Ch.77Chapter 77. Prodigy (1)

“Sigh…”

As I was clearing out my things in the office, I couldn’t help but sigh.

Everyone else had already packed up and left, leaving me alone in the tidy office.

I finished packing the rest of my stuff into boxes and picked them up with both hands.

The team had been disbanded and everyone scattered.

The manager went to the research and development department.

It seemed he wouldn’t be overseeing any new projects for a while.

The others were either sold off to different projects or some even became training instructors.

And where was I assigned to…

“Why is the manager here?”

“That’s what I want to know.”

I was in the same research and development department as the manager.

I thought for sure we’d be separated.

This was quite unexpected.

“Did you get assigned here?”

“Yes. Unless I’m illiterate, that seems to be the case.”

“Then come over quickly. This is the model for the interstellar cruise engine we’re planning. Take a look…”

“Hey! What are you doing? How am I supposed to critique something designed by engineering specialists?”

“No, that’s not it, you idiot. There’s a design criterion called serviceability. As someone who’s been to space, you can at least check what might be inconvenient for maintenance, right? These guys are only serious about performance and not a single one thinks from a maintenance worker’s perspective.”

“Sigh… Understood.”

Somehow it seemed like my job wouldn’t be much different.

Not even knowing where my desk was, I just put down my boxes and had no choice but to be dragged along by the manager.

“Are you okay now?”

“About what?”

“About your promotion being blocked and your salary freeze and…”

“Please stop talking about that. My wife nagged me about it all weekend and I thought I was going crazy.”

“Hahaha.”

The manager was still the same.

He didn’t seem too depressed.

I couldn’t tell if he was just putting on a brave face.

The 1:1 size engine model I examined while laughing was…

“Holy shit.”

“What?”

“This is a complete mess. Let’s scrap it and start over.”

It was terrible.

The perfect structure for getting holes punched in your spacesuit while trying to do maintenance.

These damn engineers.

They don’t give a rat’s ass about maintenance workers.

“You need to speak up.”

“Will that work? We’re in the position of having crashed a project and been kicked out.”

“Why do you think you were called here? If they found you annoying, they’d have put you at the front gate as security. No matter how shitty things are, they can’t disregard someone with experience.”

“…”

Hah. Really.

Well, I am pretty awesome.

It felt good to be needed.

It felt good, but…

I strongly felt that I was going to be much busier here.

The monthly salary I’d been getting while doing nothing was sweet.

I really fucking hate working.

Ring ring…

“Take your calls outside. No cell phone use in here.”

“Ah, yes.”

My phone started ringing.

I checked the caller ID as I opened the thick door and stepped outside.

Jane Clarke. Jane Clarke. Jane Clarke.

“Who was that again?”

I couldn’t remember.

Since it was saved in my contacts, it must be someone I know.

Other than thinking it sounded like someone who might rip off their clothes to reveal spandex with an S on it and fly around, nothing specific came to mind.

“Hello. This is Jinsoo Kim.”

“This is Cuss’s father. Hello? I’m calling about Cuss…”

“Ah.”

I remembered as soon as I heard the voice.

It was Cuss’s homeroom teacher.

But wasn’t her name Joan?

Anyway.

Why is her voice trembling like that?

Cuss, you little shit, what have you done now?

***

“Ack!”

As Cuss entered the classroom, her backpack caught on the doorframe.

She had never forgotten to go through sideways before.

Barely avoiding falling flat on her back, she entered only to find Tom laughing hysterically as expected.

“Pfft… Puhahaha! Are you seriously a goldfish? Did your brain reset after the weekend?”

“…”

She felt a bit annoyed, but that was all.

In the past, she would have reacted to his barking.

Now she realized there was no need.

What could be more unseemly than falling for the provocations of a human child?

Cuss turned away from the laughing Tom and walked past him.

“W-what? Hey! Why aren’t you saying anything?”

“Hi Cuss.”

Alice was already there today too.

Though she was a human child like Tom, Cuss found it easy to talk with Alice.

That’s why she liked her.

Ignoring the voice coming from behind like background music, Cuss sat down next to Alice, putting her backpack down.

“It’s been a while.”

“A while? We video called yesterday.”

“Still, it’s different from meeting in person, isn’t it?”

“Hmm… I don’t know? Is there really much difference between seeing someone in person or on video?”

“…”

It was a difficult statement to understand.

It seemed that even with Alice, there were subtle differences in values.

It would be impossible to perfectly understand such complex alien life forms.

Only someone as straightforward as Jinsoo, who lived simply by satisfying his needs to eat, sleep, and defecate like an animal, would be easy to understand.

“Hey! Why do you keep ignoring me?”

“…”

A hand touched her shoulder.

Cuss turned around slowly, unable to hide her displeasure.

It seemed he would keep bothering her if she didn’t respond.

“What is it? Speak.”

“How dare you keep ignoring me like this? Huh? I know everything! You… you…”

“I’m not ignoring you. Speak.”

“You! You! This… this…”

“…?”

“Forget it! Damn!”

She clearly told him to speak.

But Tom just fumed to himself and turned his back abruptly.

Why was he acting like that?

Tom was even harder to understand than Alice.

But thinking about it again, it seemed like he had something he was itching to say.

She still couldn’t figure out what it was.

“Um… Cuss.”

“Yes?”

After Tom left.

Alice, who had been resting her chin on her hand looking elsewhere, glanced over.

Her voice was muffled as her palm covered her mouth.

“That thing from before. I was too surprised to mention it then… but you’re keeping it a secret, right?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Oh, you know. That thing… that we did… before.”

She was using such a frustrating way of speaking.

It was like watching her past self, just learning human language and unable to properly communicate with the hospital nurse.

If Alice’s language ability had regressed to that level, it would be a serious problem.

“Alice.”

“Yes?”

“Have you considered going to a psychiatric hospital?”

“I-I’m not a lesbian! Don’t misunderstand!”

“…?”

Alice shouted without thinking, then looked around in surprise.

Fortunately, all the other kids were chattering loudly, so it seemed no one heard what she said.

‘So Alice isn’t a lesbian…!’

Except for one boy who was pretending not to pay attention while actually listening carefully.

“Wait, why? Why? Why did you think I was a lesbian? Huh?”

“But… I never even mentioned the word lesbian…”

Cuss sensed a kind of madness in Alice’s frantic expression.

The only thought in her mind was that she needed to calm Alice down.

Alice was already leaning uncomfortably close as she questioned her.

‘Alice couldn’t possibly be a lesbian.’

Jinsoo had said that all lesbians were muscular and mentally disturbed people obsessed with buttholes.

Obviously, Alice didn’t fit that image.

“So… that kiss. You’re keeping it secret, right?”

“I haven’t told anyone yet.”

“Really?”

“Probably…?”

“Ah! Give me a definite answer!”

She couldn’t remember telling anyone.

But she might have told Jinsoo.

She told Jinsoo all sorts of things, so there were many things she’d said and forgotten.

“Um… definitely.”

But Alice was asking for a definite answer.

She decided to grant her wish.

“Phew. That’s a relief.”

“But would it be a problem if someone found out? It was just an expression of bonding.”

“Y-yes. An expression of bonding… Yes… Right… But it’s still embarrassing, so I’d like to keep it secret.”

“I will do that.”

She gave a vague answer.

If Jinsoo already knew, then that story would have spread widely through Juliane and the workplace.

It was already out of Cuss’s hands.

From now on, she wouldn’t tell anyone, so it wasn’t exactly a false promise.

“Sorry I’m late, everyone!”

The door burst open and Jane rushed in.

Jane caught her breath with her hands on the podium and looked around the classroom.

At the beginning of the semester, she had struggled just to memorize the children’s faces and names, but now she could tell at a glance who was absent.

“Alright. Everyone sit down and focus on the teacher. Today’s first period is… math.”

“Math!”

“Awesome!”

Cheers erupted from the children.

For now, math was still just a fun tool to play with, but how many of them would still like math by the time they reached 12th grade…

Jane smiled bitterly as she looked at today’s lesson.

The first page of the holographic textbook had the word “Multiplication” prominently displayed.

“We learned addition and subtraction before, right?”

“Yes!”

“Today we’re going to learn multiplication. Multiply. You’ve all heard of it, right? You’ve probably seen the symbol too.”

When Jane waved her finger at the blackboard, the multiplication symbol appeared immediately.

“Multiplication is repeated addition. Let’s use 2×4 as an example. 2×4 means add 2 four times. 2+2+2+2 is…?”

“8!”

“That’s right.”

After a moment of silence, answers came from all around.

“How is it? Not difficult, right?”

“No!”

“Then what’s 4×8?”

“Umm…”

“What about 17×28? Or what would the answer to 326×528 be?”

“…”

Silence fell over the classroom.

At first, some children tried to work out the answers on paper, but soon everyone gave up.

Jane smiled gently and spoke again.

“Too difficult, right? But if you learn the principle, even multiplication of such large numbers won’t be difficult…”

“Thirty-two. Four hundred seventy-six. And… one hundred seventy-two thousand… one hundred twenty-eight.”

“…”

There was a hand raised at the back of the classroom.

It was none other than Cuss, who had raised her hand and was speaking clearly.

Surprised, Jane checked the answer on her phone calculator and smiled again.

“Cuss. That’s correct. But could you put away your calculator now?”

“Calculator?”

“You used a calculator. I’ll teach you how to use calculators too, but in this lesson, we’re going to learn the principles of multiplication, so calculator use is prohibited.”

“Calculator. Didn’t use one.”

“Cuss.”

A lie.

It was a common mistake made by children this age.

And it was the mistake that troubled parents and teachers the most.

Even if it disrupted the flow of the lesson, a student’s lie had to be dealt with strictly.

“Lying is not good.”

“I really didn’t use one.”

She even looked wronged.

This wasn’t the work of a novice.

Jane didn’t want to criticize the parents, but this was clearly due to a lack of guidance.

She thought she should send a text message to the father.

“Look me in the eye. Then what’s the answer to 1945×3812?”

“Um… I don’t know.”

That’s more like it.

Looking at Jane’s eyes instead of a calculator screen, Cuss couldn’t answer.

“Cuss. I won’t scold you for this, so if you honestly say…”

“Teacher. What comes after hundred thousand? If I know that, I can answer.”

“Huh? What did you say?”

“What comes after hundred thousand?”

“Million…?”

“Seven million four hundred fourteen thousand three hundred forty.”

“Huh? What?”

Surprised, Jane tapped on her phone.

What did I ask again?

Right. 1945 multiplied by 3812.

The number that appeared on the screen was

‘7,414,340…’

It was exactly what Cuss had recited.

In her confusion, Jane looked back and forth between the screen and Cuss’s face.

“How did you solve it so quickly?”

“Added it.”

“Pardon?”

“Didn’t the teacher say multiplication is repeated addition? I solved it by adding.”

Cuss said with a look that suggested Jane was asking something strange.

Jane was so dumbfounded that she couldn’t close her gaping mouth.