A Tale Of A Scribe Who Retires To The Countryside [EN]: Chapter 47

47. The Little Ones’ Time

Days pass slowly, but time flies quickly.

Several days had passed since Son Bin started the academy with the children, and already the season was changing.

The little ones, who had been so scattered at first, were gradually getting used to it day by day.

∴

“Your name is Gyeon-ja?”

“Yes.”

Gyeon-ja said with a pout.

“I don’t like my name.”

Hodu raised his hand eagerly, as if he had been waiting for this.

“Me too! I don’t like my name either.”

“Hodu, at least you’re a tiger cub. I’m a dog son [Gyeon-ja literally means ‘dog son’ which is considered a humble or even derogatory name].”

“I, I don’t like my name either.”

Aaeng-aaeng-yi said hesitantly, but Gyeon-ja immediately retorted.

“Girls, get lost.”

“Heeing.”

As Aaeng-aaeng-yi teared up, So-so snapped at Gyeon-ja.

“Hey! I told you not to say things like that!”

So-so, who was patting Aaeng-aaeng-yi, also said,

“But I don’t know why I’m So-so. I’m taller than the other kids.”

So-so was taller than the other kids her age. In terms of height, she was almost as tall as Ja-woo, who acted as the leader of the kids.

“I don’t even know the meaning of my name.”

Ja-woo said abruptly.

“It seems like it was just made up. What does Ja-woo mean, teacher?”

The little ones’ eyes turned to Son Bin all at once.

Son Bin coughed for a moment at the unfamiliar title.

Originally, the term ‘teacher’ was used to refer to someone with high learning and virtue, but these days it was also used more casually.

It felt awkward to be called ‘teacher,’ a title used with respect.

Son Bin said quietly.

“Ja-woo means a child who grows up healthy.”

Ja-woo’s face brightened. Son Bin continued.

“So-so, Aaeng-aaeng-yi, Hodu, Gyeon-ja, Jang-ah, and Ao, all have the same meaning. It means to grow up healthy and wonderful.”

For a moment, the children’s expressions were blank, but soon protests poured out.

“Where does that come from?”

“Hey, why do they all have the same meaning?”

“I’m a dog son, I tell you?”

“Woo-woo.”

Even the quiet Aaeng-aaeng-yi pouted.

Son Bin said.

“Childhood names are originally made to be humble, as if they are nothing. That’s all because we want you to grow up healthy and wonderful without any problems. So, no matter what the letters are, the meaning of the name is only one.”

Son Bin said.

“Grow up healthy and wonderful. That’s exactly what it means. Do you understand?”

The children became quiet. Son Bin smiled.

“In that sense, shall we read some writing together?”

“Woo-aeng.”

As if by agreement, the little ones all raised their voices in dissatisfaction.

“Today, we’re going to write. First, when grinding ink…”

“Wow! Look at this!”

“Eek, get away. You’re splashing water.”

Son Bin started explaining, but the children seemed completely distracted by the ink, inkstone, and brush they were seeing for the first time.

Ja-woo, who was always lively and played the role of leader, was already having a sword fight with Gyeon-ja using the brushes, and the neat and articulate So-so was yelling at Ja-woo.

“If you’re not quiet, there will be no sweets in the future.”

At Son Bin’s serious words, the children became quiet in an instant. Son Bin smiled and continued his explanation.

“First, when grinding ink, you have to grind it like a sick person. Relax your body and slowly…”

“But teacher! I’m not sick?”

“Me too! I’m not sick either!”

Son Bin rubbed his forehead.

“I don’t mean you’re sick, but that you have to do it that slowly. First, breathe slowly and draw a small circle with the ink like this…”

Sarak, sarak [Sound of grinding ink].

Perhaps because Son Bin, with his eyes lowered and quietly grinding ink, exuded a certain atmosphere, the little ones focused on Son Bin’s appearance with sparkling eyes.

And one by one, they began to imitate Son Bin’s actions.

Sarak, sarak.

Only the sound of grinding ink could be heard in the quiet.

Son Bin was quietly immersed in his own world, taking deep breaths. But that didn’t last long.

“Aah! It splashed on my clothes.”

“Why are you taking mine! You have one too.”

At the noisy voices, Son Bin sighed. The energetic little ones quickly got tired of the leisurely ink grinding.

“Mine is weird! It doesn’t seem to work well. You try using this one.”

“You shouldn’t take other people’s things! The teacher told you not to!”

Aaeng-aaeng-yi was tearful, saying that ink had splashed on her sleeve, and Ja-woo was grabbing Gyeon-ja’s ink, blaming it for no reason.

Of course, So-so, who couldn’t stand to see that, pointed it out.

On the other hand, Hodu, who was competitive, rolled up his sleeves and was grinding ink with all his might. He was about to grind all the ink he was holding at once.

The leisurely Jang-ah was even dozing off while grinding ink. It seemed he was dozing off because he was grinding ink slowly in the warm sunlight.

The only one who was grinding ink properly was Ao, who was always acting mature despite being the youngest. But if something didn’t go well, he would quickly become tearful.

“Okay, are you all done grinding?”

When Son Bin sighed and spoke, the little ones started shouting from all directions.

“Teacher! Ja-woo is!”

“No! My ink is weird!”

“Heeing. Teacher, my clothes are dirty.”

“I’ve already done this much!”

Son Bin comforted the tearful Aaeng-aaeng-yi, took Gyeon-ja’s ink and returned it, and woke up Jang-ah, who was still dozing off.

He stroked the head of So-so, who had finished grinding ink and was shining her eyes, and also reduced Hodu’s overflowing ink.

After helping Ja-woo grind ink, he praised Ao, who was sitting and waiting maturely.

“Then shall we write now? First, hold the brush like this…”

Writing something on a blank piece of paper was a story that made the little ones’ eyes sparkle. Even Jang-ah, who always dozed off, opened his eyes wide and held the brush seriously.

But it didn’t take long for the paper, as well as the children’s clothes and mats, to be covered in ink.

It was a complete mess, but the children were smiling brightly, as if they were happy about something.

“Hoo.”

Son Bin sighed and rubbed his forehead, but before he knew it, a smile just like the children’s was lingering on his lips.

“Ugi jeongin (Befriend the righteous) [A Confucian saying meaning to associate with virtuous people].”

“Ugi jeongin!”

The clear voices of the children echoed under the warm sunlight. The little ones raised their voices as much as they could, as if they wouldn’t be outdone by anyone.

Even Aaeng-aaeng-yi, who was always shy and timid, had a pretty loud voice at this time.

‘Heh heh.’

Son Bin smiled as he watched the little ones. It was really amazing to see the children reading together.

How could they make such lively voices with those tiny mouths?

“Ayeok dajeong (I also become righteous) [Meaning one will also become virtuous].”

“Ayeok dajeong!”

The little ones followed Son Bin quite well.

It was still the same that they would immediately become a mess if he let his guard down even for a moment, but when they read after him like this, it was like watching young birds opening their mouths and chirping all at once.

Thanks to that, Son Bin felt like he had become a mother bird.

“It means that if you befriend righteous people, you will naturally become righteous too.”

“Naturally?”

The little ones tilted their heads as if they didn’t understand well.

“It means that friends resemble each other.”

“Wow! I don’t want to!”

“Resemble? Really?”

The little ones made a fuss, looking at each other’s faces.

Ja-woo and Gyeon-ja were pulling at each other’s faces, and So-so and Aaeng-aaeng-yi were whispering as if they were telling a secret, and in the meantime, Jang-ah was dozing off again.

It was amazing how he could sleep like that.

“If you keep talking, I’ll give you a lot of homework.”

At Son Bin’s low voice, the little ones became quiet at once. The little ones looked at Son Bin, and Son Bin smiled and said.

“Then, shall we continue reading?”

The lively voices of the children echoed again in the shabby house.

A warm, sunny day in Cheongwon was passing by slowly like that.

“I’m going to marry the teacher.”

“What?”

Son Bin had a blank expression for a moment at So-so’s sudden words. He couldn’t figure out why these words suddenly came out.

“Marriage is for adults!”

Ja-woo popped out and spoke instead of Son Bin.

“We’re still kids. And my dad said that marriage is between people of similar ages.”

“I don’t want that.”

So-so retorted with a sulky expression.

“You guys are too childish.”

“Childish? What’s childish?”

Hodu, who was always full of curiosity, asked.

“Too much like kids.”

So-so said.

“I’m going to marry someone who is smarter, bigger, and more mature than me. So I’m going to marry the teacher.”

At So-so’s words, the children couldn’t say anything and just stared blankly. Only Aaeng-aaeng-yi grabbed Son Bin’s sleeve and whispered.

“M-me too…”

“So teacher, wait for me. Okay? I’ll grow up soon.”

Son Bin smiled bitterly and put his hand on So-so’s head.

He was happy that she liked him, but why did he feel like he was in a miserable situation?

“I’m grateful, but…”

Son Bin stroked So-so’s head as if to soothe her and sighed lightly.

“You still have to do your homework, right?”

“Ah, that’s…”

Thud.

“Ouch!”

So-so, who was hit with a flick on the forehead and had her mouth sticking out, looked up at Son Bin with a dissatisfied face.

Ja-woo was wearing a triumphant expression as if to say, ‘I told you so,’ and Aaeng-aaeng-yi was still grabbing and clinging to Son Bin’s sleeve.

“Ja-woo, did you do your homework?”

“Ah.”

Ja-woo’s triumphant expression disappeared in an instant.

“I did it!”

Hodu’s voice, who couldn’t read the atmosphere, rang out proudly.

The little ones, sitting in a row, were holding brushes in a dignified posture and writing.

Now that they were quite used to it, the little ones, who had been covered in ink and laughing, were holding brushes in a plausible manner.

However, the letters, written so large that they filled the paper, were still crooked.

“Ah! Ink splashed!”

“Who told you to be next to me?”

“What? Hey!”

“Waaah. Teacher! So-so ruined my writing!”

“No! Hodu deliberately splashed ink first!”

Hodu, who pretended to be tough but always burst into tears first, was covered in tears, and So-so, with her articulate tone, was shouting with her clear eyes.

Aaeng-aaeng-yi, with her quiet personality, was busy drawing letters, regardless of what was happening next to her, and Jang-ah was glancing at Hodu’s writing and creating strange letters that didn’t exist anywhere.

Ao, the youngest, was writing with a dignified posture, shining his eyes, but his chubby cheeks were already covered with ink here and there.

‘Huh?’

Son Bin looked at Ja-woo and Gyeon-ja.

Normally, they would be having a sword fight with brushes, but today they were somehow drooping their heads with gloomy expressions.

The brushes in their hands were just smearing the innocent inkstone.

“Ja-woo, Gyeon-ja.”

“Yes.”

The two answered in gloomy voices.

“Why aren’t you writing? Did something happen?”

The little ones didn’t answer. Instead, So-so’s voice came out.

“It’s because they got beat up.”

“Beaten up?”

Son Bin’s eyes widened. Come to think of it, Ja-woo and Gyeon-ja’s faces were covered in dirt, and there were small scratches that looked like they had been scraped.

Son Bin quickly got up and went closer to the two little ones.

“No, by who?”

The injuries weren’t serious, but seeing the two little ones hurt made his head spin for a moment.

Son Bin’s voice, asking the question, grew louder without him realizing it, and So-so answered instead of the two little ones.

“By Jung-oh and Gye-gu.”

“Jung-oh? Gye-gu? Who are they…”

“Those guys are cowards!”

Gyeon-ja suddenly shouted. His voice was tearful, as if he was quite wronged.

“Those guys’ families are martial arts families! They learn martial arts from their fathers and always look down on us! They keep poking at us and picking fights for no reason!”

“But fighting is bad.”

So-so said from the side.

“My dad said that you can just ignore those kids.”

“That’s because you’re a girl!”

Ja-woo said. Ja-woo, who usually played the role of leader, seemed quite upset that he had been beaten.

“Those guys tried to take Aaeng-aaeng-yi’s trinket! You had your ribbon taken away last time too. You were crying your eyes out then!”

“Well, that’s true, but…”

Son Bin, who had been listening to the little ones’ stories quietly, asked Ja-woo.

“So, you fought with those kids?”

Ja-woo bit his lip.

“I, it’s because of me.”

Aaeng-aaeng-yi said in a barely audible voice from the side.

“Ja-woo and Gyeon-ja were trying to help me…”

“It’s not because of you.”

Ja-woo said with a blunt expression.

“Just you wait. I’ll definitely teach those guys a lesson someday.”

“But those kids are taller and stronger than you. They said they learn martial arts too.”

So-so chimed in again.

“Martial arts? What kind of martial arts?”

“I don’t know. Anyway, they said they’re the best in the world.”

“The best in the world?”

For a moment, Sa Ja-hyeok’s image flashed through his mind.

The images of Ok-ryong and Sa Su-yeon, and even the beauty who was with Wi Ga-jin’s group at the inn.

‘Haa.’

He thought he had sorted out his feelings quite a bit by now, but those memories suddenly popped out like this and took hold of Son Bin in an instant.

“The best in the world…”

Son Bin smiled bitterly and broke free from his short reverie. And he felt the blood slowly rushing to his head again.

No teacher would be happy that their cute disciples had been beaten.

‘Hmm.’

Son Bin paused for a moment, composing his emotions. And he said.

“Some wise man in a distant land said these words.”

The little ones all looked at Son Bin. Meeting those eyes, Son Bin said.

“How wonderful it would be if a healthy spirit dwelled in a healthy body [A Latin phrase, ‘Mens sana in corpore sano’].”

“Healthy… healthy?”

The little ones seemed confused because the same word was repeated. Son Bin stood up from his seat.

“Shall we do some training for this time?”

“Yes?”