6th Grade.
6th Grade.
I was sitting in the student council room, having become the student council president.
Kids from every kind of club, using the president title as an excuse to harbor ulterior motives and request meetings with me.
Constantly, at all hours, they took advantage of private interviews to confess their feelings to me.
When no one else was around, a sigh spread through the student council room.
"Haaah..."
The vice president, Ji-yeong, was watching my every move, and Park Ji-hoon, who was beside her, scoffed.
"Whoa... ever since Si-yoon became president, she gets confessed to an average of three times a day... insane..."
"And one of them's on their thirty-second attempt—pfft, even chopping a tree that many times would make it fall over. Just give in already and accept one of 'em~ keke."
Thwack! I tried to drive my fist into Park Ji-hoon's jaw with that sound, but Park Ji-hoon barely dodged it.
"Whoa... you realize these days, thanks to you, I can casually dodge punches from pro prospects, right?"
"Haaah..."
As I rose from my seat, Ji-yeong, long accustomed to scenes like this, covered her own eyes, and I naturally rolled up my sleeves.
"Don't come at me..."
As I swept my hair back to roughly tie it up, Ji-hoon shouted.
"Don't tie your hair up!!"
When Ji-hoon saw me pull out PE pants and put them on under my skirt, he dropped to his knees.
"Sorry... please don't..."
I stared at that sight for a long moment, then sighed and sat back down.
That was when Ji-hoon muttered a single line.
"Aaaang, just kiddiiiing~~~"
That day, Ji-yeong was able to witness with her own two eyes that a person could, in fact, go flying through the air.
Right now, I was standing in the ring, facing Park Ji-hoon.
The reason I was doing this started with a single remark from Park Ji-hoon.
He'd said, how could he ever hit a girl with his bare fists—but if he put on gear, he'd beat the crap out of me.
I briefly wondered why a private elementary school in Seoul even had a ring, but I set the question aside and strapped on protective equipment.
Ji-hoon put on gloves too, then flicked his hand at me to come on.
Feeling awkward in gloves she'd never worn before, Si-yoon approached at his gesture—and Ji-hoon threw a jab.
Si-yoon easily dodged it and smirked. Ji-hoon laughed awkwardly, but seemed to be getting fired up inside.
Watching Ji-hoon like that, Si-yoon spoke.
"That's supposed to be a fighting technique? It's way too slow."
Ji-hoon's punch was faster than Si-yoon had expected, but that was as far as it went—to her, his fists only looked slow.
Si-yoon dodged it lightly, then drove her fist into Ji-hoon's face.
But even after being hit, Ji-hoon sneered as if it had done zero damage.
"Ehhheng? You sure you actually hit me?"
Si-yoon felt a vein bulge in her forehead, and seeing that, Ji-hoon closed in and quickly threw a punch.
Against Si-yoon, who'd never sparred before in her life, Ji-hoon prepared a decisive blow.
Si-yoon was flustered trying to dodge Ji-hoon's swift footwork and jabs,
and he used his glove to block Si-yoon's vision and planted a hook right into her face.
Thwump!
Ji-hoon drove a fist into Si-yoon's abdomen as she staggered, and when her head dropped, he followed through with an uppercut—unable to collect herself, Si-yoon collapsed.
Ji-hoon raised one hand in a victory gesture, his eyes brimming with emotion.
"At last... at last!!! I have slain that monster..."
Then Si-yoon, who had been lying on the ground, regained her senses and slowly got up.
Ji-hoon, gripped with unease, spoke to Si-yoon in a trembling voice.
"The rules... you know them, right? Once you're down, it's over..."
Without a word, Si-yoon began slowly removing her gloves, blood running from both nostrils.
And those eyes—the look Si-yoon had worn in the past, right before destroying someone...
Ji-hoon realized that look was now directed at him, and he felt that he was now utterly fucked.
I was dealing with Ji-hoon, who was getting cocky again just because he'd done a little training, dodging his punches.
Suddenly he blocked my vision with his glove and launched a punch upward.
As if the world were slowing down, I could see Ji-hoon's fist coming—but my body couldn't keep up with my eyes.
I'd thought I'd let this punch land on my face, then wreck Ji-hoon with the next hit, but this body was weak—pathetically, impossibly weak.
This body, which had never once been punched before—the moment it took a hit to the jaw, it stopped obeying me.
And then Ji-hoon's rising fist.
Getting hit in the abdomen made it hard to breathe, and then when Ji-hoon's uppercut connected, my vision went blank.
As I felt my field of view drawing closer to the floor, I prayed.
'Ah... O Lord, I shall soon send this shitty little lamb Your way—do try to stop me if You can...'
I offered that brief prayer and opened my eyes.
With the absolute resolve to make sure he'd never walk out and see his parents' faces again.
As I approached, pulling off my gloves, Ji-hoon frantically grabbed my legs and began begging.
"Boss!!! Boss!!! Snap out of it!!! It's me, Jae-hyeong, Boss!!!"
When I grabbed Ji-hoon by the hair and tried to haul him up, Ji-hoon clung to me even tighter.
"Boss!!! I must've lost my damn mind. I was wrong, Boss. If I end up a cripple, how am I supposed to face my mom?!!"
"....."
I started rapidly coming to my senses.
If Ji-hoon hadn't acted like that just now, I would've rearranged every bone in his body and fitted them into different sockets.
Yeah, in the 21st century, that's a bit much.
When I nodded, Ji-hoon looked up at me, thinking he'd been forgiven—and I slammed my elbow straight down into his temple.
Leaving Ji-hoon knocked out cold, I went to the bathroom and checked my face.
A face swollen red.
Blood was running from my nose, but when I felt it, the bone didn't seem injured.
I gave a sharp snort to lightly spray out the nosebleed so it wouldn't splatter on my clothes, then took a photo for proof.
With the thought that if Ji-hoon ever tried to throw down with me again, I'd show him this picture.
And after wiping the nosebleed, I stuffed tissue into my nose.
Back in the student council room, Ji-yeong, who handled general affairs, was groaning over something,
and I glanced at the materials she was struggling with, quickly processed them, and handed them back.
"Whoa! As expected... our President!"
"I'm hungry. Wanna hit the snack shop?"
"I think I'm hungry too."
Park Ji-hoon was watching my every move from the corner.
The thought crossed my mind—if he was going to be like that, why did he pick a fight in the first place? But I pulled the tissue out of my nose and said,
"Come on."
"Yes, ma'am!"
The little kids who knew I was the president cleared the path for me—this parting of the Red Sea had been a thing since first grade, so I was used to it.
"Si-yoon, hi~"
A part-time worker greeted me.
"Yeah~ hello."
Park Ji-hoon had gotten pretty big, but he still ate as much as his own body weight.
The part-timer, after ringing up items on the POS for a while, handed over the basket.
While Ji-hoon went to sort out the basket, I grabbed only a strawberry milk and sat down.
And Ji-hoon went to heat up pizza bread.
Ji-yeong, who'd been eating a croissant in front of me, spoke.
"Middle school... where are you gonna go?"
"I think I'll go to a regular middle school."
"I wanna go with you too... hng..."
"Why? Did your parents decide for you?"
"Yeah..."
Ji-yeong was the daughter of the 'Sword Master,' so I nodded, thinking that was more than plausible.
"We can just keep in touch~"
At some point Ji-hoon came over and started eating bread.
"Looks like your growth spurt's kicked in again?"
Ji-hoon once again had about a half-head height difference on me.
"I'm definitely getting taller... past 180..."
"Yeah, grow, grow."
Ji-yeong sucked on her milk with the straw in it—schloop—then asked me.
"Oh right, what'd you do about the field trip thing this time?"
The student council president's authority was surprisingly broad, so I got to make the final choice on the field trip destination.
To make things easy, I'd told each homeroom president to have everyone write down where they wanted to go.
The fact that I could hand out demerits if they didn't follow my instructions on school-related business was really...
So this is why people crave power, I guess.
Two days earlier, during lunch period, I'd turned on the broadcast.
-"In five minutes, there will be an announcement from the student council president."
Ji-yeong's voice rang out, and the teacher in charge of the broadcasting club nervously stared at me.
For now, I started with proper posture.
This broadcast went out to the cafeteria, the hallways, every classroom.
And the moment the broadcast went live, I loosened my tie like it was suffocating me.
I could see the teacher directly in front of me rubbing their own forehead, but I paid it no mind.
"Hey~ it's your elected student council president. Since it's a pain, I'll get to the point fast—you go on field trips starting in 4th grade, and I'm gonna trust you already know each grade picks a different one. I'm gonna tell you how the destinations get decided."
I half-lidded my eyes, leaned back in the chair like I couldn't be bothered, and fiddled with my nails.
"How we decide is simple. Class presidents, have your homerooms vote on where they want to go, then send the results to your grade representative. We're going strictly by majority."
I finished neatening my nails, blew on them with a puff of breath, then looked at the camera.
"Now I'm gonna give you three things to watch out for."
I held up fingers at the camera while I spoke.
"One, no campaigning. 'Our class is going here!'—none of that. If a report comes in, that class's votes get deleted and the class president gets stripped of their position."
"Two, anyone who writes crap like outer space, the planet Asgard, Summoner's Rift—class presidents, you filter those out yourselves. If those ballots make it to the student council... the class president gets stripped of their position."
"Three, bring all votes by lunch the day after tomorrow. Any classmates who didn't vote, write a statement of reason and send it to the grade rep. If any classmate gets left out, the class president gets stripped of their position."
I grinned at the camera.
"Class presidents, I'm counting on you~"
And the screen cut off.
That day during lunch period, Seoul Private Elementary School went utterly silent for several seconds.
I was looking at the grade reps and vice reps assembled in the student council room.
"Been a while, huh?"
""Yes!""
"If you've got everything organized and brought it, hands up."
The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade reps were there to observe, and all of the 4th, 5th, and 6th grade reps raised their hands.
"Oh~ as expected, you've all improved a lot. Good work, everyone~ hand 'em over."
I skimmed through them quickly.
"4th grade's overwhelmingly Dubai, huh? What's this? Anyone speak Arabic?"
"As far as I know, none of the students can speak Arabic."
"Budget around 2.6 to 3 million won. I'll send out a notice through the teachers later."
"Yes!"
I was looking over the 5th grade report.
"Going all over the place, huh... what's with Egypt? You gonna go there, do some quiz with the Sphinx, maybe share a handshake with Anubis?"
"".....""
"Yo, 6th grade, hand it over."
I took the tally from a kid who looked sharp.
"Oh... Korea's the best after all... Jeju Island, hahh, I really like this one, excellent work. Dolhareubang over the Sphinx any day."
After organizing the submitted tallies, I reported to the teacher.
The teacher, eyeing me with suspicion upon seeing Jeju Island.
"? What."
"Nothing..."
I am clean, incorruptible.
It's just that for about a week, I openly walked around telling the kids I wanted to go to Jeju Island. That's all.
The kids made the choice; absolutely no corruption existed.
To match the price range with the other grades, we just so happened to need to take a cruise to Jeju Island.
The weather was sunny and the breeze was gentle—gazing at the horizon, I thought we'd made the right call coming here.
My face was slathered in so much white sunscreen that my complexion nearly matched the color of the cruise ship.
"Wow... the world has gotten seriously nice."
Park Ji-hoon, in swimwear, came and stood beside me while I was taking in the ocean view.
"Right? I thought I'd get super seasick on a boat, but it's not even that bad."
"Oh! Dolphins?"
I looked where Park Ji-hoon had pointed.
"Aaaang~ just kidding~"
"...?"
"...I'm sorry."
"Yeah."
Right then, dolphins actually leapt out of the water in the distance.
"Huh? Dolphins!"
When I pointed at the dolphins with my hand, Park Ji-hoon didn't even look where I was pointing—
he just stared at me like I was full of shit.
"Nice try."
I felt a vein throbbing in my head, slowly turned my head, and spoke to Park Ji-hoon with a smiling face.
"This son of a bitch is the one full of shit, and he's doubting me...? Haha."
"...Boss?"
Among the pod of dolphins leaping above the water's surface, the silhouette of a girl beating up a tall boy was visible.
I put on the wide-brimmed white bucket hat my dad had packed for me.
I pressed the hat down and looked up at the sky...
As if casting shade over the horizon, clouds drifted across the blue sky,
and with a faint scent of the sea and a breeze blowing under the hot sun, you could call it perfect weather.
If only my dad hadn't been secretly watching from afar...
Last time, when the field trip was to Australia, Dad had followed along too.
Dad always thinks he's secretly tailing me on his own, but all I have to do is turn my head and I can see the crowd of people flocking around him.
I immediately turned on my phone.
-"Yeah, Si-yoon, Dad's busy—what's up?"
"Yeah, you do look busy dealing with all those people..."
-"...Huh?... Wh... what do you mean..."
"Your daughter's embarrassed, Dad. It's starting to get straight-up mortifying."
-".....Sorry..."
"What kind of parent follows their kid on a school field trip... I'm thirteen now..."
-"I was worried... that's why..."
"Settle for being in the same general area... and go far away..."
-"Okay..."
I hung up and looked at Ji-hoon, who seemed weirdly worked up about something.
"What're you doing, acting like a dog that needs to take a shit?"
Park Ji-hoon checked around us, then whispered into my ear.
"I brought alcohol."
"Seriously?!"
"Shh!"
"Kyahaha, you little shit, I like you. You really are my subordinate. Si-yoon's about to drink for the very first time in her life."
The teachers couldn't possibly have imagined that a 6th-grade elementary schooler would have brought alcohol.
We had a free pass.
After doing this and that experiential learning activity, night approached quickly. In secret from everyone, in my pajamas, I met up with Ji-hoon.
"Euh heh heht."
"Hoo hoo... hoo hoot."
One bottle of soju and an array of little liquor bottles.
"Hahahahahahaha."
"Keuh... keukeuh... hahhk."
We couldn't contain our excitement at the sight of soju, something we hadn't seen in so, so long.
And we cracked open the soju and poured it to the brim of a paper cup.
"Boss... you drink first."
"Yes, Jae-hyeong... thanks to you, I am enjoying a luxury. But since we're the same age now... let's drink together."
"Yes, Boss!"
Ji-hoon and I clinked cups and gulped down the soju, glug glug.
"Ahh!!....."
"Boss?"
"....."
"Boss!!!"