A New Beginning
“A private high school!?”
I realized I hadn’t told my mother yet.
My mother must have assumed I would enroll in a regular high school.
“Yes, I’m aiming for Forest High School.”
“Forest? To get into a private high school, you need to study well, right?”
“I’m doing well, actually.”
My mother paused for a moment, then nodded.
I had performed well in the second semester of my third year of middle school.
The rest was a mess, though.
“If I calculate by overall score, isn’t it lacking?”
“That’s why I’m applying to Forest High School. The competition rate there is low.”
My mother thought for a moment, then agreed.
“Alright… Do your best.”
“Yes.”
Knock knock.
Hyemi, who had been listening to our conversation from the side, tapped my shoulder.
“Oppa! You’re going to a private high school? You?”
Hyemi laughed loudly, clutching her stomach.
“Hyemi-ya, I actually study well.”
“Hahaha. Oppa, it’s time to eat your medicine? Hahaha.”
A small sigh escaped me.
My mother, sitting beside me, didn’t seem inclined to tell Hyemi the second semester grades.
“Sigh… Do as you please.”
I let out a small sigh and stood up from my seat.
“Oppa. Let’s prepare for the interview and go eat something delicious.”
Hyemi grabbed my arm and said.
“I have to prepare for the interview with friends outside.”
“With friends? You don’t have any friends, Oppa?”
Hyemi casually delivered a fact bomb.
“I do.”
“Oppa, you just don’t want to eat with me because it’s annoying!”
After Hyemi’s pout, I entered the room to investigate interview-related materials.
**
**
“Mom, you’re coming home late today?”
“Yeah, don’t make the house messy if friends come over.”
“Yes! See you later!”
From today, interview preparation begins.
Before long, it was past 10 o’clock.
“Soon Doun and Eunhye will come.”
I neatly arranged the living room table and placed the interview materials I had diligently prepared over the past few days on the table.
“I should prepare snacks too.”
I put various kinds of chocolates, candies, and bread on the table.
I believe I will pass Forest High School.
Eunhye will probably pass as well.
The problem is Doun.
Doun had done well in the second semester of third year middle school, but the rest was poor.
No, not just poor, it was very bad.
No matter how low the competition rate for Forest High School is, he could still be rejected.
“Great. With this, the Doun private high school entrance project is ready!”
Ding dong. Ding dong.
It must be Doun and Eunhye arriving.
“Doun?”
“Yeah, Eunhye came with me.”
At the door stood Doun and Eunhye.
“Please come in.”
I guided them to the table where interview materials and food were prepared.
“Wow… Naeun, you prepared this?”
“Yeah. To take the interview, you need at least this much.”
Doun and Eunhye, who had sat down, examined the materials.
“Let’s work hard for a week.”
“Okay.”
“Yeah…”
We prepared mainly questions that might come up in the interview.
“About the book I wrote in the self-introduction.”
“Yeah…”
“Yeah.”
“Before going to the interview, read it again and think about the feelings. And… Doun is…”
Doun was the problem.
There was no doubt that Doun was good at studying.
But his grades were not good until the first semester of third year middle school.
“Doun-ah, I can have you solve a problem in the interview.”
“Solve a problem?”
“Yeah.”
There was a student in the past who applied to Forest High School with low grades.
It seemed like they were aiming for the low competition rate.
That student failed the interview.
According to rumors, they couldn’t solve the middle school problem given in the interview.
“I’m fine.”
Doun said confidently.
Even so, I was worried.
I had applied to Forest High School despite my mother’s opposition.
To attend the same high school as Doun.
But if Doun fails the private high school…?
It can’t be.
I really want to go to the same high school as Doun.
“Doun-ah, go out there and solve the problem on the back page.”
I took out the white board I had prepared in advance.
“Here?”
“Yeah! You have to practice a lot.”
“Okay.”
Doun stood up and stood next to the white board.
He read the math problem without hesitation and solved it on the white board.
He also explained it with his mouth.
“Wow… Doun-ah, I understand well. You seem to teach better than the teacher.”
Eunhye exclaimed in admiration.
I agreed with her words.
It was as if I had taught a middle school student.
Although Doun, being a middle school student, wouldn’t do that.
He solved the math problem perfectly and even the English problem.
The explanation was perfect.
It was so perfect that it made me think the teacher was teaching.
“How was it?”
“It was good. Doun-ah…”
“It was great!”
The small worry that had lingered in my heart disappeared.
If it’s Doun.
No need to worry.
He was smarter than I thought, knew more, and explained well.
After lunch, we continued the interview preparation.
“You can ask about other books besides the one in the self-introduction. It might be good to read one more.”
“Okay!”
“Okay.”
“And social issues too…”
After talking for a while, it was evening.
“But Doun-ah, today you’re different from usual?”
“Me?”
“Yeah. Until now, you seemed like someone chasing time.”
“Ah… I see. Today is fine. No, I have time for a week.”
“Yeah… Good. Let’s prepare for the interview a lot!”
**
**
Interview day.
Naeun boarded Naeun’s mother’s car and headed to Forest High School.
“You are Doun?”
“Yes… Hello.”
“I heard you got 100 points in all subjects before the midterm.”
“Yes…”
“Did you get 100 points in all subjects on the final exam too?”
“No…”
Naeun’s mother’s expression stiffened slightly.
“Mom, Doun got first place in all subjects on the final exam too.”
“Ah~ Is that so. Doun studies well.”
“Thank you.”
Naeun’s mother didn’t stop asking questions until we arrived at Forest High School.
She asked about studies, high school plans, and even where to go to university.
“Everyone, do well in the interview. I’ll wait in the car, auntie.”
“Yes, thank you.”
“Yes…”
“Mom, don’t worry. We prepared the interview hard.”
…
The waiting room for applicants.
“Lee Doun student.”
Following the guidance, I entered the interview room.
Several people who seemed to be teachers were sitting in front.
“Please sit in the chair.”
“Thank you.”
I had experience taking the interview.
When I entered, I greeted first, then sat in the chair with proper etiquette.
I acted perfectly like in corporate interviews.
Perhaps because of my polite behavior, the teachers’ expressions softened.
But the good atmosphere didn’t last long.
“Lee Doun student. Your middle school grades… are a bit off.”
Forest High School looks at grades from middle school 1st year to middle school 3rd year 1st semester.
That is, the grades from the last semester I studied well are missing.
“Because of the low competition rate of our school, many students are applying.”
“Yes.”
The meaning of various students is probably including students with low grades.
“Students who cannot prove their academic achievement with middle school grades are asked separate questions.”
“Yes.”
One teacher stood up from his seat and gave a problem.
“Solve the math problem you just received on the blackboard.”
“Understood.”
Third year middle school.
It was a difficult level problem.
Anyway, the difficulty didn’t matter to me.
I read the problem, wrote the solving process on the blackboard.
And it took less than a minute to find the answer.
“Um… Lee Doun student, please explain the solving process.”
“Yes. When I look at the problem…”
The problem solving was perfect, and the explanation was sufficient.
I am different from a regular middle school student.
When I was a university student, I gave many presentations in front of students, and when I got a job at a large company, I did presentations in front of colleagues and superiors.
The interviewers showed expressions of surprise even after seeing the problem solving.
Perhaps because of that.
I solved another problem.
“Lee Doun student, the problem we gave is one that even top students find difficult.”
The interviewer checked the documents again and looked up.
“This is a bit sorry to say, but… the problem that Lee Doun student can solve is not possible with your grades.”
“From the second semester of middle school 3rd year, my academic performance improved rapidly.
Even those around me couldn’t believe the grade improvement, so I took a re-test.”
“Is that so… How many rank did you get on the second semester midterm?”
“I got first place in the whole school.”
Murmur. Murmur. Murmur.
“Hmph, if Lee Doun student lies during the interview, the admission may be canceled in the future.”
“It is a clear fact. And I also got first place in the second semester final exam.”
One of the teachers who was interviewing hurriedly ran outside.
After a while, the teacher came back in and confirmed that my words were true.
It seemed like he had called my middle school.
“Hmph… Then I’ll ask the next question. The book that deeply impressed me in the self-introduction…”
…
“Doun-ah, why did it take so long?”
When I came out of the interview, Eunhye and Naeun approached and said.
“Yeah… because I was solving the problem.”
“Really? Was it difficult?”
Naeun said worriedly.
“No. It was easy. Since I did well in the interview. Don’t worry. How was it for you?”
“It was average.”
“It all came out within the content Naeun gave.”
Both their expressions were bright.
Unlike me, with good grades and hard interview prep, there should be no problem entering.
“Let’s go. Naeun’s mother must be waiting.”
“Yeah~”
“Yeah!”
At the parking spot where I first parked, Naeun’s mother was waiting.
“Did everyone do well in the interview?”
“Yes~.”
“We did well.”
“Yes.”
Vroom… Creak…
Naeun’s mother bought delicious food and drove us home.
“Thank you.”
“Thank you.”
When I was about to get out of the car after greeting, Naeun hurriedly opened her mouth.
“Mom, can we go to the amusement park tomorrow?”
“Amusement park?”
“Yeah.”
“From tomorrow, I have to go to academy again, right?”
“Please. I took the interview today~”
My mother thought for a moment and glanced at me.
“Are you going with Doun?”
“Yeah. Doun, you’re going too, right?”
“Ah… Yes…”
Amusement park.
Even after living 35 years, I had never been to one.
I wanted to go at least once.
When amusement parks appeared on TV, everyone had happy expressions.
And the day after tomorrow, the Hero game would be updated.
“If it’s with Doun… then, let’s rest only tomorrow.”
“Yes, Mom! See you tomorrow, Doun!”
Vroom.
Naeun headed home with a happy expression.
“Eunhye-ya… Are you coming too?”
I asked cautiously.
Because I knew Eunhye hated crowded places.
“I…”
She couldn’t answer easily and hesitated.
It was like seeing my past self.
Even if I wanted to go to the amusement park, I gave many reasons not to go.
Because there was no one to go with.
I had grown older, why go there.
A guy like me doesn’t deserve to have fun.
Hmm… Thinking about my past self, I only felt sorry for myself.
Eunhye probably wanted to go to the amusement park too, but was troubled because of her burn scars.
“Eunhye-ya. If I wear sunglasses… no one will recognize you.”
“Uh… Yeah…”
I grabbed Eunhye’s wrist and left the apartment complex.
“Where…?”
“Let’s buy sunglasses. Let’s go to the amusement park together wearing that.”
Burn scars…
Unfortunately, Eunhye’s burn scars cannot be treated even 20 years later.
Probably because medical technology hasn’t developed that far.
If possible, future Eunhye who succeeded in the Hero game and earned a lot of money would have treated it.
If I don’t go to the amusement park today, even next year, even 10 years later, even 20 years later, she won’t be able to go.
Just like my past self.
I bought thick-rimmed sunglasses.
It cost 300,000 won, but I bought it for her.
I stopped her from wanting to buy it too.
“Thank you…”
“See you tomorrow.”
“Yeah!”
It’s November.
Wearing long clothes, hat and mask, the weather isn’t strange.
Now is the best time for Eunhye to go to the amusement park.