"My goodness…!"
At the short gasp of admiration, Kang Seok turned his head.
What the—? A crowd had gathered behind him. They stood in a semi-circle, like spectators watching a street performance.
'So they were watching.'
It wasn't surprising that they were admiring his drawing. It was a drawing worth admiring. If anything, anyone who walked by without stopping—he would have questioned their eyesight.
Kang Seok gathered his thoughts and turned the rest of the way. His gaze landed on a woman—the source of the voice and today's model.
The moment their eyes met, the model reflexively covered her open mouth. The tips of her ears were red. She seemed embarrassed by how loudly she had reacted.
"I'm sorry. Was that too loud? I was just… surprised…"
She probably thought her voice had been disruptive. The model, Go Yoomin, blushed as she spoke. Kang Seok waved a hand as if to say it was nothing.
"It's break time, isn't it? Doesn't matter how loud you are. More importantly—do you like the drawing?"
"Of course! I love it. I want to take it home. If the drawing disappears later, just assume I took it."
Even with her cheeks flushed like peaches, Go Yoomin's naturally friendly personality kept her talking smoothly.
While Kang Seok and Go Yoomin were exchanging words, the gathered third-year students stood frozen, their eyes locked on the drawing.
It was because of something Kang Seok had just said:
—"It's break time, isn't it?"
Break time.
Just like Kang Seok said, it was break time.
It was the first scheduled break of the session. Today's figure drawing class was set for 20-minute drawing intervals with 10-minute breaks.
That meant this drawing had been completed in less than 30 minutes.
'He drew this in 30 minutes…?'
'He only needs to write the date and name in the corner and it's done.'
The students glanced at their own drawings across the room.
Because of the angle, they couldn't see each other's drawings clearly, but most were just finishing their sketches or barely starting the first layer of shading.
His hands are insanely fast. The speed difference was overwhelming. But even more than the speed, the accuracy was hard to believe.
'Look at the soft flesh on the forearm. It looks like it would squish if you poked it.'
The way he had captured different textures in such a short time felt absurd. The third-years glanced at Kang Seok's pencil case.
Maybe he was using some special materials?
'Is he just laying down darkness all at once with an 8B? That's the only way to get this much density so fast, right?'
'Come to think of it, it's ridiculous to draw this fast from this position. I've never seen him stand up. Maybe he took a photo and zoomed in on his phone? Some people are really good at copying.'
'But look at the delicate touches layered over that density. Can you get that much texture with just one pencil? Maybe if he used 8B, 4B, 6B, 2B all together? Is that what he did?'
But even when they inspected his pencil case and easel, there were no unusual tools or methods to be found.
The third-years solemnly chewed over an old lesson:
"The world is vast, and there are always people better than you."
Meanwhile—
Now that Go Yoomin had started talking, her words flowed like a stream.
"But how are you so good? You didn't learn this on your own, right? Which academy do you go to? Since when?"
So many questions.
Kang Seok looked flustered. The cold, intellectual atmosphere he had exuded earlier was completely gone. Now, it felt like a rabbit was bouncing in front of him.
"Uh… well…"
"Are you maybe, like, your uncle's protégé or something?"
What? Kang Seok tilted his head instinctively.
"Uncle?"
"Ah! You don't know, do you?"
The model, Go Yoomin, clapped her hands and turned toward the group of instructors, pointing.
"Uncle!"
At the unexpected cry of "Uncle!" echoing through the drawing studio, everyone turned to look. Even the instructors turned toward her.
Was one of them really her uncle?
"Yeah."
The reply came from Go Doohan, the instructor wearing his cap low over his eyes.
Everyone's eyes widened.
"Uncle"—isn't that what you call your married father's younger brother?
"You were married?"
"Teacher, you were married?"
Not only the third-years but even the assistant instructors stared at Go Doohan in shock.
Under their collective gaze, Go Doohan adjusted his cap and cleared his throat before opening a magazine titled Art Entrance Exams—a monthly read for students, parents, and art teachers.
Go Doohan held the magazine up to cover his face.
"Break's over. Sit down."
"What?!"
"No waaay!"
"Teacheeer!"
The drawing studio erupted in groans, but Go Doohan, the tyrant of the studio, didn't flinch.
Scratch, scratch.
Eventually, only the sound of pencils on paper remained in the room. Pouting, the students quietly resumed drawing. Hours passed.
They began glancing at the clock.
Lunch break was just minutes away.
Everyone's pencil movements had noticeably slowed. Sharpened like needles, their pencils barely touched the paper, just enough to carefully add the smallest touches.
They were doing little more than refining facial features, erasing to add shine to the hair, or softly increasing the level of detail.
No one was making bold movements to push the density or build volume anymore.
Except for Kang Seok.
Sasa-sasa-sasa-sak!
Having practically completed one drawing in 30 minutes, Kang Seok had kept moving his pencil relentlessly for the entire 4 hours.
'What more could he possibly have to express for four hours straight?'
'If he keeps messing with it, it's just gonna turn pitch black and ugly.'
'Why aren't the teachers stopping him…?'
'His hands are too fast—it's a problem now.'
The third-years shook their heads.
Afraid to disturb their own progress, none had dared to look at Kang Seok's drawing since the second break.
As a result, no one knew what it looked like now.
But one thing was certain:
If he kept piling on more layers like that, the drawing wouldn't improve—it would only get murkier.
It was fine to aim for higher completeness, but moving the pencil that aggressively wouldn't yield anything good.
That sound came from laying the pencil flat and shading broad areas. That might create bold effects, but it would crush the underlayers.
At first, you can vary angles to layer density tightly. But once the density is already high, continuing to pile on more doesn't work.
Unless the paper rips, that is.
"There's no way he doesn't know that…"
The third-years, listening to the relentless sound of the pencil scratching from start to finish, finished their own drawings with expressions that said they didn't know what to think anymore.
At that moment, beep-beep-beep! An alarm rang out.
It signaled the end of the four-hour session promised to the model. Go Yumin, the niece of teacher Go Duhan, stood up promptly.
"Bring the drawings this way."
As Go Yumin stepped down from the platform with Jang Yumin's help, the part-time instructors came forward to collect the drawings.
"Good work, everyone. For lunch today, we're heading out front for bean sprout soup, so let's move quickly."
Bean sprout soup!
The students, who thought they'd be eating plain school lunch, were delighted at the news that they'd be eating out. Even so, their eyes darted over to where Kangseok was walking over with his drawing.
They were dying to know how his drawing had turned out. Then, Kangseok tilted the drawing board forward.
Huh?
The watching third-years froze in place. Kangseok reached into the space between the easel and the board to pull out the paper.
Paper. They hadn't paid it any attention before, but now it stood out. Come to think of it, weren't we each only given one sheet earlier? Why does he have several stacked?
…Wait a minute.
The third-years looked at Kangseok with growing suspicion. And Kangseok didn't betray their expectations.
He was pulling out multiple sheets of Kent paper from inside. Meaning, they were all drawings.
No way…!
The students, clutching their single sheets, now openly stared at Kangseok. One of them even pointed at the papers in his hand.
"Kangseok. Are those all…"
"Hm?"
"Are those all… drawings?"
Kangseok furrowed his brow, as if to say, what kind of question is that? He paused to make sure he'd heard correctly, then nodded.
"Yes. They're all drawings of the model."
"…Gasp!"
Someone audibly sucked in a breath in disbelief.
"H-How many are there?"
"Four."
Four!While they had each drawn one piece in four hours, Kangseok had drawn four.
"C-Can we… can we see them?"
"Sure, go ahead."
Kangseok handed the drawings over without hesitation. Still, his gaze was razor-sharp.
It was the kind of look that said if you smudge them or bend a corner, I'll make you regret it. Without even realizing it, the third-years, older students no less, took the drawings with both hands, almost reverently.
One by one, they carefully flipped through them.
"Wow… wow…"
"They're all different. The compositions are completely different."
"Right? It's like he drew each one from a different angle… But wait, he never left his seat."
"The first one makes sense from that position. But the rest? They're just… imagined?"
"How good at anatomy do you have to be to do that?"
"And the observation skill too—look at the earrings. The angle is different in each one."
The third-years stared in awe.
Four fully rendered figure drawings from different perspectives, all done in one spot, one per hour. Easy to say—impossible to do. Even the best instructors in Seogyo-dong's elite art prep studios couldn't pull that off.
It was insane. Just insane.
"Wait a second. Where did he even find the time to draw all that? I saw him sharpening his pencil earlier. He was doing it so slowly."
"I saw him go to the bathroom too."
"Hey, I even saw him get a drink from the vending machine."
A drink. That's right. The third-years looked toward Kangseok's seat. Sitting on the small side chair next to his easel was a can—grape soda.
Staring at that, it felt like all their jealousy, their inferiority, their doubts—just evaporated.
And look at Kangseok's face. That calm expression, like he didn't think he'd done anything amazing. The kind of face that wouldn't waver even if Buddha himself descended in front of him.
'He's just on another level.'
'I can't even begin to dream of matching him… wow, seriously…'
'I'd rather show off in front of a cocoon than try to brag in front of him.'
The third-years shook their heads.
It was a complete and utter defeat.
"Would you hurry up and turn in your drawings already?!"
"This way, please."
"Yes! Careful, it's hot."
"Thank you…!"
Clink, clink. The hot bean sprout soup bowls landed on the tables. It didn't take long before all seventeen bowls were served and the silver trays were cleared.
"Let's eat."
"Thank you for the meal!"
"Thanks, teacher!"
"I'll enjoy it!"
The students lifted their spoons toward the steaming bowls of soup. It was finally lunchtime.
Go Duhan, watching the students begin to eat, crushed some seaweed into the soft-boiled egg in his own bowl.
He lifted his spoon and looked straight ahead—sitting directly across from him was Kangseok.
Mixing the seaweed into his egg, Go Duhan casually asked:
"Are you preparing a figure drawing for your solo exhibition?"