12 colors | hwalljin.

FIRST COLOR

SCARLET
an aggressive color, commands
attention and demands action.

✿

wind blew on heejin's face as she walked through the silent corridors of the university. it's six in the morning, and she's there two hours before her classes start to organize and correct mistakes on her portfolio. hwall, on the other hand, is there to read books about artists to have inspiration for his artworks.

unlike heejin, hwall is confident. he doesn't do corrections because he believes that there is no such thing as mistakes when it comes to art. embrace what you create. heejin is much more of a perfectionist, and she doesn't like abstract paintings. she believes that in order to appreciate a figure, the message should be evident in the work on the first look of the audience.

there's this invisible barrier between the two of them. the other prefers deep messages to let the audience deduct the message of the artwork but the other prefers the story just stated in just one glance.

hwall decided to stop reading and go to the room where all the students' portfolios are kept and just stare at his work for hours in order to have something new in mind, so he did.

he met heejin's sight for a few seconds. it wasn't awkward, but there's this tension between the two. they don't need to say it or wonder. it's already built-in, like a machine.

hwall took a chair and placed it on the front of his portfolio and stared at it for a long time while heejin is busy adding details to her work. bothered, she finally spoke. "why aren't you correcting your work?"

"there's no such thing as mistakes when it comes to art, heejin," hwall said without turning his head to her.

"really? then what if i accidentally painted random shapes at the top and they look horrible, is that still art?"

"it can be interpreted as stars if you drew a horizon."

"you just interpreted a mistake into your so-called creativity."

"that is art, heejin."

dani and sicheng who were about to go in the room backed out and listened to the two instead. "i bet 10 dollars that heejin roasted the shit out of hwall," sicheng whispered. dani chuckled and then matched sicheng's bet. "then i'll go with hwall!" then the two sticked their ears to the door again to fight for their bets.

"art is flawless, heo hyunjoon."

"there's no such thing," he said. he walked towards heejin's work and he pointed at her final work. "artists make their works look flawless, but they have lots of flaws. considering your mindset, even that small dot on your work," he pointed at the middle part, "is a flaw. look at your work, heejin, it's exquisite. i can clearly see the message you want to show and i like that, but even with such small flawsㅡit's still art. for me, art is made up of flaws. you, the artist, recreates flaws to be beautiful."

he went back to his post, and heejin was silent afterwards. like hwall said, heejin looked at her work. she said, "i can't see an exquisite work, heo hyunjoon."

hwall turned his head to her and to his surprise, he saw an emotionless girl who paints the most aesthetic works that ever existed. "i see a failure," she added.

he pitied her for not appreciating such a beautiful work. to comfort her, he stood again and messed up heejin's hair a bit. "trust me, it's beautiful. cheer up."

and her face lit up a bit.