"You bitch!"
I wanted to yell but somehow held it in and asked, "Why am I here…?"
I looked around the dusty and dimly lit storeroom.
The woman who had been standing by the door behind me frowned. "I don't know, ask the administrative department for details."
She dismissed my curiosity abruptly and left, leaving the door open. "Ah…, that bitch…" I put down the box containing my personal belongings and gazed vacantly at the storeroom.
Scattered around were items used as teaching materials in school, piled up without owners.
"What the… This is so frustrating…"
Originally, this place was one of the typical rural schools. Buildings of adequate size, a moderately sized playground, and a reasonable number of students.
The problem arose when several apartment complexes were built not far away and the area started to urbanize, leading to a sharp increase in the number of elementary students. This wasn't a problem in itself, but as the number of students increased, so did the teachers, and I, who was repairing the school's facilities, got kicked out of the administration office.
The male staff, who were gathered in the administrative office, were pushed out to old and empty rooms because there was no space left for the female teachers.
"Of all places, why here…" My colleagues pitied me as I was assigned to a secluded storeroom located behind the school buildings, towards a mountain path.
Scratching my forehead, I walked towards the window to get rid of the musty smell characteristic of the storeroom.
Screech. I had to exert effort to open the sliding door that hardly moved, causing dust to rise.
"Cough…" Covering my mouth with my sleeve, I fully opened the window and pushed the randomly placed items to the corners.
I brought a broom and a large sack to sweep and clean the floor, making some space. My back was soaked with sweat by the time I finished.
What remained was to bring in a computer and a desk for work.
"Excuse me, Mr. Oh Hajun."
"Yes?"
Just as I was about to leave the storeroom, the female staff member who had guided me earlier was standing at the door.
"Come to the administrative office to take a desk and computer."
Her tone was full of annoyance and irritation.
Suddenly, as the number of teachers increased, the menial tasks fell upon the original teachers, and she seemed quite displeased at having to deal with these tasks.
"Ah, yes."
After uttering a brief reply, she left, and I followed her to the administrative office. There, like me, other male staff members were gathered. I wasn't sure if they had moved everything, but several old-looking desks were stacked, and computers were placed beside them.
"…" Everyone looked perplexed at the computers and desks.
"Mr. An. Where were these computers from?"
I approached a chubby teacher known as Mr. An and asked.
He looked troubled as he gazed at the computers and said, "You know the closed branch school, right? They were brought from there… But, this is…"
He made a difficult expression as he explained.
Then, a staff member with glasses interrupted with a loud voice, "Attention, teachers~."
She drew everyone's attention with her clear voice. "The computers you used to use are now for the new teachers~. So, for now, you will have to work with these brought from the branch school…"
Sensing the negative atmosphere, she awkwardly smiled. "Do they even work?"
"These are all-in-one computers… They…"
Unlike the sleek all-in-one computers that are common nowadays, some of these were old models with disk drives. Being from an old school, the computers were outdated and covered in dust.
"What if they don't work?"
As one teacher asked, she looked at a paper and said, "We've requested additional computers, but the budget is tight…"
Everyone seemed to be holding back their complaints in the presence of other staff members.
Eventually, the teachers acquiesced and took the computers one by one.
"Priority goes to the teachers, and then…" They picked the relatively better ones as they were called in order. I, being last, was left with what seemed like junk.
Honestly, this computer was so old it could be ridiculed at a junkyard. "I guess I use this one." "Yes…, I'm sorry, I'm just following orders…" "It's okay."
I sighed softly and picked up the heavy computer. I hadn't expected a state-of-the-art water-cooled custom computer, but I at least thought I'd get an LCD monitor, not a CRT.
After moving the computer and desk, the storeroom was filled. I asked if I could clear out some of the unused teaching materials that had been lying around for years, but was told they might be used in the future. I had to pull separate cables for connection, like a military communications soldier.
"…"
After setting everything up, I stood speechless. I was worried whether it would even work as I had to write a report today. Whirrr. When I turned on the power, the body of the computer made a loud, roaring sound. It seemed like it belonged in a museum, struggling to display the desktop.
"No way… Windows 98…" It was a relief it wasn't Windows 95, but still disheartening.
Word, Excel, everything was an old version. Even if I managed to write a report and send it, they probably wouldn't be able to open it at the other end. I leaned back in the chair and closed my eyes, and the chair creaked.
Crack.
"Oh…" The chair was so old, it wouldn't be surprising if it broke at any moment.
"Guess I'll have to write at home…" I muttered to myself and moved the ball mouse.
It wasn't USB but had a dedicated connector, so I couldn't use my optical mouse. The desktop had only basic icons like My Computer. I managed to get on the internet, but it was so slow I couldn't do anything. Next, I went into My Computer.
"Hmm…?"
There wasn't much, but among the English files, I saw one in Korean.
[Resume]
Curious about who had written a resume on this old computer, I opened it. There were exactly three files.
[Resume] [Cover Letter] [Certificates]
I first clicked on the resume. I was curious about who had written a resume on this old computer.
[Create a new resume.]
A blank resume appeared.
[Please upload a photo of the correct size.]
It was a standard 3×4 photo for resumes.
There was no way I had a photo of myself on this computer.
"Hmm…"
Since there was still time before leaving work, I went to the school's website and downloaded my photo.
[Is this you?] [Yes/No]
As soon as I clicked yes, it started buffering. It seemed like it would take a while, so I went outside to the back of the storeroom to smoke a cigarette.
When I came back, something unbelievable had happened.
[Oh Hajun][Single] [30 years old] [188cm][97kg] [Place of Birth: Seoul Special City ~] [Current Address: Gyeonggi Province ~] [Occupation: –Elementary School Staff] [Hobbies: Not entered][Special Skills: Not entered][Personality: Not entered] [Certificates: Not entered][Up to 4 certificates can be entered.]
My physical information, which I hadn't entered, was listed.
"…"
A chill of fear ran down my spine. I swallowed hard and went back to the homepage.
Among the staff list, there was the female teacher who had treated me brusquely earlier.
I downloaded her photo and put it in the resume.
Another window popped up.
[Do you want to save your resume?] [Yes/No]
As soon as I clicked yes, a resume with my name was created.
After entering the female teacher's photo, it buffered again. This time, there was no question asking if it was me.
[Seo Hyejung][Married][0 sons, 0 daughters] [33 years old] [164cm][55kg] [Place of Birth: North Chungcheong Province ~] [Current Address: Gyeonggi Province ~] [Occupation: –Elementary School Staff] [Hobbies: Not entered][Special Skills: Not entered][Personality: Not entered] [Certificates: Not entered][Up to 4 certificates can be entered.]
Covering my mouth, I tried to comprehend what was happening right before my eyes. After regaining my thoughts, I clicked on the hobbies section.
[Please set the default value for hobbies.]
[The default values for hobbies, special skills, personality, and certificates can be entered and modified in the certificates section.]