4. Seven
The evening Dong-soo went to the hospital.
I was lying on the bed in the hospital room and reading a book.
On a small television in the hospital room, news was playing, about school violence in Japan.
At the mention of group violence against a 7-year-old child, I closed the book I was reading and turned to the television.
jime.
In Japan, it refers to group school violence that has already become a serious social problem.
In the near future, the issue of bullying in schools in Korea will also come to the fore, but in the mid to late 1980s, it was not yet considered a serious problem of violence.
A case of organized gang violence in a Japanese school was introduced through the news, and tongues were heard from the hospital room.
“Ttttttt… How in the world can young children be so cruel?”
“Really, say it, say it, say it.”
After the Tokyo correspondent who delivered the news finished the explanation, the news anchor answered.
“I can only think of it as cruel and vicious. Such bad habits should not be allowed to enter our country, right? Next week is Children’s Day, and we want our children to grow up healthy without such cruel school violence. So, here’s the next news… .”
When I think of what happened to reporters in my past life, I still feel my blood flowing backwards.
By the way… .
How about using journalists in this life?
Correspondent Kim Deuk-jong.
The contact information on his business card remains intact in his mind.
This should be enough for an article that will appeal to him as a social worker reporter.
When the evening news airs.
This time he seemed to still remain at the station.
I opened my mouth to my mother.
“Mom, I’m hungry, and I want to buy a piece of bread from the kiosk.
So I received a thousand-won bill from my mother.
I bought bread at the canteen on the first floor of the hospital, took some change, and headed to the lobby where there was a pay phone.
Since his left arm was in a cast, he dialed the phone number with the handset on the phone box, and after dialing the number, he picked up the handset that was placed on the phone box with his claws again.
“Yes, I am Correspondent Kim Deuk-jong of the Ministry of Social Affairs.”
“hello. journalist man? This is Jeong-ho, Chae Jeong-ho.”
After a moment of silence, he heard a happy voice.
“ah… ! it’s jung ho how have you been doing? Did you call to try the math test again?”
“It is not. There is something I want to report to that broadcasting station.”
“Report?”
“Yes, I just saw the news about Ijime on TV. Could you please write down what I am saying now?”
From what happened at the playground two days ago, to being taken to the hospital in an ambulance for emergency surgery, to the doctor’s opinion that my arm could have been crippled even if it was a little late, and to the fact that the assailant went to the hospital this morning… Each one was explained in detail.
After my long explanation, he asked.
“Has anyone seen you suffer like that?”
“There is a supermarket in my neighborhood. The super owner called 119 ambulance.”
“Whew supermarket? Hmm… I need a phone number… .”
“The phone number is 02-675-XXXX. It’s open until late at night, so maybe you can still call me now.”
“Yeah, and did anyone else see the situation then?”
I shut my mouth to say Yeong-mi’s name.
I didn’t want to bring it all the way to Yeongmi.
I thought about it for a while, and I thought it would be better for someone who could objectively explain the degree of assault I was subjected to rather than Young-mi, who was young.
“The person who took care of me in the ambulance was Lee Joo-young. I belong to the Gangseo Fire Department, and the ambulance number is Seoul La 84XX. The first person to see me in the emergency room of the hospital was Dr. Eun-seok Kim, and the emergency surgery was performed by Su-young Su-young, a surgeon specializing in emergency surgery. This person’s extension number is 359.”
“Wait, did you say the name of the hospital you were admitted to was Namseo General Hospital?”
“yes that’s right. The hospital number is 678-XXXX.”
“If you just say something like pressing a vending machine, the answer comes out quickly. ha ha ha! I guess you’re right? Jungho, you are a genius!”
“no. It’s just memorizing a little bit well.”
“Anyway, okay! That’s enough. We have all the contact information you need. I think we can go to the investigation right now.”
next day.
Reporter Kim Deuk-jong visited the ward of the hospital where I was.
After a brief interview with me, the man using the bed opposite me asked me.
“Is this the story of the guy who came yesterday?”
“yes that’s right.”
As soon as my answer was finished, the uncle got up from the bed and told reporter Kim Deuk-jong.
“Look! A journalist!”
“Yes.”
“Hey, I want to go out on TV too… .”
“yes?”
“It’s an interbug or something, I’ll do it too, heh heh. I saw the assailant in person yesterday!”
“ah… Is that so?”
“How evil a little guy is, I’ve never seen such a guy in my life! Because he really wanted to kill our Jeong-ho!”
The lights and cameras were turned on, and the interview with the uncle began.
The uncle added a little exaggeration to the actual event and gave a delicious explanation as if watching a scene from a drama.
Although it was brief, the uncle’s explanation was enough to make Dongsu feel like a villain in the world even if anyone listened to it.
That evening.
Dongsoo’s story came out on the news.
The anchor started the news tap with a serious expression on his face.
“I told you about Japanese ijime culture just yesterday, and Korea seems to be no exception.”
He continued with a short sigh.
“Just a few days ago, there was a violent incident between children in the middle of Seoul. Then reporter Kim Deuk-jong will tell you the news.”
“I am now in a small playground in Namseo-dong, Gangseo-gu, Seoul. Three days ago, an 8-year-old boy mercilessly attacked a 7-year-old child here. Then I met a villager who witnessed the situation.”
On the television screen, the supermarket owner opened her mouth in an excited voice.
“It’s so terrifying that I can’t even put it in my mouth. Literally, the baby turned into blood! One arm was broken or bent, but thinking about it at that time still makes me shudder. The child must have passed out, and he is still moving as if he is dead, and he is hitting it even more. And look here, here!”
When the supermarket lady rolled up the sleeves of her forearm, a black bruise under her shoulder was clearly visible.
“I was beaten like this when I separated the fellow initiate.”
And the news led to interviews with the nurse in the ambulance, the doctor who performed emergency surgery, and the uncle in the hospital room.
“I’ve never seen such a bad guy in my forty years! They say they will kill a patient in the hospital by strangling them, but their eyes were so terrifying! Damn it because I stopped it, if I hadn’t, the murder would have taken place in broad daylight!”
After the uncle’s interview was over, the TV screen was moved back to the neighborhood playground, and reporter Kim Deuk-jong said.
“I asked the offender if he felt sorry for the victim.”
Dong-soo’s big face appeared on the news screen as it was.
Dongsu said proudly, drawing a V with his hands.
“I’m not sorry! All those who don’t listen to me will be shattered. haha!”
read at noblemtl.com
Now in the mid to late 80’s.
read at noblemtl.com
Not only was the concept of portrait rights unclear, but the media was not generous enough to cover the perpetrator’s face.
Thus, Dongsu’s violent incident was broadcast nationwide through radio waves.
When ten days passed and I was discharged from the hospital, I could no longer see Dong-su in the neighborhood.
It was the third night of the broadcast.
It is said that Dong-soo’s family disappeared as if they were running away with their luggage in the yongdal car.
According to rumors, Dong-soo’s mother went down to the countryside with Dong-soo’s mother, while Dong-soo’s father stayed in Seoul for work.
* * *
Memories of a past life that came to mind while solving a math problem at a broadcasting station became clearer as time passed.
At first, only the big events of my past life passed quickly in front of my eyes, but now even the smallest details are drawn in my mind.
The only disappointment is that the memories that come to mind are all about math.
There is a saying that a genius concentrates his attention and energy on only one thing, so other than that focus, he is actually a fool.
This word is probably referring to me.
On the economic side… .
I couldn’t remember anything vaguely remembering the subprime mortgage crisis of 2006.
In Korea… Is it 98 or 97? I’ve heard stories of the beginning of an economic crisis.
Maybe it’s 1996.
At that time, I was living in the United States, so I didn’t have many opportunities to get access to news related to Korea.
It was regrettable that I had to pay attention to the economy, but it was unavoidable.
In the past life, I have lived only thinking about mathematics.
Even after being rejected for re-appointment at an American university, he could not give up his lust for mathematics.
Until Grigory Perelman’s thesis came out, there was a math problem I was risking my life on, and that’s Poincare’s conjecture.
Poincare’s conjecture.
It is a famous hypothesis in the field of topological mathematics first put forward by Henri Poincaré, and it is one of the seven problems of the Millennium Mathematics.
Poincare’s conjecture is:
‘If a closed curve in a space can be converged into a single point, then this space is topological to a sphere.’
Here, the word ‘spherical and phase homomorphic’ means that it is not a shape with a hole in the middle like a donut or a straw.
In 1966, Steven Smail proved that the Poincare conjecture is true in more than five dimensions, and Michael Friedman proves the Poincare conjecture in the fourth dimension, and this year, 1986, he will receive the Fields Medal.
And finally, the Poincaré conjecture in three dimensions will be solved in 2002 by the eccentric mathematician Grigory Perelman.
past life.
Poincare guesswork has been my whole life.
Many of the ordeals in my past life are said to be the fault of journalists, but if Poincaré’s conjecture hadn’t been solved in 2002, my life wouldn’t have collapsed so quickly.
Perelman’s paper is published.
It took three years to verify his thesis.
But the moment I saw Perelman’s paper for the first time… I could tell.
The Poincare conjecture has been proven, and the fact that my goals in life have also been crushed… .
The frustration at that time is difficult to describe in words.
Even when I heard that I was rejected for a new appointment as a professor, when my U.S. green card was revoked, when I received a military service warrant, and when I was diagnosed with epilepsy… Because I never felt like my life was over.
Whenever these memories of my past life come back, can I start math again… .
You won’t be frustrated with math again… .
And the past life that failed will not be repeated again… .
I kept getting more and more cautious.
Can I start math again?