Chasing My Dream of Being the Top Instructor!
A sigh escaped my lips.
After my time in the military, finding tutoring gigs had become strangely difficult.
“Damn… damn… before enlistment I at least had a full month of work lined up for the team…”
Honestly, I knew my abilities inside and out. Teaching and handling students’ mental health were both top-tier in this market, I thought. I had plenty of experience teaching at universities that ranked high in the top three.
“Haah…”
Honestly, I knew exactly why.
The tutoring market lives off word-of-mouth referrals. The problem was that gap in my resume from the military.
If only a single strong referral could go out…
While lost in that thought, I scrolled through the tutoring site. The top banner featured profiles of the hot-shot instructors pushed by the agencies, sorted by subject.
“…I want to be one too.”
If I became a top instructor, I’d never have to worry about gigs drying up again. Students and parents would come running, money in hand, begging me to teach. It sounded like the perfect life.
Well… right now I was just another random tutor out there.
With a bitter taste in my mouth I kept scrolling the site when suddenly my phone died.
“Eh, eh! Why is this happening?!”
I slammed my palm down on the screen as hard as I could, but nothing happened.
“No way, no way, aaaaah!”
My desperate scream drew stares from passersby. But to me, losing the precious phone I’d bought to commemorate university entrance felt far more important.
“No… no… I was planning to use it for the next four years…”
“Mom, that uncle is bawling his eyes out while clutching his phone like a broom.”
“Shh! That’s not what you’re supposed to be looking at!”
I wouldn’t deny that the phone was wrecked after that little kid called it out. Still, though… if I just kept scraping by, even this useless old model that rebooted every thirty minutes might still have some life left in it.
“Ughhh…”
I sat on the park bench for a long time, staring blankly at the night sky.
Yeah… I’d just find another part-time job. Tutoring only until the next semester, then back to school after paying tuition. I could go back to the factory, or café work, convenience store, restaurant, loading and unloading—anything. I was willing to do it all!
“First, I need to buy a new phone.”
I figured I’d start with used-market listings under 100,000 won for basic models. While lost in that thought and still staring at the broken phone, the boot screen suddenly came back up.
“Eh?”
This wasn’t the usual boot screen I knew.
[System: Installing dedicated top-instructor app…]
“…What the heck is this?”
[System: Verifying compatibility… verifying… verification complete. Setting MILF Domain…]
MILF Domain? I taught well enough, sure, but if I were a top instructor I wouldn’t be sitting here worrying like this.
That wasn’t the point! What the hell was this—
[System: Instructor Kim Se-hyun’s MILF Domain is—]
Huh, now I was curious.
What could it be? A perfect score on the National College Entrance Exam? A 1st place in the history books? Or an English subject that turned even 9th graders into 2nd place?
While I was still wondering, the screen finally finished displaying.
[‘MILF’.]
? What the hell is MILF?
MILF… the same MILF from macroeconomics when I was a military student?
[System: …Resetting terminology based on instructor Kim Se-hyun’s knowledge. Instructor Kim Se-hyun’s MILF Domain is ‘MILF’.]
…This had to be a hack. Definitely the work of some lunatic who already knew every single one of my weird internet tastes.
“Damn it…”
What am I supposed to do if someone texts me asking for money? I only had enough for this month’s rent and living expenses. The military savings were the last thing I couldn’t touch without serious trouble… I might as well just bite the bullet and die.
“Fuck… fuck…”
The swear words spilled out before I could stop them. I had no idea what I’d done wrong in this life, why I’d suffered so badly that society was about to cut me off completely.
— Ding
The boot-up sound signaled completion.
Okay… let’s talk to whoever this is. Or better yet, pray they’re not completely heartless. What kind of sicko would mess with someone as broke as me?
Trembling fingers tapped the screen, and the message window from the boot-up appeared.
[System: Installation complete. Finalizing setup…]
Why would it ask me for choices? If this was a hacker, he’d have already sent a blackmail message by now.
Thinking about it that way gave me an odd feeling.
The next instant my mind went black.
The moment my phone fell to the floor, the last message flashed across the screen before it shattered.
[System: Installing instructor assistant program…]
***
“Argh! Student!”
Ow, my head…
“Student! Wake up!”
Five more minutes… just five more minutes of sleep…
“Student!!”
— Crack!!
“Huff!”
The slap across my cheek snapped my eyes open.
“W-where am I— eh? Uh-heh?”
“Whew, a fully conscious student? What’s going on?”
The person who slapped me was the park maintenance uncle. Despite only waking up, his eyes were strangely clear. But I couldn’t really get my bearings. That was understandable—
[Profile scan.]
Name: Gang Chun-bae
Age: 68
-[Other information is restricted. Please regain consciousness.]
A holographic window floated beside the old man’s face. And then the words “regain consciousness” felt strangely mocking. Still, at this point I was too dizzy to care about the attitude. I was far too busy processing what was right in front of me.
“What… what is this…”
“Uh? You okay? Did I hit you too hard?”
The old man cupped my cheeks and started kneading them gently. My head was clearing bit by bit. Maybe it really was just the process of waking up.
“Ah… um, sorry, sir…”
“Huh? You’re awake? Aigo, people get scared you know! I thought I’d broken your cheek!”
“Ah… haha… sorry… uh, what time is it now?”
“Uh? Six o’clock. I came in early to do my checks and found you sleeping here. You sick?”
“No, no. I worked late last night and just dozed off…”
“Ku ku… young guys have it tough…”
The old man clicked his tongue in sympathy, then pulled a bottle of Parkka from his pocket and handed it to me. The strangely lukewarm feeling helped clear my head.
“Drink this and head home.”
“Ah… thank you…”
I accepted it on autopilot, but the packaging looked pretty worn.
“Cough… that was the one from the office… don’t worry!”
“Ah, I wasn’t worried at all, sir. I’ll enjoy it!”
“See? See? Ku ku…”
The old man looked at me with pity, then ruffled my hair.
“H-haha… thank you, uncle…”
“These days I worry about young people. Working so hard… aish…”
“Ah… haha…”
“So hurry inside, kid!”
“Yes!!”
My heart warmed up unbidden. As I stood and started toward my studio apartment, the old man called out to me.
“Student! Student!!”
“Uh?”
“This… isn’t this your phone?”
He picked up what looked exactly like my phone from the bench where I’d been sprawled and offered it to me. I could have sworn that wasn’t my phone. No way would my phone be so clean and unscratched.
“Uh… no—”
Before I could finish the denial, a ringtone came from the old man’s pocket.
“Uh?! Aigo! Mr. Kim is at it again! Student, take this and go! I have work at the office!”
With that, he pressed the phone into my hand and walked off waving while answering the call.
“Aigo, young man! Why are you doing this again?! What is this? Go! What? Chess? From morning, you’re playing go with bets—”
“H, haha!”
Before I could say anything else, the old man was gone, still cursing under his breath.
“…”
I stood there holding a bottle of Parkka in one hand and what I now knew was someone else’s phone in the other, staring blankly.
“…What was that hologram thing anyway…”
I muttered while idly fiddling with the phone. The screen suddenly lit up and the lock screen disappeared.
“Eh…?”
It looked exactly like the phone I’d had moments ago—except for one thing.
“Top-instructor assistant app…”
So this was it…
At that exact moment a beautiful woman heading out for morning exercise walked right past me. And without any effort, a holographic window appeared beside her.
[System: Target identified.]