The first day of work is always the most nerve-wracking, something that Hakyeon had known ever since his first job at McDonald's. This, though, took those butterflies he'd had once upon a time with the fast food job and multiplied them by the thousands until he felt like his entire stomach was a swarm of the insects out to kill him. He was almost afraid that if he opened his mouth to speak, butterflies themselves would come flying out instead of words. 

He took a deep breath as he stood outside of the small school, his briefcase clutched tightly in one white knuckled hand, his other hand pressed against his stomach in an attempt to quell the butterflies there. He'd worked toward this dream for a long time; he'd been unable to get funding for university and so had worked his way through several jobs, mostly crap ones or ones that no one else really wanted, paying his own way through the years of schooling to get to his dream. 

He'd wanted to be a teacher for a long time. He wasn't that comfortable with children, to be honest, but he had always wanted to pass on knowledge to the young ones, helping them to broaden their horizons and fulfill their potential. It wasn't that he didn't like children, anyway! In fact, he loved them! He just... well... didn't really know how to act around them. They were like an entirely different species... and now, instead of landing his dream job of teaching third grade, he was to be in charge of a group of kindergartners. Ah, well, it was a job. And one that opened the door for him to move up in the future.

He hiccuped roughly, the swirling of his stomach resuming in an even stronger flight pattern as he began the ascent up the stairs. He told himself that it wouldn't be that bad, just because he was the new guy didn't mean that the faculty wouldn't like him. It wasn't like high school. And besides, he'd always been popular in high school; he was one of those people who everyone liked. Now if only he could convince his butterflies that everything would go smoothly.

He pushed open the door to the school and made his way down the hallway toward the sign that clearly marked the faculty offices. School wasn't to start until two weeks from then, today was just the first faculty meeting, and he honestly didn't know what to expect. Yeah, he'd done his assistant days at a different school, he knew how to teach and knew what was required of him, but it was still nerve-wracking. He paused outside the faculty doors, took another deep breath and swallowed down the butterflies crawling their way up his throat, and forced a smile onto his face as he turned the doorknob and entered the room.

The conversation in the room stopped abruptly, seven sets of eyes turning his way to assess him curiously. Almost immediately a short, older woman beamed a smile at him and stepped forward with her hand outstretched, catching his in a warm grip. "Welcome!" she exclaimed, her voice sugary sweet and she pulled him further into the room, ignoring the little sound of surprise that escaped him. "I'm Mrs. Kwon, but call me Sori. You must be Mr. Cha, our new little teacher!"

Little? He pushed the smile on his face wider, hoping that he came off a lot more confident than he really was. "It's a pleasure to meet you," he bowed over her hand, "Please call me Hakyeon." As he straightened, a hand clamped down on his cheek and Sori pinched the skin there, giving a little shake as she beamed at him.

"You are just adorable!" she squealed, and to Hakyeon's mortification he heard a few of the other faculty choke back laughs at his expense. Luckily the older woman let go of his cheek and turned toward another person entering the room, finally dropping Hakyeon's hand from her vice-like grip and leaving him to massage his sore cheek.

A tall man stepped up with a bemused grin on his face, his own hand held out to shake Hakyeon's even as he cast a glance over the new teacher's shoulder to see whomever it was that Sori was accosting now. "Welcome, Hakyeon. I'm Hyungmoon." His smile was quiet but his grip firm, and Hakyeon felt a lot more at ease just in the older man's presence. "Sorry about Sori, she likes the young teachers," he said with a slow wink, and Hakyeon's hand unconsciously made its way back to rub the sore spot on his cheek.

"I noticed," he said with a shrug, and Hyungmoon simply laughed before pulling him over to the rest of the faculty there. The principal was a heavyset man with a fast smile by the name of Hodong, and he swept Hakyeon up into a quick hug as he welcomed the newest addition to what he called their 'team'. Hodong took his arm and led him around the room, introducing the faculty to him. There were eight teachers including Hakyeon, two for each of the four years at this school, the principal and his vice, the secretary, and the school nurse, and Hakyeon found himself trying to remember all of their names.

Sori, the exuberant second grade teacher, and her counterpart, the middle-aged man named Jaesuk who looked at him like a scientist inspecting a bug; when Hakyeon offered a bow in greeting, though, Jaesuk's face lit up in a smile and he bowed in return, clapping a hand on the younger man's back in welcome.

Next were the third grade teachers, Hakyeon's own coveted position; An attractive middle-aged woman by the name of Taehee, who gave him a quiet smile and welcome, a shyness to her voice and face. Hodong then introduced Hyungmoon as the other third grade teacher and Hakyeon felt a tinge of unease as he couldn't rightly allow himself to hope to get the other man's job.

The two first grade teachers were next: Minjoo, a grey haired woman with smile lines all over her face, and a pretty young woman named Seungyeon who smiled a bright smile at him and gave a deep bow. "Welcome, Hakyeon-shi," she said softly, giving him an appraising look as he was led past her.

The next two introduced were both middle-aged women,