[2019, May 20th | Monday, 08:45 AM]
[Lee Joon: Number of Attempts - 2]
[Ghost Story Points: 781]
[Causality Rate: 32%]
"First of all, even if we spread it later, we at least need the justification that we've been rejected many times."
I entered through the back door of the classroom with the club members and shared my thoughts.
"It looks less pitiful if we go running to complain right after being rejected once."
We have to appear like innocent and helpless victims.
For that, we need the 'situation' where we requested multiple times to the science teacher but were rejected every single time.
"Let's go ask a few more times during the next break and the one after that, and if we get rejected again, then we'll go see the Principal. That way, we can become perfectly pitiful victims."
"Hmm, as expected..."
Gyeongwon nodded with admiration.
"And Hayoon, when we talk to the science teacher, make sure you secretly record it. So we have it as evidence."
"Okay."
The one who could record most naturally without raising suspicion was Hayoon.
With that decided, we split up and sat down in our respective seats.
* * *
As soon as the boring first period ended and the teacher left the classroom, we immediately stepped out into the hallway.
"Alright. Second period is music class, so let's go to the teachers' office and head straight to the music room after that. Everyone brought their music books, right?"
At those words, Sunah hurried back to her seat, grabbed her music book in a flurry, and came back again.
"Jinhee, what about you? Why are you not holding anything?"
"It's such a hassle….."
"Hurry up and grab it. Now, let's go."
Even though we knew we'd be rejected, we walked down the hallway brimming with confidence.
'We absolutely can't lose. Especially against those b*stard teachers from the cult and the regular students too.'
Of course, losing to the teacher was out of the question, and losing to the regular students was impossible as well.
This was all a matter of pride.
It made no sense that we, who have seen the dark side of the world and experienced countless battles, couldn't even win one of these trivial competitions.
Soon, we went up a floor and arrived once again at the main faculty office on the second floor.
I had prepared a whole repertoire of arguments in my mind, weighing every possibility, but when we opened the door and actually got to the seat, the third-year middle-aged female science teacher's seat was empty.
"…Where did she go?"
"She hasn't come back from class yet."
With the six of us gathered together, the teachers' attention was focused on us, so we stepped out into the hallway and waited for now.
We waited, pacing back and forth, but the third-year science teacher showed no sign of appearing.
"…Where did this person go?"
"Why isn't she coming...?"
In the end, we never saw that person before the break ended, and we went straight up to the music room.
"I was all set to shoot at her the moment I saw her. What a letdown."
"We can just go again next time. Let's keep preparing what to say."
Sitting in a row in the music room, waiting for class, we chatted about this and that, but I could sense that the mood of the other students was unusual.
The students were whispering, their mood somehow excited.
"What's today?"
"The teacher changed, Joon..."
"Oh, right."
At our school, PE and music classes alternate every other week; last week, there was one music class and two PE classes.
So, last Monday, the day we had the consultation session with the homeroom teacher, the previous music teacher said her farewell.
This time now is the first music class back for our class.
The excited whispers among the students now were probably due to their anticipation of the young and pretty new music teacher.
Click-
As soon as the bell rang, the soundproof door of the music room opened, and a female teacher wearing a frilled blouse adorned with black roses walked in.
Click- Click- Click- Click-
"..."
Unlike the usual teachers who just wear suits or shirts, she wore a sophisticated black outfit typical of musicians, as if she were heading to a ball.
Her black blouse, combined with her beautiful appearance, gave off an aura like a black rose, and her very cold expression exuded a delicate atmosphere that made her untouchable.
The new female music teacher of Nakseong High School, Cha Eun.
Click- Click-
"..."
Without a word, she walked straight to the podium, opened the music book, and called out a page number without even greeting us.
"Page 23. Baroque music."
"..."
The students glanced at each other.
It seemed like some of the students were planning to make a fuss, asking for a self-introduction or even stories about her first love, just like when Teacher Han Ari first arrived, but they looked visibly flustered when things turned out so differently.
"You."
Suddenly, the teacher picked up her baton with a sharp motion and pointed at a student.
It was the church girl with the bob perm, Yeseul.
"...Yes, yes...?"
"Aren't you going to open the book?"
Startled by the words, Yeseul quickly opened her book.
A few other students, who had been quietly observing the situation, also began to discreetly open their books.
"Baroque music. Refers to European music of the 17th and 18th centuries."
With a cold expression, the teacher looked down at the music book and began reading the explanation.
"Originally, it referred to the artistic styles of the 17th and 18th centuries, but the term is also used for music. The reason the same term is used across different fields is as follows. Anyone who didn't bring their book, go stand in the back with your hand raised."
It was unusual to see her pointing out students without even raising her head during the explanation.
Even I couldn't turn my head, tense in my seat, and soon I sensed a few delinquent boys quietly standing up and heading to the back.
Thank goodness that I had made sure Jinhee brought her book.
"When looking at the historical background of Baroque music, politically, we can observe a transition from absolutist monarchy to the Age of Enlightenment…"
* * *
[2019, May 20th | Monday, 10:40 AM]
[Lee Joon: Number of Attempts – 2]
[Ghost Story Points: 781]
[Causality Rate: 32%]
"Huu, what kind of person is she? I seriously thought I had forgotten how to breathe."
It was only after we left the music room at the end of class that we could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
Teacher Cha Eun's music class was an uncomfortable time filled with tension.
The students sat stiffly, barely even breathing, and just stared at their textbooks. If anyone so much as dozed off or let their posture slip, she would immediately call them out or send them to the back to stand with their hand raised.
"What kind of class is this? No singing, no vocal exercises at all."
"Right… The previous teacher used to play the piano for us… and even showed us music movies..."
Sunah muttered sadly, but Dukhun seemed rather relieved and brushed his chest.
"Oi, you guys. You should be thankful things ended like this. When she was my homeroom teacher back in the day, she would even call you outside of class and harass you, nitpick you, and find fault with you-"
"Pig."
We suddenly heard a voice and turned around.
There, Teacher Cha Eun, who seemed to have followed us, was smiling coldly standing on the stairs.
"It's been a while."
"..."
Dukhun froze on the spot, and we all widened our eyes, nervously glancing at each other.
Soon, the teacher in the black frilled blouse, with her captivating appearance, smiled faintly as she looked down at us and said a single sentence.
"See you around, pigs."
"..."
Then, with a graceful motion like flowing water, she turned around and walked back into the music room.
We exchanged glances for a moment, then tapped the frozen Dukhun and led him downstairs to the second floor.
"… Don't worry, Dukhun. We'll protect you."
"..."
"Things are different these days than the old times. We've all grown up, and if someone is bullying you, just report it and that's it. Don't be scared."
"..."
But Dukhun remained frozen and didn't say anything.
It was time to meet the science teacher again and settle things, but the atmosphere was totally off.
In the end, I left some of the club members in the hallway and went into the teachers' office with only the ones who were good at talking.
"Sunah, Jinhee, you two stay with Dukhun. He can't keep his expression under control. We'll go in and confront the science teacher."
"Uh, yeah… Okay..."
Sunah saw us off with a worried look, and Jinhee gave the stiffened Dukhun a few light taps, trying to snap him out of it.
Leaving them behind, I headed to the teachers' office flanked by the elites of our club, Hayoon and Gyeongwon at my sides.
Just then, the third-year science teacher, a middle-aged woman, was walking back to her desk, carrying a freshly brewed cup of coffee from the break room.
"Teacher, um—"
She didn't even look at us, walked straight to her desk, and set down her coffee.
She sat down at her desk, gently blew on her coffee with a huu~ and took a slow sip without saying a word.
I walked up to her desk again and spoke.
"Teacher."
"It's over~ It's already been decided, so just go~ Don't bother me~"
"..."
Without even glancing at me, who was glaring at her, she sipped her coffee and flipped through some documents.
"Excuse me."
"..."
"What do you mean it's over? Huh?"
Slurp—
"I'm asking what exactly got decided."
But the teacher continued flipping through her papers without so much as a glance in our direction.
We stood there, silently glaring at the seated woman.
"Excuse me?"
Sip-
"Teacher?"
Was this her way of rejecting us?
The middle-aged woman in front of me leisurely sipped her coffee again while flipping through the documents, completely indifferent.
Soon, the second-year male science teacher, who was sitting at the back, stood up to take the documents from the photocopy machine and said a few words.
"You guys came to apply for the science exhibition, right? That's already been decided. Your seniors have already submitted the paperwork."
"…So when exactly was that paperwork submitted? The official notice just came down yesterday."
"I don't know~ Ask the teacher, probably."
"But she's pretending not to hear us, she's ignoring us."
I pointed at the third-year middle-aged science teacher as if to tell him to look.
But the male teacher didn't seem completely on our side either, he just shrugged his shoulders and went back to his work.
"Teacher."
Gulp-
"Teacher?"
The middle-aged teacher in front of me sipped her coffee without a single change in expression.
Soon, she twitched her eyebrows, muttered, "Not stirred enough," and stirred her cup with a teaspoon.
It seemed she was completely determined to send only the students she's supervising.
"Excuse me."
Tink- Tink-
The sound of a spoon hitting the cup echoed.
"Are you going to solve it like this? Really?"
Sip-
"Excuse me?"
"I said just go away~"
As we kept pressing, she put down her cup and snapped at us like a warning.
Her gaze remained fixed on her paperwork.
From the first-year male science teacher who died of a heart attack, to the chubby middle-aged female science teacher in front of me.
It seemed I had some sort of special grudges with the science teachers in a past life.
I sighed deeply, as if telling them to listen.
"This is seriously ridiculous, huh… huu..."
"..."
The person in front of me didn't react at all to such rude behavior.
I sighed again huuuu, a long, heavy breath.
"Huuuuu..."
"..."
At my heavy sigh, a few of the papers she was reading fluttered, and she frowned.
I let out another strong sigh, then 'pfffft!' spat toward the coffee cup in the teacher's hand, then turned my back and fled.
"Hey! Hey!"
She only reacted when the coffee in her hand got speckled with my spit, but it was already too late.
'How dare you try to act high and mighty in front of me.'
To attempt that kind of attitude right before me!
I, who was a jungler and has been endlessly wandering in the forest of Bronze, enduring all kinds of politics and toxic behavior from other lanes, a battle-hardened veteran of the arena.
A middle-aged teacher who has only experienced a little bit of social life couldn't possibly beat my spit-fighting temper that was honed through LoL.
'And now, I'm going to squash that pathetic little social life of hers completely.'
"Guys, buckle up your tears."
I gathered the club members in the hallway and headed straight to the Principal's office on the first floor.