I Became A Renowned Genius At My Arts High School - Chapter 162



Only Noblemtl

Episode 162. Shaking Friendship (2)

Jackson Pollock, a pioneer of abstract expressionism, became famous for his works of random images created by pouring paint onto canvas or shaking a paint-dipped brush.

Action painting, the dynamic feeling that can be felt even from the name.

At the village hall, action paintings that were as good as Jackson Pollock’s were being breathlessly performed. Perhaps it was even more exciting than Jackson Pollock’s studio.

“I’m going crazy.”

“It seems like everything is ruined.”

“Oh, I really want to cry.”

Su-hyeon, Cha Yoon-hee, and Park Seon-hwa were looking at the elderly people swinging their brushes from a corner, dumbfounded.

“I hope you’re all healthy, right?”

“Yeah. You look strong too.”

“Wow. Isn’t this that thing? Kindergarten kids play with paint. They just paint on walls, floors, and paper, and draw on their bodies in any way they want.”

“Hmm. If you think positively about it, that’s true.”

“Actually, I’ve been thinking of Jackson Pollock for a while now. Isn’t his studio similar to this one?”

“Oh. When you say it like that, it’s really artistic. Then, can this also be considered performance art? If you imagine it with music in the background, it seems plausible.”

“Cha Yoon-hee, will you come to your senses?”

“Okay. Let’s try to stop him. I don’t think he’ll keep doing this, but I think we need to stop him now.”

The faces of the old people who were grumbling were getting redder and redder. If they kept going like this, it seemed like someone would grab their neck and fall down.

When Soo-hyeon, Cha Yoon-hee, and Park Seon-hwa exchanged such meaningful glances,

“Geummaaaaan-!!”

Grandma Choi Young-im screamed and shivered.

The movements of the grandmothers and grandfathers who had been rushing towards me suddenly stopped.

“Hey! Damn it. It looks like they’re all in the same group. They’re all in the same group. Ha. I’ll just go out! I’ll go out, so you guys can do your best.”

Grandma Choi Young-im shook out her torn clothes, packed her bag, and quickly turned around to leave the village hall.

“I, I, I.”

“Oh my. Seriously. What is all this? What?”

The remaining elders looked at each other with bewildered faces,

“Hey guys. You know Jackson Pollock? Connect that and try to handle the situation appropriately and proceed with the class.”

Su-hyeon followed after Grandma Choi Young-im, who ran out, leaving her friends to look after her.

***

“No, how can you walk so fast?”

It felt like not much time had passed, but when Su-hyeon came out of the village hall, she couldn’t find any trace of Grandma Choi Young-im.

“What? Why did you come out?”

Instead, Soo-hyeon ran into Oh Yu-na, who was outside.

To be exact, it was Oh Yu-na, who had appeared first, who pretended to know Soo-hyun.

“Yuna, haven’t you seen Grandma Choi Young-im?”

“Grandma Choi Young-im?”

“Why, with that curly perm hair… … .”

“Where can you find a grandmother who doesn’t have permed hair?”

“No, there’s this old lady who looks delicate. She speaks Seoul dialect.”

“Oh. That person? He was really angry and left just before you came out.”

Oyuna tilted her head and said.

“But you and he both look like a mess. Was this a paint fight or something rather than art class?”

“Ah, this… … .”

Su-hyeon looked down at her paint-stained T-shirt with an embarrassed face.

There was no way Soo-hyun would be safe in that mess. Judging from the mess of her clothes, I could guess that her hair and face were probably pretty splattered as well.

“That’s not the problem. Right now, we need to find Grandma Choi Young-im. Which way did she go?”

“Hmm.”

Oh Yu-na narrowed her eyes, crossed her arms, and lowered her voice.

“Tell me. What happened inside?”

“Ha. That’s it. Grandma Kang Young-ja and Grandma Choi Young-im suddenly started fighting… … .”

“Grandma Kang Young-ja? The one with the mole under her nose?”

“Oh, oh. Right.”

“Ah. A fight finally broke out.”

“… … Gear?”

Su-hyeon blinked at Oh Yu-na’s seemingly familiar words. Then Oh Yu-na sighed softly and shook her head.

“Didn’t you know? You two are such big enemies. Even when we were volunteering, the cold wind was blowing.”

“really?”

“It would be better if they weren’t interested in each other, because when one person talks to the air, the other person talks back to the air.”

“What does that mean?”

When Soo-hyeon looked bewildered, Oh Yu-na wrinkled her nose slightly and answered.

“Last time I had a party, Grandma Yeongja made kimchi pancakes. People said they were delicious, so Grandma Yeongim said something about how she felt good about it. Then Grandma Yeongja looked at Grandma Yeongim’s pancakes and said they weren’t even making the basics, that they were made of porridge instead of dough, and instead of talking to each other, they were talking to the air. Instead, they were talking loudly as if they were telling the other person to listen. It looked really scary from the outside, but the villagers didn’t seem to care because it was something they were used to.”

“Wow, that’s it.”

“But it’s been a long time since those two have been on bad terms.”

“How did you know that?”

“I heard what the neighborhood elders were saying. After those two people did that, there was always someone who said something.”

“Really? I didn’t hear that.”

“Su-hyeon, when you concentrate on something, whether it’s drawing, studying, or work, you don’t know what’s happening around you or what people are saying.”

Even so, Oh Yu-na’s information and observation skills were amazing. Even Cha Yoon-hee and Park Seon-hwa, who were at the village hall, seemed to have no idea about the relationship between the two grandmothers.

Although she had an indifferent expression on her face, Oh Yu-na was always good at dealing with people’s relationships. Even during her pre-school days, she occasionally showed off that ability.

“He probably went home.”

As Soo-hyun was thinking that it was new and amazing, Oh Yu-na lifted her chin and pointed in one direction.

“Past Bodeok Sanghoe, there is a zelkova tree with a blue roof. That is Grandma Yeong-im’s house.”

“How do you know that?”

“I’ve been here for several days already, how come I don’t know that?”

O Yu-na asked as if she found it absurd.

“Okay, I’m sorry and thank you. But why are you here?”

When Soo-hyeon asked, Oh Yu-na hesitated and answered, her shoulders slightly hunched, which had been proudly held up until a moment ago.

“He saw me peeling potatoes and told me that wasn’t the way to do it. He just told me not to do it.”

“ah.”

“uh.”

The meal preparation team also felt a bit unsatisfied, but that wasn’t important at the moment.

“Anyway, you’re from Bodeok Sanghoe, right? Are you sure you went home?”

“Where are you going, covered in paint? You should probably go home and wash up first.”

“Oh, right. Anyway, thank you, Yuna. And go inside quickly. If the kitchen can run without you, you can go to the art class.”

“I was thinking of doing that anyway. See you later.”

“Oh. Okay. Thanks for your hard work.”

***

As I walked towards Bodeok Sanghoe as Yuna had explained, I could really see Grandma Choi Young-im’s house.

“Are you there?”

Beep-.

I pushed open the half-open gate and carefully entered the small yard, calling out to Grandma Choi Young-im.

Swaaaahh …

As O Yu-na said, the only thing you could hear inside the house was the sound of cool water, as if you were washing first. But,

“Sob sob. Aheuheu.”

When I listened closely, I could hear the sound of water mixed with the sound of crying.

“What should I do?”

Su-hyeon muttered with an embarrassed face.

Even when she was glaring and making loud noises, Grandma Choi Young-im’s hands were trembling.

It was wrong to swing the brush because I couldn’t control my anger, but I was attacked first, whether intentionally or accidentally, by Grandma Kang Young-ja, who I had been arguing with, and I couldn’t say that the situation was all Grandma Choi Young-im’s fault because they had even had a fight just before. In addition,

“Everyone was kind of like that.”

Judging from the tone of the fight, it seemed like Grandma Choi Young-im had been secretly bullied for some time.

Even to Su-hyeon, who was indifferent to the village’s relationships, Grandma Kang Young-ja was the center of the village and a very popular person.

Grandmother Kang Young-ja was always at the center of a group of five or six grandmothers, while Grandmother Choi Young-im was often alone.

The reason why Grandma Choi Young-im screamed at the end of the fight while swinging her brush was probably because people were increasingly taking Grandma Kang Young-ja’s side and attacking her.

In fact, the one who looked the most messed up after the fight was Grandma Choi Young-im.

‘But you said everything you wanted to say as if nothing happened, and then burst into tears when you got home.’

He couldn’t figure out what the circumstances were, but Soo-hyeon felt uneasy just from the visible situation.

So, I hesitated, feeling embarrassed to leave the yard or pretend not to know and knock on the door.

“Who is there?”

Stop. The sound of water stopped and a slightly muffled voice was heard. It seemed that Grandma Choi Young-im had sensed the presence outside.

“Oh, I’m Han Su-hyeon. I’m the student who volunteered at the community center earlier.”

I didn’t have a proper way to introduce myself, so I said I was a volunteer. Then, the front door opened.

“Oh my. Teacher.”

Grandma Choi Young-im looked startled. She seemed to have never thought that anyone would follow her.

“Are you okay?”

When Soo-hyeon asked, Grandmother Choi Young-im was silent for a moment and then smiled brightly.

“Teacher, you look so ugly. What should I do? I’m sorry.”

Then, Grandmother Choi Young-im stepped aside and nodded to Su-hyeon.

“Come in for a moment. I’ll give you my towel.”

The house was small but neat.

The living conditions were simple and many things were old, but it was well maintained.

Even the towel he gave me had a pleasant floral scent.

“Just wash up. And wipe it with this. Oh, I’m really sorry. I’m an old man who’s acting so shameful. You must be really surprised.”

Grandma Choi Young-im looked so gentle and polite that I wondered if she was the same person as before.

Soo-hyun smiled faintly and went into the bathroom to quickly wash the paint off her hair and face. Then, when she came out into the living room, there was a glass of cool Omija tea on the table.

“Listen.”

“Wow, thank you.”

While sipping her omija tea, Su-hyeon hesitated over what to say first.

I thought she must have been really hurt, and I thought that if we broke up like this, Soo-hyun would feel bad too, so I just followed her, but when I saw Grandma Choi Young-im offering me tea with an indifferent expression, I couldn’t open my mouth.

It seemed like he was about to explode with anger, but he hid his feelings and even apologized, so it seemed like he wasn’t the type to open up. He also seemed to have a lot of pride.

“I saw you earlier and you’re really good at drawing.”

So Soo-hyeon changed the topic to talking about paintings.

“Was it so?”

Grandma Choi Young-im smiled faintly.

“It’s different from those who draw for the first time. I thought you had some professional training. Or maybe you’ve drawn a lot before.”

It was no exaggeration.

In fact, Grandma Choi Young-im showed outstanding skills that were incomparable to those of the other seniors in the art class.

So, Gap-bun, who was having a hard time with class, must have given his grandmother some advice, which is not a bad thing, and that is how this incident happened.

“I used to really like drawing. It’s been a long time since I drew.”

Grandmother Choi Young-im spoke with her eyes looking into the distance. It seemed as if old memories had come to mind.

“My father really liked the drawings I made. He especially loved me, the third daughter. It was right after the Korean War, so it was hard to feed the kids, let alone educate them, but he supported me like that. Well, I was good at drawing and studying. I was also pretty.”

Although it was mixed with pride, this was also not something to be refuted.

In fact, Grandma Choi Young-im had a face that didn’t look like she was in her 60s, and she was still beautiful. Just thinking about what she looked like in her prime was enough to make you nod.

“But, when I think about it sometimes, I don’t think that was necessarily a good thing.”

A lonely shadow fell over Grandma Choi Young-im’s face.

Su-hyeon swallowed hard and listened to her grandmother’s story.