Ch. 4 — 04
Small conference room at the Child Development Center, Department of Pediatric Psychiatry, Il-sung General Hospital.
Yoon Kyung-mi looked at Professor Lee Min-ah of the Pediatric Psychiatry department, who was in charge of Cheol-jun today, and placed the test papers on the table.
Kyung-mi’s face was already deeply flushed before she even began to speak.
The pediatric psychiatry professor looked at Yoon Kyung-mi with questioning eyes before opening the test papers.
“The test results show an IQ score of 120. However, from my perspective as the one who administered the test, the child appears to possess a far higher level of intelligence.”
Pointing at the test papers, Kyung-mi continued.
“The sheer genius he clearly displayed at the beginning of the block design test changed to an ordinary level during the similarities section.”
Well, the score was slightly higher than ordinary. But it lacked the thrill she had felt during the block design.
Similarities.
Questions where accurately conceptualizing the commonality between an apple and a banana as ‘fruit’ or ‘delicious’ yields 2 points.
As the questions progress, more difficult concepts are presented, and the difficulty increases.
Assuming a total of 5 levels, an 11-year-old child typically starts receiving 1 or 0 points from level 4, which requires organizing abstract concepts.
Here, there were quite a few questions where Cheol-jun answered a bit late or with vague concepts.
“However, this is one of the answers the child gave on a high-difficulty question.”
As Kyung-mi clicked her mouse, a voice played from the conference room speakers.
-What do praise and punishment have in common?
The standard for a correct 2-point answer was something akin to ‘the result of a certain action’.
-They are both rules to make the other person do what I want.
Professor Lee Min-ah, who had been listening silently, twitched one eyebrow.
It wasn’t a consequential deduction, but a teleological one.
It certainly wasn’t an answer an ordinary eleven-year-old could come up with on the spot.
Observing Professor Lee’s expression, Yoon Kyung-mi continued.
“In the digit span and matrix reasoning sections, I confirmed several times that he was deliberately delaying his answers. His lips clearly parted as if to speak the answer, but he pretended to think a little longer, stalling for time before replying. As for vocabulary, assuming the environment where he lived in China without any formal education, a relatively lower score is understandable. However, in figure weights, visual puzzles, and picture memory, there was a clear tendency of him intentionally trying to lower his own level.”
Checking the test papers, Professor Lee tapped her temple with her index finger.
“So, you’re saying this IQ score of 120 is a number he deliberately controlled?”
“Yes!”
“Hmm… Some of his answers are quite interesting. But this is too full of confirmation bias. It feels like you’re forcefully fitting the pieces together under the assumption that this child is an unspeakable genius. A mere eleven-year-old intentionally lowered his own intellectual capabilities? Come on. That’s a stretch.”
“But…”
“How many times have you attended the child development conference held in China?”
“Twice…”
“You said this child lived in Shenyang before coming here. You know what the atmosphere in that city is like, right?”
Yoon Kyung-mi narrowed her brow and nodded. She instantly understood the intention behind Professor Lee’s words.
Shenyang, China, was famous for its intense educational zeal.
There were quite a few schools there that only admitted children whose initial IQ scores exceeded a certain threshold.
Because of that, the private tutoring craze for the Wechsler Intelligence Scale was massive.
Children who realistically should have scored around 100-110 were sometimes trained to score over 130.
South Korea was no different.
In Daechi-dong, there were countless academies preparing preschoolers for the Wechsler test.
Kyung-mi had seen many such academy-trained children herself.
And a common indicator seen in those children was abnormally high scores in visual spatial and fluid reasoning.
The areas that had surprised her the most did fall into those categories.
“But this child…”
Professor Lee Min-ah shook her head.
“120 isn’t a bad number either. It’s in the top 10 percent. Even with this, guardians start painting countless rosy futures in their heads. You’ve seen it enough to know, right? They’ll start hounding the kid. Sending them to multiple academies right from elementary school. Haven’t you seen kids ruined that way? Haven’t you seen parents come back later to argue because the IQ score was high? ‘You said he was a genius! Then why isn’t he first in his class? Why can’t he get into Seoul National University?’ I’m absolutely sick of it. The child’s emotions are drying up and withering away, but the parents don’t care about that at all. This child is already in a very fragile psychological state. Let’s not put false hope into the guardian’s head.”
Quietly observing Yoon Kyung-mi’s dissatisfied expression, Professor Lee tapped the test papers and spoke again.
“Now, let’s rethink this. If it weren’t for my psychological evaluation notes, would you have viewed the child as special from the beginning?”
“That’s…”
“There were parts I observed closely, too. He showed many personality traits typically seen in so-called gifted children. Things like attention deficit, perfectionism, emotional excess, and obsessive-compulsive tendencies. But the statistics we know are based on children raised in normal environments. Look at the situation this child is in. He watched his dad die right in front of him. He’s terrified of everything in the world. Similar diagnoses can appear simply due to extreme psychological instability.”
“……”
“Even to me, the kid definitely looked smart. He could truly be a massive genius, exactly as you say. If he’s such an incredible genius that at eleven years old he can intentionally hide his intellectual level, he’ll become whatever he wants to be on his own. It’s right for us to stay in our lane. We have an accurate test score for now. We shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves unnecessarily. Let’s keep opinions that are purely speculative between us; we can’t put such conjectural phrasing in an official medical report.”
Yoon Kyung-mi reluctantly nodded. Every single word was undeniably true.
“This is the advice I can give as a pediatric psychiatrist who despises South Korea’s academic-centric society.”
Professor Lee patted Kyung-mi on the shoulder and left the small conference room.
‘Is that so…?’
Yoon Kyung-mi jutted out her lip in a pout and organized the test papers.
*
*
*
“No matter how you look at it, he doesn’t resemble Jae-kang at all. His mom must have been incredibly beautiful.”
At lawyer Kang Seok-hyun’s words, Oh Hyung-man nodded while toying with a beautifully maintained bonsai tree.
“Right? I think that every time I look at him, too.”
“Wow. On top of that, the kid is seriously smart. Whenever you ask him something, his answers are sharp and clear. Is he really eleven? He’s way better than a half-witted adult.”
“Why are you looking at me while saying that? Making me feel like crap?”
“Ay. Just joking. Joking.”
“This punk…”
Staring quietly through the office window at the child sitting on the sofa, Kang Seok-hyun let out a low sigh.
“Hoo, Jae-kang raised the kid really well.”
“Right? I’ve only spent exactly one day with him, and he constantly surprises me. The kid is incredibly sharp. Hey, we did an intelligence test today, and his IQ is 120! 120! Top 10 percent!”
“Haha. He’ll be good at studying. Right. We need to handle his schooling first. I’ll get the paperwork ready right away, so go file his move-in registration at your address today, and head to the assigned school for a consultation.”
“Okay.”
“I see why he made you the guardian, Hyung. He must have wanted to send his son to school in Gangnam. There are plenty of people besides you who owe Jae-kang, myself included. But I was a bit puzzled when he specifically picked you as his guardian. Now I know the reason.”
Hyung-man chuckled.
As thorough as Jae-kang was, would he really have calculated that far ahead?
He probably just chose him because, among the people who could take the kid in, he was the only single guy with plenty of free time due to his job, and enough financial breathing room.
But school, huh…
“Hey. What about a private school?”
“A private school?”
“If he’s going to go anyway, it’s better to send him to a good place. His IQ is 120, which is on the high side. As for tuition, no matter how expensive it is, he’ll only be going for two years…”
“Well, private is definitely good. The curriculum is different. It’d be the best for diverse education like English, arts, and physical education. Wait, 5th grade? The kids at private schools are probably already crazy deep into advanced learning. Will he be able to keep up?”
“Ay. He probably can’t just jump in. Since there’s some time until the semester starts, I was thinking of setting him up with some academies or tutors.”
“That’s going to cost a bit of money. Oh! Are you going to deduct it from there? The 1 billion won we notarized today?”
“Hey. That’s Jae-kang’s inheritance, how could I use that? I’m just planning to pay for it myself.”
Hyung-man tapped the tip of a bonsai pine needle. It was sharp and pricked his finger. Hyung-man scrunched his nose.
“You know I couldn’t even take care of my own kid properly because I was so busy doing the nation’s work. In a way, this feels like Jae-kang giving me a second chance. If that’s the case, I have to raise him so he envies no one.”
“Wow. You’re completely serious about this, Hyung-nim. Private, huh… Hanyoung Elementary School would be perfect. It’s close to where you live, and it’s one of the prestigious private elementary schools in the Gangnam area. But private elementary schools use a lottery system, so a mid-term transfer will be tough.”
Hyung-man twitched an eyebrow.
“Well, there’s gotta be a way. Anyway, we’re done with everything we needed to do today, right? Is there anything else I need to do?”
“This is enough for today. If anything flies in from the court later, I’ll let you know. Child welfare agencies might contact you unannounced, so make sure to pick up numbers you don’t recognize. Oh, a phone can be activated under his name now. Buy him a phone first. The guardianship procedures are wrapped up for now.”
“Gotcha. Thank you!”
“Set a date soon. Everyone is incredibly curious about him.”
“Yeah. Will do.”
The two men smiled warmly as they looked at Cheol-jun, who was sitting quietly on the sofa in the reception area outside the office.
*
*
*
Cheol-jun was pretending to be nonchalant, but he was actually on the verge of exhaustion.
Up until now, he had lived his life suspecting and being wary of everyone except his dad.
The rare interpersonal relationships he formed were strictly divided into ‘dangerous people’ and ‘non-dangerous people’.
It was very simple and intuitive.
That’s why the arrangement of the interpersonal network data in his head had always been extremely clean.
However, after arriving in South Korea, despite only a single day having passed, it had become incredibly complicated.
He had to individually categorize the non-hostile, non-dangerous people.
Truthfully, Cheol-jun didn’t quite know how to treat non-dangerous people.
He had no baseline for how much he should lower his guard.
‘Non-dangerous people are far more exhausting…’
Moreover, he still hadn’t properly established the standards for ‘normal’ and ‘ordinary’.
In front of his dad, he lived without needing to hide anything.
But that wasn’t the case anymore.
When he hung out with the consulate staff’s kids in Shenyang, he established a baseline by adjusting his conversation to match their level, checking their reactions, and playing along appropriately, but he hadn’t fully learned it yet.
The psychological counseling, in particular, was absolute torture.
Questions without a clear purpose came flying at him left and right, so there were quite a few points where he couldn’t judge them properly.
He had paid an immense amount of attention during the intelligence test as well, but he kept feeling like he was being seen through.
‘Not knowing how much I’ve been figured out is the most uncomfortable part. I know she caught onto something, but I don’t know to what extent.’
Most importantly, he didn’t have anyone to ask yet.
He never realized how hard it would be to judge everything on his own without his dad.
Uncle Hyung-man was definitely a good person. But he still didn’t know how much he should trust him.
Actually, the lawyer uncle named Kang Seok-hyun he met today seemed more trustworthy.
Ah, the name Kang Seok-hyun was also third on the list of guardians his dad had prepared.
‘Ah… My head hurts.’
It felt like an earthquake was happening inside his brain.
Yet, it was somewhat fun.
He had never had to think so deeply that it caused a cognitive overload before. Up until now, the correct answers had just popped up clearly.
First, he organized the data of the people he met today.
The people from the hospital probably wouldn’t cross his path again, so he excluded them for now.
‘The lawyer uncle is at Tier 3 reliability for close associates for now.’
Just then, the office door swung open.
“Squirt! What should we eat for dinner tonight?”
Uncle Hyung-man, who was still sitting at Tier 4 reliability, smiled brightly.
Cheol-jun felt a little bit sorry.
*
*
*
“Ah, this is the absolute best among the recently released phones. It unfolds wide like this…”
“That’s nice. Give me that one.”
“But for an elementary schooler to use…”
“You said it’s the best one, right? Just give it to me.”
“Ah…”
“Activate it right away. Let’s see, I just need to write this down here, right?”
“Yes! Yes! Please sign the guardian section there, and the child’s personal info goes over there… Uh, the plan for elementary schoolers is this one right here…”
“Just give him the unlimited plan.”
“Yes! Understood!”
Cheol-jun stared at the phone, which was larger than his own hand, with wide eyes.
He couldn’t use a cell phone in China.
His dad had a phone, but for security reasons, he wasn’t allowed to search for anything or use it freely.
Regardless, this was the very first time in his life he was getting his own phone.
“Alright, it’s activated. You can make calls once you receive a text message in a little bit…”
‘Wow…’
When he unfolded it, the screen was the size of his face.
“Do you like it?”
“Yes!”
Cheol-jun smiled radiantly.
*
*
*
“Hey. How is it? Killer, right?”
Cheol-jun, eyes wide, quickly nodded his head vigorously. He couldn’t speak because his mouth was completely full.
He had tried Korean-style food a few times in China, but this was his first time having pork ribs (dwaeji galbi). It truly was a heavenly taste.
“Eat slowly, kid. I’ll order more for you.”
Hyung-man watched Cheol-jun with a pleased expression. It was a good thing he had searched up foods that elementary schoolers like.
“Wanna eat a pepper? This is a cucumber pepper, so it’s not spicy at all. It’s great to eat with the meat.”
When he dipped a pepper in ssamjang and offered it, Cheol-jun cautiously took a bite. He crunched down on it, then quickly took another bite.
‘This punk. He’s so full of suspicion.’
The life of a black ops agent operating in China was obvious.
Furthermore, it must have been even more extreme for Jae-kang, who was a top-tier strike agent.
He would have had to be on edge every single moment, suspecting everything around him.
‘Hah, it breaks my heart. It really does.’
He had to drive, but he was really craving a shot of soju.
‘I’ll have a drink when we get home and put the kid to bed.’
Hyung-man smacked his lips.
*
*
*
Lying in bed, Cheol-jun found it completely impossible to fall asleep.
‘Wow…’
A world he was encountering for the very first time was unfolding right in the palm of his hands.
“Squirt! Stop looking at your phone and go to sleep!”
“Okay!”
Cheol-jun quickly folded his phone. But sleep still eluded him.
All the things he could do with his phone were floating around in his head.
Pulling the blanket up over his head, he smiled brightly.
*
*
*
“Oh, yeah. You said your niece tutors elementary school kids? …Ah, in Gangnam? That’s perfect. Let’s have her tutor our kid. …Huh? My nephew. A nephew. Yeah, got it. I’ll give her a call tomorrow then. Okay. Thank you.”
After hanging up, Hyung-man tossed back a shot of soju and began tapping away on his phone.
[Gangnam elementary schooler level]
[Gangnam elementary schooler private education]
[Gangnam elementary school academies]
[Gangnam private elementary school tiers]
[Gangnam elementary schooler advanced learning]
“Hah, damn it… This is hard. Really hard.”
Scratching his head, Hyung-man tossed his phone onto the sofa.