For a moment, Oh Sanbaek was at a loss for words. Now that he thought about it, that bastard Lee Dojin didn't seem that ruffled up either. He also did not hear anything about the other guys so maybe they did not fight after all? He kept clicking the butt of his pen. Random thoughts that made little sense swirled in his mind. For example, he wondered if maybe Lee Dojin had gotten into cahoots with some washed-up gangster, or maybe even drank a magic potion that made him gain a backbone. Of course, that was all rather unlikely, impossible in some minds even, but Oh Sanbaek could not help it. Though he himself did not see so, he was a coward. He wasn't strong, he wasn't smart, God had blessed him with no notable talents. Thus, he could only clench himself onto other strong ones. Thus, even though he was friends with Lee Dojin in middle school, times changed, and he felt no remorse cutting him off.
"Hey could you stop with that noise," his seating neighbor complained.
Oh Sanbaek put his pen down and lowered his head. "Sorry, sorry." He then silently observed Lee Dojin, his eye sharp.
Meanwhile, the person in question did not realize the eyes on him. Or maybe he did, but he could not care less. He twirled his pen around while staring in the distance. He had no books out and took no notes since he neither had the interest nor the necessary equipment to do so.
The old teacher, who saw Lee Dojin's careless attitude, felt a surge of anger well up inside her. Even though he had been late, he did not pay heed to the class at all, indicating he held not an ounce of respect for her. It wasn't like he had any considerable backing, like a helicopter-mum, or was the son of some executive chef either, so where did he get the nerve to doze off? "Lee Dojin," she suddenly called out. "Am I boring you?"
Lee Dojin turned around. He saw the furious woman in front of him, in her hand holding a textbook. The other students also turned their attention to him. The girl who had asked him if he was alright, gave him a worried look. He chuckled. "No, not at all."
"Really." She placed her hands on her hips. "Well, it does not seem like that to me."
"That's your problem then. What does your interpretation have to do with me?" He waved his hand then turned his head to the window once more, paying the lady no heed. Some people in the class laughed in a whisper. Could something interesting be unfolding in today's mundane lessons?
The teacher, offended by the blatant disrespect, felt the blood rise to her head. "It's great that you think that this class has no value for you. That must mean you are one of the gifted children. As a teacher, I could not be prouder of students like you. I apologize if my class might thus appear inadequate to you. But do understand that there aren't many who can keep the same pace as you, please," she said with a rather forced smile.
Lee Dojin tilted his head. What was with that sudden aggression? "That's not it at all. This course just holds no value for me. It is not like I am bothering you just by staying silent, no?"
"This has little to do with what you want. A school is a place of learning!" The woman snapped. "I won't accept such behavior in my classroom. If you don't want to learn, then leave my class."
At this point, Lee Dojin had already given up on having a peaceful school-week. As he thought, peace was no place for him. If he could have managed to sit through this class, maybe he would not have been thrown out of school in his past life. Still for it to happen only 30 minutes into the lesson, that was rather unbelievable. In his mind, he did not do anything wrong, yet he had already been chastised. He was starting to believe that he might have a passive skill that made him that much more provocative. "Why are you so uptight? Isn't it normal that within thousands of students that you teach, there will be some whom you cannot help? It is neither fault of you nor the apprentice—just different styles of learning." He sighed, disappointed. "Such thing had occurred to me too. So why the anger?" He hadn't even bothered to use formal speech anymore.
Now, the other students were sure that something would unfold. They watched the exchange with bated breaths. Many people thought Lee Dojin was stupid to reply this way—maybe he was—but whatever could take them out of this boring history lesson was welcome.
"Pfft, look at the teacher going red."
"Don't laugh, don't laugh, that ox will get mad at you otherwise," another student whispered.
The teacher's anger subsided. Instead, there arose a cold contempt as she listened to Lee Dojin speak. That was the problem with kids these days, having never been part of the real world. They expect everything to fall their ways; as if they could change fate itself. And from those frequent thoughts of rebellion arose. It will only be in a few years that they think about this moment and feel the shame that kept them up at night. All she could do as a teacher was helping him pass the moment as painlessly as possible. "I understand. Well, would you like to continue the lesson if you are this capable then?" She wrote something on the blackboard. "As you know, many regard Zhuge Liang as the once-in-a-millennia genius, as he not only displayed an otherworldly mind for strategems, but also had an impeccable talent for machinery, dubbing himself as an inventor and engineer. However, there is one less remembered man of that era, Ma Jun a servant of Cao Wei, who is often overshadowed by him. What was his most famous invention?"
"Oh look at that, he got properly marked. That ox is going to wring Lee Dojin's neck."
"Ah, idiot, what an idiot. He should have just quietly aced the exams."
"That's not even the Three Kingdoms of Korea, what the hell?"
The class whispered to each other. But Lee Dojin did not mind. Instead, his eyes widened. "Did you say Ma Jun?" He subconsciously straightened his back. bubbles of laughter escaped him. "So people do remember that old coon. And here he told me that this generation was a lost cause because no one recognized that beggar."
"What's so funny, Dojin, is it that you cannot answer?" The teacher asked. A small grin crept up her face.
Suddenly Lee Dojin's neighbor stood up. "Seungsengnim. I don't think this question is appropriate for our current lesson. Since we are following the three kingdoms of Korea, not China."
"Kim Jyejin." The teacher looked at her. "Why, that makes for an interesting debate I believe. Given that this is history class, it's important to note even that those not inside the country."
Kim Jyejin did not back down. "Still, it is unreasonable to assume that Lee Dojin possesses the necessary knowledge to answer the question."
"Oh, would you like to answer then? I understand that you are the niece Kim Illsang," her tone turned harsh, "but I'll have you know that this is my class, and I don't tolerate any disrespect, even if it were from the resident of the Blue House."
Kim Jyejin's brows knitted, her immaculate face scrunching. "Seungsengnim, with all due to respect, whom I'm the family member of has nothing to do with this."
The old woman shook her head. "Well, if no one can answer this, we should move ahe—"
"The Chariot. Specifically, the south-pointing one," Lee Dojin suddenly chimed in. "Though he always claimed that his best invention was the puppet theatre of his. Funny guy he was." Kim Jyejin, the teacher, and all the students focused their eyes on him. He continued without thought. "Well, that is if we compare it with his past achievements. Even after his death, he will go on to invent many new items that would further humanity's progress." Lee Dojin thought about the old man in his past. The one brought back by the system. He was a cranky one, and just like him, from low-standing. All he had was his brain that served him. Saying Ma Jun died unknown was certainly false. Even today, he remained as one of Ancient China's greatest mechanical engineers, but it was true that his legacy fell short of people like Zhuge Liang and Liu Bei.
"That is, uh," the teacher stammered for her words. "I'll have to check it out in other books."
"What don't tell me you asked me a question about which you did not know the answer to?" Lee Dojin raised his brow. The teacher, under the scrutiny of her student, felt embarrassment turn her cheeks red. She excused herself, saying that she had something to research, then dashed through the door.
The room was met with an awkward silence. They were unsure of how to react. Lee Dojin kept his sight outside the windows, starting to get bored by this charade. There was only one person who had a different reaction: "Tsk, I worried for nothing. That Lee Dojin is still a useless know-it-all. No way that nerd would have gotten the balls to oppose me," Oh Sanbaek said quietly to himself. Sinister thoughts clouded his mind.
Yes, he was a coward. But being a coward in itself was not necessarily a bad thing. At times, it may even help one survive. It was better to be alert one time too often than being negligent at the most important time. Surviving and living, for that, one needed to be lucky every second, yet, to die, it only took one time of misfortune.
However, not only was he a coward, but he was also a moronic coward. That, of course, bore no merit.