Van Gogh Reborn!

As I got hold of the language, I was able to learn about this world little by little.

The fact that this is the country I have been hearing for the first time.

Its name is Korea and the outrageous thing is that the year is 2027.

The world that has passed a century still listens to Mozart and Beethoven.

Except their songs everything else changed.

I was able to manipulate something without touching it, and I could look anywhere in the world through a box called TV.

Maybe this place is not Earth.

Otherwise, it cannot be possible for the picture to move.

On TV, a yellow, square monster wearing only pants moves freely and even speaks.

The most surprising thing in this wonderful world is this child’s body.

I admire the blessing of a healthy body every day.

I think I have regained my broken mental reasoning and peacefulness just by not hearing the hallucinations that bothered me, saying I was useless.

There is no pain while twisting my body, and I don’t have to be afraid of the pain or about fearing when it will come.

This miraculous happiness may be the daily life of a healthy person.

But…..

Even if it’s not intentional, it’s like stealing a child’s body.

The reason why I couldn’t end this lie on my own even though I felt guilty is because of this child’s grandfather.

He refrained from talking in detail in front of me and I couldn’t understand properly what he said.

I think this child had an accident.

It is not unreasonable for the elderly to feel affectionate.

This is also why I can’t tell him that I’m not your grandson even though I can communicate with the limited words I learnt.

“How do you feel, Hun?”

When I nod, he spoke again.

“Do you like it?” 

It’s neither bad nor good. It’s just that this situation is embarrassing and there’s a lot I want to ask.

However, even if I explain that I was a person who died 137 years ago, it is obvious that I will be treated as crazy as those who persecuted me in the past.

“Hun’s speaking is improving little by little, right?”

The doctor asked the old man. 

“But…”

“It will get better soon.”

“The professor needs to cheer up so that Hun can cheer up.”

“He’s eating well and exercising well.”

The old man stroked my hair at the doctor’s words.

“When Can he get better?” 

“You can’t give up hope, because a miracle has already happened once.” 

“Oh, and I think he should also get a psychological counselling.”

The old man’s expression is not so good.

“Psychiatry is not the same as before. All modern people have one or two mental illnesses. “

“Getting treated and consulting a little early will help Hun.”

The old man exhaled long and nodded. 

“Let’s do that.”

The old man swept my hair.

Even though it’s been repeated for a few days, I can’t get used to be petted by someone in the head at the age of 36.

How long has it been since I received such a warm touch in the first place?

It’s a complicated feeling.

________

The next day. 

When I followed the nurse thinking that I would be taking a walk as usual, I met a person I had never seen before.

“Nice to see you, Hun.”

“Hello.”

I greeted with a greeting of this place that I learnt.

“My name is Dr.Kim Heewon. Today I’m going to draw with the little Hun.” 

“Does Hun like drawing?”

I did’t understand what he’s talking about. 

As I was just looking at him, he smiled and gave me white paper and pencil.

“……….”

“Should we draw Hun?” 

“We’re going to draw, so let’s do it together”.

I think he means to draw a self-portrait.

Drawing.

I thought I could never draw again.

The wish that I was so desperate came true.

It’s just a pity that it’s an opportunity that I got in this poor child’s body.

While hesitating, I picked up the paper and pencil. 

“Hun? Where are you going?”

I tried to go to the bathroom to find a mirror, but the doctor took it out of the drawer as if he knew what I meant.

“Here you go. Let’s look at this and draw”.

The expressionless child in the mirror seems to have grown up in the love of his parents.

Even though he had no wounds on his body, no scar on his hands, and even though he had been lying down for a long time, he quickly regained his health just by eating and exercising.

This is an evidence that he was taken care with lot of love and affection. 

How shocking would it have been for the parents to see their son, who they had raised so dearly, lifeless?

Still the parents didn’t come to see him even after he woke up.

My sadness got revealed in my expression

I held up the pencil in front of the paper.

___________________

Kim Heewon, a psychiatrist at WH Korea Hospital, suspected his eyes.

Today’s patient was a 10-year-old boy. 

Kim Heewon felt compassion for the boy who lost his parents at a young age.

Ko Hun, who had a car accident with his parents and was in coma.

After arriving at the hospital, doctors did everything they could, but a week later, his cardiac pulmonary function stopped for 48 hours.

The pupils did not react even when the light was shining, and blood pressure dropped sharply.

He was brain-dead.

Such a child miraculously woke up.

Medical staffs who have observed him so far speculated that language ability regression and intelligence deterioration have progressed.

In fact, that alone was a relief.

The brain stopped for 48 hours, so there could be some damage to its function.

It was a miracle just to wake up.

Kim Heewon decided to approach the child to find out what he is doing in the paper.

And

“Oh my goodness.”

For a moment, he forgot his duty and fell in love with the child’s painting.

As soon as the boy grabbed the pencil, his eyes seemed to shine.

The boy observed himself in the mirror and soon moved his hand.

That was bold.

The lines that stretched out without any hesitation gradually formed some form.

A child, who was calm a while ago, filled the paper fiercely.

Rough lines formed a form and settled as if they were originally there.

Professor Kim Heewon was mesmerized and watched the scene, and only after Ko Hun completed the painting, he came to his senses.

The picture was not detailed. It wasn’t even accurate.

However, the boy’s subtle emotional line of enduring sadness was conveyed as it was.

“How…”

Professor Kim Heewon raised his head.

Unlike the depressed expression he first saw, the boy was smiling faintly.

“Did you learn to draw?” 

Ko Hun blinked as if he didn’t know what he meant.

“Did you learn how to draw from your grandfather?”

Kim Heewon wondered if Ko Hun learned painting from his grandfather Ko Sooyeol, who is the dean of Korea University’s College of Art, and an artist who represents Korea.

His parents who were also in art-related occupations were also celebrities who often appeared in the media.

He could only think that he had talent since he was young and received gifted education from his parents and Professor Ko Sooyeol.

Ko Hun didn’t answer.

He just stared at Kim Heewon and pointed to an empty paper.

As he was looking around, he forgot that he asked to draw together. 

“I’m sorry. I forgot because Hun drew so well.””

Ko Hun picked up an empty paper. 

The child was asking for permission with spotless clear eyes.

“Do you want to draw more?”

Ko Hun nodded. 

He took the paper and placed the pencil again.

“Oh my.”

He didn’t know much about drawing, but it was clear that Ko Hun was an extraordinary kid.

A little while ago, a child who couldn’t stay still and was looking around. 

Once he took paper and pencil,  he only drew. 

It was an amazing concentration that could not be thought of as a child.

It was already the appointed time, and his grandfather Ko Sooyeol came to pick up his grandson Ko Hun. 

“Oh, did you have fun Hun?”

“Hello.”

His grandson always repeatedly said hello, but Ko Sooyeol was happy with that alone.

“Okay. Okay. Hello.”

Kim Heewon said,

“Hun, I’m going to talk to your grandfather’s, so wait here a little while.”

The child remained still without answering. 

He was just holding the paper and pencil he was holding tightly.

Ko Sooyeol sat Ko Hun in a chair and faced the doctor. 

His face was full of fear.

“How did it go?”

When Ko Sooyeol asked, Kim Heewon did not know what to answer.

He met a variety of children with long experiences, but a child like Ko Hun was very rare.

He calmed down his surprised heart and calmly began to ask questions.

“Professor, did Hun learn how to draw?”

Ko Sooyeol shook his head.

“Actually, I don’t know because it’s been a while since I saw him. It was when he was very young. His parents travel abroad frequently.”

Kim Heewon nodded.

“I asked Hun to draw to find out how he is feeling.” 

“I don’t know what to say. He drew it so well.”

“Really?”

When Ko Sooyeol reacted calmly, Kim Heewon cautiously pushed out the picture drawn by Ko Hun.

“Professor will be able to see the picture better.”

Picture psychotherapy was not his major.

“My my. I know about painting, but psychology…”

He wondered what kind of picture Hun drew.

Once Ko Sooyeol took the paper his eyebrows started going up.

“What is this?”

“It’s Hun’s drawing.” 

“I asked him to draw a self-portrait, and he drew it like this.”

Ko Sooyeol couldn’t believe his words. 

Although the description was not detailed, the form was clearly set.

He was just a lovely child at a distance, but it was different at a close distance.

Eyes containing sadness and confused pupils were expressed in unrefined lines.

From the rough lines, he felt an indescribable aura.

The expressive power that went beyond being eccentric and the bold omission was not something someone who had learned how to paint for few years could do.

It felt like the dignity of a master who established his own style of painting.

Ko Sooyeol, who looked at the other pictures Kim Heewon showed him, asked quietly.

“Did really Hun draw this?”

“Yes. For now, it’s just a guess, but if you have good observation skills and can express yourself this far, I don’t think you need to worry too much.”

“Is that true?”

“Yes. We’ll have to wait a little longer, but at least that’s how I see it. I think you don’t have to worry about it even before the test results come out.”

Ko Sooyeol turned his head and saw his grandson drawing something in one corner of the room.

“He must have wanted to draw.”

Kim Heewon continued the story.

“He’s drawing like that for the past three hours. There are very few children who can focus like this at that age. Even adults find it difficult to concentrate for more than an hour.”

Ko Sooyeol could not understand this situation at all.

The grandson, who was fatally wounded in a car accident, was told hopeless.

There was no cure. 

Life-sustaining treatment was all left.

However. Knowing that there was no hope, he could not give up his only grandson after the death of his daughter and son-in-law.

That child had woken up.

Doctors at WH Korea Hospital all said it was a miracle.

Although he suffered from memory loss, speech impairment, and extreme anxiety, he was grateful that he had returned alive.

A grandson who died and survived.

He had encountered numerous masterpieces, still he couldn’t believe it.

The doctor only said that Hun’s drawings were very well drawn, but in Ko Sooyeol’s eyes, it was not at that level.

Right now, none of the students he taught for 30 years had such a strong expressiveness.

Ko Sooyeol simply couldn’t believe the three sketches his grandson had drawn in pencil.

He turned his head

His grandson was looking around.

Then he bowed his head, moved his hands frantically.

It was just like when he was in the hospital room. 

He thought that the distracting behaviour was simply because of anxiety.

‘He was looking around.’

Ko Sooyeol approached his grandson.

The counselling room was contained in a piece of paper his grandson was holding.

At the boundary where perspective collapsed, there was an exaggerated expression of high heat and intention.

On a drawing of a ten year old boy.

Professor Ko Sooyeol shuddered.