I Became A Renowned Genius At My Arts High School - Chapter 160



Only Noblemtl

Episode 160. Rainy Season (2)

“Something meaningful?”

Oyuna tilted her head and asked.

“I have been donating every year.”

As expected, noblesse oblige.

The third daughter of Oh Yang-ho, the successor to the owner of Hansung Motors. It was a remark befitting of someone born with a silver spoon in her mouth.

“Donating is good, but I thought it would be better to go there in person.”

So, Soo-hyeon didn’t seem too moved by Oh Yu-na’s words and answered while keeping her eyes fixed on the TV screen.

“Go? Over there?”

“Should we go directly to the flood site? Us?”

This time, Cha Yoon-hee and Park Seon-hwa asked back.

“There will be a huge shortage of workers. We will need relief supplies, but we will also need people to do the work.”

Soo-hyun said calmly.

However, I was skeptical that these kids, who had never experienced hardship before, would willingly step forward.

“It must be meaningful.”

“It might be kind of cool, though?”

“We were going to go on a trip anyway. How about we go on a trip while we’re at it?”

“Oh, that’s good. Then I guess I’ll have to make a longer schedule. Well, there’s still a lot of vacation left, so I guess it’ll be okay.”

Maybe it was because they all had no flaws. Everyone nodded immediately, saying it was a good idea. Instead, it was Soo-hyun who was surprised.

“really?”

“Why? Is there a problem?”

“No, I think it’s too easy to decide. That’s going to be quite difficult. It’s going to take a lot of physical effort.”

“What are you talking about? Have you ever done that? You speak as if you have experience?”

“That’s right. And it’s a good thing. It’s good to experience it at this age. I’ve always dreamed of doing farm work. I wanted to try it once.”

“That’s right. Farming is great. Digging up potatoes and having a campfire. It’s full of romance.”

The children smiled brightly and quickly discussed what to do next.

Park Seon-hwa, who was secretly well-versed in administration, contacted the city hall and district office in the flood-stricken area, and in the process, was able to connect with a volunteer center and receive a schedule.

Soo-hyun and her friends headed to Hamun-dong, South Chungcheong Province.

***

Zzzzzz.

Mmmmmmm.

The place where Sumaru had scratched was horribly bad.

Fallen trees, collapsed houses, messy roads, muddy fields and rice paddies. Precious things lost and vanished.

“Hey, hey. Hey, hey.”

The cries of the villagers, the sounds of cicadas, and the chirping of summer insects all mixed together in a pitiful manner.

I couldn’t even approach him easily for fear that if I asked him what he had lost, he would give me an answer I couldn’t handle.

“Shall we go over there?”

“Yeah. That would be nice.”

Su-hyeon and her friends moved around intelligently and found things to do.

“I regret it, really.”

“That’s right. As if nothing had happened. Look at that sky.”

The end of the rainy season is, as always, a heat wave.

The sky, which had been pouring down rain until two days ago, was now blazing with the threat of drying everything out.

The ground is muddy and sloppy, and the hidden chin is squeaking.

No matter how much I tried to clear away the fallen crops, there was no end to it. There were many that were so tangled that it was difficult to pull them out by myself. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock.

How many fields did he clear with his awkward sickle? Drop, drop. Large beads of sweat fell to the ground. The next course, the vinyl greenhouse, was even worse. The moment I stepped inside, I felt like I was being steamed.

“Have you been drinking?”

“Crazy?”

“Your face is so red?”

“Really? Wow, it’s a bit dizzying.”

The kids who were working with red faces and grumbling looked at each other’s foreheads and checked on each other’s condition. At that very moment.

“Eat some snacks!”

“It’s a rookie, it’s a rookie!”

Other volunteers arrived carrying large baskets of snacks, handing out bread and drinks.

“thank you!”

“Wow, that’s cool!”

“Where do I take this trash?”

The taste of the bread and drink, carefully peeled off the packaging with dirty hands and hurriedly stuffed into it, was truly honey.

I recharged my batteries every now and then, worked hard, took a breath, got up again, cleaned up the broken items, cleared my head, and moved my body without rest, and before I knew it, the sun had set.

One day, two days, three days.

The fourth day passed like that.

“hello!”

“Oh my, you guys are having a hard time.”

“Thank you for your hard work. Oh, is your mother’s roof repair finished today?”

“Hey. A little while ago. The bird was really broken.”

“Oh, thank goodness! Now all that’s left is the fence?”

“Hey. Just take it slow, take it slow.”

Su-hyeon, Cha Yoon-hee, Park Sun-hwa, and Oh Yu-na naturally started talking to the neighborhood elders whose faces they were quite familiar with.

The elders, who were initially reluctant to open their hearts, were surprised and showed favor towards the young students who, contrary to their impression of being picky, quietly and diligently did the dirty work.

“Oh my, your face has gotten so tanned in the past few days. What’s wrong with pretty girls doing such a hard job?”

“Just the face? Look at my arm here. If you roll up the T-shirt like this, the sleeve marks are really clear.”

“Oh my! It’s true! Seriously, what’s wrong!”

“It’s okay. If you wear slightly longer sleeves, it won’t be noticeable.”

“Haha. Okay. Okay.”

Knock knock.

The old man, who had been looking at the children who were talking happily, patted Soo-hyeon on the shoulder and said.

“Did you hear what the village chief said? He told you to come to the village hall this evening.”

“Yes, I heard.”

“Yes. Even if you’re tired, come by all means. Hey? I’ll make you a delicious pancake. Or is there anything you want to eat? I’ll make anything. Just say the word.”

“No. We were so excited because you said you’d make kimchi pancake and green onion pancake. But we might eat a lot. A lot.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that. I’ll show you how big the hands of these old ladies are.”

The old man laughed out loud, pretending to roll up his arms.

It was the first time I had seen such laughter since I came here. The villagers were filled with sorrow and tears in their eyes as they watched the flood in the village.

The atmosphere in the neighborhood was so subdued that it felt awkward to even let out a small laugh.

But as people say, if you live, you will live again, and as the villagers comforted and patted them, and as they experienced the emotion of the flood damage being restored together, their pent-up hearts began to open up little by little.

A gentle smile spread, and now I see a big smile like this.

That alone made it worth it for Soohyun and her friends to come here.

***

Cheeeeek-.

chin.

Gulp gulp gulp.

The town hall was bustling like a festive day.

The elders were busy making pancakes in a frying pan on a portable burner.

However, the buchimgae placed on a plate and headed for the table could not withstand the attacks of multiple chopsticks for more than a few seconds, and repeated the magical cycle of quickly filling and then disappearing.

“Take it, take it!”

“Yeah, you guys worked hard!”

Makgeolli was a bonus. At some tables, it was even the main dish.

“Wow. This is so delicious. Moms are really good at making this!”

“This is my first time having such a delicious kimchi pancake. How can it be so rich and oily?”

“Makgeolli is really tasty too. It goes perfectly with buchimgae!”

It was a bustling, lively atmosphere. The restoration that seemed like it would never end was finally coming to a close.

The heartbreaking damage was still vivid, but it was a wound that would gradually get better.

Above all, the villagers were extremely grateful to the volunteers who came from all over without any compensation.

I was in a position to receive help, but after receiving so much help, I felt it was shameful to continue like this, so I made a small gathering and treated them to some buchimgae (stir-fried rice cakes) and makgeolli (rice wine).

Meanwhile, the volunteers were worried about whether they should accept such sincerity at this time, but they decided to gratefully accept it, as outright refusing it would be like ignoring the feelings.

“How long will you all be here?”

The village chief checked the volunteers’ schedules.

Today is the fourth day that Su-hyeon’s family has been staying here, and there are people who have been helping for a week already.

“I’m saying this because I’m grateful and also sad. When everyone leaves, the neighborhood will be quiet.”

The youth president wrinkled his nose and filled the empty glasses of makgeolli of the people sitting across from him.

“Yeah. I don’t know where you are, but I know where you are. I’ve been there for a while.”

“Work is work, but it means a lot to the elders that you are their confidant. When everyone else leaves, they will be so lonely.”

According to the village head and youth president, like any other rural village, the average age of Hamun-dong is high. There are quite a few elderly people who live alone.

Most of them lead a boring life, but when people from the city come to do farm work or volunteer work in the summer and winter, they become briefly more energetic, but when they leave, they often fall into severe depression.

The conversation was going back to the idea that the neighborhood needed some kind of program that could provide some kind of steady activity and vitality.

“I tried things like writing poetry and reading, but everyone seemed to find it burdensome.”

“But the Korean class was okay.”

“It was good back then. Now that Grandi has learned all the Korean, there’s no need to come. That’s why I changed to writing poetry.”

“It’s burdensome. It’s not easy even for someone who is good at writing, so how easy is it for grandmas to write? What, we don’t even have proper teachers.”

The village chief and the youth president, who were chatting while shaking their heads, suddenly realized that there were guests there and smiled awkwardly.

“Haha. Anyway, we have those kinds of worries. I’m so grateful and thankful that you came here to help us and worked hard for us, but I’m already worried because I think about you guys leaving. If you give it to us and then leave again, everyone will get upset.”

Su-hyeon, who had been quietly listening to the story until then, gathered her friends and asked for their opinions.

“Guys, should we stay here for a few more days?”

The original plan was to leave the village and head to a tourist destination once the wall repairs were completed.

But, as I listened to the stories of the villagers, I felt it was a shame to part ways like this, and I wanted to do something more, and I felt like there was something I could do.

“Just a day or two.”

“It’s okay. I also became attached to Grandma Sunja, so I couldn’t move.”

“But why? What can I do if I stay a few more days?”

Su-hyeon quickly revealed her plan to the kids who were asking questions, and after a while.

“Chief, Youth Association President.”

Su-hyeon returned to her seat with a serious face and called the two adults who were pouring glasses of makgeolli.

“this?”

“What? Tell me.”

“Actually, we have something to tell you.”

Su-hyeon took out her student ID from her bag and held it out to me.

“My friends and I are all students studying art.”

“art?”

“Yes, it’s a picture.”

“Oh my, they are all so handsome that I thought they came from noble families.”

“Anyway, I was thinking that maybe we could stay for another day or two and open a drawing class.”

“Drawing class?”

“You said earlier that you wish there was a program where the elderly in the village could gather together and do regular activities, right?”

“Oh, that’s right.”

“If you take a lesson from us for just one day, you will be able to enjoy drawing even without a teacher.”

“In one day?”

“Yes. Just by learning how to use the materials, drawing becomes really easy. Once you get into it, time really flies.”

“Haha, really?”

The youth president and the village chief exchanged glances with half-belief and half-doubt.

“You’ll understand when you see it. Anyway, it’s a bit sudden, but we wanted to give you a drawing lesson.”

“So the students are going to teach drawing themselves? And stay here for another day?”

“yes.”

Soo-hyun, Cha Yoon-hee, Park Sun-hwa, and Oh Yu-na.

Students from Baekhyun University, the best art school in Korea, who are equally qualified to be daily instructors, offered special classes.

“Well, why would we refuse?”

“Oh my. Even if I can’t learn everything in one day, I’m so grateful for the opportunity to learn how to draw, even if it’s just for a short time.”

The youth president and the village chief nodded and smiled.

An art classroom run by art school students.

Even though it ended as a short event, there was no damage to the village, and the students’ hearts were kind.

It will also be a good memory for the elderly.

That was exactly what I thought, so my expectations for the class were actually very low.

So they had no idea what was going to happen in this class.

And even though Su-hyeon and her friends had anticipated the class’s reactions to some extent, they had no idea what would happen in the art classroom.