Homeplus 2019 CSAT Support Message Revisited
Not Just Answers, Use Periods Correctly
Not Just Exams, Engage Properly with the World
On the 14th, the day of the 2025 College Scholastic Ability Test, examinees are waiting for the exam to start at Gyeongbok High School in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Photo by Joint Press Corps
Homeplus's past messages of support for the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) continue to quietly move netizens this year as well.
On the 15th, various online communities have been revisiting a message of encouragement for the 2020 CSAT that Homeplus posted on its social media accounts three days before the exam. At that time, The Club, Homeplus’s warehouse-style online mall, posted on its official SNS account a message beginning with "Soon, 순응 (Suneung) will end."
The post used the word 순응 (Suneung), which sounds similar to 수능 (Suneung, the CSAT), as a keyword. 순응 (Suneung) means adapting to or complying with the environment, changes, systems, or orders.
The message read, "The long, long 12 years of education are coming to an end. You will be freed from all the 순응 (Suneung) ? going to and from school at the same time every day, being ranked by scores, and having to do everything you disliked out of obligation." It continued, "Happiness is not determined by grades, and the value of life is not decided by university rankings ? we adults who came before you already know this," adding, "It’s just that a system to properly measure the value of each teenager has yet to be created." Then it said, "순응 (Suneung) is about to end. We hope you mark your answers properly. Not just the correct answers, but to put a full stop to this system and start a new beginning. We hope you succeed properly. Not just getting into university, but to properly challenge the world according to your own principles." The post concluded with, "순응 (Suneung) is about to end. We support you, examinees, who have now become adults able to resist the world."
This message was reportedly the result of collaboration among several people at Homeplus at the time. Even back in 2019, netizens praised it as "the best writing," "deeply relatable," and "a masterpiece." A netizen who posted this message on a community site evaluated it as "a masterpiece even when seen again." Those who saw the post responded with comments like "The rhyme between 수능 (Suneung) and 순응 (Suneung) is so hip-hop," "It’s not about marking the correct answers," and "It’s a masterpiece, a masterpiece." One netizen wrote, "It’s been over 10 years since I took the CSAT, and back then I thought that was everything in the world," adding, "Of course, going to a good university makes things easier, but it’s definitely not everything. Everyone can live their life." Some netizens sympathized with the message and its content but also commented, "But society is desperately invested in that ranking," "Sadly, even after graduating from university, many people still grade life," and "But life pretty much follows the order of grades."
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