It was the sky.
She almost believed it.
Yoo Mi-kyung swallowed her admiration.
If it weren't for the artificial rectangular shape and the few colors visible right next to the sky, she would have believed it was the real sky.
It was that clear and full of realism.
Closer. The moment she thought she wanted to get closer, her body was already moving. Her feet stepped out of the elevator and moved forward.
Her head was tilted back halfway, as if wanting to fill her eyes with the mural. But she wasn't really conscious of that.
"It's the sky, but it looks like water is flowing."
It wasn't simply a blue and clear color.
It looked like pale sky-blue hydrangea petals scattered about.
By the way, this is an unusual mural.
Usually, to control the overall finish and drying of the paint, the work is done in a circular order, sequentially.
Kang-seok was dividing the wall invisibly into 15 sections and completing one section a day in a scattered manner.
"Since seven squares are filled solidly, it looks like he's completing one per day..."
The blurry colors that seemed to express even the flow of air made it impossible to guess what mixture created them.
It wasn't a single defined mixture but seemed like multiple paints blended naturally.
Yoo Mi-kyung analyzed and watched Kang-seok.
He was painting the wall with some gray substance. Seeing the glossy square shapes, it seemed he was painting the area for today.
"What's that gray? Varnish?"
Thinking whether varnish came in gray, Yoo Mi-kyung quickened her steps, curiosity bubbling up.
As she approached, a scent like fresh grass mixed with river water reached her nose.
She didn't realize it was because he used real sand brought from a riverbank.
What she noticed was something else.
"It's changed!"
In the brief moment she hurried, the tool in Kang-seok's hand had changed.
This time, it was a flat trowel. Pushing and smoothing out the sharp protrusions wasn't a beginner's skill.
"Just like teacher Jusarang... but wait, isn't this guy a sculpture major?"
Yoo Mi-kyung took a step forward with a confused expression.
Thunk.
Something caught her foot.
Small containers filled with colored sand had rolled out from a fallen box.
It wasn't hard to guess what they were.
"Natural pigments!"
Materials with such strong preservation power that they hardly discolor or corrode over time.
Yoo Mi-kyung's eyes sparkled.
Not simple materials... he was using these.
That's why the colors, though not flashy, were strikingly vivid.
Because he used natural pigments and made his own blends.
A mural painted not with store-bought acrylic paints but with natural pigments.
It was romantic.
It was almost an unreal scene, like visiting 16th-century High Renaissance Italy.
"Now that I think about it, the painting he's working on right now... I've seen it somewhere..."
Thinking of Italy, she felt she was starting to recognize the painting.
She searched her memories while looking at the sparsely drawn mural like a riddle.
Where had she seen it?
The Vatican.
The Vatican.
Yoo Mi-kyung's eyes widened.
The heart of Catholicism.
A city-state in southern Europe, an inland country surrounded by Rome, Italy.
A nation with the Pope as head of state, with ancient and impressive artifacts.
She remembered seeing that painting in the ceiling frescoes of the Sistine Chapel.
"The ceiling fresco painted by the art master Michelangelo Buonarroti..."
The central ceiling fresco.
The fourth section, the most famous painting on the Sistine ceiling.
The Creation of Adam.
Yes... it was The Creation of Adam.
With that clear conclusion, the empty space was filled with the image of God and Adam reaching out their two hands to touch, like a vision.
At that moment, Yoo Mi-kyung's whole body trembled.
Goosebumps covered her skin.
...Amazing!
The huge wall gave off a huge impact, just as big as its size, even unfinished.
She was curious.
What was he thinking? How would he finish the painting?
As someone majoring in Western painting, she wanted to become friends with Kang-seok.
As Yoo Mi-kyung fidgeted with her mouth and tried to poke Kang-seok's back with her finger—
"What are you doing, Mi-kyung?"
A neat voice pierced her ear.
She shivered at the breath close to her ear and backed away sideways like a crab.
Faded hair brushed her cheek.
Yoo Mi-kyung immediately recognized who was next to her.
"Te-teacher..."
It was Jusarang who spoke to her.
Jusarang looked at Yoo Mi-kyung with a very curious face and asked,
"What brings you to the 8th floor?"
Her eyes were endlessly dark as if asking why Yoo Mi-kyung would come all this way.
Yoo Mi-kyung instinctively turned around again.
Kang Ji-won, who hadn't been seen since earlier, was being dragged down by Park Jong-hyun.
"W-well... the elevator stopped at the wrong floor... h-ha ha... I'm going... I have to go... haha..."
Finishing her words, Yoo Mi-kyung slowly stepped aside, unable to take her eyes off the mural and Kang-seok.
Anyone watching might have thought she was a tragic heroine.
Jusarang watched Yoo Mi-kyung disappear until she couldn't even see her hair, then sighed deeply.
It's started.
Yoo Mi-kyung and Kang Ji-won were definitely not people who kept secrets.
It would only be a matter of time before rumors spread rapidly.
In other words, this quiet moment of admiring Kang-seok's painting would end today.
Jusarang looked at Kang-seok with regret.
Despite the earlier commotion, Kang-seok kept focusing solely on the painting.
Fresco was not a task where one could afford distractions.
His concentration was incredible.
He looked cool too.
His eyebrows furrowed in a triangle and his stubbornly closed mouth were very different from the Kang-seok they had seen before.
Like a sensitive, stubborn artist.
Thinking that, Jusarang burst into a small laugh.
Well, which artist isn't sensitive?
Shrugging her shoulders, she slowly returned to where she had been standing.
Kang-seok quietly held up the tracing paper and rice paper together.
His concentration, close to workaholic from his previous life, seemed to possess him.
He heard nothing around him and had no interest in anything.
It felt like only he and the wall existed in this white, blank world.
Kang-seok gently placed the tracing paper and rice paper onto the plaster.
Following the already drawn sketch, he carefully pressed down with a pencil to transfer the lines.
Since the wall was so large, drawing carelessly could mess up proportions.
This process was essential.
It also helped shorten time.
Though it was an old-fashioned method compared to using a beam projector, Kang-seok moved smoothly.
"...Ah. Why... The Creation of Adam...?"
Almost one with the tracing paper, Kang-seok blinked.
He thought he heard someone's voice.
Who was it?
He moved the pencil line once more.
The work of transferring the sketch onto the tracing paper was almost done.
"Seok-ah? Why The Creation of Adam, of all things?"
It sounded like a female voice.
What?
Kang-seok frowned and asked back.
Or maybe he didn't.
He didn't know.
Don't talk to me.
I'm working now.
He shook his head irritably and kept working.
This was his time.
His own time no one could disturb.
As he roughly swung his arm, the white world had become as dark as night.
A black night.
The Sistine Chapel with deep navy settling over it.
The time when everyone had left.
He suddenly remembered walking in front of the painting with Pope Julius II, who he had to work with despite the Pope's stubbornness.
Relying on candlelight, he had illuminated the painting for a long time in the dark.
He asked me,
"Do you see humans like this?"
What did I answer back then?
"I just wanted to paint when humans were first created.
Innocent, without sin, thankful for the gift of life..."
I think I answered that way.
Was that right?
While pondering, the answer came from somewhere else.
"That's what Michelangelo said.
The scene in the movie The Creation of Adam where Michelangelo praises humanity.
Right?"
What?
I snapped out of it.
When I looked to the side, the Sistine Chapel and Pope Julius II were gone.
Only teacher Jusarang stood beside me.
Oh my gosh.
Kangseok's ears turned red. He must have been too focused. Not just absorbed in memories of his past life, but actually mouthing the lines out loud.
Embarrassed, Kangseok twisted his mouth and spoke.
"Did you just say something to me?"
"Hm?"
"I didn't hear you clearly."
Teacher Joo Sarang made a strange expression. She seemed to think she'd already answered. Kangseok hesitated, wondering if he should say he was lost in thought just now, but Joo Sarang burst into a small laugh and spoke.
"I asked why, out of all the Renaissance paintings, you chose to paint The Creation of Adam. You gave a very good answer."
Joo Sarang smiled and lightly tapped Kangseok's shoulder before passing by. It looked like she was heading to another floor. Watching her absentmindedly, Joo Sarang suddenly stopped while walking toward the escalator.
Then she turned her head toward Kangseok.
"I'll make sure this gets published."
"Huh?"
"Published? Where?" Kangseok looked at Joo Sarang, puzzled.
"I'll come again! Keep working hard...!"
But Joo Sarang didn't say another word. So Kangseok could only watch her waving hand in curiosity as she went down the escalator.
"Wow. Wow. No way."
"Is that really something Kangseok painted?"
Just as Joo Sarang predicted, after Yumi Kyung and Kang Ji Won visited, the 8th floor basically became the playground of the mural club team from Cheonghwa Arts High School.
"He was seriously painting The Creation of Adam. Filling up that huge wall...! Wow. It's the first time I got chills from a high schooler's painting. How does someone with that skill end up last in class? Are all second years monsters or what?"
Following Yumi Kyung, who spoke honestly despite being talkative, kids flocked to the 8th floor in groups from the next day.
Kangseok sighed, sensing the presence of kids who came to admire the murals as if he were spreading out a mat.
The peaceful paradise that once belonged only to Kangseok had come to an end after just a week.
Now, with about thirty students from Cheonghwa Arts High School taking turns to visit and watch, the tranquility was completely lost, but Kangseok continued painting.
His brush never wavered.
It was no different from the moment God reached out to give intelligence to Adam in the painting The Creation of Adam. Kangseok breathed life into the mural as if he himself were a god wielding a tiny brush.
Although it might have bothered someone to be watched during work, perhaps thanks to his past experience painting in the Sistine Chapel for four years under the gaze of Catholic believers and cardinals, it didn't bother him at all.
Moreover, the work was nearly finished. Kangseok's hand moved swiftly, filling in the final section.
That was why so many kids were gathered today—to witness the completion of this massive mural.
"He's really going to finish that huge thing in just sixteen days."
"He's definitely going to finish it today, right?"
"Of course. Didn't you see? He finishes one section a day."
Most had already finished their own mural work, so there was a relaxed tone in the kids' voices. In fact, they already sensed the truth.
The twenty-nine murals they had completed weren't what really mattered. Even without Teacher Joo Sarang or Teacher Crappyti, who quietly hoped for Kangseok's painting to be finished, they knew.
The completion of that piece would mean victory at the high school mural competition.
And this mural, a copy of The Creation of Adam, would become the symbol of the Renaissance Complex Shopping Mall from now on. People would turn their steps just to see this work.
Just like the mural village Ihwa became famous more than a decade ago.
Early January.
Under a sky white as snow, the camellia tree planted in the backyard of Seok's furniture store bloomed in full.
Kangseok's mother, Baek Myunghee, gazed blankly at the camellia tree. At that moment, a hawk landed on a thick branch in its familiar stance.
At the same time, the voice of Kang Chaeyoung, the second child, came from behind.
"Mom! Mom! Look at this!"
Kang Chaeyoung ran over, smiling brightly, holding metal chopsticks in one hand and a cellphone in the other.
"Our brother got featured in an article!"