The Genius Decided To Live An Ordinary Life [EN]: Chapter 199

***

A good number of new students gathered in the spacious schoolyard.

Instead of being shut down, Eodong Elementary School had been expanded and transformed into a two-story building.

[Our Eodong National School, established in 1927 as Eodong Hanmun Private School…]

Well, it seems they want to boast about how old it is.

They got approval as an academic training center during the Japanese colonial era, then as a branch of Taeyang Public School after liberation, and finally, in 1960, they were promoted to Eodong National School, and so on and so forth.

[Last year, we signed an agreement with the promising local company General Family, and for the first time in the county, we implemented a school lunch program that was only available in big cities. We also operate after-school classes and care programs in the expanded classrooms-.]

With nearly 40 new students and a steady influx of transfer students, it would be foolish to even consider closing the school.

[…With this, we conclude the 68th entrance ceremony of Eodong National School. Our students, please move to your respective classrooms under the guidance of your teachers. Parents who wish to observe, please do so from the hallway…]

Now, the friends who no longer wear white tights and yellow clothes followed their homeroom teachers to the classrooms.

While other friends climbed the stairs one step at a time due to their short legs, Son Yujin, like a brave leader, took two steps at a time. As always, Kim Hojin and Lee Dongho were by her side.

Thump-thump-.

Finally, a student!

Son Yujin felt like shouting for joy.

But she had to hold back. Her brother had said that cheers were only for when a younger sibling was born. She had overheard her mom and dad talking at night, and it seemed like there wouldn’t be any more siblings, so maybe she wouldn’t be able to shout for joy anymore.

“Nice to meet you. My name is your teacher…”

Listening carefully to the young uncle-like teacher, she carefully examined the objects piled up next to the teacher’s desk.

Those weren’t just books.

They were books called textbooks.

Despite sitting at the back due to her height, Son Yujin’s sharp eyesight accurately identified the objects.

Thud-.

Finally, the teacher cut the string binding the textbooks.

At the same time, as if reflecting Son Yujin’s soaring expectations, her nostrils flared.

“Shall we have one student come out at a time from the back to get them?”

After receiving her textbook and returning to her seat, Son Yujin didn’t immediately put it in her bag like the other kids. Instead, she scribbled her name on the cover in crooked letters.

「Son Yujin」

I guess this is what they call touching? Moving?

Thump-thump-.

‘It’s my textbook.’

I have to study hard and become an engineer.

If I become an engineer, I’ll be better than Dad.

Maybe it was because of the overwhelming feeling, but when she stroked the book with her chubby hand, it seemed to tremble shyly.

Startled by the absurd delusion, she blinked her eyes hard when the teacher unfolded something on the desk.

A thick, green book cover made it look stiff, and because it was only about half the width of a book, it looked long and thin.

‘Ooh-, that’s the attendance book!’

Once again, Son Yujin’s keen insight was spot on.

“Starting tomorrow, when you come to school, the teacher will call your names for attendance. We’ll practice now, so when I call your name, raise your hand high and answer.”

“Yeeees-.”

The youthful voices filled the classroom, and the teacher smiled contentedly.

It’s a universally acknowledged fact that Son Yujin has an exceptional memory.

Her ability to remember and repeat exactly what someone said is beyond extraordinary. She lacks the ability to apply it due to her young age, so she can’t distinguish between time, place, and meaning, but it’s still outstanding.

– “Yujin, what did you do when the teacher called your name in kindergarten?”

Last night, her dad had asked her that while feeding the fish in the fish tank.

His expression was serious, and since her dad had called only Son Yujin aside to speak quietly, she couldn’t answer rashly. Even if she was oblivious, she couldn’t help but feel nervous.

Her brother often whispered to Yujin, but her dad was a bit of a fool.

She should just say ‘yes,’ but he didn’t know that simple thing and asked.

– “I said ‘yes’!”

– “You can’t answer like that when you go to school.”

Her dad shook his head with an even more serious expression. His eyes were closed tightly.

Of course, Son Yujin couldn’t help but be flustered.

– “Then what do I say?”

– “At school, you see…”

Ooh?

Son Yujin, having learned an unexpected fact from her dad, realized that the world was not easy. Her dad’s words that a rough world awaited her after leaving kindergarten also weighed heavily on her heart, unlike usual.

Whew-, I feel strangely nervous.

The homeroom teacher, as if already knowing their faces, made eye contact with each of the children he called out, with a kind smile.

“Kang Geonwoo.”

“Yeees-.”

“Kim Cheolsu.”

“Yeees-.”

New faces. They must have come from kindergartens elsewhere.

Looking at their pale faces and way of speaking, they seem somewhat urban.

“Kim Hojin.”

“Yep-.”

That idiot Kim Hojin. Yep-? Is he Seo Taiji [a famous Korean singer] ?

“Nam Juyoung.”

“Yes.”

That kid is also a new face, but anyway, he’s still a kindergartener.

Hey, if that’s all you can say, go back to kindergarten for another year.

Son Yujin waited for her turn with a pounding heart.

I’ll show you how a true student answers when their name is called for attendance.

I am Son Yujin, whose dad graduated at the top of his class from a place called Korea University.

“Son Yujin-.”

The homeroom teacher looked at Son Yujin, who was sitting at the back.

With the same smile, with kind eyes like the SSS uncles.

Finally!

Son Yujin didn’t avoid the teacher’s gaze and leaned back on her chair.

Now, she would wave her arm like she was chasing away a fly, act all cocky, and answer casually.

“I’m here-.”

In an instant, the eyes of all the friends, including the teacher, turned to Son Yujin.

The murmuring of the adults in the hallway also subsided.

She thought they were moved by her student-like and mature answer.

But their expressions were strange.

The friends she had been close with in kindergarten were looking at her as if she were some bizarre creature, as if they had made a pact. The same went for the friends from the chick class, the elephant class, and the giraffe class.

“Hehehehehe! That’s right! If you’re here, you say you’re here!”

Cheon Gilyong, the heavy-set man, seemed to understand Son Yujin.

Her mom, holding Jeongwon, closed her eyes with a flushed face, and the SSS uncles, as well as the other friends’ moms and dads, bared their teeth.

“Daddy-! You-! Baaa-booo-!”

Jeongwon pointed her finger and teased her dad and sister together.

Only then did Son Yujin realize that something was wrong.

It wasn’t just her imagination that she could picture her dad at work, clutching his stomach and laughing.

Her two fists, clenched without her knowing, trembled.

It wasn’t anger towards her dad.

‘I mustn’t cry.’

It was the first time in Son Yujin’s life that she had experienced embarrassment.

Her brother had said that only babies cry, the day she cried at Choi Mikyung’s house.

Son Yujin was no longer a baby. Her brother still called her a baby, but she wasn’t.

Whew-.

She suppressed the unknown emotion that welled up.

‘I miss my brother.’

Fortunately, the teacher didn’t scold her and just smiled kindly, but Son Yujin felt even more embarrassed by that.

“Okay, next is- Lee Dongho?”

“I’m here-.”

“You should say ‘yes’.”

“Yes. I’m here.”

Lee Dongho, you rascal.

He’s quite loyal, isn’t he?

“Jin Dojun.”

“Yes. I, I’m here-.”

Well, well?

***

Jinhyuk, with his younger sibling on his lap, endlessly stroked her head.

With his other hand, he patted Yujin’s small hand.

Yujin didn’t sulk or get angry.

She actually seemed happy.

“Really? Did you do that too, Oppa?”

Umm-.

Jinhyuk made a sound that was neither an answer nor a growl and just nodded.

He needed to control the rising anger.

Back when Janggun wasn’t around, he was playing marbles alone in the yard when his dad called him with a serious expression.

– “Jinhyuk, listen carefully. When a student’s name is called for attendance, they answer ‘I’m here-.’ Saying ‘yes’ is an answer for people who are not proactive and are passive. It’s an attitude that you must maintain if you want to be successful. Do you understand?”

Young Jinhyuk had just nodded in front of his dad, who was spouting difficult words. He wiped his runny nose.

– “The moment you graduate from kindergarten, you’re on your own in the world. You have to show a strong side. If someone hits you, hit them back harder, and if someone calls you, don’t answer obediently, or they’ll look down on you. My son, you can do it, right?”

His young dad’s expression was so serious that he didn’t dare to object. Unlike Yujin, he wasn’t very outgoing, so he didn’t have the courage to argue with an adult.

Besides, at that time, his dad was the only man who gave him advice and was his play partner, so Jinhyuk’s trust in his dad was absolute.

He had worried for a long time, watching the friends who answered ‘yes’.

Should I do that too, or should I do what my dad told me to do?

“Ehehehehehe-. I did it like Oppa too-!”

She’s weird, as always. Is that something to be so happy about?

Yujin took a cheering pose for the first time in a while.

Worried that his mischievous younger sibling might fall off his lap, Jinhyuk held Yujin’s waist firmly.

‘Ugh-. Why do I remember that? It’s my dark history.’

It was something from the distant past, but it came to mind because of a single word from Choi Mikyung, the high school girl.

Still, Jinhyuk was able to end the day without any resentment.

“Uhh-buh-buh-! Honeyyyy-!”

Crack-.

Fireworks exploded on his dad’s back when he came home from work.

*

Startled by the sound of the fireworks, Yujin took out a notebook.

“Oppa, let’s do dictation-.”

Formal education would start tomorrow, but who did she take after to be so eager to learn?

Jinhyuk, who was a mischievous kid, used to play ttakji [a Korean game with folded paper tiles] and marbles by himself.

Still, he couldn’t ignore his younger sibling’s request.

Having a partner in sports and studies is enjoyable and motivating.

Few people felt that more than Jinhyuk, who studied and exercised alone.

“Ung-ah-. Food. Food, food, food-.”

Jeongwon, who was sitting on the floor next to the dining table, eating her meal, called for her brother.

Even the gentle Jeongwon had some sense, so she was looking for her brother instead of her mom, who was giving their dad a lecture.

The baby’s hands, folded together with her palms facing her brother, were adorable. There were rice grains stuck all over her face, and if you just took those off and fed them to her, it would probably be enough for two spoonfuls.

“Oh my, does our Jeongwon want more food? Yujin, just a moment.”

The rice grains that were stuck on Jeongwon’s face disappeared into Jinhyuk’s mouth.

He had to give the baby new rice mixed with barley tea.

He also couldn’t forget to cut the crunchy parts of the kimchi [a traditional Korean side dish of fermented vegetables] that his mom had washed into small pieces with scissors and put them on top of the rice.

‘She’s a strange one.’

She wasn’t even two years old yet, but she had such a strong sense of independence that she would shake her head if anyone tried to feed her. She had the kind of independence that would make her answer ‘I’m here’ without hesitation on her first day of elementary school.

She was eating her rice by herself with clumsy spooning, and although she spilled a lot, she managed to eat even more.

“Okay-, shall we do Yujin’s dictation now?”

Since Jinhyuk had already completed the first year of high school through advanced learning, his own studies weren’t urgent. And as the much older eldest child, there was no time as happy as doing something with his younger siblings.

He opened the ‘Right Living’ textbook that Yujin had handed him.

“Sat on the chair.”

“Luscious fruit.”

“Shouted.”

“Made a doll.”

“Are you okay, friend?”

“A party broke out.”

“I’ll do it.”

“An endlessly wide prairie.”

The school dictation test would probably have ten questions, but Yujin was greedy and only handed over her notebook after twenty questions.

“Oppa, please grade it-.”

“Okay, let’s see.”

He had already taken the apricot-colored clothes off the red colored pencil, intending to grade it while reciting the questions.

“While I’m grading, do you want to do something else for a bit, Yujin?”

“Yes-.”

Yujin started drawing on the back of the scrap paper that her dad had brought.

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t honest- If this moment is a dream-.”

Was that a Sailor Moon song lyric?

It seemed she had learned the theme song after watching the animated movie that Jang Jinnam, who had unique tastes, had recorded, all winter long.

「Dictation

Eodong National School

1st Grade, Class 1, Number 18 Son Yujin」

He started grading with Yujin’s song as background music.

“When the night comes when I can’t even call, my heart keeps fluttering-.”

“Correct, correct, this is also correct-.”

It was a series of circles.

Yujin had even accurately placed the comma in 「Are you okay, friend?」.

What more could he teach her when an eight-year-old already properly understood how to use punctuation?

“Hmm-, this one is ambiguous.”

“Our dreamlike love shining far away in the night sky- Whyyy?”

Yujin stopped humming, startled.

“‘Endlessly’ is an adverb, so it should be written as one phrase. You have to put ‘end’ and ‘lessly’ together.”

“Ah, I see. Spacing is still difficult-.”

It’s normal for it to be difficult.

Jinhyuk thought that the level of the textbook page that Yujin had opened was too high.

It was already amazing that she could read and write Korean, but was it really easy for an eight-year-old to even worry about spacing?

“Our Yujin, it’s okay if you can’t do spacing, it won’t affect your life, so don’t be discouraged even if you get dictation wrong.”

“Ah, really? It’s okay if I can’t do dictation?”

“It’s good if you can do it well, but it’s not a big deal if you can’t. But it’s good to follow the spelling rules. Like distinguishing between ‘sit on the chair’ and ‘not hurt’. As I always emphasize, there are few things as important as expressing yourself accurately. That way, you won’t cause unnecessary misunderstandings.”

Scratch-scratch-.

Seeing her move her lips and make a scratching sound without answering right away, it seemed like Yujin was memorizing what her brother had said again.

Try memorizing this too.

“I think the problem is with the wrong regulations, not with the words or writing. And it’s definitely not the problem of people who have difficulty with spacing. But if you’ve been educated and studied, it’s good to follow the spelling rules.”

Korean is a syllabic writing system that uses a method of combining consonants and vowels horizontally and vertically. Therefore, it has the excellent characteristic of being able to read and write without any problems even without spacing. It is fundamentally different from languages like English, where it is impossible to read if you don’t write horizontally. Still, it’s good to do at least minimal spacing for readability. Jinhyuk, who was about to say that without taking a breath, held back because it seemed too harsh.

Because.

“Ummm-.”

Yujin’s eyebrows are precious.