# Chapter 25
‘I thought it might be an upscale neighborhood based on the address, but…’
Yeomin barely managed to close his gaping mouth in front of his tutoring student’s house.
After walking uphill for quite some time from the neighborhood entrance, sweating profusely, he now stood before a massive mansion’s entrance, feeling completely deflated.
“Are rich people really this common in the world?”
Having Seol Jiho in his life was already enough to give him an inferiority complex.
‘Joo Yeomin. Don’t lose points by looking clueless in your first session.’
Yeomin pressed the intercom next to the heavy door.
“Hello. I’m here today—”
— You must be the tutor? Please come in.
Before he could even introduce himself over the intercom, the door opened with a clank.
“Don’t mess this up, high-paying tutoring job. High-paying tutoring job. Two months of tutoring equals my tuition fees…”
After taking a deep breath, Yeomin stepped into the large mansion.
As soon as he entered, someone greeted him at the entrance.
“I am Butler Hwang. You’re here to tutor the young master Jiwoong, I mean, Student Jiwoong, correct?”
“Yes. I look forward to working with you.”
“The lessons will be conducted on the second floor. If you need any textbooks or learning materials, please feel free to ask me.”
Butler? The only butler I know is Black Butler. Here they have Butler Hwang. I’m learning about so many occupations.
Yeomin followed Butler Hwang, who led the way.
The first floor of the mansion was filled with antique furniture and large sofas, and it was so spacious that they had to pass through several doors.
Yeomin climbed the stairs. There was another living room on the second floor. Of course, this one was not small either.
A male student was sitting in the living room. Probably the student he would be teaching.
“Hello?”
Though he greeted him with casual speech to establish dominance, Yeomin felt cold sweat running down his back.
Maybe I should have been more formal. Rich people usually get called hyung or noona regardless, right?
“I’ll be downstairs if you need anything, just call me anytime.”
As Butler Hwang withdrew, Yeomin sat across from the student.
“Looking forward to working with you…sir.”
Yeomin trailed off, mixing in formal speech. The student he would be teaching had quite an alert, bright appearance. He looked like someone who would be good at studying, which made Yeomin even more nervous.
“You can speak comfortably to me.”
“Should I?”
“Yes. I prefer that.”
“Alright then. I’m Joo Yeomin. You can call me Teacher Yeomin, or just comfortably call me Yeomin hyung.”
“Hmm, I’ll think about it.”
“Okay. I’m currently a college student, and my school is—”
“Shall we start the lesson? You’ll be giving me a level test, right?”
“Huh? Uh… should we start with some problems?”
The kid somehow seemed mature beyond his years, strangely polite yet subtly arrogant.
‘Still, for a kid from such a wealthy family, he seems decent?’
At least he didn’t seem like a total delinquent like Seol Jiho.
Yeomin felt relieved inside as he opened the practice problems he had prepared.
“Skip anything you don’t know. I’ll time you starting now.”
Yeomin placed the test paper in front of Jiwoong and pressed the stopwatch button.
Jiwoong began solving the problems from number one as if he were familiar with the process.
Yeomin observed Jiwoong calmly solving the problems. Although the initial problems were easy, the way he quickly selected answers suggested he had solid fundamentals.
“Would you like to write out your solutions?”
“I did them in my head, so…”
“You did this mentally?”
Jiwoong was solving even the difficult problems in one go without any written work, to the point where Yeomin wondered if he had seen the answers beforehand.
Contrary to his earlier relief, Yeomin began to feel anxious.
‘This kid… seems beyond my level.’
“I’m done, teacher.”
Jiwoong put down his pen after only 20 minutes.
Yeomin anxiously scanned through the answer sheet. As he graded each problem, all he saw were correct answers.
Jiwoong, clearly expecting a perfect score, showed no interest in the grading process. He was just fiddling with a figurine placed beside him.
After finishing the grading, Yeomin asked:
“Why… are you getting tutored?”
“I have free time during the break, and my family wanted me to do something.”
Just as I thought.
“I hate golf because it makes me tan, and I hate violin because it hurts my hands, so I just said I wanted math tutoring.”
“What’s your math grade, by the way?”
“I think I got a 98 on the last mock test. I was sleepy at the beginning and solved some problems carelessly.”
“I see…”
They just said he was a second-year high school student, not that he was THIS good! Yeomin felt somehow embarrassed.
“…I’ll need to change the workbook.”
“We’re just killing time anyway. I don’t care what we study.”
Of course, that would make things easier for me, but my conscience won’t let me do that.
“I’ll find materials more suited to your level.”
“Whatever works for you, teacher.”
This kid is really nonchalant.
Yeomin had planned to spend an hour on the level test today, but there was plenty of time left.
‘What should I do now?’
Yeomin’s pupils darted nervously.
“Since it’s our first lesson, why don’t we just chat comfortably?”
“About what?”
…Yeah. What should we talk about? In truth, Yeomin wasn’t particularly skilled at conversation.
“Jiwoong, do you have any questions about college life… career concerns, or anything you’re curious about regarding your teacher?”
Jiwoong put down the figurine he had been fiddling with. After pondering for a moment,
“No.”
I see. He has nothing he’s curious about. That’s cool. Actually, even if you were curious, I probably couldn’t have answered anyway.
If he says he has no questions, there’s nothing to be done. Yeomin decided to make small talk to pass the time.
“Are your parents at work?”
“They don’t actually live in this house. My mom goes back and forth to the family home, but she went to Shanghai last week…”
I… see. Shanghai? I only know about McDonald’s Shanghai Spicy Burger.
“So the butler takes care of your meals and helps with your studies?”
“Something like that.”
“By the way, which school did you say you attend?”
“Hanse High School.”
It was famous for being one of the most prestigious schools.
Even when he received the tutoring offer, he had already heard which school it was, but he thought it must be a different school with the same name…
Now Yeomin began to wonder why a child with both “wealth” and “ability” would get tutoring from an amateur like him.
‘With this level, he could easily hire a professional tutor.’
But if he said that, the kid might say “You’re right” and fire him after just one day, so he held his tongue.
Yeomin changed the subject.
“What’s your family situation like? Sorry. Your teacher doesn’t know much about you yet. Don’t answer if this question makes you uncomfortable.”
“Family? I have one bastard brother.”
Not just ‘brother’ but ‘bastard brother.’ While he seemed mature, in this aspect he was very much like today’s kids.
“How far apart are you in age?”
“Probably similar to you, teacher, or a little younger.”
“I see. Is your brother also a college student?”
“I don’t really want to talk about my brother… Oh, speak of the devil. Here he comes. How annoying.”
Jiwoong grimaced, pointing his chin toward the stairs.
Yeomin’s head naturally turned in that direction.
“…”
Why? Yeomin’s thoughts froze.
Why did Jiwoong’s suddenly appearing brother have Jiho’s all-too-familiar face?
The two of them squabbled like real brothers.
“My little brother studying hard?”
“Get lost if you know that.”
“It looks like you’re already done, though.”
Between the two bantering back and forth, Yeomin looked at Jiwoong and Jiho’s faces alternately.
‘They don’t look alike. But they do…’
Their features were strangely similar despite appearing different at first glance.
“I heard my brother started tutoring, so I came to show my support as a big brother.”
“…bullshit.”
Jiwoong muttered quietly, just loud enough for Yeomin to hear.
Yeomin, who had been buffering for a moment, finally came to his senses.
Though they gave off different vibes, now that he looked at them, they did seem similar. The long eyes, the slightly upturned corners of their mouths.
Yeomin asked in a bewildered voice:
“Your… name is Seol Jiwoong?”
“Yes. Not a common surname, right?”
Damn it. Yeomin sighed. Why didn’t I think to ask about his surname?
Now that he understood the situation, Yeomin’s blood pressure skyrocketed. He interrogated Jiho.
“Seol Jiho, did you know? That I was tutoring your brother?”
“Not at all. I just found out now.”
“Liar…”
Jiwoong muttered quietly. Of course, Yeomin couldn’t believe Jiho’s words either.
Yeomin pressed his fingers against his temples.
He had clearly been recommended for this tutoring job by a senior in his department.
But how is it that the tutoring student is Seol Jiho’s brother!
Yeomin glared at Jiho. Seeming to feel guilty, Jiho diverted the topic with “I drove too much today…” and collapsed onto the sofa.
“I’ll go to the bathroom, teacher.”
As Jiwoong tactfully left, only Jiho and Yeomin remained in the living room.
Yeomin pressed his lips tighter. In the cold silence, Jiho whined, dropping the corners of his mouth.
“Why are you looking at me so scary?”
“I’m figuring out how far you’ve deceived me.”
“Why do you say it so sadly?”
“You clearly asked me all sorts of detailed questions when I told you I was doing a tutoring part-time job, pretending not to know.”
“Did I do that? I don’t remember well.”
“Answer properly.”
Yeomin became serious. Jiho reluctantly explained.
“Seol Jiwoong happened to want a tutor, so I recommended you. You need money, right, hyung?”
I do need money. Money is always necessary, but does it have to be this way? Making me feel so gross?
If Jiho had directly introduced him to the tutoring position, he wouldn’t have felt this way.
“Why did you have to recommend this tutoring job through another senior? You could have just directly asked me to take on your brother.”
“If I did that, you would have kicked me out of your place. Telling me to go home. Or you would have refused to tutor my brother.”
Unbelievable. Playing the victim? Are you afraid of rejection? You who stab me in the back like it’s nothing?
Yeomin gave a hollow laugh.
“Why would I reject such a sweet part-time job? If I had known he was your brother, I would have asked for a higher hourly rate.”
“Hahaha. That’s so like you, hyung.”
Jiho burst out laughing. After laughing for a while holding his stomach, he propped himself up on his arm and lay on his side.
Jiho’s fine hair was gently disheveled. Yeomin thought that Jiho’s good looks were probably to cover up his rotten insides. Like a survival strategy. Similar to how poisonous mushrooms are pretty.
“I like it most when you calculate money like that.”
“Crossing the—”
“Are you going to tell me not to cross the line again?”
This guy is even cutting off my words now. Just as he was about to give him a piece of his mind, Jiwoong returned, so he stopped.
Yeomin decided to subtly ask Jiwoong later.
Is your brother always this manipulative, hot and cold, and an absolutely maddening lunatic?
