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Chapter 12: Ketchup and a Straw
TL: Enuma ID
As they stepped out of the Hongik University building, a cold wind blew.
November in Seoul. The ginkgo trees across campus had turned yellow.
Lee Jun looked up at them. Sunlight was spreading through the yellow leaves.
Cadmium Yellow.
Ê ǹüm а . ĩd
If he laid this color onto a canvas, how thick would it need to be?
Even as he wondered, the Shadow kept talking without pause.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
[That professor's painting earlier, the underpainting on the portrait.
The skin tone on the third layer was Flesh Ochre cut with white.
About seven to three, with just the smallest touch of Cadmium Red......]
The Shadow was thrilled.
Е̄ n ü.m̂ȧ.і́ d̊
It was chewing the painting over and savoring it, as though it hadn't seen a good one in ages.
Even as Lee Jun let the Shadow's words go in one ear and out the other, in his head he was turning that same painting over.
Flesh Ochre and white, seven to three.
Mm-hm. So that's how that color came out. And with a little Cadmium Red worked in......
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
"Jun!"
His aunt called out.
W ė b̈n.о̃ v́ еľ Еn ũ m̀ â
He turned to find her standing still at the building's entrance.
Her eyes were red.
"Why are you crying?"
"I'm not crying!"
She was crying.
She'd already been crying when she came out of the building.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
"I was even more nervous than you, I swear."
So-young crouched down beside Lee Jun. She sniffled.
"Weren't you scared of the professor, Jun? When he said he'd teach you, were you okay? My heart felt like it was about to burst."
Lee Jun nodded.
He'd been fine. He hadn't been scared at all.
The man painted wonderful pictures.
Еn u m̄ а̃ .іd
He liked the professor's work, and a man like that had offered to teach him. That was all there was to it.
[It's a little different for your aunt.]
Baca cerita ini hanya di situs resmi Enuma.id!
the Shadow said quietly.
[What if that man can't see it? What if Jun's talent doesn't come across?
Your aunt's carrying the weight of it, as your guardian.
If Jun really has the talent and the man failed to see it, she'd have thought it was her own fault for not getting it across properly.]
W ė_b́ ṅо̃ v̈е̂ l Ӗnú m а̂
Lee Jun looked at his aunt.
Her nose was red, her eyes were puffy, her hair was tangled in the wind.
"Congratulations, Jun."
His aunt smiled. While crying.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
"Today I'll buy you whatever you want. Is there something you'd like to eat? Samgyeopsal? Sushi? Anything!"
Lee Jun thought about it.
E nŭ m̈ а̇
There wasn't anything in particular he wanted to eat.
The canvas is waiting at home. There was still a section over the Water Lilies left to paint.
The underpainting structure of the portrait he'd seen in the professor's office was still vivid in his mind. He wanted to get back fast and try it.
"Anything's fine."
"What do you mean, anything? Today's a special day."
"Then something quick so we can go. I'm going to paint at home."
Baca cerita ini hanya di situs resmi Enuma.id!
His aunt sighed.
"Fine, sure. That's my Jun."
His aunt took his hand and walked. Out of the campus and onto the main road.
[Let's hurry. We need one more layer of glazing over the Water Lilies. The way we saw it in the professor's portrait.]
The Shadow's hands seemed to be itching too.
A fast-food place came into view.
Ë n̈_ùṁ а
His aunt pointed.
"Let's eat there. We can eat fast and get going."
Baca cerita ini hanya di situs resmi Enuma.id!
Lee Jun nodded.
He didn't care what they ate.
*
Inside, it was warm.
Е̃ ṅ um ă
The fluorescent lights were bright. The same light as the fluorescents on the first floor of the sashimi place.
His aunt ordered at the counter.
Two combo meals. A cheeseburger for Lee Jun.
She carried the tray over and they sat down.
Baca cerita ini hanya di situs resmi Enuma.id!
Lee Jun picked up his burger. He peeled off the wrapper and took a bite.
Only then did he realize how hungry he'd been.
W̆ e̊ b ño_v еl̀ Ӗ ṅû ma
"Good?"
"Yeah."
His aunt, watching her nephew wolf it down with a fond smile.
The two of them sat side by side and ate.
"The professor said every Saturday, so this Saturday will be the first lesson."
"Yeah."
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
"What should you bring? Your oil painting supplies?"
"He said to just bring a sketchbook and a pencil."
So-young smiled.
Did this child simply not worry about anything, or did he not even know how?
Lee Jun finished his burger fast.
He swallowed the last bite and looked down at the wrapper left in his hand.
Е̂ n ú m а. і̌d̃
He stopped.
There was sauce on the wax paper.
Baca cerita ini hanya di situs resmi Enuma.id!
The paper that had wrapped the burger. It lay half-unfolded on the tray.
In places the grease had soaked through and turned the paper translucent.
A smear where mayonnaise had been pushed by a finger. An irregular white stain.
A spot where a drop of ketchup had fallen. A red dot.
Е̂ ñ ũ mа.і d̆
A patch where grease from the patty had soaked the paper. A brown stain spread toward the edges.
Lee Jun's eyes roamed over them.
White. Red. Brown. The transparency of grease.
[What are you looking at?]
Baca cerita ini hanya di situs resmi Enuma.id!
the Shadow asked.
Lee Jun didn't answer.
Е̊ nŭmа
The white smear of mayonnaise looked like a forehead.
A forehead catching the light. The bright area.
The fallen red dot of ketchup looked like lips.
The grease-darkened patch looked like a shadow. The shadow under a chin.
"......Huh?"
Lee Jun tilted his head, then picked up the paper.
Baca cerita ini hanya di situs resmi Enuma.id!
Then he looked at the underside.
[......Huh? No way.]
The Shadow started peering over beside him too.
"Jun, what are you staring at?"
his aunt said. Lee Jun wasn't listening.
The ketchup sitting beside the fries.
Е̌n um ǎ
Lee Jun picked it up. He tore open the little packet.
He squeezed a little ketchup onto one side of the wax paper. He squeezed out some mayonnaise beside it.
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The tray became a mini palette.
Lee Jun picked up a straw.
A stand-in for a brush.
He dipped the tip of the straw in the ketchup.
W̊ е́b ňо́.v eľ Е̌nu̇ m а̄
He set it against the wax paper.
A dot.
A red dot.
[......You, right now.]
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
Lee Jun's eyes went to his aunt across from him.
So-young was eating fries and looking at her phone.
Е̇ n̈.u̇mа̄. ī d
Her nose red, her eyes puffy, and because the fluorescent light came from the left, a shadow fell on her right cheek.
Lee Jun's hand moved.
This time the Shadow wasn't leading.
The Shadow only watched in silence.
Lee Jun's hand went on its own.
He dipped the tip of the straw in ketchup and pressed out dots.
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His aunt's hair. He stipples the red dots in tight and drags them. Where the fluorescent light reached, he dabbed them sparsely, leaving it bright.
On the dark side, dot layered over dot, deeper.
He dipped the straw in mayonnaise.
The forehead. The nose. He laid white dots where the light fell.
The mayonnaise stain already there met the new white dots and became the bright plane of the forehead.
He mixed ketchup and mayonnaise. Pink.
Ën̄ ũm̌ ã . і́ d̆
The cheeks. With the tip of the straw he carefully dabbed pink dots.
The stains already on the wax paper were becoming part of the picture.
Baca cerita ini hanya di situs resmi Enuma.id!
Chance was meeting intention and turning into something.
[.......]
The Shadow said nothing.
Lee Jun was doing it alone.
W е.b ṅо̊ v ê l̂ Е n̄ú_mӑ
Without the Shadow's help. Without the Shadow's direction.
He drew the eyes.
A dot of ketchup. Pushed a little long, into a line.
Beneath the eyes. He layered the ketchup thick.
Baca cerita ini hanya di situs resmi Enuma.id!
The darkish under-eye. Dark circles from days without sleep.
The mouth.
Е n̈ ũmа́._i̊ d̈
The single drop of ketchup that had been there from the start sat right where the lips would be.
Lee Jun added nothing on top of it.
Because that one drop was already lips.
To make that mouth look like it was smiling.
All he had to do was dab a single pink dot at each corner.
Lee Jun dabbed them.
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The lips smiled.
It was a mouth smiling through tears.
Lee Jun set the straw down.
His aunt was there on the wax paper.
It was different from the Yu Ha-na he'd drawn in Conté.
Different from Professor Kim Yo-han, drawn in Conté, too.
Е̄ n̂ u.m̆ а .і̊d
Red dots and white dots and pink dots.
And the grease stains and sauce marks that had been there from the start.
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A face where chance and intention mixed.
His aunt was there.
His aunt: red-nosed, puffy-eyed, dark circles from days without sleep, and yet smiling.
"What are you doing?"
W̆ ěb ňо̇ v́е̌ l̄ Е n u m ӑ
So-young looked up from her phone.
Lee Jun was staring down at the wax paper.
"Huh? What's that? It looks just like a pic......"
So-young's words stopped.
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There was something on the wax paper.
It wasn't a stain. It was a picture.
W е ḃ n̈ o ṽ é l Еn̆ uḿ ӓ
On top of the sauce marks, something had been added in ketchup and mayonnaise.
"......What is this?"
Instead of answering, Lee Jun lifted the wax paper.
With both hands.
Toward the fluorescent light.
The grease-soaked paper caught the light.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
The white fluorescent light seeped through the translucent parts.
The red of the ketchup caught the light and glowed.
As the fluorescent light passed through the wax paper, the ketchup glowed red, the mayonnaise glowed white, and the places soaked only with grease glowed a warm gold.
Red and white and pink and gold were luminous on the wax paper.
Seen straight on from above, it had been only a vaguely human form.
But held up to the fluorescent light and looked at from below, a human face emerged, unmistakably.
Е n̈ú m̂ а̃ . ĩd̃
There was a face there.
On the wax paper, lit from behind, was his aunt.
Baca cerita ini hanya di situs resmi Enuma.id!
So-young lost her words.
It was Han So-young herself.
Red-nosed, puffy-eyed, with dark circles.
It was herself, smiling.
Ẁ ѐ b_n о̇v̆ е̂l̃ Eǹ_u mӑ
It wasn't a perfect picture. It had been drawn with a straw and ketchup, after all.
The proportions were off, too. He'd drawn it to fit the random stains on the wax paper.
But she was undeniably there.
"......This. Is this me?"
Baca cerita ini hanya di situs resmi Enuma.id!
Lee Jun nodded.
"It's prettier held up to the light."
Е̂n̈ u m̆ а̊ .і̆ d̊
Lee Jun said it. Flatly.
So-young's eyes welled up again.
That was already the third time today.
It was the first time this child had drawn his aunt.
When he drew Yu Ha-na at the art museum, when he drew Kim Yo-han in the professor's office, So-young had only watched from the side.
This time it was his aunt.
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"......Silly. I'm pretty already. Light or no light."
"?"
So-young sniffled and laughed.
Then she took photos with her phone.
One from above, of the drawing, and another from below, held up to the light.
And one of Jun holding the paper, too.
Enŭ m а̂. іd̀
[.......]
The Shadow still said nothing.
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It was looking at the picture Lee Jun had drawn by himself.
Two white eyes gazed down at the aunt on the wax paper.
Lee Jun was growing at a dazzling pace.
It wasn't simply drawing on paper; he had drawn while predicting the image that would appear when the paper was lit from behind.
Еn̈u m а
To create something like this without even its help.
The Shadow felt an indescribable pride and a loneliness, both at once.
*
"Aunt. Let's go."
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Lee Jun stood up. He shouldered his bag again.
The wax paper stayed where it was on the tray.
Е́ núm а́
"You're not taking this?"
So-young asked.
Lee Jun looked down at the wax paper.
The ketchup was starting to dry. The edges were turning black.
The grease kept spreading, blurring the borders of the stains.
In a few minutes it would just be a dirty piece of paper.
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"It's fine."
Lee Jun said.
"It was fun."
Meaning that was enough.
So-young looked at Lee Jun.
The child who, back in Busan, had hidden hundreds of his drawings.
È ńŭṁ а
The child who folded them up, calling them no good, and shoved them under the dresser.
And now that same child means to just leave a drawing behind, like it's nothing.
Baca cerita ini hanya di situs resmi Enuma.id!
So-young looked at the wax paper on the tray one more time.
The aunt drawn in ketchup was smiling.
"Okay. Let's go."
So-young took Lee Jun's hand and left the shop.
W ё b́ n̂_о̇ ṽ е̄l Е n um а
The glass door closed.
*
Min-ji was a college student who'd been working part-time at the burger place near Hongdae for three months.
A sophomore at art college. She had tuition to earn.
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While grilling patties in the kitchen, she glanced out at the floor.
There'd been a slightly curious pair of customers for a while now.
Е̂ň u mӑ_
A young woman and a little kid.
The kid was doing something. On the table. He was hunched over it, so she couldn't see what.
The woman suddenly froze.
The kid lifted something. Something like paper. Toward the fluorescent lights.
The two of them stayed like that for a while, then left.
Min-ji came out from behind the counter and went to the table.
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She had to clear the tray.
There was a piece of wax paper on the tray.
There was something on the wax paper.
Min-ji picked it up.
There was ketchup on it. Mayonnaise too. Sauce marks too.
But the smears formed something.
Ẁ е bn o v̄ е_l Еn u̇ m̃ ã
It looked a bit like a picture, but the ketchup had smeared and she couldn't make it out.
Without thinking, her hand went up. Just like the woman and the kid had done.
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Toward the fluorescent lights.
When she held the wax paper up to the light.
"Oh......"
The grease-soaked paper turned translucent and let the fluorescent light through.
Ēn̄ um а̊.
The ketchup glowed red. The mayonnaise glowed white.
The grease stains glowed gold.
There was a person there.
A woman's face.
Baca cerita ini hanya di situs resmi Enuma.id!
A woman with a red nose, dark under the eyes, smiling.
It was the woman from before. The one with the kid.
W̊е̂ b ñо v̌ е̇ l̄ Ẽǹ uṁ_а̌
Even smeared and blurred, she was recognizable.
Drawn in ketchup.
On wax paper. With a straw.
"This? That little kid......?"
Min-ji was an art college student.
She majored in painting.
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So she could tell this wasn't just a prank.
The form had been built up out of dots.
There was a direction to the light. The left was bright, the right was dark.
The sauce marks that had been there from the start were being used as part of the picture.
It used the translucency of the wax paper so the image would reveal itself when held to the light.
Who could have taught him this?
Е̂ ṅ ũm̌ а
This was no accident.
With one hand Min-ji held the wax paper up to the fluorescent light, and with the other she pulled her phone from her pocket.
Baca cerita ini hanya di situs resmi Enuma.id!
She took a photo.
The moment the fluorescent light passed through the wax paper.
The moment the ketchup glowed red.
The moment the woman's face smiled within the light.
W̌ е̃.b nŏv е̇.l̂ Е̄ ňu m̂а
Min-ji checked the photo. It had come out okay.
Not as good as the real thing, but it was enough to make out what the backlit ketchup drawing was.
She hesitated for a moment.
Then she opened Instagram.
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A story.
She posted the photo and typed a caption.
Еn̄ ům̄а́_. ǐd
'Customer left this behind at my part-time job.
drew a person on the burger wrapper in ketchup
hold it up to the light and it turns into this
did the little kid she was with draw it...?? chills
guess I should just quit art'
She posted it.
Baca cerita ini hanya di situs resmi Enuma.id!
Min-ji looked down at the wax paper.
The ketchup dried further. The red was turning brown.
The grease spread more, and the outline of the face blurred too.
In a few minutes it would just be trash.
Min-ji looked at the wax paper one more time.
Then she crumpled it up and dropped it in the bin.
W̄еb̌n оv е́ l Е n ū m̃а̄
That was the end of Lee Jun's third portrait.
The wax paper was buried among the other garbage in the bin.
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The ketchup aunt smiled in the dark, then was gone.
But the photo remained.
On the internet.
That night, Min-ji's Instagram story got twenty-three likes.
Еñ ū m̀ а
A few comments came in too. Her art college classmates were especially interested.
[This for real?]
[A kid drew this? How old?]
[Not edited?]
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
[Whoa, holding it to the light actually gives me chills]
[Maybe I should quit art school and just enlist too]
E ñ û.ṁа̇ . і̄d
Min-ji fell asleep reading the comments.
In twenty-four hours the story would be gone.
But before then, someone took a screenshot.
And that screenshot didn't disappear.
That was the day Lee Jun's art first went out into the world.
Without Lee Jun, or his aunt, or the Shadow ever knowing.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
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