I Became an Artist in a Romantic Comedy-Chapter 111

I didn’t realize that three months could pass so fast.

With a sour expression, I stared out the window.

The scenery whipped by as I sat in the vehicle.

Technically, it was a bus, but it was still transportation, so who cares about the details?

Resting my head against the window, I fell into deep thought.

Was there really a need for me to visit the place I was heading to?

Still, I wanted to see it with my own eyes.

My previous life... The neighborhood where I had lived before I died.

All of my paintings had come from there, and it was the foundation of my life.

Thankfully, it wasn’t too far from my house.

A 30-minute bus ride.

If someone asked why I hadn’t gone sooner, I wouldn’t have much of an answer.

I just wasn’t interested. It was already a place disconnected from me—why bother?

And since this was the world of a novel, anything related to Sanya had probably been erased.

Sighing, I continued watching the passing scenery.

Hearing that the [Angel] would soon arrive made me feel like I needed to do something, so I had moved.

But I hadn’t expected to return here.

Before long, the bus stopped, and the door opened.

Stepping off at the bus stop, I looked around.

Even in Seoul, there were a few underdeveloped places—like hillside villages.

And those hillside villages included where I used to live.

This was that place.

I glanced at the retreating bus for a moment before I began walking.

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It couldn’t help but feel a little rural.

The first place I visited was my old studio. Unsurprisingly, someone else lived there now.

I could tell by the packages stacked outside the door.

I couldn’t go inside, but it looked better than when I had lived there.

The next stop was the park. This place also held many memories for me.

“Sigh. Do I need to fix this again?”

It was vastly different from where Sara lived. It made me stop and think for a moment.

Walking a lap around the park, I eventually paused at a certain spot.

A lone tree stood in the corner of the park.

The ground was flat, and grass had grown over it. I stared at that spot for a long time.

It wasn’t a particularly meaningful gesture, but my thoughts grew complicated.

‘I shouldn’t have buried that guy here.’

Cerberus, who was probably now at the National Museum in Beijing.

I hoped he wasn’t sulking just because my teacher and I were gone.

Raising my head, I approached the park exit. This was where I had met that girl.

The girl who was now dead and had become a painting.

Sitting on an old bench, I took a moment to catch my breath. My body was healthier, but I still couldn’t walk long distances.

The summer sunlight made the shade under the tree feel like paradise.

Surprisingly, it even felt like a cool breeze was blowing.

After resting for a bit, I glanced around.

In the past, I would’ve laid on this bench, lifelessly staring at the sky. But after meeting Sara, I had started moving my body regularly.

‘Who would’ve thought I’d die drinking too much?’

I laughed quietly to myself in disbelief.

Still, without that girl next to me talking, something felt empty.

“...I should go.”

Rising to my feet, I left the park without hesitation.

The next stop was the hospital. I didn’t go inside.

Instead, I left a dandelion I had picked at the park in front of the hospital entrance.

No one looked at me strangely.

Instead, their gazes seemed filled with pity.

I didn’t care. I was too busy to care about that today.

I immediately moved to a place where people rarely went.

This was the hideout I had run to as a child in my previous life.

The sign that warned people not to enter the mountain was now mostly damaged after years of neglect.

“Uh... Student, are you going into that mountain?”

Hearing a voice from behind me, I turned around.

An elderly man with a thin frame smiled kindly and asked.

“Hmm. Is it dangerous?”

Pretending to hesitate, I replied, and the old man shook his head.

“Well, maybe in the past, but there aren’t even wild animals these days. People just use it as a hiking trail.”

His eyes seemed to ask why I was ignoring the proper trail.

“Haha. I must’ve gotten confused. Thank you.”

I smiled and answered casually, and the old man chuckled.

“No problem. Just be careful—some paths are rough.”

Leaving me with that, the old man walked away.

But I had to go this way. I didn’t know where the hiking trail led.

At least the path I remembered wasn’t dangerous.

As I climbed the mountain, my stomach growled.

I pulled a calorie bar from my pocket and bit into it.

I didn’t particularly like it, but it was good enough to fill me up.

“This should be around here somewhere…”

Mumbling, I looked around and spotted a familiar place in the distance.

There it was.

This mountain, devoid of human presence, felt comfortable to me.

If I had to compare it to something, it was like my own bedroom.

The layout of this mountain was still imprinted in my mind.

So it was easy to find.

This was where I had first come into the mountain and cried.

That night, standing by a tree, pouring out my sorrow beneath a small dirt hill.

This was where I had first met my teacher.

Rubbing my chin, I recalled the past. It wasn’t exactly a pleasant memory.

I moved my feet toward another spot.

It was a slightly larger clearing. This was where I had first met the Nine-Tailed Fox.

Naturally, there was nothing here now. Just a flat area.

I turned my feet again and after a short while, I spotted a shallow puddle.

There were no fish, only a few water striders.

I stared at the puddle for a moment and then took a photo.

[Me: Do you remember this place, teacher?]

The reply came quickly.

[Teacher: ??? Why did you go there?]

[Me: I was bored.]

[Teacher: ?????]

I stuffed my phone into my pocket and turned my body. There was only one place left.

This mountain wasn’t small, so it wasn’t surprising that my teacher had built a house somewhere in it. Of course, they hadn’t gotten permission.

Though that was all in the past, anyway.

I had thought that there wouldn’t be anything here since this place and my previous life were completely different, but...

When I arrived at the location, I saw a house.

A traditional tile-roof house.

The house from my memories. It was still there.

“What the hell.”

I hurriedly checked my phone, but there were no messages from my teacher.

When I took a photo of the house and sent it, I got a response right away.

[Teacher: Oh right. I forgot.]

It felt strangely familiar.

Anyway.

[Teacher: It was a place I stayed in briefly before I died. This time, I made sure to get permission.]

So, that’s what they had in mind. I lifted my head and stared at the house, feeling a bit uncomfortable.

It had been decades since anyone lived here, so it was natural that it hadn’t been maintained.

‘I guess I’ll have to clean it…’

The reason I came here was because of this place. Originally, I just came to check if there was something left behind, but...

I didn’t expect my teacher’s house to be standing here so clearly.

Sighing, I entered the house, and dust greeted me. I was glad I’d thought to wear a mask.

Three hours of cleaning later. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, since the house was surprisingly intact.

“This old house is still this sturdy?”

Where exactly had my teacher entrusted this place?

For a brief moment, I thought about that, but my vision suddenly lowered.

My legs gave way. I had been cleaning for so long that it was no wonder.

Others would have struggled too, but I really had no strength left.

Thankfully, I was in the main room of the house.

A cool breeze blew through the room.

‘Sigh. I need to take a shower.’

But my body wasn’t cooperating. I just resigned myself and closed my eyes.

I’d sleep for a little while and then get up to shower.

I’d already gotten permission from my family for today.

It was a somewhat bittersweet feeling.

After taking a short nap, when the sun had almost completely set, I was finally able to shower.

‘Why there’s water, I have no idea.’

It was surprisingly nice that electricity was working too. What kind of house had my teacher made here?

After showering and emerging, a quiet hallway greeted me.

“…It reminds me of the old days.”

Whenever I came to my teacher’s house, I would always eat there.

Of course, I was the one who cooked.

Looking around, it seemed like it was just about dinner time.

But before that...

“I should look around a bit.”

Maybe something from the past would still be here.

Something my teacher had left behind. Something about [Angel] or Sanya.

Yeah. [Angel] was a painting based on a young Sanya.

It had nothing to do with arrogance. Just pure love for painting.

That’s why the arrogant, adult Sanya longed for the past.

The Sanya that hadn’t been tainted yet.

“Well... it’s not like that anymore.”

The past is just the past. It doesn’t matter now.

Now, I need to think about something else.

Just as I was about to move, a sound echoed.

What was it called again? The threshold?

A sort of entrance area opened, and an unexpected figure appeared.

“…Teacher?”

What was he doing here? Did he come straight from Korea as soon as he arrived?

“Looks like you were here after all.”

With a slightly complicated expression, my teacher looked at me, then turned his head.

“You all come in too.”

At those words, figures that had been behind him entered one by one.

“Hey! You could’ve said something before coming!”

“Eun is bad.”

“Sigh. We can’t even handcuff him.”

Choi Ye-Seo, Ha Soo-Yul, and Hong Ye-Hwa.

...Why were these guys here?

I looked at my teacher with a bewildered expression.

“You asked them for help, didn’t you? They came right away.”

“Ah, yeah.”

I was a bit moved, honestly. Thanks, teacher.