Episode 48: Teacher
“Hey! Kang Lim, long time no see.”
“Hello!”
Hong Yoonki greeted Kang Lim warmly as soon as he saw him.
Kang Lim was equally glad to see a familiar face after such a long time.
To Kang Lim’s eyes, Hong Yoonki didn’t seem all that gloomy.
For someone who got laid off, his face looked rather glossy and relaxed.
The two of them started climbing the steep hill in Pyeongchang-dong as if they were hiking.
After walking for a while…
Hong Yoonki, who usually had minimal exercise, started wheezing.
Kang Lim thought about how much this weakling must have struggled when picking up trash and said,
“But this place is really like a mountain village. It’s almost a cliff, so it must be tough for first-timers.”
Kang Lim said while observing the alley filled with luxury houses.
His legs hurt from the climb, but the higher they went, the fresher the air became, making him feel good.
Hong Yoonki shook his head and said,
“Is there anyone living here who walks up? I drove around too. This is all part of the Bukak Skyway that you hear about. They built houses with a good view.”
“True… People with headaches from business all the time would want to get away from the city. So they’d live somewhere quiet.”
“Yeah. If you only look at business infrastructure, coming to a place like this clears your mind. It’s fresh. And having a mountain behind is good feng shui.”
Hong Yoonki took a deep breath and then stopped in front of a house surrounded by high walls.
“This is the place.”
Kang Lim tilted his head up to look at the pine tree slightly peeking over the wall.
The old pine tree was gracefully curved, giving off a fragrant scent.
“Oh. I’ve never been inside such a luxury house before. It’s fascinating. So, what does the homeowner do?”
“I don’t know either. My cousin noona introduced me, but she couldn’t say much. The owner dislikes media exposure, so I was told not to ask questions.”
“Hmm… What does your cousin noona do?”
“Do you think my connections are for nothing? My cousin noona is a national curator. She’s part of the team for this year’s Venice Biennale exhibition.”
“Wow? That’s quite impressive.”
“Right? I knew she’d make it big since she was the Aramdan leader. Her name is Hong Aram.”
“That’s not something you can compare to being an Aramdan leader…”
Kang Lim was surprised by the unexpected fact.
The Venice Biennale is the biggest exhibition in the world.
Held every two years, this international exhibition is called the mother of all biennales.
It started in 1895, and various countries participate simultaneously from June to November for five months.
Countries get assigned independent exhibition spaces, and artists are appointed.
The USA Pavilion, Germany Pavilion, France Pavilion, China Pavilion, Korea Pavilion…
Because it’s an exhibition that says, “This is the level of our country’s culture and arts,” the participating artists are also national representatives.
Simply put, it’s just as prestigious and challenging as the Academy Awards for film directors, the Chopin Competition for pianists, or the Olympics for athletes.
The reason such an important event isn’t well-known is that the Korean Pavilion has never won a Golden Lion award.
It usually takes a legendary figure in the field to gain media attention and widespread recognition.
Bzzz—
When Hong Yoonki pressed the bell,
Click.
After a short while, the door opened.
Kang Lim climbed the neatly cleaned stone steps and entered the garden.
“I heard the smallest luxury house is 80 pyeong… This looks like over 200 pyeong.”
As soon as he entered, Kang Lim took a deep breath.
Seeing the lawn that stretched across the yard, he felt a sense of relief.
A gentle breeze blew away the sweat from climbing the hill.
The yard was spacious, with modern-looking buildings surrounding it.
It was so vast that he couldn’t see the back, but it seemed like there was another annex.
“Maintaining this garden must cost a fortune.”
The round-shaped junipers and boxwoods, and various garden trees, were beautiful.
The garden was so wide that the neighbors probably didn’t know who lived next door.
It was a quiet space with only the sound of the wind.
After walking a good distance, Kang Lim finally reached the front gate.
“Welcome!”
A lady who appeared to be the building manager guided Kang Lim and Hong Yoonki inside.
“Wow, it’s really spacious.”
Once inside, the ceiling height was enormous.
The house’s high ceilings gave a tremendous sense of openness.
In front of the entrance were large storage spaces, as if they needed room for thousands of shoes.
“Please wear these.”
Kang Lim put on a pair of guest slippers and went inside.
The living room had large glass windows and a long island-style home bar.
There were Christian Dior dinner sets, a scale, a clock, a sewing machine, and a typewriter that looked like 18th-century antiques.
The elegant interior showed the homeowner’s aesthetic sense and discernment.
“The lady is over there.”
The manager guided them to a dining room connected to the inner garden.
It was a cozy place with wide windows overlooking a large mountain in the back.
Warm sunlight streamed in, and birds chirped.
Kang Lim admired the modern and stylish exterior design.
In the middle of the lush greenery, Ryu Miyeon was drinking tea.
With her neat bob haircut and elegant pearl earrings, she exuded grace.
“We’re here! This is the guy I told you about. He’s much better than me, so don’t worry.”
At Hong Yoonki’s lively introduction, Ryu Miyeon smiled lightly and greeted Kang Lim.
“Hello.”
“Ah. Yes. Nice to meet you. I’m Kang Lim.”
Kang Lim glanced at the dignified Ryu Miyeon.
Her face reminded him of someone.
A familiar image from somewhere…
He put down the wrapped paintings, portfolio, and the envelope containing his enrollment certificate.
Ryu Miyeon seemed pleased with the amount of preparation he had done.
“Thank you. Since you came through a recommendation, you didn’t need to bring so much… I’ll review the materials later.”
In fact, Ryu Miyeon valued teaching skills over materials.
Many people were good at drawing but couldn’t teach others.
Unaware of this, Kang Lim pointed to the paintings he brought and said,
“Ah… But those are real paintings. I haven’t taken many photos for my portfolio yet, so I brought them.”
“Oh, you brought the actual pieces.”
“Yes. But I’ll need to submit them for a solo exhibition soon, so…”
She had heard he was still an undergraduate… A solo exhibition already?
He was undoubtedly a very diligent worker.
Ryu Miyeon said with a pleased expression,
“Don’t worry. You can take them back when you come for next week’s lesson. I’ll enjoy them and return them promptly.”
“Ah, thank you very much.”
“Yes. For now, Seohui is working on a still life. I’d like you to take a look.”
“Sure.”
“Yoonki, you’re free to leave now.”
At Ryu Miyeon’s words, Hong Yoonki looked somewhat bitter.
It seemed he had grown attached to this household while tutoring.
“Yes. Thank you very much for everything. Kang Lim, take good care of Seohui! Fighting.”
After sending off Hong Yoonki, Kang Lim moved with Ryu Miyeon.
Entering Seohui’s room, as expected of an arts high school entrance exam student, there were 4B pencils, erasers, and sketchbooks.
Kang Lim opened the sketchbook behind Seohui to check her skill level.
“You’ve done a lot of drawing.”
There were various drawings of her hands in different poses.
She had also drawn smaller versions of plaster casts multiple times.
As he turned the pages, his hand stopped.
He was confident that this would be a comfortable tutoring job.
“Seohui, you’re really good at drawing.”
At Kang Lim’s words, Seohui turned around.
Her white face was smudged here and there with graphite.
She seemed to have been concentrating quite hard.
With wide eyes, Seohui asked,
“Huh? Are you the new teacher?”
Seohui had a pretty sturdy build.
Well, you need that kind of stamina to draw.
Kang Lim greeted Seohui with a light bow.
Ryu Miyeon nodded and answered Seohui’s question.
“Yes. He’s going to review what you’re drawing now. Just relax with Kang Lim. Pretend I’m not here.”
Ryu Miyeon pulled a chair and sat some distance away.
She didn’t want Kang Lim to feel too pressured.
Kang Lim said to Seohui,
“Can you step back for a moment? Looking from a distance, you can better see what’s missing in the drawing.”
Seohui quickly got up and stepped back.
Her face was so smudged with graphite that she could be mistaken for someone coming back from a coal mine.
She probably had black snot if she blew her nose from drawing so intensely.
On the white canvas fixed with two metal clips…
There were drawings of Coca-Cola, tissues, squid, work gloves, and a gas burner.
She had good form and captured the shapes smoothly.
However, with his keen eyes, Kang Lim spotted the mistakes.
Most people would overlook the subtle errors because the drawing was so well done.
“The perspective is slightly off.”
Kang Lim took out a pencil and drew circles passing through the cap, shoulder, and base of the Coca-Cola bottle on a new canvas.
“As you know, when viewed from above, the base should appear more circular. For the tissue on the middle ground to show that much of its top, the base of the Coke on the foreground should appear much rounder.”
“Oh… Ugh. I keep making that mistake.”
Seohui grabbed her head in frustration.
“And how long have you been working on this?”
“Almost four hours! It’s in the final stage.”
Kang Lim identified Seohui’s major weakness.
…Good form and detail but slow.
In entrance exams, where completion is crucial, the shading was sparse enough to seem unfinished.
‘Students like this often hesitate to add color.’
To give Seohui a shock treatment, Kang Lim drew a line over the carefully shaded Coke with a 4B pencil.
“Ahh! I spent so much time shading that.”
Seohui clenched her fists as the dark line marred her neatly shaded area.
Although Kang Lim slightly feared those big fists, he smiled and said,
“Ha ha, don’t be so surprised. This is the level of shading you need. From what I see, you’re too slow in adding layers. I don’t know if it’s because you’re scared or lack strength in your arms.”
As Kang Lim quickly layered a few strokes, the bottle filled with Coke and gained volume in an instant.
“Wow, teacher, you’re amazing.”
“Try to think of shading from 1 to 10 and observe the object well. Imagine turning a color photo into a black-and-white one.”
“How?”
“For example, for Coca-Cola, there’s a red label with white letters, and inside is a dark liquid. If you set the dark liquid’s shade to 10, the red would be 7, and the white letters would be 1.”
“Oh!”
Only then did Seohui look at her drawing.
“Right! The red would be quite dark in a black-and-white photo, but I drew it almost the same as the yellow gas burner.”
“Wow. You catch on quickly.”
From behind, Ryu Miyeon watched Kang Lim’s lesson with great interest.
To explain so easily and quickly—he was a good teacher.
Hong Yoonki had only given compliments, so Seohui’s weaknesses weren’t addressed.
“When sculpting a person out of clay, you start with the large shapes and then detail the eyes, nose, and mouth. Similarly, in drawing, you need to lay down the base colors first and then start detailing. Always begin with the inherent color.”
“Yes, teacher.”
Seohui’s trust in Kang Lim upgraded instantly.
“Kang Lim, there’s no need to see more. I’d like you to continue teaching.”
At Ryu Miyeon’s words, Kang Lim turned around.
“Ah, yes. Thank you.”
“And by any chance… could you teach in English?”
One of the reasons she had hired Hong Yoonki was his proficiency in English.
Although Seohui wasn’t bad at English, it was beneficial to be exposed to the language frequently to retain it in Korea.
Of course, Ryu Miyeon didn’t expect much since Kang Lim hadn’t studied abroad, but she asked anyway.
“It’s also fine if you teach in Korean.”
Contrary to her expectations, Kang Lim confidently replied,
“No, I can teach in English, German, French, and Chinese too. Communicating is easy. I’ve studied a lot.”
“…What?”
For Kang Lim, who had perfect recall abilities, there were no language barriers.
