Van Gogh Reborn! - Chapter 213:
213
Children of a New Country (1)
5:30 a.m.
Ko Hun was enjoying a nap in his bed and blanket that were as cozy as his mother’s embrace.
Henri Matisse was displeased with him.
He couldn’t stand seeing the person who would open a new era with him being lazy.
“Get up.”
Henri tried to wake Ko Hun up, but the boy who was sound asleep didn’t react.
“Get up.”
After calling him several times, Henri Matisse ran out of patience and shook Ko Hun.
“Huh?”
Ko Hun, who was drowsy, raised his head in surprise.
“Open your eyes.”
“Sigh.”
Ko Hun, who realized that the man who woke him up was Henri, let out a sigh and buried his face in the pillow again.
Henri frowned.
“Get up.”
“Just five more minutes…”
Ko Hun’s breathing became stable again.
Henri Matisse pulled off the blanket and drew the curtains. The surroundings were still dark, but when he opened the window, the cold air came in.
Ko Hun curled up his body and got up to look for the blanket.
Henri Matisse, who was holding the blanket, came into the boy’s sight. He turned his head and saw that it was still dark outside.
“Why are you doing this in the morning?”
“We’re going jogging, so get dressed.”
“Jogging? What for?”
Ko Hun scowled and complained.
He had been living a healthy life since he was Vincent van Gogh, but he couldn’t understand Henri Matisse, who wanted to go jogging at a time when the sun hadn’t risen yet.
“Huh?”
Henri lifted the boy up and put him in front of the sink when he tried to snatch the blanket.
“Wash up.”
“No. What time is it now?”
“5:40.”
Ko Hun let out a long sigh.
He had no energy to argue or resist. He just wanted to sleep more.
“I’ll do it later. One hour. No, two more hours.”
Henri Matisse grabbed Ko Hun’s side.
“What are you doing!”
Ko Hun jumped in surprise at the unexpected sensation.
“Look at yourself. You’re getting fat from eating like a pig.”
“What are you talking about? What does it matter if I’m fat or not?”
“A healthy mind dwells in a beautiful body. If you live recklessly when you’re young, you’ll soon ruin yourself.”
“No.”
“Do you want to die soon? Don’t you want to paint more?”
“…It’s an exaggeration to say that I’ll die soon just because I don’t exercise.”
“You lose your health because of a small negligence. Negligence becomes a habit, habit becomes a life, and life determines your fate. Don’t you know that?”
“…”
“If you eat and don’t exercise like this, you’ll gain weight soon. Obesity causes adult diseases, and if complications come when you have an underlying disease, it’s already too late.”
“So let me sleep for one more hour.”
“From an aesthetic point of view, it’s a dereliction of duty to have that face and not take care of it. Wash up and come out. I’ll give you five minutes.”
Ko Hun looked at the door that Henri Matisse left with a blank expression.
He was very annoyed by his high-pressure proposal, but he remembered the time when he lost his health and made an extreme choice.
The boy suppressed his angry feelings and started to wash his face.
“Hah. Hah. Hah.”
He collapsed as soon as he arrived at the entrance.
He had no strength to stand, let alone move a finger, so he lay there and Matisse came over.
“Slow.”
If he had even a little bit of strength left, he wouldn’t have let him go.
“50 minutes for 5 km.”
He ran 5 km?
“Pathetic.”
“Hah. Hah.”
“Run and get back here within 30 minutes. And don’t skip a day.”
“Are you kidding me? Who do you think you are?”
I lay down and catch my breath, but I have no strength to get up.
“Get up.”
“Please, just stop telling me to get up.”
“Arsene, explain the schedule.”
He doesn’t listen to me.
“Good job.”
Arsene hands me a towel, but I’m too lazy to wipe off the sweat.
“After breakfast, we’ll conduct a breakthrough test until noon.”
I shake my head.
“Not today.”
I can’t do it even if you put a knife to my throat.
I ignored him in the morning, but it won’t work twice. No matter what he says, I’m not doing anything today.
“I told you, you have a lot to do.”
“Then don’t make me run like this.”
“You’re whining after just running that much?”
“I’m not whining, I’m telling you I can’t. I need strength to do anything.”
You have to exercise moderately.
Running 5 km all of a sudden drained all my energy. I can’t do anything today.
“You can’t do it because you’re tired?”
“Yeah.”
“Arsene, put him in the recovery capsule.”
“Yes, sir.”
“No.”
“You said you have no strength. Eat breakfast in an hour and bring him to the lab.”
“I will do that.”
“…”
I was sick of seeing him use the recovery capsule that my grandfather gave me as a birthday present more often, to exercise more.
He must be so passionate to maintain those muscles at his age, but I know how scary it is to have your fatigue forcibly recovered by someone else.
“Oh, and this.”
I have no strength to resist being dragged to the recovery capsule, and Arsene gives me a bottle of drink.
“It’s a special drink made by Madame Sherry Gado. It will relieve your fatigue.”
It sounds like an ion drink.
I suck on the straw and a sweet lemon scent fills my mouth.
“It’s sweet.”
“It’s honey lemonade. It’s made with honey harvested from the Hardramaut mountains in Saudi Arabia and lemons grown on the Marso family’s farm.”
Is this what they call the placebo effect?
I feel like I’m getting my strength back after hearing that it’s made with good ingredients.
“Thank you.”
“For breakfast, we prepared a special Korean-style dish.”
He must be trying to tempt me with food to make me do something, but I won’t fall for it this time.
I like Korean food, but not the expensive ones like a set meal. I like the popular ones like Korean pizza, chicken, and black bean noodles.
“Korean-style beef steak, right?”
Beef for breakfast?
I was caught off guard by the unexpected attack.
“It’s the best grade of Charolais beef, which represents France.”
I was lucky to avoid falling for Marso’s cunning trap.
It was a sharp move.
France has a developed livestock industry thanks to its vast plains, but Arsene doesn’t realize that the French people like different kinds of meat than the Koreans.
The best grade in France would be meat without any fat, without any marbling.
Of course, the quality must have improved a lot since I ate meat a century ago, but I’m not interested in meat without fat.
“The meat of a cow that has been fed for 84 months has a condensed flavor like condensed milk. The texture is chewy and melts in your mouth.”
“…”
But it’s no good without fat.
“We also prepared Celtic salt and Alaea sea salt.”
“Celtic?”
“It’s a sea salt harvested from the Atlantic Ocean in central France. It’s rich in minerals and enhances the flavor of the steak. Alaea sea salt is a traditional Hawaiian salt that has a savory taste.”
“Savory taste.”
“If you dip the steak in olive oil and eat it, nothing can be more delicious.”
“…”
“You’ve exercised, so you need to replenish your nutrients accordingly. Then, have a good rest.”
I felt like I was persuaded by Arsen’s words.
But I couldn’t give up the rich flavor of beef, so I obediently got into the recovery capsule.
After receiving the intensive recovery course and having a splendid breakfast, I felt much better, to my dismay.
In this state, I thought I could draw at least two pictures.
“Go over there and write.”
I took the VR that Marso handed me and went to the middle of the test devices.
“You need to get used to it first. Write as you please.”
It took me some time to adjust to drawing with a stick instead of a brush.
“Can’t you make the controller look like a brush?”
“It’s hard because of the button position.”
“What if you make it work with voice?”
“I’ll consider it.”
I started to draw the sketch that I had planned before going to bed yesterday.
As expected, it was a problem that I didn’t expect when I tried to use the whole three-dimensional space after drawing only on a flat surface.
With the way I’ve been doing it, it was just floating in the air, not making good use of the wall.
“Your school is.”
“I’m going to Henri IV Middle School.”
“Henri IV?”
“Why?”
I had a bad feeling as soon as I asked.
“Don’t tell me he’s the president there or something, or he’s sponsoring it or something.”
“No.”
That’s a relief.
Henri IV was the first king of the Bourbon dynasty, and he used the lily emblem like Marso.
He said he was royalty, so I was worried that he might have some connection, but I guess I was being sensitive.
“The test is.”
“I have to prepare. I’m going to enter next September, so I have to start now. When was the test?”
“June.”
I didn’t use lines in the first place, but if I use the wall, I have to use the surface as a line.
If I don’t get used to this concept, the wall-based picture will only add volume to the existing picture.
“It won’t be that hard.”
“How do you know that?”
“I know. Try pressing the trigger button. It’s a brush shortcut.”
The shape of the brush changed as I pressed the button shaped like a trigger. It changed to the most commonly used brush shapes every time I pressed it.
“Can I also set the brush shape?”
“You can change it in the settings tab.”
This convenience is not bad, but there are so many functions that it’s hard to master them.
“I think it would be better to change it to be more intuitive. Like by talking.”
“You’re not used to button manipulation, are you?”
“Everyone who does it for the first time will be like that. You can make this controller look like a brush with voice, right?”
“Hmm. Arsen, make a note of that.”
“Yes.”
“Anything else uncomfortable?”
“No. Wouldn’t it be uncomfortable for people who wear glasses to use this?”
“There’s a separate accessory for that.”
It seems that they developed it so that people who wear glasses can use the VR device without discomfort.
I don’t play games much, so I don’t know, but it’s obvious that they put a lot of effort into making it.
“Oh, this brush response is a bit slow.”
“That’s true. Arsen.”
“Yes, I’ve recorded it.”
The brush I just used was marked in red.
“How are you going to prepare for the test?”
“I don’t know. Buy some workbooks or something?”
“You’re relaxed even though your grades are not good.”
“How do you know my grades are not good, Marso.”
“…It’s obvious.”
After I was born again, the words and expressions I used were so different even in the same language that I had a hard time.
When I was younger, I had bad grades because I was adapting to it, but now it’s not that bad.
The difficulty of the test is abnormal compared to the elementary school students in Korea.
“Arsen, get me the test papers for the CM1 course.”
“Yes.”
“Why are you buying that?”
“I can’t leave it to you, it’s frustrating. Study for the test in the afternoon.”