Sunggyu’s eyes widened. He totally did not expect that shocking revelation. Myungsoo was the one that punched the teacher? Then why was Woohyun shielding him?

“But Myungsoo didn’t do it intentionally! It was entirely that teacher’s fault!” Sungyeol immediately continued.

Sunggyu turned to look at his student, who was clenching his fists. Sunggyu was shocked when he saw the usually calm Sungyeol become so angry and uptight.

“That teacher only knew how to throw insults at us! He was bullying the weaker members of the class and threatened to hurt them! Where do you find teachers like that?” Sungyeol burst out angrily.

Sunggyu watched Sungyeol’s outburst and he didn’t know what to say. He hadn’t expected the previous teacher to be such a horrible person.

Dongwoo placed a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “We didn’t like the new teacher either. However, the principal said he was necessary to deal with hooligans like 3D and insisted on his presence,” Dongwoo told Sunggyu.

“That day, we were just walking in the town. Then, we saw him bullying the old cobbler down the street. Woohyun went up and attempted to stop him. When he did, that horrible guy started insulting Woohyun. Myungsoo couldn’t help but give him a punch,” Sungyeol related the entire incident.

“What?!” Sunggyu gasped at Sungyeol’s words.

“It wasn’t both of their faults!” Sungyeol hurriedly added on.

“That’s horrible, hyung! You have to help them!” Sungjong beseeched his older brother after listening into the conversation.

Sunggyu gritted his teeth. From the way Sungyeol said it, it really didn’t seem like it was Woohyun or Myungsoo’s fault.

“Lee Sungyeol!” Somebody ran up to the crowd.

“Myungsoo!” Sungyeol spun around and recognized the person who came up to them.

Everyone appeared shocked to see the main character of the conflict.

“What the hell are you doing with a bunch of rotten teachers?” Myungsoo immediately demanded to know.

“Why you!” Sunggyu wanted to scold Myungsoo but was held back by Dongwoo and Sungjong.

“Oh, it’s nothing. I’ll go with you now to see Woohyun,” Sungyeol took one glance at Sunggyu before leaving with Myungsoo. Before he left, he gave Sunggyu a quick bow.

Upon watching the duo leave, Sunggyu struggled out of Dongwoo and Sungjong’s grasp.

“Hmph! That student is really!” Sunggyu placed both hands on his waist and said exasperatedly.

“Ehhh… but now you know the truth, what are you going to do, Gyu gee gee?” Dongwoo asked his friend.

Sunggyu pondered silently for a while. He too didn’t know how to react to this new piece of news. And what he didn’t understand most was why Woohyun chose to be Myungsoo’s scape goat? It didn’t seem like Myungsoo offered him anything in return.

“They’re your students after all,” Dongwoo tried.

Sungjong stood at a corner and watched his older brother’s face scrunched up into a frown.

~

“Gyu-hyung… Sunggyu hyung,” Sungjong’s constant calls finally got into Sunggyu who was in a daze.

“Yeah?” Sunggyu finally answered his younger brother.

“Why do you keep staring at that Pororo plaster? Is it something special?” Sungjong asked.

Sunggyu immediately shook his head and denied.

“So… what do you plan to do?” Sungjong sat beside Sunggyu in his room.

“I don’t even know what I can do for them. They are a bunch of weird and crazy kids. You can’t understand them and their thoughts. You have a rich narcissist, a mad dog, a creepy stalker and many many more!” Sunggyu started complaining about the students of 3 D.

Suddenly, Sungjong broke out into a fit of laughter, which shocked Sunggyu.

“I’m sorry, hyung. It just seemed like you knew them so well despite all that you said,” Sungjong smiled at his older brother.

Sunggyu gave a weird look to his younger brother.

“I’m sure you can do it. I’ll go fix dinner for you,” Sungjong gave a pet on his older brother’s shoulder before getting up and going into the kitchen.

Sunggyu watched Sungjong got up and left his room. Then, he went back to staring at the Pororo plaster. All of his memories with Woohyun played inside his head. He recalled the sweet Woohyun whom he first met, the cold Woohyun when he found out he was a teacher, the strong Woohyun whom saved him from the and the jerk Woohyun who tried to make fun of him this morning.

Sunggyu ruffled his hair exasperatedly.

‘Just who are you, Nam Woohyun?’ Sunggyu thought to himself.

~

The group of guys surrounded him in the dark warehouse.

He retreated slowly from then until his back came into contact with a cold, stone wall.

The leader of the group laughed at him and spoke, “Now no one can save you.”

On his orders, the group went forward and attacked the lone man.

~

“Good morning Sunggyu-ssi,” Sena greeted the teacher brightly.

“Good morning to you too, Sena-ssi,” Sunggyu returned the favor with a smile. “I’m always sorry for bringing such trouble to you every day,” Sunggyu bowed to the lady.

“No, please don’t say that. It’s no trouble for you, Sunggyu-ssi,” The lady blushed slightly and smiled.

“Ehh, what are you two doing in the bright morning?” Dongwoo immediately ruined the atmosphere by draping an arm over Sunggyu’s shoulder.

Sena frowned immediately and gave him a glare.

“Yeah, I should be getting to my class now,” Sunggyu made a smile at Sena before leaving the two.

As soon as Sunggyu left, Sena spun around once again to give Dongwoo a deadly glare.

“Hey! I haven’t even blamed you for yesterday,” Dongwoo tried to tell the female teacher but she was already entering the school compound.

~

Sunggyu stepped into the classroom only to be greeted by a din like yesterday.

Today, with renewed confidence, Sunggyu was not going to let the day end like yesterday.

But firstly, Sunggyu had to look for Sungyeol. Hence, the moment he entered, he started scanning the classroom for the tall student.

He spotted Hoya at a corner talking to a bunch of students and Myungsoo at the other corner, stoning. Still, he couldn’t find Sungyeol.

Picking up his courage, Sunggyu went forward to Myungsoo.

Upon seeing the teacher moving towards Myungsoo, the classroom started to become quieter and everyone scooted closer to catch some of the action.

“Do you know where is Sungyeol?” Sunggyu cleared his throat and asked Myungsoo.

Myungsoo turned his head slightly to look at the teacher.

“How should I know?” Myungsoo simply answered before looking away again.

That caused the blood in Sunggyu to boil.

“He’s your friend. How can you not know?” Sunggyu managed between gritted teeth.

“What is it to you huh?” Myungsoo, sensing Sunggyu’s anger, replied with matching irritation.

“You… I thought there was some hope in you from what Sungyeol said, but I guess you are hopeless huh?” Sunggyu told the student.

“What did you say?” Myungsoo’s eyes dilated and he glared at Sunggyu.

By this time, all eyes were fixed on them and everyone was anticipating the next action.

“You don’t even care about your friends. I see that’s why you didn’t mind even if someone else took the blame for you. You are such a coward,” Sunggyu shouted at his student, scaring everyone in the class.

Sunggyu saw Myungsoo’s face went bright red before he raised his fist.

Before Sunggyu could register what was happening, something hard hit him on his head and he bent down while grasping the back of his head. By doing so, he managed to dodge Myungsoo’s punch.

The sound of a pencil dropping on the floor echoed throughout the silent classroom.

That was when Sunggyu realized that someone had thrown the pencil and hit him on his head.

“Who did that?” Sunggyu demanded to know as he picked up the pencil.

In his fit of anger, he failed to notice Hoya sending Myungsoo an eye signal. The latter grabbed Sunggyu’s collar and muttered, “You better stay out of our business.” With that, Myungsoo released his tight grip on the teacher and stomped out of the classroom, slamming the door when he left.

A hand rose at Sunggyu’s question.

Hoya walked to the furious teacher with a bright smile on his face.

“You went over the line there, teacher,” Hoya whispered in Sunggyu’s ears.

Sunggyu spun to look at Hoya who continued giving him a wide smile. It was that kind of smile that always made Sunggyu uneasy.

With those simple words and a smile, Hoya managed to calm Sunggyu down.

“And I might know something about Sungyeol,” Hoya continued when he sensed that Sunggyu had relaxed.

Sunggyu once again tensed up and turned to look at Hoya uneasily.

“Well, I’ll tell you that after school. But for now, you should go check the school doctor for any injuries on your head,” Hoya told the teacher. Well, he actually kind of ordered him since Sunggyu couldn’t do anything but obey Hoya.

~

Sunggyu stared up at the blank ceiling. While lying on the school pharmacy’s bed, Sunggyu couldn’t help but scold himself.

He promised that he was not going to let what happened yesterday to happen today but in the end, it ended up worse than yesterday.

He sighed. How was he going to get this bunch of kids to listen to him?

“What’s with the sigh, teacher?” Hoya smirked at the exasperated teacher.

Sunggyu got a shock. He didn’t notice when Hoya slipped into the room.

“So where is Sungyeol?” Sunggyu managed to ask as soon as he regained his composure.

“Oh, right. Sorry but I lied. I have no idea where Sungyeollie,” Hoya smiled.

Sunggyu gave Hoya a ‘what the hell’ face.

“But I do have something for you. Regarding Hyunnie,” Hoya said simply.

“Hyunnie?” Sunggyu gave Hoya a skeptical look.

“Woohyun. Nam Woohyun,” Hoya corrected himself.

Sunggyu was shocked to hear Hoya’s overly-cute nickname for Woohyun. The cute nickname totally did not fit Woohyun. Still, he couldn’t help but feel a strange feeling in his heart. So Woohyun and Hoya were close enough to call each other by nicknames.

“Teacher?” Hoya called out to Sunggyu who wasn’t listening.

Before Sunggyu could answer, Hoya gave a short chuckle.

Sunggyu narrowed his eyes, confused with Hoya’s sudden laughter.

“That was surprising. I did not expect the feeling to be mutual,” Hoya managed to control his laughter.

Sunggyu gave Hoya a look of bewilderment. He didn’t understand what Hoya was referring to at all.

Hoya ruffled his hair and stated, “Well, I was supposed to warn you to stay away from Woohyun.”

Hoya ignored the incredulous look on Sunggyu’s face and continued, “I know that recently you have been finding out the reason behind Woohyun’s suspension, but I advise you to stop.”

“You may think that you are doing well to Woohyun by getting him back to school and all, but you’re wrong. Woohyun doesn’t care for a school like this. Without it, he could still be successful in the future,” Hoya told Sunggyu.

“You’re not helping by staying here. In fact, you will be the very reason of his fall,” Hoya smiled at Sunggyu.

Sunggyu clenched his fist.

He wasn’t angry with Hoya. Well, he was a little annoyed with Hoya because of the way Hoya was acting like he was extremely close with Woohyun and understood everything about him. However, Sunggyu was angry with himself for not knowing anything about Woohyun. He couldn’t even rebut Hoya despite his student being so rude to him.

“I don’t have anything against you,” Hoya said when he realized Sunggyu’s glare hardening.

“I just want to protect him, from anything. Even if it means removing you,” Hoya told Sunggyu.

Somehow that didn’t make Sunggyu feel any better, and worse if possible.

“Gyu gee gee, I heard that you feel a little sick….” Dongwoo ran into the room and bumped into the two.

Dongwoo then realized that he had entered at a wrong time and made the situation so awkward. He inwardly chided himself.

Hoya seemed a little shocked to see Dongwoo and the same could be said about Dongwoo.

For the first time, Sunggyu saw the usual calm Hoya show a bit of shock and anxiety. That seemed so unlike his character.

“I’ll leave now. Please consider my advice, teacher,” Hoya immediately stood up and left the two teachers.

Sunggyu watched Dongwoo whose gaze didn’t leave Hoya even as the student left the room.

“Dongwoo,” Sunggyu called out to Dongwoo.

Alarmed, Dongwoo instantly turned to face his friend, his face all red when he realized that he had been staring at the student.

“Aish, Gyu gee gee, you’re really weak,” Dongwoo laughed nervously at his friend.

Sunggyu narrowed his eyes. He was sensing something here, but decided not to say it.

“School hours are over right?” Sunggyu confirmed with Dongwoo who nodded his head slightly.

“Okay, I’m off. I have something to do,” Sunggyu got off the bed and grabbed his stuff, brushing past his colleague as he left the room.

He wanted ask Dongwoo about Hoya but decided against it. He had more important things to do now any way.