Conversation filled the classroom as Mina waited for lunch to end. There was only another hour of lessons to go before the end of school at which point she could return to the comfort of her room. The bell rang and she motioned for her friends to return to their seats from her desk. The teacher entered the classroom and with his awkward way, set about trying to control the rowdy classroom.

He called for attention and feeling merciful, Mina gestured for her friends to return to their seat from in front of her desk. The teacher saw the action and gave her a grateful smile but she returned with a sneer and his smile faltered. He bulled through and continued the class and Mina grew increasingly bored as she tuned out the teacher.

She looked out the window and beyond the school buildings to the wider city. The modern skyscrapers formed an impressive skyline and if she concentrated enough, she could spot the outlines of buildings across the river in the business district where her father would be working. She wondered what he would be doing at the moment and sighed softly as she thought of the empty household she would return to.

True enough that there were the servants and cook at home but Mina wished that her father would spend more time with her. She missed the times when he would take the time out of his day to have a chat with her and they would do some fun activity together. Nowadays, he was too busy to care about anything but business and she pouted as she recalled his decision to change what time she woke up.

A voice caught her attention in the classroom as she heard her name being spoken. She turned to see the class with their faces on her and the teacher with an expectant look.

‘Well? What is so interesting outside?’

‘I was looking at the buildings in the city since you’re so boring.’

A hush fell over the class as they waited for the teacher’s response. Mina’s friends had all laughed at her comment and she sat with a smirk as the teacher’s smile became strained. He laughed weakly as if Mina’s disregard for manners didn’t bother him and addressed the class again.

“Funny that you should mention the city. I would like to introduce the term’s project. We will be focusing on architecture and building history as part of our Cultural Revisit and each student will be put into a group to do research on a specific place of heritage in Seoul.”

The teacher continued on about the project in a smooth transition from the incident. He finished his explanation of the assignment and began pairing students into their groups. Mina sighed with distaste as she was allocated into a group without any of her friends but three unfamiliar classmates; two boys and a girl. She glared at the teacher as she thought darkly that he had paired her like this on purpose before thinking that perhaps the grouping was to her benefit.

She could see that the boys in her group admired her and she realised that if she put in a bit of effort, it would be a smooth ride for an easy grade through the rest of the project. For the moment, she smiled pleasantly at her partners and in her mind looked down at them with disgust at how they melted to her manipulation. She watched silently as her group chatted before the teacher grabbed the class’s attention. “I’ll allocate your heritage sites next period as we’ve ran out of time,” he said, glancing at his watch. “You may be dismissed, see you tomorrow.”

The teacher turned to his desk as the students filed out of the classroom before he casually added, “Mina, can you stay behind real quick?” Mina bit back a groan and rolled her eyes, watching as the classroom emptied. She approached the teacher who leaned on his desk with a smile. Standing straight, she looked past his shoulder to a spot on the whiteboard and waited for him to speak.

‘Mina, is everything alright at home? I’ve been observing you for some time and you seem to be doing well at school with a lot of friends and generally good grades. However, I’ve noticed you’ve been late to form assembly quite a few times and I checked your report which shows your tardiness to your other classes. Frankly, your teachers and I are quite worried for you.’

She looked up to the teacher’s face at the smile plastered on the face that clearly said ‘Problem child’.

‘You can talk to me about anything.’

It annoyed her that the teacher thought she needed help and that some of what he said had hit close to home. She didn’t think that it was any of his business to ask about her personal life.

‘You know what? I’m grateful that you’re worried about me. But everything is fine, so you don’t need to worry about pleasing my father and his influence. He’ll donate the required money with a smile so for now, you can take back your pity and concern.’

Mina felt a flash of satisfaction at the teacher’s shocked expres