Sang-ho was quite satisfied with the class’s outcomes. It was evident what he needed to impart to each student.
Se-hee’s hands were nimble, yet her vision lagged.
Tae-hwa possessed good instincts but tended to act impulsively.
As for Na-bit, she wasn’t inherently suited for combat from the start.
The remaining task involved providing individual guidance and, as an additional benefit, conducting face-to-face consultations as the class instructor.
“Please take a seat.”
Se-hee, dressed casually, occupied the chair opposite him. She wore a white hoodie and pale jeans.
It was after school, and a significant amount of time had passed since the class ended. The short days of early March were drawing to a close, and the classroom was bathed in the red hues of the setting sun peeking through the curtain.
After tussling with a stuffed bear, getting sweaty and dirty, she was instructed to head to the dormitory, freshen up, and return without changing into her school uniform. Thanks to that, a pleasant scent of shampoo wafted from Se-hee’s hair.
Sang-ho occupied a chair in front of her desk, diligently repairing a torn stuffed bear.
“Did you gain any insights from the fight?”
In response to his question, Se-hee nodded.
“What did you learn?”
“I’m not fast enough.”
“What’s not fast enough?”
“My sword.”
She placed the sword on the desk and gazed at it intently.
“I could have reached it if I were a bit faster…”
Sang-ho understood why Se-hee was quicker with her hands than her eyes. She mistakenly believed her hands were sluggish, leading her to focus solely on increasing her speed.
At a middle school level, her current speed would have sufficed to keep up with her peers.
Now, she needed to progress.
“Your hands are plenty fast.”
At his words, Se-hee looked surprised and raised her head.
“Really?”
“I noticed you primarily employ stabbing attacks. Is that correct?”
“Yes. Stabbing is more effective.”
“People who frequently use stabbing tend to narrow their field of vision. You concentrate on the sword’s tip, and if the opponent shifts slightly out of that limited view, you miss.”
Sang-ho lifted the needle slightly.
“You can’t afford to have a narrow field of vision, especially when fighting monsters. Monsters often move in groups. If you fixate on one, you leave yourself vulnerable to ambushes.”
“I understand.”
Se-hee nodded.
The advice concluded. Sang-ho set down the stuffed bear and picked up the student record from Tae-hwa’s desk, which was next to Se-hee’s.
“Shall we proceed with the consultation? Is that acceptable to you?”
“Yes.”
Sang-ho opened the record and perused her application.
“Your parents aren’t present?”
“That’s correct.”
“Have you ever met them? Have they been absent since your infancy?”
“Yes. I grew up in an orphanage.”
Despite the abrupt questions, Se-hee responded calmly and confidently.
He glanced at her and shared.
“I didn’t have parents as I was growing up either, at least not after a certain age.”
At his words, Se-hee’s expression shifted. Her eyes took on a gentler and more vulnerable look.
“Really?”
“Yes. Tae-hwa also doesn’t have a mother.”
Discussing another student’s family situation wasn’t ideal, but he had his reasons.
“Get along well. Oh, and with Na-bit too.”
“I will.”
Sang-ho transitioned to the next topic.
“So, you don’t have any relatives either. How are you handling tuition?”
“I received a waiver for first-year tuition because of my excellent grades in middle school.”
“What about from the second year?”
“I’m taking out loans. I’ll repay them after graduating. Or if my first-year grades are good again, I might get another waiver.”
“What grades are required for a waiver?”
“Within the top 10 of the class. The first rank even comes with additional financial support.”
“You’re well-informed.”
Growing up on her own, she had a good grasp of her situation. Sang-ho nodded in acknowledgment.
“So your goal is to be at the top of your class like in middle school?”
Se-hee’s eyes gleamed.
“Yes.”
“Do you feel confident about that?”
“Well, I’m not sure how strong the other students are yet, but…”
She lightly tapped the sword’s hilt on the desk with her index finger, lost in thought for a moment, then locked eyes with Sang-ho.
“I am confident.”
“Really?”
“Yes. So please teach me swordsmanship.”
When asked about her confidence, she responded with a request. Sang-ho’s lips curled up slightly at Se-hee’s audacity. In his eyes, the girl who once cut leaves and Se-hee overlapped.
“I can offer guidance if you ask, but I can’t teach you during regular class time, understand?”
He couldn’t simply teach Se-hee while Tae-hwa and Na-bit were present. What he needed to teach wasn’t something that could be managed alongside instructing the other two.
Se-hee wasn’t the type to settle for half-hearted learning.
“You’ll need to study the rest on your own. Is that acceptable?”
Without hesitation, Se-hee nodded.
“Yes.”
“Then let’s make a promise.”
He extended his pinky finger while making a fist.
“Don’t give up until I do, and I won’t give up until you do.”
Se-hee’s hand hesitated.
“So, you mean, let’s not give up on each other?”
“Yes, exactly.”
“Okay.”
Their pinky fingers intertwined over the desk. Sang-ho was slightly surprised. Despite her slender fingers, her palms had developed calluses.
“What happens if we break the promise?”
“Should we establish a penalty?”
“If I break it, I’ll handle all your housework for life.”
Unfazed by the challenging request, Sang-ho couldn’t help but clear his throat awkwardly.
“Let’s simply trust each other.”
“Alright.”
She smiled faintly.
“When will you start teaching me?”
“I’ll be quite busy at the beginning of the term, so it might be challenging.”
He tapped the student record book.
“Instead, I’ll assign you some homework.”
“Homework?”
“Yes. Kick a tree and count how many leaves you can cut as they fall.”
There was no specific reason; it was more of a curiosity test. He wanted to gauge how different she was from that girl back then. Upon hearing this, Se-hee nodded resolutely. Realizing she might stay up all night from today to increase her leaf count, he hurriedly added,
“Don’t push yourself too hard. I just want to assess your current level.”
“Yes.”
She replied sweetly, but her eyes made it evident that she hadn’t really heard his words. As evidence, she couldn’t keep her hands still and was fidgeting with the sword’s hilt.
Sang-ho felt a twinge in his forehead.
‘I’ll need to be careful with my words around Se-hee…’
***
“Wow! Teddy’s back!”
Tae-hwa burst into the classroom during the morning roll call, sporting a wide grin. The only problem was that she was saying this while kicking the teddy bear mercilessly.
“Does it hurt? How does it feel to be so powerless? Hahaha!”
“Tae-hwa, please take your seat.”
“Sure thing.”
She complied as if nothing unusual had happened. Sang-ho silently observed her. She appeared to be the most challenging student in the class, the one he had to counsel after school today.
‘It’s tough, so tough…’
A ‘troublemaker,’ and among them, a girl who walked a fine line. Truly a challenging type to manage.
Sang-ho had encountered many students of this type before, but being a teacher responsible for their education was no small feat.
He sighed and closed the attendance book. With just three students, there was hardly anything to check off or announce.
“Alright, let’s begin the class.”
***
The lesson from the previous day had focused on teddy bears and served as a form of combat training.
However, Ye-hyeon Girls’ High School offered more than just combat training. They had courses on monster ecology, law and ethics, morality, and even basic subjects like history, Korean language, and home economics.
The homeroom teacher was tasked with teaching all of these subjects. This was because Ye-hyeon Girls’ High placed a high value on the bond between teachers and students. With a salary of 200 million won, it was not an impossible task.
Nonetheless, exams were practically nonexistent, and the curriculum only covered material at the middle-school level, so Sang-ho felt confident in his ability to teach. He had also completed his own studies while training as a student teacher.
Now it was time for home economics.
Sang-ho opened the home economics textbook and glanced at the first entry in the table of contents.
[Chapter 1: Understanding Sexuality]
“Today, we’ll be covering Chapter 2, ‘The Life of Adolescents’.”
“We’re avoiding Chapter 1?”
“Page 30…”
“Teacher! Other classes are studying this and taking exams on it. What will happen to us if we don’t?”
Sang-ho couldn’t argue with that logic. He turned back to page 10, where Chapter 1 began.
He quickly skimmed the textbook and looked at his students.
“You all are already familiar with this content, aren’t you?”
“I don’t know.”
“I’m not sure either.”
The first response came from Tae-hwa, which was somewhat expected, but the subsequent response from Na-bit was the surprise. Sang-ho couldn’t believe his ears.
“What? Na-bit, you don’t know either?”
“Yes.”
“Weren’t you taught this in middle school?”
“No, I have no knowledge of it.”
She answered with an innocent expression.
Sang-ho shook his head slowly, thinking, ‘How conservative can her household be?’
“Alright. Look, all living creatures reproduce to produce offspring. There are asexual and sexual reproduction methods, and humans reproduce sexually by differentiating into males and females…”
“How do humans reproduce?”
Sang-ho ignored Tae-hwa’s interruption and continued reading from the textbook.
“…this results in greater genetic diversity, which is advantageous for the species’ survival. Moreover, by forming a family, they create a small social unit…”
“How do you create a family quickly?”
“… and by raising children, they fulfill their role as mature adults.”
“How do you make children? Do they automatically become adults when they’re born?”
These were unexpectedly profound questions. Whether they were deliberate or not, he wasn’t sure.
Sang-ho closed the textbook and fixed a penetrating gaze on Tae-hwa.
“Are you curious?”
“Yes!”
“Alright, I’ll explain.”
As he stood in front of the blackboard with chalk in hand, Tae-hwa’s eyes sparkled.
Sang-ho drew two stick figures on the board.
“Here’s a woman and a man, and they love each other.”
Then he covered the two figures with a rectangular blanket.
“And they would spend time together, right?”
“Yes.”
“Since just being together feels special, they would hold hands, right?”
“Yes!”
“And after holding hands, they would want to get even closer, so they would embrace each other, right?”
“Yes! Yay!”
“Then, a stork arrives, delivers a baby, and flies away. That’s the end of the story.”
“Yay… Huh? What?”
Tae-hwa blinked in confusion. Sang-ho crossed his arms.
“That’s the truth.”
Tae-hwa was left speechless, her mouth hanging open, as she glanced around. Se-hee seemed to be suppressing a subtle smile, while Na-bit appeared astonished.
Tae-hwa turned to Na-bit in disbelief.
“Do you really believe that?”
Finding it challenging to explain such matters to the children, Sang-ho sighed and closed the textbook. The accurate information would be covered in their sex education class, and that wasn’t his role.
“So, let’s avoid asking unusual questions. Let’s continue with the lesson.”
Cliche Novel 