Problem Children Deserve Even Closer Management
Sitting there in the professor's office, I watched Baek Nahee's eyes go round as saucers the moment she saw me.
She pointed at me with eyes so wide they looked ready to pop out of her skull, and I couldn't help but snicker at the sheer shock on her face.
Ah, right. This is exactly what I was going for.
Just last week she was looking down on me like I was her personal errand boy, and now that same doormat was sitting behind a professor's desk?
Worse — not just any professor, but her assigned professor.
She had to be thinking, oh God, I am so, so fucked.
"K-Kang Jinwoo...? What the— why are you sitting there?!"
"Kang Jinwoo? Here, you address me as Professor Kang Jinwoo, Ms. Baek Nahee."
"Wh-what...?"
Watching her grow even more flustered, I rose from my seat at a leisurely pace. Then, brushing right past her, I gripped the office door handle and delivered a flat, toneless reprimand.
"By the way — holding a private meeting with your professor and you can't even be bothered to close the door? Are students these days seriously this rude?"
"Excuse me...?"
"Ah, come to think of it, Ms. Baek Nahee, you seem to be the only one who does this. Perhaps I shouldn't paint all today's students with the same brush."
"Wh-what kind of bullshit is that...!!"
The moment she flared up and tried to fire back, I slammed the office door shut with a resounding bang. Startled by the crash, Baek Nahee flinched hard, her whole body jerking.
Then again, it probably wasn't just the door that spooked her.
It was the dizzying realization that the professor who would be responsible for her entire semester had suddenly turned out to be that Kang Jinwoo.
And considering all the abuse she'd piled on me back then, the only thought running through her head had to be: I am absolutely screwed.
"Well then, have a seat. You're stuck with me as your assigned professor, so we might as well have our meeting."
"Wh-what the hell are you talking about! Why are you a professor? You dropped out of some crappy no-name college and worked convenience store night shifts, remember?!"
Wow. How on earth did she know that?
Apparently someone from our class who knew me had filled her in at the last reunion.
Truthfully, Baek Nahee wasn't wrong. Until a few weeks ago, I really was exactly the person she'd described.
But the me standing here now was a different story.
"I'm afraid I don't know what you're referring to, student. I am Kang Jinwoo, professor at Saul University's Special Devotion Talent Department?"
"What the—"
"Besides, isn't it basic courtesy to at least confirm your professor's name before showing up? Did you just waltz in without even checking?"
"Well... the name... I just assumed it was a coincidence."
"Oh, so you came in here assuming I was some lookalike?"
"What...?"
"Ha. This is why you don't take students with bad grades."
"Wh-what did you say?"
"Sit down already. I have a meeting to get through before I can send you on your way."
At my ice-cold tone, Baek Nahee glanced around nervously, then slunk over and sank onto the sofa.
So the authority of a professor really did carry that much weight — even the Baek Nahee couldn't muster a peep of resistance.
Wearing an easy smile, I slowly flipped through the file containing her student information.
"Hmm. Grades are dismal. Attitude is terrible."
"Grrr..."
"And last time, you went so far as to defy your professor directly, didn't you?"
"What would you know, talking out of your ass like that?!"
When Baek Nahee exploded out of her seat, I set the file down with a sharp thud and looked up at her. Startled by the movement, she shot me a furtive glance — and meekly settled back onto the sofa.
"Professors tend to know just about everything, you'll find."
"Ugh..."
"I mean, really. Throwing pork belly at a classmate's face at a class reunion after years apart — is it any wonder your conduct on campus leaves something to be desired?"
"What? Why are you suddenly bringing that up...!"
"Anyway. Poor grades, poor conduct... It says here you've been designated a special management case with a high risk of failing."
As I read aloud the line at the very bottom of her file, the color drained from Baek Nahee's face.
The Special Devotion Talent Department was an elite program that guaranteed employment at a major corporation upon graduation.
Failing out of it was, for all practical purposes, equivalent to flunking out of Seoul National University's medical school.
Well, if someone were smart enough to get into med school before washing out, they'd at least have the brains to find another path.
But the Special Devotion Talent Department — for all its lofty name — was, in practice, a pipeline into sex work.
Which meant that getting kicked out of this department left you with exactly zero options.
And before conducting this meeting, I'd done a little extra digging.
Namely: anyone who failed out of this department was barred from applying to any other school.
On top of that, the failure would be stamped into their social record for good — their life, quite literally, over.
In other words, Baek Nahee needed to scrape and grovel before me right now, however she could manage it, just to avoid failing.
...And yet a girl backed into that kind of corner walks into her professor's office chewing gum and running her mouth like a delinquent?
God, what an absolute lunatic.
"You know what's fascinating, though? Back in first year, your assigned-professor evaluations weren't half bad. What kind of professor let THIS slide, I wonder?"
"...That was just his taste."
"His what?"
"That professor — he was into that kind of thing! Getting verbally abused by a delinquent girl... you know, like that."
Ah. So he was one of those.
Well, that explained a fair bit.
Her lousy assigned-professor evaluation in the first semester of second year probably meant she'd run the exact same playbook, and it just happened to clash with that professor's tastes.
And she still hadn't learned her lesson — she tried the same trick on me just now?
Sorry, Baek Nahee. That's not going to fly.
Looks like I'll have to step in and educate you properly.
"I see. Got it. So that's the strategy you came in here with."
"Ugh... Look, let's just move past it, okay? I'm sorry about back then. I'll be good to you from now on, so just go easy on my score this time and... Hnk?!"
"Ms. Baek Nahee."
I stood, crossed to her, and took her chin in my hand.
Her eyes went wide at the sudden contact, but whether it was the weight of the moment or something else, she didn't resist.
I tightened my grip on her jaw and let my gaze drop to a frosty calm.
"If you want a good evaluation, then earn it properly."
"Nngh..."
"I'm the professor, and you're the student. So why don't you act like one and behave yourself?"
With that, I released her chin. I caught the way her smile had gone cold and brittle.
By now, the "I'm fucked" realization must be hitting her hard.
The lowly bread-shuttle doormat Kang Jinwoo had suddenly become a professor — and unlike her previous one, he wasn't about to be pushed around by a delinquent girl.
Unfortunately for her, being verbally abused by a delinquent girl is not, in fact, my thing.
Each to their own and all that — I just had no interest in catering to the tastes of a lunatic who throws pork belly at people's faces.
"Don't worry. As a professor of the Special Devotion Talent Department — and as your assigned professor from here on out — I'll walk you through everything, step by step, nice and thoroughly."
"...Yes, Professor!"
"Now get going. I have a class to prepare for."
"...Y-yes, Professor."
Whether it was my presence or sheer intimidation, Baek Nahee nodded with her shoulders hunched all the way up to her ears, then practically fled from the office.
The moment she was gone, I let my stern expression melt away and heaved a long sigh.
'Whew. Acting is exhausting.'
If I were the old Kang Jinwoo, I wouldn't have managed a single word in front of the likes of her.
It was only because I'd landed the title of professor that I could even pull off this bluff.
Still... what was I going to do going forward?
I'd come on as strong as possible for fear that showing any weakness from the start would let her walk all over me — but I hadn't actually worked out the specifics of how to straighten her out.
Truthfully, I still hadn't fully mapped out how this department even operated, let alone the professor's role in it.
It seemed like I could do more or less as I pleased with the students — but surely even that freedom had some invisible line drawn somewhere.
If I overreached, crossed that line, and got bounced out of this honey-sweet position, the fallout would be catastrophic.
'First things first... as a professor, I need to find out exactly how far I can go with the students in this absurd department, don't I?'
Letting out a light sigh, I picked up the smartphone resting on my desk.
Then I pulled up the number of Kim Minjeong — my assigned teaching assistant, who'd just finished briefing me on departmental affairs — and hit the call button.
Really, for questions like these, there was no one better than my own TA.
I seemed to have earned a decent amount of goodwill with her, and I'd already mentioned that this was my first time at the school — so asking her a pile of questions wouldn't strike her as strange at all.
"Yes, Professor. This is Kim Minjeong."
"Ah, Assistant Kim. Nothing urgent — I was wondering if you could possibly come by my office."
"Your office? Of course. I'll be right there."
"Ah, well—"
- Click.
"Wow. She didn't even ask why. Just came running."
I never could have imagined she'd be this devoted.
Less than five minutes after my summons, a polite knock sounded at the door and she stepped into the office.
"Professor, you called for me?"
"Ah, yes. Assistant Kim. It's about the practical coursework — I find myself in need of your assistance."
"My assistance? Professor, if there's anything at all you require, please don't hesitate to ask."
Watching the department assistant bow her head in her crisp office suit, I smiled.
Ahh, you really can't beat having someone this reliable.
Then I wiped the smile from my face, coughed, and put on my most solemn professorial expression before posing the question in a relaxed, unhurried voice.
"I'd like you to tell me exactly how far I'm permitted to go with my students."