Noonaaaaa!
Cheonghwa High School’s mathematics guidance office.
Teachers of the major subjects each ran their own separate offices. While exams for other subjects were underway, the math teachers sat at their individual desks sorting answer sheets.
Lee Jangyong, who had set short-answer question number four for this math exam, spoke with evident satisfaction.
“The difficulty of short-answer number four is pure hell, according to the kids.”
“It won’t be easy this time. Heh heh heh.”
Three teachers had collaborated on the second-year first-semester midterms. The variable—the hardest killer problem—had been entrusted to Lee Jangyong.
“No matter how much advanced study those brats have done, the world of mathematics is like an unexplored universe.”
His tone grew thoroughly arrogant.
Lee Jangyong, a graduate of Seoguk University’s Department of Mathematics, treated his life as a math teacher at Cheonghwa High like a game. Every single day was a battle for leveling up.
Most Cheonghwa students received private tutoring from Gangnam’s top instructors. They were practically testing the school teachers instead. Any hesitation answering a question or the slightest mistake brought a flood of parent complaints the next day, giving the teachers headaches. Because of that, many math teachers failed to last even a year before leaving.
Yet in that same Cheonghwa, Lee Jangyong had endured for ten years. Famous Gangnam academies had even approached him with high salaries trying to scout him as an instructor. He had firmly refused. He already earned enough to live on. The real problem was that he was addicted to the game. He continued teaching purely for the fun of crushing Cheonghwa’s talented students as if it were play.
He twisted problems a few times within the curriculum range, obtained notes from famous Gangnam academies, and even pulled material from university lectures and math olympiad problems.
“It’s pouring rain out there.”
“I can already hear the kids’ resentful voices in my ears.”
“Hahaha. Even the top student of the entire school wiped out this time.”
“Really?”
“It’s free-response, so please calculate the partial points.”
With a gaze glittering with mania, Lee Jangyong checked the short-answer solutions as he spoke. He was the most senior among the second-year math teachers.
Slash. Slash.
Diagonal lines crossed through the free-response answers of most students. As expected, they had fallen at the killer items on differential coefficients and derivatives. Only a handful of students had even pretended to understand the concepts and attempt a solution. There were no correct answers.
“Heh heh heh…….”
Lee Jangyong’s smile deepened. Behind his gold-rimmed glasses, satisfied eyes gleamed with madness. He was certain of victory in this game as well, exactly according to plan.
“……??”
At that moment his hand stopped. In the short-answer space were formulas worked out densely and precisely.
No way??
He quickly scanned the long free-response solution and graded the answer.
And then—
“C-correct? Someone actually solved this??”
It was a problem extracted from a math olympiad and twisted twice. Anyone who had finished every other question would clearly have been short on time. That single problem alone required at least five minutes for the solution process.
And yet—
“What the hell is this kid? How……!”
“W-who? Who solved it?”
“Huh! Th-this is the correct answer!!”
The solution process was perfect and the answer was right. The three of them checked the name of the answer sheet’s owner.
“Ha Taewoong?”
“Ha Taewoong?”
“That Sabaeja from Class 3.”
Vrooom.
Screeeech.
The car came to a perfect stop aligned with the parking lines.
Course Skills Test: 100 points. You have passed.
“Good!”
I had obtained my driver’s license once already in my twenties. Challenging it again was a piece of cake. After finishing the morning exams I headed straight to the Gangnam driver’s license testing center I had pre-registered for, completed the traffic safety education, and immediately took the written test. Of course I passed the written exam with a perfect hundred.
I took a call taxi and arrived at the driving school right on schedule—the academy that claimed you could obtain a license on an accelerated track in as little as three days. After passing the written test I registered at once for course skills training and the subsequent road driving lessons. By late afternoon I had also passed the course skills test.
“Whoa! Kid, you’re amazing. Didn’t you say this was your first time driving?”
“Yes. Today’s my first time.”
“What the—you’re smoother than me, and I’m the instructor. Hahaha.”
The instructor assigned to me today approached, laughing in disbelief. The mandatory four hours of basic training were something everyone had to complete. Yet anyone could see I had handled the car with complete ease from the start.
I had driven during military service and while working at the company. Back then people had always praised me for driving steadily and well. Skills already acquired were remembered by both body and soul.
“Starting tomorrow we practice city driving, right?”
“Fill the six hours tomorrow and you can take the test the day after.”
“Yes, sir!”
After parking I got out of the car. Most of the academy practice vehicles rattled and shook. Just gripping the steering wheel itself felt thrilling. In my previous life I had never owned a personal car.
I was definitely going to live this life differently!
The moment I received the license I planned to buy a cool car right away. Carpe diem! Top priority was enjoying my life. I would not tolerate anyone putting the brakes on me. People like Director Go Dongyeol from the company or my ex-girlfriend Gu Hyejin—I would never get involved with them again. Even if similar types tried to throw chili powder in my path, I would advance no matter what!
“If they get in my way I’ll smash them all.”
“S-smash?”
The instructor, who had been about to move the car, overheard my muttered words and looked startled.
“Drive carefully.”
I quickly bowed and hurried into the rest area. Tomorrow I had Korean language and ethics-and-thought exams. Of course my preparations were perfect. I had reviewed the problems I had gotten wrong in my past life several times over. Today’s morning exams had confirmed that the questions had not changed from the past. Thanks to that I could leisurely pursue the driver’s license.
“Are you giving me the brush-off right now?”
Suddenly a rough middle-aged man’s voice exploded from inside the rest area.
“Is it that hard to just look at my form for a second?”
Form?
My steps halted at the door. My school bag was stored in the rest area.
“I’m sorry……. I came to practice driving today…….”
Huh? That voice!
It was a woman’s voice I knew well. She sounded flustered, frightened, and trembling.
“That’s why I’m asking you to look for just a moment before you practice. I was your fan, you know. Heh heh.”
Now the man was answering in casual speech.
“I appreciate that……. But right now I have a lesson…….”
“I know, I know. You got caught meeting a married man, didn’t you? That’s why you can’t even play in the pro tournaments.”
“Th-that’s not true!”
“Oh come on, what do you mean it’s not? It’s all over YouTube. You used that cute little body of yours to seduce a married man. Heh heh heh.”
Even a slimy, disgusting comment came out. And then—
Slaaap!
Barely a few seconds later, the crisp sound of a slap rang out.
“W-what? You dare hit me? You’re never making a comeback!”
“Apologize. Right now!”
“Apologize? Bullshit. You’re finished now. How dare someone who committed something so immoral assault a fan?”
Haa, an incident had broken out. Ever since I returned, trouble erupted almost every day. Of course nothing like this had happened in the past. It was a headache for sure, but it was fine.
Sliiiide.
I opened the rest area door and strode inside. And the scene that greeted me—
A man in his mid-forties with hair half gone. Short and pot-bellied, the typical middle-aged uncle type. He stood face-to-face with a woman, sneering at her.
“Who’s that?”
“That face…… I’ve seen her somewhere a lot…….”
“Ah! That’s right. It’s An Hyeonju!”
“An Hyeonju?”
“Yeah, the golf player!”
“That’s right. The beautiful golf pro? She’s really pretty.”
“So that married-man scandal was real?”
People waiting in the rest area whispered while watching the fight. This was a driving practice range located in Gangnam—plenty of people who enjoyed golf as a hobby. Recognizing her was only natural.
Right in front of me, Pro An Hyeonju noona was trapped in an awkward situation. She had tied her hair back and was wearing a cap, but that could not hide her identity. On top of that she had gotten thoroughly caught by the man whose lid had blown after being slapped.
It was true that Pro An Hyeonju had raised her hand first. But it was also true that the man had provided the cause. Among the people watching, not a single one tried to stop them. Everyone was simply interested in the juicy scandal as if watching a fire.
One of the filthy sides of the human world. Especially the reactions among the middle-aged women were heated. Jealousy toward Pro An—whose looks and figure were both kind—had set their eyes on fire.
“You apologize. If you don’t compensate me properly I’ll report you to the police!”
The middle-aged man who had seized a perfect pretext had a different kind of greed flickering in his eyes. A tattoo peeked out from under his sleeve. He looked like a thug of the local-gangster level.
Pro An Hyeonju bit her lip and clenched her fists. She knew the situation was against her. In this day and age a professional golfer had near-celebrity recognition. A female golfer who combined beauty and skill even more so. If she clashed with an ordinary person over a scandal, the damage Pro An Hyeonju would take was greater. Even right here on the spot she was already being chewed over by the middle-aged women.
Those women who always latched first onto provocative words.
“Wow! This one’s a real piece of work. After seducing a married man and playing around, how can she act so righteous? Or is she just shameless? No sense of shame is why she ended up like this.”
“W-what did you say?”
“Looking down on people like us to our faces! Just because you’re pretty, does that make everything okay? You hide your tail and play the fox!”
Judging that the stage was set, the man poured out abuse. Pro An Hyeonju’s eyes reddened and tears welled up. Rage had climbed all the way to the top of her head; she looked one step away from exploding. If she lost her cool and raised her hand one more time she would only give that thug bastard the justification he wanted.
She had not a single ally around her.
Step. Step.
I closed the door and walked straight toward the center. And then—
“Noonaaaaa!”