Chapter 4
Mom asked me, looking flustered.
What should I say here?
I hesitated for a moment.
I didn't really intend to hide the fact that I had reincarnated. I didn't think I could keep it hidden for my whole life anyway.
And I didn't want to keep such an important fact a secret from my beloved family for the rest of my life.
Besides, my finger muscles still weren't fully developed, so typing on my own with this body was out of the question.
For writing the paper, I absolutely needed Mom's help, since she had experience.
'I want to proudly tell them about my reincarnation someday...'
The problem was elsewhere.
'...What if they hate me after I tell them?'
I clenched my hands tightly.
If Mom found out that I had Professor Shin I-joon's memories, what kind of expression would she make?
Would she be scared? Feel betrayed? Hate me? She wouldn't kick me out of the house, would she?
Just imagining it made me feel awful.
'Hold off for now. It's not time yet.'
In the end, I chose passive avoidance.
I decided on a halfway stance—I'd keep my talent hidden, but avoid giving any definitive answers.
"Um... I saw it in a book."
"What book?"
"...The one in the study."
For the first time in my second life, I had lied.
The feeling of that first lie was as bitter as powdered medicine and as sharp as an injection.
Mom looked at me for a while, then slowly set the book down.
"I wasn't trying to scold you, A-yeon. I'm sorry for scaring you."
Then she hugged me and patted my back.
"Uh...?"
Sniffle-.
My eyes were damp.
Apparently I had been crying without even realizing it.
"Mm..."
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That night.
Han Seol-ae and Yoo Jin-hu held a family meeting while their two daughters slept soundly.
"Honey. Like you said, I think A-yeon really is a genius."
"Really?"
"She can do the four basic operations, and solve equations too. Fractions, negatives, exponents. Even differentiation and integration. She gets all of it right."
"...You're not joking, are you?"
"I'm not joking. She said she learned by sneaking into the study and reading books."
"Holy crap, does that even make sense?"
"I looked it up, and it's not completely impossible. Mozart also played the harpsichord at age three, and Gauss supposedly pointed out his father's calculation mistake at three too."
Silence fell.
Jin-hu slowly opened his mouth.
"Then that means A-yeon is on the same level as those geniuses... We really ought to have her take an IQ test, don't you think?"
"...I suppose we should?"
The two looked at each other and nodded.
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A few days later, on the weekend.
Mom lifted me into her arms and said,
"A-yeon, want to go out with Mom today?"
"Where to?"
"For an assessment. We're going to find out, together with a teacher, how smart you are."
"Yeah! Okay!"
'So I'm getting an IQ test.'
I'd somewhat expected it.
After showing that much potential, there was no way my parents wouldn't want to have me tested.
What worried me was that if I had my intelligence tested by an official institution, my IQ score would be left on record.
I briefly considered holding back and doing a sloppy job to avoid the risk of leaving a permanent record, but...
In the end, I decided to do my best and take the test properly.
Anyway, it was only a matter of time before Yoo A-yeon's existence became known to the public.
Besides, I might even get praised by Mom and Dad for being smart. Hehe.
Dad was taking care of A-rin and keeping watch over the house.
"Have a good trip."
"I'll be back."
"I'm off-."
I was strapped into the car seat.
Being seated in the baby car seat and buckled in with a safety belt was still something I hadn't gotten used to; it felt stifling.
The place we arrived at was a psychological counseling center in the building next to the pediatrics clinic.
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Park Ji-su, a clinical psychologist working at the counseling center, took the intake papers.
She checked the name and date of birth, then checked them again.
'Name: Yoo A-yeon. Age... 26 months old?'
She came out to the waiting room holding the forms.
There was no child where one was supposed to be, beside the guardian.
No, when she shifted her gaze, the child was in the guardian's arms.
'She's really two years old.'
Park Ji-su let out a tiny sigh inwardly.
It happened once or twice every half year.
Parents who came in for toddler IQ tests because they thought their child was exceptional.
Even when they were told the test was for children 30 months and up, there were always some who brought in younger kids anyway.
'Another one of those "my kid is a genius" parents, huh.'
That was her conclusion.
The result was obvious anyway.
A real two-year-old can't even understand language itself.
If they can't grasp the meaning of the questions, the test can't be conducted.
On top of that, nine times out of ten they'd have a separation-anxiety meltdown the moment they were taken out of their mother's arms, bawling and throwing a tantrum.
Still, if the parents wanted to do it, there was nothing to do but try.
Park Ji-su approached Han Seol-ae with a smile.
"Hello. You're Yoo A-yeon's guardian, right?"
"Yes, hello."
"If you'll wait just a moment—"
At that moment, her eyes met Yoo A-yeon, who was in Han Seol-ae's arms.
Park Ji-su stopped speaking.
'...Oh my.'
Her eyes were bright and adorable.
Her features were distinct, and her skin looked white and soft like white jade.
Her eyelashes were long, and the contours of her nose and mouth were clear.
She had the kind of charm that purified your heart just from a glance.
I thought this child would probably grow up to make a lot of men cry.
'How can a child be this pretty?'
She almost lost her professional composure for a moment, but collected herself and picked up the forms again.
"We're going to do a Wechsler preschool intelligence test today. Since your child is still 26 months old, she hasn't quite reached the official testing age yet. We can still proceed, but at this age the test itself may be difficult."
"Yes, please go ahead anyway."
"She's still at an age where language comprehension is developing, so she may not understand the items. Depending on the child, separation anxiety can also make it difficult just to enter the testing room."
"We'll try."
Han Seol-ae's expression didn't waver.
Park Ji-su thought to herself.
'Well, it's probably not going to work anyway, but let's give it a try.'
She opened the door to the testing room.
"Yoo A-yeon, you can come in now."
Han Seol-ae set Yoo A-yeon down onto the floor.
Yoo A-yeon gave Park Ji-su a polite little bow.
"...H-hello-."
"Yes~"
Park Ji-su smiled with satisfaction.
'My, how cute. She's been well brought up.'
At this point, she was still in the purely cute stage.
The child seated in the testing-room chair placed both hands neatly on her knees and looked at Park Ji-su.
Far from showing separation anxiety, she didn't even glance toward the door where her mother was.
That was also a rather rare case.
'So you're ready, huh.'
Park Ji-su took out the first test item.
Block design.
It's the section where you recreate the pattern shown on the card with blocks.
"Can you make it exactly like this shape?"
"Yes-."
Yoo A-yeon picked up the blocks without hesitation.
Click, click-.
In less than a few seconds, she got them all right.
'Oh, not bad.'
Park Ji-su kept smiling as she pulled out the next card. The difficulty gradually increased.
Click, click, click-.
She got them all right.
'...Huh?'
Next.
Click, click, click, click-.
Next.
Click, click, click, click, click-.
Park Ji-su couldn't record the answers on the test sheet fast enough to keep up with A-yeon's speed.
The next item was arranging picture cards in order.
"Look at these pictures, and put them in order..."
Before she even finished speaking, Yoo A-yeon swept her eyes over the cards.
She really did nothing but glance at them.
Then, without hesitation, she reached out and arranged them in an instant.
"All done now-."
Park Ji-su was flustered.
'W-wait a second.'
And the next one too.
And the one after that too.
Yoo A-yeon glanced once and arranged them in one shot.
Number memory test.
"3, 7."
"3, 7."
"5, 2, 8."
"5, 2, 8."
"7, 3, 2, 5, 8."
"7, 3, 2, 5, 8."
"4, 1, 8, 7, 0, 9, 3, 2, 6, 5."
"...4, 1, 8, 7, 0, 9, 3, 2, 6, 5."
Seeing A-yeon memorize a ten-digit sequence all at once, Park Ji-su admitted defeat inwardly.
'She's only two, and she can do this?'
She looked down at the answer sheet.
Up to now, there wasn't a single wrong answer.
'I've never seen anything like this in my 15 years as a clinical psychologist...'
Park Ji-su felt a complicated mix of emotions toward Yoo A-yeon.
Cute, but scary.
Scary, but cute.
'Who... what is this child?'
The test was over.
Park Ji-su organized the record sheets with a strange expression and left the testing room with Yoo A-yeon.
Then she approached Han Seol-ae, who was waiting outside, and said,
"Ma'am, the results will be out in two weeks. Could you come back then?"
"Yes, of course. Is there anything you can tell me now..."
"What I can say for sure is... that she's an extraordinary child. I'll explain the details properly in two weeks."
"Ah, yes. Understood."
Han Seol-ae wore a complicated expression.
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'It feels like I'm even smarter than I was in my previous life...?'
Until now I hadn't known because I never had a chance to test my intelligence, but after the assessment I could judge objectively.
Setting aside problems solved by knowledge, tasks that required actually using my brain—spatial perception, short-term memory, processing speed, and so on—felt easy.
Maybe even if I took an adult test instead of an infant one, I'd score higher than in my previous life... ?
It got to the point where I was thinking that.
'Why did my brain get better? Is it thanks to Mom and Dad's genes?'
Mom had been a genius I'd noticed since her days as a graduate student.
Even Dad had graduated from the same science high school as me, so he was definitely elite too.
If my brain was thanks to DNA I got from those two elites, that would be perfectly understandable.
Two weeks later.
The intelligence test results were in.
The result was a perfect 160. Of course it was.
"Hmph."
I knew it was only natural, but actually seeing that my IQ was 160 felt good.
Who am I?
A genius with an IQ of 160!
My IQ is 160~ My IQ is 160~
In a world where the smarter you are, the higher your status, I'm the queen~
If I become Queen Yoo A-yeon, I'll gather subordinates with IQs of 150 and have them fan me while standing beside me! Hehe!
Meanwhile, Mom took the result sheet and said nothing for a while.
Ms. Park Ji-su continued her explanation.
"160 points is the theoretical maximum on the Wechsler intelligence test. It corresponds to 4 sigma. In percentage terms, you could say that's intelligence in the top 0.006%."
"..."
"Also, Yoo A-yeon still isn't even within the official age range for the WPPSI. At this age, this score is..."
The teacher chose her words carefully.
"Honestly, this is the first time I've seen it in my 15 years of experience."
Mom placed the result sheet on her lap.
She closed her eyes once and opened them again.
Then she looked at me.
"Our A-yeon. You must have been bored out of your mind all this time."
Stroke, stroke-.
Mom quietly stroked my hair.
"You know. Whether A-yeon is a genius or not, Mom just wants you to be happy."
I had thought she'd be happy if her child turned out to be a genius.
But Mom's reaction wasn't the one I'd expected.
But... this isn't bad either.
I quietly leaned my head into Mom's hand.