8 - A World Without Women's Human Rights.
8 - A World Without Women's Human Rights.
The exam results... and even the graduation ceremony.
Everything proceeded far too quickly.
To think that graduation was just a week after the exam results were announced.
It was a brutally harsh schedule for those who failed.
The graduation ceremony of National 13th Women's University was modest.
And for good reason.
In the first place, the number of students allowed to attend an Elite School was strictly limited.
"Congratulations on your graduation, daughter!! What should we go eat? Just say the word! I'll buy you anything you want!"
"Aigu...! How could you fail after how I raised a bitch like you?!"
There were two types of people on the school grounds.
Those who were happy about graduating.
Or those who, like me, were depressed after failing to get into university.
Out of the 50 women attending this university, only 3 went on to graduate school.
Just entering this university required being in the top 5% back in high school.
And that high school was a place where only the top 5% in middle school could enter.
Graduate school filtered out only the top 6% from among them again.
The elite of the elite.
Only those elites were able to protect their human rights until the day they died.
What was truly hilarious was the level of those elites.
The exam that such elites took was at the elementary school level of the world I used to live in.
In other words, it was no different from saying that this world expected nothing from women.
In the end, what determined a woman's fate—whether as a human or as Livestock—was purely her looks.
'I should have worn the whore outfit Appa told me to wear...'
What good did regretting do now?
It was already spilled milk.
Our family was a family of four: Appa, Omma—who was Appa's wife and property—and my younger brother, who was one year younger than me.
My younger brother didn't come today.
And understandably so.
That guy firmly believed that I would pass... but I betrayed those expectations.
How angry must he be?
I felt sorry for my brother.
"You worked hard all this time, my daughter."
Appa, having confirmed the notice of failure, gruffly handed me a bouquet of flowers.
Honestly, I was surprised.
The strict appearance he had when we first met was nowhere to be found.
[What's there to congratulate a bitch who's about to become a female dog soon!]
I was worried I would hear something like that given Appa's personality, but fortunately, I didn't hear such words.
"I'm sorry... Appa."
"Don't say such things."
He was the Appa who had pressed me to wear those clothes.
Only now did I realize it.
It was all for my sake.
Not listening to him was entirely my fault.
If only I had worn the outfit Appa gave me, this wouldn't have happened.
Regret washed over me.
"Huk... heu-huk... I'm really... sorry... so sorry......"
In the end, tears burst forth.
Appa quietly hugged me.
Todak-todak.
As he patted my back.
Ah.
So it was such a harmonious family.
This girl's family.
"Honey. Aren't you proud of our daughter?"
Omma looked up at me while kneeling next to Appa.
Omma, still on all fours, wearing something that couldn't even be called clothing.
The gaze of Omma, looking at me while wearing a leash, was a sad one.
As if she already knew how I was feeling right now.
A tear drop fell from Omma's eyes with a tuk.
"...Agassi... congratulations... on graduating university......"
On the first day, I didn't know why this woman acted like this, but now I know.
My Omma.
The Omma who gave birth to my body.
Omma has no human rights.
Since she cannot speak down to me—who possesses human rights—she calls me Agassi.
Our house's pet female dog who simply gave birth to me.
It was an awfully horrifying treatment.
'Will I... become like this too?'
The National Elite Women's Graduate School, where only elite women recognized by the nation could enter.
The horrifying reality that if you fail to enter there, you have to become some man's pet female dog like Omma.
That reality hit me even deeper today.
I'm a fucking idiot.
I should have just read the room and acted accordingly.
I ruined everything because of that petty pride.
For the crime of standing on my pride, I ended up stripped of my human rights.
There was no second chance to retake the exam.
It was the nation's judgment that true prodigies did not need to study any further.
Ordinary children received a different education from elites.
An education teaching them that they must accept the fate of a woman.
I had researched many things over the course of a week.
Female elites.
The only women in this world who possessed human rights.
When they turn 7, the nation conducts a gifted test.
If they are determined to be gifted there, they are not sent to an ordinary elementary school.
They are sent to a gifted elementary school that gathers only the girls who passed the test.
There, just like other boys, they learn subjects like Korean language, mathematics, and science.
Thus, after passing middle school entrance exams... high school entrance exams... going past university... and entering the final gateway, the Elite Female Graduate School, one can live as a person with human dignity.
It was easy.
But because it was easy, there was something I had to do even better.
I ignored Appa's words.
And I ended up failing.
Now, only one thing remained for me.
The training center where women who dropped out of elite education went.
There, I would receive education to become [Livestock].
In the end, at the latest by age 23, I would lose my human rights and have to become someone's property.
In short, it meant becoming Livestock.
What happens if you refuse to become Livestock?
A horrific thing happens.
Because if a woman refuses Livestock status and runs away, her entire family is put into a state prison to work hard labor for the rest of their lives in factories or farms until they die.
That's why they say the biggest social problem in this world lately is the failed prodigies like me who dropped out of university without undergoing Livestock socialization.
They were the very women who held onto the dream that they could live as humans until the very end.
Because they were certain they would never become Livestock, it was said that many of them could not accept becoming Livestock and fled.
Of course, it was said that 99% of them were caught and brought back.
And when that happens?
The entire family goes off to prison.
I even actually saw news that so many families had been rounded up like that recently that the prisons had reached maximum capacity.
......
Really... what a pathetic human being I am.
Relying only on the written test results... I overlooked other things far too much.
The exam was way too easy for me.
I didn't know the exact grading results, but it was probably a perfect score.
However, in the end, what was important was not the written test, but the Evaluation Event.
In this world where it was taken for granted that men employed women as Livestock, I should have appeared more voluptuous to them.
But because I failed to do so... I would soon become Livestock.
"Yo, Lee Taeseok-i~! Long time no see!"
A middle-aged man who acted familiar with Appa approached us.
Skinny as a rail with a thin voice, he looked completely gay and was an eyesore.
"Have you been well?"
Appa greeted them without any change in expression.
As if finding that amusing, the guy smirked and walked over to Appa.
"Haha, of course I've been well! My daughter got married off nicely too! The chairman of a major conglomerate picked our daughter, hahahat! Oh right! Did our Yuna pass university?"
At that moment, my body froze.
This was... mocking me.
My whole body trembled budeul-budeul.
The corners of my eyes grew moist.
Unable to do anything, I looked at Appa.
Appa's brow twitched slightly and then relaxed.
I hoped he would get angry, but Appa didn't lose his temper.
"She unfortunately failed."
"Oh dear... what a shame."
The man put on a comforting expression.
However, that face was not meant for genuine comfort.
He was a guy who came here just to humiliate me and Appa.
"I heard rumors that she was great at studying, so why did she fail... Anyway, get rid of any strange ideas. Otherwise, it'll cause trouble for your appa."
The man mocked me while pretending to be worried.
And behind him, a girl around my age stuck her tongue out and teased me.
It was that bitch who arrived driving a red sports car.
She was that confident just because she became the Livestock of a conglomerate chairman.
'Grrr...'
Her expression saying "Serves you right" turned my stomach upside down once more.
My eyes stung with a jjireureu.
I couldn't hold back my tears any longer.
The guy's hand reached toward my face and lightly grabbed my chin.
"Still, with decent looks like yours, you'll sell well. No need to worry too much..."
Peok!
In an instant, the guy floated up right before my eyes.
He was sent flying by Appa's punch.
"Keu-eueuk!!"
"Mister!! Wh-what do you think you're doing!! A... Appa! Appaa!!"
When the man collapsed, the yellow-haired girl screamed in shock.
Appa approached her and immediately snatched her chin.
"Getting married well with a mug like this, huh."
"Wh-what?! Are you crazy? What on earth are you doing to my precious daughter...!!"
"How does it feel when I do the same thing to your bitch daughter? Huh?"
"Keuk...!"
Appa let go of her snatched chin.
And then he took my hand.
"Let's go. There's no need to listen to stories from people like that."
Appa held my hand and Omma's leash, walking away quickly.
"Hihi... hihihi!! Hanya-ya! You'd better receive Domestication Education quickly! Otherwise you'll go crazy later, you know?? Hihi... hihihi!!!"
At the guy's shouting pouring out curses, Appa covered my ears for me.
"Don't listen."
I could see Appa's jaw trembling.
He was holding back his rage.
With tears flowing relentlessly, our family lonely left the scene.
**
A week passed.
I felt like I spent almost the entire time crying.
However, the feelings inside me wouldn't resolve.
A future where no future could be seen.
Only the future of becoming Livestock filled my head.
"Agassi, please don't be too disappointed. If you meet a good husband like Master, you can live a comfortable life just like me."
Omma tried to comfort me, but it didn't ease my heart.
Rather, feeling that Omma was my future only brought deeper despair.
"Get out...! Please!! Get out!"
"...Yes."
Omma had no power to disobey my words.
Because I had human rights, and Omma had none.
Tak.
I felt sorry to Omma, who closed the door and left.
I didn't mean to treat her like a female dog......
Actually, what Omma said was true.
Now that things had come to this, I had to meet a man of good character, marry him, and become his property.
Our Omma's treatment is on the exceptionally good side.
Even when eating, although she can't share the same table, she eats in the same space.
When I went to Miyoung's house, her omma's treatment was extremely poor.
Walking on all fours was the bare basic... and she was living in a doghouse-like place set up in the front yard.
They say Appa has never forcibly trained Omma even once.
In other houses, usually the appas tied up the ommas and beat them under the pretext of regular training.
Ttok-ttok.
"It's Appa."
It was Appa, not Omma.
I couldn't disobey Appa's words.
No... from now on, I must never disobey a man's words.
Because that was the fate of Livestock who lost human rights.
I opened the door.
Appa looked down at me with an authoritative face.
A presence that would intimidate even another man, man-to-man.
I cowered completely, barely squeezing out a voice.
"Why... did you call for me?"
"I have found a Honsacheo."