"Homeroom teacher for the seniors?" he asked.
"Yes." Woo Soo Chul said. "Seeing as how you did last year, it was voted that you should be homeroom teacher again this year."
Se Chang leaned all the way back in his chair and sighed. Uhm Force just smiled.
"It's not that bad." he told him. "If you need any help, just let me know."
"Thanks. Ah, Errands is top of the list." he sighed.
"Errands?" Uhm Force asked surprised.
"Go Nam Soon."
"Oh."
As they went back to paperwork, In Jae walked in.
"Good morning." she greeted the room.
"Wow. You're chipper this morning." Kang told her.
"It's a new year." she said.
"A new year, but the same students." he sighed.
"You're a homeroom teacher?" she asked.
"Unfortunately." he sighed.
Going through the papers, he got ready for the school day. Nam Soon sat in the same spot he did last year in room 3-5. Heung Soo came in and sat down beside him. Nam Soon looked over at him. Heung Soo looked back.
"You growing your hair out?" he noticed.
"Uh, ah. Maybe I will." he nodded. As the two waited for the teacher, they searched the room for any face from last year. As the students came in they watched and counted them. Song Ha Gyeong came in and sat in the first row. Kim Min Ki came over and sat in front of Nam Soon. He turned around and started a conversation with the two. Kang walked up the stairs to the third floor and bumped into In Jae.
"You're on the third floor too?" he asked.
"Yes. I have room 3-2."
"Wow. I have room 3-5."
He then walked up ahead of her to the top. He walked down the hall and arrived at room 3-5. Taking a breath, he opened the door and walked inside. Walking over to the desk he put the book down then looked up. The students looked up and the room became quiet.
"My name is Kang Se Chang. I will be your homeroom teacher for this year. Let's see." he said looking at the clipboard. "All those who want class president and vice president raise your hands."
Not a single hand went up.
"Alright. We'll just cross that off the list." he told them. "Mm, what else. Late fee. If you want ₩500 as the late fee raise your hand."
Every single hand went up. Kang nodded as he wrote it down.
"Next is role call. I have a copy of the sheet on the board, so I'll be using that. Go Nam Soon."
"Here."
Park Heung Soo."
"Here."
"Kim Min Ki."
"Here."
"Song Ha Gyeong."
"Here."
The newbie solider sat at a desk in the main office flipping through the folder. He looked at a sheet and pulled it out. Looking at a pile, he checked the sheet and put it on top of the pile. The captain at the desk in front turned around in his chair.
"How's it coming?" he asked.
"Still finding sheets Sir." he said flipping a page.
"Keep at it."
"Yes Sir."
The two then went back to work. The captain looked online and printed out files. The newbie kept flipping throughout the folders piled on the desk. Across from him, a man was on the phone. Another was asleep on a desk. Behind him, a sergeant took a sip of coffee from a cup as he stared at a monitor. The room was filled with paper flipping, clicking, typing, yawns and phones ringing. The phone near the newbie rang and he picked it up.
"Hello? Sir it's Seoul MPD."
"I'll take it."
The newbie patched the phone call over to the captain and he picked up the phone.
"Hello?"
[Yes, this is the call you wanted.]
"Yes, have you found him?"
[There is a record of him at a small patrol station.]
"I see. I'll come right over. Newbie."
"Yes Sir?"
"Grab your coat and the jeep keys. We're headed to Seoul."
Around midnight, an army jeep pulled into the Seoul MPD parking lot. The captain and newbie got out and shut the doors. They walked to the station and went inside. Four cops were trying to separate two fighting men. Two more were interrogating a gangster and high schooler, both covered in bruises. A cop noticed the army men and went over to them.
"Sorry about the mess." he apologized.
"Is it always like this?" the newbie asked.
"Pretty much. This way." he told them.
They walked into a separate room and sat down. Two more cops came in with folders and sat down as well.
"You asked about a boy named Go Nam Soon." the chief started. "After your call, we started digging as well."
He nodded to the two cops who put the folders on the table. The army men picked them up and opened them.
"Go Nam Soon." the captain read off. "Born in Jinju but later moved to Gyeonggi. Attended one year of middle school, then quit. Reason fight with gang member left member's leg injured. Good god! This kid was a school gang leader. His nickname was Tsunami. Took over Gyeonggi territory within one month of become leader. Incident with police resulted moving to Seoul. Has two part time jobs. One at a gas station and the other as an errand boy. What was the incident?"
The chief handed him a file with a grim look on his face.
"We just found this two days ago."
The captain took the file and opened it.
"Gyeonggi police chief statement: At midnight in an alley, a fight occurred between a gang of 15 men and a schoolboy. The fight lasted for 5 minutes in which police arrived on the scene afterward. Out of the 15 gang members, 7 were reported dead and the rest seriously injured. When attempting to apprehend the boy, 5 officers were injured with three being sent to surgery. The remaining officers were forced to use a tranquilizer shot on the boy. Two officers grabbed his arms and another grabbed his hair from behind. The fourth officer administered the shot as the fifth officer held down the boy's kicking legs. The boy went unconscious within a minute of the shot and was arrested. His ankles were cuffed along with his arms, which were cuffed behind his back. During interrogation the boy was thought to be securely tied to the chair and two officers stood on either side of him. We had no choice but to start beating him for him to talk. His words were "Those a**holes were too annoying. So I taught them a lesson. You know, you're just as annoying." Then to our shock, he had managed to unlock the handcuffs and wiggle out out of the chair. In the one minute we raced to the room, he had disappeared leaving the men severely injured. We also discovered that he had stolen all records of himself from the station. This journal entry maybe the only evidence on him. The original verdict the station arrived at was fitting for that demon-like child. Death Penalty. Sadly tho, we never got his name. I pray this entry will help relocate that boy so that his sentence is served."
The whole room went silent as only the wall clock made noise. It ticked down the seconds as the men sat in shock of what was read. However, the door had been accidentally left open, and the whole station heard it as well. Even the handcuffed men were silent. As the minutes ticked on, no one made a sound. The shock lasted for over 5 minutes until two cops on patrol came in.
"What's going on?" the one asked.
"I don't know. Even the criminals are quiet."
The captain finally broke the silence.
"I would like to use this station as a base in Seoul." he said.
"Of course Sir. Anything we can do to be of help, just let us know." the chief replied.
