I've Become an Elementary Schooler
Monday.
I was sitting in a classroom.
"……."
There really was a school.
And it was the school I was supposed to be attending, at that.
The sign in front of the classroom read Class 2, Grade 3, and the shoe locker in the hallway had my name on it too.
Seo Jiwoo.
The name was exactly the same. My gender had changed and I'd been knocked sixteen years younger, but this one thing had come through untouched.
Well.
Lucky it was Jiwoo, I guess. If I'd ended up with a name like Cheolsu, that would've been a problem.
I stared at the desk with my name on it for a good long while before stepping into the classroom.
My seat was there too. Second row by the window.
Inside the desk drawer was a notebook I had no memory of ever writing, and the locker in the back had my name on it as well.
Up to this point, I'd let it all slide. Nothing surprised me anymore. The real problem was something else entirely.
"Jiwoo!"
A girl I'd never seen before came running up.
"Huh?"
I answered first and figured the rest out later. No clue who she was.
She planted herself right beside my desk.
"Why are you here so late?"
"Am I late?"
"Yeah. I've been waiting forever."
"For me?"
"Yeah."
Why, though?
I almost asked, but held it in. The girl's face said it was the most obvious thing in the world. We were probably close.
"By the way, what's with your hair today?"
"My hair?"
"Why isn't it tied up?"
She reached back and touched the hair hanging down my back.
"It's super long, you know."
"Couldn't be bothered."
"Want me to do it for you?"
"Are you good at that?"
"Obviously."
Then there was no reason to refuse.
"Sure, go for it."
"Really?"
Why so surprised?
Face lit up, the girl dashed off to her own seat. I watched her back as she went, thinking.
What was her name again?
No idea.
Well, this is awkward.
Just then another girl came over. A new face too.
"Jiwoo, did you do the homework?"
"What homework?"
"……."
The girl's expression went strange.
"The weekend journal."
"Oh."
So that was a thing.
"I didn't do it."
"You didn't even look at our chat room yesterday?"
"What chat room?"
"Our group chat."
"……."
So that was a thing too.
"No, I didn't look."
"Why not?"
"Didn't know it existed."
"What?"
"I mean—things were just busy, so I couldn't check."
I changed my story in a hurry. The girl stared at me like something about me didn't add up.
"What's wrong with you today?"
"Beats me."
Honestly.
Maybe I should check my phone first?
Just then the first girl came back, comb and hair ties in hand, and someone called out from behind her.
"Harin, you playing with Jiwoo's hair again?"
Oh. Nice assist.
Harin.
Good. That's one name memorized.
"Sit down."
"Okay."
I sat there obediently while Harin started working on my hair from behind. It was a little different from when Mom had brushed it yesterday—she was clumsy, and every time she grabbed a whole handful at once, my scalp would tug.
"Ow."
"Did that hurt?"
"A little."
"Sorry."
After that she got much more careful, her fingers weaving back and forth through the long strands.
It wasn't bad.
"Done."
I turned around.
"How does it look?"
"Hold on."
Harin turned on her phone camera and showed me. She'd braided small sections from both sides and tied them together at the back.
"Ooh."
It looked pretty good, actually.
"Isn't it cute?"
"Yeah."
"See? This style really suits you, Jiwoo."
Ding.
[Acquired faint praise.]
[Vitality +1]
The corners of my mouth twitched upward.
"Nice job."
"Told you."
Harin smiled, and on a whim I opened my status window.
Vitality:14 / 20
"Huh?"
On Saturday it had been full to twenty, but over two days it had dropped noticeably. Apparently it digested little by little as time passed.
Well, I could always fill it up again, couldn't I? Staying stuffed forever would just mean no room to eat more. And honestly, that warm feeling when praise flowed in with it—God, that felt amazing.
Just then the bell rang, and the kids began filing back to their seats. I faced forward too.
A little later, our homeroom teacher walked in.
"Alright, everyone seated?"
The kids answered in a chorus.
"Yes!"
I copied them a beat late.
"……Yes."
The teacher swept a glance around the room, tapped a few times on a tablet, and once she'd confirmed there were no empty seats, launched straight into a few announcements. That was the whole attendance check.
Simpler than I expected.
"That's it for morning homeroom—get ready for first period. Take out your math books and pencil cases."
The sound of desks and bags opening rose all around me. I opened my desk drawer too.
The math book was in there. I pulled a pencil case from my bag. Pencils, an eraser, even a notebook—every single thing had my name written on it.
"……."
None of it was anything I had prepared.
It was all stuff a certain woman had given me that morning.
Just before leaving for school.
I'd locked the front door behind me and checked my bag. Mom had told me where the school was, and I figured that much would do.
But then, just to be safe, I searched what elementary school students were supposed to bring…
"……Ah."
I didn't have indoor shoes.
And that wasn't all. No pencil case, no notebook either.
Actually, I had no idea what I was even supposed to bring today.
"This is bad."
Hmm….
Well, I'd figure it out once I got to school. Probably.
The moment I turned toward the stairs—
Click.
The door of apartment 301, directly across the hall, opened.
"Hey, kid. One second."
I turned my head. A woman with long gray hair was standing there. Mid-thirties, maybe? Definitely a face I'd never seen before.
And yet, strangely, she didn't feel completely unfamiliar.
"Me?"
"Yep."
She held out a paper bag.
"Take it."
"What is it?"
"What you need right now."
I looked inside. School supplies, neatly packed—indoor shoes, a pencil case, pencils, an eraser, a notebook. Even a water bottle.
Every single item had my name on it.
"………Uh."
I looked back and forth between the paper bag and the woman.
"Excuse me, ma'am."
The woman's smiling face froze in place.
"Ma…'am?"
"Yes."
"……."
What.
Did I do something wrong?
The woman slowly bent down to my eye level. Up close, I noticed her eye color was unusual—gold one moment, blue the next. I was looking straight at them and still couldn't tell which one it actually was.
"Unnie."
"Yes?"
"Call me unnie."
"Oh."
Was that really so important? To a ten-year-old, wasn't everyone ajusshi or ajumma anyway?
"Got it, ma'a—"
Zap.
"……Unnie."
"Good girl."
The woman patted my head, satisfied.
Ding.
[Acquired heartfelt affection.]
[Vitality +1]
"Hehe."
Such a nice ajumma.
"Unnie."
"Ah, right. Unnie."
Anyway, she seemed like a good person. I peered into the paper bag again.
"But how come you have my stuff, unnie?"
"Don't you need it?"
"No, that's true, but—"
That wasn't an answer to my question.
Hanging from the bag's handle was a small charm: a silver key, its head ringed by interlocking loops of varying sizes.
"What's this? It looks so weird."
The moment I picked up the key, the woman spoke.
"It opens doors."
"Doors?"
"Whatever door you want to open."
"……?"
What doors? The school gate? The front door?
I tilted my head.
"Oh, but unnie."
"Yes?"
"How did you know I was going to school today?"
Don't tell me she's a stalker?
The woman laughed.
"It's not like that. I just knew what you were about to ask."
"……."
What is she even saying. Why does this ajumma love riddles so much.
"You're going to be late."
"Oh."
I checked the time. She was right.
"Thank you."
Clutching the paper bag, I bolted for the stairs.
"Have a good day at school."
A few steps down, I heard the door of 301 close behind me.
Wait, someone like that lived in the apartment across the hall?
I didn't remember that at all.
"How on earth did that ajumma know?"
Was the world just rearranging itself to fit around me again? I couldn't tell.
Well, I had my supplies now, so whatever.
I opened my math book and the first lesson began. After a brief explanation up front, the teacher handed out a worksheet to each of us.
"Let's see how much of last semester stuck. If you finish early, don't just raise your hand—go back and double-check."
It was a review sheet, a mix of multiplication and division problems. I picked up my pencil, read a problem, wrote out the equation, and calculated. Write the answer, move to the next one.
It wasn't hard. That said, the answers weren't popping into my head fully formed either. I just did ordinary arithmetic like anyone would.
It would be pretty pathetic, after twenty-six years of life, to get stuck on third-grade math.
I wrote the last answer and set down my pencil.
"Done."
Only then did I look around. Harin was still somewhere in the middle of the worksheet, and the other kids were all in similar straits.
"……."
Was I a bit fast?
With nothing better to do, I was about to wait it out—but Harin sneaked a glance at my worksheet.
"Whoa."
"What?"
"You're done?"
"Yeah."
"Already?!"
Wow, Harin is loud.
The kid in front of us whipped around immediately.
"What, what is it?"
"Look at Jiwoo. This is all done already."
"Seriously?!"
The kid beside her leaned in too to get a look.
"You did this at the academy, didn't you?"
"Nope."
I don't go to a academy. I go unload parcels.
Well, I hadn't even done that in a few days now.
"Really? But this fast?"
"Yeah."
Why is everyone like this all of a sudden? This is embarrassing.
A few more kids crowded around my desk.
"Whoa, what's with Jiwoo?"
"Wow, they really are all done."
"How are you so fast?"
"Are they right? Did you get them all correct?"
Beats me.
"Haven't checked them yet."
Then someone threw a hand straight up in the air.
"Teacher!"
Don't.
"Jiwoo's already all done!"
And so even the teacher came over.
"Already?"
She picked up my worksheet and began checking the answers. She even examined the calculations I'd written out in a few places.
I sat there getting unnecessarily tense, my eyes fixed on her face, until she finished the last problem and looked up at me.
"Jiwoo."
"Yes?"
"Every single one is correct."
"Oh."
I was a little surprised myself.
The teacher looked down at the worksheet once more.
"Wow, you startled me too. Fast calculation and not a single mistake."
Then she grinned and handed it back.
"You're pretty impressive, Jiwoo."
Ding.
[Acquired heartfelt praise.]
[Vitality +1]
"Hehe."
This time the smile came instantly.
The moment those words dropped, the kids around us got even more worked up.
"Whoa!"
"You really got everything right?"
"Jiwoo might be a genius!"
"What are you? Why are you so good at this?"
"No way!"
"That was so fast."
Ding.
[Acquired heartfelt acclaim.]
[Vitality +2]
It felt good.
Really good.
I pressed my lips tight to keep the grin from leaking out. Harin looked at my worksheet again.
"Are you actually a genius?"
"Hmm."
I gave it a moment's thought.
"Could be?"
"Oh, come on!"
The kids laughed. So did I.
"Stuff like this is easy."
Saying it out loud made me feel a little smug. I even squared my shoulders.
"Wow, so boastful."
"Must be the genius thing."
"Well, she did do really well."
Ding.
[Acquired faint acclaim.]
[Vitality +1]
School.
Not bad, actually. Worth attending.
I laid my worksheet out on the desk where it would be nice and visible.
Behold, a perfect-score worksheet!
The teacher must have caught me at it, because she laughed.
"Someone's excited about being praised."
"Just a little."
A lot, actually.
The bell rang. Break time.
The moment the teacher left the room, kids popped up out of their seats all over. I was tidying up my worksheet when Harin came over.
"Jiwoo, let's go."
"Where?"
"The bathroom."
"I don't need to pee."
"You still have to come."
"Why?"
"Just because. Hurry up."
The other girl beside her fell in step naturally too, and before I knew what was happening, I was following both of them out into the hallway.
"Seriously, though—why do I have to come along?"
"Dunno. We always go together."
Ah.
Right.
The ten-year-old Seo Jiwoo whose life I'd inherited apparently went to the bathroom in a group, too.
I trailed after Harin toward the end of the corridor—and then my feet stopped.
The girls' bathroom.
"……."
Harin looked back.
"What?"
"Nothing."
Obviously, walking in here was the correct thing to do. I was a girl now.
And yet this felt somehow different from having my hair tied up, or wearing a skirt.
"Hey, wait a sec—!"
"Come on, hurry."
Harin grabbed my wrist and pulled.
"No, wait, I'm not emotionally ready for—!"