Chapter Text
Humin always thought his job was boring.
All he did was look after the kids, scold them a little, and keep a close eye on them. The more eventful ones would be talking to their guardians and watching the child's face slowly fall into despair as they soon realize they'll probably lose their gadget rights later that day.
Until recent times. A student, Ga-young, a transferee in the eighth grade, had been getting more and more complaints from both teachers and students. When Humin would check the suggestion box he left outside of his office, he saw multiple letters begging him to talm to this Ga-young.
So, he did. He approached gently. Called her to his office, gently warned her about the consequences of her actions if she keeps them up.
"You know, you'll end up doing community service." He warned, approached with a deeper octave of his voice in order to appear more menacing, scarier.
"Like hell I care about community service. How would you guys know I wouldn't just skip it? Idiots, you all." Ga-young scoffed, crossing her arms. "Plus, it was just a little banter. I guess some people just grew too sensitive now, huh? How stupid!" she huffed, adamant. "I did not do anything wrong, this is just how I make friends. And I guess I just ended up interacting with the wrong person, huh? Which one was it? Yujun? Chaei?"
Humin sighs, clicking his pen, "So it's not person, it's people."
Hs stared at the stubborn girl.
"I'll let you off with a warning just because I'm following school policy. Get sent here two more times, I'm giving your parent a call."
"Guardian." Ga-young corrected.
"Your guardian a call." Humin cleared his throat. "Your grades are promising, so lay it off now, would you?"
Ga-young hums, and slings her bag against her shoulder. "Yeah, whatever. Good day, Sir Park."
The next day, Humin settled into his office with his usual takeout. He came around recess for the students, knowing they'd be too exhausted to cause trouble in the first few periods. He liked the extra time.
But, first person to walk into his office wasn't a co-worker, not his best friends who were teachers, but that girl.
"Ga-young! To the office, now!" Ga-young mocked her teacher's order. "That's what Mr. Keum told me to do, so I waited one period, outside of your office." She smirks proudly.
"What did you do this time..?" Humin exasperatedly asked.
"Nothing that bad, in my opinion. Just slept in his class. Woke up when he went to take a bathroom break, then, I took his laptop and started doing whatever on it. My classmates watched as I played on his League account—God, he was packed with skins and shit. Crazy, am I right? No wonder he's an ICT teacher, he's real good at it." She rambled, "Plus, it was boring, too. My classmates liked it, anyways. Shouldn't that be the important part? My classmates actually liked something I did for once."
"At the cost of your teacher's temper, Ga-young." Humin groaned, pinchjng his nose, "Okay, new mission since you were able to do the first one: don't piss any of your teachers off. Got it?"
Ga-young shrugs, "Hell, sure. But I like it here. Good place for skipping class, and you're pretty good at keeping a conversation up. It's more of a chitchat than a conference." She pursed her lips up, "It's really simple for me, everything. I sleep in class 'cause I know what the lessons are already, I cause trouble for my entertainment. It's pretty fun, sir. You should've tried it out when you were a highschooler."
Humin cleared his throat. "Well, no, I was quite the studious—"
Ga-young crossed her arms in an X, "Eeh-eeh, wrong!"
"And how would you, of all people, know?" He raised a brow, not denying.
"I have my sources. Mr. Seo told me alllll about it." She snickered. "Community service my ass, you loved getting into trouble. It's ironic how you even worked this job out, you know? I'd be pretty fucking suspicious. The principal's too lenient on you."
He nods, "Fine, fine. I'll admit to that, at least; I have nothing to lie about. How long is Mr. Keum making you stay here, then?"
"Lunchtime. I have about.. an hour and fourty-five minutes left here. I'm pretty good company though, right?"
Humin closed his eyes, composing himself. Deep breaths, Park Humin. It's a kid.
"Guess you could say that. Did you bring your phone with you? I'll connect you to the school wifi. It's much faster than mobile data, trust me."
"No, thanks, I'm already connected. Can I have a bite out of the chicken, though?"
"…Fine. Just not too much." Humin begrudgingly agreed out of modesty. He didn't really have a valid reason to deny the kid what she wanted, afterall, she'd been doing… so-so, at most. Actually- scratch that, she's been doing a 75-25. Still better than yesterday.
The two figures exchanged conversations. About themselves, their past. It was mostly Ga-young asking Humin about his childhood, and why he ended up becoming a guidance counselor instead of pursuing culinary arts like he wished for as a child. Turns out, the only culinary school in his area rejected him due to his below average grades and terrible conduct.
"..And they let you become a counselor? How stupid." Ga-young teased. "But you're good at your job. Plus, the chicken is awesome. I'm sure there's still hope for you becoming a chef and stuff. All they do is cook, anyways, you don't need a PhD for that shit."
Humin chuckles, "That's what I said! Jesus, you really are a smart kid."
"Got it from my uncle, obvi. A girl learns most from the people she spends her day with. In no time, I'll probably end up like you. It doesn't sound too bad, for me at least."
The bell rang, signifying her time to leave. Ga-young stood up, and bowed. Probably the last time he'll see any action of respect from her.
A few days would pass without any major problems. A few fistfights here and there, but it never got to a point like it did in his time. Thank god, it would have been a hassle to deal with.
Those who were sent to his office were mostly students with issues. With grades, with mental and physical heath, with teachers, with their classmates. They were all shortly resolved, thanks to his superb guidance and awesome counseling—He was deemed the best counselor. He'd do anything to uphold that title.
He was proud of Ga-young. The letters weren't about her anymore, just mostly general problems you could move on from pretty quickly. Maybe a week or two passed without hearing from her.
And disaster struck. Cries, yelling, and a crowd in the middle of the canteen. Instead of lines for food, there was a line to spectate what was happening. Blood splattered to the ground, along with two students. Their coats off—ripped apart.
There was one other in the ring, a badly injured girl. Her glasses had shattered, and she struggled to get up, but her cries for the other two to stop were far from being reached.
The fight was between Ga-young and another known bully, but what shocked everyone was that the other fighter had worn brass knuckles, and had punched Ga-young straight to the face—God, it hurt.
Somehow, Ga-young was able to champion against him. Her nose, cut through the bridge, ripped the brass knuckle out of his fist and left him with a finishing punch. The crowd cheered, none moved to call onto a teacher or anything, and it was just perfect timing—it was when the faculty members had a meeting with the principal.
Humin rushed in to stop the fight, a little too late, but it was enough to lessen the severity if he acted too late. He scolded the students for not acting, nobody thinking to call for a teacher, or to ask help from the nearest janitor. He ordered two students each to carry all the three injured children to the nurse's office. He'd talk with them soon, after he'd informed their advisers.
He found himself face-to-face with the three students the next day. It was a Thursday, and he had to come to school on their first period to get down with the situation immediately.
"What motivated this?"
"They were pissing me off." Ga-young states.
"She was being annoying!" Yujun groaned.
The other girl wasn't in an emotionally stable form as of now, and all she could reply with were crying hics. She tried to silence her sobs, wiped her tears, looked down at her lap, but she couldn't do it all without being noticed.
"Oh my God, shut up already!" Yujun clenched his fists, Ga-young raising her own against him—"You do it first. She's crying because of you!"
"I'll talk to you all individually. Then call your.. guardians." Humin declared. "Get out, I'm starting with Yujun first. Take a seat."
The situation was resolved. He heard all he needed to hear—The other two had been provoking Ga-young for her failing conduct grade, and it's gotten to a point. Yujun's parents were called, and they were compensated for whatever damage was caused to him. It was pretty easy to convince them not to get fired up all over.
The other girl's guardian, her grandmother, severely apologized for the problem caused. She offered to pay the nurses for their efforts. He swore it was no big deal, and that they had no place to be at fault, and that everything would be fine in no time.
Ga-young had left the school, called over by her uncle for family matters. The conference for her would be held the day after her classes, Friday. What a shame, Humin thought, he wanted more time to rest, but here he was, solving kids' problems and trying to console them.
3:15PM, Friday.
Humin waited patiently. He wanted to get to the bottom of this—Who was taking care of Go Ga-young, and how they influenced her.
The door opened, two figures walking in. Ga-young, who had just woken up from a really good class nap, followed by a man in a suit—must be his office uniform. Humin's eyes drew to the leaner man, lips slightly tugging at the side.
Ga-young's nose scar from the brass knuckle was cut deep, requiring a bandage over the bridge. When Humin looked back up to her uncle, he saw a similar scar on his own nose.
"Like uncle, like niece, huh?" He comments. "So, are you aware of the whole.. thing?" Humin asked cautiously, "I can summa—"
"No need. I'm aware." he cuts the counselor off, "And I'll defend my niece all throughout. She has her reasons, and she doesn't have to tell her whole life as a sob story for you guys to reduce her punishment's severity."
"Let's not get too hostile, here—"
"How could I not? You claim to have counseled her, changed her, yet you fail to see the place she comes from, and why she acted that way. Maybe you'd have to look deeper into the situation." He stiffly said, a hint of dislike in his tone already. "Get it over with. What's the punishment? How much do I have to pay that spoiled brat's parents?"
"Uhhh…"
Humin stared at the man intently. Jesus, he had a really nice bone structure. His nose was pretty and stuff, too. The way his brows furrowed in focus was really handsome.
"Nevermind all of that, sir. It was taken care of by the school in order to avoid further complications, you know what I mean?" he chuckled, scratching the back of his neck.
"That's stupid, but easy to agree with." The office worker mumbled, "Punishment?"
Humin stared at his hand for a minute, counting what could be appropriate for her whilst having a chance to see this guy again.
One, two..
"Three-day suspension with an apology letter from Ga-young."
Ga-young looked up at her uncle, eyes pleading.
"Three days is enough, Ga-young. Don't get yourself used to me vouching for you, I'm doing this so your mom doesn't get mad at me when she gets home from abroad." He sighed. "Fine, I'll take that."
Ga-young groaned, pouting. She'd walk out, neither men wanting to chase her.
The man huffed as he stood up, "Thank you, sir. Sorry for the trouble she's caused, she's.. just like that. I promise, I'll do whatever I can to lessen this behavior of hers."
Humin stood up, halfway. "W-Wait. I didn't catch your name, s-sir. Park Humin. M-My number's— written. On the paper. Incase of emergency,"
"Go Hyuntak." He took the piece of paper, walking away slowly whilst laughing softly—"I'll need it. It won't be the last time I'll see you, huh?"
The door closed, and Humin wheezed. He felt thirsty. Maybe it was the weather, some days in March are pretty hot, anyways.