Lia watched Aera suddenly dash off toward the teachers' office, concern flashing in her eyes. As Aera disappeared down the hallway, Lia whispered to herself, "I think... it's gonna be okay."
As In-su disappeared down the hallway, Aera stood frozen in the corridor. Her heart was still racing from the classroom chaos. Lia came after her but stopped when she saw Aera pick up speed, practically running down the hall.
Lia sighed with a small smile, watching her. "I think… it's gonna be okay."
Aera reached the staff corridor, breathing hard. Peeking through the slightly ajar door of the teacher's cabin, her eyes scanned the scene inside.
On one side, Mr. Dev, seated with his brows furrowed in frustration.
On the opposite chair, Mr. Kim, arms crossed, face smug like a smug little toad.
And in front of Mr. Dev's desk stood In-su, hands in pockets, totally unbothered.
"I've tolerated enough of your nonsense," Mr. Dev's voice was sharp. "Can't you at least respect your teacher? That's the bare minimum! You made an entire class walk out!"
In-su scratched his ear lazily, letting out a yawn.
"If you're talking about this Mr. Kim," he said, nodding toward the drama king across the room, "then no, sir. You're expecting me to respect someone who doesn't deserve it. I don't hand out respect like candy."
Mr. Kim slammed his palm on the table. "See?! This is exactly what I meant! He's arrogant. That whole section E is full of unruly kids. I've said it before!"
Just then, the door creaked open and Aera stepped inside, her expression calm but her eyes full of heat.
"I'm sorry, sir," she began. "But that's not true."
Mr. Kim turned, scoffing. "And here's the cheerleader."
Aera ignored him. She stood tall before Mr. Dev.
"This SIR (she said with a pointed, sarcastic emphasis on sir) publicly insulted a student. Called him a bastard just for helping me write notes because I couldn't see the board. Is that teacher behavior?"
Mr. Dev blinked, stunned. "Mr. Kim… is that true?"
Mr. Kim didn't flinch. "I don't regret it. Students these days don't know how to behave. This one," he jabbed his thumb toward In-su, "is the worst. And don't even get me started on Section E. You should be ashamed to be their class teacher, Mr. Dev."
Something shifted in Mr. Dev's face. Calm… then cool fury.
"You know what?" Mr. Dev said. "I'll be filing a formal complaint to remove you from teaching our section. Not just because of this incident but because my students deserve better."
Mr. Kim laughed mockingly. "Oh? Your precious students? Even if I stopped teaching them, what difference would it make? None of them are ever going to make it to the bulletin board anyway!"
He pointed toward the hallway where the top ten scorers' names were displayed.
"If even one of your Section E kids scores 80+ in chemistry, I'll apologize. Heck, I'll quit."
Aera's jaw clenched.
Mr. Dev didn't react emotionally. He just said with quiet pride, "You can go now, Mr. Kim. I'll give the proper explanation to the principal."
Mr. Kim scoffed again, grabbed his files, and stormed out.
In the silence that followed, Mr. Dev looked up at In-su and Aera.
"I know what happened," he said with a sigh. "I trust you two. But try not to give anyone an excuse to twist the story, okay?"
In-su just nodded coolly, his face unreadable.
Aera gave a small bow. "Thank you, sir."