Fingers repeatedly hit the back button in a hurried escape from the chaos of the monster gallery.
Forgetting the controversy-triggering testimony and the turmoil caused by my careless comments, I prepared for the rainfall as the eldest elementary school student.
The priority was clear: moving the washing machine, sensitive to water, off the balcony where it was most vulnerable.
I dragged over the ladder resting in the corner of the balcony, positioning it right beside the washing machine.
Unrolling the waterproof cover that had gathered dust in a rolled-up state, I slowly climbed the ladder to place it over the machine.
Since someone might see me from the balcony, I refrained from carelessly transforming into my magical form.
“Damn…”
As soon as I covered the washing machine with the waterproof cover, I was hit with the smell of nicotine and tar.
Unintentionally, I pinched my nose and cursed.
These days, I usually close the door and turn on the air conditioner to avoid that annoying smell, so it was rare for me to encounter it….
But every so often, when I had to come out, it wafted unpleasantly strong.
I almost wished for a swift end to this cancerous existence.
At that moment, a thick stream of water fell from the nearby open space of the balcony.
It flowed from the upper balcony and headed toward our home and the floor below.
A refreshing sound of splashing water echoed.
“Huh?”
What on earth is this flood pouring down on a clear day?
As I stared in confusion at the path the water had taken,
“Whoa, who the hell is that!”
An unknown voice of a somewhat older man echoed from the lower balcony.
“Go smoke outside!”
“Such a nuisance!”
The voices of the man from below and the people above followed.
As the saying goes, it’s true that a dog covered in poop scolds another dog also covered in poop.
In this case, the one covered in poop was scolding another, but….
Anyway, it was a clash between the intense noise-making upstairs neighbor and the balcony-smoking lunatic downstairs.
Watching this legendary confrontation that suffocated my chest, I couldn’t help but marvel.
“Wow…”
‘Is this the super monster battle?’
“Bastards! Which floor are you on? Don’t run away, stay right there!”
The angry stomps could be heard all the way to the upper balcony.
I couldn’t miss such entertaining spectacles during a dull day.
I quickly slipped on my slippers and prepared to head upstairs for a look.
However, from beyond the door I was about to open, there were pounding sounds as if someone was about to smash it down.
“Come out, you damn young punks! Hurry up!”
“Damn it, why is this happening here?”
The old man, who needed to go even higher up, was banging on our door.
Hey, it’s not here, it’s one floor up, you senile old man.
I wanted to curse him out, but being an 8-year-old elementary school student living in an apartment, I held back.
After securing the latch above the entrance with a stick, I cracked open the locked door just a little.
As soon as the door opened, it was pulled outward with a clunk.
“Open up or not?!”
“This isn’t the right place!”
He seemed ready to pull the door down with his strength.
I replied urgently to the old man visible through the gap, saying this was not his floor.
“Eh?”
The smoking old man blinked as he peered through the narrow space.
“Oh, sorry about that.”
After that chilling gaze swept by me, the crazed man suddenly regained his cool and stepped away from the door with a short apology.
‘You idiot.’
“…What happened?”
Once the gruff voice of the old man quieted down, Siyeon, who had been slightly intimidated in the room, cautiously asked.
No matter how confident a first grader is, anyone would respond that way when someone suddenly hollers in front of their house.
“Nothing much, just a crazy old man.”
Without informing Siyeon about the spat between the floors, I closed the door and tiptoed upstairs to witness the entertainment.
The old man, who had kicked open the upper door, didn’t lose his spirit, as the shouts began well before I reached the top of the stairs.
“I’m smoking in my house; if you don’t like it, you should move! Huh?!”
“Come on, we’re just watering our house; what’s wrong with that?”
“Who the hell do you think you’re talking to, you little brat?!”
“If you’re grown up, you should know you’re not superior just because of it!”
“What?!”
“Am I wrong? For real.”
It was an exciting argument that made me want to grab popcorn from somewhere and chew away.
“I have anger management issues, you know?! There could be trouble if you keep this up, lady! I don’t even know what I might do!”
The old man seemed ready to kick the door in, but when it came time to face someone, his fists seemed to hesitate.
You know, there’s that photo, right?
Two dogs barking fiercely at each other across a barred fence, but when the door opens, they suddenly become tame.
That’s exactly how it felt.
“What the hell are you doing making noise in front of someone else’s house?”
‘Huh?’
Suddenly, with the sound of the door opening, another voice overlapped with the commotion.
It was a young, hearty male voice, and I thought this would be an interesting third-party intervention.
However, right after hearing the neighbor’s voice from next door,
The once noisy smoking old man and the noisy lady from upstairs fell silent as if muted.
What the…? Did they get a gag shoved into their mouths?
“Both of you are not kids anymore; can’t you have a conversation without yelling?”
“No, this woman… she’s pouring water downstairs.”
“And didn’t you smoke on your balcony first? I was even considering going down to talk when I was working out with my door open a few times.”
Curious about who could manage to calm down the smoking old man with anger management issues, I climbed a few more steps to peek at the situation upstairs.
‘Oh snap.’
I gasped in admiration at the healthy physique I saw.
“In a shared building, you have to consider the people above you, and it’s not like there’s no designated smoking area; do you think it’s fine to disturb others just for your comfort?”
The man, presenting proper logic, was clearly pumped with muscles that could make even a tank top look tight.
Was he gearing up for a bodybuilding competition or something?
That’s how anger management problems could get managed.
“And, ma’am, you shouldn’t pour water down on the lower floor. What wrongs have others done to you?”
With neatly resolved issues that made me want to clap, once again I thought about how people should be strong first.
They say a healthy mind dwells in a healthy body.
In this case, isn’t it true that the saying “the bigger the violence, the bigger the response” fits?
After that day, the cigarette smell that had assaulted me every time I stepped onto the balcony nearly disappeared.
Maybe the smoker downstairs felt threatened for his life.
Or perhaps it was simply that the rainy season had come, and he didn’t want to go outside.
Even if the monsoon rains were pouring down, I still had to go to school.
Recently, I was gifted a 20,000-won magical girl character umbrella.
Siyeon spun it around like a top on the street.
“Yay!”
Drops of rain hitting the character umbrella splashed onto my clothes.
“Stop twirling the umbrella.”
Before she could soak the clothes of passing people, I made her cease her spinning.
Rubber boots or raincoats were luxuries.
Just wearing the sports shoes and clothes I already had wouldn’t last a year since I’m growing, and spending more money on specific clothes for certain weather is unnecessary.
Just having one character umbrella is sufficient; I’d understand if she wanted more…
But there’s no need to buy her something she doesn’t even want; it’ll just become another unused item.
Arriving at school safely, I changed into my indoor slippers after taking off my sneakers and settled into my seat.
The damp socks soaking through from beneath my slippers made them shake in midair under the desk.
The elementary school math problems that I had crossed into after summer vacation.
I had now moved on to understanding two-digit numbers.
For example, I have 10 bundles of fruit in 8 boxes, and… there are 2 pieces of 2-piece fruit.
Yes, problems like these.
“Damn, with the air conditioning costs nearing three hundred, and the computer costing almost two hundred…”
In a way, I was doing my math homework too.
The household accounts book I thought I’d never use in my life.
This could also be considered a form of math study, I guess?
… But not something an elementary student should worry about.
‘Is it getting a bit tight…?’
“Mari, what are you up to?”
As I was deeply focused on the household accounts, my name was called.
With strides that were longer than a kid’s, Teacher Seola walked swiftly from the podium to the back row.
After all, these were just simple elementary school kids with one book open.
Any child acting out would definitely catch attention, no matter how far back they sat.
On my desk, which was only enough for a pencil case and a thin math book, I had two books opened.
“Oh.”
“If you’re fooling around during class…”
The household account book was swiftly snatched away by the hand swifter than an adult’s eyes.
The numbers written there flowed in millions or tens of millions.
Right after that, I could feel Teacher Seola’s puzzled expression of ‘Why does he have this?’ looking at me.
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