Brother, Am I Cute? [EN]: Chapter 438

Extracurricular 13 Elementary School (2)

Bae Sang-hyun was standing in front of the main gate, holding a bouquet of flowers.

I wasn’t sure how long he’d been waiting.

He said he’d come after we were done, but now that I thought about it, I wasn’t even sure if he knew when we’d be finished. I hoped he hadn’t been waiting there the whole time.

It was a bit chilly, and he was rubbing his hands together, as if he’d been waiting a while. He could have waited in a cafe and texted me.

“Oh? It’s the art teacher!”

Siha must have spotted Bae Sang-hyun.

“Teacher!” Siha waved.

Bae Sang-hyun must have seen us too, because he smiled softly and waved back slightly.

He was kind of like a clumsy bear.

Why was he waiting here like this? It was needlessly cold. But I didn’t dislike it.

“Um. Congratulations on your entrance, Siha.”

“Thank you! Teacher, were you waiting for me? To give me these flowers?”

“Oh. Yeah. But I wasn’t waiting *waiting*. I just got here.”

“Oh!”

Siha believed him.

Of course, I could tell he wasn’t being truthful, judging by his fidgeting.

“The flowers are pretty.”

“Right?”

“Can I pluck these petals and use them to make colors?”

“Huh? W-well. Maybe?”

Was *that* the purpose of the bouquet?

It seemed his mind immediately went to making colors or using various tools, like in art class. Anything is good if it’s put to use.

“Then I’ll be going.”

I stopped Bae Sang-hyun from leaving.

“Oh? Won’t you join us for lunch or something?”

“No. Well. This is something families usually do together.”

“Still, you came all this way. Let’s eat together. Siha, is that okay with you?”

Siha plucked a petal and nodded. “Yeah. It’s just adding one more spoon. What.”

That’s what I say often…

Sometimes I hear my words copied exactly.

You can’t help being influenced when you live together, but it makes me flinch every time I hear it. Every time that happens, I feel the need to watch my mouth.

Not that I said anything rude.

“Th-then, may I intrude?”

“Yes. Let’s have lunch together.”

I headed home with Bae Sang-hyun.

It would be nice to eat out at times like this, but Uncle adamantly refused, saying, “Why go out when it’s cold?”

Well, this is fine.

“Is this your first time coming to our house?”

“That’s right.”

Siha chimed in from the side. “Teacher, my brother and uncle are at our house!”

“???”

Siha had a very confident expression on his face. He was bragging about a perfectly obvious fact, and Bae Sang-hyun looked like he was wondering how to react.

“Oh. I see. That’s amazing?”

“The art teacher knows it’s amazing too!”

“Oh? Oh, yeah.”

We opened the door while having such a conversation.

Bang! Bang!

Suddenly, fireworks exploded in front of my eyes.

An unexpected person was in the house, holding a guitar, too.

“Congratu~ lations~ Congratu~ lations~ Congratulations on your entrance! Ppoo ppoo!”

It was Seo Soo-hyun’s surprise.

And I made eye contact with Bae Sang-hyun.

“Kyaa!”

Seo Soo-hyun stopped playing the guitar and hurriedly ran to hide in the kitchen.

We were frozen in front of the entrance.

Only Siha was happy, saying, “Wow!”

*It would be embarrassing to do that in front of someone you’re meeting for the first time. Yeah!* I was honestly very flustered because I didn’t expect Seo Soo-hyun to come.

“Let’s go inside for now.”

“Oh? Oh, okay.”

Bae Sang-hyun came into the house with a dazed expression.

Hey? It’s not usually like this. It’s only special today!

Those words were on the tip of my tongue, but I gave up on saying anything.

***

“Puhaha!”

Uncle was holding his stomach and laughing.

I learned that Seo Soo-hyun’s visit was all Uncle’s plan. He prepared lunch like this to celebrate Siha’s entrance. He showed off his cooking skills and prepared a congratulatory song, but Bae Sang-hyun was a variable in the plan.

Of course, it was a variable in Seo Soo-hyun’s plan. Uncle knew that Bae Sang-hyun might come, but he didn’t say anything, to play a mischievous prank on purpose.

Now Uncle was even playing pranks on Seo Soo-hyun.

“Uncle! What’s so funny? Let me laugh with you.”

“Siha, you don’t know anything. Puhaha.”

“Uncle, you’re the one who doesn’t know anything.”

“Uncle knows everything?”

“Then, Uncle, do you know what color comes out when you pluck these petals?”

“How would I know that.”

“You said you know everything? You don’t know!”

It’s starting again.

“Is that so? Then I’ll give you a question.”

“I don’t know everything. I only know what I know.”

“You definitely said you knew everything when you were little……”

“Oh, Uncle, why are you talking about something from 10 years ago.”

“??? You’re 8 years old?”

If it’s 10 years ago, Siha wasn’t even born yet.

Uncle looked at Siha as if he was dumbfounded.

Hmm. Siha has been winning with words a lot lately. He’s finally learning how to talk.

“Si-hyuk, you’re saying the same thing as him. What’s going on.”

“What are you talking about?”

“That 10 years ago story. You said it.”

“No. I said that because you told me a story from 10 years ago.”

“That’s true.”

“Siha, you’re adapting well.”

“You’re praising that? It’s not adapted at all?”

“Anything is fine as long as we can communicate. It’s an allegory that it’s an old story! Something like that.”

“???”

Originally, when you write ‘manin’ [萬人, ten thousand people] in Chinese characters, you don’t interpret it as ‘ten thousand people.’ You say ‘all people.’ Anyway, Siha is like that.

“I don’t have anyone on my side.”

“It’s enough if Uncle is on our side.”

“What about my side?”

“Ah, that has to have a priority.”

“Tsk tsk. I was wondering who Siha took after, but he’s just like Si-hyuk.”

Siha also sets priorities: 1st place, Brother; 2nd place, Uncle; like that.

Siha said, “That’s right! I’m like my brother!”

“What is it? Why do you have such a proud expression?”

“1st place, Brother; 2nd place, Pepe; 3rd place, Uncle.”

“I’m worse than Pepe?”

To think I’d be worse than Pepe. Ah, Pepe can’t be helped. That’s how people are. They have a lot of affection for their creations, and he gave Siha a lot of money.

“Let’s stop and eat.”

I have to cut it off here. If I leave it alone, the bickering won’t end.

“Soo-hyun, did you make this?”

“Ah, yes. I worked hard to make it for Siha to eat. How is it? Were you surprised?”

“It looks amazing.”

“You haven’t eaten it yet?”

“Originally, cooking is eaten with your eyes, smelled with your nose, and finally eaten with your mouth. It already tastes good.”

“Ah. What is it.”

Uncle, who saw us doing this, said, “Hey! Stop it and eat.”

I got back the words I said.

But I ignored him and smiled slightly at Seo Soo-hyun. “Thank you. I’ll do the dishes later.”

“Ah. Oppa [term for older brother or male friend]. I’ll do the dishes too.”

“Hey. You should stop getting your hands wet and rest.”

“Hehe. Then I will.”

Uncle said again, “Dish… like hell?”

Anyway, we ate together.

Siha’s entrance was a very noisy day.

***

1st grade, 1st class homeroom teacher.

Today is the first day of class.

I saw the kids at the entrance ceremony, but I still don’t know who’s who.

The kids only need to remember one person, but I have to remember all 24 kids in the class. Even at the entrance ceremony, the mothers were there, so I couldn’t even get them all in my head while looking at each one.

However, I clearly remember that a college student-looking brother came. Actually, I know who he is: Interpreter Lee Si-hyuk.

As someone who watched the movie ‘Antz’ diligently, I can’t *not* know Lee Si-hyuk. He was such a hot topic. Of course, not that many people know him because he doesn’t go on variety shows or other programs in Korea.

But if you’re a fan of the movie or the director, you can’t help but know how ridiculous it is at that young age.

Even Siha, who was in ‘Antz,’ was there. He was a bit younger in the movie.

“Hoo.”

The homeroom teacher took a deep breath before entering.

1st grade is hard, whether it’s private or public. Especially this time, Class 1 has talents produced by that Kangin Kindergarten.

It has been said since before that the kids in Kangin Kindergarten are different. This time, there are 8 of those “different” kids.

I thought they would be torn apart [assigned to different classes], but the program must have been wrong, and they were all in one class.

I’m nervous about what kind of kids will be there.

“Hoo.”

I take one more deep breath and put on a smile. Always start the morning with a bright face. That way, the kids will receive good energy too. A smile affects the atmosphere.

Creak.

“Hello, everyone.”

Chatter chatter.

The kids must have gotten close already, as they’re all busy talking.

“Okay. The homeroom teacher is here. Hello!”

“Hello!”

“Everyone seems to have gotten close already, but you don’t know everyone yet, right? Then let’s do self-introductions. You need to know each other’s faces and names to some extent. Of course, you might not be able to memorize them right away here, but don’t worry. You’ll memorize them all as you play together. At least let’s know the names of the friends around us.”

I don’t make them do anything too unreasonable, but they need to know that these kinds of kids are around.

“Then I’ll introduce myself first.”

It’s good to do this first to show an example, because they’ve probably never done a self-introduction like this before.

“My name is Kim Hee-sun, and I’ll be the homeroom teacher for Class 1. My hobby is watching movies, and my favorite food is pasta. Let’s have a fun school life together for the next year!”

A simple introduction.

The introduction started from number 1.

The numbers weren’t in order of height or Korean alphabet. They were arranged in order of birthday. It might be easier to find names in Korean alphabetical order, but that’s from the teacher’s point of view.

At Kangin Elementary School, the children are the center. There’s a reason why it’s in order of birthday instead of Korean alphabet. If you put it in order of birthday like this, you can naturally know who’s birthday is next. Even if you can’t remember what day it is, you can think that you should get this friend a gift next time.

‘Ah. Kangin Kindergarten.’

It was Jong-soo’s turn.

“I like studying. I’m already practicing typing on the computer very hard. I want to be the top student in the whole school later.”

It was a very confident ambition. Jong-soo wanted to see the results of his hard work at elementary school this time.

Next is Jae-hwi.

“I, I’m interested in fashion. My hobby is also looking at fashion. My dream is to be a fashion designer.”

Jae-hwi lowers his head and speaks as if he’s embarrassed to stand in front of his friends, but he said what he had to say. Jong-soo in front of him appealed to himself hard, so he gained courage for that.

“Pl, please take care of me.”

Next is Eun-woo.

“Puhaha! I like rap, and rapping is my hobby. I’m going to chew everything up here later!”

The homeroom teacher thought, *This isn’t a rap battle space, so why is he saying he’s going to chew everything up?*

As expected, the kids from Kangin Kindergarten. The way they present is also different. Other kids say their names roughly, say what they like, and say hello, but the kids from Kangin Kindergarten talk specifically. They definitely had individuality.

“Puhaha. Everyone respects me, right?”

Next is Yoon-dong.

“My name is Yoon-dong. I like dancing and I’m good at it. The end.”

Rather, Yoon-dong ended it shortly, but somehow it was intense because of that. It seemed like he had something cynical that wasn’t like a child.

Next is Yeon-joo.

“Hello.”

Buzz buzz.

Some kids recognized Yeon-joo. That’s because Yeon-joo has appeared in quite a few dramas as a child actor. It wasn’t strange that there were kids who recognized her.

“My dream is to become a great actor. I want to do a lot of different works.”

Seeing the sparkling eyes when she talked about her dream, I thought she was still a child.

Next is Seung-joon.

“I like soccer the most! Raise your hand if you like soccer here! No one? Oh! Siha. Yeah. I knew you would raise your hand. No one else? Anyone who likes soccer!”

Everyone hesitated, then one or two people started raising their hands. Most of the boys raised their hands.

“Oh! Awesome! A lot of people? Then everyone knows how to play soccer, right? Let’s go out and play a game later? Uh! Call!”

He didn’t even wait for an answer, but he called the kids as he pleased.

“But we don’t have enough people. It’s okay. We can ask the next class to play soccer with us. I’ll go ask later.”

*Are you going to play soccer that much? Even on the first day after the entrance ceremony? That kind of action? Why are you so serious?*

“It would be fun if all five classes played soccer later. Don’t worry. I’m really good. Siha next to me is good too.”

The homeroom teacher let out a hollow laugh.

*Hey Seung-joon? Can you stop talking about soccer and introduce yourself?*

“Ah. That’s right. I have to introduce myself. I’m good at soccer.”

*No. Please get away from soccer now!*

Seung-joon, who had finished talking about soccer, was sitting down.

Next is Hana.

“My dream is to become an idol. I like singing and piano. I want to sing while playing the piano, but I can’t play the piano well yet, so I can’t sing, but I’ll work hard.”

Was it because I saw Seung-joon earlier? Hana looked very demure.

“Then shall I sing you a song?”

*Suddenly? Hana isn’t normal either.*

“Is this the end for me~”

Isn’t the song choice too old? Didn’t you say you wanted to be an idol earlier?

“I’ll only sing this much. Hehe.”

Clap clap clap.

Hana was singing shortly like an idol on a variety show. The skill of editing on her own was amazing.

Finally, Lee Siha started his self-introduction.

“My brother is amazing? He’s really cool! Aren’t you jealous?”

*Hey? Why is your self-introduction a brother introduction?*

The homeroom teacher’s eyes were shaking at the individuality of the Kangin Kindergarten kids.

*I’ll be able to do well for a year, right??*