Van Gogh Reborn!

284

The Scoundrel (4)

Bang Tae-ho narrowed down the list of candidates to 20 out of the 100 he interviewed.

He was exhausted from working and sleeping less for almost two weeks, but he couldn’t take his eyes off the applications.

Every sentence.

Every word showed the applicants’ passion.

‘They must be desperate.’

He would try to accommodate the writers as much as possible so they could show their skills, but there were also limitations because of the different way of proceeding from the usual.

He wasn’t sure if he had to set a standard because many writers were crowded in a limited space.

Still, more than 15,000 people applied.

Bang Tae-ho shook his head to clear his mind and looked over the applications, portfolios, and interview records again.

‘Baek Seol-gi.’

He thought she looked familiar, and she turned out to be Choi Gyu-seo’s secretary.

‘She was good.’

The two works that Baek Seol-gi showed represented the people of Korea and France.

She seemed to be interested in social issues, but she focused more on the emotional state of the people affected by them than on the phenomena themselves.

He couldn’t express how he felt, so he just swallowed his emotions, but the shock was indescribable when they were blatantly revealed.

‘I don’t understand.’

Bang Tae-ho couldn’t understand why Baek Seol-gi hadn’t received much attention until now.

Her paintings were worthy of high praise from the critics, and at the very least, they should have had a good response from the audience.

‘How can someone like her have no experience?’

The world was so dependent on connections that he could have thought it was because of that, but she was with Choi Gyu-seo.

When she was young, she won quite a few awards and her works were good, so it wouldn’t have been hard for Choi Gyu-seo to give her a small opportunity if he wanted to.

There must have been some reason.

Bang Tae-ho remembered Baek Seol-gi, who bravely continued her presentation despite shaking hands, and moved her resume to the left.

She was the first one to pass.

“Hm.”

Bang Tae-ho smiled as he checked the next person.

Among the many applicants, Ma Eun-chan stood out.

He didn’t have any special experience, but it wasn’t a flaw.

There were hardly any people who met the condition of being an artist under 35 and had a decent experience.

He paid attention to whether they had creativity, passion, and something that could attract interest, and Ma Eun-chan was a painter who aroused curiosity.

Ma Eun-chan showed two portraits, one of Ko Hun and the other of Henri Matisse.

Ma Eun-chan expressed Ko Hun with a brush, sunflowers, penguins, and bees.

The penguins lined up in a row formed a black horizontal stripe, and below that, he drew a lot of bees to make it look like a yellow horizontal stripe.

He repeated that to draw a T-shirt.

He filled the skin of his face with apricot-colored, pink sunflowers.

The brush that dripped paint looked like hair, and from a distance, it looked like Ko Hun, and from close up, you could observe the brush, sunflowers, penguins, and bees.

Henri Matisse was the same.

He was made of banknotes, emeralds, self-portraits, soccer balls and cats, and gold.

He used the objects that symbolized him as dots or surfaces to complete the portrait.

‘Is it a portrait or a still life?’

He didn’t know what kind of work Ma Eun-chan would present in Venice, but he wanted to see it.

Bang Tae-ho thought about it one more time and put Ma Eun-chan’s resume on top of Baek Seol-gi’s.

“…”

“…”

Neither I nor Matisse could say anything to the result that we completed after fighting for two weeks after meeting the Becker brothers.

He held out his palm and Matisse silently clasped his hand.

It started with me snapping at Matisse, who insisted on building a fire station, ‘Why, why don’t you just make a movie?’

And he really did.

He used the Münster fire station building as a giant screen and projected the footage, and it looked better than expected.

It was a pity that he could only see it at night, but he was satisfied.

He built a fake building that looked exactly like the Münster fire station, and drew props, building exterior walls, and Becker brothers on the openings and repeated filming.

The appearance of the fire station changed and the growth of Julian Becker and Pippi Becker was shown every 30 minutes.

If it wasn’t for Matisse, I wouldn’t have been able to think of or do such a thing.

The opening work alone was overwhelming, and if Matisse hadn’t hired a construction company and a movie production company, I would have had to aim for the next exhibition instead of next year.

It was the power of money.

Peter Neuer, the head of the promotion team for the Munster Sculpture Project, was also wide-eyed and speechless.

“I want to display the fake building and the sculpture separately. Is there a suitable place for that?”

Arsene asked Peter Neuer on behalf of me and Marso.

“Yes?”

He seemed to have missed it.

“I’m asking if there is a separate space to display the fake building and the sculpture that we used for the shooting.”

“Oh, yes. Of course. But, if they are the actual size…”

“You don’t have to worry about that. We just made them in the same proportion.”

“Then there shouldn’t be a big problem. Haha! This is amazing. I never imagined that you would approach it this way.”

I felt the same.

was the most proud work of this year, next to the Dali Plaza.

“We did a great job.”

“Of course.”

Marso seemed to agree.

We told Peter Neuer the precautions for the exhibition and boarded the plane.

It was late and I fell asleep quickly, feeling satisfied with the splendid completion of and the fatigue accumulated over time.

“You did well.”

I thought I heard Marso say something special in my sleep.

“What did you say?”

“I have something else to do. I want to quit.”

Choi Kyu-seo glared at Baek Seol-gi.

He couldn’t understand why she wanted to quit when he was busy preparing for the Venice Biennale.

It was pathetic.

“Are you out of your mind? Don’t you know what’s going on right now?”

“I’m sorry.”

Baek Seol-gi just bowed her head and said nothing.

Choi Kyu-seo was frustrated by her. He sighed and snapped.

“I’ll give you a vacation when this is over. Just hang in there.”

“…”

“Why don’t you answer?”

“I. It’s really important.”

Baek Seol-gi couldn’t bring herself to say that she was going to participate in the France-Korea joint exhibition.

She knew too well how Choi Kyu-seo would react. She couldn’t sleep well.

“I’m sorry.”

She just repeated the apology.

“Seol-gi.”

“…”

“Look at me.”

Baek Seol-gi lifted her head.

Choi Kyu-seo spoke softly, seeing her terrified face.

“What’s going on? Tell me.”

Baek Seol-gi lowered her head again.

She knew from experience that she had to be careful when Choi Kyu-seo acted nice.

“You know me, right?”

It was a threat, telling her to stop before he lost his patience.

Baek Seol-gi had no choice but to open her mouth.

“I… France.”

Choi Kyu-seo frowned.

“Speak clearly. What?”

“France. Joint exhibition with France. …I want to do it.”

Choi Kyu-seo took a moment to sort out his thoughts.

He couldn’t easily accept the situation. Baek Seol-gi, who had been working as his secretary since graduating from college, wanted to participate in the France-Korea joint exhibition.

“Did Jang Mi-rae contact you?”

“No, no! No!”

Choi Kyu-seo stared at Baek Seol-gi as if he was going to devour her. He urged her to explain this abnormal situation.

“I. I really wanted to do it. So I applied. And. I got accepted. So.”

Baek Seol-gi’s hand trembled.

She wanted to collapse on the spot. She had no strength to stand.

“Ha.”

Her fear escalated with Choi Kyu-seo’s laughter.

“What did I say?”

Choi Kyu-seo got up and moved to the sofa in the center of the office.

“Sit down.”

“…”

“Sit down. I’m not angry with you.”

As Baek Seolgi sat on the edge of the sofa, Choi Kyuseo took her hand and caressed it. f𝔯𝚎𝚎w𝚎𝚋𝔫𝔬𝔳𝚎l.𝚌o𝚖

His touch was so gentle that it gave her goosebumps.

“Seola.”

That was the nickname Choi Kyuseo used to call Baek Seolgi when they were in college.

“Yes, yes. Writer-nim.”

“What do you mean, writer-nim? It’s just the two of us here.”

Baek Seolgi closed her mouth.

“Seola. Do you remember our promise?”

“Huh?”

“I said I would open a solo exhibition for you.”

She couldn’t answer.

“Did you think I forgot?”

She shook her head.

Choi Kyuseo smiled and patted Baek Seolgi’s hand.

“Why don’t I understand your feelings? I know you too well. I’m angry too.”

“…”

“Yeah. That’s impressive. Bang Taeho liked your painting, didn’t he?”

It was an unexpected reaction.

Baek Seolgi lifted her head.

“What are you surprised about? Of course. Did you show him the flag?”

“…Yes.”

“Yeah. I thought so. I would have chosen you too.”

Choi Kyuseo held Baek Seolgi’s hand with both hands. She was so startled that she tried to pull her hand away, but he didn’t let go.

“Of course I want to show you my good painting. I understand. I wanted to show off my brother’s work too.”

“Huh?”

“I wanted to show off. Last year, I was too focused on the Gwangju Biennale and the teacher’s solo exhibition. This year, I’m a bit busy preparing for the Venice Biennale.”

“…”

“I was going to talk to you after finishing next year’s work. I wanted to surprise you, so I didn’t say anything. You must have felt left out.”

Baek Seolgi looked into Choi Kyuseo’s eyes and doubted.

She didn’t know what to do, because he seemed like the senior who had treated her so well back then.

“It’s okay.”

Choi Kyuseo grinned.

“I think I should have that ambition. My painting is good. I want to show it. How can I do without that feeling. Right?”

Baek Seolgi nodded cautiously and Choi Kyuseo gently let go of her hand.

“I don’t like you being used. I wish you were the protagonist.”

“What do you mean…”

“You know. There’s the teacher and Jang Mi-rae. And there’s Soojin sunbae’s son. Do you think Bang Taeho will treat the other writers fairly?”

“…”

“Even if he does, people will flock to the teacher’s work.”

“…”

“I can’t stand to see your work being used as a decoration.”

Baek Seolgi lowered her head.

It was as Choi Kyuseo said.

She thought that the rest would be nothing but extras in the joint exhibition, where there were Gosuyeol, Jang Mi-rae, and Ko Hun.

The commissioner would also plan the exhibition around them, and moreover, Bang Taeho was the head of the company founded by Ko Hun.

“You can be the protagonist.”

Choi Kyuseo tilted his head and observed Baek Seolgi.

She bit her lips and her eyes trembled. She looked confused.

“I’m serious.”

He meant it.

Baek Seolgi was a thorn in his eye for Choi Kyuseo, who couldn’t accept Jang Mi-rae, who was his college mate and had surpassed him.

She was a junior.

She was from a humble background and she had painted something he couldn’t imagine.

He couldn’t let her go ahead.

“Let’s prepare well and open the exhibition next year. At the Museum of Learning.”

Choi Kyuseo held out his pinky finger.

Baek Seolgi looked back and forth between Choi Kyuseo’s eyes and the symbol of the promise, and opened her mouth.

Her voice trembled because of the resentment that had accumulated over the past few years.

“I don’t want to.”