Chapter 4  : Chapter 4   – Everybody Makes Mistakes

“Number 1.”

“Huh?”

“Please read the text until I say stop.”

The girl at the frontmost seat rose from her seat. With hesitation, she stumbled through the words in English. Her voice was unstable. It was clear that she was nervous. It wasn’t long before that shaky voice came to an abrupt stop. There was a word she didn’t know how to read, and soon, the classroom became completely silent.

“Um... I’m not sure how to pronounce this,” the girl said timidly.

“Right. Which middle school did you go to?”

“Um...”

Mrs. Kang didn’t actually say anything to talk down the girl’s middle school English teacher. Her attitude spoke louder than her words. ‘Number 1’ was flushing from embarrassment, while the other students looked at each wondering if that was OK. Juho was occupied by reading the text.

It was strange.

Juho was able to read English fluently. He rubbed his eyes forcefully. Even when things were still blurry, Juho was able to read them. It felt natural.

‘What is going on?’ he thought to himself.

The text was about environment-friendly consumption. It would’ve been impossible to understand even after sixteen years of education – six years of elementary, six years of middle and high schools, and four years of college. How was it that Juho was able to understand English as if it were his native language?

The second he started reading in English, there was a strange “click” in Juho’s head. It sounded like a button being pressed.

The only explanation for all of that was the miracle of travelling to the past.

‘Did somebody plant a language learning device in my brain while I was time traveling?’ thought Juho.

In midst of the confusion, Juho heard Mrs. Kang’s edgy words. Every sentence was a command.

‘Is this the kind of tone she’s going to be teaching with?’ Her attitude was saying that the teacher was above her students. She was basically teaching them that people weren’t equal.

Juho tried reading another sentence. He was able to translate it without problems and was able to understand everything. He focused on that unfamiliar sensation. It felt like a part of his brain had been mashed in.

Some active device was telling Juho the rules and meanings of a language. It all felt as natural as smelling.

“Recently, I’ve researched various, convenient methods for wise consumption.”

Because of the device, Juho recognized the mistake in Mrs.Kang’s translation.

‘Number 1’ was still in a same position. That teacher was enough of a bad influence to those children as it was, and Juho couldn’t let her make a mistake. He quietly raised his hand, and his eyes met Mrs. Kang’s. She stopped her translation and pointed at Juho with her chin. There was an annoyance in her gesture.

“Is there a problem?”

‘This better be good,’ was the unspoken pressure. Juho paid no attention to Mrs. Kang’s judgement and responded calmly.

“You’ve mistranslated.”

Mrs. Kang kept a still face and started looking into the text. The students were silent, but not because it was the first day of school. There was a faint excitement in midst of that anxiety. If what Juho had said was true, then it would mean that Mrs. Kang had made a mistake. The very teacher who had just given them a lofty speech about meritocracy, that teacher, who wanted to wield power over her students, had left an opening. Her fangs were itching behind her closed lips. Fangs that were small, yet rigid.

“What’s your name sir?”

“Juho Woo.”

“Have you been to another country?”

“No, ma’am.”

Mrs. Kang smiled. Clueless of what it meant, the students felt uneasy about her smile.

“How was your grade in English?”

“I don’t remember exactly, but probably on the lower side.”

Juho did not have such good grades, especially so on core subjects.

“And you’re saying that you can hear the flaw in the translation?”

“It seems like you haven’t found it yet, Mrs.Kang.”

“...My translation was accurate. The English you’re learning is at best, at high school level. It means I find it incredibly easy. I will have to deduct points for disrupting the class, what’s your call number?”

She wasn’t even going to listen to him. Rather than giving Mrs.Kang what she wanted, Juho read through the text written in high school level English. He interpreted every single word while avoiding excessively literal translation.

“Environment-friendly consumption, therefore, means to make a wise decision. One should purchase items made of recycled materials and avoid making any unnecessary purchases. Moreover, environment-friendly consumption isn’t just beneficial to this planet, but it is also beneficial to my bank account. Also, I have been researching various convenient methods for wise consumption. As a result, I have been carrying a recyclable bag. However, I have trouble remembering to take the recyclable bag with me to the grocery store.”

“...”

“You just translated ‘Recently, I’ve researched various, convenient methods for wise consumption.’ To me, these sentences are saying that all of that has been an ongoing process. So, wouldn’t it make more sense to say ‘I have been researching various convenient methods for wise consumption?’”

“He’s right. This is the present perfect continuous tense,”

said one of the students.

Juho knew nothing about the present perfect continuous or the past perfect tenses, but judging from the students wavering, that student must have been right.

‘High school level at best.’ Mrs. Kang had made a mistake at a standard she considered negligible. A mistake was never the same as a fault. Students simply wanted her to accept her mistake and stand corrected. It was probably too much to ask though, considering all the things she had been saying thus far.

Mrs. Kang became conscious of her mistake and frantically searched through the textbook.

“...How strange. It came out slightly different on the educator’s edition.”

“As far as I know, the educator’s edition hasn’t been distributed yet, Mrs.Kang.”

Her face was scrunching up into a scowl. After small revisions, textbooks had been getting distributed every year. Her book cover, now completely exposed facing the students, was no different from theirs.

In a world entirely based on merit, according to Mrs. Kang. how would they punish her? She tried to remain calm, but the ridge above her lips was already filled with sweat. It was the moment when a mistake became a fault.

“Chuckle!”

Students started giggling. Eventually, the classroom was shaking with uncontrolled laughter. The only people who were not laughing were Juho and Mrs. Kang.

Could things have gone the same way if another teacher had made a mistake and Juho had said the same thing? No. The students knew it. Teachers were human too, which meant they were just as susceptible to mistakes.

These kids had to have understood it by now, but the students taught by Mrs. Kang were different.

Juho sat down. He hoped that Mrs. Kang would stop ridiculing others by bringing up things like English or university. If the value of a person was based on such things, the world would be a miserable place to live in. Juho had no intention of turning the world he was living in into a tiresome place.

Mrs. Kang, the English teacher, rushed out of the classroom. After she left, Seo Kwang quickly turned to Juho.

“Psycho!”

That was unexpected.

“Is your heart made of iron? What were you thinking opening up your mouth at a time like that? Oh, and you didn’t stop there. You went the extra mile and really let her have it. You’re insane! You’re incredible!”

Though Seo Kwang’s words were quite misleading, Juho shrugged his shoulder and answered, “I let her have it? I only spoke up to address her misunderstanding.”

Juho smiled and slowly drew away from the conversation. Seo Kwang immediately caught on to what Juho was really saying.

“Aha! So, you’re saying Mrs. Kang is the one who actually made things awkward? You were just acting normal.”

Juho didn’t talk back to her or complain about her one-sided statements. He merely corrected her mistake. It was Mrs. Kang herself who had turned the situation into what it was.

Seo Kwang squinted at Juho. He felt that all the reading he had done up to that point had been helpful in a situation like that. There was something dangerous about Juho in the way he played coy when getting to know a person. Next to his peers, there was something quite different about him, and Seo Kwang came to like it.

“Let’s be friends.”

“That’s random.”

Though he answered light-heartedly, Juho had to read every single book recommended by Seo Kwang.

—

The classroom was rowdy. The students had completely adjusted to their new school now. There were cliques, which meant people started talking to each other. However, that wasn’t the only explanation for the rowdy classroom.

It was time for the so-called club invitation season. The upperclassmen came into the first years’ classrooms to introduce their clubs.

Next to the chalkboard were the flyers for all the different clubs, and the kids would wonder about which club to choose during recess.

There were upperclassmen before Juho, promoting their club with a hand-made sign, three girls and three boys from the volunteering club. He wondered if it was really necessary to have that many people promoting a club. The only person doing the talking was the girl in the middle.

“The strength of our club is that we really fill up the student record. You all know that you should take care of that on your first year, right? You’ll have less and less time as you go up. There’s no time for volunteering work, but the teachers are making a fuss about writing whatever helpful thing you can think of on your applications. THAT is when you’ll think of this club. This is a testimony. While your friends are struggling, you could indulge in the pleasure of burning through your applications!”

The girl went on with her excited speech. The kids were quietly listening to the upperclassman. Realizing that there was an awkwardness in the air, she quickly wrapped up her speech. The club members who were standing next to her hadn’t said a single word until the very end.

“Anyhow, if you’re interested, come find me in classroom 2-3.”

Next was the music club. Unlike its name, the reality was that they only sang a few songs at the school festival. A male upperclassman came out to promote it with a picket.

“If you enjoy music on a regular basis, are interested in music or are in love with music, this is the club for you. There is a brief interview, but don’t be intimidated. You can still be part of our club even if you’re not a good singer or a dancer. It’s OK if you know nothing about music. We can learn together. Our basic activity is to enjoy and appreciate.”

Next, came the cultural exploration club. Their activities were mainly outdoors. Perhaps that explained the unusual fashion sense of its members. The upperclassmen who came into the classroom to promote the club were all dressed in extraordinary clothing. It was as if they would be leaving for a jungle exploration at any minute.

“That guy in the khaki hat, he’s my style.”

Seo Kwang whispered jokingly to Juho. As if in response, that upperclassman spoke with a loud voice, “Wherever there’s culture, the cultural exploration club is there. As close as the park nearby or as far as a folk village! We go wherever our members desire! Come join our club!”

Then, he took a deep breath and asked for everyone’s attention, apparently the most important thing was left to the end.

“Our homeroom teacher treats to some food often.”

At that, a few excited students came forth. It didn’t sound all that interesting, but it had definitely been the most energetic club so far. With cultural exploration club as the last, the club promotion came to an end.

“Which club are you planning on joining?” asked Seo Kwang.

After the promotion, there were even more kids looking at the flyers. Seo Kwang and Juho were far from the crowd. They were skimming through the flyers to see the different clubs that were around.

“I don’t know. You?”

“I’m thinking about joining the book club, but it kind of bothers me that they have the Chinese teacher as their homeroom teacher.”

“Ah! You mean the one who teaches the second years? He’s always in modernized traditional garments.”

That teacher really gave off an intimidating impression with his deep wrinkled brows. Seo Kwang stepped forward and started looking for a literature club. According to him, he had been in a literature debate club for all three years in middle school,

Juho decided to look around by himself. Then, he saw the title ‘Documentary Appreciation Club,” the club he used to be part of.

They sat still and watched documentaries of their teacher’s choosing. That was the entirety of that club’s activity, but Juho was quite fond of it.

“Should I go back to watching documentaries, or should I try something new?” Juho pondered.

<Everybody Makes Mistakes> The End