Welcome to Cheongdam Cram School

By the time I'd finished my morning sex and come scrambling into the academy, class was already in full swing. I'd floored it the whole way there, and I was still a full hour late.

"Sorry I'm late."

"Oh my god! Why are you so late? I was worried sick."

The director came scurrying over the instant I stepped into the classroom, as if she were terrified I might turn around and bolt. It was cute, in a way. It was also completely ridiculous.

This goddamn academy is a problem all by itself.

I'd been at this retake academy for three weeks now. I'd learned a great deal about Cheongdam Cram School in that time, and it hadn't taken long to arrive at one inescapable conclusion.

I'd been scammed.

The director had promised to put together a class of five students at my level. Running mates, she'd called them — something about keeping everyone motivated. But the kids I met after the term started were nowhere near my scores, no matter how generously you looked at ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it.

There was the weeb who spent every break with earbuds in, watching anime. The tattooed couple who didn't look like they had the faintest intention of studying. And last of all, Lee Hui-gyeong, who'd spent her entire high school career doing anything but hitting the books. All of them. In one class. With me.

Hui-gyeong's presence, in particular, left me speechless. Even if my senior-year grades had been annihilated by crypto trading, putting me in the same bracket as Hui-gyeong — dead last in the entire school — was an insult. It was a smear on every year I'd spent as a student.

For ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠once, they all actually showed up.

I swept my eyes over the four wildly distinct students, then fixed a glare on the director standing at the podium. She fidgeted, reading my face, and then came out with something completely absurd.

"Y-you guys didn't really get what we just covered, right? Want to go over it again?"

A do-over of a lecture she'd already given. She was obviously doing it for my sake. In any normal classroom, the students would have been well within their rights to complain. Nobody in this room said a word.

The tattooed couple couldn't have cared less about the lesson. Hui-gyeong, being an airhead, genuinely needed the review. The weeb at least looked annoyed, but he was too introverted to speak up.

I ignored the look he shot me and pulled out my book. I didn't feel the slightest bit guilty that they were repeating a lecture because of me.

If you've got a problem, go prepaid twenty-four million won like I did.

"Hold on, Teach! This isn't what we agreed on! Hui-gyeong was dead last at our school. How is she in the same class as me?"

Then the director — or rather, Lee Seongyeong, Hui-gyeong's older sister — spilled everything at once.

"I'm sorry! I lost my mind for a second!"

What she said next was a spectacle. She didn't have enough students to match anyone by level. The four million won a month I'd been charged was twice the actual tuition. And nobody — absolutely nobody — had prepaid six months the way I had.

Honesty was nice. It didn't make any of this less insane.

"...I'll see you at the police station."

"W-wait! Just hear me out! Please, I'm begging you!"

I turned to leave without a second thought. Lee Seongyeong dropped to her knees and grabbed my pant leg, then poured out, in exhaustive detail, every reason she'd had no choice. A business partner she'd been running the place with had poached every last student and walked. She'd been left holding an academy she couldn't afford. And when she'd met me, the rent had already been months overdue — she was days from being evicted.

It was a sad story. It didn't mean much to me.

"And that's my problem because...?"

"Just give me one chance! I'll take such good care of you, I swear!"

"Forget it. Start getting used to prison food."

"Please, don't! I've worked so hard my whole life. Waaah. Our parents died and I raised Hui-gyeong all by myself — do you have any idea how hard that's been? Waaah!"

She was so overwhelmed she started sobbing about her family history. A woman ten years older than me, on her knees, bawling her eyes out — I didn't know what to do with that. If she'd played dumb and stonewalled me, I could have marched to the station with a clear conscience. But she hadn't. Honestly, I didn't actually want to send her to jail.

I wavered, just a little.

"Fine. Just refund the tuition. I won't go to the cops."

"Waaah, I don't have any money. I had ramen for lunch today. Waaah."

"The fuck am I supposed to do with that."

Go ahead, sue me — dealing with this airheaded woman was giving me a headache. That was when she made an offer.

"I'll tutor you privately every weekend. I'm a really good teacher! And ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I'll tailor every academy class to you!"

"And that writes off twelve million won."

"...I'll pay you back. Hic. When I start making real money."

My instincts, honed by more time in the crypto pits than I cared to admit, were telling me she wouldn't be making real money anytime soon. One look at her and you could tell she had airhead written all over her. Financially speaking, she inspired zero confidence.

"Let me sit through one lecture first."

I was in a corner, though. You can't squeeze money out of someone who claims she's living on ramen. If I wasn't going to send her to prison, the only option left was to take the L and cut a deal.

"Hic — okay, want to try this problem? Hic!"

"Blow your nose."

"Okay, sorry. Hic!"

The one silver lining was that she really could teach. She broke down even the hard explanations with a structure and clarity that made it obvious she had every right to take pride in her actual job. If that hadn't been ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠true, I wouldn't have stayed at Cheongdam Cram School.

And that was why I was still here, three weeks later, sitting through a lecture she'd restarted from the top just for me.

"That's all for today."

Before I knew it, Seongyeong-ssaem had wrapped up a two-hour lecture and left the classroom. We got a ten-minute break. The tattooed couple, who'd goofed off the entire period, went out for a smoke. Hui-gyeong fell asleep. The weeb put on anime.

I clicked my tongue at the sight of classmates who looked like they'd sworn a blood oath against studying.

This place is still two million won a month, isn't it? How did she manage to collect nothing but kids who bleed their parents dry?

In their own special way, they were motivating me. Something like: I am not ending up like that. Before I knew it, I'd opened my book to review.

I locked in. A little later the English teacher came in, and I kept my head down and my mind clear all the way through until the Korean literature teacher arrived. Whatever the start of the day had looked like, the studying itself was going well.

Two hours each of Korean, English, and math — six hours total — and the official retake-academy day was over. Anyone who wanted more study time could use the reading room, but of course our class didn't have a single specimen of that caliber.

Everyone bolted for the door like inmates at the end of a sentence. I wasn't really in a position to judge. Five straight hours of hard focus had left me desperate for even a short break.

I'll just rest a bit, then get back to it.

I packed my things, left the classroom, and headed for the parking lot, thinking I'd grab a coffee outside.

"Dojun!"

Someone unexpected was waiting in the parking lot. Lee Hui-gyeong, the director's little sister. She was hovering, very precisely, in front of my car.

"What are you doing here?"

"Is this your car?"

"Yeah."

I had a bad feeling, but there was no reason to lie, so I told her the truth. Hui-gyeong's eyes lit up.

"Whoa! I didn't have you pegged like that."

"...And how exactly did you have me pegged?"

"Never mind that. What do you think of me?"

"Where the hell did that come from?"

She did a slow twirl right there on the spot, then planted one hand on the car and showed off her back. She had the figure for it, no question — a plump, round ass and the smooth line of her legs disappearing under a short skirt, both of them grabbing the eye and refusing to let go. And then the little brat, shameless as anything, gave her skirt a little tug.

I was too stunned to speak.

"What do you think you're doing."

"Wanna go out with me?"

"You trying to die?"

I barely stopped myself from planting a mid-kick in Hui-gyeong's ass.

"Don't talk shit."

"Aw, why not! You said you weren't dating Jieun!"

"What does that have to do with anything."

Seongyeong-ssaem, Hui-gyeong — shamelessness was clearly a family trait. I shook my head, opened the car door, and tossed my bag in. I grabbed just what I needed to study and left the parking lot.

Hui-gyeong trotted after me.

"Where are you going?"

"A cafe."

"Me too, me too."

I couldn't begin to understand how her brain worked, but she followed me anyway. I tried to figure out what to do with this girl and came up empty.

Before I started at Cheongdam Cram School, I'd actually held a bit of a grudge against Hui-gyeong. She'd known perfectly well that I liked Jieun, and she'd still introduced Shin Jeong-woo to her — and then invited me to watch. From where I stood, that was a challenge. A provocation.

But after watching her at the academy, I'd changed my mind. Or rather, I'd started to understand her.

She's just an airhead.

That was it. There was no intent behind anything Hui-gyeong did. The kid was a little dim. What was the point of hating someone like that?

Today was more of the same. Asking me out out of nowhere. Trailing me to a cafe without a second thought. Impulsive, no depth, a textbook airhead.

"I'll have a cafe latte!"

"...One iced americano and one cafe latte, please."

I ended up buying her coffee before I knew what I was doing, and we sat down at the same table like it was the most natural thing in the world.

"Drink that and go."

"What about you?"

"I've got studying to do. It's not even four yet."

"Hmm, really?"

Hui-gyeong didn't look like she had any intention of leaving, but that was no longer my problem. I opened the book I'd brought and focused on studying. I figured I'd stay here for about thirty minutes, then head back up to the academy.