Fleeing from the madness of the monster gallery, fingers repeatedly pressing the back button.
Forgetting for a moment the waves caused by controversial testimonies and hasty remarks, I prepared for the rainy season as the oldest in a household of elementary students.
The top priority was the washing machine on the sensitive balcony, exposed to water.
I brought over a ladder from the corner of the balcony and leaned it right next to the washing machine.
Unraveling the waterproof sheet that had been rolled up and gathering dust, I barely managed to cover it while climbing the ladder with my small feet.
Since someone’s gaze might reach the balcony, I refrained from hasty transformations.
“Ugh…”
As soon as I covered the washing machine with the waterproof sheet, the smell of nicotine and tar wafted in.
I instinctively pinched my nose and cursed.
Recently, I had gotten used to closing the door and turning on the air conditioner, so I rarely encountered this irritating smell again….
But whenever I had to venture out like this, the stench came back like a ghost.
I hoped it wouldn’t lead to lung cancer soon.
At that moment, a thick stream of water plunged from the air above the balcony to the floor below.
It flowed down from the balcony of the house above, heading straight to our home and then the floor below that.
The sound of refreshing water splashing was heard.
“Huh?”
What on earth is this sudden deluge on a clear day?
As I stood there perplexed, staring at the spot where the water stream had passed….
“Hey, who the hell is that!?”
A loud voice from the balcony below, sounding like an older man, echoed up.
“Go smoke outside!”
“Seriously a nuisance!”
After the man’s shout, the voices of the man and woman from the upper house could be heard.
The old saying was spot on: a dog that’s dirty scolds another dog that’s dirty.
In this case, it was actually the dirty one scolding the other dirty one….
Anyway, the encounter between the upper house noise-complaining cat lady and the balcony smoking man had been established.
I couldn’t help but marvel at this legendary meetup that left my chest feeling tight.
“Wow….”
‘Is this the Super Monster Battle?’
“Damn bastards… what floor are you on!? Don’t run away, just stay right there!”
The thudding footsteps echoed loudly enough to reach the upstairs balcony.
I couldn’t miss such an entertaining spectacle on a boring day.
I needed to quickly throw on some slippers and get ready to check it all out upstairs.
However, just beyond the door I was about to open, a pounding noise was heard, as if someone would break it down at any moment.
“Where are you young punks, come out! Hurry up!?”
‘Damn it, why are you acting like this here?’
An old man who had to go upstairs was banging on our door.
It’s not even here; it’s one floor up, you senile old man.
… I wanted to curse, but as an 8-year-old elementary student in an apartment, I was limited.
I threw a stick over the latch above the entrance first and then slightly opened the locked door.
As soon as the door opened, it was pulled outside with a clatter.
“Are you going to open it or not?!”
“This isn’t it!”
The old man seemed to have the strength of a bull, his forceful demeanor suggesting he would tear the door off.
I hurriedly answered the old man showing through the crack that this was the wrong floor.
“Huh?”
The balcony smoker blinked as he checked inside through the narrow gap.
“Oh, my apologies.”
That creepy gaze passed by swiftly, and suddenly regaining his composure, that crazy man distanced himself from the door with a brief apology.
‘Crazy bastard.’
“… What was that?”
When the menacing voice of the grandfather stopped, Shiyeon, slightly timid from inside the room, came out and cautiously asked.
No matter how confident a first grader might be, if someone suddenly shouts in front of their house, they’d likely react like that.
“Nothing much, just an old man acting recklessly.”
Without informing Shiyeon that it was a fight between the upstairs and downstairs, I quietly closed the door and headed upstairs to enjoy the show.
Even before fully climbing the stairs, the shouts could be heard from the old man who had just kicked the door.
“I want to smoke a cigarette in my own house, and if you don’t like it, you should move out! Huh?!”
“Come on, we want to sprinkle some water in our house too, what’s wrong with that?”
“You, speaking back to me, who do you think you are? You haven’t even dried up the blood in your head yet….”
“If you’ve dried up the blood in your head, you should just die! Do you think getting older makes you royalty?”
“What?!”
“Is there anything wrong with what I’m saying? It’s ridiculous.”
An exciting fight made me feel like I should have popcorn in hand to enjoy it.
“I have anger control issues, huh?! Things could get out of hand, you old woman! I don’t even know what I might do!”
Though the old man seemed ready to kick the door down, it appeared he couldn’t throw a punch at someone.
You know, there’s a photo that illustrates this.
There are two dogs barking furiously at each other from behind a barred fence, but when the gate is opened, they suddenly become calm.
That’s exactly how it felt.
“What are you making noise in front of someone else’s house?”
‘Huh?’
With the sudden sound of the door opening, another voice overlapped with their commotion.
It was the voice of a young, sturdy man, adding an interesting third party to the mix.
However, immediately following the neighbor’s voice, it was as if the noises of the balcony smoker and the noise-complaining cat lady were muted.
What happened? Did they get a gag in their mouths?
“You both aren’t kids; can’t you have a conversation without raising your voices?”
“No, this lady… she’s pouring water on my floor.”
“You said you were the one smoking on your balcony first; actually, I was about to come down a few times to talk since I’ve been keeping the door open to work out, you know?”
Curious about what kind of person could silence the angry smoker, I climbed a few more steps to check on the scene upstairs.
‘Oh, shit.’
I couldn’t help but admire the well-built physique I saw right away.
“If you live in a shared building, you need to think about the people living above; it’s not as if there’s no smoking area, so should you make others suffer for your convenience?”
The man, who was advocating for justice, had a clearly monstrous physique, looking like he could compete in bodybuilding contests.
No wonder he could maintain control over his anger.
“You should not sprinkle water downstairs either, What’s their fault?”
I was impressed by how smoothly the issue was resolved, thinking that strength sometimes is necessary in resolving matters.
It’s said that a healthy mind dwells in a healthy body.
In fact, in this case, it seemed like the saying “Violence rules over greater violence” might indeed fit.
Since that day, the cigarette smell that had consistently wafted out whenever I went to the balcony nearly disappeared.
Perhaps the balcony smoker downstairs felt a life-threatening situation.
Or maybe it was just that the rainy season had arrived, and he didn’t want to go out on the balcony.
Even when the monsoon rains poured, I still had to go to school.
The magical girl character umbrella I bought for twenty thousand won not long ago.
Shiyeon twirled it like a top in the street.
“Whoa—!”
The falling raindrops bounced off the character umbrella, soaking my clothes.
“Don’t spin the umbrella.”
I stopped her from twirling it before it could drench passersby with my umbrella.
Rain boots or a raincoat are luxuries.
Given that I already had sneakers or clothes that wouldn’t last even a year during this growth spurt, special clothes for specific weather was an unnecessary expense.
Just having a character umbrella was satisfying, and if she asked for it, that would be a different story….
There’s no point in buying something unnecessary that would just become clutter.
Arriving at school smoothly, I changed from sneakers to indoor shoes and took my seat as usual.
The damp socks through the indoor shoes naturally caused me to kick them off and shake them in the air underneath the desk.
Math problems of elementary school beyond summer vacation.
We had finally reached the point of ‘grasping’ double digits.
For example, there are 10 bundles of fruit in 8 boxes… and 2 fruit pieces of 2 pieces each.
These kinds of problems.
‘With the air conditioning costs nearing three hundred, and about two hundred for the computer….’
In a way, I was studying math too.
The household ledger I thought I would never need in my life.
In a sense, this could also be considered studying math, right?
… Not exactly a concern for an elementary student.
‘Is it a bit tight…?’
“Mary, what are you doing?”
While I was focusing on the household ledger, my name was called.
With a long stride distinct from children, Teacher Seol walked swiftly from the teacher’s desk to the last seat.
After all, the simple elementary students were just casually opening one book.
No matter where they sat, kids acting out would be noticeable even in the last row.
My desk was well-stocked with just a pencil case and a thin math book.
Yet, I had two books open on mine.
“Ah.”
“You shouldn’t be messing around during class…”
The household ledger was snatched away by a quick hand faster than an adult’s gaze.
What was written there were calculations of millions or hundreds of millions.
Immediately after that, I felt Teacher Seol’s puzzled glance of ‘Why does this kid have something like this?’
