Chapter 13

The moonlight flowed in from somewhere, subtly illuminating the work on the desk.

Does this make sense in an enclosed classroom? Of course not, but for a moment, the students will be overwhelmed by the surreal scene and become rigid.

“·····Ah!”

Soon, one student noticed and pointed to the shelf.

“The light’s coming from up there!”

All of the students’ eyes turned to where their classmate was pointing.

At the end was a faintly shining blue light.

Okay.

That light isn’t real moonlight. It was nothing more than a device that I slipped onto the classroom shelf beforehand.

But…

“······.”

It was beautiful.

Monet’s [Woman with a Parasol] subtly glowing blue under an artificial moonlight. There was a beauty that even I couldn’t help but admire even though I had already seen and knew about it.

This beauty is beyond any words of criticism.

A smile appeared on my face as I witnessed the students’ reactions.

‘This is a success.’

No, it was even more successful than I expected. It feels like I was being rewarded for the rough and eventful production process in an instant.

Suddenly, I remembered the first time I ever saw [Woman With a Parasol].

‘It felt like I was out of breath.’

A famous masterpiece that captured Monet’s happiest moment in life.

The abundant winds and scattering of light, and a walk with a beautiful wife and cute son was portrayed in the painting.

This painting seemed to be a glimpse of happiness, so I liked it.

I wanted to save it as much as I could.

However, no matter how much I worked on it, something was still lacking.

‘What is it?’

After many days of thinking, I realized it.

The problem was the difference in light intensity.

‘The color of the tape is too weak.’

No matter how hard I tried to describe Monet’s light, the light depicted with tape felt awkward. On the contrary, the light that Seo Ji-won painted gradually became more intense.

This was the wall I faced.

For Monet, light was his life, so I absolutely had to overcome this weakness.

However, humans inherently lacked creativity.

It’s special to be able to refer to and absorb talent from other people’s works, but if there is no reference material to do so, your works will only start to repeat itself.

In the end, it was around the time when I started to self-rationalize, saying I had done enough because there was no way for me to overcome it.

[Do you have free time today?]

Professor Lee Jong contacted me.

Unexpectedly, I made stained glass.

And…

I encountered a beautiful scene.

Moonlight flowed in from the outside.

It was a gorgeous scene where the moonlight reflected itself on the stained glass and made it shine.

‘It was beautiful.’

I was amazed.

I had no choice but to stare blankly and admire it.

The stained glass, shining blue in the studio where the lights were turned off, felt more special than any other famous masterpiece in the world.

A beauty enough to be called sacred.

The moment I saw it, I realized.

‘If it’s difficult to describe the light, all you need to do is make real light.’

The light in Seo Ji-won’s work is, of course, intense. Afremov’s paintings are so colorful that it’s ridiculous.

However…

Compared to the real light, it’s new blood.

‘Let’s make it again, right now.’

I rushed to my studio.

And the work I had made was reflected in the moonlight.

However, one problem occurred.

‘This isn’t enough.’

If the moonlight shines behind the canvas, it was just so-so. It’s like the LCD of an old, cheap game console with an LED attached.

It was bland.

But there’s always an answer.

‘Stainless glass is still glass. Let’s make it again using glass as a canvas instead.’

I put my ideas into action, and the result was satisfactory.

‘This is it!’

Not only did the permeability improve in an instant, but the color of the artwork also improved.

Thrilling goosebumps rose all over my back.

My judgment was right.

‘Let’s do just one more thing here…’

It’s enough to stop here, but wouldn’t it be a joke performance if you don’t know what to say?

‘I’ll need to set up a trap card.’

After inducing criticism, I darkened the classroom. Then, a pale blue light shone gently behind the work.

The result was this scene right before my eyes.

“Wow·····.”

“This is really…”

After being released from rigidity, only then could the students express their feelings.

“Ha. I feel a sense of shame.”

“Should I just quit pursuing art?”

“Next week is my turn, what should I do…?”

Though it wasn’t said directly, their worries also contained their praises.

A smirk appeared on my face.

‘Seo Ji-won. Of course, she draws well.’

But, I’m better at presenting.

…

Tape art.

Successful.

*

I opened the windows and turned on the classroom’s lights again.

Click.

Then, the magical scene that I saw a while ago disappeared like a mirage. The artwork laid out on the desk now felt shabby for some reason.

‘This is still pretty good, but it’s probably not enough.’

It was because everyone witnessed such a beautiful sight just a few seconds ago. As such, the difference was pretty extreme.

I was trying to organize the picture, but I suddenly remembered that I had forgotten about Kim Dae-won and said, “This is the reinterpretation I thought of. Monet is famous as a magician of light, so I also tried magic with light. How was it? Was it a sufficient answer?”

“······.”

Kim Dae-won was silent. I guess he didn’t know that the counterattack would be this intense.

He sighed as if he had given up immediately and said, “I’ll admit it, this was an incredibly good reinterpretation.”

“Thank you.”

The acknowledgement was strong.

As expected, he’s a true man.

‘It’s a great feeling.’

This time, I turned my head to look at Seo Ji-won.

“······.”

Her expression was definitely worth seeing. She was biting her lips so that she could see clearly.

[ TL/N – I’m assuming the author means that she’s on the verge of (angry) tears ]

She must be feeling the anxiety of defeat.

She probably never imagined that I would’ve prepared a work like this overnight, because she’s always had the upper hand in the end.

However, I have been standing still in one place since the beginning.

Just before today’s class started, you thought it was going to be easy to win, but…

‘Life is always like this.’

I’ve lived for quite a while, but I don’t know what’s going to happen now.

Honestly, I was a little lucky. It was purely luck that Professor Lee Jong called me. It was also my luck that I turned off the lights in the studio before opening the windows.

If I had missed even one of them, it would have been Seo Ji-won who was smiling by now.

Meanwhile, Professor Kang Noah was smiling.

“It was great,” She clapped her hands and said. “I want to secretly steal it and display it in my living room. It was the best work I’ve ever seen in this class.”

When she said it was the best she’s ever seen, it meant one thing:

It means that I did better than Seo Ji-won.

When I heard the confirmation from the professor, I felt the tension draining from my body.

‘I can finally sleep properly today.’

My body is tired.

“That’s all for my presentation, thank you for watching.”

As I bowed my head and stepped back, applause poured out from among the students. A smile bloomed on my face at the sound of clapping pouring like a shower during the rainy season.

‘Yeah. I struggled to get here.’

As I stepped down, only one of our team members remained unpublished.

It was Ha Ye-eun.

I felt sorry for her.

I’ve been playing a game with Seo Ji-won up until this point, so there’s no way she won’t feel burdened.

“······. Go for it.”

That’s how I wished her luck.

However, when I checked her complexion, she surprisingly wasn’t nervous at all.

Maybe it’s because it’s not her major, or maybe it’s because she prepared something else.

After a while, I realized.

“I interpreted Monet’s work musically.”

She rolled up the cloth.

A keyboard appeared in it.

Not a computer keyboard, but a keyboard like a portable piano; an eternal friend of composer students.

Ha Ye-eun grabbed the keyboard and soon began to hit the keys.

I admired it.

‘Music could also describe light.’

A melody reminiscent of a cool yet warm spring. It was a song that suited Monet’s painting quite well.

There wasn’t any tension, so everything felt completely natural. There’s no reason for her to be nervous because the fields of competition don’t exactly overlap.

Even so, it couldn’t be helped that it was ridiculous.

‘I can’t believe you’re fighting with music in an art class.’

That’s why she’s a true student of Han Ye-won. Han Ye-won’s academic tradition is that so long as the results are good, it’s fine, so don’t be trapped in a format.

Wasn’t it like that from the practical entrance exam? If you just follow the theme, you’re free to use whatever tools you want.

As such, our group’s presentation ended very successfully.

It was the most rewarding day since I returned.

*

Returning home, I faced an unexpected crisis.

‘········· It’s getting dangerous.’

You could die like this.

After I woke up from the thrill of the presentations, the coldness of reality now strangled me.

‘When did I spend so much money?’

Money was running out of my bank account, and at an incredible speed too.

‘How did this happen? Did I lose my mind? I’m sure I didn’t spend a lot.’

I was looking at my bank account, and the cost of living was being depleted at a rate of four times as fast as I initially expected.

Just what is the reason?

It was obvious.

It was the result of generously pouring money into each task.

‘I should’ve just done the assignments normally!’

On average, I spent more than 100,000 won a day on my assignments.

It wasn’t just Monet’s work.

In addition, just because I’m an art student does not mean that I don’t have books for my major.

To make matters worse, there is no way that the wallet of an unemployed person will be able to hold out since he kept buying things and eating this and that outside the house.

‘I can’t help but to spend money.’

Even if I realized it late, it’s too late.

Now, the remaining living expenses were about two months.

It’s a shame because I’ve been accumulating it since I was in high school to pay for my school tuition, but without this, I would have probably already starved to death.

But now, that is still the future. I couldn’t turn a blind eye to it now.

‘The time has come to make money.’

Fortunately, the plan was already made in advance.

Ever since I returned, I’ve stopped by the student office every day. And whenever a new promotional paper came in, I bought a copy.

I spread them out on the bed.

The contents of these promotional papers were promotions for design contests.

‘Let’s see which contest will be worthwhile.’

That’s right.

I was going to cover my living expenses through the contests and earn a better reputation to start doing bigger things.

The ultimate goal is to receive start-up support from Han Ye-Won.

The first step was to be recognized by the professors, followed by this.

‘Let’s see.’

Flip. Flip.

The pages of the promotional papers flew by.

There were various options such as mascot designs, inventions, and character creation contests. However, several things had to be considered.

I couldn’t just look at the money.

‘Is there anything that will be helpful for my career and can be combined with my studies?’

It became a little more complicated when those conditions were attached. Still, I have to be patient and look through it a bit more.

Soon, a decent contest caught my eye.

–

[Mupia Co. Ltd. Emoticon Contest]

[Eligibility: Young people between the ages of 19 and 35]

[Round 1] Preliminary Document Screening –> [Round 2] Portfolio Review –> [Round 3] Announcement of Results

–

I read it slowly from the top and the moment I saw the bottom, I exclaimed in a joyful voice.

“This is it!”

–

Grand Prize – 3 million won / 1 person.

Excellence Award – 1.5 million won / 1 person.

Encouragement Award – 500,000 won / 3 people.

–

No matter how much I searched, competition prizes of this amount were rare to find.

The reason why this contest was even more attractive was the fact that it was even efficient compared to how much effort I needed to put in.

‘Emoticons are a battle of ideas rather than quality. And if it’s a trend in the future, it’s already in my head.’

You can choose just the right amount of anything and bring out the feeling. Moreover, character products are also good for making

the names of the designer known.

Okay.

This is it.

The time has come to return to designer Lee Jae-ha, not art student Lee Jae-ha.

The deadline to apply for the contest is today; there are only two hours left.

‘Hurry up, hurry up.’

It was the moment when I turned on the computer and was about to send in the application for the document screening.

Riiinng.

The cell phone rang.

‘So suddenly?’

Usually, I would ignore it because I was in such an urgent situation, but the caller was a person who I could not ignore.

[Professor Lee Jong]

It was a professor.

‘Why did he call me at this hour?’

I was thinking about whether to answer or not.

I closed my eyes and answered the phone, hoping that it will be over as soon as possible.

“Yes, hello.”

Let’s not talk on the phone for too long.

I muttered with a blank face.

“······· Huh? Go out for a contest?”