Chapter 7

07

High Relief.

A type of sculpture.

First, relief refers to the technique of carving a figure to stand out from a flat surface. The term "high" is added when the protruding parts of the relief are thick and high.

If the thickness is low, it is low relief. If the thickness is high, it is high relief.

Relief is usually used as decoration in sculpture and architecture, but in this case, it was used as a broken support and decoration for the cradle.

Baek Myung-hee approached the work with a look of surprise.

"Wow...!"

Such a delicately carved bird. Although she did not major in art, even a non-major could feel the superior quality compared to other works she had seen.

It felt almost sacred.

...But did this exist before? Baek Myung-hee tried to recall.

This piece of furniture was not in her memory. And Seok did not have any unknown inventory in the furniture store.

In other words, this must have appeared while she was away. But Baek Myung-hee had only been away last night.

"Could it be... Dad Seok made this?"

The words slipped out in surprise.

Still, is this really a sculpture?

The bird's wings were too meticulously crafted. It seemed as if it could leap out of the cradle and fly away at any moment... It couldn't be a real bird, could it?

Even though it was just a sculpture with a protruding surface, it was hard to believe. Baek Myung-hee, with a justified suspicion, gently touched it with her index finger.

She felt the texture of the wood and the pattern of the feathers. It was not smooth but rather textured. A softness that seemed to follow her fingerprints.

"Oh my, oh my, oh my...!"

Baek Myung-hee's face flushed as she pulled her finger away. But only for a moment. Her finger began to sweep over the bird's wings again. The sensation was that amazing.

This is wood? Like touching a bird that had flown into her arms, Baek Myung-hee, childlike and excited, swept her hand over the wings.

"Chae-young. Come and touch it. It seems like Dad made this last night."

"Really... Dad made this?"

A look of doubt appeared on Kang Chae-young's face. There was no way Dad could have made something this good... She thought of the furniture in her room that Dad had made.

Honestly, Dad's artistic sense was not good. Slightly better than her brother, but that was it. In Kang Chae-young's view, talent was not something passed down.

That's why it was so surprising. The idea that the romantic and passionate but clumsy sculptor, Kang Hyun-do, had made this piece.

"Wow... This is amazing..."

This is a human triumph. Kang Chae-young lifted her phone and started taking pictures of the cradle. She felt it was worth documenting.

The continuous shutter sounds echoed in the workshop.

"Isn't it amazing how even random shots come out so beautifully?"

Up, down. Up, up, down. Right, left. Back to the front. There was not a single unattractive angle. How could it be so beautiful? Kang Chae-young marveled continuously.

The mother bird feeding the chicks, the father bird spreading its wings over the family, protecting them and calling out. It felt alive.

I want to show this off.

Where can I show it... As Kang Chae-young's thumb was about to enter KakaoTalk, it stopped. Her eyes fell on Instagram.

Instagram. What if I post this there? There's the Instagram account for Seok's furniture store, right? Kang Chae-young pressed the Instagram icon with her paused thumb.

"Mom."

"Uh, yes?"

"What's the Instagram ID for our furniture store?"

"Furniture store? Seok's furniture store?"

"Yeah. Didn't we make one for promotion before?"

"Did we?"

"Yeah, we did. I'm sure we did. What was the ID? Hmm... Hmm... Ah! I found it. I found it. It's this one. Mom, it's okay. I found it."

Kang Chae-young's fingers moved faster as she looked at her phone. Baek Myung-hee blinked at the frantic movements.

"Chae-young?"

"Mom, what do you think if we post this on Instagram...?"

Click.

Kang Chae-young, excited, showed the Instagram post to Baek Myung-hee.

"What are you ladies doing in the workshop?"

"Ah! You scared us...!"

Kang Hyun-do appeared from the inner warehouse.

Holding a camera with a large lens, he was laughing as he closed the warehouse door. It seemed he had gone in to look for it.

"You...! Ah, you're impossible. What are you doing here? I came to look for you because you didn't come home."

"Ah, you came to get me."

While Baek Myung-hee and Kang Hyun-do exchanged friendly morning greetings, Kang Chae-young's eyes scanned the store, still looking for Seok.

"You should have come before coming to get me."

"True. We shouldn't keep the ladies waiting."

"Speaking of which, have you eaten?"

"Not yet."

Mrs. Baek's cooking is good. Kang Hyun-do nodded, looking a bit tired but with a happy expression.

Baek Myung-hee carefully observed Kang Hyun-do's face.

There was no trace of the depression from yesterday. It seemed he really could have made the cradle. Baek Myung-hee's belief in the truth leaned towards this.

At that moment, she cautiously spoke.

"But you... this cradle,"

"Did Dad make this cradle?"

Kang Chae-young was a step ahead. Her eyes sparkled as if she had found Seok.

"Hmm?"

"This one. This cradle. Did Dad make it? And in just one day? Here?"

She looked as if she had discovered a scoop. Kang Chae-young couldn't hide her excitement.

"Ah, the cradle. I'm sorry to disappoint, but this isn't my work."

"What...? Dad didn't make it?"

Kang Chae-young's face showed confusion and disappointment. Baek Myung-hee, feeling the same way, sighed and tilted her head.

Kang Hyun-do's face looked proud, even though he didn't make it. Baek Myung-hee's eyes narrowed.

"Really, you didn't make it?"

You're not lying to me, are you? Baek Myung-hee started a pressure interrogation, but Kang Hyun-do smoothly evaded.

"No, I didn't."

As he answered, Kang Hyun-do slightly bent his knees. His legs were spread slightly wider than shoulder-width, and his upper body was slightly tilted forward, as if he was about to take a photo.

"Then who made it? Just tell us. You were working here yesterday, right? You're making us curious...!"

"Right, right!"

"No, I didn't. What I worked on is the chair next to the cradle. The chair."

Next to the cradle? Baek Myung-hee and Kang Chae-young's eyes naturally shifted to the side. As Kang Hyun-do said, there was a chair next to the cradle. The back of the chair was decorated with a low relief of grape vines.

Incomplete...?

Unlike the cradle, the grape vines were only sketched to about a third of completion. It then dawned on them that Kang Hyun-do had only worked for one night.

Actually, thinking about it, this was a normal pace.

No matter how skilled in refurbishing or repairing furniture, it was impossible to create a high-quality high relief cradle in just one night. The idea that he had stopped working on the grape vine chair seemed more plausible.

Then... what is this?

Just as the mystery of the cradle resurfaced, Kang Hyun-do, who had been looking at it through the lens, smiled broadly.

"Seok made the cradle."

Seok. The Seok they knew was the only one.

Baek Myung-hee's eldest son, Kang Chae-young's older brother, Kang Hyun-do's son, Seok. The idea that Seok had created this incredible work made their eyes widen in shock.

He made this in one night...?

"Big brother?!"

"Seok?"

"Yes. He made it in one night. I was there watching, and I was amazed too."

Kang Hyun-do swept his hand over the cradle proudly and chuckled.

"But... why did Mr. Jeong Byung-kwon tell Seok to give up on art school? I don't get it..."

Kang Hyun-do, who had been speaking in amazement, turned to Baek Myung-hee as if he had just remembered something.

"Moreover, Seok has been accepted into the A class for sketching this time?"

"Really? Seok?"

"That's what I heard."

Kang Chae-young, surprised by the conversation between Baek Myung-hee and Kang Hyun-do, interjected.

"Mr. Jeong Byung-kwon, the one who told big brother to go to a regular university instead of an art school!"

He's a complete weirdo, isn't he? I thought big brother really had no talent, but seeing this work, I'm getting angry.

Kang Hyun-do recalled that moment. The vague memory of Mr. Jeong Byung-kwon's expression surfaced. It was filled with sympathy. Mr. Jeong Byung-kwon had the face of a teacher who wanted Seok to succeed as much as he did.

"It didn't seem like that..."

"No, it's not...! If big brother has this kind of skill, why would he give up...!"

Kang Chae-young bit her lip. Big brother always seemed to be like this. A quitter. A pushover. A fool. A jellyfish!

I need to give him a proper talking to... But where is he?

"Dad, where is big brother?"

Kang Chae-young turned her sharp gaze to Kang Hyun-do.

"He's already gone."

"Gone?"

Unexpected news.

Kang Chae-young's eyes blinked in confusion.

Her gaze naturally fell to her phone. Saturday. 8:55 AM. It's almost 9:00 AM on a weekend morning. Where could he be going?

"It's Saturday...?"

"Because it's Saturday."

Baek Myung-hee, surprised, followed up.

"Seok went to the academy already? Did he eat breakfast?"

"Academy? Ah, big brother goes to an art academy every weekend."

Kang Chae-young recalled the sign of the sculpture academy big brother attended. But didn't it start after 10:00 AM? A question arose on her face.

"Wait. Isn't there a mural club activity today?"

Kang Hyun-do, flipping through the photos he had just taken, answered her question, but it raised another one.

"Murals club?"

"Isn't big brother in the sculpture club?"

* * * *

Under the white sun.

A biting cold wind blew. It's winter.

I wanted to beat myself up for being kicked out of the sculpture club last spring and moving to the mural club. It was that cold.

I sighed, feeling the cold pierce through my thin padded jacket.

'This isn't the time to be standing here... '

I thought of the cradle left in my father's workshop. More specifically, I thought of the high relief of the magpie family carved on the cradle.

'It's a shame it wasn't completed to a higher standard. If I try again, I might get a better feel for it... In my past life, I focused too much on human subjects... No, that's not it.'

In my past life, I focused on humans and never had the chance to sculpt animals? That was an excuse.

In my past life, I was obsessed with muscles. I was so absorbed in the aesthetics of the male form.

But in this life? Not in this life. I didn't have a particular fixation on any one form of beauty.

I didn't have a preference for the straight lines of men or the curves of women.

I had many opportunities. I played in my father's workshop since I was young, so I had many chances to work. I just didn't take them.

'I should do better from now on.'

Can I do better?

Kang Seok, who had been sculpting all night, rubbed his trembling arms and sighed. Reflecting on his efforts, he felt they were truly inadequate.

Thinking of how a month ago he had been proud of his calloused hands, he sighed deeply.

This is all because I haven't experienced enough hardship. My parents spoiled me. Kang Seok, self-deprecatingly, made a resolution.

'I need to start exercising.'

This level of stamina won't do. They say teenagers can chew rocks. I want to try that.

I have a small dream. To revive the family and make my family happy.

Reaffirming this small but great dream, I was interrupted by the noisy chatter of students in long padded jackets in front of me.

"So, are you going to register for the art academy in Seogyo-dong this winter break?"

"Probably. Even though Cheong University has changed to a non-practical exam, the Cheong University academy is still solid."

"That's true. By the way, didn't you say you got into the Bae University class?"

"Of course. My mom is determined to send me to Bae University or abroad."

The children were talking about art academies.

Thinking about it, winter break was coming soon. After the winter break, I would be a senior. There were only six months left until the college entrance exams.

Suddenly, a conversation from that day came to mind.

– 'They say that in the final month of college entrance exams, 500,000 won is a small amount.'

Thinking about it, the cost of the final month of college entrance exams was also 500,000 won. 500,000 won. Is it worth spending 500,000 won on an academy? As I pondered, Ms. Ju Sarang, the teacher in charge of the mural club at Cheonghua High School, walked over.

Her hair, dyed a yellowish color like a chick.

Wearing a paint-splattered scarf and using nylon brushes and pencils as hairpins, she walked slowly, looking like a college student who had just finished a late-night project.

"Hello, everyone."

Ms. Ju Sarang, with red eyes, yawned and waved her hands.

Waving her hands like a theme park guide, she removed her sunglasses and spoke.

"I'm sorry to call you on a Saturday, but as you know, today is an important day."

That's right.

Today is the final activity and the finale of the mural club, which Ms. Ju Sarang has been singing about since spring.

"The high school mural competition is today."

"Of course we'll win. You know that, right?"

Ms. Ju Sarang removed her hand from her face. Her black eyes were revealed. Her eyes lacked a certain sparkle.

I recalled her legendary quote from early spring: "If you don't do it properly, you'll end up like an Egyptian mural, stuck to the wall."

Of course, her black eyes were not looking at me.

The mural club was originally created for students majoring in Western painting.

And I was a radish, forced to move to the mural club when the sculpture club was full, to make room for other talented students.

So, Ms. Ju Sarang never once looked at me. She was only focused on the other students.

Fortunately. If she had expected passion and effort from me, it would have been quite troublesome.

Since the moment I recalled my past life, murals had become a tiresome existence.

"The prize for the high school mural competition organized by the city today is..."

'I just need to pretend to paint and then leave...'

"One million won. One million won."

What? My head, which had been looking at the ground, suddenly lifted.

It was an amount I couldn't ignore. Regardless, Ms. Ju Sarang continued in a calm tone.

"Painting murals in the winter is so difficult, and they only offer one million won. They're exploiting high school students. I feel sorry for you. So, I decided. If we win, I'll give you the one million won."

Wow!

Wow!

The children cheered.

I maintained my composure. How much would one million won be divided among us? I calmly started counting the number of mural club members. My heart was already fluttering.

Then, Ms. Ju Sarang spoke again.

"Five hundred thousand will go to the one who performs the best. Deal?"

8. Wow!