Brother, Am I Cute? [EN]: Chapter 33

Hey, am I cute? Episode 33 (33/500)

-April 5th, Arbor Day.

The potted plant given as a gift at the sports day was a well-thought-out plan by the daycare.

A gift of a potted plant to be used on Arbor Day.

Today was the day the daycare would plant seeds or trees to coincide with Arbor Day.

The teacher brought out a story to explain Arbor Day.

“Okay, everyone! It’s been a while, but the teacher has brought a story! Everyone, please take your seats!”

Siha sat down first, and Seungjun and Hana, who were playing with him, also sat down.

When 3 out of the 7 children sat down, everyone else started to follow.

The teacher looked at the children with a pleased expression.

“Okay. Today, we’re going to tell the story of Jack and the Beanstalk.”

Seungjun said,

“Oh?! I know that one!”

“Hana too. Hana too.”

The teacher shook her head, wagging her finger.

“Was the story of the Little Mermaid also a story you already knew?”

“No!”

The teacher had a proud look on her face.

This time, it was a story full of originality.

The head teacher gave a wry smile.

The dream of that teacher, who used to work with her, was to be a fairy tale writer.

But a fairy tale writer who doesn’t make it doesn’t make money.

She’s preparing like this now to try and do it as a side job.

Maybe she’ll really become a famous fairy tale writer later on.

“Then, let’s start the story!”

The first picture appeared in the sketchbook.

The scene of Jack and his mother appearing.

“Once upon a time, there lived Jack and his mother. Jack and his mother were poor. So, Jack decided to sell the cow.”

“Mom. I’m going to sell the cow.”

“Okay. Make sure you get a good price!”

She turned the page.

“Jack went to the village to sell the cow. Then he met an old woman.”

“Young man. Are you going to sell that cow?”

“Yes.”

“Then, why don’t you trade it for these magic beans?”

“Huh? Magic beans for a cow?”

“Yes. These aren’t just any beans, they’re magic beans.”

“Jack was fooled by her words and traded the cow for the magic beans. Jack came home and said,”

“Mom. I traded it for magic beans.”

“What?! Oh, you’re so foolish, Jack.”

“These aren’t just any beans, they’re magic beans.”

“You’ve been tricked. Give them to me.”

“Mom threw the magic beans outside.”

She turned the page of the sketchbook.

Hands and feet appeared on the beans, and suddenly they were dancing.

The sight of hands crossing each other.

“The beans sang outside.”

“Oppa is Gangnam Style~ Oh~ Oh~ Oppa Gangnam Style [A popular K-pop song and dance].”

“Mom and Jack were surprised and looked outside.”

“Mom, look. I told you they were magic beans.”

“This can’t be happening!”

“People passing by threw money, saying it was fun to watch the beans dancing like that.”

“Hehe. That’s fun.”

“That’s fun!”

“When enough money had piled up, Jack and his mother were able to buy bread happily. But the next day. The beans disappeared and a beanstalk appeared.”

The children were incredibly focused on this absurd story.

In particular, Siha looked at the sketchbook with intense eyes.

Buri Buri [onomatopoeia for a sound, possibly indicating excitement or focus].

“The bean that became a beanstalk started to work now.”

The sketchbook was turned over.

The tree was trying to grab the blackened clouds with its hands.

Next to it was a picture of it spitting out white clouds.

“It eats bad air!”

“And shared good air with four people at once.”

The head teacher now understood why the story had been changed like this.

The meaning of Arbor Day.

Trees absorb pollutants.

A large tree provides enough oxygen for four adults to breathe in a day.

This was the story that unraveled it.

“The beanstalk grew taller and taller. But one day. A greedy giant became envious of the tree.”

“Hehehe. I have to take that tree.”

Seungjun shouted.

“No! I won’t forgive you!”

“Hana too. Hana too. I’m going to tell Siha hyung [older brother]!”

“Ah?”

Siha looked at Hana.

He didn’t know why his older brother had popped up, but it seemed like the right choice at first glance.

Siha also thought that a cool older brother could solve something like this.

The other children’s reactions were also enthusiastic.

It was like a villain had appeared in a superhero show.

Everyone looked like they wanted to take him down, their hands itching.

The teacher showed a skillful smile as if she had been aiming for that.

Smirk.

“The beanstalk didn’t have the power to protect itself. So, he asked Jack for help.”

“Jack! Save me. The giant is trying to steal me.”

“What?! How can I help?”

“Eat the beans I made. Then you’ll become strong.”

“Okay!”

“So, Jack ate the beans.”

The sketchbook scene changed.

Jack’s body became muscular.

It was expressed as if he had put in tremendous strength, and he tried to fight the giant.

“You bad guy. Take my fist!”

“When Jack swung his fist, the giant fell with a thud.”

“Ugh.”

“Jack protected the beanstalk. Jack’s mother, who saw it, said,”

“Oh! Jack! You’re really amazing!”

“Mom. I’ll protect you now.”

“Jack became a champion and made a lot of money and bought three buildings. Jack and his mother lived happily ever after.”

It was a strangely specific number of buildings.

Whether that mattered or not, the children clapped.

Clap clap clap.

Seungjun got up.

“Can you get stronger if you eat beans?!”

“Hana beans!”

“Ah! Siha too!”

A smile spread across the teacher’s face.

She had caught two rabbits with this picture story show [achieved two goals at once, an idiom].

One. She naturally conveyed the meaning of Arbor Day.

Two. She was able to get the children who hated beans to eat beans.

The head teacher also noticed that and had an admiring expression on her face.

A good signal was exchanged in the eyes of the two teachers.

‘Well done.’

‘This is a piece of cake.’

The teacher got up.

“Then, shall we plant kidney beans in the flower pots we brought today?”

“Yes!”

“Then, spread the plastic wrap here below.”

Together, they spread the plastic wrap with the children.

Siha also helped diligently.

They poured soil in the middle and gave the children trowels.

Of course, the children changed into plastic clothes.

“Okay. The teacher will demonstrate first. Take the soil here like this and put it in the pot. Press it down. Press it down.”

Siha followed the teacher and pressed the soil down.

“And put the kidney beans here. Put some soil back on top.”

Siha looked at the beans.

It was a very small and cute bean.

He imagined a huge tree coming out of here and protecting Siha and his older brother.

“Ah. Hyung [older brother]. Protect.”

Siha planted the beans diligently.

The teacher sang a song.

“Plant. Plant. Plant the seeds. Firmly. Watered them~”

He watered the soil and put a sticker that said ‘Lee Siha’ on the pot.

It was a perfectly planted pot.

The teacher packaged the pots so they could be carried and put them in plastic bags.

“Take them with you when you leave later. Got it?”

“Yes!”

The teacher had a satisfied look on her face.

“Then, shall we all sing a song to celebrate Arbor Day?”

“Yes!”

The teacher played the piano.

“Plant. Plant. Plant the seeds~ Watered them firmly~”

“One night. Two nights. Shh shh shh.”

The children started singing excitedly.

Siha also sang along enthusiastically.

He was thinking of growing a beanstalk in this pot to make good air, and beans would come out for Siha to eat.

He thought that if he did that, he would gain the power to protect his older brother.

But Siha didn’t know.

That was the teachers’ intention.

It was a highly sophisticated strategy to get children to eat foods they originally disliked by growing them.

The children had fallen into the trap of education.

***

College students had already entered the exam period.

Usually, it was divided into midterms and finals, but it could vary from lecture to lecture.

There were cases where there were three exams, and there were cases where you only had to take the final exam.

“I miss Siha.”

My way of studying was a very crude method.

I turned on the recorder.

Beep.

“What is the essence of Korean adverbs? That’s onomatopoeia and mimetic words! Shall we give an example? If it’s a heavy camera, you can express it as ‘clunk’ instead of ‘click’.”

I typed on my laptop.

I listen to the professor’s words during class.

I don’t take notes.

I just ‘understand’ without missing anything.

I can’t afford to lose focus while taking notes and miss something.

It’s my own way of studying.

No, it’s just a way to get good grades.

‘Of course, you can’t get good grades just by memorizing this whole thing.’

It’s like using it as a material.

For example, I use the examples that the professor mentioned, and I use the metaphors that the professor used.

Of course, there are professors and lectures that this works for.

Not all of them are like that.

To figure out each of these things, you had to ask the graduate student seniors.

In reality, there are graduate students who grade the papers, but our professors grade them directly.

‘They have to like it.’

Since it was a relative evaluation, I couldn’t just take it easy.

To receive a school scholarship in the second semester.

And the off-campus scholarship that is given only if you have good grades.

The cash that the seniors donated was the real deal.

Unlike having your tuition reduced, it was a share that you could take care of.

‘Since I participated in the sports day, I basically got the department contribution score……’

Since I took the TOEIC [Test of English for International Communication] in advance, the English score will also be reflected as a percentage.

In short, if I get good grades this time, I’ll get free money next semester.

Money comes in just for studying.

‘I can buy Siha another toy, so that’s good.’

I stretched and started typing on my laptop again.

Then a cold drink came to my face.

“Ah, cold!”

Seo Su-hyeon smiled and held out a can of coffee.

“Oh, thank you.”

I accepted this favor.

“Aren’t you working too hard?”

“If you want to get money, you have no choice.”

“Well, everyone is studying hard.”

“Aren’t you doing it?”

“Me? Of course, I am.”

“Then study. Don’t make a fuss about getting a vague B.”

“Do seniors look down on B’s?”

“It’s a vague grade. What are you going to say when you get a job?”

“I worked hard, but I was destined to get a B. Something like that.”

“Actually, there’s only one reason why they look at grades.”

“What is it?”

“Diligence. There’s nothing else.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because I’ve worked at the job center.”

Well, the name value seemed to be worth it.

Going to graduate school in engineering was the same.

That was because the professor’s name value had more influence than the university’s name value.

“What do you mean?”

“For example, there’s Professor Oh Sang-hwan in the engineering department, right? In the Department of Electronics.”

“Yes.”

“Before that professor came to this school, he used to work for a large semiconductor company.”

“Oh~”

“The interesting thing is that he made the company’s sales jump four times with his design. So, his power is very strong.”

“So, are you putting in pressure?”

Seo Su-hyeon seems to watch too many dramas.

“No. Um. It could be connections. You don’t know it well, but usually, they go into DRAM [Dynamic Random-Access Memory] and SRAM [Static Random-Access Memory] design. If that happens, there’s no supply for other designs.”

“Ooh~”

“That professor cleverly dug into EEPROM [Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory].”

“Huh?”

“This university is the only one that supplies it. In terms of design. Then who would the company hire?”

“These graduate students.”

“That’s right. In fact, you can assume that the first document is passed as is to large companies.”

“Wow. So, is that why everyone becomes a graduate student? Because they get a job?”

“There’s a tendency to do that. It may be a little different for other departments, but that’s how that professor is. It’s not for nothing that he receives joint research with companies. It helps not only with money but also with students’ employment.”

“Awesome~ Should I go to graduate school too?”

“The Department of Korean Language……”

I turned my head.

“I think it would be good to learn English properly. Opportunities open up quickly.”

“Oh~ Translation?”

“Well, there’s that too. It’s a little difficult there. It’s better to do technical translation.”

“Oh, like you said back then?”

“Yeah. For example……”

A spark flashed in my head.

Some memories began to flash by.

“Oppa [older brother]?”

“If you’re interested in the medical field, try translating there. Korean medicine is no joke.”

“What?! Medicine? I don’t have any knowledge.”

“You can study. In fact, there are even companies that specialize in medical translation.”

“Really?”

“They started when they were college students and are solid now.”

“How did you know that?”

“Well?”

I think I finally know where the medical translation knowledge came from.

‘I’ve been so busy working that I haven’t been able to check it, but I should look through my father’s laptop.’