Do You Know Who I Am? (1)
“It’s class time. Why do I have to leave?”
“What, why??”
Park Donggeun was the second-year grade supervisor and the PE teacher in charge of student discipline. For a moment, Ha Taewoong’s answer left him speechless with disbelief.
Right before coming here, he had been summoned to the principal’s office and thoroughly chewed out. Rumors had already been circulating that a violence incident had broken out in one of the classrooms that morning. Then, during lunch in the cafeteria, another incident erupted. A female student had been assaulted by two male students—and they had even dumped food waste all over her. The perpetrators were none other than Sabaeja.
Something that should never have happened had happened!
If it had been an ordinary student-on-student affair, proper procedure would have been required. But Sabaeja were the exception to that kind of procedure. He had heard the full story in the principal’s office. Being scolded was one thing, but this was simply unforgivable. The moment he received the order to summon Ha Taewoong, he had raced straight up here.
“Teacher, you are currently infringing on my right to learn.”
“Ha… right to learn??”
Park Donggeun’s jaw dropped as his mind went blank. Ha Taewoong was a student he knew well enough. The boy was exceptionally tall and his looks stood out far more than most. But in the end, he was nothing more than a Sabaeja admission. To the short, unremarkable bachelor Park Donggeun, that only made the kid more of an eyesore.
On days when his mood was foul, he often used PE class as an excuse to harass him. Setting up for PE was always dumped on Ha Taewoong. Not that he ever gave the boy any extra points for it. He would find fault for no reason, crushing any hope of bonus marks. No matter how smart the kid was, a poor house’s child always showed. Every time, the boy would wilt and lower his head.
But the attitude Ha Taewoong showed today was somehow different. The shoulders that should have been hunched were squared open. He held his neck stiff and straight, staring Park Donggeun down with a confident gaze as he asked the question.
“What right to learn does a thug like you get to talk about! Get the hell out here right now!!”
Park Donggeun roared, riding the usual wave of intimidation. On top of that, he had just been berated in the principal’s office for failing to manage the students. Unlike the teachers who had graduated from prestigious universities in the capital region, Park Donggeun was a product of a provincial university’s physical education department. If he had a single weak point, that was it—at least in his own mind.
He had landed his teaching position at Cheonghwa High thanks to the influence of a relative who had been an executive at the Cheonghwa Group. From the start, his academic background had never been good enough for a prestigious school like Cheonghwa High. Being a PE teacher, however, meant parents were willing to look the other way. And Park Donggeun’s flattery skills had reached the level of true mastery. He treated every single officer of the parent association as if they were his workplace superiors. He quietly handled every minor and major school scandal on his own. Even overnight duty shifts that were supposed to rotate—he took them all with careful reading of the room.
What Park Donggeun valued most was the title of Cheonghwa High teacher. It was an honorable profession that teachers at other schools envied. In Gangnam especially, simply being a Cheonghwa High teacher was a name card all by itself. How carefully had he polished that name card? Until today, he had managed it until the palms of his hands were worn smooth. Now a hairline crack had appeared in it. How dare a bunch of Sabaeja brats ignore and provoke Park Donggeun?
Violence against an ordinary Cheonghwa student was unforgivable. And it had been against the daughter of a parent who sometimes brought him gifts—someone already rumored to be on the verge of becoming a parent association officer!
“Can you take responsibility for this?”
“Responsibility? Fine, I’ll take it! Stop talking and get out here right now!!”
Under Park Donggeun’s aggressive tone, Ha Taewoong rose from his seat. Smartphone still in hand, he started walking toward the rear classroom door.
“Leave the phone!”
“I refuse.”
“You refuse?”
“I am currently recording. I intend to submit it as evidence when I file a lawsuit.”
“……”
Park Donggeun swallowed hard. In an instant, a frost-like silence settled over the classroom. The mere mention of a lawsuit made him gulp dryly. Looking only at the present situation, it was indeed a case of a teacher infringing on a student’s right to learn. But—
A Sabaeja brat filing a lawsuit?
Park Donggeun shook his head violently and snapped his eyes open again. He reminded himself this was no ordinary high school and dismissed the threat. Lawsuits weren’t something just anyone could file! Every single Sabaeja admission student came from a financial mess. It was even written into the admission conditions. Hiring a lawyer was a pipe dream for those households from the start.
Ha Taewoong’s footsteps remained steady and confident.
“Oh, Teacher—sorry. Keep the class going.”
Confirming that Ha Taewoong had just slipped out the rear door, Park Donggeun spoke while casually closing the classroom door.
“Yes…….”
Math teacher Oh Jeonghye answered while biting her lip. Regardless of the Sabaeja label, Ha Taewoong’s classroom attitude had always been exemplary. She felt an uncharacteristic worry for him today.
“Where are we going?”
“To the principal’s office, you punk!”
This was a first. From the atmosphere alone, it looked like the matter was about to explode. The classroom atmosphere that still needed to finish the lesson was no better.
“That bastard’s gonna get fired. Heh heh heh.”
“Whoa…… he’s staying confident right to the end.”
“Ha Taewoong seems off today!”
“Kids, quiet. Stop with the baseless talk.”
Oh Jeonghye silenced the students who were spouting whatever came to mind.
Friday afternoon class, May 6, 2022. Cheonghwa High School was quietly being sucked into the heart of a storm.
“You goddamn son of a bitch. You dare treat a teacher’s words like dog shit?”
A few steps behind me, Teacher Park—no, that pathetic bastard—was hurling double-barreled curses at the back of my head. Even for a parachute PE teacher, the man had zero culture in his mouth. Park Donggeun had neither skill nor character. He had simply been lucky enough to grab a Cheonghwa High teacher’s name card.
In the past, the moment PE class rolled around he would deliberately pick fights and torment me. Every single time, I alone was stuck setting out and putting away every piece of shared equipment the class needed. Back then it was blatantly unfair treatment, yet I had endured it in silence. That was the only way to survive. All I had wanted was to graduate.
But starting today, that was over.
“I already informed you that I am recording.”
One of Cheonghwa’s better points was that students were free to carry smartphones. Of course school rules were strict, so phones were not permitted during class. And no one secretly used them either.
“Recording? So what the hell is a nobody like you going to do with that?”
“You’ll find out if you wait and see.”
“A Sabaeja brat putting on airs!”
“Heh.”
There was no rush. I had already declared I was recording, and I dismissed him with a light laugh.
“Did you just laugh?”
“It’s not exactly something to cry about, is it?”
“You little shit!!”
Whoosh.
A fist came flying from behind my head.
Whoa. This bastard’s really going all out?
He wasn’t even worth the word “teacher.” The same violence I had suffered back then was about to repeat itself. My body remembered Teacher Park’s thuggery. Instinctively, I dodged.
I was a discharged soldier who had passed special forces training. The time I had endured hadn’t been spent playing around. My mind reacted faster than my body, and the experience of those days was still vivid.
Whoosh.
“Huh? You—you dodged?”
Having thrown a completely empty punch, Park Donggeun looked thoroughly flustered.
“I’m warning you. If you throw one more punch, I will counterattack in self-defense.”
A short, potbellied, ugly bald middle-aged bachelor. Even looking like that, his standards were absurdly high. The lecherous way he eyed the female students during class whenever he thought no one was looking was thoroughly creepy. A few years from now, Teacher Park’s little hobby would all come to light. Illegal filming of female students would get him forcibly retired.
I kept walking toward the principal’s office with the now-silent Teacher Park trailing behind after the warning. Before long we arrived in front of the door. It was the school’s top post—one you could only hold if you sold your soul to Cheonghwa High’s board of directors.
Knock knock.
Click.
I knocked twice and opened the door before any permission came. I already had a rough picture of the situation. Oh Gwangjun, with his massive pride, still hadn’t opened his mouth. Oh Seora, the one who had fled the cafeteria in tears and snot—she was the far more likely source. From college through the military to working life, I had started from the very bottom. I had a pretty solid grasp of how the world actually worked.
Stepping into the principal’s office, the first thing that caught my eye was the potbellied principal sitting in the center. And to the right, two middle-aged women sat side by side in chairs. They were draped in flashy luxury brands and putting on elegant airs.
“Who’s this?”
The principal looked at me and asked. As expected, a Sabaeja student’s face wasn’t something the principal needed to remember.
“I was told you were looking for me.”
“Ha Taewoong?”
“Yes.”
“Hey! You’re Ha Taewoong?”
The moment my name left the principal’s mouth, one of the ajummas shot up from her seat as if having a seizure. She was dressed in a blinding gold two-piece suit. The flashy accessories somehow made her look even cheaper, which was strange.
“That’s correct, but… and you are…?”
“And you are?”
“…….”
“You absolute little bastard, how dare you lay a hand on my daughter’s face!”
Raising her voice like a shriek, the ajumma strode right up into my face. The next moment—
Slap!
I had expected it, and I didn’t dodge. I took it knowingly.
Why?
Because after this moment, I would never allow this kind of shitty situation again. A school that offered zero protection to a student simply because he was a Sabaeja. A principal who should have prioritized and shielded the student, and a bald PE teacher standing by like a bystander, only reading the room. I wanted at least a small measure of revenge for the violence I had suffered in the past. For that, I needed a clear justification. I needed a useful, properly placed piece of bait.
“Who exactly… are you to slap me?”
It had been a solid, ringing hit. I endured it for the price that would later be paid back to them.
“I’m Oh Seora’s mother!!”
Her features were actually rather pretty for an ajumma. What she couldn’t hide was the thick cheap aura. She looked a long way from innate refinement. Just as I had heard, she seemed exactly like the nouveau-riche wife who owned a building in Gangnam.
“Heh.”
I gave a cold little laugh.
“Y-you’re laughing? Is this kid out of his mind?”
My refusal to be cowed even after taking a slap left her thoroughly rattled.
“Would you… like to hit this side as well?”
I turned my face without flinching and offered her my right cheek. Then I closed both eyes firmly.
“Wh-what?”
“Mrs. Seo-ra’s mother, please calm yourself. This one has no breeding to begin with. He isn’t afraid of anything in the world.”
Park Donggeun, who had been hovering awkwardly, stepped forward.
“That’s right, Madam Jo. Settle down.”
“I’m so sorry, Madam Chair. I got a little carried away. He must have grown up with no manners in a poor house. I only meant to give him a sharp lesson… hohoho.”
The ajumma who had been sitting was the general affairs officer of the parent association. As if nothing had happened, Oh Seora’s mother put on elegant airs again and returned to her seat. Another endless slice of this shitty world’s true face. In front of these people I wasn’t even a student. Just a Sabaeja. Not a single person stood up for me.
I looked at the principal. He openly averted his eyes. Park Donggeun was busy rubbing his palms together beside the two ajummas.
“What… on earth do you people think you’re doing!”
A sudden, thunderous voice shook the principal’s office. My second-year Class 3 homeroom teacher had appeared. Kim Changyong, a man in his mid-forties whose hair was already thinning in patches. The students called the Classical Chinese teacher “Tin Robot.” Even though it was a non-major subject and the kids ignored him, he was the only teacher I truly respected.
“Teacher Kim Changyong, what do you think you’re doing right now? In front of the principal and the parent association officers!”
Park Donggeun shouted at my homeroom teacher.
“This is a student currently in class! Is it normal to summon a student without even notifying the homeroom teacher? And without any permission—”
Mid-sentence, Changyong-saem spotted my cheek, which had turned red and swollen. His thick eyebrows and the square jaw that gave him such a righteous look trembled with rage.
“Oh my! I’m so sorry. When I heard he had slapped Seora’s cheek, my hand just flew up on its own. Hohohot.”
Oh Seora’s mother waved her hands from her seat, putting on a show of fluster. With a sly smile she tried to brush the whole thing off as a simple mistake.
You’re laughing right now?
“This is a sacred school. Did you even confirm the circumstances?”
“I heard it directly from Seora.”
“So an adult is allowed to commit proxy violence against a student? And you find that funny?”
“Well, that’s…”
Even Oh Seora’s mother seemed to falter and trail off in front of the teacher.
“Teacher Kim Changyong! That’s enough.”
The principal, who had been watching, finally spoke. It might have a reputation as the top private school in the country, but the reality of the place was a complete mess.
“Puhahahahahahahahahaha!”
Facing the exact same school situation for the second time, I finally burst out laughing. I didn’t bother holding it in. I laughed as freely and as loudly as I wanted. For a moment the principal’s office froze. Every gaze turned toward me in pure bewilderment.
I curled my lips into a cold smile that looked almost insane. And then—
“By the way… do any of you here happen to know… who I am?”
“……??”