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Chapter 9
The next morning.
Chairman Hong came downstairs for breakfast. And he waited for Haena, who would soon come down as well. His only son, Hong Yi-do, had left the previous evening without even finishing dinner, so now Chairman Hong’s only comfort was Haena.
But after 10 minutes, then 20 minutes, Haena still hadn’t come down.
Just as he began to think something was strange, Chairman Hong spotted Uiryeong hurrying past and stopped her.
“Wait. Where’s Haena? Isn’t it about time for her to eat and leave for kindergarten?”
That was right.
Today was the long-awaited day of Haena’s return to kindergarten.
But normally, Haena hated going to kindergarten. So every morning, she would argue with her nanny Uiryeong, insisting she wouldn’t go.
*’You little rascal. Stop troubling the nanny and go to kindergarten.’*
*’No! I don’t want to go to kindergarten! I’m not going!’*
Whenever that happened, Chairman Hong would lose his temper and practically chase Haena out the door to kindergarten.
Haena would throw a tantrum until the very end, but Chairman Hong was not the kind of person to give in to a child’s tantrums.
*’I suppose I’ve been a bit too strict all this time.’*
Chairman Hong knew he had never been a particularly gentle grandfather.
And after hearing what Yi-do said yesterday, he’d gained a small realization. He had a gut feeling that if things continued this way, both his child and his grandchild would abandon him and leave.
So, having decided to become a bit kinder starting now, Chairman Hong planned to coax and encourage Haena when she came down, and also slip her a card.
He would give her this card as a reward if she didn’t cause any trouble, didn’t make any other children cry, and didn’t make the teacher cry either.
*An unlimited black card with no spending limit. Buy whatever you want.*
*Then she’ll probably act a little cute on her own.* Chairman Hong smiled contentedly. *Is there anything money can’t solve?*
“Heh heh.”
Chairman Hong felt proud just imagining Haena’s delighted, beaming smile. So he waited, grinning to himself, for Haena to come down.
But no matter how long he waited, Haena didn’t appear, and gradually he began to find it strange.
“Ah, Miss Haena finished her breakfast early and got in the car because she wanted to go to kindergarten as soon as possible today.”
“What?!”
*CRASH.*
It was the moment Chairman Hong’s expectations were mercilessly shattered.
“O-Oh my… Are you angry, Chairman? I thought you’d be proud of the young lady…”
“Ahem, ahem.”
Seeing Uiryeong’s fluster, Chairman Hong cleared his throat in embarrassment.
And of course he would. It would be truly strange to be angry that his granddaughter had eaten her breakfast and gone off to kindergarten without any fuss.
Worried that his true feelings might be discovered, Chairman Hong shook his head.
“No, that’s not it… Ah! Yes. The problem is that she left without greeting her elder!”
“Ah…”
Uiryeong smiled awkwardly.
But her face clearly showed what she was thinking: *’What a boomer…’*
“I’m sorry, Chairman. When the young lady left, you were still asleep, and it felt a bit much to wake you just for a goodbye…”
“Wake me next time.”
“Excuse me? You would go that far just to receive a greeting…”
“Ahem! At this rate, the discipline of this household will crumble! This is absolutely unacceptable! How could a subordinate think of leaving without greeting a superior?! This would never happen in our Hong family!”
And so Chairman Hong continued to fail at being honest with himself.
—
**”Gasp. It’s Haena.”**
“The gangster wife is here! Run, run!”
“Waaah. Haena is back again… Why did she come so early today…”
…
*Haena…*
*What kind of kindergarten life did you live, exactly?*
*Couldn’t you have been a little more normal… Why does everyone run away the moment they see you…*
Haena felt a strange sense of disillusionment as she watched all the children either run away or cry at the mere sight of her.
*Is Hong Haena’s social life okay like this?*
Haena sighed, hung up her kindergarten bag and coat neatly, and sat down properly in an appropriate spot.
*From now on, I am not Hong Haena, the gangster wife. I am reborn as Hong Haena, the model student.*
She muttered to herself.
“!”
“H-Haena…?”
The teacher, who had been watching Haena nervously, seemed to grow even more tense.
And it wasn’t just her. The other children, sensing something strange about Haena’s behavior, grew even more nervous and backed away.
*No, Haena. How did you manage to make even the teacher afraid of you?*
*What on earth did you do?*
“Yes, Teacher.”
“!”
“Gasp.”
“Teacher! Haena used honorifics!”
“She didn’t cry or get angry when she spoke! She didn’t curse either!”
“Teacher, Haena is weird… I think she’s sick…”
“Should Haena go to the hospital, Teacher? Is Haena okay?”
…
*This is starting to make me a little sad.*
“H-Haena has… become so much more mature while she was at home! Teacher is so happy. Our Haena is so impressive~ Shall we all give a round of applause to kind Haena, who only uses nice words now~”
…
*I see. The teacher has also been informed by our counselor that ‘Haena has been pretending to be mature lately by imitating drama speech patterns, so just play along more or less.’*
Haena had recently eavesdropped on a conversation between the counselor and Chairman Hong.
Because she’d found it suspicious when the Chairman suddenly wanted her to see a counselor. So in front of the counselor, she’d acted like a completely immature little kid and vaguely made up an excuse: *’I just want to say cool words like the pretty sisters on TV!’* It seemed everyone had more or less accepted it.
“Waaaaah!!”
*Teacher…*
*Your professionalism is amazing…*
Haena couldn’t even process the applause and cheers being showered upon her.
*Is life really this sad… getting praised just for saying ‘yes’…*
—
**And so, after a full day of singing English songs, folding paper, and reading English storybooks—**
*’I hate English kindergarten.’*
Haena once again felt the sorrow of a Korean person who, even after transmigrating into a novel’s chaebol villainess, still had to study English.
*’If you were going to do it anyway, Author, couldn’t you have just made Korean the world’s common language…’*
*Just so I wouldn’t have to study English, even if only inside the novel…*
Even though she had become good at English, she still hated studying it.
“Alright! Our Haenim class children~ Next is our combined physical play time with the neighboring class, the Grass Blade class!”
*Physical play… is that like gym class?* Haena tried her best to interpret the language of seven-year-olds.
“We’ll all line up in a single line, put our hands on the shoulders of the friend in front of us, and walk together with a heave-ho, heave-ho~”
Haena obediently lined up and placed her hands on the shoulders of the friend in front of her.
“Gasp. H-Haena… *hhnk, hhnk, hhuuuuuk*…”
“You’ll get in trouble if you cry.”
“Hnng!”
“Really, you’ll get in trouble.”
Of course, the friend, thinking Haena was about to hit her, had been about to cry, but at Haena’s smile, she clamped her mouth shut again.
*’I think I need to suggest homeschooling.’*
*No matter how much money they pay me, being in class with seven-year-olds is mentally exhausting…*
Holding her throbbing head, Haena toddled along.
And the moment she stepped out into the kindergarten playground—
“Eh?”
Haena spotted a familiar face.
“Baek Doyoon?”
*Why is he here?*
“Hmph.”
Baek Doyoon, who obviously knew who Haena was, just snorted and turned his head away.
At Doyoon’s cute display, Haena also snorted and quietly looked away.
*With that chubby little nose, snorting isn’t even annoying.*
“Gasp. I guess today we’re having a jegi-kicking contest with the Grass Blade class…!”
*Jegi… kicking?*
Haena only realized after hearing the children whispering beside her that there were numerous jegi (traditional Korean hacky sacks) lying on the ground.
*Wow. They still kick jegi. Do kids these days kick jegi well?*
“What’s jegi?”
“I’ve never seen one before!”
“Do you know how to kick that? Should I kick it like a soccer ball?”
*Hmm. I don’t think it’s a good idea to get my hopes up.*
Haena nodded quietly.
Of course, Haena knew how to kick jegi. When she was young, she used to have competitions with her dad, betting on who would buy the other a popsicle.
*Well, I suppose so. When would rich little kids ever have the chance to kick jegi? They were probably busy traveling abroad.*
But the true spirit of a Korean lies within ‘jegi’…
“So today we’re having a contest with that thing against the Grass Blade class?”
“What? Really?! We’re fighting with that thing?”
*Ooh. Now this is getting interesting.*
“Gasp. But Doyoon is in the Grass Blade class. And Doyoon is good at every sport.”
“Right. I heard Doyoon is good at soccer.”
“Doyoon is good at swimming too, and uh, basketball, and uh, and…”
The little girls in the Haenim class all started jumping around, listing how great Doyoon was at sports.
*From the sound of it, he’s not just some English kindergarten heartthrob but a talent the Jincheon National Athlete’s Village somehow missed.*
Anyway, as befitting a male lead, Doyoon seemed to have been popular since childhood, as all the little girls were only talking about him.
Not that it looked like anything more than fresh, cute puppy love to Haena’s eyes.
Just then.
“Hey! Hong Haena!”
Baek Doyoon, his cute poodle-like fluffy, wavy hair bouncing, approached Haena.
“Do you know how to kick jegi? You don’t, right? You don’t know how to do this kind of thing, do you?”
…*This kid. Why is he so popular?*
Haena neither denied nor confirmed it, simply staring blankly at Doyoon.
“Heung! I knew it. I knew you couldn’t do this. You don’t know how to kick jegi, do you? I’ll teach yo—”
“Oh my, Baek Doyoon.”
“?!”
“You’re a show-off, aren’t you?”
“!”
At Haena’s shocking statement, all the children covered their mouths with their little fern-frond hands.
To call Baek Doyoon, the most popular and coolest child at Heritage English Kindergarten, of all things, a ‘show-off’…!
Sure enough, Baek Doyoon’s face froze in utter shock.
“Let’s have a contest. Who can kick jegi more times.”
“What?!”
“And the loser has to grant the winner’s wish.”
“N-No! Why would I!”
Baek Doyoon naturally opposed this vehemently, but Haena, as if accustomed to this, simply shrugged her shoulders and…
“Scared?”
…uttered the forbidden word.
“!!!!!”
