Before entering the classroom, Jin opened his strawberry lollipop, put it in his mouth, and tossed the wrapper into the trash.
Then, he and Joseph started walking to their seats, but a male teacher stopped them with his rod.
Mr. Park, a man in his late thirties with tired eyes and slicked-back hair, tapped his rod against the desk.
“Why are you both late?” he asked, his rod hitting the table rhythmically.
Thack-thack-thack.
“Why are you both late?” he asked again, this ti faster, his rod striking the table with irritation.
“We weren’t late, Mr. Park. We were actually helping the school’s image,” Joseph began his lie. It was his unspoken language between two bros.
“Helping the school’s image?”
“Yes, sir. There was a stray cat giving birth near the entrance. So students were freaking out, saying it was bad luck. So we stepped in to handle the situation calmly, to prevent panic and protect the school’s reputation.”
“He’s right, sir. It could’ve turned into chaos. We did the responsible thing.”
“...Next ti, handle your ‘reputation missions’ after class.”
There wasn’t a single student who skipped my classes except for two reasons: the first was if they were very sick and had an official leave; the second was if they were dead.
Before the two could step inside, the teacher blocked their way.
Since the two “future Einsteins” thought it was acceptable to arrive late, he made them earn their entry with two professor-level questions right there in the hallway.
He had placed those two questions to give his students more knowledge. He wanted them to take things seriously. Those questions weren’t just punishnt; they were a reminder, a glimpse of the kind of knowledge that would define their future.
The first challenge ca with a tricky step.
He asked Jin to find the second derivative of a function defined by an integral — sothing so advanced that most students would faint just hearing it.
Jin didn’t even hesitate. The answer flowed from him with calm precision, almost chanical.
By applying the Fundantal Theorem of Calculus, he differentiated once, then again, reducing the monster of a problem into sothing simple and complete.
The teacher’s eyes glead for a mont. There was no doubt that Jin was his favorite student: sharp, smart, a prodigy.
Across the room, a girl watched Joseph, hoping to see him crumble — the sa girl whose confession he had mocked months ago, whose love letter he tore apart with a grin while calling her handwriting “statistically unattractive.”
She waited now for karma to do its job.
But Joseph leaned against the wall, hands in his pockets, eyes half-closed.
Sa answer, of course, but his “thod” was different.
He claid he simply imagined the function as a living creature.
“If you poke it once, it reacts; poke it twice, it screams. That’s the second derivative. If the function’s still breathing, your calculus is correct.”
A few students stifled their laughter. Even the teacher had to close his eyes for a second, fighting off a headache.
The next question followed. It was much crueler, designed to break confidence.
He asked them to evaluate a limit involving sine, a problem that required Taylor expansion and nerves of steel.
Jin’s chalk barely touched the board before he finished.
With perfect rhythm, he expanded, substituted, and simplified until the final value erged without any flaw.
Joseph tilted his head, pretending to think.
“So... one-half? Nice. That ans my chances of passing your next exam are exactly fifty percent. Statistically fair.”
The teacher’s grip on his chalk tightened.
A pause followed, then a deep, tired sigh that carried the weight of years spent teaching boys like him.
“Permission granted.”
As they walked in, Joseph nudged Jin’s shoulder, whispering with that unshakable grin, “See? Even math proves I multiply success.”
Joseph waved his hand as he passed the girl’s desk.
He flipped a coin from his pocket as part of his plan, then leaned down and gripped it.
As he stood, he said,
“Don’t hate because I don’t talk to you or ignore you. It’s because your chest needs a buff. You should work harder to make it larger if you want to attract .”
Her face turned red as she slamd her desk and scread,
“Joseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeph!!!”
Joseph fell to the ground on purpose, then shouted,
“Mr. Park! Mary pushed !”
“Mary, get up and stand at the window.”
As she stood there, she clenched both hands in anger.
anwhile, Jin and Joseph rested their heads on their desks, and Mary’s anger boiled.
After thirty minutes, Jin and Joseph had fallen asleep at their desks.
Their teacher gave them a long, disappointed look.
Then—boom!
He slamd two books onto their desks.
“Why are you both sleeping in my lesson?”
“We’re both exhausted.”
“Okay. Next ti, don’t do it again.”
He handed every student a paper and asked them to write their dreams and goals.
Joseph wrote:
“I want to open a parachute company, a poison company, and a bar.
My dream is to have ten won, and if I get daughters, I’ll make Jin marry them when they grow up so he can call Father-in-law.
For the ten won:
A black curvy woman,
A Latin baddie,
A beautiful white-haired girl with blue eyes,
A goth girl... I’m too lazy to continue.
I’ll just make my clan.”
Jin wrote:
“Maybe a scientist or a footballer.
And marry a normal, ordinary, beautiful girl.
She doesn’t need to be the most beautiful — just beautiful enough to make happy and loyal.
I think that’s enough.”
Both handed their papers to the teacher.
Mr. Park was curious to see Jin’s and Joseph’s answers since both were smart but lazy — talented kids who never joined study competitions.
He read Jin’s first.
“That’s my boy. Logical and smart.”
Then he picked up Joseph’s paper.
“Poison and a parachute company? Relax, Mr. Park... relax... maybe there’s sothing better written below.”
“A Latin baddie? A curvy black... woman? Joseeeeeeeeeeph!!!”
Joseph, who had been goofing around, fell from his chair at the sound of his na being shouted.
A roar echoed from Jin and Joseph’s classroom — loud enough for the whole school to hear.
“You get up and explain this now! Or I swear you’ll be cleaning all the bathrooms today!”
“What do you an by parachute company?”
“Oh, that’s easy,” Joseph said. “It’s the perfect business. I’ll never get bad feedback. If they live, it ans my company’s good. If not... well, we won’t hear anything from them anyway.”
“So, it’s not for saving people?” Mr. Park asked.
“Why would I save people? There are enough heroes outside. Why should I be one? Maybe I’d save a beautiful woman, though. If you see a woman who can’t breathe, and you give her oxygen, that’s heaven giving you an opportunity.”
“What if it’s a man?”
“Then he’s on his own. I’m not into n. I’m just a straight guy. That’s his fate. Did soone tell his mother to give birth to a male? Why should I be responsible for that?”
“Is this law or math? Why are you asking about Law, not calculus?”
“Okay, then what about poison?”
“It’s easy. It’s for cheating people. If you have a toxic ex ,then Joseph’s Poison is the best. I even made a slogan!”
“And the bar?”
“It’s just to watch won dance for — and to make money to fund the other two goals. You see, Mr. Park, I’m talented.”
“Talented my ass! You wrote a whole essay about won and three absurd jobs! Get up and stand outside!”
The girls started laughing as Mr. Park hit Joseph lightly on the head.
“Can I take Jin with ?” Joseph asked.
“No!”
Ring. The bell saved him.
Joseph walked back in two seconds later.
“Hi everyone! You should thank — I distracted the teacher so he wouldn’t waste your break ti explaining those last five questions again.”
“Have a good day, Mr. Park.”
Mr. Park sighed. “Maybe I failed as a teacher.”
He picked up his books and walked out, trying to calm himself before murdering soone.
Jin and Joseph grabbed their bags. They planned to skip all their classes for the rest of the day after the football match.
As Jin put on his football shirt, Joseph told him to go first and said he’d follow.
Jin insisted they go together, but Joseph sent him off.
Joseph walked quickly to the bathroom.
As he looked in the mirror, his smile disappeared.
A sad look appeared on his face.
Cough... cough.
Drops of blood fell from his mouth. He washed his face, took a deep breath, and put his goofy smile back on.
Then he headed to the football field.
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