After waiting for a while in front of the Principal's office in a group, we saw the Principal chatting with another teacher at the far end of the hallway and walking toward us.
"Here he comes, here he comes!"
I nudged Sunah and pointed at the Principal.
"Sunah, cry!"
"…Huh, what!?"
"Hurry up!"
Sunah looked flustered as I urged her, but soon Hayoon reached out and pinched the skin under Sunah's eyes for her.
"Ah, ahhh!!"
Sunah's eyes immediately teared up as if it stung.
"U... Uuugh…"
Soon, the Principal approached with a smile upon seeing the students gathered in the hallway, but was startled when he noticed Sunah crying.
"Ah~ First year... Hmm?"
"Uugh...…"
"No, why are you crying?"
The Principal Shin Moonhyup, in his 60s and nearing retirement, approached us with a surprised expression.
It was definitely an effective choice to make Sunah, who looked the most pitiful, cry.
We all rushed to explain ourselves to the Principal, who had stopped in front of Sunah with wide eyes.
"Um, you see, we were trying to participate in the exhibition!"
"We were treated unfairly, and what happened was…"
"Something really upsetting happened when we went…"
"Hold on, hold on!"
Looking overwhelmed, the Principal waved his hand.
"Don't just stand there. Come into the Principal's office first. Let's all sit down and talk slowly. I can't hear a thing like this."
"Yes, yes..."
"Thank you..."
We took Sunah, who was still crying, into the Principal's office.
* * *
"…Ah, so that happened."
In the Principal's office.
The Principal, despite having a separate, luxurious desk of his own, sat down on a comfortable leather sofa with us and listened to our story with a focused look.
"Is that the third-year female science teacher, Miss Choi Jungim? Are you talking about her?"
"Yes, yes… That's right… And the team participating is the Chemistry Club..."
"Chemistry Club. Are they seniors?"
"Yes, they're our seniors..."
While Gyeongwon nodded and added more explanation, I took a moment to look around the Principal's office.
It was my first time ever in the Principal's office, both in my previous and present lives in school, and the room felt like a study, with one entire wall covered in bookshelves.
The books on the shelves all had intimidating titles written in classical Hanja characters, and many of the compartments displayed certificates or trophies instead of books.
On the desk sat a globe, a South Korean flag hung in the center of the wall, and even orchids draped by the window, it was a perfect space for someone in their 60s.
After confirming all the details again from Gyeongwon, the Principal let out a sigh.
"Uh, alright. Okay, for now, I understand. I'll talk to that teacher first, then call you all back in. For now, let's head back to class and continue with the lesson. The bell's already rung, hasn't it?"
Come on now, the gray-haired Principal said, urging us to stand.
While listening, he had nodded with a serious expression the whole time, but now his face was back to his usual hearty smile.
"So, how's the school so far? Our school is an autonomous private high school, so it runs quite a bit with the students in mind."
"Ah, yes, it's good..."
We bowed deeply toward the Principal, who was opening the door to the office, and answered when he asked.
"Is it good even to the new students?"
"Yes, we also felt that it's quite different from regular schools…"
"What kind of difference?"
"I especially liked the support for the club-related services..."
"Right?"
The Principal came out into the hallway chatting with us and then closed the door.
It seemed like he was intending to see us off.
"Alright, you all seem to be from the same club. What's the name?"
"Ghost Story Club…"
"Ghost Story Club. What do you study there?"
"We mainly research folk ghost stories and look into our ancestors' lifestyles..."
"Really?"
The Principal who came out with us from the office chatted quietly with us about various things all the way to our classroom.
We exchanged surprised glances, not expecting him to escort us all the way to our classroom, but once we arrived, we understood why.
Creak-
"What are you guys doing coming in at this time? When did the bell ring?"
As soon as we opened the front door, we were snapped at in a flat tone by a young male math teacher, Oh Junkho.
Just when the teacher belonging to the Dogma of Void was about to line us up and push us back as we swarmed in, the Principal poked his face at the front door with a smile.
"We had a brief meeting regarding the science exhibition. I ask for your understanding, teacher."
"Ah...! Yes, yes! I understand..."
Seeing the Principal suddenly step in, Oh Junkho's eyes widened in surprise, and he immediately became polite.
Soon the Principal closed the door and left, and we were able to sit down without any trouble.
"…Looks like you're preparing for some kind of competition."
The math teacher muttered again in a flat tone, but we just nodded without answering.
"Alright, let's continue with our lesson. For triangle ABC with three points A, B, and C that do not lie on the same straight line on the coordinate plane, when the angle bisector of angle ACB passes through the origin..."
The math teacher resumed the lesson, but the students' gazes were subtly fixed on us.
Six students showed up late without prior notice, and yet the Principal himself stepped in to explain on their behalf, an intriguing situation indeed.
Vice class president Chaerin glanced at us with a 'hmm~' expression, and even Yeseul, a devout believer since birth, was sneaking uneasy glances in our direction.
* * *
[2019, May 20th | Monday, 16:30 PM
[Lee Joon: Number of Attempts - 2]
[Ghost Story Points: 781]
[Causality Rate: 32%]
Time passed, and soon it was time for the closing ceremony.
After the homeroom teacher, sticking out his belly, said whatever he wanted to say and left the classroom, Jinhee stretched and cursed as she stood up.
"Let's go home, f*ck~"
"Why are you swearing when we're just going home?"
Gyeongwon grumbled from a distance.
At that moment, a senior standing at the front door called out to us.
"Ghost Story Club?"
"...?"
Our classmates' eyes shifted all at once toward the front door, abandoning their packing.
A few seniors, awkwardly poking their heads in, called out to us again.
"Is Ghost Story Club here?"
This time, all the eyes in our class shifted to the club members.
I raised my hand and stretched my neck forward.
"…Yes. Why are..."
"Come to the Principal's office now."
With those words, the seniors disappeared in a huddle.
The students' gazes, which had briefly focused on us, shifted back again, and everyone resumed packing their bags and chatting with their friends.
Amid it all, a few words could be heard here and there.
"…Wasn't that the top student of the entire 2nd year just now?"
"And the student council president from 3rd year was in the back too."
"What's going on?"
Everyone seemed curious, but since none of them were particularly close to us, they only stole glances without saying a word.
And it made sense, six students from the same class all belonged to the same club and even ate together, so no one really wanted to get close to us.
Soon, Gyeongwon and Dukhun headed to the front door and called the rest of us.
"Oi~ Hurry up and come~"
"Prez, let's go quickly!"
At the front door, a chubby otaku and a bespectacled nerd were shouting loudly.
If only the elegant Hayoon or cute Sunah had called out to us, it would've saved some face.
"Oi~ Let's go quickly~"
"Club Prez, just follow me! I know all the ins and outs about the competition!"
"Got it, so please keep it down."
It was really embarrassing to be around them like this.
Fortunately, the girls, Sunah, Jinhee, and Hayoon, who had finished packing their bags soon joined us, and I was able to straighten my shoulders.
"Let's go."
"What could it be..."
Sunah's face was filled with worry.
In front, Gyeongwon and Dukhun were chatting away.
"Those people who just called us, aren't they from the Chemistry Club, the ones who'll be competing instead of us?"
"It seems like we're going to have a three-way meeting. Hey, you guys. If you show weakness, we'll be in big trouble."
"Please shut up..."
"Hey, your President told you to shut up, you p*nks!"
Thankfully, Jinhee heard my grumbling and kicked both of them in the backs of their knees from behind.
Soon, we arrived at the Principal's office.
The door was half open, and we could hear quiet voices talking inside.
"…So, from the school's perspective, wouldn't it make more sense to send a group that's more likely to win an award…"
"Let's see. Looks like the kids have arrived."
The Principal gave us a warm smile as he looked toward us hovering at the door, we bowed politely before stepping inside.
"Hello."
"Hello..."
This time, the Principal was seated at his elegant-looking desk.
Next to him was the short, middle-aged third-year female science teacher, frowning as she looked at us, and seated comfortably on the sofa were seniors from the 2nd and 3rd years who had already taken their spots.
'I've seen these faces a few times.'
They were the student leaders who usually said oaths or represented the school during assemblies and events.
'So these are the elites of the school, the ones who were already set to compete in the event.'
There were three boys and two girls, and true to their roles as student leaders, they all had neat, composed, and refined appearances.
Since all of them were seated on the sofa, we stood awkwardly near the door, unsure of where to go.
Soon, Choi Jungim, the 3rd-year science teacher, glared at us and then continued with what she had been saying.
"…So, since the teams that are going to the competition have already been decided, I can't do anything about it. If those kids had come a little earlier-"
"When did you do it?"
"What?"
The 3rd-year science teacher suddenly glared sharply at Gyeongwon, who had interrupted.
From her eyes, you could sense the petty bitterness of a middle-aged woman.
"When and why exactly did you submit the competition registration…"
"What do you expect me to do about it?"
Though Gyeongwon asked politely, hands folded, the middle-aged teacher showed that same attitude even in front of the Principal.
It was a good sign.
I thought she'd change her attitude smoothly in front of someone with authority, but seeing how clueless she was about the situation, it seemed she didn't have that kind of intelligence.
[Your understanding of the character Choi Jungim has increased by 10.]
"Excuse me, but when we asked just before the first period, it seemed like you said it wasn't the case…"
"What? When did I say that? I clearly said it was already decided back then. Listen carefully to what people say."
"Come on, everyone, calm down a little."
The wise-looking Principal stopped the teacher from snapping at us.
And then he laughed warmly and asked again.
"So, just as the student asked, when did it get decided?"
"..."
"If it was done last week, since it's a major competition, I would've heard about it too. But since I haven't, could it be that the registration was done today?"
"..."
After a moment, the middle-aged teacher pouted briefly and nodded.
I silently whispered "Yes," and reached behind me to pat Gyeongwon on the shoulder.
It was the moment the petty misconduct of the middle-aged science teacher was exposed to the Principal.
Feeling my hand on his shoulder, Gyeongwon pushed his glasses and smiled proudly.
'I see. So that's what happened.'
The Clover Science Exhibition, being the largest competition in South Korea that students in school uniforms could participate in, had a fairly complicated application process as well.
The application required not only the entry form, project summary, and explanatory documents, but also a personal information consent form, a guardian consent form, and even the supervising teacher's personal details.
Entering such a major competition required a lot of paperwork alone, so the science teacher in front had probably planned to apply leisurely, like she was checking the dates of instant noodles, and submit it at the last moment.
But suddenly, out of the blue, some students came saying they wanted to participate, and they were even from the teachers' biggest concern, the Ghost Story Club.
From the teacher's perspective, it must have caused quite a bit of anxiety both in terms of her work at school and religious matters.
Putting up the promotional poster was just something she did out of formality because an official notice came down, and since it was such a high-level competition, she naturally assumed no one would want to participate.
So she had already marked her own students to participate and was preparing slowly with them.
'And now the Ghost Story Club wants to butt in?'
So, before things could take a strange turn, she spent the entire second period making her own preparations and submitted the application right away to make it irreversible, which is why she wasn't there when we went to find her.
After quickly finalizing the documents during the second period and submitting the forms first, by the third period, when we went to see her again, she was relaxed, sipping coffee, and casually sent us away.
'… This is really annoying.'
She was, in every sense, the epitome of a teacher who existed solely for the top-performing students.
And since Gyeongwon was a master when it came to anything related to schoolworks, he was able to catch on to this right away.
"Hehe..."
However, even though the Principal had clearly sensed the general situation, he didn't point it out directly, and instead, with the flexibility of an adult, he smoothly let it pass.
"If the application was submitted today, that's actually a relief. If it were on the day of the event, we might have had mistakes on the roster or needed to ask for some understanding."
"But Principal!"
The middle-aged teacher shouted in a sharp voice.
"If we send other team, it's better to send students who actually have some skills!"
…Was she implying we don't have the skills?
'Since when did you see us...'
"These students here have been under my guidance all along! They all have numerous awards, and are the student council presidents, and top ranks in the entire school..."
"Alright, alright, that's enough. I wasn't trying to say I'd send only new students."
Smiling gently, he tried to soothe the situation.
Then, from the Principal's mouth came a shocking announcement.
"We'll hold an internal school competition to see which team performs better."
"...!!"
Internal school competition!
We glanced at each other and clenched our fists.
"In fact, whenever there's a big competition like this, it's only natural to hold a preliminary round within the school first. Also, by sending out a notice, let's allow not just these two teams but any other students who want to participate to compete against each other. Since the students will roughly present their ideas through PPT, the teachers won't have much extra work to do, right?"
"But in the end, even if we do that, it's obvious that our students here will take first place—"
"Still, the opportunity should be given fairly, don't you think? It would be even more troublesome if we received complaints from parents."
Hehe, chuckling softly, he brushed it off smoothly.
"Well, isn't that a good thing? If they're the ones who will win first place anyway, it just adds legitimacy. No more issues now, right?"
Since it seemed like he was subtly asking us, I nodded and muttered a small thank you.
And unlike the science teacher who was sulking, surprisingly, the seniors sitting on the sofa had indifferent expressions, as if they had no major disagreements.
The seniors seemed to be silently concentrating on their own work, thinking that if the Principal said so, then so be it.
"Then let's prepare during this week and hold the preliminaries next Monday. I'm looking forward to seeing which team will perform better… Heh heh....."
We clenched our fists tightly as we looked at the neat-looking, top-performing seniors.
Coming in as freshmen, beating the seniors with passion, flattening the noses of the teachers who were interfering, and then taking the first place as if it belonged to us.
That was definitely something that required a lot of determination.