Chapter 81

81

* * * *

Love and death are the two wings that carry a great person to heaven (Amore e morte sono due ali che portano una brava persona in paradiso).

– Michelangelo Buonarroti –

* * * *

It was the time when Gang Seok left for Yang Seon-gu's hanok.

Jo Dong-beom was whistling while observing a blue-green butterfly.

He felt reassured seeing the safety measures, such as the glass dome covering the stand that he had carefully fixed with a glue gun to prevent any damage.

At his feet lay dozens of glass butterflies he had sculpted, trying to recreate the blue-green butterfly he was observing.

Compared to Gang Seok, who had made thousands to sculpt thousands, the speed and number were insignificant, but Jo Dong-beom showed an incredible level of concentration that he was truly proud of.

Jo Dong-beom clenched and unclenched his fists while looking at the butterfly.

The delicate wings of the butterfly, which seemed ready to fold and fly towards the glass dome at any moment, were truly beautiful.

It's amazing, isn't it?

Jo Dong-beom thought, following the technique reflected in the butterfly's wings with his eyes.

An artist's style is usually fixed, but Master is a bit unusual.

When I look at the works displayed at the Bloom Art Museum and the ones Professor Im Hyuk revealed last time, it seems like the artist mainly creates masculine works with very thick, rigid, and straight lines.

But then, when I think of the works displayed at the Sakurak Gallery or the ones created at Yongshin Land, the artist also skillfully produces feminine works with very thin, delicate, and graceful curves, which are the complete opposite of his usual style.

Can an artist's personality be so contradictory?

Can the personality shaped by one's environment, ideology, values, and character be so different?

Jo Dong-beom sighed in admiration.

'When I look at Master, it feels like he has two personalities, which is amazing.'

And that's not all.

While marveling at the two completely different personalities, he even completes insane works like "The Two" or "The One," where masculine and feminine elements coexist... He is truly a genius whose limits are unknown.

Jo Dong-beom slowly lifted his head.

Inside the workshop.

Through the slightly open door, moved to a deeper, darker spot to avoid the light, a thin red light was emitted from the dark place where all the lights were turned off.

Swallowing, Jo Dong-beom thought of the red glass that Gang Seok had worked on for a very short time in that place.

The red glass, which seemed to have a color that could not be artificially created by humans, made Jo Dong-beom clench his fist again.

Having held the rod for a long time, blisters had formed on his hands, and he ignored the pain roughly, standing up from his seat.

For the next few days, Master said he would not visit the workshop to focus on working at Mr. Yang Seon-gu's hanok.

'Until then, I'll do my best, even if it means living or dying.'

Following the human instinct to keep moving forward, Jo Dong-beom wanted to follow in Gang Seok's footsteps.

He wanted to be able to proudly call himself a disciple, not a weakling who couldn't even call Master "Master" outside.

Jo Dong-beom picked up the rod again.

It was time to practice again.

* * * *

"Because of you, Seok, there are no stones left. Stones."

Yang Seon-gu grumbled as Gang Seok moved to pick out stones. The tone was noticeably more casual after months of interaction.

It felt like he had gained a grandfather. Gang Seok smiled quietly.

"Smiling?"

"Yes."

Yang Seon-gu was also smiling. Despite his grumbling, his voice was full of laughter, and his lips were clearly curved.

"Huh. I, really."

As Gang Seok moved, he recalled the conversation with Professor Jeong Byung-kyun.

– 'It seems the teacher is in a good mood these days. It's all thanks to you, Seok.'

– 'Me?'

This happened when he fled to the sculpture studio to avoid his classmates who were preparing for the college entrance exam. Gang Seok was surprised by the unexpected gratitude from Jeong Byung-kyun, a disciple of Mr. Yang Seon-gu.

– 'What did I do?'

– 'Well, do you know that Mr. Yang Seon-gu is a famous collector of the most sculpture stones in Korea?'

Gang Seok didn't know, but he nodded vaguely at the time.

Mr. Yang Seon-gu was said to be a collector of stones before he became a first-generation sculptor.

'The teacher was known as a big collector who bought every stone he found, whether at auctions or elsewhere. He must have had many mountains and lands to decorate with stones, so he must have kept collecting them. Eventually, he fell in love with the various forms of stones and started sculpting at a young age... But nowadays, young sculptors tend to stay away from stones.'

Jeong Byung-kyun's bitter expression flashed through his mind.

Nowadays, there are various materials and methods to create sculptures, from 3D modeling to making statues with clay or earthenware. There's no need to carve stones.

The era of carving stones is long gone, and as more convenient methods are introduced, people are finding practical ways, such as using artificial marble to mimic real marble or carving soap... In any case, sculptors who work with stones are gradually disappearing.

Even the stone sculptures used for fountains and garden decorations are now made in factories based on designs from companies, not by artists.

– 'Can you call them sculptors?'

Yang Seon-gu felt bitter about the changing art world. His disciples, including Jeong Byung-kyun, all knew this.

While everything changes and nothing lasts forever, it must have been unbearable for Yang Seon-gu, who had dedicated his life to stones.

– 'But then, you, Seok, appeared in front of Mr. Yang Seon-gu.'

– '...'

No one was looking for stones, but Gang Seok found them.

He kept pestering Mr. Yang Seon-gu to bring this stone and that stone, and then carved them. It was the kind of direct carving with hands that Mr. Yang Seon-gu used to do.

And the world began to change in a different direction.

People started to seek out Gang Seok's sculptures, and even if they weren't made by him, they began to commission or look for marble sculptures or hand-carved sculptures, feeling the unique charm.

In an era where only sculptors obsessed with bizarre and deformed works survived, a new paradigm, or rather, a return, was presented.

– 'It felt like the world of sculpture, which was dying, was coming back to life. The teacher said that.'

– '...'

– 'Now, the teacher flies around whenever he hears from you.'

– '...'

– 'Thank you. I really mean it.'

Recalling the pat on the head from Professor Jeong Byung-kyun, Gang Seok's lips twitched. Hearing such words, it was impossible to feel that this grumbling was real dissatisfaction.

"Isn't it good?"

"Good? For me? Huh, really. Huh!"

Yang Seon-gu, stroking his beard like a mountain spirit, burst into laughter. His innocent laughter seemed untouched by the world. How could he be so pure at his age? Gang Seok, feeling anew the wonder, looked around.

The place was full of marble.

It was clear that he had brought out a lot of marble of the size he had ordered to make it easier to choose.

Gang Seok slowly moved, looking at the pieces of marble that seemed to be beckoning him. Every time he looked at the marble, countless shapes formed and disappeared on his retina.

Feeling the inspirations from the breath of the stones, Gang Seok looked around, letting them flow.

Yang Seon-gu took the opportunity to ask a question.

"If you finish this work well, you'll become a landlord, right? The building you recreated, wasn't it from the Renaissance?"

"How did you know that?"

"How long have Jin-gwang and I been together? Any news that goes into Jin-gwang at the Bloom will be in my ears within three hours."

"Is that so?"

That was a fact he didn't know.

Gang Seok nodded vaguely and looked to the side.

He thought he heard the sound of water from far away.

Was there a stream nearby?

Just as Gang Seok was wondering, Yang Seon-gu nudged him subtly.

"Even if it's a bit out of the way, it's in the heart of Seoul. You'll be rich. Now that you're going to be a landlord, why don't you buy a quarry in Jeongseon?"

A quarry in Jeongseon.

He was talking about Jeongseon, Gangwon-do, the only marble quarry in South Korea.

"Isn't it easier to supply? I sometimes go there to look around."

"What about you, teacher?"

"What good would it do for this old man to have more here? It would only complicate things when I settle my estate later."

Yang Seon-gu, with eyes that seemed to be staring at death, looked into the distance. At that moment, the sound of water was heard again, a bit louder this time.

Before Gang Seok could ask what the sound was, Yang Seon-gu spoke first.

"The waterfall is falling so fiercely."

"A waterfall?"

"Yes."

Yang Seon-gu's wide sleeves pointed beyond the marble.

"There's a waterfall somewhere over there. Sometimes, when it falls fiercely, the sound reaches here. But this time, it's quite big. Maybe an animal ran and kicked a rock?"

"..."

Gang Seok listened to the sound of the waterfall, which seemed to be coming from above, with a blank expression.

As he listened to the sound of the waterfall falling from above, two pieces of marble caught his eye in the direction Yang Seon-gu was pointing.

The one on the right was larger, and the one on the left was a bit smaller.

But neither was small; both were large.

Hmm.

Gang Seok narrowed his eyes.

The sound of the waterfall.

The sound of stones rolling.

The rustling wind.

The trees visible beyond the marble.

Feeling all of this, something seemed to be swaying in the wind.

There were two of them.

Gang Seok looked at the two and slowly opened his mouth.

"Let's do it with these two."

"What? Two?"

Yang Seon-gu, with wide eyes, turned to look at Gang Seok.

His eyes asked if Gang Seok was thinking of sculpting two statues.

Gang Seok shook his head.

"This work is two and one at the same time."

"Huh?"

Two is two, and one is one. What does that mean? Yang Seok blinked. Regardless, Gang Seok turned his back after saying he chose these two.

It seemed he should sketch before the rest of the marble was cleared from the yard. To not lose the two figures that appeared inside, Gang Seok quickly walked, mentally sketching them.

.

.

.

It took a full day to clear the 18 pieces of marble that had occupied Yang Seon-gu's yard, as if he knew the main house's yard well.

After 18 were cleared, only two remained.

The two pieces of marble, slightly spaced apart to avoid hindering the sculpting, were being filmed by numerous cameras.

Yang Seon-gu, sitting on the veranda, stroked his beard while looking at Gang Seok's laptop connected to the camera. The video had just passed the 5-second mark.

Recalling the number of viewers at that time, Yang Seon-gu laughed hollowly.

The video, which was so noisy from the sound of carving that the microphones were turned off, had attracted tens of thousands of viewers.

How many days would it take for the number to reach that level this time? As Yang Seon-gu happily looked at the cable connected to the laptop to prevent the battery from running out, the numbers started to rise rapidly.

Yang Seon-gu's eyes widened again.

They seemed to have topics they wanted to discuss among themselves before Gang Seok did anything, and they started chatting quickly.

What is all this?

The speed was too fast for Yang Seon-gu's aging eyes to follow. As he slowly adjusted the mouse wheel to read the chat messages one by one, Gang Seok in the video suddenly stood up.

Yang Seon-gu also stood up, breaking away from the screen.

As he stood up, Gang Seok was moving outside the screen. In Gang Seok's hand was not a grinder, as usual, but an ax.

Sometimes, when making wooden sculptures, he would use an ax to remove unnecessary parts, and he seemed to be planning to do something similar with the marble.

He would have immediately stopped him and raised a fuss, but... who is Gang Seok? Talking about what to do with the marble in front of him would be meaningless.

As he thought this, *crack* Gang Seok's ax hit the marble unexpectedly. The part where he had already marked with a chisel split and fell off with a *bang*.

The chat room, as expected, was in chaos.

To others, it must have looked like the unnecessary parts were peeling off like armor with each hit of the ax.

"Huh. Stubborn, but he's like a fox, isn't he?"

Gang Seok's lips twitched. The reason for the live streaming was for fame. He wanted to be famous more than anyone. Gang Seok had to become the best sculptor, and he could easily put on this level of performance for that.

*Bang!*

*Bang!*

Gang Seok laughed as he watched the marble pieces fall.

* * * *

"Sure enough, he's interesting."

Park Seon-woo, the youngest of the Sankang Group's owner family, burst into laughter. On his phone, a GIF titled "The Stonecutter of the Peninsula" and "The Common Sculptor of the Peninsula" was playing.

It was a video of stones falling off with each swing of Gang Seok's ax. The GIF, which showed how the "common sculptor of the peninsula" worked, had made him famous.

Thanks to this, Gang Seok's fame had spread not only among art lovers but also among the general public.

"Some people are worried that Mr. Gang's image might become too light."

Ryu Jeong-hyung pushed up his glasses with his index finger. The glasses and the earpiece connected to them swayed.

Park Seon-woo waved off Ryu Jeong-hyung's excessive worry.

"Does our Mr. Gang Seok look like an artist whose image can be consumed by just a few of these?"

Of course not.

Park Seon-woo firmly denied it.

Saying this, Park Seon-woo smiled and looked up. This time, his gaze was not on his phone but on the computer. The live streaming of Gang Seok creating a sculpture was playing on Park Seon-woo's computer in real-time.

The camera was capturing Gang Seok from a distance.

Occasionally, other cameras would capture him up close, but the main stream was a long shot from the front.

Beyond Gang Seok, who was carving the slightly larger of the two sculptures on the right, the shape of a woman was visible.

Only the woman's face looking up at the sky and her right ankle, which was poking out of the fabric, were visible, but the speed at which they were revealed was so fast that no one felt disappointed.

He seems to be working several times faster than even the most skilled sculptors. It's not like he's using a speed-up. Ha ha. Park Seon-woo looked at the screen in amazement.

"Really, I don't know how to express my gratitude. It seems he's going to make two sculptures..."

Park Seon-woo stroked his chin.

Is he making separate men's and women's baths?

The plan was to create an open-air bath where anyone, regardless of age or gender, could enter in a swimsuit as a tourist attraction. With two sculptures, he was unsure how to proceed.

At that moment,

Gang Seok in the screen lifted something.

"What's that?"

"Huh?"

Not only Ryu Jeong-hyung but also Jin Doo-wook, the director of the Bloom Art Museum, who had been quietly sitting, stood up and approached the computer.

"Hmm?"

"Umm?"

Their expressions changed to match Park Seon-woo's.

It was due to the new tool that appeared after the ax, grinder, hammer, and chisel. Their gazes were fixed on the tool Gang Seok was holding.

It was a strange tool, shaped like a curved arrow.

The tip of the curved wire was attached to the smallest and sharpest wood chisel, resembling a tail.

It seemed to be a custom-made tool with no official name.

'What is he planning to do with this?'

As the three of them, looking at the screen, had the same thought simultaneously,

Gang Seok placed the arrowhead part at the end of the fabric revealing the woman's toes and started tapping it with a hammer.

"What is this?"

The arrowhead penetrated the stone as smoothly as a knife through tofu, almost like a device being sucked in for an endoscopy.

As Gang Seok repeatedly inserted the arrowhead along the line of the white fabric and removed the stone chips with a brush, people tilted their heads in confusion.

No one could understand why he was doing this.

However, one thing was clear.

As the camera changed, capturing Gang Seok's face,

Someone, looking at his face, typed a message as if entranced.

With only two months left until the deadline for completing the work,

82. Two weeks had passed since the start of the second live streaming.