Chapter 6
Chapter 6
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 6
Chapter Title: Genius
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"Let me be frank. Why don't you become a scholar? If you want, I could even be your advisor. Economics isn't my main field..., but I can introduce you to someone else."
This was pretty shocking.
"...Right now? No, more than that, you're not even a professor."
"I can just quit my job at the Blue House. As for professor..., they might let me in. I like to think my academic achievements are pretty impressive."
...Did he like me that much? He was saying something that would make anyone else freak out, totally casually.
"Just take the high school equivalency exam and get into college early. By around twelve, no one would bat an eye."
"Hmm. I kind of want to enjoy school life too. Honestly, I don't have any friends..."
"Think you'll make some from now on?"
This guy had a knack for hitting where it hurt.
"Not really.... But connections are important, right? There aren't many people in the world like you who don't care about age."
"You know the name Isaac Newton?"
Kim Hae-ik, the Senior Presidential Secretary for Economic Affairs, started slowly like that.
"Yes."
"Right, even someone with just a middle school education has heard of Newton. But do you know who the king of England was during Newton's time? Unless you're really into British history, most people don't know those names—"
"Two Charleses, James, Mary, William, Anne, and George. Newton lived between the Stuart and Hanover dynasties."
"...You know your stuff. Good."
Kim Hae-ik gaped in admiration for a moment before shaking his head awkwardly and making his pitch again.
"Anyway, that's not the point. The real thing is... power isn't as great as you think. It's awfully fleeting. Rather than something that'll be forgotten in a few hundred years, I'd recommend the path of scholarship. With your talent... you might even etch an immortal name into the ivory tower of knowledge."
Hmm.
I got what he meant. I even agreed with him to some extent.
But... I don't age. His advice assumed a normal person who grows old and dies. Obviously, I couldn't say that.
Plus, his metaphor had just been shot down, killing his persuasiveness. I didn't want to be Newton—I wanted to be an absolute monarch.
Napoleon and Genghis Khan earned immortal glory too. Power and fame don't always go hand in hand, but overwhelming power makes fame a lot easier.
"Nah, I don't like that. Even university professors get locked up if they speak out of turn, and you want me to go into academia? If I just manage the inheritance Grandfather leaves me well, I can live like a king in Korea."
-Hoo.
Kim Hae-ik let out a short sigh at my words.
"Fine. I won't meddle in your life anymore."
"You're taking it surprisingly well?"
"What else can I do? It's just a scholar's regret. Seeing a genius like you right in front of me, only for the business world to snatch you away... sigh."
He shrugged as he said it. Kim Hae-ik glanced at his watch as if to say more, then clicked his tongue.
Three hours had flown by since we started talking.
"Oops, I've kept you too long. Your grandfather must be worried. I'll head out now."
-Click.
The door opened, and Kim Hae-ik turned back with a slight smile.
"Next lesson..., let's make it every other Saturday, unless something comes up."
It was clear approval. I grinned back and bowed politely.
"Yes. Thanks for today, Uncle."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ My first meeting with Kim Hae-ik, the Senior Presidential Secretary for Economic Affairs, wrapped up successfully.
Grandfather seemed puzzled about what we'd done for so long, but I had no obligation to explain, so I just smiled.
And as expected, he was thrilled.
'If only you were a boy, Ha-yeon—'
I even heard stuff like that.
With the huge event of the bombing targeting the presidential candidate, Yoo Jin-cheol's funeral was quickly forgotten.
Father had always been on the fringes of Daeha Group anyway, and after Mother died, he rarely visited Chairman Yoo Seong-pil's residence.
Instead, my presence stood out more and more. There were no other young kids at Chairman Yoo Seong-pil's house besides his grandchildren, and naturally, I shone the brightest.
Two weeks after Yoo Jin-cheol's death, October 21, 1983.
I sipped from my glass while reading the morning paper.
[17th International Conference on Weights and Measures Held... Meter Standard to Change? Meter Redefined Based on Speed of Light.]
'Hmm. It'd be nice if I could have coffee.'
Morning paper and coffee. The perfect picture, right?
I loved moments like this. Morning sunlight spilling through the window frame, the cool breeze contrasting with the warm blanket.
Yeah. A piano would be nice too. The rustle of paper pages mixed with piano notes—gotta be perfect.
"Hey! What are you doing!"
Then, an unwelcome intruder shattered my peace.
"..."
Her face was full of pouty annoyance. A little girl who, though young, would grow up pretty.
'Yoo Seon-ah....'
One of Chairman Yoo Seong-pil's granddaughters. The only daughter of his eldest son, Yoo Jin-seok, she'd been the baby of the family until I was born—spoiled rotten, from what I'd heard.
Four years older than me, so ten now.
Honestly, before Father died, I'd lived like I didn't exist, so her first ten years must've been smooth sailing, envy-free.
"Ugh. Ignoring me? I asked what you're doing!"
I calmly pointed my index finger at the newspaper.
"Reading the paper. Want to see?"
By the way, papers back then mixed in hanja. Tough for a ten-year-old.
"..."
As expected, she strained to read it for a bit before going with forced silence. Then she pointed at me accusingly and yelled.
"You're just pretending to read 'cause you don't get it either!"
It was a pattern I was getting used to lately. Adults sometimes made me forget, but kids were kids.
I had no idea what I'd even done wrong.
"...Think whatever makes you comfortable. Why do you keep bothering me?"
A bit irritated, I gave her a light shove. Yoo Seon-ah mumbled her lips before muttering softly.
"...Grandfather only likes you."
...That was it? Kids.
"Then do something Grandfather likes too. I'm working hard at it right now."
I replied with indifferent eyes. Yoo Seon-ah stared at me wide-eyed. This side of me must've been a fresh shock to her.
"You're not reading it for fun?"
Fun... It wasn't no fun, but I knew way more fun stuff. Games, internet, that kinda thing.
I did this out of necessity. I knew I had to endure a bit to achieve my desires.
I swallowed the complicated explanation and shrugged. Soft black hair brushed my shoulders.
"Didn't you just say I was pretending?"
"Th-that..."
Seemed like "endure" wasn't in Yoo Seon-ah's vocabulary. Makes sense—what hardships had she faced?
"Father didn't like me much. But he loved movies, so I figured if I knew a lot, it'd get his attention. Forced myself to learn all sorts of stuff."
"..."
She didn't snap back, so the kid had a good heart. Chairman Yoo Seong-pil must've done decent character education. Then why was our dad such a mess?
As I inwardly sighed, she barely squeezed out one line, mumbling.
"I'm your big sister. Call me unnie."
"No."
As if.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Yoo Jin-seok, eldest son of Daeha Group's Chairman Yoo Seong-pil, had to listen to his daughter's whining after breakfast.
"Daddy! Me too, me too—I wanna study. Buy me books. H-hanja books too..."
"...Study? What study? No, Daddy's happy if you want to..., but."
Unlike the old days, girls were going to college now. Unlike the older fogeys, Yoo Jin-seok prided himself on open-mindedness, so he was positive about his daughter's education.
Until now, she'd refused.
'Seon-ah suddenly getting the study bug? No way...'
"Because of Ha-yeon?"
Seon-ah flinched and nodded. Kids this age think they can fool their parents, but Seon-ah was refreshingly honest. Yoo Jin-seok liked that.
Maybe he just loved his daughter. Precious youngest after turning thirty—why wouldn't he?
'Well, Seon-ah's never had reason to lie in life.'
Even big mistakes got brushed off lightly, so Yoo Seon-ah naturally grew honest.
Though she expressed it as rudeness for minor stuff.
"Yeah. Ha-yeon's... kinda weird, right? You don't need to copy her. Kids should just be kids."
Yoo Jin-seok frowned, thinking of his niece.
His speed-demon little brother knocked up a famous actress—boom, niece.
He'd seen her face occasionally, but hadn't paid much attention. She was a total kid, and reining in Jin-cheol was priority.
But... whatever education that was, the Ha-yeon he met recently was an old soul in a kid's body.
-'You know, right? Even the intelligence guys and Foreign Minister hated going.'
At Jin-cheol's funeral, she'd shocked him. At first, kid talk—but later, it was weird.
Look at Seon-ah—even she didn't know government basics. What ministries did, etc.
Hell, how many Koreans really understood the government? Not the essence.
Decades post-liberation, people still called the president "His Majesty." Only college grads and intellectuals knew better... So Ha-yeon's knowledge wasn't kid-level.
Yoo Jin-seok shook his head there.
'That's going too far.'
She liked papers, so probably parroted stuff from them. Kids get cocky in their know-it-all zones.
"But Grandfather only likes Yoo Ha-yeon... I wanna grow up fast too."
Seon-ah grumbled. Yoo Jin-seok gave his daughter a wry smile.
'Father too. In his old age, doting on that lookalike granddaughter.'
Lately, Ha-yeon chimed in spot-on at meals with Father's topics.
Normally, nonsense got scolded—but she nailed it, and Father's favoritism concentrated it all on her.
Timing of the terror was lucky, but coincidence. Father saw something genius in Ha-yeon. Introducing her to that infamous economic secretary.
"It's fine. In a bit, Grandfather will see too. No such thing as child prodigies in the world."
He knew—he'd been called one once. Knew how hellish it was.
Prodigy titles came from abusive education and dire environments, not innate genius.
Obviously, Jin-cheol ruined the kid. Boozing and wandering—duh.
"...Really? Ha-yeon said if I wanna get adults' attention, study hard."
Yoo Jin-seok stroked his daughter's head with a bitter smile.
'Knew it. A six-year-old thinking like that? No way. Desperately trying to impress adults.'
He shoved the rumors from his mind.
Ha-yeon reading thick college books, debating Kim Hae-ik equally for three hours—
Ridiculous.
Where'd a six-year-old learn specialist English? And three hours with that busy man? Absurd.
Self-teaching English and econ from books, digesting it to debate him...? At six?
Unless... one in ten thousand, a true genius.
The kind that appears once a century, mocks heaven and earth, then vanishes.