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# Chapter 2. There's No Hiding It
The Jeffersons' house fell into a profound silence for a while.
Jonathan and Diana stared at Leo, who was smiling brightly at them.
“Wait a minute! This isn't the time to stand around doing nothing!”
With a mixture of disbelief and curiosity, Jonathan went into the living room and returned with an automobile magazine and an agricultural magazine from the bookshelf.
“Leo, do you think you can read these, too?”
When Jonathan held out the magazines, Leo propped the broom against the wall and began flipping through the pages with his tiny hands.
Soon, Leo began to speak.
“Six-cylinder engines…”
It was perfect.
From difficult technical terminology to the most detailed expressions, everything was flawless.
After glancing through the text just once, Leo reproduced entire sentences word for word, speaking like a machine.
“...!”
Jonathan stared blankly up at the sky.
The same thing happened with the cookbook Diana brought over.
“Jonathan, who on earth have we brought into our home?”
“W-Well, I have no idea. I've never seen anything like this before…”
A little later,
The Jeffersons finally managed to collect themselves. They sat at the dining table, huddled together as they tried to figure out what to do.
There was no doubt that having a gifted child was a blessing. However, because Leo had learned English from newspapers, his manner of speaking was far too stiff and unnatural.
“His way of speaking is the problem. I need to go into town right away and buy him some easy books.”
“Yes, you're right. That sounds like a good idea.”
Jonathan immediately drove his pickup truck to a bookstore in town and returned with several children's storybooks containing everyday conversations.
He handed them to Leo.
“Leo, would you like to try reading these, too?”
“Here, sir?”
“Oh, no. You can take your time reading them. Go upstairs to your room and read them there.”
“Thank you!”
Leo accepted the books and carried them upstairs to his room.
“Diana, you heard his pronunciation just now, didn't you?”
“Yes, yes! If I closed my eyes and listened, I wouldn't even be able to tell he was a foreigner! He says he simply imitated the way people talk! Is something like that really possible?”
“I honestly don't know…”
Jonathan and Diana stared blankly at Leo as he went up to the second floor.
The following morning, the Jeffersons were struck by another shock that left them feeling as though they had been hit over the back of the head.
While preparing breakfast, Diana called for Leo. He came lightly down the stairs and greeted her.
Yesterday's stiff and unnatural manner of speaking had completely disappeared.
“Good morning, ma'am! The bed was so comfortable that I slept really well!”
“Huh? Oh, oh. I'm glad you slept well…”
Diana froze with a dishcloth in her hand, stunned by Leo's perfect pronunciation.
Perhaps it was because he had read the children's storybooks, but all traces of awkwardness had vanished. He was now speaking perfectly natural, everyday English.
“Jonathan, what do we even need to teach this child? We could send him to preschool right away!”
Diana nudged Jonathan, who was still staring blankly at Leo, and spoke excitedly.
“I-I agree. Let's go see Michael!”
“Sounds good!”
If Leo's language skills were already this advanced, there was no reason to postpone enrolling him in preschool.
A few days later,
After finishing breakfast, the Jeffersons took Leo into town with him sitting in the passenger seat of their truck.
They were heading to a preschool run by Michael, Jonathan's friend of thirty years.
“Michael! It's been a long time!”
“Come on in, my friend!”
Michael was about to welcome Jonathan warmly when his eyes lit up at the sight of Leo standing beside him.
Jonathan smiled and placed a hand on Leo's shoulder.
“Who's this little fellow?”
Michael gestured toward Leo with his chin.
“He's the son of a friend who once saved my life. And now, he's my son, too. I'm here to enroll our Leo in your preschool.”
“Oh! I see! He's the son of that Korean soldier, Seonho!”
“That's right.”
“Well, enrolling him won't be difficult, but I wonder if we'll be able to communicate with him.”
Michael tilted his head, looking uncertain.
“Heh. Why don't you just talk to Leo and find out?”
“Really? You mean this child can speak English?”
“That's what I'm telling you. Go ahead and talk to him.”
“Hmm, all right! Let's test him, then!”
With a doubtful look in his eyes, Michael lowered himself to Leo's eye level.
His expression clearly suggested that a child who was only seven years old and had arrived from Korea just a few days ago couldn't possibly know much English.
“Hello, little fellow. Your name is Leo, right? Can you understand me?”
Michael carefully pronounced each word, speaking slowly to make it easier for the child to understand.
Leo glanced up at Jonathan once, then looked directly into Michael's eyes and answered without hesitation.
“Yes! I can understand you perfectly. It's a pleasure to meet you, sir!”
“...!”
Michael's eyebrows twitched.
Leo's pronunciation was almost unnaturally precise.
On top of that, his intonation was remarkably steady.
Curiosity took hold of Michael, and he decided to speak a little faster this time.
“Really? Then, Leo, can you tell me what you did yesterday?”
“Yesterday, I went around the farm with my dad. I even got to ride the big tractor in the barn. And the bread my mom baked was the best food I've ever eaten in my entire life.”
“Oh my God!”
Michael's eyes began to widen.
Leo answered just as quickly and naturally as children who had been born and raised there.
Now determined to test him properly, Michael spoke the way he normally would when chatting with his friends, casually blending words together and using natural contractions as he spoke rapidly.
“Wow, that's amazing! So, what do you want to be when you grow up?”
Even with questions coming at him in rapid succession, Leo didn't so much as blink.
“I'm not sure yet. But one thing I know for certain is that if I get to attend this preschool, my first goal will be to make friends here.”
“...!”
Silence fell over the director's office.
Michael stared at Leo with a stunned expression before letting out a helpless laugh and giving Jonathan a solid slap on the shoulder.
“Hey, Jonathan, what on earth is going on here? I mean, do people in Korea use English as their native language or something?”
Jonathan folded his arms and burst into hearty laughter.
“Well, how should I put it...? Newspapers... No! Anyway, the important thing is that we can communicate, isn't it? So, what do you say? Can you enroll our Leo?”
“Enroll him? Of course! With language skills like these, why would I turn him away?”
Still unable to contain his amazement, Michael enthusiastically signed the enrollment papers.
“Thank you!”
Leo politely bowed his head to Michael, while Jonathan wrapped a reassuring arm around his son's shoulders.
A little later, on their way back from the preschool,
The Jeffersons stopped by the local market with Leo. They wanted to buy him clothes to wear to preschool.
Diana held Leo's hand tightly as she took him from one clothing store to another and then into a shoe shop.
“Wow! These overalls would look absolutely adorable on Leo! They'd be so cute with this yellow shirt. Oh my! These sneakers are just precious!”
Diana crouched down to adjust Leo's shoelaces, her face breaking into a broad smile again and again.
Heh.
Watching the smile bloom around her eyes, where shadows had once lingered, Jonathan stood behind them carrying their shopping bags. His nose tingled with emotion.
He had never imagined that simply having a child join their family could bring such refreshing rain into their once-dry lives.
As they finished shopping, Jonathan bought Leo a vanilla ice cream from a shop along the street.
“Here you go, Leo! Give it a try!”
“Thank you!”
Leo tentatively tasted it with the tip of his tongue, and his expression immediately changed.
It was the first time in his life he had ever tasted something so sweet and creamy.
“Well? Is it good?”
“Yes! It's so, so, so delicious!”
Leo exclaimed enthusiastically.
“Hahaha! Is that right? Eat as much as you want!”
Under the still-warm sunlight, the ice cream quickly began to melt.
Afraid that even a single drop of this precious treat might fall to the ground, Leo anxiously licked the melting portions with his tongue.
His determination not to waste even a single drop made him look every bit like the seven-year-old little boy he was.
Jonathan quietly watched him and felt an ache deep in his chest.
'What kind of life has this innocent child lived? He's so worried that even a single scoop of ice cream might disappear...'
Jonathan gently brushed Leo's hair aside and made a solemn promise to himself.
'Seonho! Can you see us? Don't worry too much. I'll raise your son well.'
Diana happily wiped the ice cream around Leo's mouth with a handkerchief and smiled.
“Take your time eating. I'll buy you another one when you finish!”
And so, Leo was able to enroll in Michael's preschool.
Contrary to the Jeffersons' worries, Leo's preschool life seemed to be going smoothly.
However, before he had even attended for a full week, they received an urgent call from Michael.
Michael's voice sounded serious as he asked them to come to the preschool immediately, saying he would explain everything in person.
“Jonathan, I wonder what happened.”
“I don't know either. He said we should come over and talk, so let's go see him.”
“All right…”
A little later,
Jonathan and Diana felt their hearts sink.
A flood of troubling thoughts rushed through their minds. Had Leo been teased by the other children because he was in an unfamiliar environment? Or had someone picked a fight with him because he was Asian, leading to a fight?
The Jeffersons stopped what they were doing and hurried straight to the preschool.
Michael's Preschool
The atmosphere in the director's office was heavy.
Michael sat behind his desk with a serious expression, several drawings by Leo and sheets of paper densely covered in numbers spread out before him.
“Michael, what's going on? Has something happened to Leo?”
Jonathan asked urgently.
Michael shook his head and let out a deep sigh.
“There's a lot wrong!”
“What? What kind of problem? Is it because our child is Asian?”
“No, no! Nothing like that, you fool! Do you take me for some vicious racist?”
“Then what is it? You're driving me crazy. Just tell me already.”
“To be precise, Leo isn't the problem. Our preschool curriculum is.”
“What? What do you mean?”
“Jonathan, Diana, let me get straight to the point. Keeping Leo here any longer would only stifle his talent. Preschool education is actually doing him more harm than good.”
The couple stared at him in bewilderment.
Michael pointed at the papers on his desk one by one as he continued explaining.
“Phew, I can't make heads or tails of what you're saying. Could you explain it in more detail?”
“Of course. First of all, his ability to acquire vocabulary is beyond anything I could have imagined. No, it's not even on the same level as ordinary children.”
“How is it different?”
“While the other children were matching vocabulary cards, Leo was showing an interest in the economic section of the newspaper. He wasn't simply reading it. He understood the context and asked me questions. He wanted to know how the federal government's interest rate policies affected farm debt. That's not the kind of question a seven-year-old child should be asking, is it?”
“W-What? Our Leo did that?”
Michael rubbed his forehead for a moment, looking as though he had just been confronted with the sheer absurdity of the situation, before continuing.
“Yes, yes. But there's something even more astonishing. His mathematical abilities are beyond what I can handle, too.”
“Mathematics? You mean arithmetic?”
“Exactly. I was so amazed that I gave Leo a problem. Listen carefully. Suppose the number of flowers blooming in a lake doubles every day. If it takes thirty days for the flowers to cover the entire lake, how many days would it take for them to cover half the lake? Even some of the brightest upper-grade elementary school students struggle with this problem, you know?”
Michael's shoulders hunched as if he were reliving the shock he had felt at the time.
“...Wouldn't it be fifteen days?”
Jonathan tilted his head, then cautiously offered his answer.
“See? See? I knew you'd say that! Most ordinary people would answer fifteen days, just like you. Otherwise, they'd count on their fingers and struggle with it for ages. But Leo's answer completely defied my expectations.”
“What did he say?”
“He calmly replied, 'If the lake is completely covered on the thirtieth day, then it must be half-covered on the twenty-ninth day.'”
Jonathan asked with a blank expression.
“Was that the correct answer? Not fifteen days?”
“You fool! Of course that's the correct answer! When I asked him to explain why, Leo gave an even more incredible response. He said, 'Since the number doubles every day, it must be half-covered on the day before the thirtieth. That way, when it doubles the next day, the lake will be completely covered.'”
“Th-That's the right answer?”
“That's right! Leo isn't simply good at calculations. He instinctively understands the mathematical structure of geometric sequences and how each current state results from the previous one. A seven-year-old child has intuitively grasped numerical patterns that humanity took centuries to establish!”
Leo had already grasped the mathematical system behind the general term of a geometric sequence, \\(a_n = a \cdot r^{n-1}\\).
He had instinctively worked out the relationship in which the nth term is obtained by multiplying the preceding term, \\(a\_{n-1}\\), by the common ratio \\(r\\).
Michael looked at Jonathan and Diana with a grave expression.
“...”
“...”
The stunned Jeffersons could only look at each other in silence.
“Jonathan, you can't keep a genius like this busy building sandcastles and singing nursery rhymes. Every minute and every second Leo spends in preschool is stifling his talent. Find a more advanced educational institution or a specialist who can handle a child like him. And do it as soon as possible!”
At Michael's firm declaration, Jonathan and Diana looked at each other, completely at a loss for words.
Leo had only just begun adjusting to life in America, yet he had already outgrown the confines of preschool with ease.
The Jeffersons had no idea how they were supposed to handle this.
On the way home after hearing Michael's recommendation,
The Jeffersons were overwhelmed with confusion.
Sitting in the driver's seat, Jonathan glanced at Leo, who was sleeping peacefully beside him, and felt utterly lost.
'What on earth am I supposed to do now?'