The weather was cool and breezy, and the classroom was sealed in a peaceful silence. All that could be heard was the sound of pens scratching away diligently on paper. Occasional sniffs and coughs, rather than disrupting the stillness, added to the oddly entrancing atmosphere.

A question on the dirty green chalkboard read: Is education a form of liberation?

Seulgi had been staring mindlessly at that one pathetic word sitting on her page for the longest time.

No.

She had a hundred and one good reasons to support her thesis and would have gladly written it all down if only that blasted Mr. Lee would actually give her a proper grade for once.

Her last paper harvested a rotten, stinking F because that nitwit of a teacher thought her arguments were much too unique. Being special and thinking out of the damn box was, unfortunately, frowned upon in his classroom.

So much for wanting students to develop a voice of their own.

Turning to her left, Seulgi snickered at the look of torture on Seungwan’s face. Writing had always been something she struggled with and she was apparently having a difficult time.

“Need help?” She offered, despite having only one sad word written herself.

Seungwan looked up from her work, cocking a brow questioningly, “Have you finished your own?”

“Of course,” Seulgi lied blatantly.

“What’s your anti-thesis?”

“Don’t have one.”

“What?”

“Don’t need one,” Seulgi shrugged nonchalantly. “I’m gonna fail anyway so don’t worry about me. Do you need any help?”

Seungwan blinked at her friend for a little while, deep in thought. Then she set her own pen down and folded her arms, “I like your thinking. Why work so hard for an F? Forget it; I’m so done with this garbage.”

Seulgi grinned widely in return, almost proud of how easily she had managed to influence the girl.

Minutes passed and the two got so bored that a game of Rock-paper-scissors soon began.

“Rock, paper, scissors! Hah!” Seulgi laughed a little too loudly when she won for the third time. She was about to flick Seungwan’s forehead again when Mr. Lee roared.

“Kang Seulgi!”

Half the class jumped up at the sudden bellow, Seulgi included.

“I assume you’ve finished your work since you have time for such foolish games. Would you like to share what you’ve written with the rest of the class?”

The girl shook her head and tried to the best of her ability to put on a mock innocent look, which really looked more like one of defiance, “Nope.”

“I thought so. You hardly produce anything valuable anyway,” the man who had thin, oily, graying hair cast her a dirty look. “Now, is there anybody who would like to present their arguments? Is education a form of liberation?”

A hand shot up into the air at once, fingers wiggling eagerly.

Seulgi rolled her eyes and muttered something under her breath while trading knowing looks with Seungwan.

“Yes, my dear Joohyun?” Mr. Lee looked genuinely delighted as he motioned for the girl to stand up.

The girl sprang from her seat immediately, straightening the edges of her blazer and clearing as though she was preparing for some election speech.

“Yes, I resolutely agree that education is a form of liberation. As we all know, education is a great tool for social mobility, and is an amazing means by which to free oneself from economic and technological backwardness. Education allows people to make informed decisions, which in turn free them from negative influences in life.”

“Blah, blah, blah… what an egghead,” Seulgi wrinkled her nose in distaste at the politically correct answer.

“Fantastic, Joohyun! Will everybody give her a round of applause?” Mr. Lee looked like a proud father of his favorite daughter.

All Seulgi wanted to do was smack him square in the face with a bat as enthusiastic palms struck together in unanimous approval of what she thought was one of the most boring and unoriginal opinions. Even Seungwan was clapping like a freaking seal.

“Please go ahead and enlighten the class further with your anti-thesis,” the teacher requested with a huge smile, and a new wave of nausea clutched Seulgi’s insides at his abominable use of the verb.

“Yes, sir,” the girl answered, fervently nodding. “The role of education could be limited if it is use