“Bye, Haru!!!”
“Work hard, Hana! See you after school~”
I waved goodbye to Haru, who had driven me this far. Just getting me to the school gate was more than enough. Back in my day, I had to take the bus.
Having a car was way better than the bus. It cut the time in half. The bus had to stop at every station and didn’t go straight to the school.
As I approached the school gate, I felt the kids were unusually restless today. They were always noisy, but today felt different.
My hunch turned out to be true. I ran into Jiyu and Yumi on the way, and we started talking.
When I mentioned the weird vibe, Yumi said, “Maybe the test results are coming out today?”
Jiyu, next to her, frowned. She didn’t seem confident about her results. I had solved the test mentally, so my paper was clean, but Jiyu’s was just blank. She hadn’t even tried.
“Ugh… I hate this!”
Some students were pulling their hair out, showing the pressure of grades. The less confident they were, the more it showed.
“Hana, aren’t you nervous? I’m shaking,” Yumi said, her voice trembling.
I wasn’t really worried. Honestly, hiding the fact that I was an adult and acing elementary school tests felt a bit unfair.
Maybe I should’ve toned it down. But I probably didn’t make any mistakes this time.
“I’m fine…”
“Are you just showing off? Hana, be my comrade!” Jiyu pleaded, desperate for someone to share her struggles. Yumi was good at studying, but Jiyu was… not.
As we entered the building and reached the third-grade floor, kids were gathered in the hallway. A big notice was posted on the bulletin board, and everyone was staring at it.
For the hardworking kids, it was a moment of pride. For the others, only half the rankings were posted, so they sighed in relief.
Out of 80 students, only the top 40 were listed, giving the lower-ranked kids some hope. At least no one would know they were at the bottom.
Yumi, Jiyu, and I walked over to the board. The names from 1st to 40th were listed. I scanned from the top and saw a familiar name.
[1st Place: Kim Hana (100)]
“Wow… Hana really got first place,” Jiyu and Yumi exclaimed. I awkwardly scratched the back of my head. Being an adult among elementary kids… If they found out, they’d probably ask where I sold my conscience.
But being first in the whole school felt good. First place always gives you that addictive, thrilling feeling.
I looked down at the other students’ scores. The test must’ve been hard—no one scored in the 90s. Second place started in the high 80s.
[10th Place: Lee Yumi (85)]
Hmm… 10th place was still good. But what could I, a perfect scorer, say? Anything would sound like bragging.
And then it hit me—was I, a grown adult, just causing chaos among these kids? That thought suddenly dampened my mood.
“Phew… I’m glad only the top 40 are listed!” Jiyu said, relieved her name wasn’t there. As expected, Jiyu’s name wasn’t on the board.
“I told you to study! You’re always buried in novels!” Yumi scolded Jiyu, who tried to defend herself.
“But I only got one question wrong in Korean! Reading helps with Korean!”
“So you’re saying it’s okay to give up on other subjects?”
“Well, not exactly…”
Jiyu ended up backing down. In Korea, excelling in just one subject isn’t enough. You need to be good at everything.
“Hana, what do you think? Jiyu doesn’t study at all!” Yumi suddenly asked me, catching me off guard. I felt a bit guilty since I hadn’t studied that hard back in my school days either.
“Maybe it’s okay to slack off a bit in elementary school?”
“Says the one who got first place.”
“Uh…”
Her blunt fact attack left me speechless.
There wasn’t. As expected, the pure attacks of children were impossible to withstand.
When I hesitated, not knowing what to say, Jiyu grabbed my arm and said, “The top student said it’s okay to play, so I’m innocent!” She grinned, and thanks to her, the awkward atmosphere lightened up. Yumi couldn’t help but laugh at Jiyu’s antics.
—
“Haru! Bora! My report card came out!”
One of the perks of being an elementary school student was getting out of school in the afternoon. And the fact that high schoolers weren’t forced to do night self-study anymore was a huge shock. Not long after I left school, I heard middle and high schoolers were also heading home.
Back when I was in high school, I stayed at school until 10 PM… I spent more time at school than at home. And if you tried to skip night self-study, the homeroom teacher would never let you off without a solid excuse. They’d only excuse you if it was for your future or if you were seriously ill. Seeing how things have changed, it feels like the system has become more flexible over time.
Come to think of it, I don’t have to go to the military now. After all, I’m in a girl’s body. I’m grateful I won’t have to go through that madness again.
“Let’s see… Oh? Hana got first place in the whole school!?”
“Really? Bora, let me see too!”
Haru and Bora freaked out over my report card, acting more excited than I was. I stayed calm, but from Haru and Bora’s perspective, it was like their own child had gotten first place.
“Is Hana actually a genius?”
“Right… We did teach her, but first place with a perfect score…?”
From Haru and Bora’s point of view, mistaking me for a genius wasn’t entirely wrong.
“Did I do well?”
Seeing Haru and Bora so happy made me feel good too. With such outstanding grades, I deserved a reward from them. I looked at them with sparkling eyes, and they nodded knowingly.
“Should we go out to eat today to celebrate Hana’s first place?”
“Ribs! I want ribs!”
As soon as I got the answer I wanted, I immediately said I wanted ribs. Sure, you can get ribs at restaurants, but they don’t compare to the ones grilled fresh at a meat shop. No matter how well they’re cooked, when you’re feeding hundreds of employees, the ribs end up slightly cold. So, I wanted freshly grilled meat for a change.
Any meat would do, but today I was craving sweet, marinated ribs. Just imagining it made my mouth water. I didn’t even think about changing out of my uniform and started running circles around Haru and Bora. After two laps, Haru grabbed me by the armpit and pulled me in.
“Hana, stop running around and let’s go eat ribs!”
Being held by Haru and hearing we were going to eat ribs made me cheer. Being a student with good grades is the best. I felt good knowing I could coast like this at least until middle school.
Of course, if I didn’t study, I wouldn’t be able to solve middle school problems, but I decided to dedicate two to three hours a day to studying. At my current level, I should be able to handle first-year middle school problems, right?
“Is there a good rib place around here?”
“I’ll look it up on my phone.”
“Thanks to Hana, we’re living the high life these days.”
Bora, Haru, and the staff in charge of us had unlimited corporate cards. Sure, we had to ask accounting to use them, but other than that, there were no restrictions. Everything we fed Hana was free. It was handy for eating out or buying other food.
Frankly, even if we bought a foreign car in a day, it wouldn’t make much of a dent in the research institute’s budget.
