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“Pardon my ignorance, but do we sit by numbers?”

As the group playing with the girl stiffened their faces or held back their laughter, Kim Deuk-pal knew he was in trouble. But Song Yiheon’s handsome looks saved him from punishment. A girl with a pink blanket draped over her shoulders rested her elbow on Kim’s desk and cupped her chin curiously. Kim awkwardly pushed his chair back just enough to get close.

“I haven’t settled on a seat yet. I’d like to sit down. By the way, did you transfer schools?”

“Huh? …No.”

Kim Deuk-pal shook his head. Song Yi-heon wore this school’s uniform, so he couldn’t transfer.

“Really? I used to attend elementary and middle school in this area, so I know almost everyone in my grade. But I’ve never seen him before.”

“He must have been in the old building.”

“If he was in the old building, he’d pass out in the updated bathroom.”

Before Kim Deuk-pal knew it, the girls turned toward Kim and talked among themselves. Kim Deuk-pal smiled vaguely, feeling neither included in the conversation nor left out. The incongruity of his eyes piercing and his mouth straining to smile was appealing, and the little girl who had been staring at him suddenly asked,

“What’s your name?”

“Uh, me?”

The girl curled her lips into a smile and nodded as he pointed at her awkwardly.

“My name is-.”

Bang, Bang! A noise interrupted her words. The source of the noise was the young female teacher, who slammed the classroom door with the attendance book to get their attention.

“Children, take your seats!”

The girls who had been looking at Kim Deuk-pal immediately sat down, and the students who had been running around the back of the classroom scrambled to find seats. When they were all seated, the teacher wrote their names on the blackboard and pointed to the classroom table.

“Do you all know who I am?”

“Yes-!”

Cheers erupted from the students as if she were a popular teacher. Kim Deuk-pal was the only frozen. She waited for the students to calm down before introducing herself.

“Anyway, I’m Jung Eun-chae, the teacher of the first class of third grade. My subject is English. Let’s do well in the year ahead!”

When she finished, the students clapped as if they had been waiting for it. Thinking that the young lady was an excellent teacher and had an excellent reputation, Kim Deuk-pal, who didn’t speak English, clapped his hands along with the children.

“You all know each other, right?”

“Yes!”

No…. Kim Deuk-pal denied it.

“Still, it’s the first day, so let’s have a roll call. Se-kyung is also in our class, but her teacher sent him on an errand… Number one, Kang Woo-min!”

The boy in the back raised his hand in response. So that’s how you answer. Kim Duk-pal watched carefully and waited for his turn. Only the boys raised their hands to see if their number was called first. When the last name with the letter ‘m’ was called, Kim’s arm twitched nervously as he prepared to raise his hand. He cleared his throat to avoid squeaking.

“12 Song …”

The governess’s eyes flickered as she read from the attendance book. A hesitant mouth read the names periodically.

“… Yi-heon!”

“Yes!”

Kim Deuk-pal raised his hand in the air. The classroom, which had buzzed with excitement, became silent as if cold water had been poured over it. The vacuum-like silence was strange, and as he looked around, goosebumps from a horror movie ran down his spine.

All the kids in the class, including the teacher, stared at him. Several pairs of evenly spaced, dot-like eyes stared at him unblinkingly.

“…Number 13, Lee Jae-geun.”

Only when the homeroom teacher called out the next number with a stiff tongue did their gazes return to normal. But the chatter about how everything was fine was just a distraction. The class’s attention was focused on Song Yi-heon.

Although many people in the classroom didn’t recognize his face, everyone knew him. He was known not only in the classroom, but throughout the school.

Song Yi-heon, a gay man who was outed to the whole school.

From high school, Song Yi-heon was bullied subtly because of his dirty clothes and introverted personality. He was shunned by Hong Jae-min and bullied by his clique, but there was something else that made the whole school a rumor.

The abstract concept of “homosexuality” was acceptable to teenage students who were immune to sexual diversity. However, the topic changed when the homosexual crush was specific. This is especially if it was a celebrity who wore the title of “all-school” in more ways than one, such as all-school president or all-school number one. The rumor that Choi Se-kyung, a celebrity, had a crush on the same man was accompanied by real-life nausea and spread like wildfire.

The entire school felt sorry for Choi Se-kyung and avoided Song Yi-heon.

Because of the ostracizing atmosphere, Song didn’t attend extra classes during winter break. He claimed to have been in a car accident, but no one believed him.

And the person who outed Song Yi-heon is in this class.

“Number 16, Choi Se-kyung, sent him on an errand. 17, Hong Jae-min.”

The auburn-haired girl sitting on the edge of the fourth division doorway raised her arms.

Song Yi-heon, Choi Se-kyung, and Hong Jae-min. The students’ faces turned grim as they realized they were now in the same class. They didn’t want to be photographed by Hong Jae-min’s group, so they pretended not to notice Song Yi-heon being bullied, and they were afraid of harming Choi Se-kyung, so they flirted among themselves.

Because of their consistency, none of the teachers had a problem with the trio’s combination in the class schedule.

“Jae Min, do your hair tomorrow.”

There was silence like a storm. As the classroom teacher called the class to order, the children alternated between the end of the first period and the end of the fourth period. Song Yi-heon listened to the teacher with his neck straight, while Hong Jae-min gritted his teeth.

Their heads spun rapidly.

If Song Yi-heon, the lowest in the hierarchy, was a willing scapegoat, Hong Jae-min’s group would not touch the other students.

The problem is that Song Yi-heon, with his bombshell hair, is unlikely to be a suitable scapegoat.

Either Song Yi-heon will rebel and return to being Hong Jae-min’s patsy, or Hong Jae-min will pick another scapegoat. In the latter case, he’d have to be careful not to become a scapegoat himself. At least he has Choi Se-kyung. Choi Se-kyung was more likely to keep peace in the classroom so he wouldn’t be disturbed. Hong Jae-min also folded his hands in front of Choi Se-kyung.

“We have a regular class today, so don’t get your hopes up.”

“Ah~.”

The children who were assessing the situation gathered angrily. The homeroom teacher spread her arms in disbelief.

“Kids, it’s your teacher!”

“Woo~.”

“Everyone, pay attention in first period and don’t doze off. I’ll ask another teacher. I’ll see you at the end of the day. The temporary class president is Se-kyung, so let’s skip the greetings.”

Before she could leave, the kids were up and scurrying to their lockers. It wasn’t until she was downstairs and out of earshot of the commotion that Hong Jae-min kicked the desk and stood up.

The desk hit an empty chair in front of it and fell over. Its thin steel legs were tangled together. Hong kicked the tangled desk again, and the kids around him flinched back. Whether or not the rest of the class frowned on him for creating such an unpleasant atmosphere, Hong had none of it.

In the space at the back of the classroom, he kicked everything in his path toward the head of the first class.

“Hey, Song Yi-heon, you crazy bastard, is that you?”

“…….”

Looking down at the chair that flew to his feet, Song Yi-heon lowered his head. Then yes. Shaving your head doesn’t change who you are. He is planning to catch him like a rat, just like he did in second grade. The kids in the circle around Song Yi-heon and Hong Jae-min were relieved and annoyed.

Relief that at least I’m not about to get Hong Jae-min, and irritation that I have to watch the strong bully the weak. And the discomfort of a bystander feeling like a thorn in his neck.

Song Yiheon, who thought was scared, slowly raised his head.

Song Yi-heon is stupid, frustrating, asshole Song Yi-hyun is an asshole, and the list goes on. The long bangs of last year, fluttering pathetically as he searched for someone to help him, overlapped Bamtol’s head.

But the bushy bangs were missing. The student, who had been pacing the halls impatiently waiting for a teacher, spotted Song and sucked in a breath.

His forehead, with its fine lines beneath his wild short hair, was lifted. His eyebrows were sharply defined, as if painted with a brush, and his nose was delicately shaped with a pointed tip. His blemish-free skin and combed hair made him look delicate and vulnerable, but his eyes were worn and worn, as if he wanted to crush his opponent.

His nakedness was on display.

Jae-min, Jae-min.”

To his surprise, Song Yiheon laughed with glee.

• * *

Jung Eun-chae, who was in charge of the first class of third graders, never wasted a moment greeting her students. When a male student bumped into her at the bottom of the stairs leading down to the faculty office on the third floor, Jung Eun-chae raised her voice and called him by name.

“Hello.”

“Park Eun-sung, did you study hard during your vacation? You look better since I haven’t seen you.”

Despite being a big bear of a student, she patted  on the shoulder as if he were a small child. She had only taught for a few years, but she was a bright and enthusiastic teacher. She made a conscious effort to memorize her students’ names and tried to listen and empathize with them, even if she couldn’t solve their problems.

Her enthusiasm and sense of challenge led her to apply for a high school homeroom, a position that younger teachers are rarely asked to take, and because of her reputation among students in her main subject, English, she became the homeroom teacher for the first class of third graders this year. But before she could celebrate, her first assignment as a homeroom teacher hit her.

“You are the guardian of student Song Yi-heon.

It was a day before the upcoming semester began, and an elegant middle-aged woman in a neat two-piece and up-do approached her. She was adamant that she didn’t want to get involved in the student’s personal life by calling her a “chaperone”. The middle-aged woman cut to the chase. Song Yi-heon didn’t get into a car accident. He fell off the overpass himself. The middle-aged woman, who was not consulting or informing, left the room without further conversation.

Jung Eun-chae didn’t even know who Song Yi-heon was until then, and she didn’t think it was the end, so she didn’t get up from the school counseling office for a while. How do you care for a student at home? Jung Eun-chae tried calling the school, but Im Kyung’s attitude was consistent. After being told she could pretend not to know, Jung Eun-chae accepted that Song Yi-hyun’s family was not normal, and she had to investigate further.

She sought other solutions. Luckily, her students were receptive to her, and there were students in the same grade as Song Yi-heon who were close to her. On the eve of the first semester, she called some of them into the counseling room under the guise of academic counseling. She asked them about Song Yi-heon. They met one-on-one at different times, and their assessments of Song Yi-heon were similar: He was a quiet, unassuming kid who was capable in front of the teacher.

It was mostly the latter.

That’s not enough to get him to jump off an overpass. As she pondered the question, a female student whispered in her ear, “Is there something wrong with your family?” Fearful of retribution.

Rum.

Hong Jae-min’s gang bullies Song Yi-heon.