The Joy of Sharing Knowledge
"Sigh..."
Kim Seong-cheol, Chair Professor of the Piano Department, frowned slightly as he looked at his department chair.
The chair had whined so incessantly that Seong-cheol had casually mentioned Cheol-jun was the nephew of an acquaintance. Naturally, the chair had scurried straight over to the head of the Mathematics Department to blab about it.
Seeing how the math chair had practically cornered him on his way to work like a restless puppy, there was no doubt about it.
The piano department chair and the math department chair were extremely close, having a senior-junior relationship that went back years.
That was why they used to attend the MCM together and maintain such a tight bond.
The piano chair avoided Seong-cheol's gaze with an embarrassed look, while the math chair scratched his head and offered a sheepish grin.
"Well, you see..."
"*Sigh*, first of all, please come inside."
Kim Seong-cheol opened the door to the department chair's office.
Once seated on the sofa, Pyo Jin-seong, the Dean of the Mathematics Department, accepted the cup of coffee handed to him by the piano chair and immediately opened his mouth.
"Professor Kim. Please, do me a favor. Yes?"
"I don't have any power in this matter. He's just the nephew of an acquaintance."
"Oh, come on... Please..."
In truth, Seong-cheol had wanted to go see Cheol-jun himself yesterday, but he had held back after hearing that the boy wasn't in a good state.
Besides, Hyeong-man had drawn a hard line.
He had warned that if anyone tried to coax Cheol-jun using the piano or anything of the sort, they shouldn't even think about showing their face.
Even Seong-cheol, a close acquaintance, was being kept at arm's length like this.
Hyeong-man had been furious about Cheol-jun's condition. Knowing that the meeting at the training center had been arranged without any prior agreement, Seong-cheol himself had been quite angry about it too.
He hadn't even wanted to look at the math department people, but...
Dean Pyo Jin-seong spoke up, his face flushed with excitement.
"Professor Kim. That child is truly remarkable. We cannot simply leave him be."
"Hmm..."
"He is not just a prodigy. The fact that he reached that level entirely on his own is nothing short of miraculous. If we guide him systematically, we might actually witness the birth of a truly monumental scholar."
The corner of Kim Seong-cheol's mouth twitched.
Despite everything, hearing Cheol-jun praised so highly made him feel quite proud.
Sensing that Seong-cheol's expression had softened slightly, Pyo Jin-seong quickly pressed on.
"Children like him can never be satisfied with a standard curriculum. We must satisfy that intellectual hunger. Furthermore, they feel immense frustration when surrounded by peers whose levels are vastly different. And what about regular classes? They won't be able to endure sitting through lectures on things they already know. They might even exhibit ADHD-like tendencies. Eventually, they start self-censoring. They try to mimic ordinary children to fit into the crowd, and in doing so, their genius can easily become dulled!"
"..."
"We aren't trying to be greedy here. We just want to give him some direction. He is probably feeling lost right now. If he keeps trying to solve things with math when it doesn't work, like he did this time, he might eventually stop trying to think deeply altogether."
Kim Seong-cheol's brow furrowed slightly.
This was an angle he hadn't considered before.
"We need to provide him with an environment where he can converse with peers of a similar level. It's crucial for the child's emotional development. Even if he doesn't show it, school life must be quite challenging for him right now."
Kim Seong-cheol slowly nodded.
He didn't care much for the Gifted Education Center, but this particular point was something he needed to discuss seriously with Hyeong-man.
"Very well. I understand what you're saying, so I will convey this to his guardian."
"Oh, thank you! Thank you so much!"
The Dean of Mathematics practically bowed in gratitude.
So he wasn't just smart...
Kim Seong-cheol felt a sudden swell of pride.
At the same time, his mind grew complicated.
***
The next day.
As soon as they arrived at school, Cheol-jun walked up to Arin and delivered a piece of news that made her eyes go wide.
"...What?"
Cheol-jun smiled brightly.
"They said your song is really good."
"Who?! No, why did you just show my stuff to someone else without asking?!"
Cheol-jun tilted his head in confusion.
"Didn't you upload it to social media so anyone could see it?"
"Th-that's..."
"Anyway, they said you have talent, so you should keep working hard."
"Seriously! Who on earth is this person?"
Cheol-jun knit his brows, contemplating.
For some reason, he felt like he shouldn't reveal her identity. Aunt Yeon-mi seemed incredibly strict when it came to her work.
"Just someone. Someone who knows a lot about music."
"Hmph..."
"I really liked your song too, you know."
"Ugh, whatever..."
Arin averted her gaze and turned her head away.
But looking closely, she didn't seem particularly displeased.
Cheol-jun smiled warmly and turned around.
He spotted Min-jun and Ha-rang. Usually, they would be loudly chatting at this hour, but today, they were actually sitting at their desks, staring intently at their books.
Min-jun and Ha-rang were absolutely desperate to keep these after-school tutoring sessions going.
Normally, they had to attend English and math academies right after school, but with their parents' permission, they were legally allowed to skip them for this.
On top of that, their homeroom teacher had promised that if they studied hard for just one hour and got all the questions right, they could spend the remaining time playing games.
Such a thing was an impossible dream at their regular academies. Besides, after studying with Cheol-jun for a day, they realized it was far more fun than any academy.
Thus, the two were doing their best to preview the material.
Cheol-jun had already let them know that today's topic would be fractions and decimals.
Since they had touched upon it briefly in the fourth grade, a little bit of studying was enough for them to grasp the basics.
Min-jun and Ha-rang's diligence stemmed from a very simple motivation: if they took the test as soon as Cheol-jun's lesson started and passed, they would get to play games for a full two hours.
Cheol-jun watched them with a pleased smile.
Then, he quirked an eyebrow.
He had told them they would be doing fractions and decimals, but he hadn't told them what they would actually be doing with them.
In that case, we can do addition and subtraction with fractions and decimals later.
Cheol-jun was filled with anticipation.
Having tried it yesterday, he found teaching to be incredibly fun.
He had always watched his teachers closely, but actually trying to teach made him realize it was no easy task.
Explaining something that he understood instantly just by looking at it was surprisingly difficult.
The answer would pop into his head immediately, but because he had to explain *why* that was the answer, he had to think through the process several times over.
And even when he managed to squeeze out an explanation, they didn't always understand it right away.
So he would try a different angle, explain it another way, and the process of finding that path was strangely addictive.
Most of all, the rush of satisfaction he felt when the two of them finally understood his explanation was unmatched.
The moment their eyes widened slightly, their mouths parted, and they let out an "Ah!" of realization, Cheol-jun couldn't help but feel thrilled too.
To think that making someone understand could be this enjoyable.
Honestly, Si-woo had wanted to join too, but since turning professional, he had to leave school immediately after the first period, so it couldn't be helped.
Until now, mathematics had always been a solitary pursuit for Cheol-jun.
But looking at the same numbers alongside Min-jun and Ha-rang gave him a strange, novel feeling.
For the first time, he had found a connection through mathematics.
In truth, the joy of understanding those two was even greater than the joy of teaching them math.
Figuring out where Min-jun was getting stuck, and identifying what Ha-rang needed—that process was far more complex, unpredictable, and fascinating than any math problem.
Hehe.
Cheol-jun could hardly wait for the after-school tutoring session to begin.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
"Look. If you use a bandage, it restores 25% of your HP. Let's say your HP is at 0."
Min-jun shot his hand into the air.
"If it's 0, you're already dead!"
"No! I mean, let's just pretend it is!"
"Oh. Okay."
Cheol-jun wrinkled his nose playfully and continued his explanation.
"How many times do you have to use a bandage to get from 0 to 100?"
"Four times, obviously!"
"Right!"
"Then what is one-fourth?"
"25!"
"No!"
Ha-rang quickly raised her hand.
"0.25!"
"Correct!"
"Yes!"
"So, if you use three bandages?"
"0.75!"
"And as a fraction?"
"Uh..."
Min-jun raised his hand high.
"Three-fourths!"
"Correct!"
"Woohoo!"
Cheol-jun was ecstatic.
Min-jun and Ha-rang had actually grasped the addition of fractions and decimals through his explanation.
Moreover, the thrill of seeing his chosen approach work perfectly was incredible.
"Then, since it's three bandages, multiplying by three gives the same value, right?"
"Are you stupid? Of course it does!"
"Oh! That's what multiplication is!"
Excited, Cheol-jun wrote the equation on the electronic blackboard.
"This is it!"
"Then, if a bandage only restores 20%, is that one-fifth?"
"You have to raise your hand before speaking!"
"Ah!"
Min-jun quickly raised his hand and stared straight at Cheol-jun.
Cheol-jun beamed.
"That's right!"
"Awesome!"
"Then, what if the effect of that one-fifth bandage is cut in half?"
"10%?"
"As a decimal?"
"0.1!"
"As a fraction?"
"Uh... one-tenth?"
"Correct!"
Grinning widely, Cheol-jun pressed the pen against the electronic blackboard.
"Cutting the bandage's effect in half means dividing by two. Dividing by two is the same as multiplying by one-half."
"Oh... Cheol-jun, you're amazing!"
"No way! I actually understand fractions now!"
Cheol-jun glanced at the clock. An hour had flown by in the blink of an eye.
"Do you guys want to take the test and play games now?"
"No!"
"Teach us more fractions!"
The corners of Cheol-jun's mouth twitched upward. His heart was pounding with excitement.
This was an incredibly wonderful feeling.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Sitting at the very back of the classroom, Chang-ho was diligently taking notes.
So, if a bandage restores 25 HP...
As he wrote, Chang-ho shook his head in sheer disbelief.
In educational psychology, there is a concept known as Transfer.
It refers to the ability to apply what has been learned in one domain to another. In pedagogy, teaching in a way that facilitates this is considered a highly advanced instructional method.
Most children store what they learn in math class and what they learn in science class in separate mental compartments, unable to connect the two.
But Cheol-jun was the exact opposite.
He pulled fractions from a video game, connected fractions to decimals, and linked decimals to division.
He was viewing them all as a single, unified concept.
To Go Chang-ho, this didn't even look like the transfer of learning.
To Cheol-jun, these concepts had never been separate to begin with.
There was also the Protégé Effect—the theory that teaching others helps one learn better.
It was a scientifically proven phenomenon; explaining concepts to teach someone else deepens one's own understanding.
But what Cheol-jun was doing went beyond even that.
The moment he hit a wall, he paused, thought, and found a new way. If he didn't know something, he admitted it and resolved it on the spot.
This was the attitude of a researcher, not a student.
It was reminiscent of the process mathematicians went through when formulating proofs.
Heavens... and he's only eleven?
He had started this special tutoring session on a whim, but Chang-ho was finding himself learning immense lessons from this small child.
Watching an eleven-year-old teach fractions to two of his peers brought all the educational theories he had studied back to the surface of his mind.
Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development, Piaget's Constructivism, Dewey's Experiential Learning...
What Cheol-jun was doing aligned almost perfectly with those theories.
Yet, there was no way Cheol-jun knew any of them.
He had arrived at this level purely through raw, intuitive genius.
Is this how a highly gifted child teaches...?
As a professional educator, Go Chang-ho knew exactly what a talent for teaching looked like.
And he saw it in Cheol-jun. In spades.
He already knew the boy was a mathematical genius. He knew he possessed a gift for Baduk, and his musical sensibility was also remarkable.
But to think he possessed a talent for teaching as well...
It was a thought he had time and time again, but he couldn't help but wonder about this child's future.
He could become a mathematician, a musician, or a professional Baduk player.
Or perhaps, he might become none of those things.
It was utterly impossible to predict what this child would grow up to be.
And for some reason, that filled him with immense anticipation.
Go Chang-ho smiled warmly and refocused on Cheol-jun's lesson.
"No! It's a bullet that deals 30 damage! You got hit three times, so why would you use only four 20% bandages?"
"We have to save one! If we get hit one more time and then use two, it'll be perfect!"
"Really? Then try writing that out!"
"...Huh?"
"Just write it down using numbers and symbols!"
Min-jun scratched his head, stood up, and walked over to the electronic blackboard.
"Okay, so my HP is 100, and I got hit three times by a 30-damage bullet..."
"Then four bandages..."
"How do I add one-tenth and four-fifths?"
"I told you earlier. Make the bottom numbers the same."
"Ah! Right!"
"And since I got hit one more time..."
"Two more bandages..."
"Is this right?"
"Whoa! Min-jun, you're the best!"
"Hehe."
Go Chang-ho's eyes widened, and he found himself clapping his hands in amazement.
Just yesterday, this kid didn't even understand the concept of remainders. Now, in a single day, he was finding common denominators for fractions...
Chang-ho's jaw slackened slightly.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
"Mr. Go! You've been leaving late these past few days, haven't you?"
As he stepped out of the classroom after sending the children home, Teacher Lee Hyeon-ja approached him.
Ever since the incident with Cheol-jun, she seemed to have become noticeably brighter. Previously, they had been the type of colleagues who merely exchanged brief nods, but now they were on speaking terms.
"Ah, you're leaving late too, Teacher Lee?"
"Yes, I was preparing some materials for the students' performance evaluations... Oh! By the way, I heard the difficulty of next week's school math competition has gone up."
Go Chang-ho tilted his head.
"I thought last year's first-semester test was already quite difficult..."
"They're probably trying to sweep the awards for Class 1."
At Hanyoung Private Elementary School, the grade heads were in charge of Class 1 for both the fifth and sixth grades.
And they often subtly integrated advanced, middle-school-level material into their regular curriculum.
These classes were unofficially referred to as the "External Competition Prep Class," or the "Gifted Class" among parents.
Teacher Lee Hyeon-ja smiled and nudged Go Chang-ho's arm.
"But Class 5 might actually take home an award this time, right? I heard Cheol-jun is incredibly good at math."
"Ah, well..."
"We have one student in our class who's quite good too, but with the difficulty going up like this..."
The school math competition only covered up to the sixth-grade curriculum.
They couldn't very well include actual middle school questions in an elementary school competition.
An increase in difficulty simply meant the questions would be highly convoluted. Naturally, students who had practiced solving those specific types of twisted problems would have a massive advantage.
And the students of Class 1 did exactly that every single day.
"Anyway, I really hope Cheol-jun knocks those Class 1 kids down a peg."
"Haha..."
Go Chang-ho's eyebrow arched slightly.
Cheol-jun's special tutoring sessions had been going on for several days now.
Lately, even when the hour was up, the kids would stay behind of their own accord, asking and answering questions.
He knew that children's brains at that age were highly adaptable, but their progress was far faster than he had anticipated.
Of course, this was only possible because Cheol-jun tailored his explanations perfectly to their level.
Once they discovered the joy of solving problems and finding the correct answers, they began to view the process itself as a reward. It was fascinating to watch them choose to keep studying even when they were allowed to play games.
Furthermore, Cheol-jun was exceptionally brilliant at twisting questions.
He never let them arrive at an answer easily.
Thanks to that, Ha-rang and Min-jun's mathematical intuition had improved dramatically.
After mastering the essential concepts of the fourth-grade curriculum, they were currently working through the fifth-grade textbook. Because Cheol-jun occasionally brought in sixth-grade concepts to explain things, they had unintentionally ended up studying far ahead of their grade level.
Hmm, maybe...
"Did something good happen? Your mouth keeps twitching upward."
Chang-ho quickly composed his expression.
"Haha. No, it's nothing."
"Well, I'll be off first then!"
"Yes! Get home safely."
Only then did Go Chang-ho let his lips curl up into a wide, uninhibited grin.
Just as Teacher Lee had said, the grand prize was practically reserved for Cheol-jun. And if things went well, perhaps Min-jun and Ha-rang too...
Actually, there was more to it.
Lately, during regular math classes, Chang-ho had tried teaching the rest of the class using the methods Cheol-jun employed.
The results were clear; the students seemed to grasp the concepts far better than before.
For the first time since becoming an elementary school teacher, Chang-ho felt a burning desire for his students to win awards.
After all, there was no better way for hardworking children to feel a sense of achievement than receiving an award.
Sigh, I guess I'm no exception to worldly desires either.
Chang-ho shook his head with a soft chuckle.