Ch. 8 — 08
Every day was incredibly exciting for Cheol-jun.
The math books his tutor had given him were truly a whole new world.
A language that perfectly explained phenomena through symbols and formulas.
The process of raising a question mark, forming a hypothesis, and proving it.
To Cheol-jun, math was the most fun puzzle game in the world and the clearest explanation for understanding it.
“What are you doing? Aren’t you going in?”
Standing in front of the department store’s revolving doors, Cheol-jun furrowed his brow.
Watching the speed at which the doors turned, the period and angular velocity of trigonometric functions came to mind.
It’s rotating at an angular velocity of about pi/6 radians per second, so assuming a stride of about 50 cm, if I enter by walking at 1.2 m/s precisely timed with the peak of the y = sin t graph, it would be perfectly…
It was so fascinating.
Everything in the world was connected through math.
“Oh my! The child is so pretty that anything looks good on him. Right now we have a 10% discount, plus we give back 5% of the payment amount as points, you see? If you use those points to pay later, you accumulate another 5% on that, so it’s practically the same as getting more than a 20% discount…”
Cheol-jun’s eyes sparkled.
Infinite geometric series?
The sum of an infinite geometric series with a first term of 0.05 and a common ratio of 0.05 is 0.05 divided by (1 minus 0.05).
So even assuming the points circulate infinitely, the limit of the effective additional discount rate converges to 5.26%.
Even if you add the base 10% discount, it maxes out at 15.26%.
Therefore, claiming a 20% discount benefit is mathematically impossible…
“Haha. Then please give me the one he’s wearing and that t-shirt over there as well. Let’s see, should I buy some more tops…”
The clothes Uncle Hyung-man had bought for him so far were three tops, two bottoms, one lightweight padded jacket, one windbreaker, and two tracksuit sets.
‘Is this… combinatorics?’
The number of combinations for mixing and matching three tops and two bottoms is 6.
If you include wearing either the padded jacket, the windbreaker, or no outerwear at all, you multiply by 3, making it 18 combinations.
Multiplying the two tracksuit sets by the 3 outerwear options adds 6 more.
Since you can’t wear regular clothes and tracksuits at the same time, applying that rule means exactly 24 completely different combinations are possible…
“Those pants are pretty too. Give me another one in the same size.”
One more variable for bottoms had been added, so recalculating brought it to 33 combinations, meaning he could go over a month wearing entirely different combinations…
When Cheol-jun smiled brightly, Hyung-man stroked his hair.
“Do you like it too?”
That wasn’t why he had smiled, but Cheol-jun just nodded.
The space allocated to each store determined by the number of floor tiles in the department store; the margin of error between the subtly different speeds of the escalator’s handrail belt and its steps; calculating the shortest distance using vectors and spatial geometry that came to mind while looking at the directory map.
Everything in the world was math.
He never knew it would all connect like this, but there was a strange beauty in how it inevitably did.
Cheol-jun blinked his round eyes, indulging in this cleanly organized world.
‘Everything has an answer.’
Math.
A perfectly predictable world.
An explicitly defined answer.
Certainty.
“Squirt. Let’s buy shoes too. Ni*e?”
Ni*e was in the corner right on the floor below, so the shortest route would be taking the stairs…
“Haha. Look at this kid, all excited from buying clothes.”
Hyung-man walked toward the escalator beaming, and Cheol-jun looked longingly at the stairs—his calculated shortest route—before hurriedly scurrying after him.
*
*
*
“Alright, you go outside by yourself. What should you be most careful of?”
“Uh…”
“Didn’t your dad teach you in China?”
Cheol-jun furrowed his brow.
“The police?”
“No! The police are the people who help you when you’re in danger.”
Cheol-jun grinned.
“Just a joke. A joke.”
“Hah, this kid really…”
“Avoid strangers if they talk to me, watch out for cars, grasp the direction and distance based on large buildings when on a new street, and always secure at least two escape routes in case of an emergency… Ah, not that one. Calculate the angles of surrounding CCTVs and stick to the blind spots… No, wait. If I’m thinking about safety here, I should avoid the blind spots. Ah, and if a suspicious person follows me, it’s essential to change directions at irregular intervals to break out of their predicted path. Right?”
Hyung-man smacked his lips.
Well, a few weird things had slipped in, but it seemed he had been taught well enough overall.
“Make sure you have your phone and wallet.”
Cheol-jun patted his small crossbody bag.
“Yes!”
“Hah… Don’t go too far. You can only go past the two intersections we walked to together. Just wander around and look at things within that boundary.”
“Okay!”
“Good. Let’s see, it’s 2 PM now, so you need to be back by 4 PM at the latest.”
“Okay!”
“Good. Move out!”
“Yes!”
Cheol-jun quickly opened the front door and stepped out.
Hyung-man, who had been staring blankly at his retreating back, hurriedly threw on his coat the moment the door closed.
Then, he pressed his ear against the door.
-Ding. The door is opening.
-First floor.
Hyung-man waited until he heard the exact sound of the elevator doors fully closing before quickly throwing open the front door.
And then, he sprinted for the emergency stairs.
Today was Cheol-jun’s first day going out on his own.
For this day, he had purposefully walked around this neighborhood with him a few times.
He was an incredibly smart kid, sure, but Seoul would undoubtedly be far more complex than the places he had lived in before.
Of course, the safety was much better, but it was still a completely different environment, so he was worried.
‘Huff. Huff. Ah, damn it. My knees…’
Dashing all the way down the stairs to the first floor in one breath, Hyung-man stepped outside, panting heavily.
Then, he tapped his phone screen.
On the map, a red dot was moving.
‘Let’s see… Hah, he’s already left the apartment complex.’
He had thought the kid would play at the playground for a bit before leaving…
Hyung-man heavily scrunched his nose and started running again.
*
*
*
Cheol-jun walked, scanning his surroundings with wide, round eyes.
People walking the streets, bumper-to-bumper traffic, buildings packed tightly on both sides.
It was still fascinating.
It didn’t feel real that a place so complex and full of alleyways could be this incredibly safe.
In China, he had almost never walked down a main street alone like this.
Cheol-jun had no intention of going far.
He had already decided where he wanted to go while riding around in Uncle Hyung-man’s car.
Namely, the place where he saw the most kids his age.
It was just one block away from home.
Just ahead, he started seeing kids his own age casually walking around together.
He relaxed a little.
‘Wow, they’re all dragging big bags around?’
He stared blankly at the building the kids had entered.
A row of signs hung there.
Math academy, English academy, Math academy, and another Math academy.
The building next to it was the same.
Math, Science, English, Essay writing…
A yellow bus stopped, and another horde of kids poured out and ran into the building.
‘Hmm…’
Cheol-jun found a reasonably close set of stairs and sat down.
Then, he began to observe the kids.
Most were around his age, or looked slightly younger.
But, it was strange.
They were going to a place to learn that incredibly fun subject, math, yet every single child’s expression was dark.
Their steps were heavy as if they were cows being dragged to a slaughterhouse; they were either expressionless or visibly irritated.
Cheol-jun’s gaze shifted to the massive bags the kids were pulling.
They looked quite heavy.
‘Is everything in there books?’
When the kids getting off the yellow bus were sucked into the building, other kids would pour out of the building and board that same yellow bus.
‘Do normal Korean kids study like that every day?’
Cheol-jun blinked his round eyes, watching the children.
To Cheol-jun, South Korea was a paradise.
A country where he could walk the streets freely, eat delicious food, and search for any knowledge he wanted to his heart’s content—the more he experienced it, the more certain he was that it was heaven.
Yet, the expressions and steps of the children living in such a paradise all seemed far too heavy.
They didn’t look like they were sick, or hungry, or being chased by anyone, but their expressions did not look very happy.
‘Wait, why, in this paradise?’
Cheol-jun began to ponder the reason.
This was a problem that couldn’t be answered with math.
Which made it incredibly interesting.
*
*
*
Go Chang-ho, the homeroom teacher of Hanyoung Private Elementary School’s Special Creativity Class, was sitting in a convenience store staring blankly at the scenery outside.
Elementary schoolers were moving in droves, pulling carriers half their own size.
It was a common sight in Daechi-dong.
‘Hah…’
How heavy are those carriers?
They must be packed full of textbooks.
Math, English, Science, maybe even Essay Writing.
“Senior. Your ramen is getting soggy.”
At the words of his junior Yoo Min-seok—who had studied with him at Harvard but returned to Korea first after only finishing his bachelor’s—Go Chang-ho chuckled.
“It’s good if it gets soggy. The portion gets bigger.”
“It loses its taste.”
Yoo Min-seok shook his head and started eating his ramen.
Go Chang-ho also let out a sigh and picked up his wooden chopsticks.
“You can’t teach curiosity. Not killing it is enough. But most education systems are designed to kill it. Because they teach the fastest way to reach the answer first. The moment they know the answer, a spark of curiosity is extinguished.”
“Let’s just eat while we’re eating.”
“At that age, they should be drowning in curiosity, frantically flailing around trying to find the answer, but instead, they just pave a direct highway for them…”
“It can’t be helped. If they don’t do that, they fall behind. Since it’s your second year back, you must have grasped the vibe of Korean education by now; isn’t it time you compromised a bit? And why did you pick a thesis topic like that again…”
“The process of extrinsic motivation killing intrinsic motivation! It’s exactly what you see in those kids. As you can see, there are tons of cases, and the problems are clearly evident.”
“Sigh. I’m telling you, this country doesn’t even realize that’s a problem. For STEM, it’s med school! For humanities, it’s law school! That directly equals happiness and the goal of life here.”
“You took Professor Marcus’s class too, didn’t you? Is this right? Elementary schoolers can’t even play during their vacations…”
“I get it, so please just eat. Your ramen.”
“Hoo… I feel sorry for the kids.”
“I feel sorrier for you, Senior. With those incredible credentials, you’re just a private elementary school teacher. I told you to just be a professor! There are plenty of places begging you to come.”
Go Chang-ho shook his head with a firm expression.
“Children are the future.”
“Yes. Yes. Sure they are.”
“There are no humanities in this country’s education.”
“Because it’s not on the CSAT and it doesn’t make money.”
“Hah… Is there truly no answer?”
“Ah, there’s really just a booger-sized amount of kimchi in here. Should’ve bought the big one. Can I eat all of this?”
“No, you can’t do that.”
Go Chang-ho quickly dumped the remaining kimchi into his ramen.
And just as he picked up a chopstick-ful and blew on it, something unusual on the stairs of the building across the street caught his eye.
“Hey. Has he been sitting there this whole time?”
“Who?”
“The gray tracksuit.”
“Uh… Yeah, he has. He was sitting there looking around earlier, and he’s still there?”
Go Chang-ho’s brow furrowed.
He had a different vibe from the kids rushing busily around him.
It definitely didn’t seem like he was waiting to go to an academy.
Above all, he didn’t have a massive bag.
He was just tightly hugging a single small sling bag.
Taking a bite of his ramen, Go Chang-ho carefully observed the child’s face.
The kid would watch the other children with an incredibly fascinated expression, tilt his head, and then furrow his brow.
The child’s expression was peculiar.
A bit mature, perhaps?
Because his frame was so small, that sense of incongruity felt even stronger.
“He looks about 3rd grade, right?”
“Hmm, I think so? He’s cute.”
Staring intently at the child, Go Chang-ho slightly shifted his gaze.
When he did, he saw someone poking just their head out from the alleyway right next to him.
It was a large, rather intimidating-looking man, and he was continuously watching the child.
But it completely felt like he was secretly spying on him.
It was too blatant.
In an instant, criminals who committed horrible acts against elementary schoolers flashed through his mind.
“Hey. Over there.”
“What?”
“Over in that alley.”
Only then did Min-seok confirm what Chang-ho was seeing, and Min-seok’s brow furrowed as well.
Even at a glance, his behavior was suspicious.
Go Chang-ho set down his chopsticks and abruptly stood up.
“Ah, Senior. Let’s just monitor the situation for a bit…”
“It’s too late after something happens.”
Go Chang-ho dashed out of the convenience store.
“Excuse me! We’ll be right back to clean this up!”
As Yoo Min-seok quickly followed Chang-ho out,
“Ah, damn it…”
The convenience store part-timer aggressively scowled and trudged over to where the two had been sitting.
*
*
*
“Excuse me. Hey kid. What are you doing there?”
Go Chang-ho smiled brightly and spoke to the child.
First of all, since nothing had happened yet, the priority was to naturally move to a different location together.
If that man still followed them then, he planned to call the police immediately.
The child blinked his round eyes and looked at Go Chang-ho.
Seeing him up close, he really was an adorable-looking kid.
“Who are you, mister?”
“Oh? I’m a teacher. An elementary school teacher.”
“Ah…”
“You’ve been sitting here alone for a while. Why are you doing that?”
“Uh, am I not allowed to?”
“No, no. It’s not that you’re not allowed, it’s just that it could be dangerous or something might happen…”
The child smiled radiantly.
“Oh, you don’t need to worry.”
Lowering his voice slightly…
“There’s someone secretly protecting me.”
Chang-ho let out a small sigh.
There was no way someone like that existed.
“Uh, do you want to go to that convenience store over there? I’ll buy you something tasty.”
The child furrowed his brow and shook his head.
“Hmm. I prefer sitting here.”
“Why?”
“Because I can see the kids’ faces up close.”
“…Huh?”
“I’m curious about what kids my age are thinking.”
One of Chang-ho’s eyebrows twitched.
For a kid who was maybe a 3rd grader or a small 4th grader? His way of speaking was far from ordinary.
The vibe he felt earlier from the convenience store was spot on.
Not only his expressions, but the kid’s speech was quite mature.
He wanted to talk with him a bit more.
“What do you see when you observe them like that?”
“I’m not completely sure, but I think I know a little. I overheard the kids talking among themselves.”
The child stared blankly at the kids piling out of the yellow bus.
“They’re forced to study. They don’t want to go, but they’re forced to.”
“……”
“I think it’s because they have to know the answer quickly. The journey to the answer is the more fun part…”
“…Huh?”
“The moment you know the answer, the problem ends there. The feeling of curiosity leading up to the answer completely vanishes in that instant. It’s more fun when you’re curious, but it seems they can’t enjoy that time.”
“I-Is that so?”
The child jutted out his lip once before speaking again.
“Do they learn how to think less and just find the answer faster in there? No wonder it’s not fun.”
In an instant, Go Chang-ho’s eyes went wide.
Min-seok, standing beside him, also had a dumbfounded look.
Because what the child just said was the exact core of the thesis Chang-ho was writing.
Chang-ho unknowingly grabbed the child’s shoulders tightly.
How could such a young child even have thoughts like that?
“T-Tell me more!”
“Pardon?”
Chang-ho spoke excitedly.
“The hereditary transmission of extrinsic motivation! So, regarding the mechanism where the generation that simply received the answers structurally eradicates the curiosity of the next generation…”
Just then, someone came running, grabbed Chang-ho’s arm violently, and twisted it.
“Aaargh!”
Free from Chang-ho’s grip, the child jumped up.
“Uncle!”
Chang-ho widened his eyes and turned his head.
‘…Uncle?’
It was that intimidating man who had been in the alleyway earlier.