Chapter 85:Meaning Of The Name – (2)

It had been a long time since Uncle last wore a suit.  

He had even shaved cleanly and put on cologne, something he never usually did. Seeing him like that, the employees at the repair shop couldn’t help but ask,  

“Boss, are you going on a date?”  

‘…So he does meet with Lim Ahra on weekdays too, huh?’  

Uncle grabbed his car keys and grinned.  

“No. I’m going to my niece, Go Hana’s, parent-teacher meeting.”  

“!”  

“!”  

“!”  

The employees of various ages all turned to look at me at the same time.  

“…”  

It was just one sentence, but I could sense the pride in Uncle’s voice. And I already knew the reason behind that pride.  

Living in Korea, there was no way I wouldn’t know.  

The genius of the Korean art world.  

The girl who left Japan in shock and mesmerized America.  

The news had been going on and on about it.  

Looking at an uncle with a national-level prodigy as his niece, the employees slapped their foreheads and let out impressed remarks.  

“Wow…! I wish I had a daughter like that, just so I could attend a parent-teacher meeting! Even if I went in sweats, I’d still walk in with my head held high.”  

“Man…! If I could say, ‘Yeah, I raised that genius,’ I’d feel like I had the whole world in my hands.”  

“…!”  

“I heard Hana’s influence is making children’s art academies boom lately. Just putting up a sign that says, ‘Your child might be a genius too!’ has parents flocking in.”  

“Hey! Show some respect, it’s ‘Artist Go Hana’ to you.”  

“Oh, right, my bad.”  

“Hah, people sure know how to talk when there’s money involved. A genius doesn’t just spring up from nowhere—it’s something given from above.”  

“True that.”  

“She’s a heaven-sent genius! A genius!”  

“Hahaha!”  

At their words, both Uncle and I could only give wry smiles without bothering to respond.  

We simply got into the car after saying our goodbyes.  

Vroom!  

Uncle started the engine, and I fastened my seatbelt in the passenger seat. As the car sped toward school, I found myself lost in thought.  

“….”  

…Heaven-sent, huh.  

Am I really someone gifted from the heavens?  

‘Honestly, saying I sprouted from the ground feels more accurate.’  

I wondered if there was anyone else as far from the heavens as Uncle and me.  

To me, the sky still felt like a distant place.  

“…”  

Cheonoecheon

Beyond the sky, another sky.  

Once the frog leaped out of the well, all it could see was an even broader, more endless sky.  

‘At first, it was Mari, then artist Oh Yujin, then Hanul Comprehensive Arts School, then foreign prodigies, then Japan, then America…  

Back when I had achieved nothing, I admired those at the top from afar, thinking they were beyond my reach.  

But once I actually met them, they turned out to be more ordinary than I had imagined.’

I wasn’t disappointed in them.  

I was just astonished by the endless skies that kept appearing before me.  

Not long ago, all I could think about was escaping this deep well. The seemingly endless darkness had vanished, and I was now running across vast lands.  

And before I knew it, even the ground had grown distant.  

I was soaring, meeting new skies from afar.  

People said I was flying at the highest point right now… but honestly, all I could see were new skies unfolding before me.  

The fact that I couldn’t see the end of it was terrifying.  

Even more frightening was that I couldn’t fully understand the process myself.  

“…”  

If I kept flying down this path, would I ever reach the end of the sky?  

And if I did, what would I even find there?  

‘…Would a true genius know the answer?’  

I still wanted to find out.  

Just as I was lost in thought, Uncle spoke up from the driver’s seat.  

“That Biennale prep… Is it keeping you busy?”  

“Huh? Oh… yeah, it is.”  

“I see. Is anyone pressuring you? Telling you to hurry up or anything?”  

“Come on, Uncle. Even if it’s 2006 wait, no, it’s 2007 now people don’t just come out and say stuff like that.”  

“Yeah? Makes sense. With the way things are these days, anyone who does would probably end up buried at the base of Namsan.”  

“…It’s not that extreme.”  

“Heh.”  

Uncle went quiet for a moment.  

“…Are you happy these days?”  

“Hm?”  

“Art. Do you still enjoy it?”  

“Well… yeah, I do. The Biennale prep is hectic, but it’s not an opportunity that just anyone gets. And working with Mari to set up the studio is fun, too. I’m not being pushed to become ‘the greatest in the world’ or anything, so I just want to do my best.”  

“Yeah?”  

“Mm-hmm. But why do you ask all of a sudden?”  

“…”  

“I still remember you, back in that semi-basement, drawing with just crayons.  

That tiny kid… I had no idea where you learned art, but you kept pouring out paintings like a waterfall, like they were masterpieces from some world-famous gallery.  

‘Ah, if I leave this alone, it’s going to be a huge problem.’  

“A huge problem?”  

“Well… How should I put it?”  

“…”  

Uncle carefully chose his words.  

Then, as if he had made up his mind, he spoke.  

“…You looked like a kid who would die if she couldn’t draw.”  

“…”  

“I mean, seriously. A little girl who never once asked for dolls or toys, just constantly drawing.  

Skipping meals, waking up and going to bed with nothing but drawing, drawing, drawing…  

Honestly, it scared me.  

I worried that maybe the poverty you experienced because of my shortcomings had left you with some kind of illness of the heart.”  

“…”  

“Ahra said that you felt that way when you were in elementary school too.”  

“The teacher too?”  

“Yeah. The kids around you instinctively felt, ‘We shouldn’t mess with this one.’ You spent the whole day drawing like it was breathing… Watching you like that, the teacher realized, ‘For this child, drawing is like breathing.’”  

“….”  

I thought back to that time after so long.  

It must have been right after I had regressed and become ‘Go Hana.’  

Back then, my hands, now those of a child, didn’t move as I wanted them to. I struggled desperately to regain the artistic skills of my past life.  

A time when I shut everything else out and focused solely on recovering my drawing abilities.  

“…”  

…To be honest, I was anxious.  

If I gave up on the traces of effort ‘Go Hun’ had put into drawing, I felt like nothing would remain. And if that happened, I knew I would regret it.  

“…”  

Not drawing meant that neither ‘Go Hun’ nor ‘Go Hana’ existed.  

I would be nothing more than a nameless being clinging to memories of the future.  

That’s what I thought.  

“…”  

Looking back, I was really stubborn.  

…I mean, if things didn’t work out, I could’ve just become a VTuber in ten years. But I had already firmly decided that I was an ‘artist.’  

Ironically, by choosing VTubing as a form of artistic expression, I unintentionally became a pioneer in the field…  

Anyway……  

Why did I become someone who chased after ‘beauty’ so relentlessly?  

I tried to figure it out.  

But I couldn’t find an answer.  

“…I don’t know. This is just how my life turned out.”  

“…I see.”  

Before I knew it, we had arrived at the front gate of Hanul Comprehensive Arts School.  

A security guard walking in the distance spotted my face and broke into a bright smile. Without even bothering with an ID check, he waved his hand, giving me an instant pass.  

—Chief, who’s that?  

—Our school’s pride!  

—Oh!  

The other security guards peeked through the windows and gave me a big thumbs-up.  

“Welcome!”  

“Hey there! Staying overnight in the dorms?”  

“Oh, no, I’m just here for a consultation.”  

“Ah~!”  

Seeing this, the administrative staff nearby all popped their heads up like meerkats.  

“Huh? It’s Go Hana.”  

“What’s she doing here during winter break?”  

“Is there something we can help with?”  

“Good luck with the biennale!”  

I leaned out the window and nodded in greeting.  

Even as our car headed toward the parking lot, their warm send-off continued.  

Watching all this, my uncle casually remarked…..

“…From what I see, it’s not so bad.”  

“Hm? What isn’t?”  

“The way your life has turned out.”  

“…”  

“I’m proud of you.”  

“…I see.”  

Honestly, I didn’t think it was so bad either.

*

The consultation in the teachers’ office ended rather quickly and uneventfully.  

Middle school homeroom teacher Lee Nahyun chuckled as she looked at my uncle, who was staring wide-eyed at the stack of university recommendation letters.  

“This…! What is all this? I may not know much about these things, but aren’t all of these from the top universities in the country…?”  

“To be honest, just one of these would be enough to secure her admission. She’s been such a big name in the field, and her career is already overwhelmingly impressive. There are already several universities offering her early admission.”  

“That’s… amazing.”  

“And that’s not all. There’s more.”  

“…What?”  

For the first time in a while, my uncle looked completely dazed as he lifted his head.  

Lee Nahyun pointed at the monitor.  

“See this list? These are overseas universities that have special admission programs. In other words, Hana can choose any of these schools if she wants to.”  

“…Our Hana… can choose which university to go to…?”  

My uncle scrolled through the lengthy list, speechless.  

“…”  

“And among major corporations… Oh, should I even say this?”  

Lee Nahyun glanced at me.  

I nodded.  

“Hana is already affiliated with a major corporate art studio. She receives regular management support and has a fully equipped workspace. To put it simply, she’s already technically ‘employed’ by a major company. If she wanted to, she could skip university and start her full-time career as an artist right away.”  

“….”  

Still in a daze, my uncle muttered,  

“Then… what am I supposed to do?”  

“Hmm, just ask Hana what she wants to do?”  

He turned to me, still looking lost.  

“…What do you want to do?”  

“Well, for now, I just want to focus on the biennale first and think about university later.”  

Lee Nahyun clapped her hands together.  

“Then that concludes the parent-teacher conference.”  

“?”  

My uncle tilted his head.  

“Wait… that’s it? Just like that?”  

“What do you mean? It’s completely normal for students to change their minds about where they want to apply or what they want to major in. But there’s no student as clear about their path as Hana. She already knows exactly what she wants.”  

With that, she stood up and, since we were already here, offered us a cup of coffee.  

Afterward, we chatted about my everyday school life.  

“You know, Hana is practically a princess among the students…”  

“Ahem, ahem…”  

“Oh? Hana, do you not like people knowing that?”  

“Well… in a democratic society, the concept of a princess is a bit…”  

“What? Ahaha! What are you even saying?!”

*

Uncle was sitting blankly on a bench in the school park.  

“I mean, I knew it was something big. The news talks about it nonstop. But, but… I didn’t think it’d be this serious…”  

“Hm, so it’s that bad.”  

“Hey, you shouldn’t be saying that.”  

“Hmph.”  

We stayed silent for a moment.  

“…”  

“…”  

Then, Uncle suddenly spoke.  

“…If Sister saw this, she would’ve been freaking out.”  

“…”  

…He was talking about Mom.  

To me, my parents were just people who existed as a few written letters, so I didn’t feel much.  

‘Honestly, the people closest to parents for me are Uncle and Teacher Lim Ahra.’  

Regardless, Uncle continued talking.  

“Hana, did you know? If you were a boy, Sister was going to name you ‘Hun.’ That name means…”  

“…”  

I stared blankly at Uncle.  

Go Hun…  

I didn’t expect to hear that name here.  

‘Go’ as in high.  

‘Hun’ as in achievement.  

A two-character name, Go Hun.  

I heard that and said,  

“…Achievement Hun? To become someone who does great things?”  

“Huh? Oh… yeah, you know your Chinese characters well.”  

“…”  

Of course.  

I’ve mocked that name plenty of times before.  

‘In the end, Go Hun never accomplished anything.’  

I gave a bitter smile.  

“…I see.”  

“What do you mean, ‘I see’? I haven’t even told you the meaning yet.”  

“?”  

Uncle smirked and continued.  

“……So I asked her why she wanted to give such a grand name. And she said, ‘The character Hun includes the meaning of gathering together and uniting strength. [I want my child to be someone who can live in harmony with others, becoming one with them….] That’s why, if it were the character meaning ‘one’ , she wanted to name you Hana.”

“…”  

“I just couldn’t bring myself to tell you.”  

“…Why?”  

My uncle had a distant look on his face.  

“Losing your parents, barely learning to walk… I wondered if you could really blend in with others, work together, unite under a shared purpose, and take the lead… It seemed like such a heavy burden.”  

“…”  

“But looking at you now, I see that my worries were unnecessary. Watching you genuinely save, strive, and lead for the sake of others.”  

“Really?”  

“Yeah, that’s what I thought.”  

“…”  

Hearing those words,  

I suddenly let out a small laugh.  

Saving Mari,  

cheering for Juri,  

recognizing Mija,  

seeing off Yujin…  

‘…Turns out, meddling in other people’s business is just my fate.’  

If that’s the case,  

then just like how I walked alongside writer Oh Yujin and CEO Kim Palgon…  

‘Go Hun has fulfilled the purpose of his name.’  

“…..”  

That thought brought me a strange sense of relief.  

“….”  

‘I’ had,  

at the very least, lived up to my name.  

Whether man or woman, I had always lived that way.  

“…I see.”  

Just that one realization,  

and the doubts in my heart seemed to dissolve.  

“…..”  

If the path I had walked so far was a straight line,  

then perhaps the road ahead was just as clear.  

And my next destination was already within reach.  

‘…Venice Biennale.’