WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Incarnation of the Malevolent Star ◈
Chapter 113: Part 1 - Whispers of the Dark Brother (113)
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#113.
Like every other teacher working at schools in town, Eun-jeong had also been an out-of-field teacher, responsible for one additional subject alongside English.
She had been so from the day she first arrived.
And, by coincidence, that subject was field study.
That coincidence happened to suit the times, contributing greatly to the growing recognition of Lee Eun-jeong, known among parents as “Onik’s teacher.”
This was a time when the disappearance of field trips at schools in major cities, especially Seoul, had become a matter of public concern.
And at such a time, there was already a famous teacher in exactly the right position to meet parents’ demand.
A search for Eun-jeong’s name on the online communities frequented by parents immediately brought up many posts about her.
(People without children would be rather surprised if they knew how actively parents talked about famous teachers and cram-school instructors in those communities.
And they would be even more surprised to see how brutally people calling themselves parents could publicly shame someone while speaking in such polite language.
Sometimes the target was a teacher or a school. Sometimes it was a cram school or a particular instructor. Sometimes it was another parent, or that parent’s child.
If people in the neighboring country across the sea saw these public pile-ons, they would be moved to say, “Ah, Naisen Ittai still lives!”
The people of Kyoto, perhaps, would be especially moved.)
The posts and comments usually went something like this.
「You know Lee Eun-jeong, the teacher famous as Onik’s teacher? I heard she’s also in charge of field study.」
「My child and I watch Onik’s broadcasts all the time, and when we watch Let’s Talk with Teacher!, stories from Onik and Teacher Eun-jeong’s past come up now and then.」
「I was especially struck by the stories Onik told about his field-study experiences.
Every time he talks about them, you can see from his face how much he truly enjoyed them.
It makes me happy just watching him.
It makes me wish my child could have such warm experiences too...」
「Onik grew up without parents, but he’s such a bright, upright, hardworking child, isn’t he?
Wouldn’t a large part of his emotional development be thanks to Teacher Lee Eun-jeong?」
「Exactly. It’s not just that she personally cared for him so well. They say field study has a very positive effect on children’s emotional development.
A good teacher gave him good classes, so a child like Onik came from it.」
「Right. What good is natural talent by itself? If a child grows emotionally twisted, they can’t even bring out that talent.
I think people who say Teacher Lee Eun-jeong simply happened to meet a good student really don’t understand anything.
Helping a child like Onik bring out his talent is also a teacher’s ability...」
「Seriously. There are so many incompetent teachers who ruin or bury talent that already exists.
Talented children are like uncut gems.
Even with the same gem, the result can be completely different depending on which jeweler works it.」
「What stands out to me about Onik is how independently he studies.
I’m sure outings with a teacher he liked played an important part in making him that way.
Emotionally stable children tend to study well too.」
Among the parents having conversations like these, those who had made it through the fierce competition for the “premium rural study program,” where they could meet Eun-jeong, became the envy of everyone else.
At times like this, the small number of people envied by the majority usually wanted to make their own experience seem even more precious and valuable.
Because boasting to others was enjoyable in itself.
And because they felt even greater satisfaction from knowing that they had enjoyed something valuable that others could not easily have.
Unfortunately, there was such a thing as the happiness that came from comparative advantage in the human heart.
A dark happiness that bloomed only when one confirmed that they were superior to others, or that others were inferior to them.
Thus, there were almost no negative reviews of the field study Eun-jeong planned and supervised as lead teacher, or of the rural study program that included those activities.
The quality of the education itself was good, and on top of that came the desire of the “chosen” parents to show off.
Naturally, this did not mean there were no negative reviews at all.
Ill-natured people existed everywhere.
But whenever such a review appeared, a strong corrective response almost always followed.
Parents who looked favorably on Eun-jeong would often accuse the writer of being a difficult parent.
And most of the time, that was true.
「Excuse me, but I think I know who wrote this;;; Aren’t you the person who complained that giving a child milk as a snack was emotional abuse;;;
You said taking milk meant for calves and giving it to a child was harmful to the child’s emotional development;;;」
...Surprisingly, this had been an actual complaint.
As this pattern repeated itself, the rural study program in the Creative Development Education Pilot District, whose overall planning Eun-jeong was involved in, became an opportunity coveted by more and more parents in the major parent communities.
It had reached the point where it became more famous because it was already famous.
It would not have been wrong to say that both the bandwagon effect and the Matthew effect were happening at once.
That was why the competition for this winter’s short-term program reached 349 to 1.
(Eun-jeong’s official authority and responsibilities as the research lead teacher were limited to programs related to elementary schools.
But the provincial office of education that had designated the pilot district wanted to use the famous female teacher herself as a brand, so things were quite different in practice.
Whenever the schools in the pilot district did something together, the role that exercised the most real authority always went to Eun-jeong.
Of course, the experience of exercising real power beyond her official title taught Eun-jeong an impressive lesson.)
The parents who had passed through such a narrow needle’s eye were basically soft and obliging toward the teachers.
There were two main reasons.
First, the parents were the ones in need.
These parents had fled from cities where proper field-study programs had nearly vanished.
And the effort and money they had spent to flee reflected both their hunger and their passion.
So they held an underlying hostility toward difficult parents and other habitual complainers who had caused field-study programs in the cities to disappear completely.
「I really wish someone would do something about people like that.
If it weren’t for those unusually sensitive people, we wouldn’t have had to go through so much trouble and come all the way out here, would we?
It’s nice once you get here, but if it weren’t for people who found everything uncomfortable, we could have had decent field-study programs at the schools our children already attended...」
「Exactly. If they find that many things uncomfortable, they should just homeschool their own children. Why do they make everyone else suffer because they’re uncomfortable?」
「There should be some system to block or filter out nonsense complaints, but there’s nothing like that...
I think complaints should require real names.
Or at least the content of the complaint should be disclosed so other parents can judge it, and if the opposition is overwhelming, it should be ignored.」
「Wow, that would be good! If parents from other schools judged it instead of parents from the same school, they couldn’t complain about fairness either.」
「Whatever it is, there needs to be a system that keeps normal people like us from suffering. Really.」
These were the things parents who had accompanied their children on the field study would say when they gathered in small groups during breaks.
Eun-jeong, who was at the same site, could hear such things without much difficulty.
They naturally reached her ears even when she did not try to listen in.
On the other hand, many parents deliberately raised their voices because they were conscious of Eun-jeong.
There was no way Eun-jeong could fail to notice.
Several parents would strangely raise their voices whenever she passed nearby.
They thought they were making it seem natural, but from the receiving end, their actions were honestly far too obvious.
Some parents openly tried to build a sense of agreement with Eun-jeong.
The psychology beneath such actions was very transparent.
“I’m different from those difficult people.”
“I’m a far better person than those pathetic people.”
...To repeat it, there was such a thing as the happiness that came from comparative advantage in the human heart.
A dark happiness that bloomed only when one confirmed that they were superior to others, or that others were inferior to them.
In the parents who had come all this way in search of premium education for their children, Eun-jeong could also see an unavoidable narcissism.
“Am I not truly a wonderful and admirable parent, devoted to my child? Unlike those pathetic complainers who ruin their children’s education by flooding schools with thoughtless complaints in the name of their children!”
Eun-jeong, who had recently been putting effort into observing people, found this easy to read as well.
It was a psychology that maximized happiness from comparative advantage by contrasting “good, admirable me” with “ugly, pathetic difficult people.”
And Eun-jeong read one more desire in the parents’ soft and obliging attitude toward her.
It was...
‘The desire for recognition.’
The parents participating in the study program wanted to be recognized as good people and admirable parents.
More than anyone else, they especially wanted recognition from Eun-jeong.
The desire for recognition was selective about whom it sought.
More precisely, it was selective about the other person’s status.
The higher that person’s status, the more elevated one felt by receiving recognition from them.
That was why it was Eun-jeong.
A person of high status. A teacher of high status.
To receive the recognition of famous teacher Lee Eun-jeong, who possessed an authority different from ordinary teachers, held great value for people who wanted to think of themselves as good parents.
The authority and value here were important components of the mirage surrounding Eun-jeong.
Unless she shattered the parents’ illusion with cold words, Eun-jeong’s authority and value would continue to exercise real influence over them.
#
Even as she focused on that influence, Eun-jeong cautiously reconsidered.
‘Am I looking at this all too cynically...?’
As a teacher, Eun-jeong knew from experience that every action children took had light and shadow.
Even their good actions did.
Children’s good actions fundamentally came from good intentions.
But they were not one hundred percent that way.
When adults first taught children moral rules of behavior, they used a system of psychological rewards through praise.
In other words, it was entirely natural for children to expect a psychological reward when they did good things.
And that should not be called bad. Through praise, children could cultivate a better nature, and good deeds held value in themselves regardless of their motive.
Even if a child with a truly awful nature did good things only through calculating self-interest, with proper education and psychological rewards, they might someday become a genuinely kind child.
‘...A teacher’s duty is to believe in that possibility. A teacher’s calling is to help that possibility bloom.’
Adults were no different.
They too must once have been children like that.
Perhaps the very habit of expecting adults to be unconditionally “mature” was wrong.
Proper maturity did not naturally appear simply because someone grew older.
There were far too many bad adults in the world.
But among those bad adults, how many had truly been born bad from the beginning?
In the same way, she should accept the existence of adults whose hearts had not fully grown up.
Therefore, she should not view parents whose actions were guided by a desire for recognition as entirely negative.
What mattered was helping them act as good parents in the end.
...Using the power Eun-jeong had been given to guide their minds in that direction.
As she had considered before, good deeds had value in themselves regardless of motivation.
There was no need to feel cynical about parents gripped by the desire for recognition.
At the same time... there was no need to see the work of “developing” their disposition through the recognition and praise they wanted solely as psychological guidance and indirect manipulation.
Eun-jeong quietly reasoned with herself.
‘Get a hold of yourself. I can’t become a bad adult too.’
Until now, Eun-jeong had lived a life in which she tried to see only the bright and good parts of other people.
But that had been the life of Lee Eun-jeong, elementary school teacher.
Eun-jeong, who had begun to dream of a self that was not a teacher, now wanted to see people’s darker sides as well.
It was a process she had to go through if she wanted to become accustomed to handling the mirage.
But because she was trying to see what she had deliberately avoided seeing until now, she felt she might be focusing too much on it.
The dark side of people had a way of polluting the mind of anyone who looked at it simply by being faced directly.
Consider internet communities and social media, which people jokingly called places where every abyss in the world gathered.
The principle by which they exhausted the minds of those who viewed them, and then distorted their sense of reality, was much the same.
Even so, Eun-jeong tried to look into human darkness.
She was looking into the abyss while trying not to let herself be stained by it.
‘Because I have to remain a good teacher to our Onik.
Because I want to be an adult our Onik can lean on forever...’
The precious existence of her student was like a rope holding Eun-jeong’s heart in place.
The emotional reliance between teacher and student was not one-sided.
Relying on the heart of her kind and lovely student, Lee Eun-jeong, the teacher, fulfilled the parents’ desire for recognition with warm, gentle words.
...By doing so, she strengthened the shared sense of being chosen among the parents and trained them to be easier to handle.
Once she actually tried it, it was not as difficult as she had expected.
After time passed and she gained more experience, she felt she could do even better than she did now.
She felt she could do it with adults other than parents as well, in different situations.
She felt she could guide people’s thoughts and hearts well in the direction Eun-jeong herself considered desirable.
#
If one asked people in this country about the power relationship between parents and teachers, one hundred out of one hundred would say that parents held the power.
To teachers working on the front lines of public schools, it was a nearly absolute imbalance of power.
The reversal of that solid hierarchy created a large crack in the small world of teacher Lee Eun-jeong, who had long been confined within an ordinary life.
In the literal sense, a crack had formed in common sense.
In the reality itself that she had accepted as completely natural as a teacher.
Through that crack came a new perspective and understanding of people.
#
Another reason the parents were soft and obliging was the value they subjectively attached to the “premium rural study program.”
People naturally had a tendency to treat something precious differently.
Eun-jeong took delicate care to keep the parents’ rose-tinted view from fading.
She made sure that the experience of students and parents remained above a certain level of quality.
This, too, was not as difficult as it had seemed once she actually did it.
‘They say that what makes a luxury item luxurious is really very small differences.’
Was there truly a difference in quality equal to the difference in price between a 10,000 won fountain pen and a 10 million won Montblanc fountain pen?
If the price was a thousand times greater, was the quality also a thousand times better?
Everyone knew the answer.
A person’s subjective sense of value could be greatly inflated by small acts of care.
Eun-jeong had simply shown that care in a way that met the parents’ expectations.
Perhaps she had an unexpected talent for this kind of thing.
Put kindly, it was a talent for gently leading people. Put less kindly, it was a talent for subtly manipulating them.
One way she showed that care was by carefully explaining the intentions behind the education program’s design, point by point, to the parents.
Even in this process, Eun-jeong felt the power of the mirage surrounding her.
‘...Usually, parents don’t listen this carefully when someone explains something to them.’
Even when teachers sent out notices and earnestly begged parents to read them, it was common for parents not to read them, then later say something entirely different.
Eun-jeong guessed that the parents participating in the rural study program had not been all that different at the schools their children originally attended.
This was not because the parents were necessarily bad people.
‘They simply don’t consider notices from school important...’
Public education was something naturally given to everyone in this country.
And it was easy to consider something naturally given to you as unimportant.
Most ordinary people were like that.
In contrast, nearly every parent here, having made it through fierce competition, behaved differently.
Even the exceptional few at least pretended to act that way. People were creatures swept along by the atmosphere.
...And Eun-jeong was subtly leading that atmosphere.
With a gentleness and naturalness that kept any parent from sensing anything amiss.
#
Before the joint elementary, middle, and high school field-study program began, Eun-jeong gathered the parents for an orientation session.
At this gathering, arranged so the parents could experience “small acts of care,” Eun-jeong and the parents exchanged the following questions and answers.
“The biggest reason children find mathematics difficult is that they cling to solving problems without understanding the principles.”
“Uh... Is that so?”
“Yes. The first thing children need to learn is how to study, but usually they aren’t taught such methods, or even if they are taught, it’s common for them to let the lesson pass over them.
The same goes for the fact that learning the fundamental principles first should be the priority in mathematics.”
Although Eun-jeong had gained fame as an English teacher, not one parent found it strange that she was discussing the difficulties of studying mathematics.
In the parents’ minds, teacher Lee Eun-jeong was the person responsible for overseeing the rural study program as a whole, and an authority with expertise in education itself.
They did not think this because they had any particular evidence.
Everyone simply shared that vague image.
So the parents attending the orientation merely looked at the elegant female teacher speaking in a gentle tone with eyes full of fondness and trust.
“You can tell from how textbooks are organized. The first thing in every chapter is an explanation of the concepts to be learned in that chapter.
Then come simple examples to help students understand those concepts.
Only after that do they learn how to actually use and apply the concepts.”
“That’s the natural order.”
“Yes, ma’am. It’s the natural order.
But our children don’t know that it’s natural.
This is something they can know only by learning it, but adults tend to overlook it because it seems so obvious to us.”
Then one parent raised a hand.
“Excuse me, this may be a somewhat rude question... But what about teachers?
Should teachers not pay special attention to those things?”
Eun-jeong gently nodded.
“In principle, you’re right. That would be most ideal.
But there are reasons that ideal instruction cannot properly happen.”
“What reasons would those be...?”
“First, children’s concentration does not remain steady throughout an entire class.
You could say that nearly all children let their thoughts wander or get distracted.”
“All children?”
“Yes. All children. You may assume there are no exceptions.
Those of you here should ask yourselves this.
‘Could I maintain concentration for forty minutes without being distracted even once? And could I do that five or six times in a row in one day?’”
“...Hmm.”
“That would be difficult, wouldn’t it?”
“Yes...”
“If you can do that, you’re truly remarkable.
It’s a kind of remarkable ability that would be unreasonable to expect from ordinary children. That alone would make you a kind of genius.
But our education should not be for rare geniuses.”
“I suppose that’s true...”
“It’s important, so I’ll say it again.
There may be differences in frequency and duration for each child, but children will definitely lose focus during class.
And if the part covering a basic principle passes while they are distracted, that child will be unable to follow the rest of the class.”
“...From that child’s perspective, an entire lesson disappears.”
“Yes. And it would be fortunate if only that one lesson disappeared, ma’am.”
“What do you mean, fortunate?”
“Because the principle they missed then is not used only in that lesson or that chapter.
Later, they have to apply it in more advanced forms, then use it as a foundation to learn new principles.”
“Oh? Ah...!”
“If they fail to understand one thing and move on, and then leave it that way... you can think of the interest building up over time.”
“So it’s very important to keep up with mathematics as you go and review it so you don’t forget?”
These were things the parents did not entirely fail to know.
But there was special value in having an “authoritative expert” clearly organize and explain in easy language something they knew only vaguely as non-specialists.
Eun-jeong added affirmation of the questioner to her next words.
With a smile on her face. Deliberately.
Meeting the parent’s eyes with a purposeful warmth.
“You understand exactly, ma’am. That’s the biggest difference between mathematics and other subjects.
In other subjects, especially the humanities, this burden is much lighter than it is in mathematics.”
“Because even if you missed something in the past, you can somehow follow what you learn later...?”
“Yes. Subjects that only require memorization are especially less burdensome. Personally, I call this fragmented learning.”
“Fragmented learning...”
“But mathematics is exactly the opposite kind of subject, and the problem is that children rarely seek out and study for themselves what they missed along the way.”
“...Ah.”
“They miss one principle in the first semester of first-year middle school, then miss even more principles the following semester because of it...
As a result, once they enter second- or third-year classes, some children begin to give up on mathematics as a subject altogether.”
At this point, another parent raised a hand.
“Then how can we prevent that? That person asked earlier too, but is there nothing teachers can do?”
Eun-jeong answered with a smile that mixed a little difficulty into her gentleness.
“First... as I’ve said so far, mathematics is a subject in which principles a child does not understand cannot be allowed to pile up.”
“I understand that.”
“But ma’am, it’s impossible for a teacher to check every individual student’s level of understanding each time class ends.
There is one teacher and many students, breaks are short, and teachers also have to prepare for the next lesson during those breaks.”
Seeing understanding pass through the parents’ eyes, the female teacher nodded once.
“The best thing is for students who missed something to ask questions as they go.
But that’s difficult to expect from students. They simply want class to end quickly.
I think the parents here understand that feeling. You all went to school yourselves, didn’t you?”
“Ahaha...”
“No matter how interestingly a teacher organizes a class, and no matter how well students respond, it’s the same.
Unless it’s an astonishingly exceptional and entertaining class, a class is still just a class to children.
The sooner it ends, the better the class is.”
“That’s true...”
“The second-best option available to teachers is to understand a student’s learning condition through regular counseling, but there are limits to that as well.”
“What limits?”
“First, if teachers have to manage counseling alongside their existing work, the intervals between counseling sessions inevitably grow longer.
Second, students often don’t participate in counseling sincerely and honestly.”
“They aren’t honest? Do you mean they lie? Why?”
“Because they’re embarrassed and worried.”
“What are they embarrassed and worried about?”
“They’re embarrassed that they don’t understand even things they learned long ago, and worried that their parents might find out.”
“...”
“Many parents become angry first when they learn that their child is falling behind the average academically.
That anger turns toward both the child and the teacher.
So people want to hide the problem. Not only students, but teachers too.”
“Hmm, that is... something parents like us should take to heart.
Instead of becoming angry, we should accept a child’s problems as they are.”
“Parents who do that are truly admirable.
But not every parent in the world can be like the parents gathered here.”
When Eun-jeong smiled, emphasizing “the parents gathered here,” the parents smiled along with her.
Because the parents gathered here were people fulfilling their desire for recognition through Eun-jeong.
“Lastly, the most difficult task for a teacher is making a student study.
Even if a teacher accurately understands a student’s learning condition and provides the necessary guidance... whether that student follows the guidance is a separate matter.”
You could lead a horse to water, but you could not force it to drink.
Even if a teacher showed students where the spring of knowledge was and took them there, whether they drank the spring water or not was ultimately up to the students.
Only after Eun-jeong had convinced the parents of all this did she finally bring up the role of parents.
“That’s why parents’ roles are important in children’s studies.
If you believe a teacher is trustworthy, please listen to what the teacher says.
And guide your children together with the teacher. Good education can never happen if you think educating your child is solely the school’s role.”
#
The reason Eun-jeong could explain a subject outside her specialty so clearly was because she had experience teaching many friends in different subjects ever since her school days.
At that time, mathematics had been the subject her friends found most difficult.
And even then, Eun-jeong had been treated as a good teacher among her friends.
A model student and excellent pupil, Eun-jeong was kind no matter what people asked her. She taught well with a soft, calm voice, explaining things easily and clearly. Even when someone asked the same question again and again, she remained composed throughout and never sighed once.
Eun-jeong, who had dreamed of becoming a teacher since childhood, enjoyed helping her friends study.
Her friends slowly progressing with her help.
She felt fulfilled watching that process.
In the end, Eun-jeong had been a teacher by nature.
Not a teacher as someone who taught knowledge, but as someone who held another person’s hand and led them forward.
Even if she had now made it her new goal in life to hold and lead the hand of only one child.
#
“Knowledge gained by setting your own goals and taking initiative tends to stay alive in your memory for a long time.
Much longer than knowledge heard in class or read in books.”
Standing before the parents at the lectern, Eun-jeong spoke about the usefulness of learning combined with field-study missions.
“To give you an example from my own experience... when I was a university student, I once traveled to Japan.
I went to Kyushu, and during the trip, I spent one night at a ryokan in Yufuin.”
At this, one parent brightly cut in.
“Ah! Yufuin! It’s lovely there! My family went around this time last year too! My child had such a wonderful time! Which ryokan did you stay at, Teacher?”
It seemed several people had been to the same place.
Eun-jeong could tell simply from the changes in their expressions and their eager little movements.
Adults in moments like this were not very different from children.
Eun-jeong received the parent’s words with a smile.
“Hmm, it was far from the station, so we had to take a taxi... I remember that if the Hanja on the sign were read in Korean, it was Mongsangwon.
There was an old shrine with an enormous tree at the foot of a nearby mountain too.”
“I see... That’s too bad. I don’t think it was where we stayed...”
“Hehe. Wherever it was, if you made happy memories with your child, wouldn’t that be enough, ma’am?”
“That’s true.”
“Anyway, when I checked out, I used the room phone to ask the front desk to call a taxi.
The Japanese sentence I made with a translator on the spot was exactly this: ‘Sugu chekkuauto shiyou to omoimasu ga, takushii o yonde moraemasu ka?’”
“Oh my... You still remember that? If you were a university student then, it must have been more than five or six years ago!”
“I find it strange too, ma’am.
I said it only once, with my heart pounding at the time, but it remained in my memory with such unusual clarity. It was eight years ago.”
“Wow, eight years?”
“Yes. Eight years. This sentence comes to mind even as years pass and change, and it makes the theory I learned as a teacher feel real.
It shows how strongly knowledge gained through independent action for one’s own needs is engraved in the mind.”
“Ah...”
“I’m sure some of the parents here have had similar experiences. If you have, could you please raise your hand for a moment?”
When Eun-jeong asked this, several parents eagerly raised their hands with shining eyes.
They looked like obedient kindergarten children raising their hands.
Among those people, there would be some who had never really experienced what Eun-jeong described.
They simply wanted to fit into the atmosphere.
Or they wanted to feel a sense of belonging, or receive attention.
So they falsely claimed to have experiences they did not have.
This, too, was one common ground between children and adults.
And because people like that existed, Eun-jeong’s words gained even stronger trust.
The parents who had not raised their hands looked around at the people beside them, then nodded with soft sounds of surprise.
Eun-jeong clapped her hands sharply together and smiled again.
“I’m happy that so many of you have had the same experience.
I, along with the other teachers working with me, will do our very best to make this joint field-study program an opportunity for our children to have such experiences too.”
After saying this, Eun-jeong continued once again with mathematics rather than English as her focus.
“The fact that this is a joint elementary, middle, and high school field-study program will be especially useful for older students who have given up on mathematics.
Since it takes the form of play, there is nothing embarrassing about a middle school student seeing elementary mathematics principles, or a high school student seeing middle school mathematics principles.
There is no need to put grade levels on the principles and examples included in the missions.”
“Ah!”
“Students who have given up on mathematics usually know what they need to do, but they tend to give up anyway.
The thought of having to study all the material from the grades that have already passed feels overwhelming.”
“Yes, now that you mention it, I think that could be part of it!”
“One goal of this field study is to ease that feeling of being overwhelmed.
Each time students repeat a mission, it is designed so they begin at the lowest level, study through repetition, and aim to set a new record.
In other words, they repeatedly climb through the most essential principles of mathematics, from the lower grades to the higher grades.”
There could be no failure if Eun-jeong wanted to maintain and enlarge the mirage.
Thus, Eun-jeong put real effort into designing the field study.
Because it was ultimately work she was doing for Onik, it was work that kept her motivation flowing no matter how deeply she thought about it, day or night.
Her work efficiency rose in proportion to how dearly she held Onik.
Eun-jeong’s intellectual productivity, now at the highest point of her life, was difficult to compare with anything else.
When she finished explaining the results of that work, the parents applauded Eun-jeong.
“Teacher, it was wonderful how clearly you explained everything!
I feel as though I now know exactly how to approach my child’s education, what I should pay attention to, and where I should be considerate!”
“Me too! I really feel that we made the right choice coming here for the rural study program!”
“I can’t wait for the field study!”
“When do you accept applications for next semester’s study program? I’d like to apply in advance if possible!”
Eun-jeong redirected this warm applause toward the other teachers sitting behind the parents.
She introduced each one anew to the parents and praised their abilities.
Among the teachers she praised was the mathematics teacher Song Gyeong-a.
Standing modestly, Eun-jeong highlighted Song Gyeong-a’s role with a gentleness that did not waver in the slightest.
“Teacher Song Gyeong-a over there is exceptionally skilled at teaching children the fundamental principles of mathematics.
Without Teacher Song Gyeong-a, I would have struggled greatly while planning this field study.
I can’t say how grateful I am that she is my colleague.”
In response, the parents gave enthusiastic applause even to the ill-natured mathematics teacher.
The mathematics teacher stood, repeatedly bowing in thanks with a humble attitude, yet she sent Eun-jeong a fleeting, confused look.
Eun-jeong accepted that look, which was mixed with lingering unease and fear, with an entirely natural bearing.
Eun-jeong had become someone who could smile without giving herself away, even while lying.
When that lie was for the most precious student in the world.
#
During the final season that mathematics teacher Song Gyeong-a would remain in this town, Eun-jeong was giving Song Gyeong-a herself just as much attention as she had given to designing the field study.
Her goal was to “process” the ill-natured mathematics teacher into as harmless a person as possible before sending her away.
And by doing so, to remove in advance any chance that her precious student would fall into dark worries because of Song Gyeong-a.
Footnotes:
“Naisen Ittai” was a Japanese colonial slogan meaning “Japan and Korea as one.” The narrator uses it sarcastically while comparing communal online pile-ons to a surviving shared social habit.
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