One of the boys raised his hand and asked a shameless question.
Son Cha-hee's scowl vanished in an instant, and she answered without hesitation.
“Of course I do. Kim Daniel!”
“Boooo!”
As the boys showered her with jeers, Son Cha-hee hastily passed the introductions on to the next student.
It was Kang Woo's turn.
“I'm Kang Woo. My given name is just one syllable. No questions, right?”
Kang Woo rose as though the whole business were a nuisance, gave his name, and swept his gaze around the room. His expression made it clear that anyone who asked a question would regret it. No one dared to speak.
He was privately congratulating himself on having discouraged any bothersome questions when Son Cha-hee raised her hand. Even when Kang Woo shot her a somewhat sullen look, she spoke without the slightest hesitation.
“Did you do well on today's exam?”
At a question no one would have expected during a self-introduction, the students looked taken aback. Yoon Su-a, sitting beside Son Cha-hee, poked her in the side several times.
“I did terribly, actually.”
Kang Woo answered as though it were perfectly natural.
“Was it difficult?”
“I didn't know the answers to much of it...?”
Son Cha-hee frowned at his reply and immediately fired another question at him.
“Didn't you attend an academy?”
“An academy? I wanted to... but I couldn't.”
An uncomfortable silence settled over the classroom.
Most students admitted to schools for the gifted had spent years studying ahead, starting in elementary school, to make it through the grueling entrance examinations. It was practically unheard of for anyone to pass without having studied ahead.
As a result, even the teachers at schools for the gifted now took it for granted that students would arrive having studied at least the entire high school curriculum.
Half of this year's incoming students had already studied university-level general physics and general chemistry. Naturally, everyone was shocked to hear that Kang Woo had never attended an academy.
Caught off guard by his unexpected reply, Son Cha-hee stumbled over her words before finally managing another question.
“Did you solve the last physics problem today?”
“Oh, that one? I happened to see a problem like it in a book I was browsing a few days ago because I was bored. I like looking up whatever catches my interest, one subject at a time. Just like you follow Kim Daniel.”
Son Cha-hee could not quite understand what Kang Woo was talking about. But she was certain of two things: the boy was lying, and he was making fun of something she had said during her introduction.
“That's not the kind of problem you can solve just by—”
“Enthusiasts understand each other, don't they?”
“That's enough. Let's move on to the next student.”
Sensing that their exchange was growing too long and increasingly heated, Cha Do-do quickly intervened.
Son Cha-hee continued glaring at Kang Woo in displeasure. He, however, sat down quietly as though nothing had happened and sank into his own thoughts.
CRASH!
With a tremendous clatter, a chair toppled over as the next student, a large, heavyset boy, stood up. Looking embarrassed, he hurriedly set his chair upright and scratched his head.
The sound of muffled laughter made Kang Woo open his eyes. For some reason, the boy looked familiar. He was the fellow who had shared his misery carrying chairs in the auditorium earlier that day.
The boy heaved a long sigh and began introducing himself.
“Haaah... My name is Choi Dae-woo, and I graduated from Ulleung Central Middle School.”
While Kang Woo felt a sense of comradeship, the rest of the classroom erupted in surprise. Someone from Ulleungdo Island? Even though the school recruited students nationwide, no one had expected a student to come all the way from Ulleungdo.
Meanwhile, Kang Woo was astonished for an entirely different reason. Above Choi Dae-woo's head, words unlike anything he had seen before were shining.
- Choi Dae-woo, Mathematics A, Physics S, Chemistry C, Biology C, Earth Science S.
There was an S. So A was not the highest grade after all. And Choi Dae-woo had earned that grade in not one but two subjects.
'What on earth is this guy?'
Bewildered, Kang Woo examined the words again. They definitely said S.
'Is he a genius at physics and earth science?'
It was not especially difficult to guess what the S in earth science signified.
Earth science was not so much a single discipline as a collection of four fields: geology, atmospheric science, oceanography, and astronomy. The four were, for all practical purposes, quite distinct from one another. Since Choi Dae-woo had the same grade in physics, he was probably exceptionally gifted at astronomy, a close relative of physics.
Kang Woo burned the two S grades into his memory.
“Are there middle schools on Ulleungdo?”
“Haaah, of course there are. People live there, you know.”
“If we visit during vacation, will you let us stay at your place?”
“Of course.”
“Wow! Let's go!”
The students exchanged excited questions and answers, their faces bright with anticipation.
Once again, Son Cha-hee started asking questions.
“Did you study ahead?”
Everyone was interested in the answer.
Having students who had not studied ahead could cause difficulties. It would not be easy to keep the class progressing at the same pace, since the curriculum would have to slow down for the sake of one or two students. Those students also tended to adjust slowly, if they managed to adjust at all.
“Are there even private academies on Ulleungdo?”
When Choi Dae-woo took too long to respond, Son Cha-hee pressed him with another question.
He answered with a smile.
“Haaah, of course there are academies on Ulleungdo. But if you're thinking of the famous mathematics and science academies in Daechi-dong, there might as well not be any. Hmm, what you're really asking is whether I've studied ahead, right? To be honest, I've barely done any. Ah, there wasn't anyone to teach me, either.”
“Why do you keep sighing whenever you start talking? Can't you stop doing that?”
“Haaah? Haaah! I'll try, but...”
“Pwahaha!”
The students regarded Choi Dae-woo as an oddball, and Son Cha-hee's expression darkened. She was worried about the future now that there were no fewer than two students in her class who had not studied ahead. She did not want her studies to suffer because the class had to slow down for others.
Meanwhile, Choi Dae-woo continued answering the excited students' questions about Ulleungdo, punctuating nearly every answer with a sigh.
Choi Dae-woo was as generous in temperament as he was large in build. Judging by appearances alone, he looked nothing like a gifted student, but rather like a slow-witted bear. His personality, however, seemed remarkably good-natured.
The introductions continued with the next student. Each time someone spoke, Kang Woo checked the writing that appeared above their head, but he struggled to find even an A grade, much less another S.
Once all the students had introduced themselves, Cha Do-do clapped her hands to get their attention.
“Now, you all listened carefully, didn't you? Shall we test how many names you've remembered?”
“What?”
It was a surprise attack. Kang Woo looked around in dismay.
Intelligence and a good memory were not the same thing. Even geniuses and gifted students could have terrible memories. He understood that Cha Do-do was trying to help the students become acquainted through a name-memorization game, but still...
Cha Do-do surveyed the room and called on Son Cha-hee first.
“Cha-hee, you remember everyone's names, don't you?”
“Yes.”
“Then why don't you go first and tell us everyone's names? You can do it!”
It was not difficult for Son Cha-hee. Of the fifteen students in the room other than herself, half had attended the same academy as she had. Since she already knew their names, memorizing the rest was easy. Besides, memorization was one of her strengths.
Without the slightest hesitation, Son Cha-hee correctly named every student, one after another.
“Wow, how did she remember all of them?”
The students murmured in amazement, staring at her as though she were an alien.
Their admiration delighted Son Cha-hee. For the next three years, she wanted to keep leading the others and winning their praise.
“All right, then. Who wants to try next...?”
As Cha Do-do looked for another volunteer, Son Cha-hee spoke up playfully.
“Why don't you try this time, ma'am? Come on, you can do it!”
Caught off guard by the request, Cha Do-do stared at Son Cha-hee for a moment before smiling.
“Shall I?”
Although she privately thought Son Cha-hee was a cheeky girl, Cha Do-do gladly accepted the challenge. It also reinforced her feeling that the two of them had similar personalities.
Memorizing sixteen students' names all at once was no easy task. But Cha Do-do had anticipated a situation like this and prepared in advance. As soon as she received her class roster, she had studied the students' school records and memorized their names.
When Cha Do-do also called out every name correctly without a single mistake, the students cheered.
“Wow! Our teacher's a genius!”
Once the murmuring died down, Cha Do-do singled out Kang Woo.
“Kang Woo, would you like to give it a try this time?”
Kang Woo's face stiffened as though he had been struck by lightning.
'How on earth am I supposed to memorize them? What kind of person remembers everyone's name after hearing it once or twice?'
Kang Woo was especially poor at remembering people's names. In his view, memorization had absolutely nothing to do with whether someone was a genius or gifted.
'That's just unfair.'
Knowing full well that Cha Do-do was testing him, but unable to refuse, Kang Woo slowly rose from his seat.
'Why do all these brats look so much alike?'
Cursing inwardly, Kang Woo began naming the students one by one, only to give up on the fourth. Since he could not remember their names, the writing he had previously seen above their heads did not appear, either.
“Aww.”
Disappointed looks and sighs came from all around the classroom.
“Now, if you still can't remember everyone's names after we've gone around once, there'll be a penalty. Next up...”
Cha Do-do called on another student. After several more turns, everyone had memorized one another's names.
Naturally, Kang Woo had learned them all as well. Of course, he forgot them again immediately after the game.
* * *
Now that the students had become acquainted, Cha Do-do moved on to the next activity.
“From now on, you'll be working in groups. The purpose is to help you adjust to school life by cooperating with one another. You'll be assessed both individually and as a group. Each group will have four members. I'd like to leave the choices up to you, but...”
At the mention of assessments, the students began looking around at one another, sizing up their potential teammates.
Cha Do-do paused.
As a teacher, she had a clear set of principles. She wanted to prevent all the strongest students from gathering in one group, and she also wanted to stop students who already knew each other from the same academy from forming groups exclusively among themselves.
She was torn between allowing the students to choose freely and assigning the groups herself. Four students in particular complicated matters: the two girls and the two boys who had admitted that they had not studied ahead.
The two girls were of the opposite sex from most of their classmates, and one of them was among the very best students. Naturally, everyone would want to be in a group with them. The two boys, on the other hand, would almost certainly be excluded if she left the decision entirely to the class.
In truth, the best solution would be to put those four students together in one group...
Judging by their behavior, Son Cha-hee and Yoon Su-a had no intention of being separated. Meanwhile, the two boys did not even seem to understand what was happening.
The students' preferences were obvious. Since Son Cha-hee had the highest entrance ranking in their class, joining her group would be advantageous. Conversely, it would be better to avoid teaming up with either of the two students who had admitted that day that they had not studied ahead.
The only way to resolve the situation was to assign the groups herself.
Having made up her mind, Cha Do-do picked up the group-assignment sheet she had prepared earlier.
“All right! Before we assign the groups, I'm going to give the two girls first choice. Let's find out what they want.”
At that, a boy swaggered over to Son Cha-hee.
Her brows drew together slightly. His name was Go Hyeon-seong, wasn't it? He was the student who had asked her that odd question about her ideal type of boyfriend out of nowhere.
“Hey, sister! Got anyone you want to team up with?”
Go Hyeon-seong glanced between her and Yoon Su-a as he spoke.
“What are you talking about?”
“How about me?”
Go Hyeon-seong pointed at himself with a confident expression.
To be fair, he was fairly tall and reasonably good-looking. His swaggering attitude did not inspire much confidence, but most boys his age were preoccupied with looking cool, so it was hardly unbearable. He was the sort of boy girls might find attractive.
The problem was that he was talking to Son Cha-hee.
More than a few boys had asked Son Cha-hee out because of her pretty face. But she had always placed her studies ahead of dating and had never shown the slightest interest. Consequently, she kept the boy in front of her at a distance, regarding him as though he were some kind of womanizer.
Yoon Su-a nudged Son Cha-hee and whispered,
“Do we actually get to choose?”
“Even if we do, I don't want him.”
Go Hyeon-seong staggered at Son Cha-hee's icy rejection.
Cha Do-do promptly stepped in.
“Cha-hee, Su-a... is there anyone you'd particularly like to be in a group with?”
“Boooo!”
Some of the boys jeered openly, but neither Cha Do-do nor the two girls appeared the least bit bothered. In fact, the jeers died away the moment Son Cha-hee swept her gaze across the classroom.
'Her presence is... no joke.'
Kang Woo clicked his tongue in amazement and involuntarily drew back.