Getting right on with his plan, the teacher clapped three times to get their attention. “Okay, class!” 

He tried to sound authoritative, yet none of the students took notice of him as if he was invisible. They didn’t stop and just carried on with their antics, completely ignoring his efforts. Well, as someone who had anticipated this warm welcome, he’d come to terms with the fact that they wouldn’t be troubled about his presence so easily. In spite of that, he stood at the door and still smiled. 

“Do they also do drugs, human smuggling, or homicide here?” He wondered, his thumb resting lightly under his chin. But aside from curiosity, he had no intention of finding out since that idea would have been already out of his grasp.

In the middle of his observation of the class, a student, seemingly from nowhere, grabbed a bucket from near a toppled bookshelf and excused himself to the restroom. That restroom was located at the back of the storage room and was specifically designed for their class.

The student seemed to be in a rush as he carried the bucket. The deep red-haired man had fixed his gaze on the student and followed where he was headed. Before the student passed by him at the door, he noticed a hint of anger in the student’s eyes when their gazes met. It was the first time he had met the student, yet, for some reason, it seemed like the student harbored some resentment towards him for a very long time. It was his first encounter with the class, but he could already sense a strong wave of animosity directed towards him. Although the students weren’t directly looking at him, he felt as though their attention was intensely focused on his presence. He still advanced at the middle front of the class either way. 

Given their behavior in contrast to his, it was clear that these students wouldn’t obey someone with just a single command. Aware of this environment, it could be considered their long-held territory. Their domain. The soldiers outside were merely observers who wouldn’t lift a finger without receiving an order from their superiors. It wasn’t a question of whose territory this was, but rather, the fact that this place, known to be the most respected, consistently ranked first, and the highest academic institution in the entire country, had such a place hidden from public view. But for the long red-haired new man, this information was nothing new to him.

Minutes we­nt by, and the student hadn’t returned yet. The classroom was as it always had been, ignoring his presence, in disarray, with everything turned topsy-turvy. Yet, this didn’t perturb him in the slightest. In his mind, the teacher had patiently awaited the student’s return. While doing that, he occupied himself by committing to memory the faces of each student, recalling their names, and any information he possessed about them, including that student who had stepped out. He knew, from a short glance at the class, that four students weren’t present, and that he had already known who they were. Furthermore, the teacher had evaluated each student’s cognitive abilities, adaptability, emotional intelligence, and intelligence quotient, estimating them all in percentages. Simply by observing their behavior, he had managed to analyze their strengths and weaknesses. All this while maintaining a wide smile on his face.

"Hair shone red… as that of the bright star.” The teacher began to hum and sing softly to a song that momentarily stuck in his mind. Nobody heard him but he didn’t mind it the slightest. Upon trying to recall the melody of the song and somehow forgetting it, he then stared up for a moment, and said, “Oh, silly me. What was it again?” 

He slightly slanted his head to think it through, though he wasn’t too bothered about forgetting the song because none of it was his top priority anyway — or so, if the song hadn’t popped into his mind so suddenly, he wouldn’t be overthinking it by now. He remembered everything about his students, down to the smallest detail, so forgetting the song was strange. But either way, he was curious to see how things would turn out now that he had already stepped into their class. Despite the fact that the students’ behavior might have been less than ideal, it’s important to remember that they were, and always will be, human beings — the holders of life, have the capability to do things their own way, and learn things the hard way. So no matter what their actions once were, they deserve understanding and compassion. After all, by the end of the day, they are just like us — perfectly imperfect humans.

“Now that I think about it, where is it? I haven’t seen the —” A torrent of liquid suddenly splashed on the man’s face before­ he could finish his thought. 

The cool shock of the water had been the first sensation he had felt. From his face down to his shoes, the water had soaked him wet. Not only that, it stunk, and that disgusting smell was now glued to his body. If given the opportunity to name the things he had hated in this world, it would be the poor smell, disorganization, and dirty environment. Yet, these students — this place, rather, had it all. He had known that the environment itself could transmit diseases to humans, and he knew he was sensitive to that. And this water… there’s a possibility that this water could be contaminated.

“Looks like it’s starting,” blabbered one of the lookouts looking through his binoculars while roughly chewing a gum. He adjusted it a bit to clearly witness the downfall of the new guy.

“Let me see,” said one of the soldiers on lookout and reached out eagerly to take the binoculars from his companion. The companion, whose binoculars were taken, was at a loss for words. He frowned at his friend then picked up his own lens-equipped firearm to observe the event.

The distance between the classroom and the location of the military men wasn’t that far from apart. The only difference was the elevation of their base. Regardless of the military men’s activities, whether they were slacking off or not, they could always observe the outside without needing lenses to detect any movement. However, this situation was different. A new, strange man had appeared, students were preparing for war, and a classroom had its windows broken. They wouldn’t want to miss this moment and were ready to observe it fully. They could fully witness the whole thing thanks to the broken windows that only provided an unobstructed view.

“Stop goofing around. We’re here to guard the area, not to do some stupid shit,” another lookout had said. He was busy observing the other side of the wall, where only the forest was visible. He used his binoculars to check if the new red-haired man had any companions with him hiding somewhere in the forest. The idea of someone intruding was persistently lingering in his thoughts and he couldn’t just let it go so easily. Finding nothing suspicious, he put down his binoculars and sighed, thinking he might be overly cautious.

“Have we heard anything from the radio yet? We haven’t, right? So chill out, will ‘ya? Now, get down here and at least watch this farewell surprise party they’ve prepared for that new guy,” said the man who was chewing gum. “This is one of those moments where the guest of honor cries from joy,” he continued. The one observing the forest simply sighed and shook his head off in disbelief. 

“Unless he cries from pain.” Smirked at the other guy. The two were clearly enjoying themselves and eagerly anticipating what would happen next.