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Chapter 7
Rank 4?
Oh-ho. That was the highest rank among all the candidates I’d met so far.
And he was the youngest too.
To have ability comparable to Mok Ihu’s yet still not hold an official position until now… he must have had terrible luck with the exams.
On top of that, he was handsome enough to keep students pleasantly focused on studying.
“I don’t think increasing study time any further would help. It would be better to change the environment or change the teacher.”
From what I’d quickly researched, the civil service exams in this era had fixed textbooks. So when students stagnated, the common solutions were changing the study environment or changing instructors.
I had already blocked both options in advance.
“Entering a temple or academy is not allowed. And we won’t be changing teachers either. In that case, what would you do?”
“Then the method of learning must change.”
“How?”
“Most people sit still and rock their bodies while memorizing, don’t they? But I don’t think that’s necessary. They can memorize while walking through the garden, or paste passages on the wall and walk around the room while reciting them.”
It would be even better with flashcards.
When I first learned English, I played with little cards that had fruit pictures on the front and alphabet letters on the back.
The people who developed the method of studying while walking were Aristotle’s Peripatetic School. Of course, I couldn’t compare Young Master Jeong to Aristotle, but it was still admirable.
“Thank you. That was very insightful.”
After Candidate Number Five left the room, Jeongo burst in excitedly.
“My lady, that teacher is so handsome.”
“He seems like he’d teach well too.”
“Have you decided on him?”
“Why are you so happy about it?”
“Hehe. They say food that looks good tastes good too.”
“So today’s interviews for the children’s tutor are over, right?”
“Yes. Madam says you should come to the main quarters quickly. New silk fabrics have arrived.”
“They arrived yesterday too.”
“Of course. Madam says you still need several more outfits. You have to look the prettiest during Dano.”
Madam Oh’s hobby was dressing up her only daughter beautifully.
During the two months Ahn Anyong had spent at her in-laws’ house, she’d been forcibly restraining herself. Now she was frantically satisfying that suppressed desire.
Honestly, I was enjoying it too.
I had money, time, and even a personal shopper. How could I not enjoy it?
Still, if I wanted to preserve this happiness, I had to squeeze results out of my younger brothers.
But memories from just before my transmigration kept resurfacing and grabbing at my ankles.
I had died, but what happened to Kim Insu?
He fell from the ninth-floor rooftop too, so he must’ve died as well.
He was only a high school senior.
The first time Insu came to my academy—right after the March mock exam of his first year—I saw “Rank 1” the moment I looked into his eyes.
But he told me he’d gotten Rank 5 on the exam.
I told him he could become Rank 1 to give him confidence and certainty.
And it was true.
By March of his second year, he finally achieved Rank 1 in English.
He had jumped four entire tiers in just one year.
Other subjects had changing exam scopes, but English didn’t.
The difficulty only increased gradually, which meant cramming was useless for English mock exams. The scores reflected genuine English ability.
But then puberty hit him late, and he began to drift.
His grades plummeted.
A student who had climbed from Rank 5 to Rank 1 within a year suddenly crashing without any special reason—even I struggled to understand it.
Insu’s parents, both doctors, couldn’t tolerate seeing his grades rise and then fall again.
“We’re not forcing a child who can’t do it. He can do it. It’s already been proven. He showed he could achieve Rank 1. But what is this? Back to Rank 4 again. This is avoidance of responsibility and neglect of duty. He’s wasting his life. As parents, we can’t just sit back and watch.”
Even now, I could still hear Insu’s father’s words clearly.
Really?
How many people actually live while fully utilizing all their abilities?
Why does everyone have to live according to their potential?
Can’t people just live the way they want to?
So what if they’re lacking?
So what if they’re slow?
So what if their rank is low?
The words boiled inside me, but I couldn’t say them out loud.
Because Insu’s father, built like a baseball player, terrified me too.
Back then, I had no idea Insu was being beaten by his father like that.
If I had known, I never would have helped him rise to Rank 1.
Paengmun quietly approached Young Master Mok, who stood atop the pavilion of Myeonghyeondang looking toward the annex.
Even with nothing more than a plain wooden hairpin and pin in his hair, his master still shone brilliantly.
Yet he could neither reveal himself nor afford to.
What a cruel fate.
“Young Master, scholars are reportedly being summoned one by one to the Ahn estate.”
“Have you investigated the one called Gwolhyang?”
“That person has never once left the residence where he’s staying. We still haven’t discovered who is backing him.”
“How many men?”
“According to Ilseon, ten are hiding their presence while another ten remain openly visible. As for the one called Gwolhyang, no one has ever seen his face.”
Ilseon was the first among the secret guards protecting Young Master Mok. If he said it, it was trustworthy.
“So it’s true that Gwolhyang is the leader of the Pungwol Sect?”
“It’s true that the sect leader’s name is Gwolhyang, but we don’t know whether the one who made the contract with Master Ahn is the real person. The Pungwol Sect rarely appears in the world, so almost nobody knows their face.”
The Pungwol Sect was a mysterious martial sect said to be as unreachable as the wind and moon. Even though ordinary people never saw them, their long history earned them trust.
“My father-in-law isn’t someone who’d be deceived by a fake.”
“Yes. And regarding the matter you mentioned before… that person has asked about it again. It seems they heard that the young lady returned to her family home.”
“……”
“This servant will now withdraw.”
Paengmun bowed to Young Master Mok’s stiffened back and slowly stepped away.
The relationship between the young master and his wife was this terrible, yet that person still wanted the young master to produce an heir as soon as possible.
After hearing that the young lady had returned to her maiden home, they had flown into a rage and declared that a concubine should be brought in.
Paengmun couldn’t bring himself to relay that part.
I hired Rank 4 Young Master Jeong as the tutor, organized the study room, and designed the curriculum.
Three days later, the “Ahn Family Academy to Protect the Central Gate Shops” officially opened.
Project duration: three years.
Students: five, including me.
Teacher: one, for now.
Mother, who had belatedly realized the importance of educational enthusiasm, insisted that even the three-year-old youngest child should begin studying.
I stopped her.
Generally, I believed children should begin studying around age five.
Unless someone was a genius like Mok Seonhu, learning appropriate for one’s age was what truly became flesh and blood.
If children started studying too early, they would grow sick of it.
The Ahn family children, especially, would absolutely suffer backlash from early education.
“It would be better to wait another two years before starting the youngest.”
In the simply furnished classroom—designed to eliminate every distraction except studying—I sat facing Mother.
“I understand. But are you really not planning to return to your in-laws’ house?”
“What do you mean not return? I’ll go back once I finish learning the Thousand Character Classic.”
“What? How many years do you think that will take?”
“About a month?”
Mother’s eyes widened into circles.
For the old Ahn Anyong, even three years wouldn’t have been enough. But I used to be a famous CSAT English instructor.
Memorizing a mere thousand characters? Even a month was generous.
“You’re not planning to return to your in-laws for an entire month? You’ve barely been married! Will son-in-law Mok even allow it? And even if he does, you shouldn’t behave that way.”
“When you study, you need total immersion.”
If someone like Mok Seonhu kept wandering around in front of me, there was no way I’d be able to concentrate.
Back when I was busy making money, I’d occasionally gone on blind dates or had almost-relationships, but they never lasted long because I lacked time.
I never imagined life would end so pointlessly.
I just kept rushing forward blindly.
Of course, if my parents had still been alive, things would have been different.
That drunk driver had killed my parents and shattered my life.
No matter how successful my academy became or how much money I earned, there was always an emptiness inside me.
If I wasn’t obsessively focused on something, I couldn’t endure it.
And the more I immersed myself in the academy, the farther away romance became.
Because it was hard to excel at both.
“Mother, why did you arrange a marriage with the Mok family?”
I asked while eating the dried persimmon she fed me.
People said nobody had expected the union between the Mok family—a poor but honorable family of scholars for generations—and the Ahn family, who were rich but ignorant.
“Your father decided it alone. No matter how much you and I begged, he wouldn’t change his mind. It was the first time in his life he’d ever been that stubborn.”
“Wasn’t there another reason?”
“What reason? Are you saying there was another reason behind your marriage?”
I just had that feeling.
Running an academy had sharpened my eye for people.
My father-in-law didn’t seem like the kind of man who would sell his son for money.
And my own father seemed like someone who would spare no expense for his daughter’s happiness. He didn’t seem like the type to sacrifice her happiness for political power.
There was definitely some hidden story here.
“…Have you met Young Master Han since your marriage? Or at least received a letter from him?”
After glancing around cautiously, Mother whispered in a tiny voice.
“No. Why?”
If even my mother suspected something, then Ahn Anyong and this Young Master Han must have been very close.
But was it love?
Or friendship?
“I happened to hear that Young Master Han recently returned to Hwanseong.”
Not knowing how to respond, I stayed silent. Mother must have mistaken my silence for shock, because she warmly clasped my hand.
“I didn’t want to tell you, but you would’ve learned eventually. Now you are the second daughter-in-law of the Mok family, the family of the Assistant Censor-General. Even childhood friends must keep proper distance between men and women. He truly is a good person, but your paths are different now, aren’t they?”
“Yes, of course. Don’t worry, Mother.”
I’d never seen him, but even if Young Master Han arrived in a truckload, he probably still wouldn’t compare to Mok Seonhu.
Just as I answered cheerfully, Jeongo suddenly slammed open the door and ran inside.
“M-My lady! Madam! Hah… I—”
“What is it?”
“Y-Young Master Han is here at the front gate!”
