I Got an Omnipotent Brain

I remember the day I was born.

Was it a blessing from the heavens?

My brain was mature enough from the moment I was born to accept what I saw as reality, and I became aware of that fact at the threshold of the world.

A sudden burst of sharp light poured over my closed eyes.

Because I had been receiving nutrients and oxygen through the umbilical cord, the respiratory system, which I had never used before, didn’t work properly.

I couldn’t breathe. My chest felt tight.

Smack.

“Waaahhh!”

I tried to endure it, but the stinging pain I felt on my butt made it impossible not to cry. Thanks to that, the air, which I experienced for the first time with my crying, stickily wrapped around my throat and flowed into my lungs.

“Congratulations. A healthy baby!”

Someone, who was clearly the cause of my pain, smiled brightly and showed me to my mother. From her tearful gaze, I could deeply feel her love for me.

With trembling hands, my mom received me and held me in her arms.

My body reacted before my head.

The smell, and the touch.

I think I felt a sense of relief from that familiar scent and warmth.

Then my crying stopped.

“Oh my! Honey, look at this!”

At my mom’s excited voice, my dad showed a deeply moved expression.

“I know... It’s amazing. Could he really be recognizing his mom?”

That was the first day I was born into the world.

***

“Mommy! When’s daddy coming home?”

Right after my first birthday, I could speak in complete sentences.

“He’s done with work. He’ll be home soon.”

Sizzle-

Mom answered while stir-frying my favorite meat on the pan.

It was my favorite time of the day.

As the sun began to set, the reddish sunset crept in slowly over the edge of the yard through the cliff beyond the window. The vivid natural colors looked endlessly beautiful and mysterious to my young eyes, as if someone had poured paint all over the sky.

A quiet breeze slipped through the open window. The smell of stir-fried beef was drawn in and mixed with it.

I still miss those days so much it brings me to tears.

“Smell good.”

I waddled over with tiny steps and hugged Mom’s leg.

“Aww! Our little Seo-ha, are you hungry?”

Mom turned around and looked at me with a bright smile.

It was something I’d never told anyone, because it would obviously be dismissed as a lie, but to me, the memories from that time remain vividly like photographs.

***

When I turned two, I could read even though no one had taught me. It was thanks to the Korean alphabet study sheets and picture books Mom had stuck on the wall.

“Alright, let’s read ‘Puppy Ppoongppoongi’ today!”

Mom sat me on her lap and opened the book.

Dad leaned back on a pillow next to us, watching us fondly in a relaxed posture.

Mom’s finger slowly followed the letters.

”Ppoongppoongi farted with a toot again today.”

Mom’s gentle and affectionate voice.

My eyes were drawn to the words before the pictures.

Even before Mom could finish reading one sentence, I started reading the next.

”But it’s okay. Farting means our body is working hard.”

Mom’s eyes widened in surprise. Then, smiling with her eyes, she looked at me.

”Huh? Did I read it too many times? Have you already memorized it all?”

Instead of answering, I continued reading the next sentence.

“Though it smelled, the mommy dog hugged Ppoongppoongi tight. Ppoongppoongi loved being in his mom’s arms the most.”

Rustle.

Before I knew it, Dad quietly got up. He moved to the bookshelf and started looking for another book. Soon, having found something suitable, he brought it to me.

“Then... can you read this one too?”

It was a cover I had never seen before.

“Yeah!”

The monster smiling on the cover was scary, but I accepted the book and opened the cover to start reading.

“A long time ago, beyond a big mountain, there was a Korean goblin village.”

As I started reading clearly and distinctly, both Mom and Dad flinched as if startled.

“In that village lived a Korean goblin who peeked into people’s dreams, one person a day.”

The more I read, the more I could feel their faces turning serious.

“Oh my god. He’s really reading. Honey, our kid’s a genius, right? This is something amazing, isn’t it?”

Mom covered her mouth with her hand and looked back and forth between me and the book.

”How could a kid like this come from parents like us....”

Dad held me in his arms and remained silent for a long while.

At that moment, my chest felt tingly and I had a strange sensation. I didn’t know why my parents were so surprised, but I could feel that whenever I read a book, everyone became happy.

From the next day, new things began to appear on my room’s wall one by one.

At first, they were simple number charts and arithmetic exercises.

”One plus one is?”

”Two!”

The number games I played with Mom were fun.

Whenever I gave the answer, Mom would hug me tightly and bounce around as if she couldn’t contain her happiness.

Colorful drawings and papers with numbers were stuck on the wall, followed by the multiplication table chart, English alphabet, various constellations in the sky, and even a weekly calendar chart.

”Seo-ha, what day is it today?”

”Thursday!”

”Aww, well done, my baby!”

Every morning, Mom would point to the day chart on the wall and quiz me, and whenever I got it right, she would pat my bottom and praise me as if she were immensely proud.

I was so happy to be praised that I spent the whole day staring at the posters on the wall. But that joy was short-lived; soon, those things came to mean nothing more than boredom to me.

***

Munch munch.

In the late summer, the couple sat on the wooden porch eating watermelon to cool off.

Their son, Seo-ha, laughed brightly as he ran around the yard, then sat in one corner, carefully observing ants.

Chul-ho was worried that their son, who had once loved books so much, seemed lately to be interested only in other things.

”Honey, Seo-ha doesn’t seem to study much these days.”

At her husband’s words, Mi-young nodded indifferently.

”You’re probably right.”

They had thought he was a genius, but maybe it only looked that way because he was their own child? She regretted not spending much time with her son lately because of how busy things had been.

”Hmm. I wonder why.”

Looking at Chul-ho’s worried face, Mi-young gave a small laugh.

”It’s because he already knows it all. None of it is fun anymore, I bet.”

”What do you mean?”

”It’s been a while since I took down all the things on the wall. He’s already memorized all the picture books. When it comes to addition, subtraction, and division, he can calculate four-digit numbers using mental arithmetic.”

”Really?”

Four-digit mental arithmetic?

‘Even adults would find that difficult.’

”Yeah, but I’ve been debating whether it’s right to teach something like fractions to a kid who’s not even four yet. I was going to talk to you about it anyway.”

Their joy at confirming that their son really was a genius was short-lived. Soon, he too found himself grappling with the same concerns as Mi-young.

‘When do kids learn fractions again? Around fourth grade in elementary school? That’s over ten years old....’

”Still, I don’t think it’s good for him to have nothing to do and just play around. Let’s give him something to read, at least.”

At Chul-ho’s words, Mi-young nodded.

”I think the same. I don’t want to force him to do anything, but as parents, we shouldn’t stand in the way of a smart child. But honestly, I still think he’s fine just the way he is now.”

Seo-ha, who had been squatting for a long time, suddenly struck a comical pose like a lizard and carefully crawled toward the porch on all fours.

”What’s he doing now?”

”He said he’s worried he might step on the ants without seeing them. He always moves like that near the ant nest. He may be our son, but he’s a kind-hearted kid by nature.”

Seo-ha’s pure-hearted demeanor was so cute and lovable that Mi-young didn’t feel the need to bring any changes to their life. She believed that there was nothing wrong with a child playing like a child.

Snapping out of her thoughts, Mi-young looked at Seo-ha and gestured to him.

“Come here! Let’s eat watermelon!”

Seo-ha stood up with a big smile.

“Watermelon!”

He carefully stood up and ran toward her, and his appearance as he dashed her way was adorable.

From that day on, a luxurious Encyclopedia Collection found its place in Seo-ha’s room.

It was a masterpiece with over 200 years of history, personally selected by Chul-ho after consultations with multiple publishers. The science section, in particular, which featured direct contributions from world-renowned scholars such as Albert Einstein and Carl Sagan, was so professional that it stood apart from any other encyclopedia.

Though it was a large expense for their modest household, there was not a hint of regret on the couple’s faces. It was because Seo-ha had become completely absorbed in the newly acquired books instead of playing in the yard.

Even his ant observations became completely different from before.

“Mom, look at this! Ants walk in a line. They’re following something called pheromones.”

Mi-young blinked at the unfamiliar word that suddenly came out of Seo-ha’s mouth.

“You read that in the book too?”

“Yeah! I was curious how they could find their way home from far away, and now I understand.”

Mi-young gave a small smile at the way Seo-ha spoke, which didn’t match his age.

She had worried whether a thick encyclopedia would really appeal to a child, but it turned out to be a needless concern. Like a drought-stricken land soaking up rainwater, Seo-ha was absorbing knowledge.

At first, just like any child his age, he was obsessed with dinosaurs, but gradually his interests shifted to deeper subjects: the cause of the dinosaurs’ extinction, the conditions necessary for the survival of plants and animals, and even the Earth and the solar system.

The couple watched Seo-ha, who was engrossed in the books, with proud and content faces.