Chapter 7 – I Am – Part 4

Chapter 7 – I Am – Part 4

Woojin looked at the rice cake skewers his mother handed him as if they were something amazing.

It was rice cake.

It’s rice cake, red with sauce.

Bomi, already munching on the rice cake skewer, watched with interest to see what reaction her brother would show.

After finishing his observation, Woojin carefully took a bite of the rice cake skewer.

It’s chewy, spicy. And sweet and salty.

“Brother, so delicious? Right?”

Woojin slowly turned his head to Bomi.

“This is it… Spicy-sweet-salty?”

Bomi giggled.

“You know all my catchphrases, brother. Isn’t it delicious?”

“Yeah, it’s amazing…”

It’s really delicious.

Just then, Bomi suddenly spoke as if something had occurred to her.

“Oh, that’s right! Mom, Dad. It’s awesome.”

Bomi brought the workbook Woojin had solved and said in an excited voice.

“My brother solved this, and he got everything right. And it took him less than a minute to solve 10 problems.”

Mom and Dad, who were momentarily flustered, managed a laugh.

“Hahahaha! Our son is smart, as expected,”

“Our Woojin, he’s handsome and smart too?”

Even though they said that, Mom and Dad’s expressions were a little unconvinced.

They thought Bomi was overly praising her brother.

Bomi, noticing this, said with a frustrated tone.

“It’s true!”

“Wow… our son will become a great person later. Yes. Of course.”

“It’s true! Brother, show them your skills.”

As Bomi handed Woojin a pen,

Can’t I just eat the rice cake skewers and solve it?

Brother, the rice cake skewers aren’t important right now… Ugh!

Bomi, frustrated, pounded her chest.

Seeing his younger sister like that, Woojin turned his gaze to the workbook Bomi had opened.

While munching on the rice cake skewers, Woojin’s hand, holding a pen, moved.

Bomi said with a triumphant smile.

“Look! Look at this!”

Mom and Dad’s eyes widened.

He wasn’t playing around; he was checking it in mere moments and turning to the next page.

Even if you were guessing, you wouldn’t guess like this.

And then again.

Mom said with a worried expression.

“Woojin, read everything carefully and answer…”

Bomi interrupted.

“Mom, he reads everything before writing it down.”

“Huh?”

“Want to see?”

Woojin solved ten pages of problems in one minute.

Bomi showed them the appendix with the answers and began grading… Mom and Dad’s eyes grew wider in disbelief.

Soon, Bomi, having finished grading, nodded happily.

“One hundred points!”

“How is this even…”

“…”

Something astonishing was happening right before their eyes.

Dad, who had been frozen like a stone statue, instinctively answered the incoming call like someone whose soul had left their body.

“Oh. Munjin.”

-What are you doing? Is Woojin adjusting well? You must be stressed, too, so let’s have a drink of Soju after a long time.

“Stress?”

-Yeah, man, I’m treating you with my emergency fund.

“Hahahaha!”

Dad suddenly burst out laughing.

“Hey, man! What stress are you talking about? My son is a genius! Have you ever seen someone solve a problem in just a few Candles? Huh? Uh-hahahaha!”

-What are you talking about?

“I’m telling you, he solves one problem in 5 Candles! No, in just 3 Candles!”

-This bastard, what nonsense is he talking about…….

“Let’s drink next time!”

Dad hung up the phone and said, unable to calm his excitement.

It was a loud voice, as if he wanted everyone in the neighborhood to hear.

“My genius son! What do you want to eat! Dad will buy you everything!”

“Skewered rice cakes?”

It was Woojin, who hadn’t had enough.

“Huh? Is there anything else? Something different…. No! You should eat what you want now! Dad will go to the Gold Room and buy it.”

“Honey! I told you it was closing.”

“No, no. I’ll run to the Gold Room and buy it. If it’s closed, Dad will make it and bring it up!”

Dad bolted out the front door like a child.

But Woojin had no choice but to eat spicy rice cakes instead of skewered rice cakes.

After dinner, the 9 o’clock news reported on an incident involving a YouTuber.

She specialized in filming Mukbangs, and the report stated that she was forced to film due to blackmail from a gangster.

She was the Mukbang YouTuber Woojin had first seen when he encountered YouTube.

Woojin slowly nodded his head as he watched the incident.

Her face told me.

I was lying.

And she constantly fiddled with her accessories.

Unlike men, women touching accessories is an unconscious action to relieve unease, anxiety, and stress.

Oh.

Woojin went to Bomi’s door and knocked, wondering if he had forgotten something.

Bomi, who opened the door, looked a little surprised.

Her brother had never come to her like this before.

Woojin said,

How to study.

Oh, that’s right! Yes, tell me! Tell me!

Woojin organized his thoughts as he walked to Bomi’s room.

To teach her how to consciously use her brain, she needed to understand the brain’s limbic system, cerebral cortex, and plasticity (brain plasticity), but Bomi was not yet ready to accept that.

Bomi.

Brother, don’t stand at the door, come in.

Okay.

Woojin, who entered the room, looked at the workbook spread on the desk and asked a question.

And he kept backtracking in mind.

Backtracking is naturally repeating the words the other person says.

In fact, psychological counselors often use it to build rapport with people who come for counseling.

This can also lead the other person to not feel rejection when delivering an opinion or explanation.

This can also be misused to tempt the other person.

How can I become good at studying?

You can teach me how to study, brother.

What are your thoughts on ‘how to study,’ Bomi?

“Wouldn’t it work if I tried hard?”

“How do you ‘try hard’?”

“Hmm… you study a lot.”

“How you study is more important than ‘a lot’. You know that if you work hard, anyone’s grades go up.”

Woojin, looking at the workbook, spoke as simply as possible so that Bomi could understand.

He didn’t use difficult terms.

“But our brains like what’s familiar, so if you increase the amount of studying, stress comes. That’s because you’ve never experienced that much studying before. Your concentration blurs, and you keep wanting to do other things. Your brain tries to pull you back into familiar patterns to eliminate stress.”

“Ohh… then what should I do?”

“‘How?’ You have to think differently. ‘I only get grades for what I know.’ ‘I know this much, and I will get grades for that much.’”

It was a way of speaking that created new brain cells by giving new, essential information, and indirectly accessed the brain.

“Ohh, what is it? Hearing you talk, I suddenly want to study. Only as much as I know…”

Woojin slowly nodded his head.

He himself had been like Bomi once.

It wasn’t studying, but he had to be able to read people’s actions and faces.

He had to eat, and he couldn’t be beaten. Work was a given, and he had to know the mood of the other room.

Because that’s how he could survive.

When he studied the other room’s actions and expressions in his head and felt satisfied, from then on, he was rarely beaten.

However, there was an anomaly.

An anomaly that almost killed him, but that guy overturned it.

It was an anomaly that arose from the misconception that he knew people to a certain righteous path.

“Bomi, you can do it.”

Bomi smiled and shook her head at her brother, who spoke with a poker face unlike his words and then left.

Meanwhile, Woojin, who entered the room, began to solve the workbook.

Office Worker.

To live ordinarily, he had to be prepared flawlessly.

Just then, a sound came from the living room.

“Hey! I told you to buy rice cake skewers, why did you buy chicken skewers, you idiot?”

“Huh? Wasn’t it chicken skewers? Hey, hey, that’s all junk food. And would I feed Woojin flour? He needs to eat meat.”

Dad’s Friend had arrived.

“Woojin, Bomi, come out and eat some chicken skewers.”

As Woojin went out to the living room, Dad’s Friend smiled brightly.

“Woojin has grown so much. Do you remember this uncle? When you were little…”

Even with his explanation, Woojin couldn’t remember.

Because he was too young.

“Hello.”

He treated Woojin like a nephew he hadn’t seen in a long time.

He didn’t say anything like, “I’m glad you’re back,” or “You must have had a hard time.”

As Bomi and Woojin enjoyed their chicken skewers, Dad’s Friend, clinking his glass, said,

“What’s my rank, and I’m still working overtime and all-nighters, I’m going to die, I’m dead.”

“Hey, if a guy who works at a large corporation complains about dying like that, then everyone who couldn’t get into a large corporation must already be dead.”

“Hey, do you know what my kid’s dream is these days? He says he wants to be a YouTuber, a YouTuber.”

Having said that, he subtly asked Woojin,

“Woojin, what’s your dream?”

“An office worker.”

“Huh?”

“An ordinary office worker.”

“Ah… an office worker. An office worker is good!”

“Do you work at a large corporation?”

He smiled subtly and said,

“You could say that. Why?”

“I want to join a large corporation. What’s the company name?”

Woojin’s mostly monotone voice piqued his father’s friend’s curiosity.

“Shinhwa General Trading…”

“New Employee Open Recruitment – June 23.”

“Oh? That’s right. How did you know?”

“I was interested.”

“Hahaha! You said your dream was to be an office worker, and you’re already showing interest? Wow… Woojin, I’m proud of you.”

As he laughed heartily, Woojin spoke up.

“Can I take a look around?”

“Huh?”

“A tour.”

His father quickly spoke up.

It was almost unheard of for Woojin to express what he wanted on his own like this.

“Hey, you can give him a proper tour, can’t you?”

“That’s not difficult… What the heck, sure! My nephew wants a tour!”

At that moment, a strange light shone in Woojin’s eyes.

It felt like he was one step closer to his dream.