Her Red Ink

Night time came and I summoned Iseul again by doing an abstract portrait of her. I also finished doing my draft for Rocco's commission, but I set that aside... I don't want to summon his friend at night. Oh gosh, I'm just kidding. His friend's not even a lost soul.

"Who's this?" Iseul asked, pointing at the canvas with some sketches on it. The canvas is larger than my usual canvas since it's a commission.

"A friend of someone I met." I answered.

She crossed her arms while examining my drawing. I shook my head and continued chopping vegetables. I did Iseul's portrait first before cooking dinner.

"He looks stupid." she commented.

"You're so mean."

"Have you ever thought of that while painting? Proprio come quando... you're painting someone, then you suddenly think that the person you're painting looks stupid?" she sounded serious while asking me that.

I started stir frying some vegetables while having a conversation with her. I loved the smell of this aroma. "I never thought of that, Iseul. That would be so rude."

"I'm just asking," she shrugged. "What are you cooking?"

"Uh, stir fried vegetables." I answered.

"Oh... yuck."

I frowned. "Hey, you've been here for a while and you've never said something good. What a bully."

"You sound like a father."

I glared at Iseul who's resting her head on the counter. "You're the second person who told me that."

"You mean the first ghost to tell you that. Well, if I'm the second one then it means that's true." she laughed. "You're so boring."

I grabbed a plate and placed some stir fried vegetables on it. "I'm not born to please you."

She acted as if she was shocked. "That's so mean of you, kid."

"Do you want some?" I asked and placed my food in front of her. I decided to just eat here on the kitchen counter.

"I can't eat, stupido."

I grinned and started eating. A ghost is in front of me and we're casually talking to each other. Who would've thought this thing could happen here.

"I went to a gallery this morning, it's full of calligraphy arts," I said while opening another topic. I can't let this night pass without asking her.

She raised her eyebrows. "I see where this is going." I think she has an idea already of what I'm going to say.

"I saw yours."

"Which one?"

I place my phone in front of her, showing the picture on the screen. She looked at it and the side of her lips rose.

"That bastard." I heard whispering.

"I asked my friend about what your handwriting says. It says 'please help'. Is it alright to ask why did you write something like that? If you're not comfortable to tell me, it's perfectly fine."

She rested the side of her face on her palm while looking at me. She looked bored. "Someone locked me up. Whoever that bastard was gave me some carta e pennello... I mean pen and papers. And... uhm... a knife."

I almost choked on my food. I coughed for a bit.

Iseul rolled her eyes. "If you can't take it then just tell me to stop."

"W-wait, let me finish my food." I said and started eating again.

She groaned. "Go ahead, stupido."

She walked towards the sofa and sat there while waiting for me to finish dinner. I washed my plate and some utensils right after eating. I sat on the carpet with a beer on the coffee table.

"What? Are you ready for some story telling, kid?" she said sarcastically.

"Whenever you're ready." I said and drank on my beer.

"Where did I finish? Ah, as I said, the bastard gave me a knife. I was bleeding at that time because they beat the hell out of me. I used my blood to write. The one that you saw? It's just one of the few calligraphies that I made while being locked inside an unknown place."

"Until now, you don't know where you were locked up?" I asked. I remembered how Nari mentioned the crime scene is still unknown.

"Mhm."

"And those calligraphy of yours... you wrote it using your own blood?"

She nodded.

So that explains the red ink... it's actually her blood. "Why is it even displayed in art galleries? Is that even allowed?"

She chuckled. "Those were displayed after my death... which means they didn't ask for my permission. It was big news before, displaying things that I made increased the gallery's popularity. That's how disgusting this place was and it will always be inside my head."

Besides Iseul's tragic past, her name also spread because she was trying to connect with artists at night. In search of her freedom, she became famous... but as a lost soul. I get it now.

"I still don't know who's behind everything, Kid. I don't know where I was killed, locked up, or tortured. I would've told you if I knew."

Even Iseul never knew everything that happened to her.

"What if I ask Dinko where his friend got your artwork?"

"Who's Dinko? God, you know a lot, it's so annoying."

"Uh, he's the caretaker of the gallery that has your calligraphy. I thought I could ask him- or not." I immediately stopped talking when I saw Iseul's hawk eyes.

I know that stare, the kind that's telling me to stop.

"The owner must have bought it from a bastard. You shouldn't be surprised if there are more calligraphies that I made inside galleries. But, those things are not the ones that I'm searching for."

I nodded my head. It feels like I need to discover more things related to her to be able to know Iseul more. I'm not making a lot of progress by just searching here, but I can't do more like going to the East.

The next day, I woke up early and started painting Rocco's commission. I made a set up here at the balcony, and I'm drinking coffee for breakfast. Every morning, I would start painting for work, then go outside for a walk and visit galleries. At night I would summon Iseul just to tell her I haven't seen anything at all. The cycle has been like this for days.

It's Thursday today, and I finally finished my first commission here at Techne Island after almost a week of hard work. I called Rocco and told him to meet me at the park.

Rocco was already sitting on a bench when I arrived. He waved his hand at me. "Yohan! How's it going?"

"I'm doing great, Rocco. Here's your friend's portrait," I handed him the painting that I made.

His eyes sparked and her mouth formed an 'o' while looking at it. "Bellissimo! This is so beautiful. Thank you so much! My friend would love this!"

"I'm glad you liked it. Thank you for trusting me, Rocco," I tapped his arm.

"You're a great artist, Yohan. I wish you well!"

We parted ways right after because I needed to go to the bank and Rocco also has work to do. He sent money in my back account already, but I'm going to check it later because I need to withdraw some cash.

My eyes widened when I saw the amount of money my bank account has right now.

"What the hell..."

I immediately dialed Rocco's number.

"H-hey, Rocco, I think this is a bit too much."

"What? What's too much?"

"The money you paid me-"

"Oh, that! You deserve it, Kid! You're talented and kind enough to accept my art commission. You're on vacation yet you accepted my request, I can't thank you enough for that."

He paid me half a million! It's more than twice the price that I told him!