My elementary school 5th grade homeroom teacher's name was Teacher Moon Su-yong..
He was one of the few teachers I really liked..
There was an essay writing contest at school..
It wasn't that we went as class representatives to write essays,
but rather all students wrote essays uniformly and submitted them,
and the teacher selected what he thought were excellent essays to submit,
and excellent essays from those would receive awards..
During the closing ceremony, the teacher assigned essay writing homework..
He said everyone had to submit exactly one essay by a certain day without fail..
Well, I didn't really like that sort of thing,
but what could I do, it was homework..
So I made up an essay and submitted it..
I don't remember the title well..
My maternal grandmother was the protagonist..
Originally she was from Gyeongsang Province,
but in the essay I set it up that she came down to the South during the Korean War..
and I also added a scene where every evening at sunset she would gaze endlessly toward the North with tears flowing..
And that's how I roughly wrote up an essay..
After a few days, the teacher called me over..
Looking at me with profound eyes,
'Is your maternal grandmother originally from North Korea..?'
Huh..? What do you mean..?
'No, sir.. she's from Gyeongsang Province..'
The teacher who had been looking at me with profound eyes suddenly opened them wide..
'But..in the essay you wrote, she's gazing toward the North and..tears..'
'Ah~' was what he said..
The reason I still remember Teacher Moon Su-yong as a really good teacher is
that he was genuinely innocent(?) ..should I say..? He was incredibly kind..
'Teacher.. isn't it essay writing? Es.. say.. wri.. ting.. making it up..
Our grandmother is from Gyeongsang Province, and you told me to make up an essay so I made it up..'
When a 5th grader talked back articulating that I had made it up,
how dumbfounded the innocent teacher must have been..
Laughing heartily,
he said 'Alright.. I understand..'
In the end.. my essay.. after all it's essay writing, so it's okay to make things up, right..?
It seems he submitted it..
I remember not getting the grand prize but getting an excellence award or something..
Actually, I could have gotten the grand prize,
but writing the essay got a bit tedious..
so I ended it with my grandmother gazing toward the North with tears flowing..
The original scenario was
that after my grandfather who was in North Korea remarried, he passed away not long after..
and when grandfather's son was very young, he came down as a fixed spy..
and got a job.. living like a South Korean person..
and it would turn out that person was actually Teacher Moon Su-yong.. that's how it went..
Before getting the grand prize,
I would have been called out and punished, right..?
