Elementary School's Servant Male Teacher
"Mr. Tae-oh, late again?"
"Huff, huff...! Huh?"
The moment I arrive at school, the teacher from the next class over—who's been waiting for me—furrows her brow sharply.
No way.I ran my ass off to get here.
I catch my breath, chest heaving up to my chin, and eye the expression on the woman in front of me: Ryu Se-hee.
"Do you even know what time it is right now?"
Ryu Se-hee wrinkles her pretty face, her brows knitting together tightly.
Here comes the nagging.
"Look at this."
Ryu Se-hee lifts her long lashes and turns on her phone screen to show me. Cute cat wallpaper. Doesn't match her fiery temper at all.
"Not the wallpaper. The clock."
She taps the clock on the screen. It's just ticking over to 7:53.
What the hell? That's way earlier than start time.Official hours are 8:30. Shouldn't she be praising me?
"Mr. Tae-oh. What did I tell you about teacher arrival times?"
"Arrive before the earliest student."
"Then what's that?"
Ryu Se-hee turns her head toward my class with a dissatisfied scowl. I follow her gaze, and sure enough, there's already one kid sitting in the classroom. When the hell did that one get here? The clueless child spots me and waves innocently, all smiles.
"Teacher~! I got here super early! Good job, right?"
"...Y-yeah."
I wave back with an awkward smile.
"Mr. Tae-oh."
"Yes, ma'am."
"If something happens to a kid left alone like that, whose responsibility is it?"
"Mine."
"What's most important for a teacher?"
"Responsibility."
"7:40."
"?"
"That kid arrived at 7:40 today. So from now on, get here earlier than that."
"Wait, that'd mean waking up at 5..."
"Just go to bed earlier. It's not like you have anything to do at night. You're not gonna say you're busy gaming, right?"
"...Absolutely not."
"Good. And obviously, no girlfriend, so I won't even ask."
"..."
Smiling face. Smiling face.
I force a smile, straining the corners of my mouth.
Hold it in, Han Tae-oh.
No matter how pissed I get, Ryu Se-hee is the grade chief for our 6th grade. Ryu Se-hee. 30 years old. Seventh-year elementary teacher. Homeroom for 6th Grade Class 1.
Personality: a total bitch.
Sixth graders are in puberty, thinking they're hot shit, running wild—and they know they're not legally accountable yet, so they push boundaries. Taming kids like that takes more than a mild temperament. You need charisma to shut them down with a glare alone, or a nasty temper. Ryu Se-hee has the latter.
She's held the chief position for years in the toughest grade, so you can imagine her style.
The problem? She turns that prickly attitude on me too. Me, Han Tae-oh, homeroom teacher for 6th Grade Class 2 next door.
"Even if I'm the chief, do I have to micromanage your arrival time too? You're not even a student."
"I'd be grateful if you didn't."
"I want to, but handle it yourself, okay?"
"...Ha. Yes. I'll be careful."
Ryu Se-hee and I are just a year apart. In the real world, that's nothing, but I bow my head anyway.
Fucking sucks, but what can you do? She's the 6th grade chief.Like my direct team leader at a company. I'm just a team member under her.
I see the grade chief multiple times a day. No good getting on her bad side.
At least she's pretty, so I put up with it. Otherwise, I'd have snapped already.
"If you get it, Mr. Tae-oh, watch both our classes until first period. I have a staff meeting."
"Huh? You just said not to leave the kids alone..."
"That's why I'm telling you to watch them. You gonna leave Class 1 unsupervised?"
"..."
This woman...
My fist clenches tight.
But a shitty senior is still a senior, and I can't actually neglect the kids. As the responsible one, it's on me.
"Ha... Fine. Got it."
"Good. At least do that much."
Ryu Se-hee taps her teacher planner against my chest and turns toward the staff room.
Fucking bitch...
I bow toward her retreating back in the hallway. My eyes, though, lock onto her ass.
Ha... If she just kept her mouth shut and didn't get mad, she'd be the perfect teacher.
Well-managed long black hair. Flawless skin. Sharp eyes.
Tight skirt suit hugging her plump ass and narrow waist. Face and figure both perfect—why the hell does she have to have that personality?
In my head, I've already spanked that huge ass dozens of times. If I could just do whatever I wanted with it...
Hold it in. Hold it together.
I shake my head to clear the fantasies. Spank her ass? Yeah right—I'll be the one getting chewed out.
Ryu Se-hee won't be back until after first period, post-meeting. Until then, I'm stuck watching Class 2 and Class 1 next door.
"I'm here."
"Oh, it's Class 2 Teacher!"
I leave my class and sigh my way into Class 1. The kids greet me like it's routine.
"Teacher, you joining our class again today?"
"Might as well be our homeroom teacher at this point?"
"Quiet down and do your morning activities."
"Yessir~!"
Goddamn it.
"Just understand, man. Do you know how busy grade chiefs are?"
Break time. Male teachers' lounge.
Park Sung-hoon, homeroom for 5th Grade Class 1, flicks ash from his cigarette while whining. This asshole smokes indoors at school.
"Even today, us chiefs had our brains fried from morning, listening to the principal ramble for 30 minutes straight."
"Oh, the staff meeting this morning?"
Probably the one Ryu Se-hee mentioned. Looks like this 5th grade chief got dragged in too.
"Yeah, just for chiefs. You wouldn't know the vibe since you've never been."
Bragging about his chief status even now. This prick.
Park Sung-hoon and I are same-age college buddies. Took the certification exam together, got lucky with postings to the same school. Back then, we vowed to crush it together. But in an elementary school short on men—with just us two young male teachers—everyone started comparing us nonstop. "This guy's doing that, that guy's doing this." I didn't sweat it, but he got competitive, burning with rivalry toward me.
Then last year, he got married first. This year, snagged the chief spot. Rumor has it he groveled in the principal's office, begging for it.
Ever since becoming chief, Park Sung-hoon can't stop flashing it. Every sentence: "As chief..." or "Us chiefs..."
I ignore his deliberate "chief-level" emphasis, sipping my coffee.
"What'd the old man go on about today?"
"Don't ask. Some smart mirroring project from the education office—fighting over who'd take it."
"Mirroring?"
Another mandate from the education office, apparently. With workloads already assigned, picking who gets extra work means fighting. Happens in every school nationwide.
"We almost got fucked. 'Park Chief's young and a guy, good with computers, right? You're the info officer.' They tried pushing it on me naturally."
"So, you take it?"
"Hell no. Chiefs have so much on their plates. Why would I handle piddly shit like that? I whined I was too swamped as chief to do it."
Bragging about chief again. This guy.
How the hell did he whine in front of the principal and seniors to dodge it?Anyway, he's good at bitching about how hard he has it.
I down the rest of my coffee and ask.
"So who ended up with the project? The other chiefs wouldn't volunteer."
"Oh, that? It wrapped up surprisingly easy. Your 6th grade chief raised her hand."
"Ryu Se-hee?"
No way she'd volunteer.She's glued to complaining about how busy she is.Unlike loudmouth Park here, she actually has a ton of work. Why take more?
That's weird. Then I catch Park Sung-hoon smirking at me.
"Yeah. Turns out there's someone with plenty of free time."
"..."
Oh. Please no. Don't tell me.
"Aigoo~! Our Mr. Han. You heard from Chief Ryu, right?"
"Ah."
Fuck.