Chapter 5
The First Victim. And
There was one question that every office worker inevitably carried around in the back of their mind.
“What should I have for lunch today?”
It might sound like a ridiculous thing to worry about at first glance, but it was actually a surprisingly serious problem.
Restaurants around the office tended to be expensive, and they were always packed with workers pouring in at lunchtime, often forcing you to wait for ages.
You could avoid the crowds by walking farther away, but then you’d waste a precious chunk of your lunch break just travelling back and forth.
Bringing your own lunch or grabbing something from the convenience store was another option, but doing that every single day for an entire year wasn’t exactly appealing either.
For people who worked regular office jobs, deciding what to eat for lunch was an eternal dilemma.
Teachers, on the other hand, had it easy.
Walk a short distance and there was the school cafeteria, serving a different menu every day carefully planned by professional nutritionists. Better yet, the meals were incredibly cheap compared to ordinary restaurants.
“…You’re going to eat all of that?”
“More importantly, Ms. Eunhye… are you really going to be okay with that?”
As I sat down across from her with my lunch tray, the young teacher widened her eyes in surprise.
Sure, I’d piled my tray rather generously.
But even taking that into account, the amount of food on her tray was alarmingly small.
A tiny serving of rice.
A few pieces of kimchi.
And nowhere in sight was today’s main dish—the spicy stir-fried pork.
“Well… I’m on a diet.”
A diet, huh.
I glanced over at her.
She wasn’t flawless by any means, but she certainly wasn’t overweight either.
She had the sort of figure you’d expect from an average woman in her twenties who took good care of herself.
“Come to think of it…”
Watching her absent-mindedly pick at her food, I let out a quiet sigh.
“This morning was pretty rough too, wasn’t it?”
I was referring to what had happened in the faculty office.
Just like yesterday, Vice Principal Kim had called Ms. Eunhye over and scolded her mercilessly in front of everyone.
A rookie getting chewed out by a senior wasn’t exactly unusual.
But this case was different.
Even when someone made a serious mistake, most people had enough consideration to take them somewhere private before reprimanding them.
They’d think about the atmosphere…
About the rookie’s mental state…
But the vice principal clearly couldn’t care less.
During the morning staff meeting, with every teacher watching, he openly humiliated her as though he wanted everyone to see.
“Haha… I’m sorry you had to witness something so embarrassing.”
She forced herself to smile.
But she couldn’t hide the heaviness in her voice.
After being publicly berated yesterday and again today, that was only natural.
“It’s all because I’m not good enough at my job.”
“I don’t think you’ve done anything particularly wrong, Ms. Eunhye.”
“…What?”
“You’re a brand-new teacher. Expecting someone in your position to perform perfectly without even giving you proper guidance is what’s unreasonable.”
Among civil servants like us, there was one complaint you heard time and time again.
The previous person never bothered to leave proper handover notes before transferring out.
As a result, the newcomer was left to figure everything out from scratch.
Even experienced public officials with over ten years on the job struggled without clear guidelines.
How much harder would it be for someone who had only just entered the workforce?
From that perspective, what was happening now was nothing more than the classic ritual of hazing a newcomer.
“Besides, I happened to look over your work.”
“I honestly don’t think it deserved that kind of criticism.”
“I could see how much thought and effort you put into it.”
“If I were the head of academic affairs, I’d have given it at least eighty out of a hundred.”
“…Mr. Woojin.”
“Yes?”
“You’re… a really strange person.”
“Aren’t we both first-year teachers?”
“But talking to you feels like you’ve been teaching for years.”
She let out a soft giggle.
This wasn’t the weak, forced smile from a moment ago.
It was a bright, cheerful smile that reminded me of the sunflower hairpin clipped into her hair.
“Well…”
“What I’m trying to say is…”
“You’re already doing well enough.”
“So don’t push yourself too hard.”
“Staying at school late into the night like yesterday…”
“…it’ll only wear you down.”
“…You knew?”
She covered her mouth in surprise.
Which raised an obvious question.
I’d left school and gone to the park immediately after work yesterday.
So how did I know she’d stayed behind late?
The answer was simple.
Because she was a character from Magical Girl Happy Life.
A beautiful young teacher working alone late at night.
Then, behind her…
A shadow slowly began to creep up.
By the time the magical girl Unibel sensed the monster’s presence and rushed to the school—
It was already too late.
She barely escaped with her life.
But the trauma ran so deep that she ultimately resigned from teaching altogether.
That was the very first episode of Magical Girl Happy Life.
“Night of School.”
At first, I hadn’t realised who she was.
Her only appearance in the original story was at the very beginning—
Inside the school after it had already been overrun by monsters.
She was desperately trying to escape before collapsing unconscious and being dragged away, only to be rescued by Unibel at the last second.
After that…
She never appeared again.
Not even her name was mentioned.
The only clue left behind after the incident was a sunflower hairpin lying on the floor.
That was how I finally understood.
The woman sitting in front of me…
…was the first victim this school was destined to lose.
“It’s not uncommon for new teachers to stay late because they’re eager to adapt.”
“Whenever I see someone doing that…”
“I always tell them the same thing.”
“It’s foolish.”
“When fatigue builds up, you become irritable over the smallest things without even noticing.”
“And before long, that mood spreads to the students.”
“It ruins the atmosphere of the classroom.”
“Administrative work?”
“Of course it’s important.”
“The sooner you learn it, the easier your job will become.”
“But no matter what…”
“A teacher’s highest priority should always be the students.”
…
The moment the words left my mouth, I regretted them.
Did I sound like some know-it-all?
Perhaps I’d gotten carried away because it had been so long since I’d met a fellow teacher who cared this much.
Or perhaps it was because, in my previous life, I’d seen far too many passionate teachers like her burn themselves out and eventually leave the profession.
“Yes, sir!”
“I’ll remember that!”
She answered energetically, nodding with determination.
Contrary to my worries, she didn’t look offended at all.
If anything, she playfully placed a hand on her forehead and flashed a mischievous smile.
“Talking so much has made me hungry. Do you mind if I go get another serving?”
As it turned out, Yoo Eun-hye had quite the appetite.
When she returned from the serving counter, humming to herself, it was my turn to be surprised.
“Hey, hey. You’re already packing your bags? I haven’t even dismissed class yet.”
At Woo-jin’s words from the front of the classroom, the students froze for a moment.
Was our homeroom teacher always like this?
“I get that everyone wants to go home as soon as possible, but I still have announcements to make. By the way, I’m not saying another word until it gets quiet.”
The noisy classroom fell silent almost instantly.
Homeroom was almost magical. At this time of day, even the most unruly students listened to their teacher. If anyone was caught fooling around and caused the dismissal to be delayed, they’d have to endure the icy stares of the rest of the class.
“Today’s announcements: none! Homeroom dismissed! Get going!”
At Woo-jin’s declaration, delivered with the ease of someone who had done this countless times before, the students hurriedly packed up their belongings. Being dismissed later than the class next door was considered a defeat.
“Want to hang out together for the first time in a while?”
One of Ga-yeon’s friends called out to her as she packed her bag.
“Ah, sorry. I have something to take care of today.”
“Your boyfriend, maybe?”
“N-No! It’s not like that. I just found someone’s lost phone, and I’m going to return it.”
“What? That’s so boring.”
After parting ways with her friend, Ga-yeon headed toward the school gate, where they had agreed to meet.
The entrance was crowded with students leaving for the day.
Will I be able to find him?
There were also plenty of parents waiting to pick up their children for cram school or other after-school activities.
Even if they happened to pass each other, there was a good chance neither of them would recognize the other.
After wandering around for quite some time, unsure of what to do, Ga-yeon took the black phone out of her bag.
Holding the heavily scratched device tightly, she stretched her arm as high into the air as she could.
This should make it visible from a distance, even if I’m short.
She had copied the scene from dramas and movies where people held up signs or objects to find someone at an airport.
But there was one thing Ga-yeon had overlooked.
This wasn’t an airport.
It was broad daylight, in the middle of a busy street.
People began staring at the middle-school girl standing alone with a phone held high above her head.
“…Ah.”
The moment she realized everyone’s eyes were on her and instinctively shrank back—
Someone walked past her.
The person was looking around as though searching for someone.
To Ga-yeon, the face was instantly familiar.
After all, it belonged to the very teacher she’d been looking at in class just a little while ago.
“…The remedial class. I forgot.”
Why is he here? It’s not even time for teachers to leave work yet…
She wondered that for only a second before the answer hit her.
The homeroom teacher had mentioned there would be an extra mathematics lesson soon.
He must have assumed she’d skipped it and had come looking for her.
W-What do I do?
Ga-yeon’s mind raced.
If her teacher caught her now and dragged her off to remedial class, she’d miss her chance to meet the owner of the phone.
After secretly checking the phone’s search history the previous night, there were countless things she wanted to ask its owner.
What was that strange phenomenon?
How did he know the name “Unibel”?
Had he encountered any monsters recently?
This meeting was just as important to Ga-yeon as it was to the phone’s owner.
R-Run!
Having made up her mind, Ga-yeon was just about to make a break for it—
“Where do you think you’re going?”
A voice stopped her in her tracks.
The homeroom teacher and mathematics instructor, Woo-jin—the man she thought had already walked past her—was now standing directly in front of her, looking straight at her.
“I-I wasn’t trying to run away… It’s just… I have something really important to do today. I’ll definitely attend next time. Could you please let me off just this once?”
“…First of all, I have no idea what you’re talking about. More importantly…”
His eyes fell to the object in her hand.
“That looks like my phone. Wait… were you the student I arranged to meet at the school gate today to get it back?”
“…You’re the one who lost the phone?”
Ga-yeon tilted her head in confusion.
