Jaesung quickly accepted the fact that he had returned to being a 7th grader.
Since it hadn’t been long since immigrating to America, it was perfect to use the excuse of not being familiar with the new environment.
His parents hadn’t fully adapted to life in America yet either, so it was natural for young Jaesung to feel awkward.
“Hey! Yellow monkey. Do you even speak English?”
There was only one problem: attending school with American middle schoolers while having the mind of a 40-year-old startup CEO.
Since his father was a medical school professor, he had managed to enter a prestigious local middle school, but middle schoolers—whose brains hadn’t yet installed filters and were driven by overflowing growth hormones—wouldn’t leave the newly transferred Jaesung alone.
“This kid fainted after getting hit by a soccer ball a while ago.”
“Haha. He really is a monkey since he can’t understand words.”
The kids, who had already formed cliques, growled and picked fights with the newly transferred Asian Jaesung like chihuahuas asserting dominance and territory.
If it had been Jaesung from a few days ago, he wouldn’t have understood, ignored it, or been bullied, but now he decided to show the spicy taste of an adult who had graduated from college in America, obtained master’s and doctorate degrees, and even worked briefly at a company.
“What do you think about the fact that you guys have worse grades than me, who can’t even speak English properly?”
“What is this kid saying? Just a nerd who’s good at studying.”
“Yeah. You’re a nerd who’s only good at math and studying!”
It was hard to tell if it was praise or insult, but since kids originally become friends through fighting, he felt the need to sort out relationships for a smooth school life.
“Why do you think I’m a nerd?”
“Because you fainted after getting hit by a soccer ball.”
“At that time, it was a mis-kick from the high school soccer team.”
In fact, he didn’t remember who kicked the ball, but it wasn’t particularly important.
“You won’t understand with words. Follow me.”
Jaesung was tired of hanging out with little kids anyway, and he didn’t want a school life of being bullied, so he decided to imprint the spicy Korean flavor on them.
Unlike a few days ago, Jaesung spoke English fluently, but the kids, who hadn’t yet escaped elementary-level simplicity, didn’t sense anything strange and followed him to the gym.
“Lunch time is short, so let’s settle it simply with basketball.”
“Haha. An Asian challenging with basketball?”
“But this kid isn’t that short for an Asian?”
Jaesung, who was more brainy, wasn’t particularly athletic, but he had played basketball occasionally to move his body.
He liked basketball in middle and high school in Korea, and enjoyed it with university friends in America, so no matter the physical difference, he could easily handle middle schoolers with no thought.
“Oh~ The new transfer student is having a basketball match with Alex’s group.”
Alex was ambiguously acting like a delinquent in the new middle school, but perhaps because it was a prestigious school, he only teased verbally and didn’t go as far as hitting or severe bullying.
There were kids who badmouthed Alex and his clique for attention-seeking behavior, but also kids who admired them for their relatively large builds and good athleticism.
The rumor that such an Alex was playing basketball against the newly transferred Asian spread quickly, and interested kids came to watch.
“1-on-1, first to 5 points wins.”
“Good. You challenged first. Don’t cry after losing.”
Alex, who had a slight attention-seeking streak, didn’t yield the opportunity to personally crush the nose of Jaesung, who transferred from some unknown country called Korea, to his clique.
“Do you even know the basketball rules? A guy who can’t even dribble properly dared to challenge me.”
“You better not cry after losing to me, who’s bad at basketball.”
He thought he could easily handle a middle schooler, but he forgot that he himself had become one too.
His hands were much smaller than expected, his strength weak, and the feel of the ball was awkward.
Thump!
He bounced the ball on the floor to regain the feel, tried dribbling a few times, and shot at the right timing.
“Ah!”
Unfortunately, the ball hit the rim and bounced out, and it became Alex’s turn to attack.
“I’m not on the basketball team, but I can easily beat someone like you.”
Alex dribbled confidently and pushed Jaesung with his shoulder.
Though same-age middle schoolers, the build difference was significant, so Jaesung fell backward, and Alex easily broke through and scored first with a layup.
“Waa~~!”
As the watching kids cheered, Alex got excited and pumped up, while Jaesung, getting up from the floor, touched the ball and adapted to his changed body.
Confirming his arm strength was weaker than thought, Jaesung dribbled close to the basket, faked a breakthrough to the right, and shot straight.
Swish!
“Ooh~~!”
“Hmph! Lucky.”
It was awkward at first, but he quickly regained the feel, stole the ball from Alex whose moves were obvious, and reversed the score.
“Wow! The Asian transfer student stole the ball from Alex.”
“At first his dribbling was awkward, but now he’s breaking through well and good at layups too?”
In American middle schools, being good at sports was far more advantageous for becoming popular than being good at studies.
As Jaesung, who seemed like a bookworm, toyed with the bigger Alex using flashy individual skills and scored, hearts gradually appeared in the girls’ eyes.
“What’s the transfer student’s name?”
“I heard it’s James.”
“He looks different from other Asians. Not bad.”
There were Chinese and Japanese students at school, but their faces were quite different from Jaesung’s, who inherited excellent genes from his parents.
“Damn! You cheated by pretending to be bad at first!”
“It was awkward because it’s been a while since I held a ball.”
By then, the score was 4-2, and just one more point would end in Jaesung’s victory.
Feeling the crisis, Alex ran to trip dribbling Jaesung and pushed with both arms.
Thud!
Seeing clearly what would happen to his face, he rotated left and elegantly dodged Alex.
With a graceful turn, falling Alex, and a clean follow-up shot, the match ended in Jaesung’s victory.
“Waa~~!! Awesome!”
The kids cheered at the picture-perfect final scene.
Jaesung, victorious, extended a hand to the fallen Alex and said.
“You’re pretty good too. How about it? This means I’m not a nerd, right?”
Alex’s face turned red with anger from being humiliated in front of the kids, but he had to hold back since the PE teacher was watching.
He shook off Jaesung’s hand, stood up alone, and said childishly but trying to look cool.
“Yeah. You’re not bad.”
“Today was fun. Let’s get along from now on.”
Jaesung placed a hand on sulking Alex’s shoulder and spoke friendly.
Still young and simple, Alex quickly felt better when the Jaesung who beat him approached friendly.
“Let’s exercise together sometimes. Teach me football next time. I don’t know much about American football.”
“Sure. I’ll definitely teach you football. James is my friend, so don’t bully him anymore.”
With the basketball match against Alex, Jaesung instantly rose in status to a mysterious transfer student from the East.
Unlike before, when he was quiet during class not knowing English, he showed outstanding performance, gaining recognition from teachers and friends, quickly becoming popular from a shy transfer student.
With no one teasing or picking fights anymore, he could comfortably enjoy school life, and once school was sorted, he proceeded with other matters in earnest.
“Jaesung, are you adapting well to school?”
“The kids are nice, so it’s okay.”
“Is class not difficult? Isn’t English hard?”
Originally, he should have struggled following classes due to poor English, but having gone up to PhD in America, he mastered the middle school curriculum after reading the textbooks once.
“It was hard at first, but now I’ve adapted and understand well. The teacher said to have Mom come to school once.”
“Why is the teacher calling Mom?”
“I don’t know? I didn’t cause any particular trouble, maybe just parent consultation.”
A few days later, Mom came to school fully dressed up.
“Wow! James, your mom is killer!”
“Hey! What did you say? Want to die?”
“No. I mean she’s beautiful. First time seeing such a pretty Asian.”
Alex admired seeing Mom, and Jaesung hit the back of his head.
“Don’t talk nonsense. Mom said to come to our house because she’s making delicious food.”
“Really? I definitely want to go! I want to go.”
While the kids said they wanted to visit Jaesung’s house, Mom was meeting with the homeroom teacher.
“You’re James’s mother? James is handsome, he takes after you.”
“Hehe. Thank you. But why did you call me?”
Mom could handle basic English conversation, though not fluently.
“James is adapting well to the new school, so no need to worry.”
The teacher said that although kids initially bullied the transferred Jaesung, he gained recognition through the basketball match and was getting along well.
“At first he struggled with English, but his skills improved in no time. And you said his father is a professor at the University of Washington School of Medicine?”
“Yes. I came to Seattle following my husband.”
“Perhaps taking after his father, James is smart too. He mastered English quickly, and his class achievement is now top-tier.”
The teacher said Jaesung seemed like a genius, and Mom’s mouth corners gradually rose as she listened with an initially serious face.
“For now, he’ll follow the regular course, but once adapted, I’d like to recommend the gifted class. It’s the first time I’ve seen such a bright student like James.”
Mom, hearing only good things from the homeroom teacher, hugged Jaesung when he returned from school and stroked his hair.
“I’m proud of my son for adapting well to American school. Is there anything you want?”
“I want a computer. CPU 486DX2-66, 16MB memory, about 420MB hard drive would be good.”
Computer prices in 1994 easily exceeded $2000, so it was burdensome to just ask to buy one, but Mom, who heard praise for her son at school, bought one with even better specs.
With the basic tool prepared, Jaesung completed the setup to properly code.
“Oppa! Someone moved next door, let’s go see!”
“I’m busy.”
His sister Jaeeun nagged Jaesung, who was engrossed playing with the new computer, to go see the neighbors.
His sister was naturally outgoing and sociable, perfectly adapting to school despite poor English.
“If you don’t play with me, I’ll tell Mom!”
Knowing it would be tiring if his sister threw a tantrum, he reluctantly got up.
“Mom, going to greet the new neighbors next door.”
Walking to the next house with his sister, a white couple was unloading moving items from a U-Haul truck.
“Hello. I’m Jenny from next door.”
His lively and cute sister greeted first, and the moving couple happily responded.
“We got cute neighbors. Be friends with our son.”
The couple had two sons who looked about 4 and 2 years old.
I’ve seen them somewhere before?
Jaesung, finding the familiar couple recognizable, introduced himself, and the man put down the luggage, extended his hand, and replied.
“I’m Jefferson Bezos. Let’s get along well from now on.”