The Mysterious Art Museum

Chapter 7 (1) - The Mysterious Art Museum

How long did I sleep?

The program is still running.

Digital media art is a program that repeats itself during business hours, so it's not surprising.

I checked the time with my cheap wristwatch and stretched with satisfaction, seeing that only about 30 minutes had passed even though I had a very long dream.

"I think I slept really well."

I feel like my fatigue is gone.

I'm really glad I came here.

On the ceiling, walls, and floor, commercial posters that Mucha left behind in his lifetime are projected.

Cookies, bleach, detergent, alcohol and cigarettes. He had a huge number of posters, as he had covered all kinds of advertisements.

"He deserved to be rewarded for working so hard."

I smiled and recalled his image that I saw in my dream, then grabbed my tool bag, easel, and chair next to me.

"Amateurs wait for inspiration, but pros go to work. That's what he said."

It seems like tonight will be very long.

I feel like I can enjoy painting for my goal when I go home today.

**

A small studio.

In my small room, which has the advantage of being dark even in broad daylight because it's underground, a loud cell phone ringtone rings.

I was asleep on the bed with only a mattress and no frame, and I fumbled around the floor for my phone that I had plugged in and answered the call.

"Uh... hello."

-What, are you sleeping?

It's a woman's voice.

"Who is this?"

-It should have shown up on your phone, it's Young-ju.

I opened my eyes halfway and checked the phone screen. Seo Young-ju. She was my college classmate and one of the few friends I had.

"Oh, Young-ju."

-What time is it, are you sleeping?

"What time is it?"

-It's two in the afternoon, you bastard.

I rubbed my eyes and got up.

"I was painting until eight this morning and then went to sleep."

-Wow, did you become an owl human?

"Uh, well. I felt a bit inspired yesterday. But what's up?"

Young-ju was a talented kid who competed with me for scholarships for four years.

And she came from a wealthy family, so she went to study in Austria after graduating from college and came back this year and got a job at the Seoul City Museum of Art. There's almost no place for art school graduates to work if they give up on studying abroad.

Some of them became game illustrators or got jobs at design companies, and some of them, like Young-ju, were able to get jobs at museums after studying abroad.

Of course, it's not a job that involves painting. They only explain or manage other people's paintings.

-Turn on your computer.

"Why?"

-You're still making money by entering contests, right?

"Yeah."

It's been four months since I last won a prize, but I'm still doing it. This is my portfolio, proof of experience, and skill history.

-MG Electronics has announced a contest. It's a big one.

Oh, MG Electronics? It's a conglomerate that dominates the domestic white goods market along with Oseong Electronics. Of course, MG is second, but it's a contest run by a conglomerate that is steadily producing results, so the prize money must be quite good.

"Hold on."

I opened my old laptop that I bought for 300,000 won five years ago and went to the MG Electronics website. As Young-ju said, as soon as I entered the website, a pop-up window for the contest information appeared.

"Thanks for letting me know. Let's have a drink later."

-Show me your face and say that, you bastard. Do you know how many months it's been since I've seen you? Why is it so hard to see your face when we're in the same Seoul?

"Haha, okay. I'll buy you a drink when we meet next time."

-Bullshit! Don't suck the blood out of a flea. Just bring your precious face, I'll buy it.

"Haha. Okay, thanks."

Thanks to my looks rather than my skills, I was quite popular in college.

Of course, after they found out that my family was poor enough to qualify for basic living assistance, the kids who fawned over me decreased, but there were still some juniors who showed their feelings for me with their innocent hearts.

Young-ju was always a friend who hung out with me, and whenever those juniors came, she would snatch away the chocolates or candies that they brought for me. Instead, she didn't care about my background and remained a friend until the end even after entering society.

I decided to freshen up and washed my face and brushed my teeth, then sat back in front of my laptop.

"Let's see."

A new imagination

A greater impression

2024 MG Electronics Home Appliance Design Contest

Contest period: April 30, 2024

Contest method: Mail submission (Click on Apply for Design Contest on the top right of the MG Electronics website)

Contest theme: Refrigerator design

* Award scale

Grand Prize: 1 person (10 million won prize money)

Best Award: 1 person (5 million won prize money)

Excellence Award: 1 person (1 million won prize money)

*All the pictures submitted for this contest belong to the authors and will not be used without permission. We hope that the applicants will apply with a comfortable and enjoyable mind.

I gasped at the scale of the awards.

"Ten million won for the grand prize?"

This kind of contest is not common. Design contests are mostly national contests at the city or provincial level, and most of them have a prize money of about 2 million won for the grand prize.

I read the contest announcement again from beginning to end.

I had a memory of wasting a few days by uploading a completely irrelevant picture because I didn't read the contest announcement properly before.

"Refrigerator design."

I rested my chin and thought about MG Electronics.

Though considered rivals, the revenue gap between MG Electronics and Oseong Electronics is so big that it's embarrassing to call them rivals when looking at the sales scale. The design refrigerator that they released this time was a sensational hit.

Oseong Electronics' refrigerator, which allowed users to customize the four doors of the refrigerator in different colors, caused a sensation in the white goods industry and received support from the biggest customers, the young newlyweds.

The smaller MG Electronics' position became, the better Oseong Electronics' white goods series did.

They are not inferior in performance, but the design is definitely better on Oseong Electronics' side. MG Electronics seems to be holding a contest as a desperate measure to overcome this situation.

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