"Crazy."
"Whew…"
Indeed, the world was wide, and there were many talented artists. The third-years swallowed their envy as they watched Kang Seok, with a calm expression, return to his seat.
It was truly the best self-introduction.
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The day after Kang Seok had crushed the pride of all the third-years at the orientation (OT).
The life drawing publication project team gathered again in the sketch room early in the morning. This was to start producing the actual life drawing materials, as was explained during yesterday's OT.
"As I said yesterday, starting today, excluding weekends, we'll operate five days a week. We'll hire live models every day to produce life drawing materials. We will draw two models per day, and each model will get only four hours of drawing time."
Kang Seok recalled the schedule that had been handed out yesterday.
From eight to twelve in the morning, draw the morning model once.
One hour lunch break.
From one to five in the afternoon, draw the afternoon model once more.
Then thirty minutes of critique.
Even with breaks for the models, the schedule was tightly packed—drawing non-stop from 8:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
'That's pretty tight... Didn't they say there were 24 models in total?'
Two models a day, fourteen days in total—exactly two weeks.
Including weekends, sixteen days of winter break would be invested in the life drawing project.
If Kang Seok also had to prepare drawings for Teacher Go Doohan's solo exhibition... half his time would be consumed, leaving no time for academy special lectures or anything else.
'Not that I was planning on taking special lectures anyway.'
It was a perfect excuse to give to his parents. Feeling relieved, Kang Seok stared forward again, wondering how to break the news at home.
Just then, Go Doohan, who had just finished explaining, checked his watch.
"...We'll take breaks as I said, so everyone, get moving. We start working again in ten minutes."
As soon as Go Doohan finished speaking, Son Dongwook and Im Woohyun moved. Having worked with Go Doohan longest among the third-years, they grabbed a desk attached to the sketch room wall without a word.
"One, two...!"
Son Dongwook and Im Woohyun moved the large desk to the center of the sketch room before letting go.
After that, Jang Yumin placed a folding chair on top of the desk.
Ah, so they planned to seat the model on a folding chair atop the desk. Understanding their intent, the third-years moved in sync.
Life drawing literally meant drawing a live person, so it required great observational skills.
Since form and natural proportion made a good life drawing, it was best to find a seat where the model was clearly visible.
The ideal spot was around the 4 o'clock to 5 o'clock position relative to the model—slightly off-center so the model's face appeared slightly turned.
Or the opposite side.
The third-years checked the available spots, grabbed their easels, and moved quickly.
Kang Seok was also caught in the midst of this. Moving unconsciously toward the crowded spots, he suddenly stopped.
He saw an easel and chair squeezed so close it felt uncomfortable.
Was it really necessary to squeeze into such a tight spot? Kang Seok thought quietly. Probably not.
Without hesitation, Kang Seok turned his body. As he turned following the easel, the adjustment support hit the H-frame.
Clunk.
The unexpected noise made the third-years unconsciously turn their heads. They saw Kang Seok walking toward an empty spot.
Their heads tilted, watching Kang Seok.
'Doesn't he know composition is everything?'
'Good composition leads to good drawings.'
'Is he confident enough to draw anywhere?'
'Still, for a reference book, front or semi-profile views would be more advantageous. Has he never done life drawing?'
Questions appeared on their faces but only briefly.
They sighed as if to say, "We don't get it," then focused again on setting up their easels. Drawing boards were placed, clips and masking tape were attached to fix the paper.
Some grabbed cutter knives to sharpen pencils and headed to the trash can.
All this was not so much about seeing Kang Seok as a competitor, but more about struggling to manage their own preparations.
'He'll do fine on his own.'
'I don't know. Honestly, with the skill he showed, that's one less spot for us. My neck's on the line right now.'
'Ahhh! I haven't sharpened a single pencil! I have to hurry and sharpen pencils and cut erasers...!'
Compared to Kang Seok, who calmly rolled a sharply sharpened pencil in his hand, they looked flustered.
"That's going to be hard to draw with..."
The only third-year watching Kang Seok, Yumiji, bit her lip. Maybe she should tell him. Or would it be meddling?
Watching Kang Seok fidgeting with his eraser and pencil, Yumiji hesitated for a long moment before standing up.
She wanted a fair fight.
'Seok, if you stay there, it'll be hard to see the model's face and draw. It might be better if you sit next to me or something... what do you think?'
She thought to say something like that, rolling the words around in her mouth as she walked forward.
Just as she was about to reach Kang Seok, click! the door opened and Go Doohan entered the sketch room with the day's model.
"Alright, everyone, go back to your seats."
"Stop what you're doing and take your seats!"
The group of part-time instructors began seating the students. Yumiji was no exception.
"Miji, what are you doing? You should sit too."
"Ah, teacher, well...!"
"Hurry to your seat. There's no time."
"...Ah!"
Eventually, Yumiji was forced back to her seat, led by Jang Yumin who grabbed her shoulder. With confused eyes, Yumiji looked at Kang Seok resting his chin in front of his easel.
While she was so worried, Kang Seok was calmly staring at the model.
'I don't know either... I was going to say something.'
Yumiji thought she had acted conscientiously enough and opened her bag. A large transparent plastic pencil case for entrance exams appeared.
Click, click. Yumiji opened the pencil case and quickly took out sharply sharpened pencils, pencil grips, erasers, clips, charcoal pencils, and a cutter knife.
She reached out and pulled the chair to hook a clip onto the drawing board. At the same time, as the chair was pulled, Kang Seok came into view through the gap between the easels.
Kang Seok, who had been looking at the model, was now staring only at the easel. His expression was the same unreadable, indifferent face as before, but Yumiji felt her heart flutter.
"Something's different…"
In fact, Kang Seok's expression hadn't changed. But something was different.
Maybe it was because his back, which looked lazy and relaxed before, was now straightened.
Somehow, Kang Seok looked like a worshipper about to perform a solemn ritual. Or like a seeker preparing for a very sacred task.
"Let's start."
Contrary to Yumiji's wish to watch a little longer, the model sat on the folding chair and stretched out her hand.
Since the time was quite tight, excluding breaks within the four hours, Yumiji had to quickly turn her head toward the easel.
Forgetting that she had been staring at Kang Seok as if hypnotized, Yumiji extended her pencil to begin transferring the model's proportions onto the paper.
The model sat on the folding chair, frozen in a pose as if shading her eyes from the sunlight with her fingers stretched out.
"Most models just sit and face forward… but as expected, Teacher Go Doohan brought a proper model."
Usually, sketch models only hold still poses for 20 minutes with 10-minute breaks, and they avoid difficult poses because it's physically demanding.
Therefore, most models simply sit facing forward.
But seeing this woman sitting perfectly still, with her head held high and hand stretched out, was refreshing.
"If they make a reference book drawing various poses like this, it would definitely help art school applicants."
Yumiji was already engrossed, slightly pouting her lower lip as she focused on outlining the form.
Scratch scratch.
Before long, everyone fell silent and started moving their pencils.
Soon, only the sound of pencils on paper remained, a kind of white noise.
Since they were still outlining, the pencils moved gently. Light, thin lines were drawn slowly so that erasing could be done cleanly at any time.
Sash sash sash!
Suddenly, the sound of pencils moving quickly rang out. It meant someone finished the sketch and had started shading.
"Already started…?"
"Who is it?"
"Who sketches this fast?"
The absorbed students lifted their heads like meerkats, searching for the source of the sound.
Fortunately or unfortunately, it didn't take long to find the culprit.
The quick pencil sounds came from a far-off spot.
The students turned toward the sound with incredulous eyes.
It was Kang Seok.
"Would you believe it if I said Michelangelo Buonarroti's The Last Judgment has no two faces alike? Hard to believe, but true. Regarding paintings, Michelangelo's memory was like a superhuman's."
The reason Kang Seok didn't sit where the model's face was fully visible was simple: he didn't need to.
The model had a slightly plump under-eye area. Kang Seok, as if the model was right in front of him, easily shaped light and shadow.
Fast and without hesitation, yet without mistakes.
It was as realistic as a black-and-white printer's output, with lines that sometimes darkened like a drop of ink, adding emotion.
This was why Kang Seok could draw the Venus plaster model so well, the work that had puzzled second-years during their sketch test: an extraordinary memory.
In his past life and this one.
Once he saw something, he never forgot.
In a brief moment, Kang Seok caught the model's features one by one.
The side hair along the jawline, the earlobe slightly apart from the face, the dangling earring, the neck that was slightly short but slender, the shoulders dropping at a right angle, the knit sweater rising just below the collarbone.
Kang Seok tirelessly shaped the image.
His pencil was like thread pulling memories from his mind. The tangled skein on paper began forming a single image.
"We will take a 10-minute break now."
The noise from the break and the model getting off the folding chair to go to the restroom didn't hinder Kang Seok's drawing.
Like a fish in water, Kang Seok kept drawing.
The 15th century. Raised by a nanny married to a stonecutter, with little to play nearby since childhood.
For him, sketching was like a toy as enjoyable as sculpting since very young.
Kang Seok's eyes shone. His hands seemed to fly across the paper.
Someone once said:
A genius cannot beat a hard worker, and a hard worker cannot beat someone who enjoys what they do.
Then who could possibly beat Michelangelo—who was a genius, a hard worker, and truly loved art?
Black marked the white paper, not slowly but decisively. The purest conquest.
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How long had he focused? When Kang Seok laid down his pencil, satisfied, only one word was heard.
"My goodness…!"