a good brother, you know. How many people have such a good brother?”

Kang Chae-young muttered while dipping the cucumber in soybean paste again.

“...Hmm. If you think about it, Mom said she met Dad because she thought his art was cool, but I think his face also played a part.”

Kang Seok recalled