No problem, let's work through this together. We're starting with 53998 and are subtracting 31270 from it.

Step 1: We'll start by subtracting the digit 0 and the borrow 0 from 8 in column 1 and get 8.
8 is the first digit of our result.

Step 2: We'll start by subtracting the digit 7 and the borrow 0 from 9 in column 2 and get 2.
2 is the next digit of our result.

Step 3: We'll start by subtracting the digit 2 and the borrow 0 from 9 in column 3 and get 7.
7 is the next digit of our result.

Step 4: We'll start by subtracting the digit 1 and the borrow 0 from 3 in column 4 and get 2.
2 is the next digit of our result.

Step 5: We'll start by subtracting the digit 3 and the borrow 0 from 5 in column 5 and get 2.
2 is the next digit of our result.

So, 53998 - 31270 = 22728.