I Became A Renowned Genius At My Arts High School - Chapter 212



Only Noblemtl

Episode 212. The Weight of the Square (2)

Square, the name itself was meaningful.

Polis, a city-state in ancient Greece.

The Agora, built in the heart of the city, reminded me of that lively square where free debate took place and markets, cultural events, and sporting events were held.

“Is this it?”

Since it was her first time here and she had only heard rumors, Soo-Hyeon looked around cautiously.

On the second floor, there was only one space left, excluding the administrative office, supply room, and small conference room. Even without a sign, there was a strong feeling that this was a plaza.

Arched entrance.

The floor of the open space without doors was paved with a yellow brick road like a scene from The Wizard of Oz, as if beckoning anyone to come in.

Briskly.

Su-hyeon entered the road.

The square opened.

***

“I had an accident. I had an accident.”

“It’s not that surprising since it’s so predictable, but the future is the problem. Are you sure you’re okay?”

“That, that’s right. Soo-hyun. Your complexion is really… … not good.”

That evening, at a restaurant in Manhattan.

Henry and Steve, Humphrey and Soo-hyun met.

A mysterious gathering that has only one intersection, Su-hyeon, and no other points of contact.

However, since I had eaten and drank tea with Soo-hyeon a few times, it didn’t feel awkward.

In addition, as soon as Su-hyeon got to school today, she had to present her project, and because it caught Professor Ian’s eye, she was sent to the plaza as a representative of the class, so they were forming a strong bond of sympathy over the stories of concern for Su-hyeon.

“If I had known the proper procedure, I would have adjusted my pace, but it seems like that has already failed.”

As Soo-hyun sighed, Henry, Steve, and Humphrey also sighed in turn.

“Anyway, I ended up representing the class, and that’s not the end, it’s another competition, right? Sigh.”

Steve shook his head and looked at Henry and Humphrey, who were looking at Soo-hyun with serious faces.

Su-hyeon’s competition was also a competition, but for a moment, he felt dumbfounded as to how he had ended up in this fight for favor.

On the other hand, Soo-hyeon, who was clear-headed and thoughtless, just shrugged her shoulders.

“Well, you could see it as a daily occurrence instead.”

Eat the pheasant and the eggs, dig a ditch and catch the crayfish.

Su-hyeon turned on the positive circuit.

“I was thinking of replacing J-House’s second half project with this. In fact, it’s a good thing that it’s bigger in scale.”

Henry asked Soo-hyun, who was smiling brightly, while handing him his cell phone.

“Jerome Moros, is this the guy?”

“huh?”

“I’m talking about the actor that Soo-hyun mentioned earlier. The performer and the student.”

“ah.”

Even after Shasha’s presentation, when the writers and designers held a secret vote to choose their preferred partner, Henry found out that Soo-hyun had received a lot of votes and told them.

No matter how, since he was such a source of information, it seemed like it wasn’t a big deal for Lisa to figure out who her celebrity friend Jerome was.

“Well, I haven’t encountered it yet.”

Soo-hyun shook her head quietly as she checked Jerome’s face on Henry’s cell phone screen.

When I went to the square earlier, I was hoping to meet kids from other classes, but it was still quiet.

The works that had been installed until last semester were being taken down, so I took a quick look around and came back after checking out the structure of the plaza.

“This guy is right. There’s only one famous Jerome in the performance department.”

Henry nodded with confidence.

Then Humphrey and Steve craned their necks to look at it with interest. When Soo-hyun sneakily placed Henry’s cell phone on the table, Humphrey and Steve’s eyes were immediately drawn to the LCD screen.

“Well, you’re handsome.”

“What, you’re an actor. Isn’t this kind of face common?”

Humphrey looked at Jerome’s face as if he was intimidated, and Steve looked somewhat upset.

Henry, who had been looking at the two with meaningful eyes, picked up his phone again and quickly flipped through the pages.

“hmm.”

Henry looked up and said after checking the message.

“If I do it right, I might be able to get a video of Jerome’s performance, too.”

“what?”

“I’ll send it to you. I heard that Lisa recorded the work of winning the Grand Prix on video, so I think you can get that.”

“No, why are you like that?”

“That’s not really true. You said that your strongest competitor is Jerome. You need to know your opponent to devise a strategy.”

Henry’s eyes were filled with passion.

Just a moment ago, he seemed to have completely forgotten about his worries about Soo-hyun overworking herself, as if he was burning with competitive spirit.

“I’m curious about who I am and what kind of work I do, but I’ll be seeing you at the plaza anyway. I want to see you properly then. The scene has its own power, and there’s probably no information about me there either.”

“Hmm. You want to be fair, right? Well then.”

Anyway, I thanked him for his consideration, and Henry smiled bashfully and put the food he ordered in his mouth.

“Oh, right. I had something to give you.”

Soo-hyun, who was looking at that scene, remembered something he had completely forgotten and looked for his bag.

“What is it?”

“what?”

“Oh, you’re giving it to me?”

Henry, Steve, and Humphrey reacted at the same time. Su-hyeon realized that she had omitted the subject and quickly corrected herself.

“Tomorrow is Henry’s birthday. That’s why I brought you a birthday present.”

“Wow. Really?”

Henry’s eyes sparkled, while Steve and Humphrey looked embarrassed.

“It’s nothing. I just remembered you were curious about the tools I use last time.”

What Su-hyeon prepared were the tools needed to draw.

Last spring, while completing the whale painting, Su-hyeon and Henry had several sessions of silently conversing only through their drawings.

During the process, Henry showed interest in drawing and was curious about things like the pencils and paints that Soo-hyeon used.

Since she was a child who could have as many things as she wanted, I thought it would be better to give her something meaningful rather than an expensive gift, so I prepared the art supplies and a letter that I had been eyeing at the time.

“Wow. You remembered all of this?”

Henry opened the package and checked the contents, then put his hands on his cheeks and looked moved.

“Oh! There’s a saddle too!”

The most popular item was the handmade quilt set made by Su-hyeon.

A pencil holder and sharpener that allows you to use a shortened pencil conveniently.

Su-hyeon made it herself using a ballpoint pen tip that had been worn out.

The method was simple.

First, open the tip of the ballpoint pen, remove the lead and accessories, leaving only the body, and then lightly heat the front with a lighter.

When the hard plastic body becomes soft due to the heat, you push a pencil in and press it down with your hand to shape it before it hardens again.

Then, a holder and a tip that fits the shape of a pencil are completed.

Long ago, when I was studying art for college entrance exams, I made pencil sharpeners out of cheap ballpoint pen tips. I also felt a sense of satisfaction whenever I used up a pencil all the way through.

Even after returning, the habit came back and he often made and used it, which must have seemed very novel to Henry.

So I made a few in different colors and put them in a gift box, and, as expected, he really liked it.

“Wow. Thank you so much. I’ve always wanted to draw, so I guess I’ll try sketching.”

Henry, who had been looking satisfied, suddenly looked at Soo-hyun with a stern expression.

“why?”

“No, but why are you giving me a gift in advance?”

“uh?”

“I’m having a birthday party tomorrow. Of course, I don’t plan on having it as grand as before, but I still plan on inviting all my close friends. Wait. I told you to come to my house. How many times?”

“I know.”

Su-hyeon smiled with an embarrassed face.

“I think you’ll be busy welcoming guests tomorrow, and I might be a little late too.”

“Are you late? Why?”

Henry, who was about to ask a question, turned sullen at Steve’s nod.

“Because of work?”

“Yeah. I’m going to assign seats in the square starting tomorrow. I think I need to figure out a location and take care of the work. That way, we can get started.”

Soo-hyun, who had been speaking soothingly, met Henry’s eyes.

“I told you in advance just in case, I’ll try my best to be on time. Seriously.”

Then Steve, who was next to me, said something with a face that said he couldn’t stand it anymore.

“Yeah, it would have been better if you had scheduled it for dinner. What’s the point of just downsizing it? Partying from lunch to dinner? I thought it was a national holiday, not a birthday.”

Henry grinned at those words, and Soo-hyun and Humphrey laughed loudly.

***

The next morning.

I had to be at school by 9, but I woke up at 6.

“Are you nervous?”

Su-hyeon muttered as he slowly prepared to go to school.

“I thought I had bought some time, but I’m back to square one.”

No matter how I look back, it was an astonishing event.

Su-hyeon, who found out the biggest reason why her work was chosen through the kids, was shocked, but soon nodded her head, thinking it was a good thing.

Although it was hard, thanks to that, I was able to complete the work that was supposed to be done step by step throughout the semester at a breakneck pace, so I felt at ease that I just had to focus on increasing the density until the end of the semester.

The pictures drawn on the tiles looked okay at first glance, but the details were lacking.

There were also things I wanted to change about the composition.

The directing was also a problem.

What kind of movement lines, angles, lighting, and sound should I use to increase immersion?

What devices are needed to naturally allow viewers to enter the painting?

I was thinking of experimenting with changing the overall framework while making detailed improvements.

But as I went out to the square, the progress I had made with great effort became the starting line again.

What else should I do from here?

Who do we need to attract to ensure that our project runs smoothly and scales?

A subtle burden weighed on his chest, but Soo-Hyeon straightened his shoulders again.

And after confirming that it was fairly bright outside, I left the house.

***

“Phew.”

Today was a day without classes.

However, the reason I came to school early was because it was the day to assign seats to those who would participate in the plaza project this semester.

There was already a poster on the wall near the entrance to the second floor plaza.

It was a map prepared by the school.

“I’m by the window.”

The map roughly shows the interior of the square, with dotted lines showing how the entire space is divided.

A space divided exactly according to the number of classes. On it were written the names of the people and departments who would be using the space this semester. Classes that had not yet decided on a representative work had only written the name of the department.

Anyway.

3rd grade studio art, Han Su-hyeon.

Su-hyeon’s name was displayed on the left window of the hallway.

“It’s a good seat.”

Su-hyeon muttered.

When I looked around the square in advance yesterday, I thought it would be nice to be in a place where there was sunlight, and I was able to use natural light as I wanted.

“Shall we go?”

That was when Soo-Hyeon turned towards the entrance of the square.

“That’s ridiculous!”

A shrill scream was heard.

“… … ??”

“what?”

“Who is it?”

The people who had been looking at the map together began to chatter as they appeared in the hallway.

“That can’t be happening!”

A voice that seems to be squeezing.

The sound was clear inside the square.

People standing in the hallway exchanged surprised glances, then, as if their curiosity was piqued, they went into the square.

“This is not what I wanted. This is not what I meant. Oh, my God. Why are you giving me this pain?”

It was a desperate voice mixed with tears.

Su-hyeon also walked into the square as if possessed.