Elite Instructor at a Third-Rate Academy

21 – How to Deal with Third-rates☆

He finished his prayers more hastily than usual.

Senite applied perfume, opened the door wide, and dried himself off. The bell signaling two o’clock had long since rung. Looking down, he suddenly frowned. Knowing it was unavoidable, he simply endured it as part of his duty to God. He picked up the iron bars. As he approached the Platanus tree, a familiar shadow appeared.

—Diligent person.

About the homeroom teacher, that’s all I know.

Due to an unexpected tragedy, distrust of educators had arisen, but Temulic Stine believed. He wasn’t particularly handsome or competent. It was his distinctive upright attitude he had shown during Amy’s suicide incident.

“Everyone criticized, but you quietly tried to uncover the truth.”

He resembled more of a savior than an ordinary person. Saint was a devout believer to his core, a priest raised and groomed by the central church. For her, maintaining inner conviction regardless of external circumstances was more important than anything else.

“Am I late?”

As she inquired while catching her breath, the homeroom teacher, still standing at the Platanus tree, replied.

“No.”

“Are you not going to ask anything today?”

The homeroom teacher seemed as if he would be disappointed if she asked him any questions. She was afraid that he might be different from what she believed. Having experienced what happened to Ivon Dikio, making such a mistake would only lead to self-loathing, not just by others. Fortunately, Temulic Stine started walking ahead silently.

“The wind.”

She closed her eyes briefly, savoring the distant mountain breeze blowing. In the meantime, Temulic Stine had walked alone and gone quite far ahead. She seemed to know why he was comfortable.

His nonchalant demeanor, neither stopping nor advancing according to her movements, had a calming effect on her. She gripped the iron fence belatedly and followed him, and the homeroom teacher stood silently at a crossroads.

“Are you waiting?”

She didn’t ask out loud. As he moved forward, he simply continued walking as if following a bishop. Unlike walking with Genoa, her mind felt at ease. She appreciated that he worried about her and even took care of her meals, but it was burdensome. She could sense his subtle urging for her to leave him.

“I’m sorry, Genoa. I make you uncomfortable because I’m weak.”

Self-blame was familiar. A Saint had to accept the world in this way. Rather than dissecting the causes of everything that happened to her and correcting misunderstandings, she had to believe that even this trial was God’s providence. Therefore, Saint did not explain the events of that day to anyone.

“He didn’t lay a hand on my body.”

That day, Ivon Dikio, seen in the gym storage room, was corrupted. Saint defeated her former homeroom teacher with the martial arts rigorously taught by the church. She wielded the iron fence and pushed him away, making sure he didn’t touch her.

However, she couldn’t stop his obscene and blasphemous talk. Even now, those words echoed somewhere in her mind, causing unease. Sometimes she felt short of breath, and on certain days, her body grew warm. She gradually immersed herself in prayer, grateful for the one who had given her all these troubles, doubts, and suffering.

“Please make this hatred and attachment disappear.”

Regardless of what the world, classmates, and fellow students said about the events between her and Ivon, she didn’t care. The only thing that mattered was purging these peculiar things within her.

When the day came that her heart would be cleansed, she would explain everything to everyone. Saint prayed diligently every day, believing it was the most righteous solution she knew.

“Um…!”

She had come to a place she didn’t want to face, at the end of her confused thoughts. The homeroom teacher seemed not to hear. She contemplated calling him back, but suddenly, he stepped aside and moved towards a dead-end path.

“Are you considering my feelings?”

Saint considered asking but decided not to. Her lips curled upward, and her dimples deepened, but not looking at the mirror, she couldn’t even be sure if she was smiling. She could only moan like a true faithful believer.

“You have a warm heart.”

[#21 – Saint]

Like the day he lost in chess, Kenneth reviewed and analyzed yesterday’s lesson.

The initial goal was like this: to improve the skills of the C-class students and encourage the A and B-class students to study on their own. To put it plainly, it was a miserable failure. Among the C-class, only Mercadie had improved.

“A-class students are doing fine.

Zenoa and Brandila have been studying grammar well together. Even though they didn’t have reference books and only received self-made supplementary materials, they managed to study autonomously. On the other hand, B-class students felt that their skills were declining as they interacted with C-class students.

“The key is how to match different levels of students.”

Two immediate solutions came to mind.

“Should I just cut off C-class students?”

Thinking that he wouldn’t have to see Serrana anymore made him feel relieved, but there was still potential for improvement with the rest. Especially in terms of grammar, even Ochia, who was an outstanding student academically, would do well, and Mercadia, despite being clueless, would do as she was told. The only problem was Serrana Lafisardi, so he couldn’t burn the whole field just because of one flea.

“What about teaching them separately?”

Combine A-class and B-class, and personally instruct C-class. If not, there was also a method to guide pronunciation personally and divide grammar into two groups for discussion and presentation.

“How was yesterday’s class?”

While deeply contemplating, Fredy approached and asked. It was uncomfortable as it broke his immersion, but he didn’t show it. Kens had suggested going to the nursing room to feed her, as he thought he would get tired of talking in the office.

“There’s no need for you to come along.”

Without giving a clear answer, she got up, and he could hear her footsteps following behind when he left the teacher’s office. He seemed to be asking why she came, as if it was shameless to send her away and benefit alone. It felt sincere. Kens acknowledged that Freddy Vendelin was a good woman, but she burdened him in some sense.

“You felt annoyed by her from the first day, right?”

When he handed her the tea, she didn’t sit on the bench but stood and drank it.

“What do you mean by annoyed?”

“Both genders showing interest in each other.”

“Well, Adson did show some interest in Ochia.”

“I still don’t know.”

“Well, he’s clueless, so he might not know.”

-Who’s saying that about whom?

Kens narrowed his eyes slightly and shook his head. After that, Freddy continued to murmur, but he just listened without responding. Her advice was appreciated, but ultimately, he was the one responsible for the class. The female teacher, who had been babbling alone for almost 10 minutes, spoke with a brighter complexion.

“You’re quite a good listener, aren’t you?”

“Is that so?”

“Yes, thanks to you, I feel lighter.”

As she said that she would buy coffee next time, he asked if she didn’t like it.

“I realized it wasn’t bad after drinking it.”

“Miss Vendelin.”

“Yes.”

“If it’s not too much trouble, may I observe your class?”

“I’m a combat instructor, so I don’t think there’s anything to observe or apply.”

“Just wanted to observe a class that engages students.”

“Well, it doesn’t matter.”

“I understand that you’ve granted permission.”

“If you’re going to do that, don’t speak to me in a formal manner like ‘다·만·까,’ okay?”

“Got it.”

Saying she’d stop observing, she chuckled, thinking it was a joke.

“No, why are you so narrow-minded?”

Without waiting for a response, she stood up. Freida followed along silently, enduring teasing remarks about her being the ‘ice princess.’ It was undeniably lonely. While there was no need to know the personal circumstances of her fellow instructors, she couldn’t help but wonder about the root cause of this relentless exclusion.

“Oh, by the way!”

But there was no room for more questions; she was too talkative.

“In C-8, there’s someone named Jeffrey, right?”

“Yes.”

“If you ever need to have a meeting, just say Diana.”

“Who’s that?”

“A female student in our class; you’ll figure it out without me saying more.”

“Understood.”

“Hmm, this is a bit strange, isn’t it?”

As they neared the faculty room, she continued talking.

“Normally, people always ask for a reason, but you didn’t ask at all.”

“Yes.”

“Aren’t you curious?”

“I was organizing my thoughts as class is about to start.”

“Ah, I see. You’re good at making excuses!”

“Well, then, I’ll go ahead.”

Freida felt apologetic, trying to continue the conversation with Kenneth, but it only backfired. She had already annoyed him by making baseless assumptions. He knew her mistake stemmed from good intentions, so he chose to endure it.

“Seem, why are you here right on time like this?”

As he walked into the classroom with the exam papers, Selena sat with her legs spread wide, covering her thighs with a blanket. Despite her provocative posture, it seemed she wasn’t entirely a troublemaker, considering how she cherished the gift he had given her.

─Looks like we have more students.

Three more than yesterday. They heard rumors that Genoa was taking the class and applied. All three were female. Despite concerns about the extreme gender imbalance, it didn’t matter much since neither Jeffrey nor Adson had particularly attractive qualities.

“I’m thinking of changing the teaching method.”

“Agreed. Last time, I almost got mad and divided grades into A, B, and C!”

“Hey, I think it’s better if it’s just the two of us.”

Selnan shook her head, saying that if she only studied one-on-one with Mercadi, she would quickly become a B-grade student.

“Just do it like you did in the military.”

“First, the pronunciation correction will be handled by the instructor.”

Kennis said that he would guide all students except those classified as A-grade, so there was no need to learn with hurt feelings. The previous method was a trial and error, so he nodded and asked for understanding, and the students in the room became unsettled.

“I’ve never seen an instructor apologizing!”

“Yeah, you guys have a really unique homeroom teacher, don’t you?”

Kennis continued to explain while listening to the new students’ words.

“Instead, the grammar lecture will be divided into groups and conducted in a discussion format. To prevent the better students from clustering on one side, there will be a written test right now. This will not affect your grades as it is for classification purposes.”

“Teacher, why are you behaving like an idiot?”

Selnan stood up and interrupted again.

“Sit down.”

“When you keep doing these things, the students dislike it, you know?”

“We need to know each of your individual abilities in order to teach you.”

“If you were the teacher, wouldn’t it be nice to divide the grades into A, B, and C from the first day?”

Everything, from the teachers to the dormitories, is different based on the grades here. As they openly discriminate, they understood why these students were sensitive. However, avoiding the wounds does not change anything. To overcome it, they had to humbly accept their current state and willingly face it. The more they turn away from themselves, the more stagnant the change becomes.

“Selnan.”

“Even if you’re the teacher, I won’t listen if you force this written test.”

“Do it moderately.”

“Stop wandering around and telling me not to attend this class!”

“How can I deal with third-rate people?”

Even though they had been persuading Selnan with words, there was no change at all. What would be the most disliked comment by a playboy who mistakenly thinks he’s an adult and believes he can seduce any man? The contemplation was brief. Thinking that they might know the answer, they stared at each other without avoiding their gaze.

“Even if I don’t like it, will you still do it?”

“Yes, sweetheart.”

The whole classroom buzzed for a moment. Ochia opened his mouth wide and stuttered, and Mercadi burst into laughter afterwards.

“Hey, son of a b*tch. Don’t laugh!”

“He called me sweetheart. It’s driving me crazy. Oooh, is Selnan angry?”

Their reactions were different, but neither of them was favorable.

“Do you keep acting like a newborn baby? I’ll keep calling you a baby.”

“Don’t.”

“Sit down, my dear.”

“I told you not to!”

“Sir, the child says not to. What if she cries?”

Kenneth stared at Selena with an indifferent expression and spoke.

“Dear, if you don’t like this class, listen to something that suits your level.”

Enraged, Selena threw her blanket at Kenneth’s face and shouted.

“Waaah!”

Then she sat down, raising her head defiantly with a provocative gaze.