A Peaceful Day.
A Peaceful Day.
Yellow Light Art Academy.
The academy founded by Go Min-su.
It was a five-minute walk from my house, so I always went on foot. Although Dad would come pick me up in the evenings...
Go Min-su and the high school students were drawing in the laid-back academy that had just begun entrance exam prep.
Already a superstar of the art world, my credentials alone practically guaranteed admission just by saying I wanted to go to Korea Comprehensive Arts University. My name was already engraved in people's minds.
But maybe because they'd gotten used to me—or maybe Go Min-su had said something separately—everyone in the academy just said hello.
"Si-yoon, you're here?"
"Yes~ I'm here."
I held out the canvas I'd brought to Go Min-su.
I spoke to Go Min-su, whose expression seemed to ask what this was.
"Farzier sent another painting. Wanna keep it? I don't even have room to put it anymore..."
"Huh? Can I look at it?"
"What do you mean, 'can I look,' I'm giving it to you."
"Right..."
Go Min-su carefully unwrapped it, and his eyes sparkled.
"...Can I seriously take this?"
A portrait with Farzier's habits fully embedded in it.
As if demonstrating why Farzier is a master, his complex emotions were completely dissolved into the work.
Farzier's signature is his bold omission of elements he deems unnecessary.
It was clearly a piece of tremendous value, but I just shrugged.
"When he sends them, I tell him there's no place to hang them, and he said to go ahead and sell it or throw it away."
"....."
"But honestly, as you can see, I'd rather throw something else away—this one would be a waste, right? And I think Farzier figured I wouldn't be able to throw it away once I saw it."
Go Min-su slowly nodded.
How could anyone put this painting into the trash can...
Even if Farzier himself ripped it up and threw it in the trash, someone else would piece it back together.
"Hang it here. All I had as a present for your opening day was a drawing I scribbled."
"That drawing's right over there... and that one's super expensive too... you don't know, do you?"
"I know~"
I settled into my usual spot and naturally walked into the storage room.
Today, for the first time in a while, I picked up a Prismacolor oil-based pencil.
Go Min-su watched as I drew lines without any hesitation.
My drawing skill had now reached a point where, if I set my mind to it, I could produce an image like a photograph.
Prismacolor oil-based pencils allowed for incredibly delicate work, so I'd been really into them lately.
Go Min-su, focusing on the picture starting from the center, spoke.
"Now there's truly nothing left for me to teach you...?"
"Then stock the supplies a bit more generously."
"Okay... oh, right, any chance you could show them how you draw an entrance exam piece on Wednesday?"
"Why on earth from me? There's nothing to learn from me; Master doing it would be better."
"Still, wouldn't learning from someone young like you be much more of a shock?"
"The Korea Comprehensive Arts University prep class?"
"Yeah."
I shrugged and held out my hand to Go Min-su.
"Hmm?"
"I've never done one, so I should try it out first. Give me a problem."
"Ah, right! Hang on, I'll give you last year's problem."
I looked at the paper Go Min-su handed over.
- The sun sets, magnifying every edge of the world.
- The evenings of spring, summer, autumn, and winter each have a distinct texture, imbued with reflections on the hour when dusk begins to settle.
[Problem]
- Referring to the poetic metaphors revealed in the sentences above, freely express your thoughts on light and space.
"This is absurd... Look at this pretzel-twisted nonsense. What 'poetic metaphor'... Why can't they just say, 'Draw a picture with light as the theme'?"
"Uh-huh?... Right..."
Even though his alma mater had just been roasted by a kid, Go Min-su said nothing.
Grilling Go Min-su all the while, I just threw it together roughly using the provided paints.
"When you cram art—which is supposed to be free—into a rigid box like this, no wonder Korean art has no future... Look how tight the time is... They're basically demanding you mass-produce..."
I glanced at Go Min-su while painting, and he said nothing.
"....."
I roughly laid out the underpainting, then focused on the picture and began pressing thick strokes onto the paper with the brush.
Go Min-su nodded along with me and muttered.
"As expected... asking you was the right call..."
I smirked and rapidly painted it out.
Go Min-su nodded, looking at the painting that seemed complete.
"Wow... perfect, Si-yoon. This is an unconditional pass..."
It already looked finished, but as a final touch, I squeezed a thick dollop of cadmium yellow onto the palette.
Go Min-su flinched at the overwhelmingly intense yellow.
"Isn't that... too primary...?"
"A painting has to go its own way."
"....."
"A lot of people in the past loved the color yellow."
I wordlessly ignored Go Min-su's worried gaze.
"Van Gogh loved yellow too, and in China yellow was called the emperor's color..."
Without hesitation, I dabbed pure cadmium yellow, unmixed with any other color, onto the completed painting.
"Like gold melting over a wheat field... the sun, the moon, the stars, the lamp, the wheat field, and the sunflowers."
Go Min-su, thinking the cadmium yellow was ruining a painting that had looked perfect, was unable to contain his anxiety.
But he trusted my advancing painting skills, swallowed hard, and focused on my words.
"Looking back on my childhood, everything was wrapped in a yellow veil... the roof tiles, the palanquin, the cushions, the clothes, the lining, the belt, the curtains... even the dishes and cups for eating and drinking..."
Every time I took a brushstroke while reciting the passage I had read, the still-wet colors on the paper began to intertwine.
Then I smirked and finished it off.
"Everything I had was yellow."
"....."
I left Go Min-su standing there with his mouth open, and dabbed cadmium yellow at the bottom right, inscribing '452'.
"Ah, Dad's here. I'm heading out first~"
Go Min-su didn't seem to hear me; he was only staring at the painting.
Dad saw me coming out alone and sent me a curious look.
"Why didn't Go Min-su return your greeting?"
"Mm... because he was witnessing a new world with his own two eyes?"
"...?"
"Something like that."
"There's... something like that, huh..."
Go Min-su brought the painting, which he had carefully wrapped, to Professor Ahn Jun-tae.
"Professor..."
Professor Ahn Jun-tae noted Go Min-su's expression and the frame marked '452'.
Professor Ahn Jun-tae quietly waited for Go Min-su, and as Go Min-su opened the wrapping, he spoke.
"I asked Si-yoon to help the students preparing for entrance exams. This is something Si-yoon drew for practice..."
Professor Ahn Jun-tae, having confirmed the painting, briefly lost his words.
"Huh..."
Professor Ahn Jun-tae gazed at the painting, then smiled a tranquil smile.
"I envy you... being able to watch from the sidelines..."
"Yes..."
Whether I was exposed to the media or not, I had already risen to superstar status, and I found myself admitting that I was dealing with fame.
Probably, as long as Dad is active, and as long as I keep painting,
I'll keep being an issue...
I was lying on the sofa in my school uniform, touching the jelly pads on Alpha's paws, waiting for Dad.
Dad came out of the bathroom and looked at me.
"What."
"Si-yoon... aren't you growing up too fast...? Can't you grow just a little slower..."
"What are you talking about."
My face still hadn't lost its baby fat, but Dad sighed at my height, which had shot up enough that my audacious behavior suited me.
When I tickled Alpha's neck, Alpha purred as if delighted.
From the side, Beta approached asking to be petted too, but Alpha pushed Beta away with a paw.
"Meeeeeow!!!"
When I jabbed the cats' butts with my finger as they were about to fight, they flinched and quieted down.
Dad, shaking out his hair with a towel, looked at Alpha and Beta.
"You guys hungry?"
"Dad, go get waxed. You're gonna smell."
"...Huh?"
Armpit hair—the kind that naturally grows on people.
When Da-yeon used to worry about armpit hair, I never had any grow there, so I attracted Da-yeon's envy.
Once I grew past 150 centimeters, I started sleeping separately from Dad.
Maybe because of that, Dad began grooming himself a little less.
Although Dad was now looking at his forties, he looked so ridiculously young that you'd believe it if someone said he was in his late twenties or very early thirties.
To the point where he looked even younger now than he did five years ago.
After releasing a few rougher songs to match the trend during that time,
Dad got a tattoo for a performance, maybe thinking I had grown up enough.
Tattoos embedded in his pure white skin.
Among them was a tattoo of my face.
"Should I try getting a tattoo when I'm older too~?"
"No."
"Why? You have them, Dad."
Dad quickly covered his tattoos with the towel.
"Dad is... a man, you know."
"What kind of reason is that, women get them too?"
"Still, your body was given by Dad, so no."
"Yeah yeah~ thaaank you sooo much for giving it~"
"...You."
"I had no plans to anyway~ Right~ Alpha~ Beta~"
""Mrow?""
I spoke while looking at Dad's body, which was thoroughly maintained and sharply cut.
"I'm hungry, feed me."
"Okay."
Dad smiled, savoring the peaceful morning as he cooked.
Once, when I got old enough, I told him I would cook for him.
A deeply moved Dad tried the food I made, smiled and nodded,
and after that, he never had me cook again.
My food even became famous at Da-yeon's place—her family expected me to be good at cooking too, since I'm good at everything.
I cooked with Da-yeon once, and ever since, the Lee Jin-seok family avoided my cooking.
Even Da-yeon broke out in a cold sweat whenever she saw food I made.
"Dad."
"Yeah?"
I spoke to Dad in a sweet, soft voice.
"These days, if you wear a mask, people don't recognize you. Half the time they don't even know when you take it off."
But at my sweet voice, Dad looked back at me with an expression like he'd bitten into something.
"...So."
"PC bang."
"No."
As if he'd predicted what I wanted, Dad answered in less than a second,
and faced with his firm refusal, I pulled out my second secret weapon.
"Whyyyyyyy!"
"....."
Because of my secret weapon, Dad ultimately started ignoring me all day.
Unwilling to lose, I got up from the sofa and slapped my hand onto the fridge with a thwack.
Dad, spotting the sight, flinched.
"You... don't do it."
I looked at Dad, grinned, and stuck my butt out behind me like a rebound, making Dad turn dead serious.
"I said don't do it."
"PC bang."
I took the pose just before starting to twerk, and at the same time, I slowly raised and dropped my ass.
Before I knew it, a dust-covered switch was in Dad's hand, one I hadn't seen in a long time,
and the moment I saw it, I fled to my room and locked the door.
"Open up."
"How long was I even in position, and you already have that in your hand? What, do you have like a few hundred stashed? Where do you even pull them from? How about you put down the switch in your hand first?"
"I didn't hear any of that, so open up."
I smirked and said.
"Heh, even if you'd told me that while giving me candy when I was three, I wouldn't have believed you, admit it?"
The rattling sound grew louder.
"Kim Si-yoon! I said open up!"
"Huh? Dad, I smell something burning? The food's burning, Dad! I think you really need to check it?!"
"You... if you don't open up, you're in more trouble."
"I'm fourteen, why are you picking up a switch! Is this the twenty-first century? That's child abuse!"
"Go ahead and report it. I'll show you what it means to bury something through connections."
"Wow! WOW! Can you say stuff like that in this righteous Republic of Korea?!"
"Open up, quick."
Just then, the doorbell rang. Dad sighed, tossed the switch aside, and checked the intercom.
I opened the door very, very carefully.
Da-yeon, all ready for school, had come to our house,
and Dad, confirming it was Da-yeon, quickly put on his pants.
When I opened the door for Da-yeon, Dad dressed himself even faster.
"You're here?"
"Si-yoon~ Hi~"
"I haven't eaten yet. Did you eat?"
Da-yeon shook her head.
"I told Mom and Dad I'd eat with Si-yoon. What about your dad?"
"Dad~ Da-yeon."
Dad glared daggers at me while greeting Da-yeon.
"Hi~ Da-yeon. Did you eat?"
"No, I got Mom's permission to eat at your place."
"Oh, did you?"
Dad smelled the food and rushed to the kitchen.
I held out my thumb to Da-yeon.
"...?"
"If you hadn't come, I almost got hit by Dad."
Startled by the word 'hit,' Da-yeon stared at me.
"Seriously?!"
"Yeah, my dad picks up a switch and hits me."
"Oh no... should I talk to your dad about it?"
I smiled and shook my head.
"It's okay~ Da-yeon, you came to rescue me like this, didn't you?"
"Yeah!"
Dad brought out the side dishes and placed them mainly around Da-yeon.
"Da-yeon, eat well~"
"Yes!"
I stared at Dad looking at Da-yeon, and Dad glanced at me.
"What about me?"
"You just eat your rice."
"Tch... I'm going to Da-yeon's. Let's trade daughters."
"Oh wow~ sounds great to me?"
I knew from experience that in a fight like this, no one would take my side and I'd lose, so I raised the white flag quickly and ate silently.
Da-yeon, watching that scene, spoke carefully.
"...You shouldn't hit her..."
"...Huh?"
"Don't hit Si-yoon..."
I stopped eating mid-bite at the pure snipe from Da-yeon, buried my nose in my bowl, and snickered to myself.
Only Dad noticed me doing that.
"No, Da-yeon... why would I hit Si-yoon..."
Da-yeon looked at the switch lying in the room.
"It's a misunderstanding, Da-yeon. That's something I pick up when Si-yoon does something really bad, and Si-yoon messed up badly enough today to warrant it."
"What... did she do?"
Dad frantically explained the situation to Da-yeon, and Da-yeon looked at me.
"She shook her butt...? How did she do it?"
"You wanna learn too, Da-yeon? Guys love it."
Da-yeon looked at me with interested eyes,
and Dad, in the middle of eating, stared at me with a horrified expression.