The Seal of Approval
"Oui?"
"Non?"
Mom and Dad asked back at the same time.
"You can think of oui as 'yes' and non as 'no.' Just knowing how to say yes and no will get you halfway there."
Pitter-patter.
I trotted over to the whiteboard and wrote down some real-life examples.
Scenario 1: You're at a restaurant, and the server asks if you want more water.
→ Nod your head and say, "Oui."
Scenario 2: A guy in sunglasses on the street aggressively tries to sell you Eiffel Tower keychains.
→ Wave your hands dismissively and say, "Non."
Dad said as he scribbled it down.
"Ah, I completely get it. Oui, non. Okay."
A-rin raised her hand and chanted along.
"Oui! Non!"
"Good job."
She seemed to really like how the words sounded.
I continued writing basic words on the whiteboard.
Bonjour — Bohn-zhoor (Hello)
S'il vous plaît — Seel voo pleh (Please)
Merci — Mair-see (Thank you)
"Now, repeat after me. Bonjour, s'il vous plaît, merci."
"Bonjour."
"S'il vous plaît."
"Mel-see!"
Mom and Dad repeated after me in unison.
A-rin raised her hand and shouted the loudest.
I nodded.
"Great. Even if you only know these five words, you won't have much trouble in restaurants or shops."
Dad looked down at his notes and asked,
"Is this really it?"
"For the basics, yes."
"You're not going to teach us more?"
"Nope. You and Mom already have so much to prepare. I don't want to overload your brains and make you dizzy. If you don't look too busy later, I'll teach you more then."
Mom smiled warmly and said,
"A-yeon, you're so thoughtful. I'll give you another praise sticker."
"Yay!"
I took the praise sticker and slapped it onto my sticker notebook with a satisfying smack.
"It's fine even if you can't communicate well! I'll be right next to you to translate everything anyway!"
Honestly, as long as one person in the group is fluent, the need for the other family members to learn French drops significantly.
"And if I'm not around, you can just speak English. You both know English anyway."
A-rin pointed a finger at her own face and asked,
"What about me, Sis? What about me?"
"A-rin, you just need to be good at saying bonjour and merci. French people absolutely love it when you say just those two words."
"Why?"
"French people feel happy when foreigners try to speak their language, no matter how simple the greeting is."
Dad asked,
"Is that so?"
"Think about it, Dad. If you were walking down the street and a foreigner brightly said 'Hello' or 'Thank you' in Korean, wouldn't you be super happy to hear it?"
"Hmm... true."
Dad thought about it and nodded.
"If we say bonjour and merci over there, they definitely won't dislike it."
"Yeah. Especially if a cute kid like A-rin raises her hand and goes, 'Hehehe, bonjour!' Everyone will grin from ear to ear."
A-rin giggled and repeated the words I taught her.
"Bonjour! Merci! Oui! Non!"
"Yep, that's more than enough."
And with that, the family meeting came to an end.
"A-yeon, let's go out together tomorrow."
"Where to?"
"To the bank. We need to open an account for you to receive your prize money."
"Ah, the account. Can we just walk in?"
"Not just like that."
Mom shook her head.
She began to explain.
"You don't have a national ID card yet, A-yeon. So we need other documents to prove your identity."
"What kind of documents?"
"A family relationship certificate and a basic certificate. We need to prove we're family, and we need your name and resident registration number. Let's go to the community center to get them. Oh, and we also need a personal seal for you."
I nodded along as I listened, but paused when she mentioned the seal.
"Huh? I need to make a seal? With my name on it?"
"Yes. A seal engraved with the name Yoo A-yeon."
"But doesn't a signature work for everything these days?"
"Usually, yes... but one million dollars is a lot of money. It's better to be safe. I actually asked Jin-ah, and she said we should prepare in advance in case there are any legal issues with the money later."
"Hmm... I see."
"Besides, you're only six, right? Apparently, the court doesn't recognize signatures from children under fourteen. So a seal acts as much stronger evidence than a signature."
"Okay, I get it."
Making a seal.
I imagined what my name would look like engraved on it.
According to the rules for registered seals, they add the character for 'seal'—In—at the end of the name. So it would look like this:
Yeon In
"Hehehe."
If I stamped a document, it would leave a huge mark saying [Yoo A-yeon-in].
Wait, since 'Yoo-a' means toddler and 'Yeon-in' means lover, doesn't that sound like 'toddler's lover' in Korean? That's hilarious!
That is absolutely amazing!
"I want to make my seal right now!"
Pitter-patter.
Unable to contain my excitement, I trotted all over the living room floor.
Having grown to love attention in this life, the prospect of owning an item like 'a seal with my own name on it' made my heart flutter with uncontrollable excitement.
The next day.
"Here you go, your seal is ready."
"Yay! Thank you, mister!"
"Haha, what a polite child."
When I bowed politely, the owner of the seal shop gave me a warm, fatherly smile.
I turned the seal over and over in my hands, admiring my name elegantly engraved on it.
"You look so happy, A-yeon. Do you like the seal that much?"
"Yes!"
Who am I?
An IQ 160 genius, a former Apple Phone owner, the first author of the Riemann Hypothesis proof paper, a master of the holy trinity of outfit-hair-makeup, a lawyer's niece, and now... the owner of the Yoo A-yeon registered seal.
I'm a registered seal owner~ I'm a registered seal owner~
I'm going to stamp my name everywhere!
Tada!
As soon as I got home, I squeezed some pink paint onto a palette and pressed my Yoo A-yeon seal into it.
For the record, I know red ink is the standard rule for seals, but red isn't cute, so it was disqualified.
Stamp.
I pressed the seal onto a sketchbook.
The letters [Yoo A-yeon-in] proudly showed off their presence.
Stamp.
I opened the book I was reading and stamped it inside too.
Stamp.
I looked in the mirror and stamped my own forehead.
With this, I had officially become 'Yoo A-yeon-in Yoo A-yeon.'
If I kept stamping my forehead infinitely, would I eventually become Yoo A-yeon-in Yoo A-yeon-in Yoo A-yeon-in Yoo A-yeon...?
Stamp.
I stamped sleeping A-rin's chubby cheek.
Stamp.
I stamped the back of sleeping A-rin's hand.
Stamp.
I even stamped the sole of A-rin's foot just as she was starting to wake up, wondering what was going on.
"Mmmph... what's going on... Huh? Wait? Ah, Sis! What is this?!"
"Heheh! Busted! Run away!"
Pitter-patter-patter!
I quickly dashed outside, hopped onto my kickboard, and zoomed away.
If we had a chase sequence inside the apartment, the neighbors downstairs would definitely come up to scold us.
A few days later.
Holding Dad's hand, I walked into the bank.
An employee approached us at the entrance.
"How can I help you today?"
"We're here to open a minor's account. A foreign currency account."
We sat down at the consultation desk.
Since there was only one chair, I hopped right onto Dad's lap.
We handed the family relationship certificate and basic certificate we got from the community center to the employee in charge.
"Well, sir. We can open a foreign currency account for a minor, but what is the purpose of opening this account? Are you planning to stay abroad?"
Before Dad could answer, I piped up.
"Yes! The Clay Mathematics Institute is giving me a one-million-dollar prize!"
Of course, since we were in a public place, I spoke about thirty decibels quieter than usual.
The employee looked slightly flustered by my words.
"Pardon? One million... dollars? A prize? Huh?"
The employee looked back and forth between the documents and my face.
The name written on the document was 'Yoo A-yeon.'
And my face was so cute that it was hard to forget once you saw it.
Suddenly, a look of realization dawned on the employee's face.
"Ah! Yoo A-yeon! You're the Yoo A-yeon from that documentary, right? The Riemann Hypothesis one!"
"Hehe. That's right!"
I puffed out my chest proudly. It was a moment where I truly realized my own fame.
I had been looking up reactions to myself on the internet, but meeting someone in public who recognized me felt uniquely satisfying.
The employee glanced around, cupped a hand over their mouth, and whispered in a low voice,
"Um, if it's not too much trouble, could I get an autograph?"
"Hehehe, of course!"
The employee carefully slid over a piece of memo paper.
I took the pen and scribbled my name, 'A-yeon', in cursive.
"Wow! Thank you for the autograph. And congratulations in advance on the million dollars!"
"Hehehe."
After that, the account opening went smoothly without any hiccups.
"Since it's a minor's account, we need the consent of a legal representative. Since the father is here, we can proceed. Please sign here."
Dad signed.
Then, the employee pointed to the spot for the seal.
"Please stamp your seal here."
I pulled my registered seal out of my cute bunny pouch.
I pressed it firmly into the inkpad.
Stamp.
My name was clearly stamped in the signature box.
...Since I had dipped it in pink paint yesterday, the stamp had a slightly pinkish hue, but it should be fine, right?
Clack, clack, clack.
The employee checked the document and began typing.
A moment later.
"All done. The foreign currency account has been opened."
The employee handed over the bankbook with my name on it.
At the current exchange rate, about 1.49 billion won is going to be deposited into this account!
Just thinking about it made me giddy.
Dad stood up and said,
"Thank you."
"Thank you very much!"
"Ah, thank you for the autograph as well," the employee said with a smile.
Holding Dad's hand, I walked out of the bank.