Van Gogh Reborn! - Chapter 35
Two days have passed since I head-butted Henry Marceau’s face.
Even if I wanted to go to the Musée d’Orsay or the Louvre, reporters flocked over me.
Whenever I went outside, I couldn’t move.
Thanks to the Internet, rumors spread so quickly.
The world seems to have improved, but it causing me nothing but inconvenience.
Only Kim Jiwoo is enjoying it.
He, who came to the hotel room, is smiling brightly.
“What are you so happy about.?”
“ Hahahah…I became your exclusive reporter”
“Exclusive?”
“ Yes, The dean is cutting off all the other reporters. So all the news about you will come only from me. “
Kim Jiwoo took out a notebook and a recorder.
“How are you feeling?”
“Not fine.”
“Hmm……True education for Henry Marceau; a Korean boy Vs a terrible art student!”
I hope he won’t make that, title of an article.
“It’s great that, you did what he couldn’t. I visited Marceau Gallery yesterday, and it seems they didn’t erase what you did in his statue?”
“Why?”
“Well, I also want to ask Henry Marceau about that, but he was not available for an interview.”
It bothers me that he didn’t modify it.
Contrary to my wishes, I think he didn’t have come to his senses yet.
“Anyway, shall I begin.”
“I didn’t understand anything about what you were saying. What did you do say to him in the beginning?”
“Marceau’s jewel. You can tell what it is just by looking at the title. Right?”
“Yes, isn’t it about Henry Marceau himself.?”
“Yes. It’s a title that he gave for himself. He got lost about what kind of jewelry he has to use to express himself and I told him to draw it with his own hands.”
“But he went on and stood at the pedestal.”
No matter how much I think about it, He’s out of his mind.
“…I’ve never seen such a statue like that before. The texture of human skin and clothes that looked softer than silk. He’s in a different realm of art just with his skills.”
“You must have got angry at him who made that amazing sculpture did such a thing.”
“Yes.”
Even if I think about it again, I can’t forgive him.
“So you drew the eyes instead, and Henry Marceau was angry at it and grabbed you by the collar.”
Usually, you won’t imagine an adult grabbing a 10-year-old boy by the collar and lifting him.
It is certain that he has some personality issues.
“I thought you were calm boy, but you’re not a joke either. You head-butted Henry Marceau. Did you get into fights with your friends at school.?
“I don’t go to school.”
“Huh? Why?”
“I will be going from next year.”
“Oh, yeah. You were hurt for a long time. Anyway, be careful. If you get angry and cause trouble.You’ll regret it later.”
“Regret?”
“Yeah. You’re already a celebrity. Don’t do anything to get caught in the first place. It’s no use apologizing later. I’m saying this as a fan, so make sure to keep that in mind. Got it?
I was excited at that time, but the head-butt was an action to defend myself.
I am not a human being who wields a knife just because I got angry.
“Anyways, what are you going to do now?”
“What?”
“With Henry Marceau. You have to show your face, when your painting gets auctioned. You can’t help but to meet him there.”
Come to think of it, it’s like that.
If it’s a matter of documents, then Grandpa may handle it as my guardian, but since it’s an auction it’s natural for me show my face at the auction house.
“I don’t know. I will try not to head-butt him this time.”
“Hahahahahah…. You’ll be the only one who treats Henry Marceau like that. It’s really refreshing.”
Henry Marceau doesn’t know how scary the world is, and he’s just running wild.
Even though he has such an outstanding talent, it is regrettable and angry that he does useless things with a healthy body and proper wealth.
I never had a talent.
I wanted to draw pictures like the great Rembrandt and teacher Millet, so I tried until my hands couldn’t move, but eventually they stopped moving.
In the end, I couldn’t do the thing I loved the most because I wasn’t healthy, and I couldn’t even sell my paintings, so I always became a nuisance to my only supporter — Theo.
He doesn’t know how blessed he is.
⏩⏩⏩⏩⏩⏩
Since yesterday, Michelle stopped making eye contact with me.
She work casually as usual, but just ignores me.
I guess she will not coming to the job from next month.
”Damn it”.
Not only Michelle but also Arsene and other employees started avoiding my gaze.
The media is sprouting nonsense like they always do, while the loyal ones keep licking my feet.
“Grow up.”
Michelle’s words keeps ringing in my head.
A pathetic, disappointing, and sad voice of her breaks through my heart.
Is it my fault?
Maybe it is my fault.
Something went wrong from the moment I saw that picture.
[Sunflower]
The progress of the work was slow, so I had been shopping for jewelry and paintings for a while, and one day…..
From that day everything started crumbling apart.
Since the day I met that f*cking kid.
It was shocking.
I couldn’t move in front of the dazzling figure of the sunflower looking at the sun.
Is this what talent is?
I couldn’t believe it was drawn by a child who was only ten years old.
Stems that stretch out powerfully and surprisingly bright leaves.
The unnecessary elements were boldly omitted, and the sunflower was completely captured.
The nature of the sunflower looking at the sun was captured better than any other picture and work.
Just like Vincent van Gogh.
Two decades of pursuing Art, in which I have worked hard every day to achieve the Art I wanted…became nothing in front that [sunflower].
My hard work lost its meaning in front of that huge wall.
I couldn’t admit it.
I couldn’t accept that I had a limit.
I couldn’t let my efforts be denied just because of a kid’s talent.
So I started deceiving myself.
If it’s me I can do it.
I could definitely surpass it.
I kept deceiving my mind that I could overcome the wall in front of me.
But in the end, everything was futile.
I bought various gems, processed them myself, mixed paints, looked for the color I wanted……
Everything was useless.
When I felt defeated and kneeled down, the wall said to me.
‘You’re the only one who can complete Marceau’s jewel.’
It wasn’t a way that I hadn’t thought of.
However, it was just not conceivable.
Because of the texture of the marble, I couldn’t draw the eyes properly.
It was a method that was discarded after several experiments.
However, in a matter of mere seconds, after seeing [Marceau’s jewel], he did what I couldn’t do without breaking a sweat.
The wall which I though I could overcome started crushing me.
Marceau’s jewel was like another body of mine.
As if it was not enough to shake my heart and making me realize that I don’t have a talent.
He completed the [Marceau’s jewel] and crushed my left over pride.
I tried to modify it, but I couldn’t.
Because my eyes that I wanted, which I couldn’t find after all the thing I did, was there.
Everything is over for me.
It’s over.
………..
………..
…………
“ Stop running away from you work.”
I don’t like him.
But what he said was true.
Henry Marceau can be defeated, but he will never run away like a coward.
I’m the only one who can complete me.
No human being can replace me.
I won’t run away just because I didn’t have any talent like that kid.
I am Henry Marceau.
Not giving up on the thing I wanted, even if I didn’t have a talent is what Henry Marceau.
I am the one who will and who can complete [Marceau’s jewel].
⏩⏩⏩⏩⏩⏩
The third day of exhibition.
People who visited the Henry Marceau exhibition expressed dissatisfaction.
They wanted to see [Marceau’s jewel], which Henry Marceau and Ko Hun collaborated on, but it was covered with a cloth.
As more and more people protested directly to the gallery, related information naturally appeared on the bulletin boards of online communities and forums.
I don’t understand. Why do you make it and then cover it up?
Ko Hun hurt his pride because by doing something he couldn’t do.
The fight was not a performance, but a real one.
The one who lived because of his good taste is turning his back because it hurt his pride.
I’m really disappointed in what he did to Ko Hun, and now he’s hiding the statue.
Yeah, if that’s really the reason, it’s uncool.
Didn’t Ko Hun do something wrong, too? No matter how young you are, you shouldn’t have touched other people’s work.
Henry Marceau said he’d throw it away.
Oh my… Did they cover it because it hurt his pride? Isn’t there any another reason?
When I asked the gallery in person today, they said that it was true that Henry Marceau covered it up for personal reasons.
Haaaa. What’s wrong with him?
Even though Henry Marceau was averted as a great Artist, the public opinion towards Henry Marceau started worsening.
They knew well that his personality was trash, but they believed that at least he was serious when he was working on his work, so fans who supported him did not understand the incident.
On top of that, there was no explanation from Henry Marceau’s side.
[Marceau’s jewel] was not released until the end of the exhibition schedule, and even Henry Marceau did not appear in public.
Rumors spread that Henry Marceau was jealous of his his own statue.
Marceau Gallery employees were worried about how to proceed with the auction scheduled for tomorrow.
“The public opinion is really bad. We should at least explain the situation.”
Michelle Platini sighed softly at the words of an employee.
“There’s nothing we can do about it.”
The staffs who attended the meeting became depressed.
In such a bad situation, even the chief curator Michelle Platini, who they trusted is planning on resigning, and they were at a loss of words of how to solve this crisis.
Meanwhile, Michelle Platini could not leave the last exhibition at Marceau Gallery as it is.
The problem was Henry Marceau.
She would have to talked with Henry Marceau to come up with countermeasures, but she couldn’t find where he was.
“I will meet with the CEO. Let’s continue the meeting tomorrow.”
“Yes.”
After the staff left,
Michelle Platini called Henry Marceau.
She sighed deeply at the machine voice saying that his phone was off.
“He must be drinking somewhere.”
She called Henry Marceau’s secretary Arsene.
-Yes, Ms.Platini.
“Hello, how are you?”
– Haha. I’m always the same. Ms.Platini must be busy these days. So, How are you holding up?
“I have something to talk to Henry about the exhibition, but I can’t get in touch with him. Is he at home now?”
– No. He has been in the gallery for a long time. Didn’t you see him?
“What?”
-It’s been a few days.
Michelle Platini narrowed her eyebrows.
She haven’t seen Henry Marceau in the gallery for the past few days.
At that time, a sound was heard from upstairs.
“Oh, yes. Thank you. “I’ll call you again.”
Michelle Platini, who finished the call, left the conference room.
At that moment, Henry Marceau, who was yawning came down from the second floor.
It seemed like he just woke up from sleep, his hair was disheveled and his clothes were crumpled.
“What are you doing here?”
Michelle Platini asked in a loud voice.
Henry Marceau looked at her and soon replied plainly.
“Whatever I want to do.”
He headed to the supply room.
She was surprised because she had never seen him this broken.
Michelle grabbed Henry.
“What are you doing? Did you spend the past three days here?”
She flinched at an unknown smell.
She blocked her nose and stepped back.
“ When did you last take a shower?”
Henry Marceau did not answer and just took the brushes and paints.
Michelle Platini, who was watching him couldn’t understand why this man was doing this.
“What’s wrong with you?” If you fail one time, is it over? Does the world collapse?
“Don’t you worry about the staff?” What about the fans? “What’s the reason for this?”
Henry Marceau didn’t answer.
He just focused on looking at the paint tube or choosing a brush.
Then he stood up and went upstairs without making eye contact with Michelle Platini.
For Michelle, the appearance was very shocking.
She never saw Henry Marceau like this.
The person in front of the her wasn’t the Henry Marceau, who cared about a single strand of hair that was sticking out thoroughly.
She was worried that he might have made a bad decision.
She broke up with him, but she couldn’t leave him like that because of the years she spent with him.
“Henry. Talk to me.”
Michelle Platini went upstairs.
When she opened the door, Henry Marceau peeled off the cloth covering [Marceau’s jewel].
Michelle Platini’s eyes and mouth opened wide at the same moment.
