Brother, Am I Cute? [EN]: Chapter 444

Hyung, am I cute? Hyung, am I cute? Extra Story – Episode 19 (444/500)

Extra Story 19: Homework (1)

When kids go to school or taekwondo, they get homework.

Kids’ homework often becomes Mom’s homework.

Or they’re left to do it themselves.

There’s no single right answer in children’s education.

You can see that just by looking at how educational methods have continued to change and develop.

I don’t really know what education is either.

I’m just passing on what I learned from my father.

I was one of those who worked hard to defend my position since I was young, whether it was homework or anything else.

But Siha is different from me, so I have to adapt to his needs.

I have to trust him.

“Siha, did your teacher give you homework?”

I asked Siha, who was watching TV after taekwondo.

Siha blinked and nodded.

“Yes! I have homework!”

“Okay. What is it? Do you have to do it today?”

“The teacher said I can do it by next week.”

Since he’s only in the first grade, it seems like they give homework on a weekly basis.

Still, the amount is considerable.

I don’t know if it’s because it’s a private school or if other schools are like that too.

“It’s memorizing a pop song. A pop song.”

“A pop song?”

“Yes! We do it in English class and music class too.”

“I see.”

Gangin Elementary School aims to produce global talents, so they have an English class.

It’s included as an after-school activity.

I heard that the class focuses on conversation.

Listening and reading comprehension will be studied throughout high school anyway, so they focus on conversation because it’s a different skill.

“What’s the title of the pop song?”

“Lemon Tree. Hyung. Shall I show you?”

Lee Siha suddenly gets up.

And sings the song, with gestures.

When the word ‘see’ comes out, he makes glasses with his hands and leans his head forward.

To express waiting, he taps his wristwatch with his index finger and looks around.

Driving is expressed by grabbing an imaginary steering wheel and moving it.

It was a very intuitive performance.

I heard it’s focused on conversation, so is this how they associate concepts in chunks?

“Lemon tree! Ooh-woo-uh-uh~ Yeah~ Ya-ah-ah-ah~ Hoo~woo-woo-uh-uh~”

Was the original song with a lot of vibrato?

Ah, our Siha has a talent for music, so he arranged it! Anyway, that’s it!

Maybe he’s imitating Seo Su-hyun’s singing.

That song originally has a lot of ad-libs!

“Wow. Siha.”

“Yes?”

“You’ve already memorized it all?”

“Yes! I know this song. I learned it at the daycare center.”

As expected of Gangin Daycare Center.

It was worth having him preview songs since he was young.

“Do you know all the meanings too?”

“Um. I knew it roughly when I was young, but now I know it all, because I’m an elementary school student now.”

Being an elementary school student is a big deal.

But it seems like he knew it roughly even when he was young.

He would have known things like what a lemon tree is.

“Do you think you’ll be able to communicate well in English now?”

“I’m already good at it.”

“That’s true.”

Learning how to memorize English songs in chunks seems like a very good method. But Siha is ahead of the level because he has been practicing conversation since his uncle came.

He’s been abroad a bit too.

As I spent time talking like that, I couldn’t help but speak English well too.

I didn’t think that time was wasted.

As an interpreter, I always have to loosen my mouth and keep using it.

“Then you’re done with your homework?”

“No. I have math homework.”

“You have math homework too?”

“Yes.”

“Is it difficult?”

“I don’t know.”

“Okay. Do your homework diligently.”

“Okay.”

Siha brought his math homework.

I was curious about what the problem was, and it turned out to be a problem involving the concept of addition and subtraction.

There was a picture of 3 rabbits and 4 mice coming to play.

The instructions said to talk about the picture.

“There are 3 rabbits, and 4 mice came to play together. So there are 7 animals.”

Yeah. Yeah. That seemed like the right answer.

I think it’s so cute to write the answer while talking.

I have to take a picture of this.

“But the mice said I have to go to taekwondo and 2 mice left. So one, two, three, four, five. There are five left.”

Suddenly a story begins?

Siha, that’s math homework. You don’t have to write more than that. Still, our Siha has a concept of subtraction.

“Now there are 3 rabbits and 2 mice, so there are more rabbits.”

Knowing who has more is also important.

Because you need to know which number is bigger.

You have to be able to compare.

“The rabbits and mice fought.”

Suddenly?!

“One rabbit fell down. Keuh. Don’t let the enemy know of my death,” he said.

No. How do you know that famous line?

Did you learn it from Teacher Yoo Da-hee?

But they fought so openly that everyone would know even if they didn’t tell them.

“There was a troublemaker among the rabbits, so he said, ‘One rabbit died!'”

You’re saying that? What a bad guy.

“Now there are 2 rabbits and 2 mice, so the numbers are the same. And they reconciled and lived happily ever after.”

How can they reconcile when one person died?

Did they get a huge profit? Or what?!

“I wrote all the answers!”

That…. Siha, I don’t think the teacher wanted such a long answer?

And the spelling is so wrong. It seems hard to dictate.

Since it’s math homework, I think it’s okay to tell him the spelling.

“Siha, the spelling is wrong.”

“Really?”

“Yes. If you get this many wrong, you might not get a good score on the dictation test.”

“What is dictation?”

“It’s when you write down what they say. Siha, you wrote while talking to yourself, right?”

“Yes.”

“That’s dictation.”

I’m glad I had him do learning materials so he could read and write Korean.

I didn’t expect the school to give this kind of homework.

Wait? Could it be that they gave this math homework to train dictation together?

Thinking about it, the teacher is amazing.

To try to handle it all at once like this.

I don’t know if this is math homework or Korean homework.

Whatever it is, it seems helpful.

“The school teaches really well.”

“Hyung is amazing!”

“???”

What algorithm did you go through to get the answer that Hyung is amazing?

“I learn well.”

The school teaches well, but I learn well. I’m like Hyung. Therefore, Hyung is amazing.

What an amazing way of thinking.

“Hahaha.”

I could only laugh.

“Is it really over now?”

“No. I have taekwondo homework too.”

How much homework is there?

Actually, it’s not that much.

At best, memorizing an English pop song, 4 math problems, and taekwondo homework.

“What is it?”

“I have to respect Hyung and Uncle.”

“???”

“Respect Hyung.”

“You mean revere, not respect.”

“Yes. Respect. No, revere!”

At that, Uncle popped out.

“Yes. You said it well!”

He was hiding while Siha was doing his homework, but he comes out as if it’s natural when he hears these words.

He only comes out when it’s advantageous to him.

“Okay. Do it quickly.”

Uncle sits on the sofa and claps his thighs.

I don’t even want to do it because he’s doing that.

Siha turns his head and looks at me.

“Hyung, thank you for making me food and taking care of me today. Thank you for asking me about my homework.”

“Yes. Yes. I’m also thankful that you said thank you.”

“Hehe.”

Uncle says.

“Hey. What about me?”

“Uncle was rolling around on the sofa and wasn’t there when I was doing my homework. Uncle should be thankful to me. I even taught you taekwondo.”

Yeah. Yeah. That’s right. All he did was tease Siha.

Well, it seems to have had a good effect on Siha sometimes, and sometimes it doesn’t.

I should be thankful for the example of learning from others’ mistakes.

I shouldn’t be like that when I grow up, right?

“Hey. How well did I do for you? Look. I? I even taught you how to hold a hammer upside down and hit it. Uh?! I also taught you that a preemptive strike is always a victory, uh?!”

It seems like he only taught him very useless things?

“I’m going to teach you how to professionally manipulate public opinion or something later, uh?!”

Don’t teach him such strange things! What are you trying to teach an elementary school student?!

“Aren’t you thankful even after this?”

“Umm. I don’t need it.”

“Why? Why don’t you need this? You’ll need it all someday.”

“Because Uncle will do it all for me!”

“???”

“Uncle will do it all for me, so I’ll be thankful. Thank you.”

“Something’s wrong?”

“Why? Are you thankful because you’re thankful?”

“So, if you cause an accident, I’ll clean it up and work hard. Is that what you’re saying?”

“I would never cause an accident. I’m Hyung’s brother.”

“What is Hyung’s brother anyway?”

Uncle looked at Siha with an absurd expression.

“I’m worried about Uncle. I’m worried that he might cause an accident somewhere. Hyung will take care of Uncle later.”

“Clean up, right, right. You’re saying it like Si-hyuk is trying to kill me.”

If you cause an accident, I’ll kill Uncle.

Uh? That’s not necessarily wrong, is it?

“I’ll be very thankful if Uncle doesn’t cause an accident.”

“You need to learn reverence again from the beginning.”

“Then I’ll learn well and teach Uncle. Uncle has to take the class. Okay?”

At that, Uncle turns his head.

“Aigo~! No way~!”

“No. I’ll teach you!”

It’s more of a loss to receive the transmission of teachings than to be revered.

Well, it seems like I did my homework hard today.

***

Seung-joon and Hana’s house.

Hana is diligently doing her homework.

Since she does piano practice as homework every day, she had a habit from the beginning.

“Oppa [Older brother – term used by females], aren’t you doing your homework?”

“Later~”

If Hana is the type to do her homework as soon as she gets home, Seung-joon is the type to put it off.

Seung-joon’s mom wants them to do it together, but children don’t always do as they please.

It’s hard to do things twice, but she’s struggling because the twins’ tendencies are gradually diverging.

“Seung-joon, you should do your homework early so it won’t be annoying later.”

“Mom, I need a break. We have to rest after soccer too.”

Seung-joon is lying on the floor.

Hana shook her head at Seung-joon.

“He’ll be in a hurry later. Oppa, I’m not going to show you my answers.”

“Why! Let’s look together.”

“You have to work hard on your own.”

“I’m good at soccer, so I don’t have to study.”

Seung-joon’s mom answered that.

“You should study even more because you’re good at soccer.”

“Why?”

“If you’re good at math later, the shot will go right in based on your calculations.”

“Eh.”

“It’s real, you know?”

“Then does Mom kick the ball and it goes right in based on the calculation?”

Perhaps she didn’t expect this kind of counterattack, Seung-joon’s mom was speechless.

“Ahem. You have to do your English homework too. You might play soccer in another country later, so you have to talk to the players well then.”

“Oh? That’s right!”

He seems to be doing his English homework anyway.

“But Mom.”

“Yes?”

“I’ve memorized all the songs. I memorized this before.”

“Ah. Really?”

“Yes. Hana must have memorized it all too?”

Hana originally likes songs, so she tries to memorize all the lyrics if possible.

If you sing it repeatedly several times, you will automatically memorize it even if you don’t try to.

“Anyway, you have to be good at math too.”

“Why?”

“You can’t even calculate money when you go abroad later. Then it’ll be hard. It’s hard to get a salary.”

“Ah, that’s right.”

Seung-joon nodded as if he understood.

He spread out the same math homework as Siha.

“3 rabbits and 4 mice. They came to play soccer.”

“???”

“But the numbers don’t match, so one mouse can be the referee.”

“???”

“Then 6 animals are playing soccer.”

Seung-joon’s mom tilted her head.

That’s not a math problem, is it?

Anyone could see that 3 plus 4 equals 7. Why is the answer 6?

“There are a total of 7 animals on the field. The end!”

The direction is a bit strange, but anyway, there were 7 animals.

Hana watched her brother do it carefully and started to follow him.

“Then I’ll make 3 rabbits Korean and 4 mice Chinese and make an idol group.”

Suddenly it was an idol group.

“Since it’s a male idol group, the 3 rabbits will go to the army together later [mandatory military service in South Korea]. The remaining 4 Chinese mice will continue their idol activities.”

The poor rabbits enlisted together.

“Later, they came back and there were 7 of them.”

Somehow the result was 7.

Seung-joon’s mom was confused as to whether this was the right way to do math homework.

Seeing that this is the answer, it seems right and it seems not.

I was very curious about what kind of evaluation the teacher would give after seeing this homework.