Golden Slumber 📚 ATEEZ [▶]

3

"The new teacher is truly arrogant. Annoying from the first day."

Of course, their discussion-more like gossip-was opened by the newest phenomenon at their school, their new teacher, Park Seonghwa.

San invited Jongho, Yunho, Yeosang, and Wooyoung to spend break time in the storage room. More precisely, to hide and each smoke a cigarette he distributed, while they exchanged thoughts about how annoying Seonghwa was.

They usually didn't care much about the teachers coming and going at their school. Bright, young, and hopeful, thinking they could help troublemaking students like their group. But rarely did any of them last more than a month.

Seonghwa hadn't proven he could endure, but there was an unspoken consensus that Seonghwa seemed to have more determination than most teachers.

"Thank goodness my phone is waterproof," Yunho sighed in relief, his fingers still glued to the game on his screen.

"He's so irritating. He's disturbing my breakfast business," Jongho complained.

"Don't just complain," Yeosang lit a lighter before joining in to increase the concentration of carbon monoxide in the cramped space. "Think about how to stop him."

"He'll be gone in less than a week. Relax," San grinned, starting to devise some horrific ways to make sure Seonghwa wouldn't teach in their class anymore, before a sudden door slam interrupted him.

At the tightly closed doorway, four athletically built students in their dark blue basketball uniforms appeared.

"Oh!" Choi Yeonjun, the captain of the school's basketball team, snorted after he felt the cigarette smoke bothering him.

"Oh my God, the smell is so strong." Hwang Hyunjin beside Yeonjun waved his hand in front of his face.

"What else is new? Smells like trash. Look? They're clearly from the troublemakers." Kim Yohan chimed in, giving a disdainful look at Yeosang who happened to be in front of him. "Hey, shouldn't you be somewhere else? Gossiping with other girls?"

Yeosang was about to kick Yohan when Wooyoung pulled him back. Making trouble with rich and popular kids wouldn't be good at the beginning of the semester, even for those with no interest in studying.

"Well, what else? Students with poor grades usually get a lot of pressure. And smoking here must ease that, right?" Yeonjun walked over to a pile of basketballs, taking one. "Hey Jeno, catch!"

But instead of throwing the ball to Lee Jeno standing next to Hyunjin, Yeonjun threw it directly at San's back.

"Hey, what the heck?!"

San approached Yeonjun, roughly grabbing his shirt in disapproval of his actions. "Looking for trouble?"

"Aren't you afraid of being expelled?" Apparently, that reply was enough to make San abandon his intention to fight Yeonjun. "Next time, don't dirty the basketball area." He walked out of the room, followed by his three friends, leaving San filled with annoyance.

By midday, the basketball court was filled with spectators who couldn't stop cheering as their school team practiced. Some paid attention to how all the players exerted their skills and energy. Others focused solely on the visual appeal of their captain.

San and his four friends joined the audience. Sabotaging part of the area until no one dared to stand next to them. But not to watch the game or pay attention to how charming Yeonjun's face was.

On the other side, as San contemplated his plan, Yeonjun felt joy after successfully making another shot, drawing the attention of Choi Arin in the spectator seats. Still in the midst of celebrating, he walked backward until he accidentally stepped on a glass bottle, causing him to fall.

"Yeonjun!"

Other players crowded around Yeonjun, who was in pain after his right arm hit the floor first. Unlike those worried about him, San in his place laughed satisfactorily with the white straw still stuck to his lips.

"How was it? Need advice before playing?" Yeosang taunted.

"Aren't you supposed to be great? Why didn't you use your eyes?" Wooyoung chimed in, laughing the hardest as he occasionally patted Yunho who happened to be beside him.

"Ugh, pathetic." San grinned, about to walk away from the field with the others before a call stopped him.

"Choi San!" Miyawaki Sakura, or more commonly known as Ms. Miyawaki, seemed to understand exactly what was going on. "You're all punished. Write an apology twenty times."

"Wait, what? On what grounds?" Wooyoung protested.

But it seems they had to be smarter to deceive an English teacher who could keenly see how San rolled the glass bottle to make Yeonjun fall.

Ten minutes later, San, Jongho, Yunho, Wooyoung, and Yeosang were sitting bored in front of the teacher's room with empty books in front of each.

"I don't want to. My hand hurts." Yunho paid no attention to the pen in front of him. He was busy sighing, remembering how he lost in the game earlier.

"Me too. I still have to work after this," Jongho added, while stretching his stiff body.

"Then what?" Yeosang, even though he had no reason to refuse this punishment, still didn't want to do it. Especially San. But Wooyoung seemed to have a different plan to leave quickly without having to be tired of writing the same twenty sentences.

Without thinking about the potential risk, San followed Wooyoung's plan and walked into the teacher's room with a book in his hand.

"Ma'am, mine is done," San said when he placed his book in front of Sakura.

"Okay, you can go."

It seems Sakura needs to reduce her trust in that particular student when she saw in San's book not an apology but a wriggling caterpillar. Shocked and disgusted, Sakura got up, accidentally spilling coffee from her water bottle, staining all the answer sheets she was checking.

Outside, San and his four friends laughed contentedly, throwing various other taunts at Sakura before running away from school without a hint of guilt. Even though it was in the afternoon, Sakura had to hang out all the wet answer sheets. None of them regretted their actions.