Byulyi had no idea how she ended up in this situation, but she wasn’t complaining. After secretly pining after Yongsun for nearly a year, she finally convinced the older girl to go on a date with her. She doesn’t remember asking her, nor does she remember why she chose a water park, but as she finds herself trapped between a changing room stall wall and Yongsun, she doesn’t question anything. 

Yongsun’s lips weren’t anything Byulyi imagined them to be. Not that she was often fantasising about her colleagues lips, but she thought they’d be softer. She also imagined Yongsun to be a subtle kisser rather than rough and desperate. 

The older girls hand caressed Byulyi’s face slightly before inching lower. As they were half way through changing into swim wear, Byulyi was wearing a pair of Korean National Team soccer shorts and a sports bra, so Yongsun had no problems reaching into her shorts. 

Before anything exciting happened, though, a door was slammed open starting Byulyi. She opened her eyes and found herself asleep at her desk in the middle of a class. The class, who was also fast asleep at their desks, snapped their heads up. 

“And that, class, is how quiet Anne Frank’s family had to be to avoid detection from the Nazi’s.” The class nodded back at their teacher who discretely rubbed her eyes. 

“Miss Moon,” the delightful voice of Miss Park dully rang around the room, “A word outside, please?” 

Byulyi groaned as she stood up, “Right, class. Open your text books to chapter twenty and start familiarising yourself with the Korean War of 1950. Irene, you’re in charge.”

The student in question looked delighted as she grabbed her own textbook and skipped to the front of the class. As she was arguably the most feared and the smartest among them, she was always the perfect fit for Byulyi to stick in charge whenever she had to go somewhere. 

As soon as the sliding door to her classroom was shut, Byulyi finally acknowledged the older teacher. Usually she dressed head to toe in completely black attire, but today she has on a rather fitting beige pantsuit. 

Byulyi couldn’t help the snort that came out, “Why are you dressed like Hilary Clinton?” 

“I’m going to ignore that,” Miss Park said, “And I’m going to ignore the fact that you were asleep at your desk during a lesson. As you know the headmaster has gone on a few training days and has left me in charge.”

“Right,” Byulyi slowly responded, “You know you can’t sack me, right? I already asked the headmaster and he said you don’t have that power.” 

Miss Park rolled her eyes, “I know. But I’m not here to banter with you, I’m here under the orders of the headmaster himself.” At this, Byulyi straightened slightly, “The drama teacher has had to take some sick leave after having a very public mental breakdown a few days ago, but unfortunately we still have the end of year Christmas production to do and the headmaster has asked you to take over in the other teachers absence.” 

“No!” Byulyi moaned and stomped her feet like a child, “I can’t do it!” 

“Why? The headmaster said you had previous experiences with high school plays.”

“I told the headmaster three years ago when we were drunk that I was cast in my schools production of Romeo and Juliet and I was terrible!” The younger teacher protested, “The school newspaper said how bad I was and they weren’t allowed to give bad reviews. Even my own mother booed me off the stage.”

Turning around, Miss Park yelled over her shoulder, “It’s not negotiable, Miss Moon! You have two weeks.” 

Byulyi stuck her tongue out to the older teacher and waved her middle finger in her direction before stomping back into her classroom and slumping down in her chair by her desk. The class stared at her, waiting for her to say what Miss Park wanted. 

“Are you going to say anything, or what?” Sunghyuk asked when the silence in the room was too much. 

“I am now a drama and history teacher apparently.” Byulyi moaned. 

“What happened to Mrs Son?” Seulgi asked. 

Kitae, one of Byulyi’s more quieter students, spoke up, “She had a very public breakdown in her car last week, she cut off most of her hair and put on an Adele album with the volume on full. I think it took Miss Kim forty minutes to calm her down though.” 

“What made her have a breakdown?” Jisung asked. 

Kitae just shrugged in response. 

“She caught her husband in bed with one of his university students,” Byulyi answered without thinking before her eyes widened, “, I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone. Please don’t gossip about Mrs Son, otherwise Miss Kim will murder me.” 

After getting a few mumbles from her class, Byulyi finally decided to start the lesson. Luckily it was a two hour class. 

“Right guys, so in the new term we will be learning a lot more about the division of Korea and we will be having an exam at the end,” The class groaned, “Stop ! I’m dividing the class into two different sections. Everyone on the left turn your desks to face the people on your right and everyone on the right turn and face those on your left.”

The students did as they were told and soon enough they were segregated into two separate groups. Byulyi walked down the middle and placed two medium flags on the wall at the back of the classroom. 

“You guys,” she pointed at the side Seulgi, Jisung and Irene were on, “Are North Korea. And you guys,” She pointed to the other side which Sunghyuk, Olivier and Kitae were on, “Are South Korea. As you can see I have stuck a line on the floor which will represent the boarder between the two countries and as of right now in this classroom, the Korean war has started.”

As if on queue, Sunghyuk tossed a rolled up piece of paper at one of the boys on North Korea’s side. 

“What was the point?” Byulyi asked the lad. 

“You said the war started! I launched a nuclear bomb!” Sunghyuk defended himself. 

Sighing, Byulyi made her way to the front of the classroom, “Okay. One, this war isn’t a nuclear war so get that out of your head right away and two, you’re South Korea. We don’t have nuclear weapons anyway.” 

The rest of the class went by in relative silence. The most interesting thing that happened was Miss Park interrupting her lesson to inform her that she is to meet with the drama club during break to discuss the play. 

Byulyi was visibly unhappy at being forced into doing the play. Not only did she have next to no experience in acting or performing, she also wasn’t familiar with any sorts of Christmas plays. Luckily for her, the drama club had already decided on which performance they’d be doing this year. Unluckily for her, the drama club did not like the history teacher after she very loudly said that they were the most talentless group of actors she’s ever seen. 

Walking rather timidly into the drama classroom, the loud chatter inside immediately stopped once Byulyi walked inside. A few senior students glared at her as she entered, but she didn’t let it faze her. Instead she confidently strolled to the teachers desk and hopped on top of it. 

“Right,” she began, clapping her hands once, “So apparently I have to do this play thing with you guys and I’m not going to lie to you, I am completely out of my depth so I’m just going to supervise without actually doing anything.” 

The students did not look satisfied with her. They stood up defiantly and grabbed their belongings. One student commented, “We only came to tell you that we refuse to do this play with you in charge.”

“Why?” Byulyi was dumbfounded. 

“Because you called us talentless hacks!” The same student yelled. 

“You called me a dickhead who couldn’t hold a note to save my life.” Another student huffed. 

“You tried it on with my mother!” A girl from the back angrily said. 

Shaking her head, Byulyi stood up, “I did not try it on with your mother. Her foot kept rubbing my leg during parents evening so I pushed it away.” 

“Either way, we’re not doing it.” The first student who spoke up walked casually towards the exit. The other pupils followed her as though she was a messiah. 

Byulyi groaned loudly once the door was slammed closed. Walking round to the other side of the teachers desk, she rooted around for the Christmas play’s script. After trapping her fingers in the desk drawers a few times, she finally found the script she was expected to get the now none existent drama club to perform in less than two weeks. 

“The Nut Cracker?” Byulyi asked no one as she read the title, “God why does this sound like a o?” 

She spent the rest of the break reading the incredibly dull script before the bell rang and she had to sprint to the other side of the building to try and make it on time for her ninth grade class. 

____

“The Nut Cracker?” A soft voice startled her. 

Instead of heading to the staff room during lunch, Byulyi opted to stay in her empty classroom and try to familiarise herself with the script. 

“Oh, hey Yongsun.” Byulyi smiled towards the older teacher as she took a seat on Byulyi’s desk. 

“They asked you to do the play?” Yongsun asked whilst snatching the script from Byulyi’s hands. 

Nodding, the younger teacher groaned, “Yes. I’ve never seen The Nut Cracker and after reading this poorly put together script, I’ll probably never see it.” She leaned back in her chair before a small lightbulb went off in her head, “Hey, you’re the literature teacher! Why didn’t they ask you?” 

Sighing, Yongsun answered, “They did ask me. I said no. I love The Nut Cracker, but I’ve agreed to take over most of Mrs Son’s classes during my own free periods and their grades matter more to this school than some silly Christmas play.”

“True,” Byulyi agreed, “It doesn’t matter anyway because the drama club quit.” 

“What? Why?”

“Well, over the years I may have called them talentless, dickheads and I also may have tried to sleep with one of their mothers,” Byulyi counted off her fingers, “In my defence they are talentless dickheads. And that girl’s mother was rubbing my leg under the table during parents evening. It’s not my fault I thought she wanted a piece of Moonbyul. Turns out she just wanted better grades for her kid.” 

“Ouch. So, what are you going to do?” Yongsun asked whilst handing back the script. 

Tossing the script on her desk, Byulyi stood up, “I’m going to beg my eleventh grade class to do it and promise them a McDonald’s breakfast on the day of the play.” 

“You rely on them too much.”

Before Byulyi had the chance to reply, a knock at the door interrupted them. The schools main receptionist entered with a rather classy looking man behind her. 

“Miss Moon, you have a very persistent visitor.” She gestured to the mystery man. 

“I’ll leave you to it,” Yongsun winked as she hopped down from the desk, “If you ever want to actually watch The Nut Cracker, I have it on DVD.” 

Yongsun and the receptionist walked out together, both chatting animatedly with one another. The unknown man strolled forward confidently and held his hand out in greeting. Byulyi took his hand as they both bowed slightly at one another. 

“Miss Moon, my name is Mr Lee,” He rose his head and smiled handsomely at the history teacher, “I’m a recruitment officer for Saint Matthews Academy for girls.”

Byulyi knew the school well. But when she attended it, it was called Saint Matthews Boarding School. She was locked in every storage room at least once in the five years she attended that school and even a few toilet cubicles. 

When Byulyi didn’t respond to him, Mr Lee continued, “We have been monitoring your teaching standards for a few years and we are greatly impressed by the exam results of your students.” He held out a letter, “We are looking for a Head of History at our school and would like to offer the position to you. The benefits will include a significant increase to your current salary, a house of your own on the schools grounds of which requires no rent to be paid, a full uniform and a unique subscription to various online streaming sites to assist in your teachings.” 

Byulyi was speechless as she accepted the letter. She opened and closed a few times, not knowing what to say or how to react. The school was located on the Western side of Incheon whereas her current school was in the North East of Seoul. 

“Can I think about it?” She eventually stammered out. 

The man smiled warmly at her, “Of course. Inside that letter is my phone number and the location of my office within the school grounds should you decide to visit us for a tour. But, you’ll already know where everything is considering you were a pupil once upon a time,” He began making his way to her classrooms door, “I will need an answer by the end of January at the latest so at least you’ll now have a month and a half to come up with a decision.” 

Byulyi walked him to the front of the building where the reception was located. Mr Lee’s overly excited chatter was drowned out by her own c