Chapter 5
Chapter 5
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 5
Chapter Title: Guys Who Draw Anime Characters Are Mostly Outsiders
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◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Today, the peaceful sandwich shop was as tranquil as ever.
Just like always, the Insider girl showed up before the lunch rush and ordered a tuna sandwich today.
The part-timer earning a whopping 10 BTC an hour slathered on some pre-mixed tuna porridge—canned tuna blended with mayo and sugar syrup—onto the standard sandwich setup, then topped it with a few veggies and sauces.
Slipping it into a paper sleeve to keep the fillings from spilling while the Insider girl ate? Genius.
Finally, filling a cup with ice and soda meant the order was good to go.
"Customer 25~ Customer 25~ Your tuna sandwich is ready~"
Replaying a YouTube video I'd loved in my past life in my head, I went about my ordinary part-time shift as usual.
I figured the Insider girl Han Si-a would grab her sandwich without a word and quietly eat dinner alone like always.
But surprisingly, as she came to pick up her order, our eyes met.
"You. You said your elective is art, right?"
...I never told you that, though...
But if I voiced that doubt, Han Si-a would definitely shoot me a pitiful look and say something like, "You seriously think I wouldn't know?"
On the other hand, saying "Yeah" out loud here would make it seem like I'd told her before... So I just stayed silent.
And silence equaled affirmation. Han Si-a took that as my answer and kept the conversation going.
"There's one kid in Class 5 who went to an arts middle school."
"...I already warned you, so no excuses later."
With that, she picked up her order and headed back to her seat to chow down on her sandwich.
Yeah. Still a fan of short and sweet conversations, huh.
And I like keeping chats brief too.
She was probably planning to compete with me over school rankings.
But she must've figured I'd whine after bombing the art performance assessment, like, "I lost because I picked art as my elective. Running into an arts middle school kid is like a freak natural disaster. This doesn't count—let's call it a draw."
...
But I'm not even gonna bother studying much????
Working more part-time shifts to build up seed money is way more profitable.
Besides, no matter how smart she is, she's just a first-year high school girl. As if a regressor like me would lose on grades.
.
.
.
.
But getting beaten by a first-year—not even a second-year—would be kinda embarrassing, so maybe I should defend my scores this year?
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Which is better, music class or art class? I think the question itself is fundamentally flawed.
For starters, music is a subject for the well-fed.
Instruments are pricey as hell, and the people playing them usually come from money.
Plus, the entry barrier is sky-high—even something simple like playing a short tune on a recorder takes ages of practice.
And during practice, you're always tormented by half-baked noise that never quite becomes a full song. So to practice without stress, you need a soundproofed room.
Even after nailing it perfectly, music fades away in an instant... so you need someone listening nearby. And lesson fees shoot through the roof.
People who learn instruments usually have parental wealth backing them up.
Average families just don't let kids start because it's too expensive.
Even if they do let you try briefly, unless you've got movie-level prodigy talent, they pull the plug quick.
Some might argue music class and learning instruments are unrelated,
but isn't the reality of Korean music classes today that kids who've never touched an instrument aren't getting a chance to learn—they're just extras propping up the ones who have?
Poor folks' instruments exist? Like guitar? Yeah, but high school music won't touch that—join band club if you want.
Art, on the other hand, is for the hungry.
Unless you're all show and no substance, art supplies are cheap enough to cover with pocket money.
Hell, with just memo paper and a ballpoint pen, you can crank out a masterpiece and show off if you're skilled.
Unlike music, art practice doesn't annoy others—unless you're deliberately drawing something offensive.
And if you get tired midway, you can pause and come back. Less stress overall.
There's a reason music therapy is listening to others play, while art therapy is drawing yourself.
So what I'm saying is...
☐High School Year 1 Semester 1 Elective Application☐
➤Arts Elective [Music, Art]
-Art
➤Reason for choosing this subject
-The art teacher is so beautiful [erased]
-I like drawing.
...The music teacher is in her mid-50s. Even from a regressor's view, that's mom-age.
The art teacher, though? Late 20s—feels like a younger junior to me, age gap and all. She's married, but still.
This isn't some creepy old perv eyeing a younger teacher as dating material.
It's just a pure high school guy's wish to make class a bit more enjoyable, right? Anyone would get that.
Art and music classes for two or three combined classes happen in dedicated rooms—the art room or music room.
Since I picked art, I'm in the art room.
This setup naturally mixes students from other classes in one room.
Even so, since kids from different classes are awkward with each other by default, seating in the art room splits neatly by class—no mixing.
The notable difference?
Class 5 kids getting classes together have decent guy-girl vibes, so friends sit together regardless of gender.
But our Class 2? Still deep in boy-girl cold war, so guys and girls sit separated like they've been sliced with a knife.
And me... I claimed the guys' table was too cramped and plopped down at a table with kids from the other class.
Hey? New friends. Am I intruding? Nah, I'm good. Our class kids make me uncomfortable.
Other tables seat about eight. Mine? Five including me. Done.
No one would complain if I moved here.
All four were girls—shortened uniforms, earrings, dyed hair.
All made up too.
You girls love dolling up, huh! (Four friends without me, so not a lie.)
Bluntly put, they screamed stereotypical delinquent high school girls.
The one who looked like the leader—Yoo So-mi—had light brown dyed hair.
She scowled like she hated me being there, avoiding eye contact entirely.
Yep~ I'm fine~ No matter how annoyed you are, this spot's comfier for me~
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ It's performance assessment season now, so the art teacher set "landscape painting" as the theme.
Tools are free game—watercolors, markers, whatever. Technically, even just a Monami ballpoint wouldn't disqualify you...
But the teacher said she'd score heavily on effort to complete the piece... so to avoid scolding, you gotta make it look decent at least.
I brought 100-color pencils and markers. Sketch with pencil, detail key colors with pencils, fill large areas with board markers.
Ta-da. A passable landscape in just 20 minutes.
Title: Tears of the Arctic. Depicts cliffs exposed by melting permafrost from global warming. Bold marker strokes on the strata layers for a broad, rugged feel—that's the hook. This'll easily full-mark the assessment.
Now, time to snoop on what others are drawing? Perk of finishing first.
Most kids... sun, trees, streams. Some half-assed it like me and goofed off; others still grunted over pencil sketches, unsure what to draw.
Incidentally, the punks who sketched a single tree and submitted? Already docked points and booted from the room. I missed it, too focused on drawing.
The teacher circled tables, scrutinizing works and giving feedback.
Praise for hard workers regardless of skill. Nag for slackers with unfinished pieces.
But when she hit our table, her vibe shifted a bit.
"Oh, So-mi, you've studied art, huh? If you had more time, wet-on-dry here would've been nice. Good work."
"Hm. Yi-an. Nice job. Everyone, pay attention—this level gets full marks on the assessment, so step it up~ Yeah, done? Hand 'em in."
Get it? The temperature difference in her responses.
To make an art major say "You've studied art," you need performance way beyond average—entry-exam level.
Wet-on-dry? Why assume a liberal arts high schooler knows that?
No higher praise for Yoo So-mi? Because "You've studied art" is the max accolade a teacher can give.
And showing my painting to the class instead? Hers was too pro for normies to reference.
No way. A hidden pro (power-level hider who's secretly top-tier) at my table, pretending to be a delinquent.
Curious, I snuck behind Yoo So-mi on my way to submit, peeking at her canvas.
Her eyes were locked on her brush shuttling between palette and paper—no way she'd notice me from behind.
...
Yeah, even to an untrained eye like mine, it was damn good...
Blue sky. Vast blue plains to the horizon, golden wheat fields. A gray-haired man and brown-haired woman riding a carriage down the path between.
Hmm... Call it a hunch, but that brown-haired woman? Totally a wolf who loves apples, goddess of abundance, scamming villages with the gray-haired merchant.
"..........Wol☐f and Sp☐ice?"
-Flinch!