Is Raising Pill Bugs in a Pencil Case Just a Normal High School Girl Activity?
The disclaimer was clear: all characters, events, and locations in this novel are fictional. Any resemblance to reality is purely coincidental.
The couple looked dead serious. Their only daughter, Lee Ji-soo, had gotten into a teachers’ college and dreamed of becoming an elementary school teacher. Or so they had believed. A model student, they called her.
“I think this part is the most damning,” said Associate Attorney Han Seo-rin. “Is keeping pill bugs in a pencil case really what high school girls do for fun these days?”
The one who flared up at her question was Lee Ji-soo herself, sitting beside her parents.
“It was just a trend, okay?”
“Was that your pencil case?”
“No, it wasn’t.”
Of course it wasn’t. The owner of the pencil case was the girl who had been the constant target of bullying—the victim.
“This isn’t going to be easy…”
“If it were easy, Counsel, we wouldn’t have hired you.”
Ji-soo’s mother had the refined look of a proper lady and spoke with a thick Seoul accent. The parents and students of Gangnam Girls’ High were rare native Seoulites in an era when most had moved in from elsewhere.
At first, the father had been stunned by Han Seo-rin’s beauty when she showed up instead of Suk Ho-pil. But the awe quickly turned to dissatisfaction once he realized the famous second-place graduate of the Judicial Research and Training Institute hadn’t bothered to come himself.
“Does Attorney Suk Ho-pil even know the full story of this case?”
“Yes. He’s a man with no blind spots. He personally appeared in court for the injunction application.”
“Ah, I see.”
“He said school violence cases are urgent matters that can’t wait even a second.”
“As expected of Farmer Suk.”
Only then did Ji-soo’s father seem to calm down.
“I went to a girls’ high myself. Most of the bullying there is just emotional fights.”
“Exactly, exactly. Our Ji-soo is a good kid. If anything, the girl who claims she was bullied was jealous of our straight-A daughter…”
The mother launched into a long, impassioned speech about how unfairly her daughter was being treated. Han Seo-rin let the words wash over her without really listening.
At this point, what does it even matter? Your precious daughter admitted to raising pill bugs in the pencil case of the girl she was tormenting.
It could have been a joke between friends. But the length of time made it hard to dismiss. Long enough to be called sustained. And because school violence is judged by the victim’s subjective perception, once the victim says she was bullied, that’s exactly what it becomes.
“I completely understand how you feel, ma’am. Attorney Suk Ho-pil will now take over and resolve this matter.”
It was Han Seo-rin’s job to reassure the family with a bright smile. She had checked for any additional evidence or points they could rebut, but there was nothing. If anything, she had only uncovered more damaging material.
Ji-soo finally confessed.
“Okay, fine. We did bully her. There’s a group chat for everyone in class except her. We were all talking about how annoying she is.”
“Well then. Drop the elementary teacher dream. Aim for a real professional career instead. Try the civil service exam, or maybe the CPA test.”
Han Seo-rin offered this as supposed comfort. The parents’ faces grew darker by the second.
Suk Ho-pil delivered the lecture with a straight face. He began with the motto of the old Jung & Han law firm, then explained the attorney’s duty of confidentiality and the inescapable fate of always standing on the client’s side.
“I’m sorry.”
The brazen Han Seo-rin bowed her head. How dare she offend the client who provided her livelihood? For a lawyer, keeping the client happy was the highest priority.
“Of course, you shouldn’t grovel too much either. Farmer Suk’s pride is his lifeblood.”
Ho-pil stopped the scolding there and suggested they go eat.
“I still have work left.”
Park Tae-gi wanted to stay behind in the office.
“We only have three cases. What work? You’re pretending to be busy when there’s nothing to do.”
Ho-pil physically dragged him up from his desk.
“I have to manage the homepage and post on the blog. You told me to.”
“Who told you that?”
“You did, Attorney.”
“Did I?”
“Yes.”
“Do it later.”
Ho-pil took both Han Seo-rin and Park Tae-gi to a cold noodle restaurant. It was still only June 2024, but it already felt like midsummer. Thankfully the rainy season hadn’t started and the humidity wasn’t too bad yet. As long as they stuck to the shade, they could avoid the worst of the heat.
“It’s packed. Are people losing their minds over cold noodles?”
As soon as Ho-pil and his team got in line, more people lined up behind them.
“Good thing we came out at 11:20, Attorney.”
Tae-gi looked pleased with himself. Meanwhile, Han Seo-rin wore a deeply thoughtful expression.
“Hey, Farmer Han. What are you thinking about?”
“Me? I was thinking about Attorney Suk Ho-pil.”
“Pfft!”
Park Tae-gi burst out laughing right beside them.
“Hahaha! Attorney Farmer Han, what exactly were you thinking?”
“I was wondering if you might be working as a detective on the side.”
“Huh?”
This time Ho-pil looked even more flustered.
“How did you know?”
“After the consultation, I came back around Gangnam Girls’ High. In the middle of summer, you’re not exactly going to miss a guy selling fish-shaped pastries, are you?”
“Why the hell were you going to Gangnam Girls’ High?”
“That was you, right? I pretended not to notice because I thought it might be embarrassing. Also, Gangnam Girls’ High is my alma mater.”
“What? What?”
He was shocked twice in a row. While Ho-pil stood there stunned, Park Tae-gi voiced his confusion.
“This isn’t a movie. The facts of the case are already established. Why did you go there?”
“To get a read on the victim’s usual relationships with her classmates, obviously. And I discovered something surprising. This round goes to Attorney Han Seo-rin. She did great work.”
“Me? I didn’t really do anything.”
“That group chat. It was fake.”
“What? What do you mean, fake?”
“There was a shared understanding that straight-A Ji-soo was an incredibly selfish bitch. So they deliberately set a trap.”
“No way.”
“The girl claiming to be the victim and her friends laid the snare, and Ji-soo walked right into it and snapped the jaws shut.”
“You’re copying the movie Oldboy. But your lines aren’t even accurate.”
“I was trying to imitate it, but there’s copyright, you know. If I said ‘I put out bait and she bit,’ it might get flagged as plagiarism.”
“Our world is literally a novel. You’re worried about the strangest things.”
Anyway, the man was impossible to read.
“Alright, it’s our turn.”
An excited Suk Ho-pil ordered a mountain of spicy stir-fried pork along with the noodles. Park Tae-gi inhaled both the cold noodles and the meat as if proving the size of his gut. Han Seo-rin didn’t hide her own greedy appetite either, eating to her heart’s content. Ho-pil held nothing back. The three of them ordered more pork and dumplings, filling their stomachs properly.
“Thinking is the hardest work there is.”
After reconstructing the case and writing scenarios until his head hurt, Suk Ho-pil finally understood the pain of creation. Reading a story and writing one were completely different beasts.
“How on earth did you find that out?”
“We need cross-verification. Since you said Gangnam Girls’ High is your alma mater, go find one of your old teachers and confirm whether my reasoning is correct.”
“No need. Actually, I recorded the conversation that day too.”
“What recording?”
“Gangnam Girls’ High is a prestigious private school. Almost none of the teachers have changed. Except for the old national history teacher who retired.”
“National history teachers are trash at every school. Always wearing those reformed hanbok.”
“True. It’s a shame, though. A lot of those reformed-hanbok teachers are genuinely righteous regardless of the consequences. But only the spineless ones stayed, and they just stood by and watched. Too scared of getting themselves in trouble.”
“So? Did the teachers confirm what I found out?”
“Pretty much. They said Ji-soo has the perfect personality for a teacher, but the other girls thought it was disgusting how selfishly she hogged her grades.”
“That part really was Ji-soo’s fault. Kids who want to become civil servants are usually the most cunning. That’s also why actual civil servants and teachers tend to have almost no social relationships.”
People born with a naturally selfish personality who then survive the brutal exam hell in Noryangjin, pass the teacher certification, and get appointed—what do they turn into? Like corrupt officials, they start eyeing wealth and power beyond their rightful share. They adopt a passive, do-nothing attitude. While social welfare officers might be different, plenty of frontline civil servants are people who enjoy sweet benefits while showing zero interest in anyone else’s suffering. (Just look at anonymous worker forums—civil servants and new employees are the ones who get most jealous of semiconductor company performance bonuses.)
“Still, the physical evidence of raising pill bugs in the pencil case is hard to refute.”
“Physical evidence is definitely bad for Ji-soo. If we want to flip the board, we need to research that part thoroughly.”
“How do you plan to do that?”
“You’re going to do it. You still have your old school uniform, right?”
“What? What?”
This time it was Han Seo-rin’s turn to be shocked twice. Born in 1995, class of 2014, she had graduated high school exactly ten years ago.
Park Tae-gi mocked her from the side.
“Hehehe, do you think the uniform will still fit with that waist of yours?”
“It will.”
“How would you know that, Attorney Suk Ho-pil?”
“They don’t wear uniforms anymore. They wear gym clothes now.”
Even Han Seo-rin raised an objection to Attorney Suk’s idea.
“Farmer Suk. What about my face and the wrinkles on my neck? I already have smile lines. If I stand among those fresh, dewy underclassmen, I’ll be exposed immediately.”
“Who said anything about going undercover at the school? I already found out which academy the group attends. You’re going to the academy.”
“That actually makes sense.”
“Right now, open up the Jagalchi Market app, search for Gangnam Girls’ High gym clothes, buy them, and wear them.”
“With my own money?”
“Yeah. You get a fat salary.”
“I haven’t even received my first paycheck yet. It hasn’t even been a full month.”
With no other choice, Suk Ho-pil opened his wallet and handed her several bills in cash.
“This is the name of the academy: ‘We’re Going Places English Academy.’”
“Do you know which class she’s in?”
“It’s an elite small class. There’s only one.”
“Understood.”
Park Tae-gi seemed to find the whole situation hilarious and kept snickering.
“Attorney Han is pretty, I’ll give her that. And she has a baby face. But school violence cases don’t leave us much time. Get in there among those girls as fast as possible and prove that raising pill bugs was simply a popular trend.”
“You don’t have to tell me twice.”
“Tae-gi’s right. Go tonight.”
“Yes, sir.”
The moment they finished eating and stood up, Han Seo-rin opened the Jagalchi Market app, found the Gangnam Girls’ High gym clothes, completed a direct trade, and that very evening arrived at ‘We’re Going Places English Academy’ right before class started. Since it was the kind of academy that accepted anyone who paid, they let her in without asking questions.
Seo-rin grabbed snacks like jelly and Pepero, passed them around, and used them to break the ice. At first the girls were wary of her striking appearance and suspected her kindness, but once she showed off her hilariously terrible English skills, they clutched their stomachs laughing. Within just a few hours, they had become close.
Among girls, someone as beautiful as Han Seo-rin had to deliberately act like a clumsy idiot to win popularity. If she acted aloof, she would only become the target of gossip and ostracism.
At ten o’clock that night, Han Seo-rin returned to the office and found Suk Ho-pil just about to leave for the day.
“The academy class is over, Farmer Suk.”
“Holy shit. You’re wearing the gym clothes and carrying a turtle backpack—you actually look like a real high school girl?!”
Ho-pil nearly had a heart attack. She had even copied the current students’ makeup style, applying it a bit too thickly.
“Reporting in.”
She flashed a bright, innocent smile exactly like a high school girl and spilled everything she had learned that day.