Chapter 59

59

* * * *

I grew up always seeing my father’s back.

Father always stood in front of the workbench and worked. The chair was pushed far away, and Father was engrossed in his carpentry, hammering and planing.

Every now and then, when he took a breath, he would turn to me, who was watching him work, and smile.

"Hi, son."

Then he would turn his back again.

The sound of the hammer striking would echo once more.

I watched the scene as if entranced.

My father’s back, drenched in sweat, looked as great as a god from mythology.

* * * *

Bloom Art Museum.

Located in Hannam-dong, Seoul, Bloom operates on a 100% reservation system to ensure the safety of visitors and the artworks. Established and operated by the Sanggang Cultural Foundation under the Sanggang Group, it was a highly sought-after venue for artists.

Even with money, one couldn’t just hold an exhibition here.

This was the Bloom Art Museum.

And today, the doors of the Bloom Art Museum opened to high school students.

For a mere nineteen-year-old boy, Kang Seok.

"Even when I was grading him yesterday, I couldn’t believe it... Seeing it like this makes it even harder to believe."

Im Woo-hyun, the instructor for the D class at Cheonghua Arts High School, looked at the placard. The impressive sight of the elegant building with [Congratulations! Cheonghua Arts High School 3rd Grade Graduation Exhibition] hanging on it was striking.

Originally, reservations had to be made at least two weeks in advance, and only the person who made the reservation could enter. The two doors of the Bloom Art Museum, which were now wide open, welcoming people, were a rare sight.

Free entry.

This was a very unusual occurrence for the Bloom Art Museum.

There were even journalists and artists who had come to slowly photograph the exhibition and the Bloom Art Museum itself.

Im Woo-hyun muttered to himself as he watched the people passing through the entrance to the Bloom Art Museum.

"To hold a graduation exhibition in a place I’ve never even been to... "

When the graduation exhibition venue was decided to be the Bloom Art Museum, he recalled the students jumping with joy. It was said that the sculptor Yang Seon-gu repeatedly insisted that Kang Seok’s work could not be moved and that the first public display had to be in Exhibition Room 4 of the Bloom Art Museum.

'Just how great is it...?'

Im Woo-hyun’s head turned towards Exhibition Room 4, located at the far end of the Bloom Art Museum. Connected to Exhibition Room 3 where the students were exhibiting, Exhibition Room 4, which displayed large sculptures, was as tall as the outer walls of any building.

Exhibition Room 4 was still covered by blackout curtains.

The glass windows on the ceiling were still intact, so light would certainly come in, but it seemed excessive to have such tight security.

'Well, I’ll see its true form today.'

Just how great must the sculpture be to have moved not only Mr. Yang Seon-gu but also the director of the Bloom Art Museum? Im Woo-hyun took a step forward to confirm.

.

.

.

Kang Hyun-do looked around.

Baek Myung-hee and Kang Chae-young had been gone for quite a while, having left the line to buy some simple lunch for Kang Seok, but there was no sign of them returning.

'Well, it’s bound to take a while with so many people.'

The line leading to Exhibition Room 4 was packed with people. It was as crowded as the streets of Gangnam on a weekend night.

'There are really a lot of people.'

Kang Hyun-do, a specialist in his field, looked ahead in amazement. It felt like he was at the Louvre. His heart beat strangely with each step he took.

"Seriously, why is it so crowded? It’s even more crowded than when we went to see the glass flowers."

"It’s not the same as before. But once it starts moving, it moves quickly."

"Why is it so crowded?"

"This time, it’s 16.4 billion won, right? Maybe it’s because the special marble was sold for a very high price. It was quite noisy for a while because of that."

"Oh, that’s right. Actually, I’m more curious about that than seeing the sculpture today..."

The voices of the people around him were all about Kang Seok. Since Exhibition Room 4 only contained Kang Seok’s sculpture, everyone in the line, whether they knew it or not, was there to see it.

Most of the people who came to the Bloom Art Museum were there to see Kang Seok’s work, as a staff member tearing open the fourth guestbook cover mentioned.

It was quite surprising.

In just half a year.

It took only half a year for his son, Kang Seok, who no one at Cheonghua Arts High School recognized, to be sought after by so many people.

He was a proud son.

Kang Hyun-do fiddled with the suit he had taken out of the closet for the first time in a long time. His calloused hands held a fresh bouquet of flowers he had bought from a flower shop in front of a furniture store for his son.

At that moment.

"Hey, it’s moving, it’s moving."

"Let’s move."

"Don’t fall behind, stay close, stay close."

"Minji!"

The people started moving.

Kang Hyun-do moved his feet in sync with the people. It seemed that people were leaving in large numbers every 15 minutes, indicating that there was some kind of entry limit at the front.

Kang Hyun-do was swept along with the crowd. As he saw the curve leading to Exhibition Room 4, he thought that if this trend continued, he would be able to enter on the next turn.

Just as he was thinking this and walking forward.

He saw a screen.

It was a screen that separated Exhibition Room 3 from Exhibition Room 4. Kang Hyun-do, looking at the giant screen, which was black, wondered if there was a door somewhere that led through.

There were many people, but the line was set up like at an amusement park, so it wasn’t difficult to move. Kang Hyun-do, looking around, had a puzzled expression.

'There doesn’t seem to be a door.'

Where did everyone go?

There must have been people who left, but since he had never been to the Bloom Art Museum, he didn’t know.

Unable to resolve his curiosity, Kang Hyun-do took out his phone to ask Baek Myung-hee and Kang Chae-young where they were.

He turned around to look behind him. The area behind him was also filled with people. They definitely wouldn’t be able to get in here.

Kang Hyun-do finished his text message.

It was an unusually crowded situation on the first day.

Most people were there to appreciate Kang Seok’s work, but there were also many who were curious about the news that the Bloom Art Museum was open to the public, the reality of the mysterious rumor about the marble, and the real-time search trends about Kang Seok.

It seemed that most of the people around him were from the art world.

Just as Kang Hyun-do’s thoughts reached this point, a red light appeared on the screen, which had been black until now.

"What?"

"......?"

People were surprised and stared at it. It wasn’t a real fire; it was just an image on the screen. People who lost interest were about to look elsewhere, but the flame danced, capturing their attention. It was a natural progression for people’s gazes to be fixed on the screen.

The dancing flame slowly drew letters on the screen.

In an instant, the short text was complete.

It was his son’s name.

"Kang Seok?"

"It’s the artist’s name."

People were amazed at the name etched on the large screen.

The letters disappeared like a match flame, and the flame began to draw a sentence.

Everyone gathered in front of the screen was now staring at the dancing flame.

People’s eyes slowly followed the letters.

Kang Hyun-do was no different.

When the sentence was complete.

People had puzzled expressions.

"What does it mean?"

"Is it a description of the work?"

"Does the painting have a front and back? Is it two-sided?"

"Idiot. Exhibition Room 4 doesn’t have paintings. Only sculptures."

As people speculated, the burning letters turned black and the screen returned to darkness.

Is it over?

Just as he thought this.

A slash appeared in the middle of the screen.

A straight line, like a dashed line.

People had expressions of disbelief.

And a faint noise, like the screen opening, stimulated their ears.

The noise was recognized, and the doors on both sides slid open. People’s gazes slowly rose from the floor to the sky.

The light from the ceiling of Exhibition Room 4 lifted the heads of the people in the dark room. Kang Hyun-do’s gaze was the same. Lifting his chin, a beam of light entered his right eye from the relatively dark room.

A diagonal line of light was drawn across his face.

Kang Hyun-do’s pupils dilated.

.

.

.

The first thing he saw was a massive back.

In the short moment it took to recognize this, ten minutes had passed.

Just as someone once said, "An hour with a beautiful woman is a minute, and a minute in front of a hot stove is an hour," the time spent looking at the back seemed too short.

It wasn’t just Kang Hyun-do; everyone in the space felt the same way. People were lost in the sight above them.

It was an overwhelming scene.

A sculpture rising from the bottom to the top, about 5.7 meters tall.

Their gazes swept the floor and slowly rose.

Muscles and tendons exposed on the legs.

Thighs slightly visible inside the shorts.

A back drenched in sweat, revealing the spine.

Shoulders rising diagonally.

Finally, the arm lifting the hammer, and the hammer itself.

'Incredible detail.'

The audience swallowed their saliva.

The tendons in the hand gripping the hammer were clearly visible even from a distance.

One leg was awkwardly raised, and the other was firmly planted like a tree.

A posture as if about to strike the hammer.

In the hand not holding the hammer, a marble chair was firmly gripped.

"Perhaps the gods dwell in a broad back... "

"Ah!"

At that moment, some people gasped.

They instinctively recognized what was sculpted, or rather, what inspired it.

The god of fire and blacksmiths.

In Roman mythology, he was called Vulcan, and in Greek mythology, Hephaestus.

He had descended here, in Exhibition Room 4 of the Bloom Art Museum.

"Wow...!"

Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump.

Kang Hyun-do, lost in admiration of the work, took a deep breath. His heart was beating so fast.

It felt as if the entire place was a divine forge, hot and suffocating. His breathing quickened. Thump, thump, thump, thump. Was this what it felt like to meet a god? A primal fear and reverence seemed to emanate from the marble.

Am I the only one feeling this way?

Looking around, he saw people gasping for breath, some covering their mouths, and others pressing their cheeks with their palms, as if their faces were turning red.

Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump.

Just as his heart felt like it was burning, a beam of sunlight came in from the ceiling.

Without even thinking about the brightness, his gaze rose to the sky. His neck was bent at an angle that would have been strange, but a beam of sunlight shot through the window, casting a shadow on the clouds.

The sunlight finally touched the tip of the marble hammer. At that moment, the unique characteristics of marble were revealed.

Marble (大理石).

A type of metamorphic rock formed from limestone under heat, with a main component of calcium carbonate, used for sculpture, architecture, and decoration since ancient times.

In English, it is called marble, derived from the Greek word marmaros.

Marmaros means "shiny stone."

"Wow... "

People covered their mouths.

The unique luster of the marble, chiseled and polished, flowing from where the sunlight touched, was indescribably beautiful.

The warm, glossy luster was like a pond of flowing water, and it felt like the sweat of the gods.

It was beautiful and sublime.

Could it evoke such reverence?

It felt as if this place had turned into a museum of ancient Greek sculptures. A high school student did this? Just a high school student? Feelings of jealousy, frustration, and unexplained violent emotions were about to turn into shame and anger.

"Please move forward slowly."

"Please move forward!"

A heavy noise broke the moment of admiration.

At the thought of being disturbed, the violent emotions burst like a balloon and disappeared. Like a balloon punctured by a needle, the anger subsided.

They moved slowly.

Their gazes remained fixed on the sculpture. Michelangelo once said that painting approaches sculpture as it becomes more perfect.

It was impossible not to agree at this moment.

A perfect form was here.

A perfect three-dimensional form, as it was said, could evoke emotion from every angle. The side view showing the hand lifting the hammer, the side view showing the twisted torso, were all perfect.

As emotions welled up, the continuous movement made him want to go around the circle again. It was a pity that he had only gone halfway around the circle, like riding a ride.

'What is the name of this work?'

People finally became curious.

Would it be a