CHAPTER 1: Rooftop Meetings

Kang Seulgi is one of the most promising students to be in the Arts Department. Though her father is a renowned architect who happens to be an alumnus of the same university, her path of career differs from him. Her older brother also took up the same field as her father but Seulgi isn’t really in for the genealogical pressure. It was quite a shocker when Seulgi announced she would be majoring in Fine Arts. With this, her father really cannot hide his disappointment.

Seulgi was an awkward child. She’s gifted, given that her IQ level is 146. At an early age, she is used to being dragged to her father’s meetings. She would always try to escape somewhere alone where she can sketch portraits. Mostly of people she sees on her escape routes. Her photographic memory is really a handy talent. And because of this, her attention to detail cannot be compared to anyone who is normal.

One time, when Seulgi was seventeen, her dad was assigned to do a reconstruction of the design plans for an old musical theatre. There and there, they met with Mister Bae, the cultural minister and his daughter, Joohyun. Introductions were quite brief, and the younger Bae just offered them a casual bow.

Both Seulgi and Joohyun were left together in the main theatre as both their fathers went in to attend the meeting.

Seulgi, being the unfriendly kid she is, sits randomly a little to the left of the center of the second row. She cannot stand talking with other people because she knows her words are a little profound and mature compared to kids her age. She didn’t even take a second look at the other person. She puts her bag on the seat next to her and takes out her sketchbook to start drawing.

Seulgi becomes distracted when she heard something mellifluously: someone is playing the piano on the stage. Out of all the classical music she has heard before, she cannot seem to pinpoint whose work it was. It doesn’t seem Bach or Beethoven to her. She drops her pencil for a bit and looks at where the sound was coming from. She sees Joohyun playing the keys with eyes closed. It finally occurred to her that Joohyun is wearing the same uniform she has. She wasn’t paying attention to it earlier during the petty introductions. She was just preoccupied with the fine dust she saw while entering the theatre earlier.

Now, her eyes are hooked. She finds herself sketching Joohyun