2061-chapter-11-new-semester-5
Chapter 11: New Semester (5)
Tomorrow marks the end of the term. For teachers, vacation is only halfway to a real break. Heeyeon had often thought about the perks of being a teacher—how unlike office workers or regular civil servants, they could officially enjoy holidays that others often missed out on. However, even during vacation, after-school classes were still on, and teachers had to be at school to check attendance. After marking attendance, they were often tied up with miscellaneous duties that delayed their departure, though they could leave earlier than usual.
Heeyeon was pressing down her pen hard on the ‘Vacation Period Class Management Plan.’ It made her think, kids these days really have it rough. Vacations used to be so much longer before, but ever since the adoption of the five-day school week, they’ve gotten significantly shorter.
As she was about to resume writing, distracted by these thoughts, the class bell rang.
“Alright, starting tomorrow it’s summer vacation, right?”
“Yes!”
They responded in unison, as children do.
“Just recently, we made a daily schedule together, right? Today, we’re going to make a plan for the summer vacation. It’s important that you stay safe and healthy, but it’s also crucial to maintain a regular routine. Remember when you shared what you wanted to do over the break? For instance, Jihoon, you said you wanted to exercise and become strong. What should you do? Yes, that’s right. You should wake up early in the morning, exercise, and have a good breakfast. And um, Sangwoo said he wants to excel in his studies. What should he do?”
“Study every day.”
“Yes, studying daily will do, but you should decide how long you will study each day and keep that promise with yourself to stay motivated. So, now think about what you want to do during your vacation and prepare your own schedule. Once you’re done, you’ll present it to your classmates as a commitment to follow through. Got it?”
“Yes!”
After distributing the premade schedule templates, Heeyeon began guiding the students. Some were unsure where to start, and for those who accidentally damaged their templates, she had spares ready.
In the midst of this, Jihoon, the ‘official troublemaker,’ managed to cut his finger while handling his paper template. He wasn’t badly hurt, but enough to start crying and bleed, which soon led to chaos in the classroom. Heeyeon quickly took him to the nurse’s office.
Despite the unpredictability of first graders, she believed there wouldn’t be any serious issues since she had managed to keep the most chaotic ones under control.
After the teacher left, Kyeongeun looked at ‘Seokgo,’ who was sitting in front of her. ‘Seokgo’ seemed indifferent to the classroom’s disarray, simply resting his chin on his hand and staring at his template. He had maintained the same pose since receiving it. Despite Kyeongeun’s previous intent to stop lending him books and initiating conversations following her mother’s scolding, Seokgo never questioned her changed behavior. Initially, it was Kyeongeun who had always approached and talked to him, but now she felt a petty irritation seeing him act as if nothing had changed.
She puckered her lips slightly, glaring at him, and suddenly felt like picking a fight. She stood up briskly and walked towards Seokgo.
Baehyeongo, the class president of 1st Grade Class 3, felt a jolt in his heart as he saw Jihoon bleeding. The sight of blood made it feel as if he himself was hurt. Jihoon’s crying seemed to echo his own pain. The sight of a single blood drop on the desk, where Jihoon’s blood had spilled, made him tremble and struggle to breathe. Even after the teacher had taken Jihoon away, Baehyeongo remained visibly shaken, gasping for air.
“Are you okay?”
These words acted like a catalyst. Baehyeongo grabbed his throat, sprang up like a spring, and ran out of the classroom—had there been no one in his way.
With a scream and a loud crash of falling desks, the classroom erupted in chaos. Everyone turned around to see the commotion. Upon noticing someone was hurt, a few classmates hurried towards the scene. One of them, who had been grateful to Kyeongeun for lending books, saw her lying motionless and feared the worst.
“Is she dead?”
The tearful guess was wrong, as the onlooker could see her chest moving faintly, indicating she was still breathing.
Another student, Baehyeongo, the class president, was lying on the classroom floor, shaking. His face flushed, tears streaming down his face as he flailed his legs, knocking over desks and chairs, making it difficult for anyone to approach him.
“Dangerous!”
“What’s going on? Are they dead?” muttered some classmates hesitantly.
Ignoring them, a student lifted Baehyeongo onto his back. Although Baehyeongo was bigger, he was carried effortlessly. The health room was at the far end of a right-turned corridor, a good 100 meters away, but the student ran without pause. Teachers from neighboring classrooms poked their heads out due to the noise, but before they could intervene, the student was already gone, rushing towards the health room.
As the student burst through the health room door, he met Heeyeon’s puzzled eyes, wondering about the commotion.
“Baehyeongo is in danger!”
Quickly stepping in, the school nurse took Baehyeongo from him. Jihoon, with a bandaged finger, sat on the bed, cluelessly watching. The nurse laid Baehyeongo on a nearby bed, and the student shouted again.
“He can’t breathe!”
The student looked at Heeyeon with desperation. Heeyeon stood there, frozen.
“Kyeongeun is hurt!”
Then, turning back, he dashed out of the health room. Realizing the urgency too late, Heeyeon, her face pale, raced out of the health room, but only the sound of running footsteps echoed down the corridor. Regardless, the student quickly returned to the classroom to inform the homeroom teacher, but waiting around was not an option.
Returning to the classroom, he saw Kyeongeun still unresponsive and the classmates unsure of what to do. He tried again to carry her out.
“What’s going on?”
Arriving due to the commotion, a neighboring class teacher knelt beside Kyeongeun, just as bewildered. The student approached swiftly.
“We need to take her to the health room.”
Just then, Heeyeon burst through the classroom’s back door.
“Teacher!”
Frustrated by the two teachers’ inaction, the student scooped up Kyeongeun, ignoring the stunned teacher, and ran towards Heeyeon in the corridor, shouting,
“To the health room!”
Heeyeon, catching up, experienced a rare moment of wonder as she watched the much shorter student outpace her. Despite the critical situation, Heeyeon fleetingly questioned, ‘What is this?’ but quickly focused back on the chase. The word ’emergency’ filled her mind, leaving no room for distraction.
It was just a day before the end of term ceremony, and an accidental incident unfolded. As Heeyeon recalled the incident report she would soon write, she kept up her chase.