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Chapter 35: The Sixth Birthday
TL: Enuma ID
The hectic year-end holidays came and went, and then it was January 11th.
It was Lee Jun's sixth birthday.
His aunt, Han So-young, had prepared a small party.
She decorated the cramped living room.
E ǹüm̂ а̄. і̀ d̂
A few balloons. Red, blue, yellow.
She tried to tape them to the ceiling.
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She stuck one up, and another came down.
She stuck it back up. It fell again.
She gave up on the ceiling. Stuck them on the wall instead.
Three party hats.
Ѐ n u̇m̆а_
A little party popper. Pull it and it bursts open, showering out confetti.
A strawberry cake. Bought from the local bakery. Six little candles.
She set out a birthday spread, too.
Seaweed soup. Loaded with clam meat.
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Lee Jun's mother had sent it from Busan for his birthday.
Braised hairtail, stir-fried seaweed stems, dried laver, salted squid.
Ӗ n̂u m̊ a
Those side dishes had come along too.
All of it could be bought in Seoul as well, but these were side dishes made with his mother's care.
So-young cooked fresh rice and warmed the soup.
Sensing the bustle, Lee Jun came out of his room.
Balloons. Party hats. Cake.
Things he never usually saw.
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Lee Jun asked.
"Is it my birthday?"
"Of course it is! It's your birthday!"
So-young put a party hat on Jun's head.
The elastic caught under his chin.
Lee Jun just stood there, dazed.
Én üm а
He'd spent last year's birthday in Busan.
There had been nothing special about it. He'd just had seaweed soup loaded with clams. No party, nothing like that.
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This year was a little different.
"Your mom sent seaweed soup, Jun. Said she put in lots of clams. Because you love it."
Lee Jun went up on his tiptoes and peered into the pot. It was full of clam meat.
"It's Mom's seaweed soup."
Wе̌ b́n õ v.е̄ l Е́ nũ m ā
"Mm-hm. Your mom made it herself and sent it over."
Steam was rising from the pot.
The familiar smell brought back memories of Busan.
The view of the sea. The cry of gulls. The reek of fish. The low hum of motors.
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It had only been a few months, yet it felt like a long time ago.
The doorbell rang.
Ẇеb̌ nо̌v е̊l Ѐ nu må
So-young went to answer it.
It was Yoon Ji-su. In a puffer jacket, cheeks flushed red, bags in her hands.
"Hello! Happy birthday, Jun!"
"Come in, come in. Cold out there, isn't it?"
"Yes, it's absolutely freezing."
Ji-su took off her shoes and stepped inside.
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She smiled at the modestly decorated living room.
"Wow, balloons and everything! So pretty!"
A fallen balloon was rolling around on the floor. So-young quietly nudged it aside with her foot.
"Jun! Happy birthday!"
Ji-su crouched down in front of Lee Jun.
Lee Jun gave a little nod.
W̄ёḃǹ оvёl̇ Е̇_ňüm̃.а
"Thank you."
"Jun's six now! Wow, all grown up!"
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Lee Jun tilted his head. He didn't feel particularly grown-up.
Ji-su put on a party hat too. So-young put one on as well.
The three of them sat in the cramped living room, party hats on.
"All right, let's eat first. This is the seaweed soup your mom sent, Jun."
Е̄ n u m̀а .і̀ d
So-young laid out the rice and seaweed soup. She set out the side dishes his mother had sent, too.
"Thank you for the food."
Lee Jun spooned up some seaweed soup. A heap of clam meat came up on his spoon.
"Good?"
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"Mm. Tastes like Mom's."
So-young stroked Lee Jun's hair.
E̊ ṅ ú m̊а̇ .і d
Ji-su had some seaweed soup too.
"Wow, this seaweed soup is so good. It's like something from a real restaurant."
"It is. It's something they sell for good money at the sashimi restaurant back home, after all."
"Really?"
Dinner was usually just him and his aunt.
With Ji-su noona there, the table felt much warmer and livelier.
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Lee Jun is a boy of few words by nature, after all.
"Thank you for the meal."
After the meal, it was time for cake.
So-young stuck candles into the strawberry cake. Six of them.
She lit them and switched off the living room light.
In the cramped studio-apartment living room, the candle flames flickered.
W̌ еb̊ ǹ о̃v̌ê ĺ Ӗṅ um̊ а
Six flames on the cake. Their light glanced off the balloons.
Lee Jun stared at them, dazed.
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So-young and Ji-su sang.
"Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday, dear Jun, happy birthday to you."
The candlelight glowed red across Lee Jun's face.
"Jun, make a wish!"
Еñu̇m̄ а̀
Lee Jun thought for a moment, eyes shut.
A moment later, he opened them.
Fwoo!
He blew out the candles. All six went out at once.
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"Yaaay!"
So-young and Ji-su clapped.
Е̌ n̆u̇m̂ а̌
Pop!
So-young pulled the party popper. Confetti scattered through the air.
It rained down over Lee Jun's head. A few bits stuck to the cake.
The living room light came back on.
"What did you wish for, Jun?"
So-young asked.
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"Secret."
"You little rascal."
So-young rubbed both his cheeks.
She cuts the cake. A slice with a strawberry on top was set down in front of Lee Jun.
He was full, but he picked up his fork.
The strawberry first.
Ё nu̇ mа. ї ḋ
Ji-su and So-young talked without a pause.
Ji-su's grad school, So-young's webtoon deadlines.
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Lee Jun sat wedged between them, eating his cake and listening.
Nodding here and there, picking at his cake here and there.
"Okay, present time now!"
So-young announced it when the cake was half gone.
E ṅu̇ m̄.a . id
She cleared the cake off the table.
In its place came the gift boxes.
One that So-young had prepared. One that Ji-su had brought.
And two that had arrived by delivery.
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"Which one do you want to open first?"
Lee Jun pointed at the biggest box.
Ẽ n̆ u m а̂
"This one."
A delivery box.
It was the one Kim Yo-han had sent.
"This thing's so heavy. It really surprised me."
It was heavy, just as So-young said. Very.
Ji-su helped open the box.
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Inside were books. Twelve of them, no less.
'Masters of Western Art Series.'
Hardcover. They were art books.
Each volume was packed with one painter's life, anecdotes, and major works.
Leonardo da Vinci. Michelangelo. Rembrandt. Caravaggio.
Van Gogh. Monet. Cézanne. Renoir.
Е n u̇ m̆а̀. і d̀
Picasso. Matisse. Modigliani. Dalí.
Each book had the painter's signature work printed on its cover.
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Lee Jun sat on the floor and pulled the books out one by one.
The one that caught his eye most. And one he knew well.
The book with 'The Starry Night' on its cover.
Lee Jun opened the Van Gogh volume first.
W̄ е̊b̌ n o v_e l E ń ū m а̃
"Wow."
The vividly printed paintings.
The anecdotes and captions crammed onto every page.
And there are twelve whole volumes of this.
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Lee Jun's eyes spun round and round.
"You can read this, Jun?"
E nû m ӑ
"Yeah."
"No way. Auntie'll read you a little each night before bed. We'll read them together."
Nod, nod.
He pulled the books out one at a time and looked them over.
To Lee Jun's eyes, every last volume, every last page inside, was treasure.
His aunt watched her nephew with a contented smile. Ji-su was smiling warmly too.
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And then, as he was taking the books out one by one.
It happened when Lee Jun pulled out the 'Modigliani' volume.
"Ah."
[Ah.]
His aunt So-young's expression changed.
Ji-su, who'd been watching so warmly, stiffened up as well.
Ẅ еb ň о̂vе̊ l̇ .Е̂n̈ ù mа̀
The Shadow froze along with them.
Modigliani, the ill-fated painter who died young after a life of poverty and illness.
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He was famous for his portraits of long-necked women, and his sensuous nude paintings, scandalous in their day, once caused enough of an uproar to get an exhibition shut down.
And on the cover of that book.
It was Modigliani's signature work, of all things: 'Red Nude'.
A sensuous nude of a naked woman reclining against a pillow.
Еn u mȧ
Lee Jun held the book and stared hard at the cover.
Ji-su quickly covered Lee Jun's eyes with her hand.
So-young snatched the book out of Lee Jun's hands.
"Not this one!"
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[Wh-why?!]
The Shadow protested.
Ӗ ñ û m̄ а̄
[A painting is just a painting! Art is just art!]
The Shadow railed against authority, just like Modigliani when his exhibition was shut down.
But the Shadow's voice didn't reach So-young.
"You can have this book when you start middle school, Jun. All right?"
So-young hid the Modigliani book behind her back.
Lee Jun, baffled, could only blink.
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"Jun, look at this one instead. It's Leonardo da Vinci. He was a truly amazing man."
Ji-su quickly pulled out a new book and showed it to him.
Just like Ji-su noona said, the book was full of incredible paintings. Lee Jun's attention swung straight to it.
The confiscated Modigliani volume was forgotten in an instant.
[Aaah...... again, just like that......]
The Shadow slumped and sank down, limp with defeat.
W̌ е̇ b̆ńо v̂ е_ľ Еn̆ūm̄ а̊
"Okay, let's see the next present!"
So-young set the second delivery in front of Lee Jun.
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It was from Park Sang-hoon.
A small box. It had a cute ribbon on it.
So-young opened it for him.
Inside was a hat.
Wӗ b̂ ńо́vē_l Ē ňu mа
A beret. Blue. Child-sized.
"......A hat?"
"So cute!"
"Try it on, Jun, quick."
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Lee Jun took off the party hat and put the beret on his head.
It sank all the way down. It covered his eyes.
W̊е̊ bn õ v̂ë l Ёn̆ u m а̀
"Can't see."
So-young and Ji-su burst out laughing.
"Even the children's size is too big on him."
Lee Jun pushed the beret up until just his eyes peeked out. He was a mess.
There was a card. In a hasty but stylish hand.
'A painter ought to have a beret, at the very least!
From now on, wear this whenever you paint.
It'll be good for your image.
P.S. Happy birthday.'
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So-young read the card and laughed.
"'Image', he says. To a five-year-old."
"I'm six. As of today."
Lee Jun corrected her, still buried under the beret.
Ji-su lifted the beret a little to check.
"His head'll have to grow a bit more for it to fit. He couldn't paint in it right now, that's for sure."
W ė_b̂n̂o vѐ l̊ Е.n u m̂ ă
When Lee Jun bowed his head, the beret dropped to the floor.
So-young picked up the beret and hung it on a nail on the living room wall.
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"We'll wear it once it fits your head."
The blue beret hung on the wall. Higher up than Lee Jun was tall.
"Now it's Auntie's turn!"
So-young held out her present.
Еñ u ḿ а
It was a big shopping bag.
Lee Jun opened the bag.
Clothes came out.
A child's suit.
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A black jacket. A white shirt. Black trousers. A bow tie.
Lee Jun stared blankly.
Ẁ еb ǹ оv̊ е̂ l̄ Еn u m а
"Clothes?"
"It's a children's suit. Yours, Jun."
So-young unfolded the jacket and held it up against Lee Jun.
"If you happen to win a prize at a competition, you'll have to go up at the ceremony. It's for then."
The size was a perfect fit. So-young had measured Lee Jun's shoulders, arms, and legs herself with a tape measure before ordering it.
"I splurged a bit on this, so prize or no prize, you'd better wear it!"
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"Want to try it on now?"
Lee Jun nodded.
He went into his room, changed, and came back out.
Black jacket, white shirt.
So-young tied the bow tie for him. While she was at it, she redid the buttons too.
A little gentleman stood in the living room.
Е n̆u m̄а́
So-young clapped a hand over her mouth.
"Oh my, oh my."
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Ji-su's eyes went wide too.
"Jun, you're too cute!"
Lee Jun just stood there blankly.
The suit felt strange. The bow tie tickled his neck.
Е́ñû mа
"Auntie, it's itchy here."
"Bear with it! Just a sec!"
So-young pulled out her phone and started taking pictures.
Ji-su started snapping photos at the same time.
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"Jun, smile! Cheese!"
Lee Jun smiled awkwardly.
Е̇n̊ům a. і d́
"A little more natural!"
Lee Jun smiled even more awkwardly.
Ji-su said, laughing.
"Hold on. What if we put this on him too?"
Ji-su fetched the blue beret from the wall.
She set it on Lee Jun's head. The suit, plus the beret.
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It dropped down until only his eyes showed. A little kid in a suit, swallowed up by an enormous beret.
So-young and Ji-su both cracked up at once.
"We have to get a picture of this!"
So-young took more pictures.
Lee Jun's face was utterly blank.
The Shadow still hadn't recovered from its defeat.
Е n ǔ_m a
"Last one!"
Ji-su held out her present.
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It was a paper bag.
"Noona made this for you, but it's nothing special."
Lee Jun pulled a framed picture out of the paper bag.
It was fairly big.
Ẁ ё b́_n̆ǒv̆ е l̀ Е̇n̈.ům̊а
There was a painting inside the frame.
Lee Jun's eyes widened.
The Starry Night.
It was a copy of Van Gogh's The Starry Night.
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Acrylic. Smaller than the original, and it didn't carry quite the same force.
But it was a finely crafted reproduction.
W̃ е̄ b̆ňò v̀ е̇ l Ё ń ú ḿ а
Lee Jun took the frame in his hands.
A swirling night sky. Yellow stars. A blue night.
It was the very painting Lee Jun had drawn hundreds of times in crayon since he was three.
The picture that hangs in a frame on the wall of the sashimi restaurant in Busan.
"Jun, you should say thank you."
"Thank you."
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He echoed it absently, his eyes locked on the frame.
It was a soulless little thank-you, yet somehow it touched Ji-su all the more.
"Do you like it?"
"Mm. It's pretty, noona."
"Really? I'm so glad."
To think he'd like it this much.
Ẅeḃ nо̂ve l̃ Е̂.nu̇m̊а
All that agonizing over what to pick had been worth it.
Lee Jun's eyes stayed fixed on the frame for a long while after that.
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*
Night.
Ji-su went home, So-young did the dishes, and Lee Jun brushed his teeth and got into bed.
He lay down in his room.
W̆ е b̄.n оv еl Е n ǔ m̂а̌
The art books were stacked beside the bed.
On the wall hung the framed Starry Night Ji-su had given him.
The blue beret hung on the living room wall, the new suit in the bedroom closet.
Lee Jun lay there looking up at the ceiling.
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For some reason, his heart was racing.
[Jun.]
W е b̄ n_о ṽе_l Ēṅü ṁа̌
"Mm."
[Happy birthday.]
Lee Jun turned his head. In the darkness, two white eyes were glowing.
"Thanks."
[Mm.]
What even is a birthday? And why is it something to be congratulated for?
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The question nagged at him for a moment, but as drowsiness crept in, it was soon forgotten.
The room was dark.
Outside the window, the wind blew. A January wind.
Lee Jun closed his eyes.
[Something tells me this year's going to be a loud one.]
Six years old.
Ẽ n̊u mа̃
It was the year the quiet life of a boy who'd had nothing but his paintings began to move, suddenly and fast.
*****
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