Joonho looked at his housekeeper, Mrs. Lee Sunhee, who always pretended to be his mother during school festivals and parent-teacher meetings.

In many ways, she had shown up for Joonho more than his own mother ever had.

It had started innocently enough. At first, Joonho's mother, Bae Nari, would send Sunhee because she wanted to catch up with her friends, which wasn't necessarily wrong. But over the years, she made it a habit to avoid school for every possible reason.

Bae Nari had always been against the traditional school system and its methods. She had even insisted on homeschooling Joonho, something his late father had strongly opposed.

Ironically, outside of school, she was the kind of mother some people could only dream of.

Whenever Joonho wanted to skip school, she'd happily join his fake illness, call it a "mental health day," and take him shopping or to the mall instead.

Joonho looked at Mrs. Lee Sunhee.

"Thank you... for always being here."

She smiled warmly.

"You're welcome, sweetheart."

Kyuri, Liora, and Rin overheard them and walked over.

"Hi, Mrs..."

Mrs. Lee Sunhee smiled.

"Hello, girls."

"Are all of you okay?"

"It must've been so scary."

"Come home with us."

"I'll make all of you a hot bowl of noodles and soup."

All three girls' eyes sparkled.

Kyrui gasped.

"Really, Mrs. Bae?"

Liora immediately turned around.

"I'll go call the others!"

For her, this was the perfect excuse for an unofficial date with Zeon.

"How sweet of you," Rin smiled.

Suddenly—

"Stop!"

Joonho grabbed Liora's wrist before she could run.

"You can't come today."

Everyone stared at him.

Joonho immediately became flustered.

"I-I mean..."

"You were supposed to meet your friends at the café today..."

Mrs. Lee Sunhee instantly understood what he was trying to do.

He was desperately trying to uninvite them.

She immediately played along.

"Oh yes!"

"Thank you for reminding me, Joonho."

"Maybe another day."

"We should get going now."

Liora blinked.

"...That's weird."

"...And kind of mean."

"How could she suddenly do that to us?"

Kyuri rolled her eyes.

"I'll buy you two bowls of noodles and soup if you stop whining right now."

Rin looked between the two in disbelief.

She genuinely couldn't believe Liora was this devastated over noodles.

Mrs. Lee Sunhee walked toward the old scooter parked outside Mrs. Um's house.

She inserted the key.

Pressed the starter.

Nothing.

She tried again.

Still nothing.

Then—

Clank.

One of the scooter's side panels fell off.

Another piece dropped.

A screw slowly rolled across the road.

Joonho stared in horror.

"...Mrs. Lee."

"Why did you even bring this scooter?"

"You haven't driven it in seven years!"

She answered bluntly,

"The only other vehicles at your house are luxury cars."

"Did you want me to arrive in a Rolls-Royce while you're pretending to be an ordinary middle-class student?"

Joonho immediately froze.

"...Oh."

"...Right."

"Sorry."

Then he looked around at everyone staring.

"...Now everyone thinks we're poor."

"I was okay pretending to be middle class."

"...Not this poor."

Watching from a distance, Liora, Kyuri, and Rin noticed the scooter refusing to start.

Liora sighed sympathetically.

"...Maybe they really don't have enough money."

"Maybe that's why she didn't invite us."

"I mean..."

"Look."

"She can't even start her scooter."

Kyuri nodded sadly.

"I never realized things got this difficult after his father passed away."

Rin agreed.

"Yeah..."

"He disappeared from school for such a long time after that."

"And somehow still managed to catch up with everything."

Meanwhile...

Mrs. Lee Sunhee looked around.

Police officers.

Parents.

Passersby.

Everyone had witnessed the scooter practically falling apart.

Out of sheer embarrassment, she sighed.

"I'll come back for it later."

She grabbed Joonho's hand.

"Run."

The two immediately sprinted away.

Meanwhile, inside the school...

Since Miss Heo Minseo, the new Literature teacher, had been inside the principal's office when the police called earlier that morning, she was naturally curious.

"What happened?"

The principal explained the entire hostage misunderstanding from beginning to end.

After leaving the office, Miss Heo Minseo headed toward her first class.

Still unfamiliar with the campus, she accidentally wandered into one of the school's blind spots.

There—

She found Myeora, and the rest of Medusa's group and wannabe Medusa’s group members happily skipping class.

Miss Heo Minseo blinked.

"...Girls?"

"What are you all doing here?"

The entire group froze.

Myeora recovered first.

"Wait..."

"Are you our new Literature teacher?"

Miss Heo Minseo smiled brightly.

"I am."

Immediately—

Every single girl transformed into the model student.

"Oh my gosh!"

"We've been waiting forever!"

"We've literally been dying without Literature!"

"No Literature..."

"...No life."

"I was so bored these past few weeks."

The rest dramatically nodded in agreement.

Miss Heo Minseo laughed.

As they began walking together, she tried making small talk.

"By the way..."

"Did you girls hear?"

"There was a hostage misunderstanding involving some of our students this morning. Explained them the whole situation."

Myeora's eyes widened with fake concern.

"Oh no... Thank god they all are safe!"

Then she noticed the tablet tucked under Miss Heo Minseo's arm.

"You've been carrying all this the whole time."

"Here, let me help."

Without thinking much of it, Miss Heo Minseo handed over the books.

She kept holding onto the tablet herself.

Myeora smiled.

"Wow."

"Is this the newest model?"

Miss Heo Minseo nodded.

"It is."

"I've always wanted to know what the new updates are like," Myeora said wistfully.

She let out a dramatic sigh.

"Maybe only in my dreams."

Miss Heo Minseo chuckled.

"You know what?"

She unlocked the tablet.

"Go ahead."

"Feel free to explore it for a few minutes."

"I just need to use the washroom."

"When I'm back, we'll head to the classroom together."

"Really?"

Myeora's eyes lit up.

"Thank you so much."

The moment Miss Heo Minseo disappeared down the corridor...

Myeora's sweet smile vanished. She immediately searched for the school's communication app used for sending official announcements to students, parents, and staff.

Myeora quickly opened the school communication app.

Staff.

Parents.

Students.

One announcement...

...could reach every single phone connected to the school.

She glanced toward the washroom.

Still no teacher.

Perfect.

Then she began typing.

Her fingers flew across the screen.

URGENT NOTICE

Some of our students were involved in a hostage situation earlier today. Thanks to the swift response of our police department, everyone has been safely rescued.

Keeping the mental well-being of our students in mind, school will remain closed for the next two days.

Today's classes are terminated effective immediately.

Students involved:

Aeryun Han

Bae Joonho

Han Eunjae

Kang Kyuri

Lee Liora

Nohwa Rin

Zeon Kwon

She reread the message.

A slow smirk spread across her face.

Perfect.

Just then—

Miss Heo Minseo returned.

She caught Myeora smiling at the tablet.

"What are you smiling about?"

Myeora immediately locked the screen.

"Oh..."

"Nothing."

She handed the tablet back with an innocent smile.

"Shall we go to class?"