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Written by Song Myung-Kyun (Professor of Fashion Design at Dongduk Women’s University) (Image)

Translated by BTSARMY_Salon (Twitter)

Myung-Ja came over to my house in the countryside. It was when we were in the 1st grade of middle school. Myung-Ja was a petite and pretty middle schooler with a well-defined face and fair skin. I can’t remember what her motivation was but she memorized an elementary school text book in front of my older sister. After she left, I was scolded by my sister for a while that I didn’t study enough unlike Myung-Ja who studied so hard that she even memorized the whole book. Over a half century has passed yet Myung-Ja is recalled as the girl memorizing the book. She was a top student in high school as well and entered the college of Liberal Arts and Sciences at S University which was known for its very low acceptance rate.

T/N: S University – Seoul National University

After I got married, I and Myung-Ja happened to live at the same apartment complex. Myung-Ja was living with her son, daughter, husband and father-in-law. I remember that she always had a light tension in her face since she was living with the single father-in-law who seemed upright and strict. One day I visited her house, and her son who was a freshman in high school played a guitar for me. He was really into a guitar. His mother also worried that her son only played a guitar. Since he was Myung-Ja’s son after all, I asked her if he was sometimes a top student at his school. If there wasn’t a guitar, I would have asked the question without putting ‘sometimes’. She said yes. Time passed, it was around his high school senior year. I was eager to know which college the guitar lover entered.

I heard the story later. The grandfather barely ate for a month insisting that his grandson must enter the College of Law at S University. His high school also persuaded him to apply for admission to the college of law until the last minute. It was the era that becoming a judge or prosecutor was considered as the biggest success in life. However, her son applied to S University and he was accepted to a different major that he wanted to study. At that time, I thought maybe he neglected his study a little bit because of guitar. I was a bit disappointed. It turned out that it was Myung-Ja who supported her son’s decision when he had to make a very difficult choice. He became a famous composer since he was in college. He was happy. And he thanked his mother very much who supported him doing what he wanted to do whenever he faced a hardship. Her son is CEO Bang Si-Hyuk who produced BTS and my friend Myung-Ja is the mother of CEO Bang.

I was travelling Southern India with Myung-Ja when BTS was enhancing national prestige in the US and CEO Bang received a presidential citation with media’s spotlight. Good news about BTS and CEO Bang were sent to us every day during our trip. I was also so happy to hear those news next to her. I was proud of CEO Bang and even thankful for him. I really wanted to share this excitement in a big voice with everyone who was travelling with us. On the other hand, Myung-Ja swallowed this glory in a quiet and humble way until the end of trip. Indeed she was Myung-Ja. Not everyone can earn a glory to have a son like him.

Now it’s a college admission season and I can hear a shout of joy and sigh everywhere. Some people pay a fortune to get advice on their children’s future education and career. Until the end of admission season, parents will agonize about their children’s and their future. However, the answer is crystal clear. A major that you can enjoy studying the most is the priority when making a choice for a college and career. I can assure the result from my friend Myung-Ja who created the present Bang Si-Hyuk.

The original article

http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LSD&mid=sec&oid=277&aid=0004146643&sid1=001