70. Seon forty-nine
After my mother’s birthday party was over, everyone went back to their homes.
I tried to kick my mother out of the kitchen to wash the dishes, but the result was a failure.
I ended up standing next to my mother and wiping the dishes she was handed to me with a dry cloth to start tidying up.
“Isn’t it bad to stand next to your son and wash the dishes together?”
“I like it too.”
I opened my mouth carefully, looking into my mother’s eyes.
“Mom.”
“yes?”
“I prepared a present for my mother’s birthday… .”
At my words, my mother smirked and said.
“really? What kind of gift are you looking forward to?”
My mother handed me the plate after washing the dishes, and I took it and said,
“It was very cold when you went to Incheon the other day, wasn’t it? It went down to minus 10 degrees that night.”
“Yeah, it was a little cold that day.”
“On such a cold day, I hope my mom doesn’t have to wait long at the bus stop to get on the bus.”
At my words, my mother smiled and handed me the plate after washing the dishes, and I accepted the plate and continued.
“I don’t want my mom to run with an umbrella on a rainy day. I don’t want you to walk home for 30 minutes with both hands full of heavy luggage after shopping.”
“… .”
“On the day my mother goes to Incheon, I want her to come home early. I came home after self-study at night, and without my mother, I started to worry.”
After washing the dishes, the mother wiped her hands with a towel.
“What the hell is he trying to say, why is the introduction so long?”
I smiled and handed my mother an envelope.
“Happy birthday, Mom.”
After opening the envelope and checking the documents, the mother tilted her head and said.
“A school registration certificate? What the hell is this?”
“It’s a driving school registration certificate.”
The mother, who was carefully examining the documents, opened her mouth.
“thank you. I once thought of wanting to learn to drive once before, but thanks to my mother Jung-ho, I am having this experience.”
Mother smiled slightly and continued.
“But I think you have to be a little careful about buying a car.”
I shook my head and said.
“The situation in our house is not that difficult. When my mother visits Incheon, I think it would be great if you drive and go there.”
“No, he keeps… .”
I cut my mother’s words and continued.
“And I want to go on a trip with my mom. Last summer, when I went to Busan with my father and his family, the sea was so pretty, I thought it would be good for my mom to come and see it too.”
Mother sighed and said.
“My mom had been thinking about it before, but would you like a car like that?”
I nodded and said.
“Yes, it is my wish.”
Mother said with a slight smile.
“If that’s what our Jeong-ho wants, then let’s try it. But I don’t know if my mother can drive well.”
I said with a bright smile.
“Mom, you will drive well.”
“How do you know that?”
Last Life When I immigrated to the United States, my mother learned to drive really quickly and was so good at driving that the person sitting next to her felt comfortable.
However, there was only one thing that my mother had a hard time with when driving, and that is parallel parking.
* * *
1 year and 6 months later.
July 1999.
“quiet! quiet!”
The high-pitched voice of the homeroom teacher, Guksa, broke the classroom.
“Are you guys really in high school? The entrance exam is now four months away, and it is the first time in 20 years since I started teaching in a noisy class like you.”
“Even if it’s noisy, you study well!”
It was a word that came out of the back seat of the classroom, and as soon as one word came out, the whole classroom began to murmur again.
“Well, isn’t it that our class can’t study?”
“that’s right. The first and second places in all science schools are in our class.”
“Oh yeah! Did Yeongmi get a perfect score of 400 in this mock test?”
“Wow! Three consecutive perfect scores! Is that really possible?”
I said, tapping Youngmi’s arm sitting next to her.
“Are you really perfect? One thing is wrong in the language area?”
Youngmi laughed at my question and said.
“Are you sure you answered with Kim Man-joong’s ＜Gourmet Dream> in the middle?”
“A baked dream?”
ah… ! It was problem number 29 in the language area.
It was a question asking what was Korea’s first modern novel, and on the answer sheet received after the mock exam, Lee Kwang-soo’s ＜Mujeong> was the correct answer.
I told Youngmi.
“hey! What if the Northwest High School ace gets such an easy problem wrong?
“… .”
“But you know what?”
Instead of answering my question, Youngmi tapped my arm and gave me a signal, but I didn’t notice it, so I continued.
“There’s a problem, I answered with Lee Yuk-sa’s ＜Green Grapes>.”
“Foot!”
That was then.
“There, Chae Jung-ho!”
Oops!
The teacher was pointing me to the classroom.
“Chae Jung-ho, get up!”
I got up from my seat nonchalantly, and the teacher opened his mouth with a stern expression.
“Chae Jung-ho, do you even know what your nickname is?”
“yes… .”
“How do you go about nagging or chatting in class?”
“sorry.”
“If you work a little hard, you can get into the first rank, right? yeah isn’t it?”
“That’s right.”
“What’s your nickname, 2nd grade, 1st place? It’s been ranked 2nd and 1st for 3 years, isn’t it a shame? From my point of view, if you focus just a little bit in class, you can get 1st grade enough.”
“Yes, I will work hard.”
“You know that the difference between the 1st and 2nd grades in the entrance exam for a prestigious university is the difference between heaven and earth, right?”
“Yes, I know.”
It was only after the teacher’s Japanese admonition was over that I was able to sit down.
The teacher opened the textbook and started the class again.
“The left-right joint movement that takes place in the process of division after liberation, this is a question that does not fall out of the entrance exam every year, so everyone listen carefully! okay?”
“yes!”
The teacher started writing on the blackboard.
– Moscow 3rd phase meeting
– Dong-A Ilbo misinformation case (December 27, 1945)
– Extreme confrontation between pro-tac and anti-tak
– Syngman Rhee’s remarks about Jeongeup (June 3, 1946)
– Kim Gyu-sik and Yeo Woon-hyeong’s left-right joint movement (July 1946)
After finishing the writing, the teacher began to explain.
“The three-phase agreement in Moscow focused on the formation of a provisional government, the establishment of a joint US-US committee, and a trusteeship of up to five years.”
The teacher continued, pointing to the ‘Dong-A Ilbo Misinformation Incident’ written on the blackboard.
“But on December 27, 1945, the Dong-A Ilbo published an incorrect article, and on the front page of the newspaper, the Soviet Union was Chan-tak and the US was Ban-Tak. Until then, our people, who had been under colonial rule, hated the word trusteeship. So there’s a lot of anti-turkey movement, and in the end you get this kind of frame.”
The teacher picked up a chalk and wrote on the blackboard:
‘Chan Tak = Maekook = Redhead’
The teacher put down the chalk and continued.
“Since this frame was created, the leftist who supported Chan-tak and the right who supported Ban-tak had an extreme confrontation. He advocated the establishment of a single government in South Korea, and this is the South Korean categorization theory or independent government theory. But what does the theory of single government necessarily mean?”
“It’s division.”
“right! So, in order to avoid division, in July 1946, leftist Yeo Woon-hyung and right-wing Kim Gyu-sik met and started the movement for left-right collaboration, and in October of that year announced the 7 principles of left-right cooperation. Then, let’s take a look at the seven principles of left-right cooperation in the textbook.”
After explaining the contents of the textbook, the teacher opened his mouth again.
“But the left-right joint movement, as you all know, will fail, and the Korean Peninsula will be divided. And the division had a very horrific result, the Korean War.”
“… .”
“I will talk more about the Korean War next time, but over 1.3 million people lost their lives in the Korean War, nearly half of which were civilian deaths. In other words, the Korean War was the most terrible war in our history.”
“… .”
“But you know what’s even worse? It is the fact that Japan, which was devastated after World War II, laid the foundation for growth into an economic power through the Korean War. Of course, there are decisive reasons such as the timing of Japan’s surrender in WWII and the Truman Doctrine to be learned in the future… .”
The teacher continued, pointing to the ‘Dong-A Ilbo Misinformation Incident’ written on the blackboard as a teacher.
“It is true that the Dong-A Ilbo misinformation incident also played an important role in the division of the Korean Peninsula. Do you understand?”
“yes!”
“by the way. Regarding the Dong-A Ilbo misinformation, do you know what the most dogmatic facts are?”
“… ?”
“No one knows who the reporter who sent this misinformation article is.”
Then the bell rang announcing the end of class, and the teacher left the classroom and said to me.
“ah… ! Chae Jung-ho, have lunch today and come to the office right away. Let’s have a meeting with the teacher today.”
When the teacher left the classroom, Youngmi said to me.
“What’s up?”
I said shrugging my shoulders.
“Well, I don’t know? Maybe it’s because you’re leaving early this afternoon?”
Today is the day of the meeting at Balhae Sports in the afternoon.
I attend a meeting held at Balhae Sports once every two months, and this is a fact that the teacher is well aware of, and I already had my mother signed the application for early departure two days ago and submitted it to the teacher.
teaching room.
The homeroom teacher said with a very serious expression.
“Jeong-ho, do you have to leave early today?”
“Yes, I got permission from my mother, and I already told the teacher about a week ago.”
In response to my firm answer, the teacher opened her mouth with a slightly soft expression.
“Jeong-ho, I want you to seriously listen to what you are saying now. Are you aware that you are in the most important time of your life as a senior in high school?”
what? In this serious mood?
I nodded and replied that I knew well, and the teacher continued.
“I don’t know how important you are in that company, but I don’t think it’s a very good idea to put off school studies like this.”
“… .”
“I don’t know you, but you are the student in my class who cares about me the most.”
“Am I?”
The teacher nodded and said.
“My first grades, Youngmi and Sanghyuk, do well on their own, so I don’t pay much attention to it. But what you do this summer will change your life.”
“… .”
“You have to push forward a little harder and go to a prestigious university, but if you are distracted by other places at such an important time, you will regret it for the rest of your life.”
under—!
How should I answer this?
I opened my mouth carefully.
“Teacher, I am confident that I will go to Korea University. My grades are 2nd grade, but my mock test scores are steadily rising, and I’m working hard on my essay preparation.”
“I’m sorry, Jeongho, but to be honest, your grades right now at Korea University are distasteful, and it is more realistic to look at the National University or the Unification University.”
“… .”
“The Minjok University and Tongil University also have a small chance of seeing if you study to die during the summer vacation. I’m not too young for sex right now.”
I smiled slightly and said to the teacher.
“Teacher, I am going to the Department of Mathematics at Korea University.”
At my words, the teacher smiled and said,
“men and horses! Hankuk University’s College of Natural Sciences has a higher cut-off point than expected.”
The teacher’s laughter triggered a slight smirk.
“Sir, would you like to bet with me then?”
“What, what? No, what about this guy?”
The teacher’s bewildered expression soon turned into a smile.
“What? Have you ever seen such a brazen bastard? okay? What would you like to bet on?”