After the negotiation with Illumi broke down, faced with the choice between internal competition and being whipped, I opted to let the internal competition continue.
Hmph, Illumi was clever, but he was still just a four-year-old. His depth and breadth of thought, as well as his life experience, were far inferior to my adult mindset.
Everything has its cost-effectiveness and priority, its importance and urgency.
Illumi, the diligent but foolish child, failed to realize that the Zoldyck family's main business was assassins, and their requirement for academic achievement wouldn't be so high as to have him pursue a doctorate. I estimated that achieving a university undergraduate level of education would likely be sufficient.
Certainly, the effort required to get a perfect score on an exam is greater than that needed for ninety points. A perfect score is the best, but ninety points would be enough to make Kikyo happy. So why expend more energy chasing perfection? A person's daily energy is limited, and it's impossible to strive for perfection in everything. Putting more limited energy into "professional courses" is the most cost-effective approach.
It was time for Illumi to experience the harsh realities of the working world!
Should I use my advanced knowledge to achieve perfect scores and battle Illumi at the peak of their studies, continuously increasing the difficulty until one of us could no longer achieve a perfect score?
No, that would be the most foolish "head-on collision." Achieving a perfect score meant not making a single mistake. Even elementary school questions would cause me some mental stress, amounting to "hurting the enemy a thousand and losing eight hundred of my own men."
Besides, I rarely got perfect scores before. Suddenly getting perfect scores on every subject would seem too abnormal and make others suspicious.
The core of an adult's composure, honed by societal experience, is the ability to remain calm and to lay low, accumulating strength.
During the period when Illumi's scores consistently surpassed mine… I underestimated him. This kid's mind was exceptionally sharp. Even after Kikyo restricted his "all-night study method," he still managed to maintain perfect scores in most subjects. It was infuriating!!!! Is he planning to enter a gifted program and attend university early?!
I gritted my teeth, maintaining scores around ninety-five, waiting for Kikyo to increase the course difficulty as I wished, until Illumi also started to falter, scoring one point lower than me in a subject.
Oh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wonderful! Illumi isn't a child prodigy, no reincarnation of Gauss or anything. He's just a normal kid, for now!
The socially experienced adult shed tears of relief. (This is a metaphor.)
Illumi, oh Illumi, you don't know that when I was maintaining scores around ninety-five, Kikyo felt the additional whips were reduced too much and not effective enough. So she changed the punishment rules, making it three whips for every point I scored lower than you.
One point equaled three whips, a threefold increase!
Do you know how I endured those days?!
You certainly don't! You selfish child! Now that you're finally scoring lower than me, you deserve it!
Hmph, you are too young, too naive, unaware that "perfection" is the greatest trap. No one can be perfect forever. Consistent, stable, effective output is the best choice for a mature member of society!
Poor Illumi, striving for perfection, only knowing hard work, he will never understand the advanced life pleasure of a seasoned corporate slave who "slacks off at work and becomes a salted fish after work."
I can understand that a child cannot possess such a calm, detached life experience.
As Illumi's complexion grew paler, and the number of courses he couldn't surpass me in gradually increased, showing his strain, I knew I had won.
During a break between classes one day, as he passed me, he stealthily threw a small crumpled piece of paper. I opened it later in the restroom to find it read: giveandtake.
Before the afternoon's pop quiz, he quietly made two gestures at me, indicating the numbers "9" and "1" respectively.
Oh, so this was the specific content of his "giveandtake." He decided to tell me in advance what score he was planning to get, so I could control the score difference.
Although I was displeased with the suffering he had caused me earlier, I am a reliable adult. I can distinguish between gains and losses, and I am rational. I wouldn't ruin our first cooperation for a fleeting moment of satisfaction—a win-win situation is always best.
To show my sincerity in cooperating, and to make the test results more natural, since the probability of two people getting the same score, other than a perfect one, cannot be too high, I controlled my score to ninety.
In response, Illumi, receiving my score indication, also intentionally lowered his score in the next test, finishing one point behind me.
With both sides having made their sincere gestures, the silent cooperation officially began. Illumi then modified the meaning of his gestures, omitting the tens digit "9" of the test scores, which didn't need to be repeated. The first gesture became the units digit of the test score, and the second gesture represented the score difference. When indicating the score difference, if I was to score lower than him, he would add the movement of his other hand, holding up an index finger, as a minus sign in mathematics, indicating a negative number.
With the score difference controllable, the tedious tug-of-war around ninety-five points with Illumi was no longer necessary. The score differences in each subject hovered within three points, sometimes I scored higher, sometimes Illumi did. The so-called bonus questions, which existed because I scored lower than my brother, gradually became trivial. Yes, this probably also included the fact that I had somewhat grown accustomed to being whipped. Anyway, life instantly became easier and happier, and even Illumi seemed much cuter.
Having a smart younger brother who doesn't cause worry, it seems, is indeed a good thing.
…Or so I thought.
However, a new round of competition soon began, and it was ten times more brutal than taking exams: the competition in "professional courses."
"It's time to see if Mother's teaching is better, or Father's!" Mrs. Kikyo was eager, clearly having planned this for a long time. "Millus, you are a year older than Illumi, and your physical fitness is better than his. Don't disappoint me."
Silva, on the other hand, patted Illumi's shoulder and gave him instructions like "perform as usual" and "do your best."
"..." I silently looked up at the clear sky.
Alas, the sky is so blue, the sun so bright, yet must I do such an unpleasant thing?
["Competition is unavoidable."]
["Competition is the core content of a company."]
["Without competition, one cannot overcome oneself. Competition is a prerequisite for employee survival, and it cannot be avoided for any reason."]
In the "real world," these phrases repeatedly emphasized at employee meetings returned to my mind. I used to dismiss them, considering them brainwashing by capitalists to exploit employees to the fullest. Now, I had to face them again, to re-examine those words.
Even though the boss who uttered these grand principles had impure motives, these principles were objectively not wrong.
The evidence was that even in a different world, I had to face this damned competition.
Here it comes, KPIs, performance rankings, the bottom-elimination system… The seasoned corporate employee sank into painful memories.