Father Gives 5 Million Won to Youngest Daughter Who "Failed the College Entrance Exam," Says "Don't Be Discouraged"

Father's KakaoTalk Message to Daughter Who Struggled on the Exam Goes Viral
"Don't Stay Down. Just Trust Your Dad and Live Confidently"

"My precious youngest daughter. Don't be discouraged just because your grades weren't good."

The story of a father who gave his daughter 5 million won in allowance after she said she failed the college entrance exam has become a hot topic online.

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On November 19, several online communities featured a screenshot of a recent post titled, "I failed the college entrance exam, but look at my dad's KakaoTalk message." The author, who identified herself as a test-taker, revealed a lengthy message from her father that he sent while she was struggling with guilt over her exam results, drawing attention from many readers.

In the message, the father comforted his daughter, saying, "My precious youngest daughter. Don't be discouraged just because your grades weren't good. The reason I work is because of you and your sister, and your dad is still very capable." He continued, "I can provide enough so that my two princesses can always eat well, even if not always the most expensive things, so just trust your dad and live confidently." He encouraged her further, saying, "If you want to take the college entrance exam again, you can do that. If you want to travel, go ahead. If you don't want to go to college, you can try whatever you want."

The father added, "I just hope you don't stay down and listless like a fool," and said, "The 5 million won is so you and your sister can experience the many fun things in today's world that I never got to. I hope you can try them and tell me about it." He also added humorously, "When I asked your sister, she said she put it in stocks and lost half of it. I hope you don't use it that way," making readers smile.

A message from a father to his daughter who failed the college entrance exam. Screenshot from an online community.

Readers who saw the post commented, "Having a dad like that is luckier than getting a perfect score on the exam," "My parents only scolded me, so I'm really envious and moved to tears," "Who could possibly fail in life with a father like that?" "I want to be a dad like him," "Above all else, having good parents is the greatest blessing," "I was about to cry, but the story about the sister made me laugh," "All test-takers worked hard," and "Looking back, the college entrance exam is nothing. Stay strong."

Meanwhile, the 2026 College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) was held on November 13 at 1,310 test centers across 85 districts nationwide. A total of 554,174 people applied, an increase of 31,504 (6.0%) compared to the previous year. This is the largest number of test-takers in seven years since the 2019 academic year (594,924). This year's CSAT was considered somewhat more difficult than last year's, as high-difficulty questions were included in Korean, mathematics, and English to increase discrimination. In particular, the reading section in Korean was said to be more challenging, with projections that the scores will be higher than those of the 2025 CSAT (136 points for Speech and Composition, 139 points for Language and Media).