Chapter 74 (1) - The Mysterious Art Museum
"Do you need a 200-inch monitor? What will you use it for?"
Monica, who was called out for dinner, asks while eating braised short ribs. Seeing Monica struggle with chopsticks to pick up the slippery ribs, I show her how to grab the end of the rib with her hands and tear it off.
Monica looks at me quietly and asks.
"Isn't it rude to eat with hands in Korea?"
"That's an old saying, it's okay to eat things like grilled gizzard shad with your hands, as long as it's not a formal occasion or in front of much older people."
Monica hesitates for a moment and then starts tearing off the braised rib with her hands.
"Wow, the meat just slides right off. It just disappears in your mouth without needing to chew! The food Jung-hoon introduces is always delicious."
Hmm, it's not even an expensive ribs place, just the old Jongmyo gisaeng restaurant we used to go to. It's about half the price of a typical Korean restaurant, but it used to be too expensive for us to afford. Monica looks around the shabby restaurant and laughs.
"But I guess I have to give up on the atmosphere when I'm with Jung-hoon."
"Hmm."
That's true. I don't know places fit for entertaining such a beautiful woman.
"But it's delicious, right?"
"Yes!"
"Eat it with rice, it'll be salty if you only eat the meat."
For Europeans who are used to eating just one main dish, the concept of eating rice with side dishes seems to be an interesting experience. Monica, with an intrigued expression, places a piece of rib meat on her rice and eats it, then wipes her mouth and asks.
"Are you having dinner with me tonight? I heard you've been eating with Irina these days."
"It's six o'clock now. Irina eats after midnight. I'll eat again then."
"Wow, men are lucky. If I eat at this time, I can't eat later at night."
That's why you're slim. Ordinary people eat snacks at night too.
Monica puts a piece of kkakdugi in her mouth and chews. Being Italian, she has a habit of wiping her mouth every time she puts something in it. Not all Italians do that, of course.
"What are you going to do with a 200-inch monitor?"
I explain my plan to create digital media art for Irina's stage. Since music will be taken care of by Irina's live performance, I just need to create the rest.
Monica puts down her spoon, rests her chin on her hand, and listens to my plan.
"But Irina doesn't always play the same sequence of songs on her tour, right?"
"That's right, so I'll put a different theme for each song. Once the song order is set, I'll change the file order to make it easy to execute."
"Oh, that's a good idea?"
Monica stretches and laughs.
"Okay, I'll make it for you."
Phew, that's a relief. I was worried about where to get it and reached out to Monica as a last resort. Monica waves her finger and says.
"But there has to be some benefit for me, right?"
".."
What, there's a price?
Well, there's no such thing as a free lunch in the world.
Should I draw another picture for her? If that's what she wants, I can do it anytime.
"What benefit do you want?"
"A contract."
"Excuse me?'
"Let's write a contract."
"About what kind of contract?"
"About the thing you just asked me for. About my rights and your R/S in the business that will come from it."
Oh, that.
I just asked for a device to install on stage, what's this about rights and R/S?
"Well... Just handle it yourself. If you bring the contract, I'll check it and sign it if there's no problem, so just make it well."
"Okay."
Monica resumes eating and then asks in the middle.
"But have you ever done digital media art? If you do it wrong, it could be worse than just a picture."
"Fortunately, we have experienced people at the company."
"At the company? Those employees who were students until recently?"
Monica, who is close with Min-young, knows well about Artist Company.
"Yes, that's right."
Monica's face looks a bit disappointed. It makes sense because it means putting a work made by employees who have only experienced it as school projects on the stage of a world-famous pianist.
I smile at Monica's changing expression.
"Don't worry, I've got the right point this time too."
Monica stares at my face and then slowly smiles.
"Like when you painted my portrait?"
Her portrait.
That reminds me suddenly of Deputy Manager Sooyoung. Smiling, I nodded.
"Yes, although I'm still not completely confident. By the way, how's Deputy Manager Sooyoung doing?"
Monica pushed her hair behind her ears and nodded.
"She's been taking a lot of interest in art lately, even going to exhibitions on holidays."
"Oh, are there any good exhibitions lately?"
"There's a Raoul Dufy exhibition at the Hangaram Art Museum."
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