33. Hanon Thirty Seven
I spoke to the volunteer college student in a low voice.
“There is a student in front of me wearing a gray coat. It’s like pulling something out of the pocket inside your coat and looking at it.”
“Really?”
I nodded.
After a while, two volunteer college students headed to Lim Yeon-ji’s seat.
They checked Lim Yeon-ji’s coat, and immediately took Yeon-ji to the front of the auditorium.
That was then.
A man’s commotion was heard from the back of the auditorium.
“What happened to me just now? Is it cheating?”
“It is being tested. be quiet.”
“I am a journalist. It came from a Korean newspaper.”
When I heard that it was a Korean newspaper, I glanced back.
Also… He was a century journalist.
“It is being tested. Do not disturb!”
“It’s not… The people’s right to know… .”
“If you keep making noise, I will force you to leave!”
“… .”
I raised my hand again.
Another volunteer college student approached me, and I handed her a question paper and an answer sheet and said:
“The problem is so difficult that I want to give up… Can I leave now?”
“Yes, you can turn the answer sheet upside down and put it on the desk, quietly pack your belongings and go out the back door.”
I picked up my bag and walked towards the back door of the auditorium.
The moment you step out of the auditorium… .
Someone grabbed my wrist.
His left arm was tingling.
“Hey! student!”
As expected, he was a century-old journalist.
“There was a girl who was taken away by the supervisors a while ago. did you hear what that was?
I stared at the face of a century-old journalist for a moment.
Judging by the look on his face, he didn’t seem to recognize me.
I changed my facial expression and opened my mouth.
“ah… ! Is it him?”
“Who are you?”
I nodded and said.
“By the way… this arm… .”
He then released my arm and said.
“It seemed like cheating, right?”
I looked at the people around me and said.
“I… Here, a little… .”
A reporter from a century who noticed my intentions said.
“ah… ! okay.”
We moved into a quiet corner of the hallway, and a reporter from the century opened his mouth.
“What happened to that girl earlier?”
“At first glance, I thought he had a cheat sheet.”
“ah… ! okay? It was also cheating. But you think you know who that girl is?”
“Yes, he is a famous boy in Namseo Middle School.”
“So, are you in the same school?”
I shook my head and said.
“No, I’m from Northwest Boys Middle School.”
“Then it’s a different school, how… ?”
“Yeonji, she lives in my neighborhood. Northwest-dong central apartment.”
“Yes, yes. But is the child’s name Yeonji?”
“Yes, this is Lim Yeon-ji.”
Reporter Han Century asked, dictating what I said in his notebook.
“What do you mean when you say Lim Yeon-ji is famous?”
I sighed a little and said.
“that is… A little… .”
“why? What’s going on?”
“It’s kind of hard for me to talk about. Listen for yourself. I will give you my contact information.”
“You want to hear it yourself?”
“Yes, the pager number is 01X-388-3888, and ask them to show you a picture from the science contest burn incident.”
He dictated the pager number and asked.
“Can you tell me what’s going on?”
Instead of answering, I said, pointing my finger at the other side of the hallway.
“ah… ! That person over there must be the lead teacher at Southwest Middle School. Ask him about Lim Yeon-ji, too.”
Reporter Han Segi turned his head to check his homeroom teacher and said to me.
“Yes, I will. But can you tell me more about the science contest burn incident? And what’s your name?”
I said with arrogance on my face.
“Actually, I have a stomach ache… I came out to go to the bathroom and gave up the exam. uh… ! It looks like the teacher at Namseo Middle School is going out?”
Reporter Han Segi ran towards the homeroom teacher without saying a word of thanks.
* * *
It was two days ago.
When I came home from school, my science teacher was at my house.
Both mother and teacher had serious expressions on their faces.
my mother told me
“Jungho, would you like to go to Youngmi’s house for a moment?”
Because of my mother’s serious expression, I couldn’t ask why.
The moment you put your bag down on one side of the living room and leave the house… .
The doorbell rang.
When I opened the door, Youngmi’s mother was gasping for breath with a recalled expression on her face, and it seemed that she had run up the stairs to the fifth floor one step at a time.
I spent time at Yeongmi’s house preparing for the Mathematical Olympiad with Yeongmi, and only returned home in the dark evening.
After dinner, my mother handed me a picture and said:
“Mom worried a lot… Jung-ho, I think you should know, so I’m showing you.”
The picture was taken in a laboratory during a science contest.
There were a total of four photos, and the first two photos showed Southwest Middle School Group B conducting an experiment.
In the two photos, Lim Yeon-ji was wearing a white blouse.
The third photo was a photo of students from another school, and in the upper right corner of the photo, Yeonji wearing a dark gray coat had her right hand covered with the sleeve of her coat and pushed the beaker away.
And the last and fourth picture.
It was also a picture of students from another school, but in one corner of the picture… .
I could see Lim Yeon-ji just before jumping to our table.
Lim Yeon-ji’s left hand, wearing a gray overcoat, was outside the coat, and her right hand was inside the sleeve of the coat.
The mother opened her mouth with a serious expression.
“Have you seen it before? Science teacher?”
“yes… .”
“The science teacher brought it. It is said that this photo was sent by a university student in Daejeon. They say he was the one who went to the hospital with you… ?”
ah… ! He was a college student assistant.
Come to think of it, it was the assistant hyung who took our picture during the experiment.
“Yes, I remember. He was a college student assistant.”
Mother opened her mouth with a slightly angry expression.
“The science teacher showed this picture to the assistant principal, and she said… They said it seemed like a minor accident.”
In school, this means that we will quietly cover this up.
You don’t want to make noise for nothing.
In addition, Lim Yeon-ji was one of the top students representing the school, and Yeon-ji’s mother was the president of Namseo Middle School.
I nodded my head bitterly, and my mother continued speaking.
“Youngmi’s father’s relative has a lawyer, so I’ll meet him soon. And next week, Mom will go to the school and fix it.”
By the way… Can a lawyer solve this by law?
Even if it proves intentional… Lim Yeon-ji is 13 years old.
In other words, they are juveniles who are not subject to criminal punishment.
The only solution I can think of is to discipline the school.
However, despite the fact that there is solid evidence, the school surrounds Lim Yeon-ji.
With the expression on my mother’s coldly hardened face… My mother seemed to think the same way as me.
“Why did your mom show you this picture… I want to tell you to be extra careful when you are with a child named Lim Yeon-ji. Mom, do you know what I mean?”
To reassure my mother, I said as brightly as possible.
“Yes, Mom. Don’t worry too much.”
The expression on her mother’s face, still seriously hardened… .
I reached out and grabbed my mother’s hand, and then my mother opened her tightly clenched fist and grabbed my hand.
Because of this… My heart continued to grow heavy when I realized that the person who was more worried than me was my mother.
* * *
Young-mi’s expression is very bright after finishing the math olympiad exam.
“Jungho, did you do well on the exam?”
I shook my head furiously.
“You—it was so difficult, I couldn’t even touch it. Youngmi, are you?”
“I was able to unravel it, but… I do not know. Did you get it right?”
“Oh oh! Did you solve that difficult problem?”
“Because I don’t know if I solved it properly. I couldn’t even do a check because I was running out of time.”
“What was the calculated answer?”
“At point A yields an angle of 12.25 degrees and a line segment length of 95 centimeters.”
bingo!
That’s right.
I gave a thumbs up towards Yeong-mi, and Young-mi smiled with a slight frown on her half-moon eyes.
“It could be the wrong answer.”
Today’s Math Olympiad was a geometry problem, asking questions about the concept of the similarity of a triangle, the concept of an opposite angle and an equilateral angle on two parallel straight lines, the principle of finding the perimeter of a regular octagon and a circle, and the concept of a linear integral.
There are a total of 3 ways to solve, the first is to solve with the math knowledge of the first year of middle school.
It is, of course, the longest and most complex solution method, and in order to follow such a long solution process, great mathematical logic (not mathematical knowledge) is required.
The second method is a solution method using the math knowledge of the second year of middle school, and it is almost the same as the first method.
An important difference is that the intermediate solution process is simplified because we use the Pythagorean theorem.
Of course, it is a little simpler than the first method, but the whole solving process still requires high logic and mathematical thinking skills.
The third and final method uses a high school-level integration formula, and the solution process is the simplest among the three solutions.
This is also the style of Seongsu Ha, who is the chairperson of the question paper, and Mr. Ha hated the students’ prior learning.
To borrow Mr. Ha’s expression… The root of mathematics is logical power and creativity, and the moment students learn prior learning, they will inevitably lose their age-appropriate logic and creativity, but only increase their mathematical skills.
At this point, even the scoring method was clearly visible.
If there is a student who solved the first solution using the knowledge of the first year of middle school, that student will be the winner of this Olympiad.
Of course, if there is a student who solved it like that.
And the students who found the answer using the Pythagorean theorem will be the 2nd to 5th place winners of this competition.
Well, it’s natural… .
Students who found the answer using the high school integral formula are eliminated without even looking at them.
I said to Youngmi, who was shy, saying that the answer may be wrong.
“In my opinion… Youngmi, should you prepare to receive the award? Aren’t you supposed to prepare your acceptance speech at the awards ceremony on Sunday?”
I wonder if he didn’t like my jokes so much, Youngmi said with a smirk.
“Ugh! Stop it now. But where is your homeroom teacher?”
“He told us to go home on our own. You said it would take a long time because of Rouge.”
The next day, Saturday.
Today is a day with only morning classes.
The final exams and the math olympiad are all over. On the way to school, I made an appointment with Incheol.
After school, he decided to learn how to make a computer virus at Incheol’s house.
Has it been 5 minutes since the first period English class started?
The front door of the classroom opened.
was a science teacher.
The science teacher turned to the English teacher who was teaching the class.
“Mr. Park, I’m sorry during class.”
“Oh! What are you doing, Mr. Kim?”
“It’s urgent, but… I have to take Jeong-ho with me.”
“Maybe, what’s going on?”
“That’s the principal’s call… .”
“ah… ! Yes, yes.”
principal’s office.
The headmaster’s face, sitting at the top of the table, was seriously contorted.
On both sides of the table were the vice principal and teacher Kim Ki-ha, our class teacher, and in the center of the table was a Korean newspaper today.