Chapter 142
I slowly knocked out the things we needed to do before leaving the country, one by one.
Mom called the chess federation and told them that Arin would be entering the United States two weeks before the national team.
At first, the person in charge seemed a little hesitant, but they approved it without much trouble on the condition that she join the team no later than two days before the competition.
If anything, they seemed pleased that her family would be looking after the five-year-old player locally.
It seemed that Eun-chae unni had separately told the federation that she would take care of Arin after joining the team.
Nice one, Eun-chae unni!
We also crammed all our luggage into four suitcases.
Arin packed a travel chessboard, while I put in my lecture materials and a few overseas journals I hadn't finished reading.
Arin said she wanted to bring her stamp, too, but Mom confiscated it, put it in a drawer, and locked it with a click-.
I understood that she was attached to it since we'd only just had it made, but it would be a disaster if she lost it.
…Besides, she might stamp my face with it while I was sleeping with a bonk-.
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And then, the day we left the country.
We boarded a flight to New York at Incheon International Airport.
Our original destination was Philadelphia, but it turned out there were no direct flights from Incheon to Philadelphia.
So we decided to whoosh- straight to New York first, rent a car there, and drive down.
We had to go back up to New York for Arin's competition two weeks later anyway.
Dad figured it would actually be more convenient to rent a car for the entire month.
“All right, everyone sitting down?”
Dad asked as he checked our seat belts.
We sat together in the four middle seats, in order: me, Arin, Mom, and Dad.
“Yep!”
And a little while later.
“…Huh?”
Arin felt around beside the seatback.
“Unni, this won't recline.”
“What won't?”
“This! It reclined all the way last time!”
Arin said this while turning around and pushing hard against the seatback with both hands.
Click-.
The seatback tilted back slightly, then came to a dead stop shortly afterward.
“…It only goes back this much!”
I tried pressing down on my own seatback, too.
Click-.
It tilted back a little and stopped, just as expected.
“…Arin, the first-class seats we rode in last year were super fancy and incredibly comfortable, but regular airplane seats are supposed to be uncomfortable.”
“Aww… I wanna ride it again…! First class!”
Things had been a little different when we went to France last year.
The Clay Mathematics Institute had generously sprung for first-class tickets for all four members of our family.
The seats reclined all the way with the press of a button, so they were practically beds.
The blankets were thick, the pillows were soft, and the in-flight meals came as a multi-course meal.
It had been so nice that I could still remember it clearly.
“Last year, the Clay Mathematics Institute paid for it, but this time we're traveling on Unni's money, so it's different.”
First class is really, really expensive. Even I, with a million dollars in assets, would feel the strain.
We'll probably be traveling abroad often from now on, and if I flew first class every time, I might end up whimpering as my account melted away in an instant.
Besides, what matters is where you spend your money.
With that money, we could go to more than ten expensive and delicious restaurants in America!
Fourteen hours of lying down in comfort versus an entire month of having fun.
Isn't it obvious which one is worth more?
“You can't get used to only being comfortable. You need to experience being uncomfortable, too. We'll be traveling overseas often from now on.”
“If that's what you say, Unni, I guess it can't be helped…”
Arin reluctantly agreed, looking a little disappointed.
“If Arin wants to ride first class a lot, she should work harder at chess, too. You can earn a whole lot of money just by being good at chess.”
“Really? How much can you earn?”
“If Arin gets really, really good at chess, she could become much, much richer than all the money Dad, Mom, and Unni have combined.”
The money flowing into the sports market was on an entirely different order of magnitude from the money going into research.
“Ooh…! Then I'll work hard!”
Arin began stoking her chess ambitions, all for the sake of a more comfortable seat.
“Arin, if you want to lie down, lie on your side. I'll let you use my lap as a pillow.”
“Hehe, thanks, Mom!”
At least there was one fortunate thing: since all of us were small, lying on our sides was still manageable.
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— Ladies and gentlemen, we are beginning our descent into John F. Kennedy International Airport.
(Passengers, we will now begin our descent into John F. Kennedy International Airport.)
While we were off exploring dreamland with little snores, an announcement came over the intercom.
I rubbed my bleary eyes and looked out the window, where I saw buildings packed tightly together and rising high above a long island.
Seoul had plenty of skyscrapers, too, but New York felt different.
It was as if old buildings and new buildings had been jumbled together.
“Wooooow…”
Arin practically pressed her nose against the window as she marveled.
“Unni! Look at that! It's huuuge!”
“Yeah! It's enormous!”
Thud-.
A little while later, the airplane wheels touched down on the runway.
Immigration was over much faster than I expected.
When the officer asked about our purpose for visiting, I shouted, “Academic conference!”, showed him the paperwork, and got a stamp with a bonk- in just one second.
After collecting our luggage, we decided to go straight to the rental car center and rent a car.
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There was one employee sitting at the rental car counter.
He was a huge man with a beard, and when he saw us, he gave us a broad grin.
“How can I help you? (What can I help you with?)”
“Uh, um…”
Dad began speaking as he took out the reservation confirmation.
“I have a reservation…”
“Sure, let me check that. (Sure, I'll check.)”
“Yes. Thank you.”
When Dad worked for a company, he was familiar enough with English to occasionally read English materials and look at English code every day.
But reading and speaking were completely different matters.
Dad had the typical spoken-English skills of a Korean adult.
He could roughly understand things when reading, understood about half when listening, and found that his mouth wouldn't move when he tried to speak.
“Alright, I’ve got your reservation here. Full-size SUV, one month rental, right? (I've confirmed your reservation. A full-size SUV for a one-month rental, correct?)”
“Uh…”
Dad was at a loss for words.
He understood as far as “full-size SUV,” but the rest must have gone by too quickly for him to catch.
That was when Mom stepped forward.
“Yes, one month, returning at the same location.(Yes, one month, and we'll return it at the same location.)”
“Okay.”
The employee nodded and tapped away at the keyboard.
Mom was fairly good at English.
When she was doing her master's degree under Professor Shin Ijun, she read a ton of papers, exchanged emails with overseas researchers, and even gave presentations in English at international conferences.
You could say she was at the level where she could manage whatever exchanges were necessary without difficulty.
But the problem came next.
“Okay, so let me walk you through the coverage options. (Then let me walk you through the insurance options.)”
The employee suddenly began speaking like he was firing off a rapid-fire barrage of words.
“We’ve got the LDW, that’s the loss damage waiver, covers damage to the vehicle. Then there’s SLI, supplemental liability insurance, that bumps your third-party coverage up. We also offer personal accident coverage, roadside assistance package, and I’d definitely recommend the toll pass since you’re heading down to Pennsylvania. Oh, and do you want the prepaid fuel option? That way you don’t have to worry about filling up before you return it.
(There’s the LDW, the loss damage waiver, which covers damage to the vehicle. Then there’s SLI, supplemental liability insurance, which raises your third-party liability coverage limit. We also offer personal accident insurance and a roadside assistance package, and since you’re heading to Pennsylvania, I definitely recommend the toll pass. Oh, would you like the prepaid fuel option? That way you won’t have to worry about filling up before returning it.)”
Crack-crack-.
Mom's expression began to stiffen.
She probably hadn't expected a stream of difficult insurance terms to come pouring out.
Well, well, looks like there's no helping it.
It's time for Savior A-yeon Yoo to make her entrance!
I rose onto my tiptoes and peeked over the counter at the employee.
“Excuse me.”
“…Oh?”
The employee lowered his gaze and waved at me in a friendly greeting.
“Hey there, little one.(Hello, little miss.)”
“We’ll take the LDW, but we’ll pass on the supplemental liability. Our travel insurance already covers third-party liability up to a sufficient limit. (We’ll take the LDW, but we’ll pass on the supplemental liability. Our travel insurance already covers third-party liability up to a sufficient limit.)”
When I spoke without hesitation, the employee's eyes grew as round as saucers.
He clearly had never imagined that the seven-year-old tagging along on her parents' trip would speak more fluently than either of them.
But what a shame!
My parents came along to the conference I'm attending!
“We’ll skip the personal accident coverage for the same reason. We’ll take the toll pass, since we’ll be driving between Pennsylvania and New York multiple times. And no prepaid fuel. We’ll return it full. (We’ll skip the personal accident coverage for the same reason. We’ll take the toll pass since we’ll be driving back and forth between Pennsylvania and New York several times. And no prepaid fuel. We’ll return the car with a full tank.)”
Silence-.
The area in front of the counter fell quiet.
The employee looked down at me with his mouth half open.
“…Uh.”
“Oh, right! We’ll need two child seats. 40 inches each.(Oh, right! We’ll need two child seats, 40 inches each.)”
“…Are you the child?(…Are you the child in question?)”
“Nihihi, of course!”
The employee stared at me for a long while, then suddenly burst out laughing.
“Okay! That’s very nice request! (Okay! That’s a very nice request!)”
The employee began processing the rental with a beaming smile.
When I turned around, Dad, Mom, and Arin were all wearing amazed expressions.
“Heh-heh-.”
I grinned while still standing on my tiptoes.
It was no big deal.
Dad had organized all the details of our travel insurance and shown them to me before we left, and I'd skimmed through them once.
If I'd read something once, that was enough to memorize it!