Jongin stood before the painting, crudely illuminated by a bulb too bright. Two figures joined in arms, their smiles pained but present, staring off into a horizon unseen by the viewer. Two Brothers, it was called, yet the men in the painting didn't resemble each other, except in their eyes as they peered off hopefully into a distant future. The outline of a mountain range in simple blues and whites the figures of the foreground into sharp contrast. How Jongin wished he could get away from all this, the city and its bloody hustle, the trucks and the men in uniform, the mayhem of the evenings and the curfew and the frenzy of the masses.

A giant of a man bumped him from behind and he lost his balance for a moment as his weight shifted forward harshly. He barely caught himself by a hand which came inches from smashing into the canvas. The painting was a masterpiece, yet here it hung in an exhibition barely worthy of the name. Across the street stood the real gallery featuring the works of government sanctioned artists. Their crisp painted lines of propaganda made him want to vomit, while here in this building, this dirty storehouse more like, stood in comparison the masterworks of an age, their creators now vilified and the art on display as an example of filth. No rest in this place, not a time for beauty, barely a place to make a statement. He would leave it soon. But only after he saw Two Brothers again, maybe for the last time. 

He can still remember the day when he watched Baekhyun put on the finishing touches...

"This painting I'll leave unsigned," Baekhyun had said. "Only you and I will know it."

Hello dear readers! I said I would go on vacation to gather inspiration for Between Spotlights, and while I have done that (and so much more), I woke up this morning and realized I had actually DREAMED a Kaibaek story. This forward is here to make sure I don't lose the memories forever. I expect it will be a oneshot. I'm sitting in the airport terminal writing this down, so let's see how much progress I can make on the actual flight!

FYI, this is loosely based on a German art exhibition I saw at the Neue Galerie in New York City called 'Degenerate Art.' Their exhibit actually models a historical exhibit put on by the Nazis in the 1930s. While Monument of a Man will not directly parallel the time frame nor the exact culture I refer to here, you are free to make some historical assumptions as I take a few liberties in the name of fiction.