4
Chapter 4: A Mouth Closer Than Fists
After the class president election ended, the break time that followed turned into a swarm around Do Minho.
The students of Class 1-4, without exception, gathered around him. Normally, the boys and girls would stick to their own
sides, but at this moment, they were united with one thought in mind—the transfer student and newly elected class
president, Do Minho.
“Where did you live?”
First of all, they were curious about the hometown of Minho, who looked like a city kid at first glance.
“San Francisco.”
“Huh?”
The kids, who had assumed he came from nearby Shinseon City next to Munseon-eup, blinked rapidly in confusion at his
unexpected answer.
On top of that, even though it had only been about four years, Minho had spent a time in the United States when both his
brain and tongue were at their most flexible. His English pronunciation startled them.
“I lived in the U.S.”
“No way! You’re lying!”
A few mischievous boys interrupted him with voices full of disbelief. Even Minho’s butter-smooth English pronunciation
became something they doubted.
“Why would I lie to you?”
But when a perfectly formed English sentence came out of Minho’s mouth, all their doubts vanished.
“He’s American……”
For kids who barely knew the alphabet and a few English words, there was no choice but to believe him. They didn’t even
understand what he said in English, which made it easier to believe.
“But where do you live now?”
“Happiness Orphanage.”
“Huh?”
“I’m an orphan. I was abandoned by my biological parents, and also by my adoptive mom and dad.”
Because Minho spoke so plainly about being an orphan and even being returned after adoption, they couldn’t help but
believe him.
However, such blunt honesty was too much for eight-year-old children.
Even those who had shown interest in him from the beginning faltered, unable to manage their expressions. Some who still
wanted to get close to him awkwardly slipped away, unsure how to react.
Eventually, the space around Minho cleared out completely.
“Are you stupid?”
The only one who remained by his side was an eight-year-old boy from the same orphanage, assigned by their homeroom
teacher Han Yuri to help Minho adjust to school life.
“Why would you even say you were returned after adoption?”
As Minho’s seatmate, he couldn’t understand anything about him.
“They’ll find out anyway.”
“How would they find out something like that?”
“They always do. Like how you became an orphan, what your parents did, things like that.”
“Still……”
The boy wasn’t outgoing or well-connected enough to actually help Minho much. The teacher had simply decided, somewhat
reasonably but irresponsibly, that since they were both orphans from the same place, they should look after each other.
In fact, when the other kids had gathered around Minho earlier, he had tried to slip away pretending to go to the
bathroom. He had just missed the timing and ended up staying. Now, he couldn’t leave because he didn’t understand Minho
at all.
“Even if I don’t say it, they’ll know. Just like how everyone here knows you’re an orphan even if you don’t say it.”
There were three elementary schools in Munseon-eup. Among them, Sangnok Elementary was the only one that accepted
children from orphanages.
It wasn’t that Sangnok Elementary was kind to them. If anything, it leaned toward being harsh. Because the Happiness
Orphanage was in its district, the school accepted its children, but it also grouped them together in one class.
Though there were only two or three per grade, all orphanage children were placed in Class 4.
As a result, Class 4 became the most avoided class among parents and even gained the disgraceful nickname of a “special
class.”
Teachers avoided it as well. Han Yuri, a third-year teacher, ended up as the homeroom teacher of Class 1-4 largely
because of that avoidance.
Parents wouldn’t welcome a class that teachers themselves avoided. In that sense, Class 4 was a joint product of both
parents and teachers.
“So it’s better to say it first.”
“Is it……?”
Do Minho had been someone who won the class president election thanks to a lie about exercising his right to remain
silent, and he wasn’t someone who enjoyed revealing his personal life.
Yet now, near the beginning of his second life, he boldly chose to reveal it.
“That way, I don’t waste time on pointless things.”
“Huh?”
“There are reasons.”
There were many reasons behind it.
First, he didn’t want information about himself to spread through others’ mouths.
Second, he wanted to act as a shield for the orphanage kids who were already intimidated.
Third, being an orphan and living in an orphanage wasn’t a crime.
Fourth, this time, he was confident he could overcome being an orphan without difficulty.
---
As soon as the art class ended, homeroom teacher Han Yuri went to the back of the classroom and began putting up the
students’ drawings on the board.
These drawings had originally been vacation homework and should have been displayed on the first day back. However, some
students hadn’t done the assignment, and many of the drawings looked more like their parents’ work than the students’.
So she reassigned the task with the theme of family and even conducted a class on it.
“Wow.”
As soon as she finished and left, the students gathered in front of the board, their eyes fixed on one particular
drawing.
“That’s really good.”
Compared to other classes, the drawings were crude. But that was more due to their age than their skill. In other
classes, first-grade homework was practically done by parents.
“But Hey, Songi, you’re an orphan. Why did you draw parents you don’t even have?”
One mischievous child pointed out that the owner of the drawing was an orphan, grinning cruelly.
“Oh! Your parents are alive, you just don’t live with them?”
It didn’t take long for one joke to turn into many.
Han Songi, now the target of their teasing, simply buried her face in her desk and pretended to sleep. She had learned
that reacting would only make it worse.
“Hey Hyunseung, were you also abandoned by parents who are still alive?”
The kids shifted their attention to Lee Hyunseung, whose drawing hadn’t drawn attention due to his poor skill.
“Ha……”
Hyunseung let out a deep sigh, shoved his hands into his pockets, and also pretended to sleep. But inside his pocket,
his hand was clenched into a fist.
Just wait.
He wanted to beat them with that clenched fist, but he was smaller and outnumbered. More than anything, he didn’t want
to cause trouble like the older boys at the orphanage and burden the director.
At that moment of humiliation, Do Minho stood up and walked toward the board.
In his hand was a family drawing he had quickly finished in forty minutes.
“Pfft! What, were you also abandoned even though your parents are alive?”
“At least my adoptive parents are definitely alive.”
Unlike the others, Minho didn’t avoid answering.
“Oh really?”
“Yeah.”
“Then are those adoptive parents who abandoned you in this drawing?”
A boy, similar in height but much bigger, approached him with a grin, sensing a new target.
“No. It’s me and my children.”
“What?”
“A future family is still a family. I don’t have parents who raised me, but this is me and my wife raising our kids.”
In his first life, Do Minho had a few rules.
First, only talk to people on your level.
If this were his first life, he would never have engaged in such a low-level conversation. Yet he did now—for the
orphanage kids who had already fallen silent as the lowest prey in the school.
“Are you a bad guy?”
“What?”
“Someone who makes fun of an orphan for being an orphan can’t be a good person.”
At eight years old, they didn’t fully understand that fists were closer than the law. But instinctively, they relied on
size, numbers, and boldness.
“Try living kindly. If you keep acting like this, Santa won’t give you presents.”
With a sharp remark sharper than any punch, Minho returned to his seat.
“You little……!”
The boy, face red with anger, raised his hand as if to hit Minho.
“Hyunsoo, what are you doing right now!”
The tense moment was cut short by the sudden appearance of teacher Han Yuri.
“No, the class president called me a bad guy……”
“Do Minho, is that true?”
“Isn’t someone who mocks an orphan for being an orphan a bad person?”
“I didn’t mock you! I just asked if kids from the orphanage still have parents alive!”
The excuse from Park Hyunsoo sounded not only pathetic but foolish.
“So I told you. I don’t know if my biological parents are alive, but my adoptive parents are. I just didn’t want to draw
them, so I drew my future instead.”
Even Han Yuri was struck by Minho’s words.
There was a way like this……
The family drawing was a shared assignment for all first graders at Sangnok Elementary. Even in a school with orphans,
the underlying idea was that they shouldn’t inconvenience other students or parents because of them.
Still, as the homeroom teacher of Class 4, she should have taken care of the orphans. But as a third-year teacher, she
didn’t want to stand out.
So she simply told them to draw and forced the assignment, even saying something cruel like, “You were born because you
have parents. There must have been a reason they had to leave you.”
“Hyunsoo, stand at the back with your hands up.”
“Why only me! Jisoo and Hyunwoo did it too!”
At eight years old, it was too early to endure injustice or uphold loyalty. Park Hyunsoo was especially lacking in both.
“Jisoo and Hyunwoo, you stand too.”
In the end, the trio of troublemakers in Class 1-4 faced punishment.
I should contact their parents too.
The teacher, who usually held back her words in front of senior teachers, now spoke firmly as both an adult and a
homeroom teacher.
Then she paused when she saw Minho’s drawing on the board.
Wow……
Even though it was only in pencil, it carried an emotional impact that even the parents’ works couldn’t achieve.
That was natural. Minho had learned drawing from his stepmother, a professional painter, from age four to eight, and had
an innate artistic sense. He had always easily earned top grades in art.
He’s really good……
The students were also amazed.
Did they really abandon him because he would overshadow their own child?
Han Yuri often left the classroom during breaks just to talk with other teachers about Minho.
Anyway, he’s a subject worth studying.
There was no trace of abandonment or hardship in him.
What other talents does he have?
Before being a third-year teacher in a rural school, she was also a person. She was deeply curious about Minho’s hidden
abilities and potential.
For Minho’s sake, I should lift the restrictions on participating in school competitions.
She also felt a growing desire to uncover his talent and potential.