Childhood Friend Who Sees the Future Utters Nonsense

185 – Side Story – Entrance Ceremony (2)

Finally, after a brief commotion, I was able to take Seol-ha and Seol-ah to the classroom.

It almost turned into a signing event, but fortunately, most of the people there were older than us, so they were considerate and worried about the space becoming too crowded, so that didn’t happen.

If it weren’t for that, I would still be stuck in the central hallway.

“Okay, Seol-ha and Seol-ah should find their seats and sit down like their friends.”

“Okay. Let’s go, Seol-ah.”

“huh!”

The twins checked their assigned seats in front of the blackboard, giggled for some reason, and then headed straight to their respective seats. But somehow, they were going in the same direction.

“Could it be that the two of you are sitting next to each other?”

“I guess so, that’s interesting.”

As it turned out, Seol-ha and Seol-ah were partners.

When I first heard that we would be in the same class, I thought it was really fortunate, but I never thought that we would end up becoming desk partners. Did the school take into account the fact that we were twins and do this on purpose?

Anyway, it’s really fortunate for parents.

Knock knock.

As I sat down, I waved back at the children who were waving their hands in my direction with excitement.

The front sliding door of the classroom opened with a sound, and a calm-looking woman wearing a khaki cardigan appeared from beyond it.

“I think you’re my homeroom teacher.”

“You look very impressive.”

“I know.”

Their age is probably similar to ours or a little older.

He has such a sad expression that it’s hard to imagine him ever getting angry. From the first impression, it felt like he was saying, “I’m an elementary school teacher,” and I felt reassured.

“Hello, everyone. I am Yeon Ji-ah, the homeroom teacher for class 3, grade 1 starting today. Please take care of me.”

“Wow!”

Even though it was only the first time meeting, cheers and applause erupted among the children as they saw their names written in chalk on the blackboard.

I expected him to be very shy, but he’s surprisingly shy. Maybe there are a lot of kids in this class who are particularly outgoing.

“Okay, today is the first day that my teacher and friends will meet, so let’s start by introducing ourselves. Who among you would like to go first? Raise your hand.”

“… … .”

Well, that’s not necessarily the case. The classroom becomes as quiet as a mouse with just one self-introduction.

The teacher looked around at the children with a smile, as if he was used to this kind of scene, as if he had expected it. He didn’t force them to do it, but it seemed like he believed that at least one child would volunteer to take the lead.

“Teacher, it’s me!”

“Oh…!”

In the midst of that heavy silence, someone raised their hand and stood up forcefully from their seat.

The parents cheered at the child’s brave actions that broke the silence, but Yuna and I were busy smiling bitterly.

“As expected, it’s snowing.”

“Because that’s just the way I am.”

That’s understandable, because the person who woke up was none other than Seol Ha.

Since kindergarten, teachers have always said that if the children are hesitant to speak up, they should just watch silently and let the first one to speak up speak.

Looking at his personality, he’s not the type of kid who likes to stand out, but I think he probably has an underlying mindset that it’s better for him to stand out than for the kids to get in trouble.

“Oh, there’s a brave friend. Okay, then let’s introduce ourselves. You can start by saying, ‘I’m from class 3, grade 1, so-and-so.’ It’s okay to just say your name and sit down, but if there’s something you like, it’s even better if you tell us.”

“yes!”

Seol-ha, who answered vigorously, turned around and opened her mouth, perhaps worried that the children would not be able to see her since she was at the very end. Hana, who always resembles her mother, is a big guy.

“I’m Park Seol-ha from class 3, grade 1. What I like are my family, cheese, and Maru. When I grow up, I want to be a great singer like my mom.”

Seol-ha stood up proudly and not only revealed her name, but also revealed her likes and future aspirations, causing the teacher in charge to widen her eyes.

It seems that he never expected that there would be a child who would introduce himself so actively from the first day.

“Wow, you did a great job. Can I ask you who Maru and Cheese are?”

“These are the cats and dogs that live in my house.”

A small commotion broke out among the children as they continued to talk, perhaps envious of the fact that the other two pets were living together.

“Cat! I like cats too.”

“I want a puppy too.”

“I envy Seol-ha.”

It seems like this has really cemented the children’s reputation.

By the way, I was a bit surprised to hear that your future dream is to be a singer.

“What do you think, honey? My son’s dream is to become a singer.”

“Nothing special, just do it if you want to.”

When he asked her how she felt while poking her waist with his elbow, Yuna answered coolly and pushed her hair back with her signature cool gesture.

But if you’re going to say something like that, shouldn’t you at least pretend to hide it? It’s all visible.

“You say that, but the corners of your mouth don’t even drop. Are you secretly in a good mood?”

“What, what are you talking about! Huh!”

As expected, the new wife was showing off her tsundere charm to her son today as well. No, is there a need to do that to her son? She really has an amazing personality.

“Sir, I’ll be next!”

While I was clicking my tongue, another courageous contestant appeared and raised his hand.

When I turned my head to the familiar voice, there was our daughter, Seol-ah, with a slightly anxious look in her eyes, unlike my confident older brother.

Wow, it’s not often that you see Seol-ah do something like this. Did you get courage from seeing Seol-ha do it?

“Oh, good. Then, should I have my partner stand up and introduce himself this time?”

“yes.”

Seol-ah, who carefully got up while dragging a chair, unlike Seol-ha, couldn’t look around and just kept her lips quivering with a stiff face. In fact, she seemed very nervous.

“Should I give them a word of encouragement?”

“Leave it, there’s Seol-ha next to you.”

Seeing that sad sight, I wanted to cheer her up as a father, but I couldn’t because Yuna hit her on the back, saying it was a joke.

Our daughter, fighting! Dad will cheer you on in his heart!

“I, I’m Park Seol-ah from class 3, grade 1. The things I like are dad, mom, cheese, and Maru…”

Seol-ah, who was reciting the things she liked following her brother, suddenly glanced to the side. It seemed as if she was checking someone’s reaction.

Somehow, I felt like I knew what was going to happen next, so I watched with pleasure and waited for my daughter to continue talking. I think Yuna might feel the same way as I do.

“… This is my brother.”

The lovely words that immediately came out of Seol-ah’s mouth brought a warm smile to everyone’s faces, including the parents and homeroom teacher.

Although it is unfortunate that we cannot see Seol-ha’s expression from this side,

“Hehehe.”

Somehow, I felt like I could tell without even looking.

Seol-ah finished her self-introduction like that, and with a red face, she sat back down as if she was running away, and glanced at Seol-ha.

Oh my, whose daughter is she? She’s so cute.

***

After finishing the self-introductions in the classroom, we moved to the gymnasium and the official entrance ceremony began.

As is usually the case with entrance ceremonies, there were brief ceremonies including a speech by the principal, and during that time, our children simply looked up at the podium with bright eyes.

“… This concludes the entrance ceremony for Myeongil Elementary School.”

As soon as the announcement signaling the end of the entrance ceremony was made, the children scattered in all directions, jumping for joy with a sense of liberation.

Since the real classes start on Monday after the weekend, I think I can just go home with the kids today and spend some quality time with them.

“Dad! Did you see us waving over there?”

“Well done, then.”

“Dad, I’m hungry!”

“My princess, are you hungry? Then shall we ask mommy to go eat something delicious?”

As I hugged the children who were running towards me and gave them a hug, smiles quickly appeared on both of their faces. They seemed to be quite happy that they were now elementary school students and not kindergarten students.

“You’re here? I can go.”

“It’s okay. I also wanted to say hello to Jiho’s mother whom I saw earlier.”

Soon after, Yuna, who had gone to get the flowers she had secretly put in the car trunk, returned and handed the bouquet to the children who were happily embracing her.

“And this is a gift for our son and daughter. Congratulations on their admission.”

“Thank you!”

“Hehehe, it’s a flower!”

He showed his gratitude by bowing to Seol-ha, and Seol-ah, who loves flowers, jumped up and down as she smelled the bouquet.

I guess I should take a picture like this. Since ancient times, it’s essential to take pictures with family members at entrance and graduation ceremonies.

“Excuse me, can you take a picture of us?”

“Oh, okay.”

“thank you.”

I walked straight over to another parent standing nearby, handed him the camera I had purchased for just such a day, and returned to my seat.

“Let’s all take a picture together. Just look over there and smile.”

“When did you buy the camera again?”

“A while ago. My father told me to take a lot of pictures of the kids before they all grow up.”

“Good. I was thinking about buying one too.”

At the end of the conversation, we each put one of our children in front of us and smiled at the camera.

I always feel this way, but my wife has done this kind of thing so much that her smile in front of the camera doesn’t look unnatural at all. On the other hand, whenever I smile, it always comes out as if I’m smirking.

“If I count to one, two, three, please make kimchi. One, two… . three!”

“Kimchi!”

“kimchi!”

Click!

The cool shutter sound did not stop after one click, and only after two or three more clicks did the man approach us and hand us his camera.

“The children are so cute that the pictures turned out well.”

“thank you.”

I received the camera along with some warm words of wisdom and checked the pictures that had just been taken.

What I saw there was a very happy sight of my family of four, laughing so brightly with the school in the background, and I couldn’t help but smile too.

I must cherish this photo for the rest of my life.

With that in mind, I put strength into the hand holding the camera.