Chief Yoon and apprentice Kim resumed the dictation test they had temporarily suspended after returning to their daily routine. Yoon Taehee was giving Jaegyeom one-on-one Korean tutoring every day in the Chief's office, and today was the fourth test.
The result of the first test they had taken last time was a failure. Jaegyeom only got one question right out of ten questions that were riddled with meaningful problems that day. Looking at his rain-stained notebook, Jaegyeom clenched his fist in frustration.
In fact, he hadn't expected to receive such a disastrous result. He had done some note-taking when he was in high school. Of course, at that time, he didn't struggle this much because he simply copied from textbooks or blackboard writings as reference. It was the same when writing book reports in the library.
Because of this, Jaegyeom had unconsciously slightly overestimated his abilities. However, when he had to write down what he heard without any reference, his spelling and spacing were a complete mess.
Jaegyeom felt very indignant. While his pride was hurt by the fact that he got all but one question wrong out of ten, at the same time, he felt an immense competitive spirit.
Yoon Taehee handed the notebook to Jaegyeom, who was already fuming.
'Write the incorrect sentences here ten times each.'
What? Why should I do that?'
'So you won't make the same mistakes next time.'
'How can that be? You didn't say anything about this before!
'Making a correction notebook is the most basic of basics.'
He had only heard that he would get stickers if he passed, but he hadn't been told in advance that he had to write incorrect sentences ten times each. If he had known there was such an annoying penalty, he wouldn't have agreed to take the dictation test in the first place. Jaegyeom, who was huffing and puffing, strongly protested that there was no such thing, but,
'The most important thing is review. Not repeating past mistakes.'
Teacher Yoon's educational philosophy was very annoying.
In the end, Jaegyeom started writing his punishment with a grinding feeling. Gripping the pencil in frustration, he kept putting too much force into his hand. This would cause the pencil lead to snap, and each time, Yoon Taehee would tease him gently, "If you have complaints, express them verbally." To which Jaegyeom would reply, "Be quiet before I use my fists," and Yoon Taehee would quickly fall silent. When Jaegyeom broke the pencil lead, Yoon Taehee would lay out scrap paper and personally sharpen the pencil with a cutter.
Writing incorrect sentences ten times each was a task in itself. Ten times may not sound like much, but if he got nine wrong, he had to write a total of ninety sentences. Moreover, being unfamiliar with writing, it took a long time. While Jaegyeom spent over an hour performing his punishment, Yoon Taehee would work on his tasks or quietly read a book beside him.
The second test of determination.
In the second test, Jaegyeom got three out of ten questions correct. This test also failed to earn him a sticker. Still, he had improved by two questions compared to yesterday, so it was a development in its own way.
Although he was frustrated at not passing, he felt somewhat good inside, feeling like he had improved at least a little from yesterday. It seemed like the punishment writing was having an effect. Now he just needed to get two more questions right to pass. The goal was in sight.
The third test of the virtue of diligent effort;
On this day, he got one more correct than the previous day, getting four out of ten questions right.
Jaegyeom, who stumbled at the threshold of passing, felt his insides turn. Moreover, there was an answer that was marked wrong just because he didn't put a period at the end, even though he had written the sentence correctly. If he hadn't forgotten to put the period, he would have passed.
'Hey, I just didn't put a period. I wrote it correctly, didn't I !?'
Jaegyeom, disagreeing with the grading, started to argue huffily.
'If I hadn't put periods on any of the sentences, l'd understand, but I put periods correctly on all the other sentences and just missed this one. So this should be correct, right?'
However, Jaegyeom's protest fell on deaf ears.
Strictly speaking, Jaegyeom forgetting to put the period was because of Yoon Taehee.
Yoon Taehee, the test giver, would sometimes stop giving questions and become absorbed in reading a book. Even though he had opened the book with the purpose of creating questions, at some point he seemed to get completely drawn into reading the book without realizing it himself.
At such times, no matter how long Jaegyeom waited, Yoon Taehee wouldn't give the next question, so Jaegyeom, holding his pencil and waiting for the next question, would look up and stare at Yoon Taehee.
Each time, Yoon Taehee was reading the book with sharp, emotionless eyes, and for some reason, Jaegyeom found himself gazing at him like this. He thought, so that's the face one makes when completely immersed in something.
Then, when Yoon Taehee felt Jaegyeom's gaze and looked at him with an "Ah," Jaegyeom would quickly avert his eyes as if he hadn't been looking and pretend to be distracted. That's how he ended up forgetting to put the period.
If he could, he wanted to argue vehemently. It's because you didn't give the questions properly in the first place. I looked at you because you weren't giving the question, and that's why I couldn't put the period.
So it's partly your fault that I couldn't put the period...
Jaegyeom felt unfairly wronged for some reason, but,
You're really petty. How do you live with such a narrow mind?'
He decided to just consider it dirty and cheap, and not argue further.
And so today, the fourth and decisive test;
Although slow, Jaegyeom's scores had been steadily improving, and he was secretly filled with expectation, anticipating a good result. He had gotten four correct yesterday, so he thought he might have gotten over five today. However, the moment Yoon Taehee showed him the graded answer sheet, Jaegyeom felt his heart sink.
Far from improving, his score had actually regressed, with only two correct answers.
There weren't even any questions he could argue were narrowly incorrect.
Finally, Jaegyeom's patience ran out.
"..."
He felt drained. In the end, it was another failure. Even though he had diligently written his punishment every day, looking at the test paper marked with red ink made him feel very upset.
Feeling indignant, Jaegyeom crumpled up the test paper while huffing.
Suddenly, he thought, what's the point of all this?
What's the use of this? Why did he have to do this pointless thing to such an extent?
He hadn't earned a single sticker in four tests. And he needed to collect five stickers to get a gift, which meant he would have to take this dictation test, not
knowing whether he'd pass or fail, many more times.
Suddenly, all of this felt like a waste of time and energy.
He wondered how long it would take to get the gift at this rate.
When he first accepted Yoon Taehee's proposal, he didn't expect it to drag on like this.
Without any noticeable achievement and with his results regressing, Jaegyeom's spirit was broken. It was natural to lose motivation when looking at a distant finish line even after running hard.
"'im not doing this anymore."
"Why?"
Jaegyeom threw the crumpled test paper and said irritably.
"It's all going to end in two months anyway, so what's the point of spelling and spacing?"
As his sense of achievement crumbled, his motivation disappeared, and suddenly all of this felt meaningless.
"It's useless anyway, so learning it now is pointless."
Jaegyeom, sinking deep into the executive chair, spat out the words with a sullen face. Yoon Taehee's hand, which was about to pick up the test paper jaegyeom had thrown, froze in mid-air.
"..."
Jaegyeom, who had glanced at Yoon Taehee, stopped in his tracks.
"Right. That's true."
Yoon Taehee was wearing an expression Jaegyeom had never seen before. His eyes held a calm and melancholic color, and he seemed slightly angry somewhere. It was the face of someone who had been hurt.
"..."
Yoon Taehee picked up the test paper Jaegyeom had thrown and shoved it straight into the trash can. With an emotionless face, Yoon Taehee started to neatly organize all the correction notebooks and writing tools that were placed in front of Jaegyeom, one by one.
Yoon Taehee even broke in half the pencil he had carefully sharpened for Jaegyeom many times and threw it into the trash can. The pencil that had been perfectly sharpened as if done with a pencil sharpener was ruined in an instant. Jaegyeom flinched at this and looked at the pencil thrown in the trash can, then at Yoon Taehee. As Yoon Taehee rose from his chair, he muttered.
"You really do know things."
It was an ambiguous statement he had heard before.
"What?"
"When, and what words to say to break me down....
Yoon Taehee lowered his eyes and trailed off in a small voice.
"You know too well."
With those final words, Yoon Taehee turned his back.
Yoon Taehee left the Chief's office without looking back.