The tardy student was the only one in this classroom wearing a proper navy blue uniform jacket.
In this chaotic school, the students’ face values were so high that uniforms were the only means to distinguish who was a student and who was a teacher, but students who wore their uniforms properly were extremely rare. That’s why even just wearing a jacket drew more attention.
The kid had an atmosphere that somehow particularly caught one’s eye.
It wasn’t just because of the navy jacket with its crisp collar among the casual clothes that fervently exuded an air of rebellion.
More precisely, it was probably due to his long limbs that seemed like they could reach the ceiling if he stretched out his hand, and his lofty gait despite being late.
The tardy student leisurely walked to the back of the classroom and went to the window seat at the very end. He put down his backpack on the desk, then dragged the chair leg with his foot and sat down.
Was it because of his large build? Even the desk, which had its height extended to the limit, looked awkward, like wearing clothes that didn’t fit.
The male student with the surname ‘Go’ was also number 1 in Seo Juhan’s class.
On the first day of arranging seats by number order, Seo Juhan had checked the kid’s height and moved his seat to the very back.
His given name was a single character.
Surname: Go. Given name: Un.
Go Un.
It wasn’t a particularly fitting name. That towering physique was far—very far—from being described as “elegant.”
However, if you looked at just his face alone, it wasn’t so unnatural.
That was the extent of Seo Juhan’s impression of ‘Go Un.’
If he had to pick one more thing, it would be that Go Un was the class representative.
Seo Juhan turned his gaze back outside the window at that point. He also lost interest in Go Un, who had taken his seat.
From the start, even if Go Un was late, he had no intention of marking it as tardiness in attendance. He had even less will to lecture him about coming on time. He didn’t have even a speck of desire to endure such troublesome effort.
The accumulated disappointment and frustration throughout the entire month of March had cultivated a terrible pessimism within Seo Juhan.
He was in a state of learned helplessness. One could also say he had fallen into a state of “quiet quitting.”
Having already psychologically resigned, it was an attitude of essentially withdrawing his affection and passion for the workplace.
It was now April. It’s not easy for a person’s essence to change in just one month. However, the reason Seo Juhan could switch his stance so quickly was largely due to his innate personality.
He fundamentally had a personality uninterested in others. Naturally, he didn’t want to make any effort to understand this trash. Far from understanding them, he rather ignored and despised them.
To be honest, they were repulsive creatures who only exacerbated social chaos. Just mixing words with them made him feel like his own brain would empty out, which made him shudder.
[Lastly, we will sing the school anthem.]
Seo Juhan had originally been indifferent to others. He consistently maintained indifference toward everything happening around him.
Like his major of mathematics, he was only interested in the world of abstraction. His sole purpose was to solve problems quickly, clearly, and accurately. Acting as if physical objects outside of that didn’t exist was the easiest thing for him.
Therefore, Seo Juhan didn’t notice the shift that occurred in the classroom with Go Un’s appearance.
In other words, only Seo Juhan was unaware that the clamorous noise like an empty can rolling around had subsided and the atmosphere had become orderly.
[The energy enveloping the noble Unjeong Mountain~ The spirit soaring through the clear grounds~ Behold the magnificent plains of Jeonghan~ Build high the ivory tower of truth~.]
The sound quality was so crude that one couldn’t even tell when it had been recorded. Seo Juhan’s head throbbed from the noise pollution worse than the chattering brats.
[The temple of learning where truth is honed~ We healthy youths who soar while spreading our ideals~ With steadfast spirit, we spread our prowess and ideals~ Treasures illuminating the new era~ Ah~ Shining youths~ Jeonghan Yang Seong School~.]
The more he chewed over the lyrics, the more it felt like watching a comedy show. The progressive spirit and grand ambitions proclaimed by the resounding school anthem couldn’t even be dared to be expected from these kids.
[That concludes the April broadcast assembly.]
Crackle!
Following this, a cracked-looking gray screen filled the monitor. The unpleasant noise of high frequency tore at the eardrums.
The students covered their ears and jeered as if in pain.
With an insensible expression, Seo Juhan picked up the remote control on the teacher’s desk and pressed the round red power button with his thumb. The monitor screen shut off with a click and darkness arrived.
The classroom, which had been filled with unceasing noise that could cause hearing loss, became quiet in an instant.
Seo Juhan put down the remote, took a step, and swept through the classroom. After roughly confirming that the seats of the kids who were absent without notice or tardy as if it were a daily meal were empty, he turned his head.
It was an unlucky day when he had class starting from first period. Feeling the fatigue wrapping around his entire body since morning, he left the classroom.
* * *
“You learned this in Math 1. If you graph y=a to the power of x, it looks like this. This is when a is greater than 1, and this is when a is between 0 and 1.”
Seo Juhan drew a long line with white chalk on the green chalkboard. It was an exponential function graph. Below it, he wrote out formulas. The chalk made a tapping sound each time it hit the chalkboard.
“What’s curious here is the limit. When it infinitely increases or decreases within this graph, does this exponent converge or diverge? That’s what’s important.”
Seo Juhan tapped the chalkboard with the end of his chalk and turned his body toward the students.
Half of the students were lying down sleeping, and the other half were fiddling with their phones. The posture of looking down at their cell phones was uniformly arrogant.
He couldn’t see what they were doing on their phones, but it was obvious even without looking.
The kids were mainly watching videos that drew attention on NeTube and TikTak, or were deeply absorbed in fleeting news spreading on SNS like Stargram or FaceBook.
They also tapped away at their keyboards, chattering silently on KaTalk or FaceBook Messenger. There were also many who scrolled down while reading webtoons or web novels.
There were even kids who frequented illegal gambling sites or apps, so playing games was healthier in comparison.
This was what Seo Juhan had carefully observed throughout all of March.
“So then, what does 2 to the power of x become when the limit of x approaches infinity? Of course, since 2 is greater than 1, it diverges to infinity. You can intuitively confirm it from the graph.”
Seo Juhan looked at the chalkboard with vacant eyes and continued writing on the board. He explained while adding examples.
He heard giggling sounds from behind him. The punks nudged each other’s shoulders, telling each other to look at this. They expressed intimacy through vulgar insults toward one another.
Their husky voices seemed to have no idea how to whisper at all. At least it was better since they didn’t talk loudly enough to be disruptive.
In any case, everyone was seated.
Seo Juhan glanced at the College Scholastic Ability Test Special Lecture book spread open on the teacher’s desk.
“If you solve Example Problem 1… it’s similar to the limits of sequences we learned last time. The largest coefficient at the bottom—this one in the denominator is 1, and this one in the numerator has 5 in front of 5 to the power of x, right? So you can ignore the rest and it just becomes 5.”
He had become quite accustomed to talking to himself.
Seo Juhan finished writing in one smooth stroke and put down the chalk on the ledge of the chalkboard. He brushed off the white powder on his fingers and flipped through the book he’d left on the teacher’s desk.
“Alright, now you guys try solving the practice problems on page 41.”
Seo Juhan assigned the students their duty and then walked slowly between the crooked desks with his hands clasped behind his back.
The patrol guidance was merely nominal formality—he was actually just getting walking exercise. Of course, the students didn’t even pretend to solve the problems either.
He hadn’t expected anything anyway, so there was nothing to be disappointed about.
One of them was watching an adults-only webtoon without hesitation. He wasn’t a minor, so that part wasn’t the problem, but it was pornography wholly unsuitable for viewing in a public place. Breasts so heavy one wondered how anyone could carry them around filled the small screen completely.
It was embarrassing and awkward, but Seo Juhan kept his mouth shut and passed by. It was because of the tattoo protruding outside the kid’s tight short sleeves.
