What is the tragedy of the "exam-taking prodigy" in small towns? The most terrifying aspect of being an exam-taking prodigy isn't the physical damage. They mistakenly believe they were "hardworking" in high school and "lazy" in college. They attribute all future setbacks to not maintaining that same level of "effort" in high school, leading to frantic self-blame and self-abandonment. In reality, these exam-taking prodigies weren't actually hardworking in high school; they were simply swept along by the atmosphere. They didn't understand why they were doing problems; they vaguely knew it would be beneficial, but they couldn't grasp the deeper meaning, nor did they have time to. They just did one test paper after another. In college, their self-motivation is zero. Their parents are still stuck in the era of "every profession has its top achievers" and "guaranteed job placement after graduation." Their teachers' sole goal is for them to get high scores. They only get half a day off every two weeks, barely watching a couple of new anime series. So, unsurprisingly, they start staying up all night, playing online games, and browsing forums in college, thriving in a diorskin-deep breeding ground. Between 25 and 30, the exam-taking prodigy will experience their first major breakdown. You find your classmates have fallen behind you; they're thriving, getting promotions, raises, and marrying beautiful and wealthy women, while you're stuck doing meaningless, low-paying backbreaking work, or even unemployed and living off your parents. This didn't happen suddenly; it's the culmination of countless wasted time and opportunities. So what's the real tragedy of being a test-taker? It's your complete ignorance of how the world works; it's spending your most vibrant and promising years like an infant sucking on a pacifier; it's that your parents, beyond providing basic material needs, can only hinder you; and you have to pay a heavy price to learn the lessons other parents taught their children from a young age.