Chapter 2

“Nice to meet you, new students. My name is Lee Jong.”

The professor walked to the front of the blackboard.

Professor Lee Jong.

He was a professor in charge of Han Yewon’s <Basic Drawings> class. I was told that he had been the design director of a German automobile company before becoming a teacher.

The king of industrial design in Korea.

He smirked and said, “Today is our first class, so I’d like to conduct a class that anyone can do easily and lightly.”

“Phew.”

A small sigh of relief was heard among the students.

Han Yewon’s curriculum is famous for being tough, so everyone must’ve been relieved because he said he would go through it easily.

‘But don’t let your guard down. Today’s assignment will change your college life.’

Knowing Professor Lee Jong’s true side, I waited for his next words, and he continued with a smile.

“Today’s class is simple. Take a sheet of drawing paper from the front. Then, fill the page full of your own drawings.”

As he said so, the teaching assistant walked forward with a huge bundle of paper, and set it down on the desk in front of the classroom.

Thud

The students were all startled by the sound of how heavy the stack of paper was, and while they were sitting still, a student raised his hand and asked,

“Professor, I have a question for you.”

“Yes, please speak.”

“If it’s drawing, what should I draw?”

“I see. Any drawing is fine. You can draw people or objects. But today is your first class, so it would be nice if you could draw a picture related to yourself.”

Professor Lee Jong continued with a smile.

“That’s right, the theme of this drawing is ‘Myself’. After completing the painting, it would be fun to guess the person’s personality while looking at it together. So let’s get started now. Come forward and take a sheet of drawing paper.”

“Yes.”

So far, everything has been going exactly as I know it.

A class that fills a single sheet of paper with drawings.

This was the real beginning.

And I was prepared.

‘Usually, students who have been brainwashed by the art in the entrance exam would be shocked here.’

No matter how amazing Han Yewon is, very few students are able to show their genius from the very beginning. Usually, while the academy prepares for the practical exam, everyone receives a similar education, and only draws similar pictures.

If you suddenly asked me to draw a portrait of you, I couldn’t have done it properly.

‘Half the people drew their pieces using the common entrance exam style.’

Professor Lee Jong used to give harsh scoldings when looking at such pictures.

‘It seems to me that all the drawings you’ve submitted look the same. It’s hard to tell them apart. If you want to be a professional, you’ll need to find your own colors first.’

A class that forces you to remove yourself from being an entrance exam student and become yourself as a college student.

In short, this class was shock therapy.

‘This is where Professor Lee Jong stands out from other professors.’

First of all, entering his studio was the first goal.

I looked around.

I saw students wandering around, confused about what to draw.

‘It must be difficult.’

Every Korean college entrance exam student has lived a similar life, so it’s hard for this class to suddenly draw one’s life on paper. Furthermore, it must be even more difficult since they’ve only ever drawn the pictures that they’ve memorized according to the academy’s instructions.

But as time went by, some soon began to paint.

Then, I started to play with my hands, too.

‘It’s my life.’

From the day I returned to this moment, I had been thinking deeply.

Professor Lee Jong ordered me to draw myself, but because of my past experience, I had a side that could overwhelm the other students.

‘I’ve been at the forefront of design for over 10 years.’

My past job was a design consultant.

A job that receives requests from other companies, then selects and provides plausible designs. From pencil cases and chairs to electronics, there was no field that wasn’t covered in the job.

Tens of thousands of conceptual designs have been sold by me.

‘So let’s draw one of them.’

Especially electronics.

It was the field that I was most confident in.

Scribble. Scribble.

Starting from the edge of the paper, my hands began to dance.

‘This would be nice.’

A trend that will be popular a few years from now.

An ultra-slim slide-type cell phone. It’s a design that will be obsolete in the future, but if you know the truth, you can never ignore it.

‘This trend revived a brand that had been ruined.’

In the near future, the world’s leading companies started pouring an astronomical amount of money into design. Marketing usually appeals to emotions rather than actual performance, and design was the most intuitive means of stimulating emotions.

‘Thanks to that, more and more companies have appointed designers to CEO positions.’

A well-chosen design drives the market.

That’s right.

The design being drawn by my hand now had a lot of value.

‘If Professor Lee Jong is a real professional, he’ll also understand the value of this design.’

My hands stretched out without hesitation.

Fortunately, the drawing itself was one of the most skillful paintings I could draw.

‘I used to draw hundreds of concept drawings a day.’

In modern society, design was a war against speed. Market trends are bound to change rapidly in a day or two, and speed was needed to catch up with those trends. Even at dawn, I had to draw dozens of concepts according to the client’s request.

‘My past life was completely melted onto a sheet of drawing paper.’

But regardless of the field, I drew the designs that I had completed in the past as soon as I remembered them.

Designs that were nonexistent in this era began to fill up the canvas.

At the same time, I could feel the trembling gaze of the students around me.

They’re barely able to draw one or two items, and are probably very surprised to see me fill in the drawing paper as if I’ve prepared it beforehand.

It can’t be helped.

‘Painting is a product of time.’

The proficiency that I showed at an undergraduate level was alien to me, too.

However, that was appropriate.

I’d rather show off a little than lose an opportunity while hiding my true abilities.

Only the scribbling of pencils could be heard throughout the classroom

*

“Time is up. Please stop and submit your artwork after you’ve written your name and student number on the back.”

At the same time Professor Lee Jong spoke with a smile, students’ complaints erupted from all over the class.

“Is it over already?”

“I couldn’t even draw anything…”

“I spent all my time thinking about it.”

As I looked around, I found that a portion of the students had given up after wasting their time clumsily.

One half of the class barely had any variety in their works.

The other half of the students managed to fill the drawing paper somehow.

‘I couldn’t even fill half of the drawing paper in my last life.’

While thinking about the topic, I changed the composition several times and ended up failing.

As I was immersed in various thoughts, the sheets of paper that had been spread throughout the classroom gathered together again.

Professor Lee Jong lifted the paintings one by one and put them on the easel.

“This painting, in my opinion, looks like a panoramic view of a library. Am I right?”

“Yes…”

The student who was called on said in a trembling voice.

It was literally just a painting of a library.

A typical entrance exam style drawing focused only on increasing density.

Professor Lee Jong continued with a smile.

“What I can infer from this painting is that the student studied hard in the library.”

“Huh? Yeah.”

“I can’t see anything else from this painting, is there something more that the student intended?”

“Well, it’s not…”

“I see. Thank you for the painting. Let’s move on to the next picture.”

The student, whose turn ended in an instant, bowed his head with a gloomy expression.

It’s a shame that the evaluation ended with just a few words. However, even if the assessment was prolonged, all that could be said about the piece would’ve been harsh criticism.

The same process was repeated again and again afterwards.

“You drew a park.”

“Yes!”

“Where is the student in this picture?”

“…”

–

“You’re studying.”

“Yes.”

“All right.”

“…”

–

“You worked hard, well done. By the way, did you learn at Anichanga Academy in front of Hongdae University?”

“Huh? How did you…”

“Everyone from that academy drew the same picture as you.”

“…”

It’s just a difference in how hard you get hit by your solar plexus, and everyone was hit fairly.

I could tell without saying it.

Professor Lee Jong was rebuking them.

This is all you can draw?

Is this your whole life?

Indeed, the skill level of current undergraduate colleagues was not very high.

‘I knew this would happen, I’m sorry about this.’

I smiled bitterly.

Immediately after I regressed, I checked my sketchbook and was surprised.

The reason was simple.

‘I didn’t do a good job.’

I couldn’t draw well.

It looked like I drew it with my feet with a bit of exaggeration.

From the composition to three-dimensional sensibility and density, it was a mess and in shambles.

A line with a rough appearance was the default.

‘I wanted to look plausible to others, but I didn’t even use the basics.’

That was my painting when I first entered Han Yewon.

And I was above average.

That means that there were many other students who were worse than that.

Lee Jae-ha was captivated by strange emotions when he saw students getting rebuked by the professor one by one.

‘I didn’t do as bad as I thought.’

I did my best to draw.

Although I ran into a certain wall as a designer, I had never been far behind in skills before, especially when it came to drawing.

Drawing was straightforward.

That’s why I liked drawing.

The more time you invested into doing it, the more your skills increased. Finishing a drawing in a day or two did not change anything, but it certainly changed after a year or two.

That’s how I built up my skills.

So, my past life was meaningless.

‘It’s something we can do our best to see.’

It was around that time when the classroom was filled with grief.

Professor Lee Jong picked up a new sheet of drawing paper and murmured with a surprised expression.

“This…. not bad.”

When he picked up the painting and put it on the easel, each of the students exclaimed in admiration.

“It’s quite well drawn.”

“It’s very neat.

“It looks like it was drawn by a machine.”

“I’d believe it if a machine drew it.”

One of the paintings stood out among the other paintings that have passed so far.

That picture.

It was my painting.