Professor Oh has become the most despised teacher at Seoul National University.

    The horrors of her class have spread like wildfire among the student body, everyone having a tale of woe involving her.

    “Once she took off 10 points on my homework because she said my 0 looked like a theta,” one girl whines. “I wish I’d never taken Advanced Calc.”

    “Her tests are crazy hard! It’s literally impossible to pass them. I hate that barmy old codger.” Kyungsoo moans.

    Kai is passing her class. Barely. He’s one of the 9 people that are. His hatred for his teacher, however, surpasses everyone else’s. Kai hates how this woman not only treats him like a fool, but looks at him like he’s something despicable. She has a know-it-all air; when Kai tried to answer a question in her class, Professor Oh pointed out every miniscule little mistake he made.

    He is used to everyone treating him like he’s royalty. After all, not only does he belong to a prominent family but has stellar grades, a charming personality, and good looks to top it off. Professor Oh is seemingly oblivious to all these things.

Maybe one day Kai will slip a word to the dean, mention how terrible her teaching is. That will ensure her dismissal.

But for now, he will wait.

    Professor Oh can see the bitter looks in her students’ eyes as they look at her, she can hear the vicious whispers that are muttered in the hallways. Even the other professors have approached her a few times.

    “Hana... the kids in your Calculus classes seem to be having a hard time,” Professor Dae tells her tentatively one October morning. They’re sitting in the teachers’ lounge, sipping lattes. It is an hour before the first class of the day begins.

    Professor Oh sighs. “I know. I don’t like seeing them have such a hard time.”

    “What? But then... why are you so tough on them?” Professor Dae asks curiously.

    “It’s helping them. Have you noticed that, although they have a low grade in my class, they’re excelling in calculus? They understand all the concepts and are able to apply them to real world situations.”

    Professor Dae nods slowly. “That’s true, actually. A few kids are taking Calculus companion classes and they have high As in them. Same for the engineering and economics students.”

    “See?” Professor Oh grins. “By challenging them, they’re learning more. And being so nitpicky helps them maintain a standard of work. It looks professional.”

    “I see,” Professor Dae takes a long sip of her coffee. “Oh, Hana. I just wish they didn’t...,”

    “Hate me?” Professor Oh shrugs, seemingly nonchalant. “It’s alright. I have to make some sacrifices in order for them to learn.”

    “You’re intelligent beyond your years.” Professor Dae squeezes her hand. “You’re only 19, yet you know so much more than I do. You’re so much smarter, my dear.”

    Professor Oh smiles at the elderly woman. “That’s not true at all, Yura. But anyway... I’ll make sure I tell them at the end of the year. I don’t want them to hate me for the rest of their lives.”

    Kai’s battle begins an hour later.

    Professor Oh is handing back homework from a few days ago. A big red 50 is written at the top of Kai’s paper. As he scans through his work, however, he can’t detect a single mistake. I’ll wait till she explains it, Kai thinks. Maybe then I’ll see where I went wrong.

    But Professor Oh reviews the problem on the board, he slowly realizes that his math was flawless. And when she gets the final answer, it is identical to Kai’s.

    “What the did she take off for this time?” he grumbles, raising his hand. Kris elbows him in the side.

    “Dude, what’re you doing?” he whispers urgently. “Don’t try questioning Professor Oh! Otherwise she'll yell at you!”

Kai ignores his friend and keeps his arm high.

    “What is it, Mr. Kim?” Professor Oh asks curtly.

    “I got the correct answer and showed all my steps, but you gave me a 50,” Kai says contemptfully, his voice resonating through the classroom. Heads turn back to look at Kai, either nervous or approving expressions on their faces. Professor strides over to Kai and snatches the paper from his hands. The entire class waits with bated breath as her eyes scan Kai’s calculations.

    “You didn’t follow my methods,” she finally utters, tossing his paper back at him. “I taught this a specific way, and you didn’t follow it.”

    On another day, Kai would simply take his paper back, scoff at Professor Oh. Maybe throw her a spiteful glare.

But not today. Kai is done.

    “Bull,” he growls, standing up. A collective gasp rises up from the students. Oh my god, Kai’s going to die. What is he doing? Did he really just say that to Professor Oh?

    Professor Oh’s eyebrows shoot up. “Excuse me?”

    “Bull. Math is not meant to be some sort of structured science where there’s only one method to get to a solution,” Kai says angrily. “I clearly displayed my work in an intelligible manner. There’s no possible way you can tell me that the way I did it was wrong.”

    “This is my class-,” Professor Oh begins to speak, but Kai cuts her off.

    “The way you run this class is incredibly flawed. Students are scared into silence; they can’t ask questions about your methods because you treat them like fools when they do. Tests are supposed to be assessments of what we’ve learned so far. Not brand new material that you suddenly ask us to solve. You’re inflexible and unwilling to learn yourself. You, Professor Oh, are a terrible teacher.”

    There is total silence. Everybody is petrified. Professor Oh is speechless.

    And then the sound of clapping breaks the silence.

    Hwe Ji is standing up, bringing her hands together with gusto. A determined look is on her face as she glares at Professor Oh.

    Baekhyun, Kris, and Kyungsoo follow suit. Chairs scrape back. Soon every student in the class is applauding. A few people cheer and hoot. Every one of them is staring at Professor Oh, their faces are alight with fierce triumph.

    Professor Oh calls, “Sit down.”

No one listens.

“Sit down!” she exclaims once more.

Still no one follows her orders. They keep clapping till the bell rings.

    And at the center of it all is Kai, glowering at Professor Oh with a malicious smirk.