PE Teacher: Geum Taeyang-7
Han Somi had a creeping unease about going to the Guidance Office. Tambourine had warned her to be careful of the PE teacher.
That was exactly why she hadn't gone yesterday. But then the class president had come after her, demanding to know why she hadn't listened to the PE teacher. Apparently he'd told the class president about her skipping out.
"Sorry. I had something urgent..."
"The PE teacher seems really angry. You have to go to the Guidance Office today."
"Okay. Sorry, class president. Did you get in trouble because of me?"
"......No, nothing like that. Just make sure you go see him today."
Having given the class president her word, Han Somi couldn't skip again.
Even if the PE teacher turned out to be some entity from the Shadow World, she had her Muse Watch. With the Muse Watch, she could transform into a magical girl.
It made her anxious that Tambourine, her reliable partner, wasn't around — but if things went south, she could at least run. Telling herself that, she knocked on the Guidance Office door.
"Han Somi, first-year Hope Class."
"Come in."
The PE teacher's voice came from inside. Flat. Dry. No emotion in it at all.
Han Somi found that kind of voice more frightening than an angry one. It was the voice her mother used when she was truly furious.
She opened the door and stepped inside — and found an unexpected face. The class president. Kneeling in the corner of the Guidance Office, both hands raised in the air.
When their eyes met, the class president flushed with embarrassment and looked away.
"Class president!? What are you doing here...? Did you do something wrong too?"
"No!"
The class president's voice cracked as she shouted. The reason she was suffering like this was Han Somi herself.
"You're a little late."
The PE teacher sat in his chair. His face was as empty of emotion as his voice. But that flashy blond hair and tanned skin were intimidating enough on their own.
Every time she met him, Han Somi thought the same thing: this man simply did not look like a teacher.
"I'm sorry. I had cleaning duty today."
Han Somi bowed her head in apology.
"Why didn't you come yesterday?"
"Ugh... well..."
She hadn't prepared an excuse, and her mouth went dry. Han Somi was a terrible liar, and improvising was not her strong suit.
The PE teacher watched her squirm and smiled faintly.
"Well, never mind. I'm sure you had your reasons. But no matter what those reasons were, you don't get to throw away a promise you made with a teacher. You're still a student."
"Yes..."
Han Somi had no choice but to sit through the lecture. She was clearly the one at fault.
The PE teacher pointed at the class president, still being punished.
"Because of you, the class president is suffering like that."
"Because of me?"
His words were enough to throw Han Somi into confusion. Why was the class president being punished for something she had done? That made no sense.
Then the PE teacher slowly explained the shared-punishment system. Put simply: if you messed up, your friend got punished too.
"Th-there's a system like that?"
"The faculty meeting decided to trial it at our school. And we happen to have a rather famous problem student."
The words "problem student" made Han Somi flinch. All that magical-girl business had piled up tardies and skipped classes — and it was still early in the semester.
Her homeroom teacher had even said, more than once, that she'd never had a problem student like her. The homeroom teacher was fundamentally a kind, student-loving person, which only made Han Somi feel worse.
"Anyway, you did something wrong, so you take the punishment. Jeongmi, put your hands down and come here. Both of you, write reflection essays. Use the desk in the corner."
The PE teacher handed Han Somi and the class president sheets of A4 paper — the cheap stock the school used for everything.
"Write down everything you did wrong. Fill the page."
"Ugh... I'm terrible at this kind of thing..."
Han Somi was hopeless at writing.
She glanced at the class president. The girl was already flying through the page with her mechanical pencil, writing fluently — even though she hadn't actually done anything wrong. An enviable talent.
Han Somi reluctantly picked up her own pencil. She scrawled a rough account of her mistakes and how sorry she felt, but she didn't even fill half the page. What she had written was so crooked it was barely legible.
"Again."
Han Somi has truly atrocious handwriting. It's mentioned plenty in the original work.
At my order to rewrite the reflection essay, her face crumpled.
"This is already the third time..."
"Can you even read what you wrote?"
"No..."
Han Somi picked up the pencil again, looking miserable.
Her fourth attempt was just as bad. Nothing but I was wrong and I'm sorry over and over. It was basically just copying lines.
"Hmm. This isn't going to work as a reflection essay no matter how we try."
"Teacher~ can't you let me off here? I think my wrist is going to go numb."
Han Somi put on a face so sad it looked like tears were about to spill. And her actual feelings seemed just as wretched. A soft-hearted teacher would have caved at that look. I shook my head.
"If you don't show me a proper reflection, the punishment doesn't end."
"The sun's already going down. I've reflected enough. I swear I won't be late next time."
"How am I supposed to trust the word of a repeat offender like you? Hmm. It is getting late, so you can go for now. But come back after school. If you skip again, the class president will get an even worse punishment."
"Ugh! Understood!"
Han Somi bowed her head and fled the Guidance Office.
I looked at the class president, still sitting in her seat. She'd passed the reflection essay on the first try, but she'd waited while Han Somi kept rewriting. And while she waited, she'd even studied diligently. The kind of earnestness that made me want to adopt her as a daughter.
"Good work, class president."
"No. You're the one who worked the hardest, sir."
The class president bowed her head to me.
The next day, I changed the punishment. Corporal punishment. The cane.
Han Somi went white at the word. It was almost funny — a magical girl who fought monsters from the Shadow World, terrified of a beating. Then again, that was a perfectly ordinary reaction for a girl her age.
"How many strokes do you think you'll take?"
"C-could I just take one?"
"Hmm. Hearing that, I don't think one will cut it. Twenty."
"T-twenty!?"
"That's right. Twenty between you and the class president. So ten each."
Han Somi looked at the class president with a face as pale as paper. A mix of emotions swam in her eyes.
"The class president has to get hit too?"
"That's the system. If you'd rather take all twenty yourself, I won't stop you."
Han Somi swallowed. I could practically see her thoughts. She wouldn't be able to stand causing other people trouble because of her.
Why had she become a magical girl in the first place? To protect the innocent. And now an innocent class president was going to be punished because of her. You couldn't invent a more ironic situation.
"I'll take them all! The class president didn't do anything wrong!"
I smiled at her words.
"Fine. Then brace yourself on that desk and stick your hips back."
"Huh? Where are you going to hit me...?"
"Corporal punishment means the backside, obviously."
At my words, the class president and Han Somi both nodded almost in unison. Right now, a Common Sense Alteration Talisman was posted in the Guidance Office. An ordinary person wouldn't find anything strange about what I'd said.
"B-but you don't usually do that with girls, do you?"
"Says who? Stick your ass out. Every second you delay, I add another stroke."
Han Somi awkwardly planted her hands on the desk and pushed her hips back. Whether that was the talisman's effect or whether this much still fell within what she could accept, I couldn't tell.
Then again, back in my school days there was a PE teacher who used to smack the girls on the ass with a transparent ruler. At the time I just thought, well, that's corporal punishment. Looking back, the guy was just a pervert. He definitely jerked off every night with the ruler he'd used on those girls' butts.
"Count properly. If you lose count, we start over from the beginning."
"Yes..."
Somi answered in a voice thick with fear.
I brought the long plastic ruler to her backside. Like a nurse tapping a hip before a shot, I let her feel the hard edge of the ruler against her ass.
When I was a kid, this kind of punishment was completely ordinary. Girls getting their palms smacked was nothing special. These days it's all student-rights ordinances and the practice has vanished. Anyway. Disciplining a fresh young girl with a cane. Truly magnificent.
Whiiip! Smack!
I put real force into the blow. A satisfying crack, and the impact traveled cleanly up through my hand. Somi's ass was remarkably springy. So this was what they meant by that satisfying hand-feel.
"Hyaaah!"
Somi's posture collapsed. The power had been far stronger than she'd expected.
She clutched her ass with both hands, tears spilling.
"That hurt!"
"If it doesn't hurt, it isn't discipline. You didn't count, so we start from the beginning."
"That's not fair!"
I stood Somi back up. The earlier bravado had vanished somewhere along the way. She stared at my ruler with a face full of terror.
"Teacher! I'm sorry! I'll write the reflection essay properly! So please..."
"Too late. You take the beating, and next time you don't mess up."
"Hyaaah!"
Smack!
"One!"
Smack!
"Twooo...! I can't! I can't! It hurts too much!"
She twitched her hips and scrambled away. My eyebrow twitched hard. I looked at Jeongmi.
"Can't be helped. Jeongmi will have to take the punishment in her place."