Ch 140
Became a swordsmanship instructor at the academy
Chapter 140
After finishing the closing ceremony, I dropped by the faculty office to clock out and left school.
Since it was Friday, traffic was a bit congested, but I had made a reservation at a place not too far from school, so I arrived quickly.
[Hair Magic]
I thought it was just a neighborhood salon, but it's quite larger than I expected.
I parked and entered the salon.
"Welcome... Oh, are you by any chance Hunter Kang Shin-hyeok?"
"Yes. That's right. I made a reservation during lunch earlier. Is there a problem?"
He looks extremely surprised. Did my reservation not go through?
"I naturally thought it was someone with the same name. I was surprised because I never thought that the real Hunter Kang Shin-hyeok would come."
So he's surprised because it's me.
Well, this is my first time at this salon.
"Yes. Can you start right away?"
"Of course. Please follow me this way."
It's quite spacious compared to what I saw from outside.
There are quite a few hairstylists and customers, but everyone keeps glancing at me, which is slightly uncomfortable.
Should I have just gone to my usual place?
The neighborhood salon I usually go to has one lady who cuts my hair, and she doesn't seem to recognize me, plus there are hardly any customers.
I was going to go there today too, but I remembered her saying business wasn't going well and she'd be moving to the countryside, so I made a reservation here.
"You can sit here."
Following her instructions, I sat in the chair. The female hairstylist who guided me asked me to wait a moment, then a man with flashy colored hair approached.
He introduced himself as the owner, and looking at his hairstyle, he definitely gives off that vibe.
After introducing himself, he starts rambling on.
From whether this is my first time at their shop to how school life is, whether I have a girlfriend or not - he really talks a lot.
"Excuse me, I don't have much time, so I'd like to start now..."
"I was being too chatty by myself. So what would our Hunter Kang like to do? Maybe a perm? With such an attractive face, any perm would suit you well."
I know I'm handsome myself, but the owner's lip service seems excessive, making me slightly uncomfortable.
Besides, when did he even see me to call me 'our Hunter Kang'...
"I'm thinking of bleaching and dyeing it."
"Oh my, our shop does dyeing really well too. Do you have a color in mind?"
I showed him a photo I had prepared on my phone, and he was startled.
"This color seems like it would stand out too much. Is it okay at school?"
"These days, even students don't touch their hair. There are no specific regulations for teacher hair color."
During lunch break earlier, I crossed over to Luciel's world and thoroughly went through school regulations and even civil servant regulations.
Students have some restrictions like no dyeing, wearing uniforms, and hair length that doesn't interfere with training, but teachers have none at all.
"Is that so? I didn't know that."
"How long will it take?"
"Hmm, to get this color, we'll need to bleach at least twice... It'll take a generous two to three hours."
Ugh, it takes much longer than I thought.
"Your hair quality is really good, but bleaching will damage it quite a bit. I'll throw in nutritional care as a service."
I nodded and moved as the owner instructed.
Fortunately, it didn't take the full three hours, finishing all the work in just over two hours.
"Maybe because we bleached twice, the color came out really well. How is it?"
How is it... As the owner said, it came out exactly the color I chose, but honestly, it's awkward.
In my previous life and this life, I've never had hair this color... No, I've never dyed my hair at all.
I said it was fine and went to pay... Wow, the price is quite vicious.
I did get a trim and they gave me coffee and various services, but 300,000 won...
The owner cut it personally and there were various additional charges, but am I being ripped off?
When I looked it up online before coming, hair dye costs at most around 10,000 won...
It's not a huge amount for me, but I feel like I've been taken advantage of.
I left the salon thinking I should go somewhere else next time.
My next destination is Hongdae.
I got in the car and set the navigation when Luciel popped out.
"What's that thing on your head?"
"Why? Don't you like it?"
"It's weird."
I made a big decision to do this.
"You'll get used to it if you keep looking? And this is just the beginning."
"Huh?"
Ignoring Luciel who seemed displeased, I stepped on the accelerator.
***
I woke up to the alarm sound at 7 o'clock.
The dye smell hasn't completely gone away yet, but it's much better after washing my hair.
I usually wore suits, but today I put on clothes I had prepared in advance and left the dormitory.
As I headed to the dining hall, the back of my head stung quite a bit, but I had expected this to some degree, so I ignored it and arrived at the dining hall.
Even while eating, gazes kept pouring in, but I stubbornly finished my meal and came to the faculty office.
I clocked in and sat at my seat, and everyone looked shocked.
"Ka... Teacher Kang?"
"Good morning."
"Th, that... No, Teacher Kang, what's with that hair?"
"And why are your clothes like that..."
"Did something happen?"
Everyone's making such a fuss.
"I changed my style to lift my mood a bit."
I spoke calmly, but the shocked expressions on everyone's faces didn't fade.
"No..."
"People like the academic affairs director, vice-principal, or principal will probably say something if they see you."
"It's fine. There's no problem regulation-wise."
Just then, the vice-principal entered the faculty office, and seeing me, he made a shocked expression and approached.
"Ka... Teacher Kang?"
"What's wrong?"
"What on earth is that hair and those clothes?"
"I was feeling a bit down, so I changed things up. Why do you ask?"
"No, a teacher who teaches students going around like that, what will the kids think when they see..."
"Hmm, that's crossing the line a bit. There are no dress code regulations in Hunter School rules. Even applying civil servant dress regulations, there's absolutely no problem."
"What?"
There are no restrictions on teachers' attire or appearance in the school rules at all.
Civil servant dress regulations do have constraints like wearing neat attire, but there's a regulation that makes exceptions for practical teachers at Hunter Schools and state-affiliated Hunters.
It doesn't make sense to fight monsters while wearing a suit.
Actually, even though attire is autonomous, people usually wear comfortable tracksuits or jeans, not dress like me.
What I'm wearing now is a so-called Hawaiian shirt with lots of red and blue flowers, and jeans torn all over the place.
I have piercings in both ears, blonde hair, and even got a tan.
"AHEM. No, even if there's no such regulation, common sense dictates that no teacher should be like this..."
"Common sense, you say. Well said. Then is it common sense for the vice-principal to dump extra classes on me and even make me do festival performances without a single word of consultation, just because of regulations?"
"Are you rebelling now?"
"Rebelling? I simply styled myself the way I wanted without violating any regulations."
Responding point by point, the vice-principal's face turned bright red.
Did he think I'd meekly take it when he dumps work on me while citing regulations? Not even close.
"Then if you have nothing more to say, I need to do some paperwork."
Leaving the vice-principal speechless like someone who swallowed honey, I sat down and turned on my computer.
Eventually, the vice-principal left without saying anything.
During the faculty meeting, the academic affairs director nagged like the vice-principal, but when I questioned whether it violated regulations, he couldn't argue back.
Of course, I don't plan to end it here.
My rebellion is just beginning.
After finishing the meeting, I headed to the classroom for morning assembly.
Everyone looked surprised, but I conducted the assembly as usual and came to the swordsmanship training ground.
"Ka... Teacher Kang?"
"Good morning."
"What on earth happened to your hair... Your outfit is quite radical too?"
"I wanted to make some changes to my style."
I answered simply and did some paperwork, then class time came.
"GASP! Teacher?"
"Is this really our teacher?"
The swordsmanship class kids' reaction isn't much different from my homeroom class.
"Lee Jinsu, do you have complaints about my style?"
"N... No."
"Then why are you saying such things? Your attitude score is minus 2 points."
"WHAT. That's too harsh."
"Teacher, did something happen?"
"What happened? Just go run laps."
I sent them to run laps and took out my phone.
I looked at some stocks and downloaded games to play, and before I knew it, the kids had finished running and returned.
Now that they all have stamina, their speed is quite fast even for 30 laps.
"We're done."
"Yeah? Today's class is self-study."
"What?"
"Self-study?"
"Whether you spar or do VR, figure it out yourselves."
"Tea... Teacher?"
"Don't like it? Want to keep running laps?"
"N, no."
"Don't leave the swordsmanship training ground. If you chat or mess around, your attitude score gets deducted."
"What? Teacher, that's..."
"What? It clearly states in school regulations that points are deducted for not following instructions. Should I deduct more points?"
"N... No."
"Talking to me meaninglessly also gets attitude points deducted, so behave yourselves. Kim Minhee, Lee Jinsu, you two manage the kids well."
"Yes."
"Yes..."
Honestly, it's not the kids' fault, and I considered conducting class normally, but I shouldn't let my heart soften.
The kids need to have complaints and raise issues for the vice-principal to come to his senses too.
I felt a bit uncomfortable at first, but humans truly are creatures of adaptation - when I had Class B do self-study in the afternoon, I wasn't uncomfortable at all.
If I keep this up, the kids might develop direct complaints against me, so tomorrow it might be good to have snacks and play together.
It's my class, so it doesn't matter.
According to school regulations, conducting classes is the exclusive authority of the teacher in charge.
***
It's been three days since I started my rebellion.
On the first day, students who had many complaints about being made to do self-study have been responding quite well since the second day, when I started buying them food and making it fun.
A few students expressed concern about whether this was okay, feeling anxious about playing for two consecutive days, but I brushed it off saying it was fine.
Actually, they learned most of the theory in the first semester, and theory isn't that important to begin with.
Unfortunately, starting tomorrow there's practical training, so I don't have classes.
But that's actually good.
Normally I'd have to participate in the practical training too, but since I'm in charge of martial arts tournament supplementary classes, I've been excluded from this practical training onward.
Plus, I'm making all the supplementary classes self-study, so it's no different from resting.
"No questions? Everyone have a good practical training. See you on Friday."
After finishing the closing ceremony, I came down to the faculty office.
"Teacher Park, want to have a drink after work?"
"Th... That sounds good, but earlier the vice-principal said to come to his office when Teacher Kang arrives."
"The vice-principal?"
I thought it would take about a week for a reaction, but it's faster than expected.
"His expression looked quite bad."
"Well, he must have some unpleasant business."
I headed to the vice-principal's office.
I knocked and opened the door to find the vice-principal sitting on the sofa, and as Teacher Park said, he looks like he chewed on poop.
"I heard you called for me."
"Teacher Kang! Are you really going to keep doing this?"
"Why are you shouting?"
I responded cheekily, pretending not to know anything, and his expression got even worse.
"What do you mean pretending not to know? Even if I overlook your attire and hair, your classes and you're not even doing supplementary classes!"
"What hurtful words are you saying? I've never missed a single class or supplementary session."
"What good is not missing them? You don't teach, just eat and play - it's complete chaos."
"I'm bewildered. Classes are the exclusive authority of the teacher in charge, so even if you're the vice-principal, you have no authority to interfere according to regulations."
"Even if it's exclusive authority, conducting classes like that..."
"I only did what the regulations allow."
"That damn regulation..."
"Did you forget who first cited regulations while dumping work on me?"
"No, even so, if you're going to conduct classes like that, just quit."
"Are you suggesting I resign right now? You may be my superior, but you're not the personnel authority, are you? According to regulations, you don't have such authority."
Civil servants have job security.
The vice-principal is trembling with anger, and it's so satisfying.