"This isn't how you draw this."
Uh. Uh uh uh. Hwang Nomin froze exactly as he was reaching out his arm. What did I just hear? The moment he registered the words, his face instantly flushed hot.
The first thing he felt was discomfort.
It was discomfort. Hwang Nomin glanced briefly at the boy. It wasn't without reason that he called him a boy. No matter how generously he looked at him, the boy appeared to be about a high school student.
So considering that Hwang Nomin had taken a gap year, already served in the military, finished university, and was now in graduate school as a teaching assistant, the age gap between him and the boy was at least ten years.
The sharp discomfort flooded him at the boy's unsolicited advice—someone who was born after he himself had lived through a decade of changes.
It wouldn't have been strange for him to say something right away. But Hwang Nomin didn't.
Because following the discomfort came embarrassment.
The boy's face was hidden behind the paper. The watercolor paper was thick enough that the paint didn't seep through at all. Covering the face with the painted side, it was impossible to realize a person was standing right behind it.
So, the boy didn't even know the owner of the drawing was standing right there.
In other words, the words weren't meant to be heard by him.
So maybe he really was wrong. That was the reasonable assumption. But Hwang Nomin didn't want to ask where he was wrong, so he ignored the correct answer.
He just wandered somewhere between discomfort and embarrassment, forcing out a dry, strained voice.
"Uh... could you please... the paper..."
"Ah."
With a short exclamation, the boy lowered his hand to offer the paper. At that moment, his face was revealed.
He was a boy with somewhat coarse dark chestnut hair, and at first glance, ordinary eyes, but up close, they showed a reddish-brown tint that was striking.
"Here."
The boy, barely smiling and almost expressionless, extended the paper. It seemed he didn't think Hwang Nomin hadn't heard the mumbling—there was no emotion on his face. No guilt. No arrogance. Nothing could be found in the boy.
Hwang Nomin took the paper as if spellbound and roughly placed it on the highest part of the box.
He was planning to redraw it anyway. Hwang Nomin glanced down at the paper he had rushed to complete like a deadline was looming, then turned his back.
He had to hurry to the appointment. Bowing quickly, Hwang Nomin changed direction and ran toward the seminar room where today's human anatomy project presentation would be held.
.
.
.
Running in a hurry.
Kang Seok watched the man carrying the box become a small dot in the distance as he thought.
"What's wrong? Do you know him?"
Kang Seok kept staring in the direction the man disappeared, and Kang Chaeyoung spoke up. Kang Seok silently shook his head. Of course, he didn't know the man. But the drawings that had spilled from the man's box were familiar.
Male pelvis (男型骨盤, Android pelvis).
Among the bones that make up the entire skeleton, the pelvis is the area where male and female differences are most pronounced. Among these, the typical shape seen in male pelvises is the male pelvis.
Generally, it is characterized by a narrow width and a short, gentle wedge shape. But the male pelvis drawn on that paper... Kang Seok's expression became strange.
"Oppa?"
"No. I just saw a really weird drawing."
Kang Seok shortened his words and returned to Kang Chaeyoung's side, who was pestering him. By now, Kang Chaeyoung's phone screen had gone dark.
"What kind of drawing was it?"
Kang Chaeyoung's eyes sparkled with curiosity. Kang Seok looked at the paper and pen in his hands.
The paper he held was filled with notes he had taken during the phone call. At this rate, he couldn't even explain it.
"Uh..."
"Need paper? Here."
A new sheet was suddenly offered into view.
"What paper?"
"It's a must-have for college entrance exam prep."
"Is that so."
Kang Seok nodded casually and took the paper. He roughly spread it flat on his lap and quickly scribbled with the pen he was holding.
"So, the drawing on that paper was a pelvis, right? Here are the bones. Pelvis. This pelvis looks like a 'bone table' — think of 'table' as 'bap-sang' in Korean. So basically, imagine a 'bone table' or 'bone dish.' Then, you roughly sketch the shape of the dish like this. Usually, when you draw the pelvis, you start by drawing the sacrum connected to the spine…"
Kang Chaeyoung nodded vaguely as she watched Kang Seok's hand move. She understood most of what he said, but honestly, it was a lot to take in and easily slipped through one ear.
However, one thing was certain.
'Oppa really draws well.'
Amazing. Lately, Oppa didn't seem like the same person she'd known. From sculptures to articles, and now even participating in exhibitions. Oppa seemed to have grown up in a big way.
'Completely different from before.'
Kang Chaeyoung's eyes softened, lost in nostalgia.
When was that? Maybe when she first started decorating her diary... It must have been about three months since Oppa started preparing for entrance exams at Cheonghwa Art High School.
Back then, Oppa seemed amazing to Kang Chaeyoung. Her brother had artistic talent — how great was that? Oppa drew really well, at least in her eyes.
So she asked Oppa to draw a cat character in her diary. Oppa stayed up all night and drew the cat for her. How was it? Kang Chaeyoung wanted to brag about it to someone.
"This was drawn by my Oppa!"
"Guys, look at this. This cat was drawn by my Oppa."
"Your Oppa drew this? He drew really well!"
She boasted about it everywhere at school. She showed it to everyone she knew.
She was so excited she didn't even think anyone would see inside the diary. Everyone clapped and said it was well drawn.
She must have boasted all through the third period. Just before the fourth period started, a shy classmate walked over. Later she heard that classmate was secretly in love with her.
"Chaeyoung, I want you to have this."
The classmate handed her a pencil sketch of a cat.
Someone asked how long it took to draw it. She mumbled without even caring. But the classmate kindly answered: seeing her run in the hallways, he said he started drawing from the second period, thinking she liked cats, so he hurried to prepare it.
"Wow! What is this?"
"Chaeyoung, I think this is even better than your Oppa's!"
"Chaeyoung's lucky. Take it quickly!"
"Yeah, Chaeyoung, you like cats, right?"
It wasn't that she liked cats. She liked that her Oppa had drawn the cat. She muttered, unable to hide her frustration and sadness.
She realized, looking at the cat drawn by a kid who didn't even attend art academy that day:
Her Oppa wasn't really that great at drawing. He just drew better than she did.
Kang Chaeyoung started to cry silent tears. She felt sorry for her brother who sat drawing at his desk every day. Even working so hard, he could only draw that well. She cried a lot.
And after that, she never asked Oppa to draw for her again.
That was how it was.
But now.
Kang Chaeyoung's eyes sparkled.
'He's a totally different person now.'
He sketched roughly while talking, but it looked really good. She heard people call someone who draws well "golden hands" — Kang Seok seemed like a diamond hand.
'What is going on?'
He drew effortlessly, as if he had a computer inside his head.
"Look, this large pelvis that surrounds both sides — this part here is called the ischium. When the ischium wraps around, it naturally creates a space in the middle."
"The upper part of this space is called the superior pelvic aperture. But in the male pelvis, the shape looks triangular from above. Overall, from the front view, the pelvis looks like an arrow-shaped triangle."
"Compared to the female pelvis I drew here on the side, you can definitely see the difference. It's a bit narrower. But what that person drew earlier was…"
Oppa, who normally didn't talk much, suddenly spoke in a fluent stream of specialized knowledge. Unless someone had put a library inside his head, Kang Chaeyoung couldn't help but marvel.
"Do artists really have to know all this?"
Isn't this some kind of memorization subject? Kang Chaeyoung stared blankly at Oppa's face, but Kang Seok, unaware of her confusion, kept looking at the paper and continued his explanation.
"...Here. This is what's wrong. Normally, the features that belong to a female pelvis shouldn't be put into a male pelvis. That way, the shape looks like neither and makes the anatomy look distorted."
"Ah. Why would someone draw it like that? I don't get it. Even when I was young, I didn't learn it like that… No, it should be better than when I learned it. Or not? Do teachers these days not teach this stuff?"
Even though Oppa seemed much younger than the man they saw earlier, who looked several times older, Kang Chaeyoung kept quiet.
Maybe it was because Oppa started drawing early. Kang Chaeyoung nodded vaguely in understanding.
"By the way, that big painting in the furniture store and the fact that he's participating in that human anatomy sketch project… Oppa seems really good at anatomy. Should I ask him to draw my face sometime?"
Kang Chaeyoung's lips twitched into a smile — the same smile as Kang Seok's. While letting out that somewhat deflated smile, Kang Seok, who was still annoyed at not understanding, sighed deeply.
"But why aren't Mom and Dad coming?"
Kang Seok turned his head. At the end of the hallway, they could see Mom and Dad engrossed in their phones, deep in phone conversations.
Kang Chaeyoung peeked out from behind Kang Seok and waved her hand dismissively.
"They haven't even been called yet. What does it matter? They must have something important to talk about on the phone. Just wait."
'No, did you see the link? Oh my. I accidentally sent it in the group chat, but you saw it already? Oh dear. Yes. Yes. Seok was active in the club during vacation, yes. You went to the Renaissance shopping mall, right? I was really surprised too. He's so quiet he doesn't say much. Yeah, boys that age are like that. Yes. The next meeting is there? Yes…'
Kang Chaeyoung recalled Baek Myeong-hee laughing while clutching her phone at the furniture store a few days ago. The call kept going, and it seemed highly likely Baek Myeong-hee and Kang Hyun-do were boasting about something.
Seok's furniture store, which was usually open year-round except holidays, had suddenly closed for a day due to personal reasons. No wonder the phone was ringing off the hook.
How admirable was it that a high schooler was spending his own earnings on the family's health checkups?
Kang Chaeyoung firmly held Kang Seok's hand and urged him to talk it out on the phone.
"Mom works every day and today's her day off — how many calls could there be?"
"Maybe so."
Kang Chaeyoung, mature for her age and perceptive, thought that was right. Kang Seok nodded.
After what felt like an endless wait watching Kang Hyun-do and Baek Myeong-hee laughing with their phones at the end of the hall, a nurse called Kang Seok from the reception desk.
When Kang Seok stood, Kang Chaeyoung hurried off to bring Kang Hyun-do and Baek Myeong-hee.
Kang Seok raised his hand toward the nurse who was looking for him and walked forward.
"Here."
The long day was just about to begin.
"Here?"
"Haah, haah... yes! Here. We met here... haah... but... haah...!"
Hwang Nomin was breathing heavily. Though he had run as fast as possible, the boy was already gone.
"Ah, that's too bad."
"...Haah, haah."
The man walking ahead of Hwang Nomin let his arms drop. The paper in his hand fluttered. It was the paper with the male pelvis drawing that the boy Kang Seok had pointed out earlier.
"Don't know his name?"
After catching his breath, Hwang Nomin nodded.
"...No... Sorry, Professor."
"No, no need to apologize. It can happen."
The man with gentle eyes curved like a crescent moon was Park Ji-yeop, a professor at Hanyang University of the Arts in the Department of Fine Arts. He brushed his brown hair with gray streaks back and pursed his lips in regret.
"You said, 'You can't draw it like this'?"
"Yes! But really, professor, was it because the boy noticed the mix of male and female pelvis features? He was obviously a high school student…"
After that, Hwang Nomin clamped his mouth shut. Park Ji-yeop seemed to understand what he meant.
The next thing he'd say would probably be something like, "How can such a young kid notice that at a glance?"
Hwang Nomin's eyes said it all: only someone like Park Ji-yeop, a professor at Hanyang University of the Arts, could understand.
But was that really the case?
Park Ji-yeop knew there were many masters in the world.
Since he settled in Hanyang University of the Arts, he had no choice but to see them. While some were crawling, others were flying. Even people the same age had vastly different knowledge.
Of course, those crawling could grow wings if they worked hard someday. That's why he used Hwang Nomin as his assistant. Many were better than Hwang Nomin, but watching a kid struggling and then take flight was rewarding.
But still.
"I wish we had one more master involved in this project."
He asked Goduhan for help, but was refused.
He at least got a recommendation for a reliable person from Goduhan, but no details were provided yet, so he wasn't at ease.
Then he heard about Hwang Nomin's story and thought this might be it, rushing over, only to find the boy had disappeared already.
Maybe it wasn't fate.
Park Ji-yeop looked sadly at the spot where the boy had been.
Honestly, he didn't know if the boy was truly a master. Anatomy required vast knowledge more than just intuition. It was almost a memorization subject.
The chance a regular high school student would skip normal studies and carry around such knowledge was very slim.
That's why he wanted to check.
Did the boy really have that vast knowledge in his head? Could he notice pelvic shape differences at a glance, carrying that much anatomical knowledge inside? How well could he draw?
Curiosity about the boy, whose name, face, and age were unknown, rose.
But it was just a wish.
"This isn't a cafe but a hospital, so finding him again will be hard."
"Probably."
Park Ji-yeop sighed with regret. His hair was ruffled. A breeze seemed to come from somewhere in the hospital corridor. Wondering what it was, Park Ji-yeop turned his gaze toward the source of the wind and stopped suddenly.
His eyes slowly returned to their original direction.
On the third shelf of the bookshelf, deep inside, lay [Human Anatomy for Medicine]. Behind the book Park Ji-yeop himself had written, a white sheet of paper protruded.
It was like the paper was asking to be pulled out.
Despite chuckling at the absurdity, Park Ji-yeop couldn't help but step forward to pull it out.
Swoosh. The paper slid out. The roughly folded paper unfolded wide. Hwang Nomin, watching behind Park Ji-yeop, lifted his heel.
[Why draw it like this?]
The words were scribbled on the paper. In the middle, a perfect male pelvis and female pelvis were roughly drawn with a ballpoint pen.
'You're not supposed to draw it like this.'
That kid, no doubt.
Park Ji-yeop's mouth opened slightly, lips curling up. He looked down at the paper and rubbed his neck. His gentle eyes narrowed into a thin line.
"He's definitely a master."
What showed on his face was greed.