A sky as white as the snow that had fallen at dawn.
In the unusually quiet residential neighborhood of Yeonhui-dong for a weekend, Im Woo-hyun, a student of Go Doo-han, swept the street with a broom, enjoying the tranquil midday atmosphere.
He was clearing the snow that had fallen through the morning. In this part of Yeonhui-dong, where only detached houses with yards lined the street, if snow wasn't swept up, the road would quickly become dangerously icy.
And when that happened, the ones who suffered most were always the members of Go Doo-han's studio, located at the end of the road. As he swept, Woo-hyun glanced back.
The house, located slightly up the hill, filled his view with its quiet charm.
"This is a studio, huh…"
This was the studio of the sketch artist Go Doo-han. Just behind it stood another detached house—Go Doo-han's actual residence. The scale of it all was impressive.
Woo-hyun felt his legs go weak just thinking about the taxes owning two such houses would incur. But Go Doo-han had casually bought the house across the street, saying it would be convenient to have the studio within spitting distance. That had been ten years ago.
Meaning, even back when Woo-hyun had just been discharged from the military, Go Doo-han already had the financial means to buy a house like that.
"When will I ever become that famous?"
With a sigh, Woo-hyun struck the ground with his broom. Clumps of snow caught in the bristles fell off with soft thuds. After scattering de-icer on the partially cleared road, Woo-hyun turned back.
He pushed open the gate and stepped inside the property, revealing a spacious flat yard. At the far end, through the glass windows, he caught a glimpse of the first-floor studio where Go Doo-han and his students usually worked.
It was filled with greenery and pine bonsai trees—unbelievably lush for the middle of winter.
Click.
"Good work."
As Woo-hyun opened the door, Go Doo-han greeted him while misting a pine bonsai with a spray bottle.
"It's nothing. But didn't you water the pine a few days ago?"
"No, not watering today. Just cleaning it up for someone I want to impress."
Go Doo-han lifted a brush made of weasel tail fur and gently brushed the bonsai. He was meticulous. Woo-hyun nodded slightly at the artist's refined hobby and reached for an apron hanging by the entryway.
"...Who's the person you want to impress?"
Was someone important coming by today? Woo-hyun ran through the schedule in his head, but Go Doo-han waved him off.
"Not someone like that. Seok is coming."
"Seok? You mean… Kang Seok?"
Woo-hyun's eyes widened. Wasn't Kang Seok supposed to come late this afternoon? Why was he preparing so early?
"Yeah. Kang Seok, sophomore in sculpture at Cheonghwa Arts High."
Go Doo-han brushed the bonsai again. A fat droplet of water burst on a pine needle.
"Sir, you've really taken a liking to Seok lately."
Woo-hyun had always liked Kang Seok as the instructor of Sketch Class D. The kid was diligent. But Go Doo-han hadn't shown any particular interest—until he saw Seok's Venus plaster sketch. Since then, he'd been unusually attentive.
Go Doo-han was generous with talented people, sure—but with Seok, it was something else.
Even for Woo-hyun, who had been studying under Go Doo-han for over ten years, it seemed excessive.
At that moment, Go Doo-han clicked his tongue and picked up the spray bottle again, moving to mist another bonsai.
"Woo-hyun. You've been with me for ten years. You can't be going around with eyes full of buttonholes."
"...Pardon?"
"Would you cherish a pearl the size of a fingernail the same as a diamond the size of a fist? Of course not."
Go Doo-han set the spray bottle down with a thud and turned around. He adjusted his cap as if to say more, then shook his head.
Instead of speaking, he pulled out his phone—deciding that it was more worthwhile to check what time Kang Seok would arrive.
His lips twitched upward. He was visibly pleased.
"I should check what time Seok is coming. As the host, it's only right."
"He's supposed to come in the afternoon…"
"Exactly. So I need to check which part of the afternoon. If he comes early, we could have lunch together. Now, hush—I'm calling."
He looked way too happy. Even the senior students working in the living room were whispering about it.
"What the heck? Who's Seok that the master's this excited?"
"You don't know?"
"From what Im Woo-hyun said, sounds like he's a high schooler."
"Right? I think the master said 'Cheonghwa Arts High, Kang Seok' earlier... Yeah, definitely a student."
"I overheard something a few days ago—apparently, the master's really fond of that kid."
"Really fond?"
How could they know he was Go Doo-han's favorite when Seok had never even been to this studio? How did that make any sense?
Just as confusion spread among the students, Go Doo-han's voice rang out brightly.
"Seok! Hey, it's me, Go Doo-han!"
Seok.
At that one word, the students all craned their necks like meerkats. If Go Doo-han were ten years older, you'd think he was calling his grandson.
"Oh. It's almost lunchtime, so I was checking when you'd be arriving… Huh? What time? Lunch? You're eating first? With who? Lee Min-hyuk? Professor Lee Min-hyuk? That Lee Min-hyuk?!"
Professor Lee Min-hyuk?
The students turned to each other in astonishment. That Lee Min-hyuk—the one constantly on TV? Even Im Woo-hyun's eyes widened.
"Isn't he the guy always on those political debate shows?"
"We don't know for sure if it's that Lee Min-hyuk. But the way the master's talking, he must really like this Seok guy."
"Exactly! And listen to that sweet tone—he never talks like that to us."
"Right? If he really knows Lee Min-hyuk, I want an autograph. I watched all his YouTube videos too."
"You mean the one that got over five million views recently? I saw that."
"Isn't he so well-spoken? You can tell he was raised right. But he also has this boyish charm."
Just like that, the students' interest shifted from Kang Seok to Professor Lee Min-hyuk. So much so, they didn't even notice when Go Doo-han's call ended. That was their mistake.
"You little punks. Slacking off instead of drawing?"
Annoyed that Seok wouldn't be coming right away, Go Doo-han took it out on his students. They looked up, startled, while Im Woo-hyun had already disappeared behind him.
"W-We were just—!"
"Pick up your pencils. Now!"
"I think that's enough. Why don't you take a break, Mom?"
"Just one last touch."
Despite Kang Seok's urging, Baek Myung-hee continued adjusting the setup. She placed a vase on the table. Because they had a guest coming, she had hastily arranged part of the store's furniture into a decorative display.
The vase, on a lace-covered table, added a cheerful touch to the room.
"There. Looks much brighter with the vase."
Complimenting her, Kang Hyun-do approached with a glass bowl filled with stevia cherry tomatoes and camellia blossoms.
Not something you'd usually find in their home or store.
Kang Seok wanted to say, "Isn't this overkill?" but couldn't. His parents' eyes sparkled like lovestruck teens. They were obviously excited.
"Mom and Dad seem more excited than you."
His sister, Kang Chae-young, whispered to him. She wasn't wrong. Their parents were practically bouncing.
"Well, who wouldn't be excited? Professor Lee Min-hyuk is rushing over just to meet you. If my kid got scouted by someone that famous, I'd be over the moon too."
"Don't act like you're my parent."
"What? There's barely any age gap between us! Anyway, he must really want to give you a commission—he even cleared his schedule. Listen, don't just act all agreeable."
Chae-young offered her advice like a seasoned strategist, unaware that her older brother had the soul of a grumpy old man.
Though, honestly, her advice wasn't wrong.
"…And don't just let Mom and Dad handle everything. You need to assert your own opinion."
"Got it, got it."
"'Got it, got it,' my butt. Weren't you planning to leave it all to them again today and sneak off to Master Go's studio? You can't do that! You need to assert yourself as a professional artist—"
"Alright, alright. Go help Mom and Dad."
"Ugh!"
"Chae-young!"
"Coming!"
Even as she ran off to help, Chae-young pointed at her eyes and then at Seok's—a clear "I'm watching you" gesture.
If Seok played pushover today, she'd make him pay.
Kang Seok shuddered at the thought of his unruly sister throwing a tantrum.
She might have inherited their mother's good looks, but when she lost her temper, it was terrifying.
'Good thing our downstairs neighbors are nice.'
Thinking such trivial thoughts, Seok turned his head—just in time to catch a ponytail-like flick disappearing past the glass.
What was that?
As the question crossed his mind, ding, the wind chime rang.
The front door opened, and in walked a middle-aged man with a girl about Chae-young's age. She had her hair in a ponytail—that must've been what he saw.
"Excuse us…"
"Hello. We had arranged to visit today—this is the right place, isn't it?"
"Yes, it is. You contacted us about the cradle photo, right?"
"Ah, yes, that's us."
Baek Myung-hee greeted them with delight, while Seok watched from behind.
The middle-aged man was slightly plump—neither slim nor overweight, just comfortably built.
At first glance, his posture seemed upright, but his neck was sticking out forward and his shoulders were slouched inward — he looked like someone who had spent a lot of time reading books at a desk.
"Hello."
"Yes, hello."
"Hi there~"
"Yes, yes, hello."
With so many people around, greetings kept going back and forth. Amid the awkward atmosphere and exchanges of hellos, Kang Chaeyoung came out from the inner room carrying drinks and paper cups.
It seemed that was the errand her mother had asked her to run.
"Oh!"
As soon as she stepped out, Kang Chaeyoung looked surprised and stared toward one direction. At first, it seemed like she was surprised to see Professor Lee Minhyeok in person, but it turned out she was looking at a girl standing in that direction.
"What the—? Lee Yunji! Why are you here?"
"Ah, hi..."
.
.
.
"So you're in the same class as our Chaeyoung, huh?"
Baek Myeonghee smiled brightly as she held out a stevia tomato toward the girl, Lee Yunji.
"…So Professor Lee Minhyeok came across the photo of the cradle with the carved bird because you were browsing my feed?"
"Yeah. My dad saw that I liked it…"
"Yunji, you should finish what you were saying."
"…Ah."
Lee Yunji lowered her head. Her cheeks were flushed as if stained with balsam, clearly showing her embarrassment. She seemed like someone naturally shy.
"Haha. Our Yunji is always this shy."
"She's adorable. Right, honey?"
"Yeah, she is."
"Thank you for saying that. Haha."
Professor Lee Minhyeok chuckled as he took off his padded jacket, possibly feeling warm. The surprised look on Kang Chaeyoung's face suggested that Yunji hadn't revealed she was the daughter of Professor Lee Minhyeok.
While Kangseok quietly took a step back to observe the situation, Professor Lee Minhyeok looked around at the four gathered and cautiously got to the point.
"Haha... By the way, which one of you is the sculptor…?"
At his question, Lee Yunji looked up with sparkling eyes. It seemed she wasn't the only one interested in the sculptor.
Either way, it was time to speak up.
"I did the carving."
At Kangseok's calm answer, Lee Minhyeok looked startled. He had assumed the sculptor was someone around his own age, but a much younger boy had spoken up.
"How old are you…?"
"I'm a second-year high school student. I'm eighteen."
"Eighteen... When I was your age, I was only studying. Today's youth really are something else. MZ generation, I suppose. Haha."
MZ? Gen MZ?
Lee Yunji quickly turned her head to the side.
"Dad…!"
Her flushed face said please stop, you're embarrassing me. Lee Minhyeok nodded in understanding.
"Haha, alright, alright. Anyway, very impressive. Sir."
Even after hearing he was a high school student, Lee Minhyeok didn't hesitate to call him "sir." It showed he knew how to give due respect. Pleased, Kangseok gave a small, almost imperceptible nod.
Lee Minhyeok's eyes crinkled. The wrinkles at the corners suggested he was someone who smiled often.
"Well then... sir, please take a look at these photos."
He held out some pictures. There were several, and judging by the timestamps, they seemed like old film photos. Kangseok picked one up.
"An owl?"
"Yes, a Eurasian eagle-owl. My father took these. Specifically, he took them when he was still working as an ornithologist and a professor at Seoul National University…"
"I see."
"I came to ask you to make a sculpture of this Eurasian eagle-owl."
Lee Minhyeok said this as he wiped his sweat.
Kangseok tilted his head while looking at the photo. From the beginning, he seemed more interested in sculpture than furniture, so he didn't expect him to be a customer — yet still, this was a surprise. Coming all the way to a furniture store just to commission an owl sculpture?
Does he really like owls?
Kangseok's eyes filled with curiosity. Noticing this, Lee Minhyeok quickly spoke again. A faint trace of bitterness appeared in his expression and voice.
"Haha… Lately, my father's been in poor health, and he keeps saying he wants to see that owl again."
Even so, a sculpture? Kangseok wasn't the only one confused; Kanghyeon and Baek Myeonghee also exchanged puzzled looks. But Lee Minhyeok nodded as if understanding their doubt.
"It sounds a bit much, I know. But when you devote your whole life to a subject, it really does end up occupying part of your brain... Now that he's nearing the end, he seems to be holding on to that owl."
"Haha… But even when I tried to commission a near-identical sculpture, he said it wasn't the right owl. I made a whole video montage for him, but he said he didn't want a video… I even took him all the way to the Jeonju Zoo where they have an eagle-owl, but then he said it didn't look the same."
You really did all that?
Kang Chaeyoung opened her mouth slightly in surprise. He looked like a kind man, but his devotion to his father was on another level. When she looked at Yunji in shock, Yunji nodded and silently mouthed:
'He's kind of intense.'
"I just want to ease his regrets a little, but it's not easy… And it's not like I can go get something illegally taxidermied."
Unaware of Yunji and Chaeyoung's exchange, Lee Minhyeok continued, fully immersed in his story.
"I was at a loss for what to try next… Then I saw the photo of that cradle my daughter had liked, and I just knew — this was it. If I could give him a sculpture of the owl that looked just like that photo… maybe it would finally be enough. That's why I came here."
It was quite a heartfelt story.
And not a hard one to understand. Though he didn't show it on his face, Kangseok felt a deep empathy for Lee Minhyeok.
The desire to give back to the parents who gave you love. Kangseok was acting out of that very same feeling right now, so he had no reason not to understand.
He's a good person.
That's what Kangseok thought as he looked at Lee Minhyeok. But Kangseok was the type who didn't show much facial expression.
To Lee Minhyeok, Kangseok's expression looked more like: So what do you want me to do about it? That made him carefully add a few more words.
"I know asking you to make it look identical puts a lot of pressure on you. No — it doesn't have to be exactly the same. Could you just try to make it as similar as possible?"
"..."
"Whether it looks the same or not, I'll pay you generously."
"...…"
Lee Minhyeok fidgeted with his hands. He'd said all he could, but Kangseok still hadn't responded. Kang Chaeyoung, Kanghyeondo, and Baek Myeonghee all quietly glanced at him from the corners of their eyes.
No one could speak until Kangseok himself responded.
As the silence dragged on—
Lee Minhyeok made up his mind.
He couldn't back down here.
"Please accept this."
Thump. A loud sound landed on the table, almost like a gunshot. Kangseok's eyes narrowed at the sight of the thick envelope.
Lee Minhyeok opened his mouth.
"It's five million won."
Five million?
The familiar number made the whole Kang family flinch. Kangseok did too.
What was it with five million won lately? Kangseok couldn't shake the feeling that this number kept following him around. He stared at the envelope, his eyes narrowing even more.
Is it… too little?
Seeing Kangseok's eyes narrow, Lee Minhyeok swallowed nervously.
Unbeknownst to him, Kangseok's resting expression with furrowed brows looked downright intimidating.
He looks angry... Probably thinks it's too little.
What would be a reasonable fee for this? Lee Minhyeok fidgeted under the table. He had rushed into this meeting without doing enough homework.
Everyone around him was from the linguistics department. His only acquaintances were professors, researchers, translators, or interpreters.
Even so, from what he'd heard, five million won should be more than enough for most commissions…
I should've researched more. If I'd had more time...
Now that he thought about it, carving a lifelike bird — especially a freestanding sculpture and not a bas-relief like the one on the cradle — might require a much higher fee.
What do I do now...?
While he panicked, the heavy silence dragged on. Lee Minhyeok clenched his eyes shut.
It's not that I don't have the money — it's that I don't have time.
He pictured the bird again. The bird Kangseok had carved was truly beautiful, as if alive. He couldn't let go of the chance to commission that level of artistry.
He took a deep breath and said firmly:
"It's an advance payment."