What's the biggest difference between elementary school and kindergarten?
The obvious answer is tests.
In kindergarten, there was nothing you could really call a test. The closest thing was maybe writing letters.
But starting in elementary school, they turn Korean, math, Fun Life, and Wise Life into actual exams.
From there, the subjects keep changing and piling up.
Wise Life splits into social studies and science, Fun Life into PE and art, and then English gets added, along with all sorts of other classes.
Yeah, that's how it was in my experience.
But the author must've been from a different generation than me.
The tests here were Korean, math, and something called "Integrated Studies," which mashed Wise Life and Fun Life together.
Probably adults getting lazy. Or maybe some other grown-up reason.
Anyway, two months after starting school, I faced my first test since getting possessed.
They spaced the desks out to prevent cheating, and I started on the worksheet the teacher handed out.
Honestly, it was way too easy.
The difficulty was stuff like "What kind of tree is this?" while looking at an apple tree picture, or problems like 1+2.
There was even a question asking what a pencil was used for.
Anyway, I breezed through all the problems in about five minutes and flopped over on my desk to nap.
Of course, I didn't actually fall asleep right away.
Pretending to be facedown, I snuck a glance over at Seol-i.
Seol-i had her cheeks puffed out like a chipmunk as she worked on her test.
It must've been too hard for her—her little mouth kept opening and closing. She was so adorable, I had to fight back a laugh.
Savoring that cute sight and enjoying the pleasant breeze, I drifted off to sleep. The teacher woke me up much later, after the test had already ended.
I apologized profusely to her and managed to escape that embarrassing situation.
About two days later, report cards came out.
Covered in circles—○s for right answers.
"Whoa... Haneul, you're amazing...!"
Seol-i's eyes sparkled as she stared at my test paper.
What was so amazing about it? A 23-year-old failing first-grade tests would be the real problem.
"How'd you do?"
"Me? Like this!"
Seol-i was set up in the original story as pretty good at studying.
True to that, she'd done great too.
Just one wrong in Integrated Studies.
"You did awesome too, Seol-i."
"Really? Hehehe..."
I never knew a giggling Seol-i could be this cute.
It made me want to pat her head like crazy.
Yoo Seung-ah, watching us, gave a half-scolding remark.
"You two did way too well, didn't you?"
"How about you?"
"Here!"
Seung-ah showed us her graded test, and we had no choice but to nod.
It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either.
Yeah, this was about average for an elementary kid.
I nodded in understanding.
But Seung-ah didn't seem thrilled about my nod.
"Thinks you're so great."
"Sorry..."
Problem was, Seol-i heard it.
Seung-ah panicked at Seol-i's apology and tried to stop her.
"No, Seol-i, that's not... You don't need to apologize..."
"I don't...?"
"Ughhh..."
Seung-ah shot me a resentful glare, so I apologized too.
"Sorry."
"...Hmph. Seol-i, you don't need to be sorry."
"Ung...?"
Seol-i's innocence was off the charts, even for her age.
Look—even that rascal Seung-ah was acting all mature because of it.
The scene was so dizzyingly cute that I secretly smiled to myself.
But back then, I had no idea.
About the trial waiting for me.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
After school, at Mom's not-really-a-request, I went to Seung-ah's family's snack bar and got tteokbokki and sundae to go.
Then back home, where Seol-i, her mom, and my mom all dug into the food while chatting about the test.
"Haneul got perfect scores?"
"He must take after your husband—he's so smart. But your Seol-i did amazing too, sis."
"Nah, not compared to Haneul. You doing any advanced lessons with him?"
"Not yet, and I don't plan to."
"Really?"
"Yeah. If he needs it, he'll tell me."
The moms' talk turned to private education.
And whenever that came up...
"I've been wanting to get Seol-i workbooks. Wanna do them together?"
"Workbooks?"
"Yeah, three pages a day. Let's try it with Seol-i."
Sometimes it led to suggestions about cram school.
Seol-i, oblivious to the danger, just munched away on her tteokbokki. I started dreading the future.
No big deal now. Ten minutes a day, and I could finish everything.
But what about middle school? High school?
It'd pile up way beyond ten minutes.
No way. Absolutely not.
"No thanks, I'm good."
"Haneul?"
I'd answered before I knew it, but I pivoted to convincing Mom as best I could.
"...If it gets too hard later or I can't study alone, I'll ask then."
I did "study" sometimes—working through the workbook Mom got me.
Obviously, it was just pretending.
No way I'd miss those problems at my level.
The key was making her think I was studying on my own.
If I kept it up, Mom would see me as the kid who studies fine without cram school. She'd trust me, I'd get freedom, and I could keep Seol-i away from the original protagonist.
Workbooks were risky too.
I'd never done them, but they could evolve into cram school.
Mom nodded at my reasoning.
"Alright, if that's how you feel, Haneul."
Seol-i's mom glanced between us and praised me.
"So independent already~ You raised him well."
"Heh, right?"
Mom laughed casually, but I felt a twinge of guilt inside.
Was the 23-year-old soldier uncle peeking out again?
To shake it off, I focused on something soothing.
Seol-i happily eating her tteokbokki.
"Seol-i, want some sundae?"
"Ung!"
"Here."
I dipped the sundae in tteokbokki sauce and fed it to her.
She opened her mouth cutely, ate it, and grinned as she swallowed, tilting her head back.
Pure healing.
Her chubby cheeks munching away, that beaming smile while eating—bliss.
I grabbed a tissue and wiped the sauce from her mouth.
"Sauce on your face."
"Mmmph."
She rubbed her face against my hand as I wiped, even giggling adorably.
How was she this cute?
Me acting mature? Whatever. Seol-i was definitely cute.
"Haneul, aren't you favoring Seol-i too much?"
"Yeah, son. You gotta eat too."
The moms scolded me lightly, but I didn't care.
Just watching Seol-i eat made me happy.
Still, I had to play the kid role, so I dipped a tteokbokki stick and pretended to enjoy it.
-Nom
-Munch munch
It started as pretend, but ended up actually delicious. Probably a good thing.
"Haneul...!"
"Yeah?"
"...Ahh!"
Seol-i dipped one and held it out to me.
Her intention was so obvious, I couldn't help but smile.
"Ahh~"
-Chomp
The tteokbokki she fed me went right in, and I ate it happily, smiling back at her.
She beamed even brighter and nodded vigorously.
Watching her like this, I cursed the original protagonist again.
How could he not choose this cute, lovable girl?
I just didn't get it.
The author too. How could you let her cry in the rain?
You're the real bad guy, you original author jerk.