Before I knew it, it was early July.
Once tomorrow’s final exam was over, summer vacation would begin.
During recess at school,
I was nourishing my mind by reading a book.
“Dohee, you’re reading another difficult book? Aren’t you studying for the test?”
Sujin came over and spoke to me.
“Yeah. I already finished.”
Sujin was the only girl I was close with.
She was cute and didn’t bother me, so I had decided to play with her.
More importantly, when I was playing with a girl, the boys were less likely to swarm around me.
“Argh!”
Except for this little brat, Park Yeongjun.
He pulled my hair again and ran away.
‘Does he really need to get hit again before he learns his lesson?’
Last time, he’d been hit with a soccer ball and cried for ages. But instead of coming to his senses, he seemed to have grown even more spiteful, because his behavior had only gotten worse.
‘Hoo… As a gentleman, I must endure.’
Lately, the frequency with which the boys bothered me had increased.
Since I never responded and just stayed still, I supposed the boys had started some sort of “Bother Lee Dohee Challenge.”
Good grief.
“Hey! Park Yeongjun! Stop it!”
Unlike me, who had already transcended the situation and remained indifferent, Sujin—who hadn’t even been the one attacked—got angry.
“What are you saying, you ugly girl!”
‘Sigh. Please let summer vacation come quickly… I miss the peaceful days before elementary school.’
“Why do you keep bothering Dohee?!”
“I bother her because she’s ugly!”
“No, she isn’t! Dohee’s pretty! Really, really pretty!”
“No, she’s not! She’s ugly!”
“She’s pretty!”
“She’s ugly!”
‘Please, just both of you be quiet…’
I felt like I was becoming childish too.
The two of them continued their petty, eight-year-old argument for quite some time, until tenderhearted Sujin finally burst into tears.
“Waaaah!”
“I won!”
‘Good grief… What a life.’
I went over to Sujin, wiped her tears, and hugged her.
“Sujin, there, there. Let’s stop crying.”
“But… sob…”
“Oh, poor thing. Were you upset? It’s okay now, there, there!”
After soothing her for several minutes, Sujin’s ragged breathing finally calmed down.
“If he does it again, I’ll scold him. This time, kind Sujin was just letting him off, okay?”
“Mm-hm…”
After barely managing to stop Sujin’s crying, I called the little brat over.
“Hey, Park Yeongjun. Come here for a second.”
“No. You come here.”
‘Should I hit him or not?’
Sigh… I was the adult here. I had to endure it.
“Hey, Park Yeongjun. Do you like me?”
“What are you talking about, you ugly girl!”
“Then why do you keep pestering me?”
“I’m not pestering you.”
“Fine. Let’s call it that. But if you bother me one more time, I’ll assume you like me.”
“Hmph, that’ll never happen!”
Please don’t. If he confessed to me, I’d beat him up.
Sigh, the short time remaining until summer vacation felt even longer.
That evening, during dinner,
“Mom, can’t I just hit the kids once?”
“They keep bothering you?”
“Yeah. I feel like I’m going crazy.”
Dad, who had been listening to our conversation, spoke up.
“Like I told you last time, they’re doing it because they like you. Boys are just like that. I used to bother your mother too.”
“Yeah, right. He was a grown man over twenty years old, not some child, and he still acted that way, so I wanted to hit him.”
“Gasp… Honey…”
“Still, your dad was practically a gentleman compared to them. Imagine some ugly brat doing that to you for an entire semester. It drives you crazy. Your mother would have to experience it herself. She wouldn’t last a month before wanting to beat him senseless.”
“Big sister, what does ‘beat him senseless’ mean?”
Little Doa repeated my words, having been sitting quietly until then.
“No, no, Doa doesn’t need to know. Your sister just misspoke, so let’s forget it, okay?”
“Lee Dohee, I told you to watch what you say in front of Doa.”
“Mom was the one who brought up beating people first.”
“When did I—”
Dad, who had been listening, interrupted again.
“From where I’m sitting, you’re both at fault.”
He was such an annoying dad, always butting in whenever Mom and I argued.
“If you think about it, this all happened because Dad bothered Mom because he liked her.”
“That’s right. It’s all your brother’s fault.”
“No… Why is this my fault again…?”
In the end, Dad was scolded and sat there looking dejected.
“Anyway, forget that. Mom, I have my final exam tomorrow.”
“Your final exam? Come to think of it, you have a test?”
I put on a deliberately sorrowful expression and said,
“You’re only finding that out now? That’s so mean. How can you be so lacking in interest in your own daughter…?”
“Stop acting.”
“Heh.”
“Mom thought you didn’t have any exams at all because you’re only in first grade. So you didn’t take a midterm?”
“Our school was selected as a pilot school, so they said we wouldn’t have midterms starting this year.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Anyway, Mom, what will you do for me if I get a perfect score on my final?”
“Our princess is obviously going to get a perfect score whether she takes the test or not, so why should I?”
“Feelings matter, you know.”
“So what do you want?”
“Buy me a cellphone. My daily life has been so boring lately.”
“Dohee always handles things well on her own, so I don’t mind. Ask your father.”
I got up from my chair, went over to Dad, climbed into his arms, and looked up at him.
“Daddyyy~ Buy me one, okay?”
Dad grinned foolishly at my display of cuteness.
“Oh, of course I’ll buy our daughter one if she gets a perfect score.”
He made the promise without hesitating for even a second.
The moment I heard Dad’s words, I slipped out of his arms.
“Yes, thank you. Please be thorough about keeping your promise.”
In our home, where schemes and stratagems ran rampant, the careless could not survive.
I sometimes wondered whether Dad got taken advantage of whenever he went out.
Dad lifted Doa, who had been sitting quietly with sad eyes, hugged her tightly, and said,
“Doa… You shouldn’t take after your sister or your mother, okay…?”
“Hm?”
“Say you understand…”
“Okay.”
.
.
.
During the math exam,
“Pass your papers to the back~”
The first-grade math exam was nothing but simple number games, so I finished everything in five minutes and lay down on my desk.
I wish every day could be exam day.
Classes ended early, and I wouldn’t have to be bothered by the other kids.
Five minutes after the teacher had handed out the test papers, she came over when she saw me lying on my desk and asked,
“Dohee, you need to solve the problems.”
“I already finished.”
“Huh?”
The teacher looked at my test paper, then covered her mouth with a shocked expression.
This was why I kept my abilities hidden.
After the math exam came the Korean exam.
There were several unexpectedly tricky questions.
12. The following is a letter asking for a bicycle. Which reason is inappropriate? ( )
Please buy me a bicycle as a birthday present for Dad.
① Riding a bicycle makes your body healthy.
② It makes your legs and arms stronger.
③ You can get to nearby places quickly.
④ I just want one.
⑤ I can ride it together with my younger sibling.
Number four: I just want one.
That worked best on Dad, though.
Still, according to social conventions, number four was probably the correct answer.
Next question.
13. What kind of house do the most people want to live in?
① A large, luxurious house.
② A house with lots of animals.
③ A large house with lots of trees.
④ A convenient and clean house.
⑤ A house with lots of entertainment facilities.
Simple. Number one.
.
.
.
“All right, the answer to number thirteen is number four~”
Huh?
After the teacher finished announcing all the answers, I went up to the podium to tell her there was an error in the question.
“Teacher.”
“Oh, Dohee. What is it?”
“I think there’s an error in question thirteen. Why is the answer number four?”
“Why? Obviously, it’s number four.”
“Isn’t it definitely number one?”
“Why?”
The teacher looked at me with an incredulous expression.
Apparently, she hadn’t considered that there could be an error in a first-grade elementary school test question.
“Let me explain. First, number two, a house with lots of animals, and number three, a house with lots of trees, are clearly houses that many people might want to live in. But since people’s preferences may differ, we can eliminate numbers two and three.”
“That’s true. And?”
“Now, if you look at the question again, it asks, ‘What kind of house do people want to live in?’ What kind of house do people want to live in?”
“Obviously, number four, a convenient and clean house.”
“No. According to statistics, people want to live in expensive places such as Tower Palace, detached houses, Itaewon, Cheongdam, and Hannam-dong. In other words, they want expensive houses.”
“Huh…?”
“Number four looks like the answer at first glance, but there’s a trap. A convenient and clean house means a house that is always cleaned. In other words, it implies that the house is small. Therefore, its price inevitably has to be low. Thus, number four can be eliminated.”
“…”
“Then why eliminate number five? A house with lots of entertainment facilities. That means the house has a swimming pool, movie theater, karaoke room, PC room, cocktail bar, gym, and all sorts of other things. In the end, a house with lots of entertainment facilities implies a large, luxurious house. But there’s a huge trap here. If it has all those facilities, then considering its scale, it isn’t a house at all. It’s a building with all those entertainment facilities as tenants. Therefore, number five can be eliminated because it’s a building, not a house. That leaves only number one.”
“Haha… I see…”
“Right?”
“Yes…”
Then the teacher took out her cellphone and called my mother.
“Hello, Dohee’s mother. This is Yoo Jiyoung, Dohee’s homeroom teacher.”
“Oh, yes, hello. Did our Dohee cause trouble again?”
“It’s not like that. We had a test today, and Dohee’s way of thinking seemed unusual in several ways—not very childlike, haha…”
.
.
.
In the end, I was given multiple correct answers and came home.
“But I was right, Mom.”
“How is a large, luxurious house the correct answer?”
“Think about it. If you had to choose between Baekhwi’s house and ours, wouldn’t you choose Baekhwi’s house?”
“That does make sense.”
“Right?”
“What do you mean, ‘right’?”
Mom grabbed my ear.
“Aaaah! Why again?”
“You’re so young, yet you’re already acting like such a materialist. I’m worried Doa will take after you.”
“Hmph, what’s wrong with me? I’m just smart.”
After Mom let go of me, I hugged Doa, who was playing with her princess dolls as usual today.
“Ahh, I wanna play dolls.”
“Big sister, play with me~”
“I don’t wanna.”
“Aw…”
Once I let Doa go, she went back to playing with her dolls.
“Doa.”
“Hm?”
“Doa, you don’t want to be like your big sister?”
“Dad said not to.”
“…”
Both Mom and Dad kept telling Doa not to take after me. Was there really something wrong with me?
In any case, I got a perfect score and obtained a cellphone, so I had accomplished my goal.
I was excited at the thought of taking tons and tons of pictures of Doa with my cellphone.