Brother, Am I Cute? [EN]: Chapter 452

Hey, am I cute? Hey, am I cute? Side Story – Chapter 27 (452/500)

Side Story 27: It’s Dark Under the Lamp (3)

Elementary school Korean language class.

Today’s lesson starts with reading a story.

Being able to read and speak Korean is important, but the challenge is keeping the children interested.

That’s why stories like the ones in books are so helpful.

“So, who wants to read today?”

“I’ll read!” Jong-su shouted, raising his hand enthusiastically.

Since becoming class president, he’s been the first to volunteer more often.

He always had a competitive spirit, but his motivation is different now.

Before, he raised his hand to show off his knowledge and abilities, but now he raises his hand as a representative of Class 1.

“Then, Jong-su, can you read up to ‘Thank you’?”

“Yes!”

Jong-su began to read the text clearly.

“A scholar was studying in a tiled-roof house. It was night, so he used a lamp to see as he worked with his brush.”

“His mother saw this and went to the kitchen to tell the maid to prepare a snack.”

“The maid prepared rice cakes.”

“The mother took them and brought them directly to her son.”

“Son, eat this and continue studying.”

“Mother, thank you.”

The teacher praised Jong-su for reading so well.

Then, she pointed to the person behind him.

Jae-hui was startled and stood up, trembling.

“Ah, th-that… Mother, thank you.”

Jae-hui was nervously reviewing what they had already read.

He was so nervous that he repeated the line.

“The scholar studied hard again. When he was a little hungry, he ate a rice cake.”

“Hmm. Delicious. Chewy.”

“The scholar wanted to eat more after eating one, so he put another one in his mouth.”

“Now, only one rice cake remains on the plate.”

After reading this far, it was Hana’s turn.

Hana confidently began to sing.

“Hmm~ A black rice cake is left~ Yeah~”

She suddenly added a melody to the story.

“I want to eat~ more. But. There’s only. One. Left. So. Precious. So.”

“I have to save it~”

She sang as she pleased, but it wasn’t bad at all.

The teacher didn’t particularly stop her.

She always thought anything was good as long as the children were interested in studying.

Even the children who didn’t usually pay attention were smiling as they looked at the book.

“Carefully~ a hand approaches. Slooowly~ picking up the rice cake and putting it down. Anxious. Restless. Can’t settle down~ drops it~”

Sometimes she added words, and sometimes she omitted them.

The teacher knew that Hana was very interested in music, but she never thought she would create melodies and sing stories like this.

She was about to stop her and have the next person read, but Eun-woo was sitting there because the groups had changed.

“Let’s get it!”

“Eun-woo, let’s only use Korean during Korean language class.”

“Let’s buy that.”

“I’m not asking you to interpret it; I’m asking you to read what’s here.”

“Puhaha! Yes~”

Eun-woo began to read the story.

“The scholar looked for it. He looked for the black rice cake. What a rice cake-like thing to happen? It’s nowhere to be seen.”

“The end of studying is nowhere to be seen either. It’s dark, so I can’t see it. Like inside a folded blanket.”

He started rapping, implying that he had looked under the blanket while looking for the black rice cake.

*Is the fact that the end of studying is nowhere to be seen an experienced story?*

“It’s dark. It’s dark. More, more, more. Where is it?”

“It’s dark. It’s dark. More, more, more. Is it here?”

Eun-woo even added a hook [a catchy, repeating musical phrase].

“Studying is put on the back burner. Searching until morning! The sound is heard~ Cock-a-doodle-doo.”

Eun-woo finished with a rooster’s crow and sat down.

The teacher didn’t know what to do, but she decided to proceed as is.

The last one was the person behind Eun-woo, and Si-ha was there.

*She’ll do it properly, right?*

“The room became bright. Finally, the rice cake was visible.”

“Ah. It’s under the lamp. It was the darkest here, so I couldn’t see it.”

“The scholar was glad he found the rice cake. He moved around while searching, so he was hungry and ate the rice cake right away. The scholar was very satisfied with eating the rice cake.”

“This is the idiom ‘It’s dark under the lamp,’ which means not being able to find something that is close by. The end.”

Fortunately, Si-ha spoke clearly.

Strangely enough, she understood all of Eun-woo’s rap and started at the exact point.

“You should hold the lamp and shine the light while searching. What an idiot.”

Of course, there was one more word.

But that was also true.

Since it was dark, he could have quickly found the rice cake if he had held the lamp and shone the light.

“But teacher.”

“Yes?”

“Why is it a black rice cake?”

“Huh?”

“Why did you give a black rice cake to make it invisible?”

“Didn’t the author write it that way on purpose to make it invisible?”

“The maid is the culprit!”

“???”

*No. I said the author wrote it that way on purpose?*

*Did she take it that the maid wrote it on purpose?*

The teacher was about to correct her, but Yeon-ju spoke up.

“That’s right! The maid is the culprit. But Si-ha.”

“Yes?”

“Originally, there should be something good for me in this. So, the maid isn’t the only culprit. There’s another real culprit who ordered the maid.”

“!!!”

Yeon-ju’s eyes sparkled as if she had been watching some investigative dramas lately.

The real culprit was always the one who benefited in dramas.

Si-ha asked.

“Who is it?”

“It’s the mother.”

“???”

“She was the stepmother.”

“???”

“The stepmother has her own child, and she wants her own child to do better, so she committed this act.”

Yeon-ju was also watching melodramatic dramas these days.

The teacher was confused about whether to praise these amazing theories or not.

And Yeon-ju becomes talkative when it comes to movies or dramas.

Because everyone is like that when they talk about what they like.

Si-ha said.

“But I don’t think that’s right.”

Surprisingly, Si-ha gave a dissenting opinion.

The teacher nodded.

*Right. No matter what, it wouldn’t be such a story. Si-ha knows too. That this is an impossible story.*

“Why?”

“Because the younger sibling likes the older sibling.”

“???”

The teacher also had a question mark in her head.

*Why is the older sibling suddenly coming out?*

“Yeon-ju, it was dark under the lamp for you.”

“Ah……”

Yeon-ju nodded as if she understood something.

The teacher looked back and forth between the two, not knowing what was going on.

“Um. Si-ha.”

“Yes?”

“What do you mean?”

“Teacher, look. If she’s the stepmother’s child, then he’s the scholar’s younger sibling.”

“Yes.”

“It’s natural for the younger sibling to like the older sibling, right?”

“Why is that natural??”

“I know because I’m the younger sibling.”

“Ah, okay. Let’s say that’s true.”

“So, the stepmother won’t do anything to be hated because she knows that she likes him.”

“I see. Si-ha and Yeon-ju are both amazing! You all did well!”

Clap clap clap.

The teacher wanted to refute many parts in her mind, but she ended this story with clapping.

“Do you have any more questions? It doesn’t matter if it’s a deep question or a shallow question.”

The story had unfolded so tremendously that no one raised their hand.

Okay. Let’s move on with the lesson.

“Okay. Let’s look at the textbook. Let’s talk about whether you have the same experience as the scholar’s story.”

*I guess they’re talking about the experience of not being able to find something that’s close by.*

Everyone has experienced it at least once.

Seung-jun raised his hand with a bright smile.

“Teacher.”

“Yes?”

“I’ve never had a stepmother, what should I do?”

*That’s not the story!*

*I’m not talking about the added story!*

Another child asked a question.

“I don’t have an older sibling either, what should I do?”

“I’ve never ordered a maid to make it invisible either.”

The teacher put on a smile and said.

“Everyone. There’s no such story in the textbook. And the problem here is to talk about the experience of not noticing something that was close by.”

*This is why Korean language is important.*

*You have to clearly understand the intention of the questioner.*

*If you think too deeply like Si-ha or Yeon-ju, you can’t even find the easy answer.*

*That’s what it means to be dark under the lamp.*

“My uncle was covering the remote control with a pillow, but I couldn’t find it.”

The teacher was wrong.

Si-ha was surprisingly writing down the correct answer.

Yeon-ju was the same.

They were causing confusion among the children, but they were writing down the correct answers…

Around this time, there is something I’m really curious about.

What on earth did the children at Gang-in Kindergarten learn there?

The homeroom teacher wanted to meet the kindergarten teacher at least once.

*I wish I could see her face!*

***

Warm sunlight came into the cafe.

There are shadows created by it. Chairs, desks, shelves, and even the piano.

A dark shadow is deeply colored under the black-painted piano.

The concentration of black was different, so it wasn’t to the point of being confused with the shadow.

The color had faded that much, and it needed to be repainted once again.

The used piano placed on the second floor.

Seo Soo-hyun dragged the piano out to the second floor.

Because it’s not appropriate to do the painting work inside the cafe.

The contractor’s car came and took the piano.

Seo Soo-hyun followed along.

Before she knew it, they arrived, and Si-ha, Si-hyuk, and Bae Sang-hyun were there together.

“The piano is old.”

Si-ha stroked the surface of the piano.

Seo Soo-hyun thought Si-ha’s expression was funny.

Perhaps the expression that it’s old because it’s used is correct.

But even so, the sound is fine.

Of course, it’s true that it needs to be tuned once.

“Preparing the canvas is the beginning of the painting, no matter what it is.”

Bae Sang-hyun said, looking at Si-ha.

Today, Si-ha’s biological father also followed.

He said he would look at the painting, but in fact, he just came to see if Si-ha was doing well.

Bae Sang-hyun also prepared the materials.

“Are you making a black canvas?”

“It doesn’t have to be black. It can be white, pink, or yellow.”

“Hmm.”

“The canvas will be different depending on what Si-ha wants to draw. After all, this canvas itself will be the background.”

“Ah! Then you’re painting the background, not making a canvas?”

“That’s right.”

It’s a work of creating a canvas and creating a background at the same time.

Si-ha hesitated about what color to choose and chose black.

“I want to do the black color I learned.”

“Are you doing it because you learned it?”

“No. There’s a picture I want to draw.”

“Okay. Then shall we paint it?”

“Yes!”

“First, we’ll fill the scratches with putty.”

“Puppy? A puppy?”

“No. Putty is something that is used to attach window frames. Um. There’s a window here. Do you see the white part here?”

“Yes!”

“That’s putty.”

“The name putty is cute.”

Bae Sang-hyun pursed his lips.

Because Si-ha saying that was even cuter.

“It hardens quickly, so you have to do it quickly. Like this on the scratch.”

He started filling the scratches with putty.

“It’s like applying medicine to a wound.”

“Yes. Like applying medicine to a wound.”

Bae Sang-hyun smiled at Si-ha’s warm expression.

The actual work is like that.

“You have to fill in even the smallest scratches to make a smooth piano.”

“Putty, make it heal quickly.”

“Puhup.”

When Si-ha found all the scratches here and there, Bae Sang-hyun started working.

Seo Soo-hyun was amazed that Si-ha found them all like that.

She was really finding even the smallest scratches.

*Is that what it’s like to have good eyes?*

“Now we have to take off all the exterior parts. The lid and things like that.”

The contractor was entrusted with the part to disassemble.

The contractor also had this experience for the first time.

*What art teacher does this kind of painting class with an 8-year-old?*

The contractor was very embarrassed when he first heard the story.

And what’s even more embarrassing is that the art teacher knows the piano painting work well.

“We’ll have to take the keys off separately and get rid of the accumulated dirt.”

“Wash them?”

“Yes. But we’ll leave that to the contractor. We’re only going to do the painting.”

Bae Sang-hyun let Si-ha choose the black concentration.

And they worked on the painting together.

The piano was getting darker and darker.

The black canvas that is the base of the picture drawn on it.

Or the black color that will decorate the background to make the picture stand out more.

Si-ha’s biological father, Bae Sang-hyun, was helping her with that.

Only Si-hyuk knew that.