3. Five
Broadcasting station waiting room.
I was drinking the drink the PD gave me, and my parents were getting ready to go home.
Then someone knocked on the waiting room door.
It was reporter Kim Deuk-jong.
He was an acquaintance of his father’s friend, a reporter in the social affairs department of the broadcasting station, and although I do not know the details, in fact, today’s live broadcast was also a place made up of his strong recommendation.
Reporter Kim Deuk-jong greeted the parents who were packing their luggage and approached me.
He lowered his body, met eye level, and did not spare praise for watching the broadcast.
When the compliment was finished, he turned his head slightly to check his parents, and said in a low voice that only I could hear.
“The math professor said that you didn’t solve it on purpose knowingly?”
I stared at him for a moment and replied with a broad smile.
“I couldn’t solve it because I didn’t know.”
He opened his eyes thinly and said to me.
“really? Wouldn’t it be a pity to go home like this without being able to show off my skills?”
“Not at all. I don’t think I’m that genius.”
He said still with a look of disbelief.
“If you change your mind later, please call me. I’ll try to make room for you again.”
I shook my head.
“no. It won’t happen.”
He smiled and handed me his business card.
“You don’t know? Will you change your mind?”
I took his business card and handed it to him again.
I said to him that he could have it.
“I memorized it all.”
* * *
On the bus back home.
Father sighed one after another, but mother’s expression looked brighter than when she came to the station.
My mother looked into my father’s eyes and said to me.
“Our Jeong-ho, are you okay?”
I nodded vigorously.
“yes. it’s okay.”
“Aren’t you disappointed that you didn’t solve the second problem earlier?”
“no. I was not disappointed.”
My mother said while stroking my hair.
“Yeah, Mom wasn’t disappointed either. But, is it fun for Jung-ho to solve such difficult math problems?”
Meanwhile, I was learning math from my father.
Every time I solved a difficult problem, my father praised me, so I was vaguely thinking that I like solving math problems.
I wondered about my mother’s question.
Do I really like solving math problems?
Maybe he liked his father’s praise?
After thinking for a while, I realized that I really like math.
Although my past life has been a mess, I have no regrets about choosing mathematics.
From majoring in mathematics at university and graduate school, challenging Poincaré’s guess as an assistant professor, and even returning to Korea to teach middle and high school mathematics at an entrance examination academy… Math was everything in my life.
And I will choose mathematics in this life as well.
But not now.
A little more time passes, and when it is time to enter college, it will not be too late to start.
I said to my mother waiting for an answer.
“Mom, I don’t like solving math problems.”
My mother looked a little surprised at my words.
Then my father intervened.
“Why are you asking the kid about useless things?”
Mother’s voice rose a little at the father’s words.
“Why is it useless? To be honest, I didn’t like it from the start.”
At the mother’s harsh words, the father coughed and turned his head out of the bus window.
* * *
A week after returning from the station.
Everything went differently than in the past.
There were no newspaper articles related to me, and of course no one recognized me.
Except for the locals, of course.
It was fortunate.
One day, I was playing with Youngmi at the playground.
Then someone hit the back of my head.
“Aww!”
was the same
A fellow initiate who was one year older than me hated me especially.
I don’t know why.
One thing is certain: Dong-soo in the past life has persistently tormented me until the day I emigrated to the United States.
Last life I did not go to school to receive gifted education.
So, there weren’t many encounters with fellow initiates.
But now things are different.
Since he has decided to live a normal life, next year he will be entering the only Southwest Public School in the neighborhood, and he will constantly run into fellow initiates at school.
At this point, I need to change Dongsoo’s habit… .
How could there be no better way?
Dongsu is bigger than his peers.
So, it seems difficult for me, who is dwarf, to overpower Dong-soo by force.
In an instant, a shrill voice was heard.
“Our Jeong-ho, don’t bully me!”
match!!
Dong-soo slapped Young-mi on the cheek.
Without thinking, I rushed to the initiate.
Although he was a large fellow initiate, he was pushed by me and fell backwards.
So what happened?
The result was the same as last life.
* * *
past life.
Because it was 2013… .
It must have been 7 years before I died.
One day, Youngmi held out her phone.
It was an internet article.
It was reported that the surgical treatment of paroxysmal epilepsy was possible.
The operation method was explained in quite detail, and the approximate cost of the operation was calculated in my head based on the contents of the article.
Because it was a surgery using a super-precision robot, there was no need to incise the skull, so it was a surgical technique that guarantees much higher safety than the existing surgical method.
These surgeries are not covered by health insurance.
At least tens of thousands of won will be required for the operation.
Youngmi read my expression and said.
“Don’t worry about the cost of surgery. How can I afford that?”
“Young-mi… do not do that.”
“… … .”
I bowed my head, and silence fell between Yeong-mi and me.
I lowered my head and opened my mouth.
“Young-mi, it’s okay to stop now. You’re clinging to me like this… I can’t see it either.”
Youngmi smiled and said.
“Did you set the mood like this just to talk about it?”
“… … .”
“Chae Jung-ho, I used to be a real macho man… Ha—, it was really cool back then… But now… Will you cry like a baby in a little while? yes?”
You said he was a macho man? I?
read at noblemtl.com
No matter how much I thought about it, I was far from a macho atmosphere.
Youngmi smiled and said.
“why? I do not remember? When we were young, our name was Park Dong-soo… The guy who bullied you?”
I nodded, and Youngmi continued.
“Are we seven years old? That kid slapped me on the cheek. At that time, you had a big fight with fellow initiates.”
By the way… Hmm… Is it correct to say that it was a fight?
Youngmi continued with a happy expression.
“At that time, Chae Jung-ho was really cool… .”
* * *
Youngmi in the past life may have thought that I was cool, but the actual situation was very different from her memories.
I was beaten hard by Dong-soo.
In fact, I was beaten much more seriously than the expression ‘Hum Shin’.
The one-sided beating was over only after the supermarket owner, who was passing by the playground, ripped the fellow water out, and the supermarket aunt who saw my left arm was broken, contemplated and called an ambulance.
This forced me to be hospitalized for over two weeks, but in my past life, I did not fully appreciate the severity of this incident of violence.
Just because it was fun and good to be in the hospital.
Even now, thinking about the joy that a genius boy who became famous nationwide received from his sisters is heartening.
read at noblemtl.com
Not only me, but my parents as well.
In the mid-1980s, it was unthinkable to file a lawsuit for fighting with children, and fighting between boys was considered a common occurrence in the neighborhood.
I didn’t know the details, but I only heard the news that Dong-soo’s father had met my father and said he was sorry.
However, Dong-soo’s father did not come to visit me in the hospital.
Four days after I was admitted to the hospital, Dong-su and Dong-soo’s mother appeared in the hospital.
My mother went out of the hospital room with Dong-soo’s mother, and Dong-soo reluctantly reached out and said he was sorry to me.
“Sorry. Well… But even if you didn’t attack me back then… I wouldn’t have been so angry… .”
read at noblemtl.com
No matter how young you are, what kind of words are you calling an apology?
I looked straight at Dongsu and said.
“Dongsoo hyung, what are you sorry about?”
“what?”
“Are you sorry for me now? What are you sorry for?”
“This is pak! Seed! Are you still begging for the little one to die? yes?”
I had no intention of going through this as good as my parents did.
I know Dongsu well.
In the past life, Dong-soo really hated me disgustingly.
In this life, I will not just live like this.
In particular, there is one national school and one middle school in the neighborhood, one for the Southwest National School and one for the Southwest Middle School.
You will have to serve him as your senior for 9 years.
So, it was decided that this incident of violence should not be overlooked.
I said to my fellow
“I knew it.”
“What?”
“I don’t think Dong-soo would feel sorry for me at all.”
“What? Is this bastard still out of his mind?”
Dong-soo grabbed my neck with one hand.
“Cuck… .”
“By the way, didn’t you get hit a little less a few days ago? Shall I cut off my right arm today too?”
A smile spread across the face of the fellow-super who strangled me, and I was only struggling with my breath.
At that time, the voice of an uncle sharing the same room broke through the room.
“What are you doing!”
Dong-soo said, stroking my head with the hand that was strangling my neck.
“haha! We are kidding.”
I said with a rough breath.
“no. Dude, I’m not joking. This bastard tried to kill me!”
Dong-soo’s mother and Dong-soo’s mother entered the hospital room with a bewildered expression on their face.
As soon as Uncle finished explaining, Dong-soo’s mother slapped Dong-soo on the cheek, and, mate! A voice echoed through the hospital room.
The sound of slaps on Dong-soo’s cheek continued several times, and both cheeks of Dong-soo soon turned reddish-red.
When the situation became like this, the uncle’s face was full of bewilderment, and in the end, after my mother hugged him and told him not to hit him, his mother’s hand stopped.
at that time… It’s a very brief moment… .
i saw
A faint smile was painted on the face of Dong-su’s mother.
When my mother hugged Dong-su to stop beating him, Dong-su’s mother was obviously smiling with a creepy smile.