The Second Phase of the Goblin Computer Operation
The Olympic fever had reached even Deokjin Elementary School and its "goblin computer." Students who had never learned judo were causing a ruckus during every break, practicing throws and takedowns in the back of the classroom or out in the hallway. Yoo Jae-won, of course, had no interest in joining them. He had no close friends besides Jumin, and their mental ages didn't match anyway. His usual pastime was either reviewing his textbooks one more time or scribbling things in a script too advanced for the other children to decipher.
"Jae-won!"
Someone called his name just as he let out a big yawn. Looking up, he saw class president Ryu Su-gyeong. She was the kind of student who excelled at her studies and got along well with the teachers, which was why she had been class president for as long as anyone could remember. She and Jae-won weren't particularly close, and that hadn't changed even after his regression. In most rural schools like this one, boys and girls naturally split into separate groups even within the same class. If they happened to talk, the others would usually tease them with silly chants. Jae-won could have ignored the boys and hung out with the girls if he wanted, but none of them—including Su-gyeong—held any interest for him. Considering his mental age, being drawn to twelve-year-olds would have been criminal.
"Huh? Me? Why?"
Jae-won asked awkwardly, since they had never really spoken before. Su-gyeong, perhaps because she was the class president, addressed him familiarly and continued.
"Teacher Jeong Hyeon-ung wants to see you in the staff room."
"Me? Why?"
"I don't know. He said to bring you right away. You'd better hurry."
Teachers in this era were all like this—there was no expectation of respectful treatment. Still, knowing it was Teacher Jeong Hyeon-ung who had called for him gave Jae-won a pretty good idea of what it was about.
"Got it. If he's calling, I should go. Thanks for letting me know."
Jae-won nodded to Ryu Su-gyeong and stood up. Her reaction was unusual—she looked slightly surprised.
"What's wrong?"
"Oh, nothing. Just go already."
Su-gyeong's surprise came from the novelty of it. This was the first time she had ever had a normal conversation with a boy from her class. Like the other boys, she had always kept her distance, but as the leader of the girls in Class 5, Su-gyeong was taller than most of the boys. It was a common phenomenon at that age—girls matured faster than boys. Jae-won's height was still below average for his age, which made the difference even more obvious. On top of that, she had diligently trained in Taekwondo and already earned her belt. Thanks to her physical advantage and skill, Su-gyeong not only served as class president but also acted as a shield, protecting the girls from the rowdy boys. The boys were all wary of her. But Jae-won wasn't. Their conversation had felt natural. Especially the fact that, unlike the other boys, he hadn't thrown in any crude swearing. He had seemed a bit different after summer break, but now he seemed completely changed. As she watched Jae-won leave the classroom, Su-gyeong's gaze shifted.
"You called for me, sir?"
When Jae-won arrived at the staff room, he easily found Teacher Jeong Hyeon-ung's desk. The authoritarian layout placed teachers in order from first to sixth grade. Since Teacher Jeong was the homeroom teacher for Class 1 of the sixth grade, his desk was at the very back.
"Ah, Jae-won. You're here."
Teacher Jeong, who had been looking over some documents, greeted him. Though they were in different grades, they had a connection through the after-school club—the Computer Club, of which Jae-won was also a member. As the name suggested, it was supposed to cultivate computer skills, but that wasn't really the case. The principal was terrified of letting children touch equipment that cost millions of won each. Club activities were held once a week, but they only got to turn on the computers once a month. It hadn't always been like this. Apparently, fifth graders used to get hands-on practice once a week. But a few years ago, a student had broken one of the computers, and the school had to pay hundreds of thousands of won in repair costs. They could have billed the student's family, but since the family was poor, there was no way to collect. So the computer club teacher and the principal had split the cost themselves. After that incident, the computer club students were reduced to watching the teacher operate the machines, with actual practice becoming a rare event that happened only once in a while.
In any case, the teacher who actually handled computers in front of the students was Jeong Hyeon-ung. A graduate of a Seoul teachers' college, he had drawn high expectations from parents from the moment he was assigned here—and he lived up to them. Unlike the other teachers, he was skilled with computers, so it was only natural that he became the advisor for the Computer Club. And like any newly appointed teacher, he had an outstanding drive to teach the children well.
"Take a look at this."
What the teacher handed him was an official notice. It bore the names of both the Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education and the Ministry of Communications, and the most prominent line read: "Recruitment of Participants for the National Computer Skills Competition." The notice was short and to the point. It announced a large-scale competition spanning elementary, middle, and high schools to cultivate computer skills, and asked interested schools to select and recommend students. The reason the Ministry of Communications was involved in a computer competition was that it was the ministry in charge of supplying computers to schools. This was still an era when the term "information and communications" itself felt unfamiliar. It would be another ten years before the Ministry of Information and Communication was established. Instead, the Ministry of Communications handled computer-related projects, and its influence over supplying computers to schools was greater than that of the Ministry of Education. The competition, which had begun the previous year, was a byproduct of bureaucratic rivalry, and depending on the results, there could be a major review of the ministry's supply program.
Jae-won carefully read the notice, which looked as though it had been typed on a typewriter and then photocopied for distribution to each school. A wave of nostalgia washed over him. Looking back on his elementary school days before his regression, this competition was one of the biggest events among the countless regrets that flooded his mind.
"I'm thinking of recommending you, Jae-won. What do you think?"
Before his regression, twelve-year-old Yoo Jae-won had been terrified of standing in front of a crowd more than anything. He wasn't even good with computers. He had spent the entire break playing games. He hadn't memorized the keyboard layout either—he just typed by looking at a note the installation technician had left behind, hunting for the matching symbols. He had worried about embarrassing himself or disappointing his parents and teacher. In the end, he had decided on his own that it would be better not to participate. Twenty-first-century kids who started building their résumés from elementary school would have called him an idiot. But for the narrow-minded twelve-year-old Jae-won, that decision had felt comfortable.
"You have a computer at home, don't you? If you use it every day, you'll be better than the sixth graders, right?"
Teacher Jeong's only reason for recommending Jae-won for the competition was that he had a computer at home. Of course, owning a computer was a huge factor. Using a machine that fifth graders could only touch once a month and sixth graders twice a month—every single day—created an overwhelming difference in experience. So when Jae-won had refused the offer, saying he only played games on the computer, Teacher Jeong had given up easily. Instead, he had called Jae-won's parents directly and told them to make sure their son didn't play too many games.
That was when it happened, wasn't it? When the atmosphere at home completely fell apart?
Back then, a teacher's authority was on an entirely different level from the twenty-first century. With the family already struggling under heavy monthly installment payments, the idea of their expensive computer being used only for games was enough to make his parents furious. Eventually, the couple began fighting frequently. The more that happened, the more Jae-won acted out, and the household descended into chaos. So in a way, the meddlesome Teacher Jeong Hyeon-ung had been the starting point of their misfortune. Still, Jae-won was well aware that the root cause had been his own fault. Now that he had quit gaming cold turkey, that story no longer applied.
"It's a competition, but you won't all be taking a difficult test. The category I'm suggesting is the basic level. It'll probably just be a matter of who can type out a given text the fastest. How about it? Think you can do it?"
Jae-won didn't need to think twice about Teacher Jeong's question.
"Yes! I'll participate. I'll prepare thoroughly."
Teacher Jeong nodded, apparently pleased with Jae-won's confident answer.
"Good. The competition is on October 8th, so make sure you're ready."
Having received his instructions, Jae-won should have bowed and left. But he didn't.
"Hmm? Is there something else?"
"Looking at this, there are other categories besides the basic one, right? The basic level seems too easy. If you allow it, sir, I'd like to try the advanced competition."
The basic competition for elementary students was literally child's play. As Teacher Jeong had said, it only involved word processors, and the only challenge was seeing who could type the fastest. The advanced competition, on the other hand, was for middle and high school students and covered programming and data processing. Of course, that sounded grand, but in reality it was just a contest to see who was best at programming languages like BASIC or COBOL, or at using Lotus 1-2-3.
"Oh? The advanced competition?"
Teacher Jeong's eyes lit up. Well, well. This is interesting, his sparkling gaze seemed to say, unable to hide his curiosity. His reaction was understandable. After all, he was both the sixth-grade homeroom teacher and the Computer Club advisor. He prided himself on knowing exactly how skilled his students were with computers. The best computer user at Deokjin Elementary was sixth-grader Lee Ho-jin, and even he was only good at word processing because of his typing skills from using a typewriter. The only reason Teacher Jeong had called for Jae-won instead was that Lee Ho-jin was too busy preparing for middle school entrance exams to participate. But the advanced competition?
"You know how to program too?"
"Yes! I'm confident with BASIC. I've even been working on a useful application with it!"
"Really?"
Teacher Jeong examined the notice. It was true—there was no age restriction for the advanced competition. He hadn't expected any of the students to win awards in the first place. Without pressure from the principal, he wouldn't have considered sending the children to the competition at all. Locking the computer room door while hoping the students would bring back trophies was exactly the kind of thinking the principal would have. Still, he was willing to let Jae-won try, even if his programming wasn't perfect. Unlike the principal, Teacher Jeong had realistic expectations—he didn't anticipate any results from either the basic or advanced competition. The principal was covering travel expenses, and if nothing else, it would be a good experience for Jae-won.
"What kind of program are you making?"
"A typing practice program. It's on a completely different level from the one in the computer room."
Teacher Jeong, who had been expecting something like a simple multiplication table display, couldn't believe his ears when he heard "typing practice program."
"Is that so? Then bring it tomorrow. Let me take a look."
"Yes! Understood."
Jae-won answered loudly with a confident smile. The second phase of the Goblin Computer Operation had begun.