Chapter 74
“That’s because...”
Mom slowly, clearly said.
“Ayeon will be Mom’s advisor.”
“…Wh-what...!?”
Sproing-!
I was so startled that I sprang up from my seat like a cat that had just found a cucumber.
What did she just say?
Me, Mom’s advisor?
Question marks floated up in my head.
Mom looked at my flustered reaction and calmly continued her explanation.
“Listen, Ayeon. A university is a place with tons of people coming and going. I can’t leave our Ayeon there alone.”
“Mm-hm.”
“So Mom thought of a way to stay glued to Ayeon all the time.”
Mom smiled gently.
“Mom becomes a graduate student and pursues a doctorate under Ayeon. Then Mom can always stay by Ayeon’s side, right?”
“Oh! Mom’s a genius!”
Arin clapped from the side.
“Arin, do you even know what a grad student does?”
“Nuh-uh. Dunno.”
Arin seemed like she didn’t really understand what Mom meant.
But.
Maybe she understood only that she could go around with her big sister and Mom.
In any case, she nodded and nodded, with a look that said it must be a good thing.
“Oh, Seolae. That’s a really great idea.”
Dad was just a yes-man.
The kind of guy with a “good is good” mindset.
“Heeek... I’m fine, but... is Mom okay?”
I looked a little unconvinced.
Was Mom really going to take such a hard road just because of me?
‘Of course, I’m fully in favor of Mom returning to academia...’
I knew better than anyone how gifted Mom was at math.
I’d watched that delicate, sharp mind up close all this time.
The fact that Mom would do math again.
Was something I’d welcome with both hands raised high.
‘But...’
What mattered most here was Mom’s own will, more than anyone else’s.
A doctoral program wasn’t something ordinary, after all.
It meant wracking your brains day and night, groaning over research with no clear path ahead and endless dissertation work.
It was truly an arduous, grueling road.
Had Mom made this decision too hastily because of my selfishness?
I was a little worried.
Besides.
‘Me... a professor...? Mom... a grad student...?’
Up until now, we had been in a mother-daughter relationship.
But once we entered university, on top of that.
We’d also have the relationship of advisor and graduate student.
Then what the heck would our hierarchy even be!?
Mom’s above me at home, and I’m above her at school?
No, this isn’t some Möbius strip or anything; it’s way too complicated!
In my head, the hierarchy between Mom and me spun round and round, knotting itself up.
As I poured out my worries one by one, Mom spoke calmly.
“It’s okay, Ayeon. Mom likes math too, just like you do.”
There was no hesitation in Mom’s voice.
“I also liked Professor Shin I-jun’s research style in my previous life. I stepped away from academia for a while because of childcare, but I’ve always wanted to go back someday.”
“Well... that’s a relief, then.”
Hearing that from Mom, I finally felt a little at ease.
It wasn’t my greed pushing her.
It was Mom’s own long-held wish.
If that was the case, then I’d welcome it any day.
“And one more thing.”
Poke-poke.
Mom raised her index finger and poked my cheek over and over.
“Do you remember? When I put off going on to a doctorate. What Professor Shin I-jun said.”
“Huh? What did he say again?”
I tilted my head.
— If you ever want to study again later, come anytime. I’ll make sure there’s always a spot open for you, Miss Seolae. My lab door is always open. Even if it’s not my lab, if it’s within my reach, I’ll help you.
“Huh, Professor Shin I-jun said that? My memory’s all fuzzy... fuzzy as a mudfish.”
I pressed my temple hard, trying to remember.
I do have Professor Shin I-jun’s memories, but.
Some parts of those memories were lost.
So I didn’t really remember trivial conversations like this.
But if Mom remembers what happened that day, does it even matter?
Mom looked at me steadily.
“Of course the Professor Shin I-jun who said that is gone now... but Mom knows Ayeon’s abilities better than anyone. We worked together on the Riemann theorem paper, after all. So I want to research under Ayeon, who has a research style similar to Professor Shin I-jun’s.”
Mom smiled softly.
“That’s okay, right, Ayeon?”
“Uh, yeah... got it.”
I nodded.
If Mom went this far, then there was no question about it—I had to do it.
Pat-pat.
Mom gently stroked my head.
My daughter becoming a professor and Mom becoming a graduate student.
That was an outrageous event that would shock the world just as much as a preschooler becoming a college professor.
✒️✒️✒️
It seemed like one of the problems I’d been worrying about had been solved, so I could breathe a little easier for now.
But right then.
I ended up discovering a new problem.
For my safety, and for Mom’s academic success, Mom becoming my advisee.
Up to that point, okay.
“But then... what about Arin?”
Steadily—.
Mom and I both looked at Arin at the same time.
If Mom and I both ended up going to work at the university,
Arin would be left all alone in an empty house.
But sending her to kindergarten was still pretty off-putting.
Because she was a genius whose development was explosively fast compared to kids her age, she probably wouldn’t fit in easily with children her own age.
Then what do we do.
Should we take Arin to university with us too?
A four-year-old grad student, Yoo Arin... is that what we have to do?
Well, I am good at teaching Arin, though.
As everyone’s eyes landed on her, Arin lifted the teddy bear she’d been hugging tightly in her arms.
“I can just play with Popo!”
A reply that was innocence itself.
I slapped my forehead.
“Arin, that’s no good!”
No matter how much of an attachment plushie it was, it couldn’t replace a family’s embrace.
Leaving a four-year-old kid alone at home?
That’s clearly a crime!
If that were to happen.
Arin would grow up lonely in an empty house with no one around.
After tasting every kind of despair in the world, she’d eventually go down a crooked path.
Puffing on cloud candy.
Wearing a skin-tight biker suit and tearing down public roads at 220 km/h.
And, getting mad because she lost at chess, smashing her opponent’s head with the chessboard.
“Heeek...”
Just imagining it sent chills down my spine.
No way.
We can’t let our sweet, gentle Arin turn dark!
Just then.
Dad, who had been listening quietly with his chin in his hand, spoke up.
“What are you worrying about so much? It’s not even a hard problem.”
Oh?
Judging by Dad’s expression, it seemed like he had a good solution.
Mom looked at Dad and asked.
“Honey, do you have a good solution?”
“It’s simple. I can take care of Arin.”
“Huh? What about your company?”
“What’s so big about the company? I can just quit.”
Rumble-rumble-rumble—.
It was a simple solution, one nobody had thought of.
It had the exhilarating boldness of slicing clean through a tangled knot that seemed impossible to untie.
“Th-there’s a way like that...!”
My jaw dropped.
I hadn’t even put the option of Dad quitting his company into my head.
Dad pulled it out so casually.
Then Mom wore a slightly worried expression.
“Honey, then... what about the income.”
That was a natural concern.
Up until now, our family had been living on the salary Dad earned.
But Dad seemed to have already prepared even that answer.
“Ayeon has 1 million dollars in her bank account, right? Hand that over to Dad. I’ll manage Ayeon’s assets.”
“Ah...”
Only then did I catch Dad’s big picture.
Come to think of it, Dad had been interested in investing since his college days.
He was capable enough to whip up an automatic stock trading program on his own, and he still worked as a data analyst in the financial sector.
With Dad’s abilities, growing my assets steadily into the green should be no problem.
“In short, Dad is getting rehired as our daughter’s asset manager.”
Dad shrugged as if it were no big deal.
“And looking at the email from the university, it seems like if Ayeon becomes a professor, she’ll earn way more than Dad does, right? Ayeon’s salary alone should be enough to support our family. Dad’ll just quit the company and live off her paycheck while managing Ayeon’s assets.”
“Honey, is that okay? If you get paid by Ayeon, won’t your... pride and all that...”
Mom said in a worried voice.
She was worried that if Dad got hired by me, his dignity as the head of the household might shrink a little.
But Mom, the one who’s going to be my advisee, is saying that?
“Pride? What’s that? Dad’s duty is to make the family happy, not to show off his abilities. As long as Seolae, Ayeon, and Arin can be happy, Dad can do anything.”
“Wow, wow! Why are you saying something so cool!”
I’d only ever thought of Dad as a daughter-crazy fool, but he looked so cool like this... I had to reevaluate him.
“I don’t really know what you’re talking about... but Dad’s a genius too! I like being with Dad too!”
Arin was apparently so excited by the fact that she could stay with Dad that she raised both arms and shouted okay.
“Honestly, honey... if you had an idea like that, you should have told me sooner...”
“Sorry, sorry.”
Mom seemed to accept it right away too.
But why is our family so accepting?
Mom becoming my graduate student, too.
Dad quitting his company and becoming my asset manager, too.
These huge decisions were being made one after another in the living room on a weekend afternoon, all in a single day.
I was so overwhelmed by the shocking turn of events that my head spun~ and I got all woozy~.
“Oh my gosh...!”