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Prolog
The door to Class 3–3 opened.
“Guys, the teacher’s here. Quiet down.”
“I have something to say, so please take your seats.”
It was just before fifth period after lunch, and the classroom had been noisy and boisterous.
But the moment Yi-seol stepped inside, the students returned to their seats and the room fell silent in an instant.
It was as if time had stopped—only the students’ eyes trembled violently as they stared.
Standing at the lectern, Yi-seol swallowed her dry saliva once and opened her mouth.
“Alright, I’m going to introduce a returning student who has newly joined our class.”
The astonished students’ gazes poured toward the man who entered behind Yi-seol.
“His name is Lee Tae-shin. Due to personal circumstances, he’s returning to school as a third-year only now, so I hope you’ll help him adapt well to school life. You can sit in the back over there.”
With long strides, the man walked to the back of the classroom and sat in an empty seat.
The classroom, which had been stiflingly quiet while Yi-seol spoke, began to buzz.
“He’s insanely handsome.”
“He’s really tall. Is he a model?”
“Those muscles look unreal. One punch and you’d be knocked out cold.”
“Did you see his eyes? He looks kind of scary… will he be okay?”
Yi-seol’s gaze turned to the man sitting by the window as if he were part of the scenery.
She had never dreamed that he would come back—not even this morning. Was this what people called a trick of fate?
This morning.
Standing in front of a full-length mirror, Yi-seol paused while tying the ribbon of her blouse, closed her eyes for a moment, and took a deep breath.
Her heart was pounding, unlike usual.
What’s wrong with me all of a sudden?
Is something going to happen today?
Even though she knew that was unlikely, she felt strange.
After putting on her jacket and slipping her phone into her handbag, she left the health clinic.
Having passed the teacher employment exam last year, Yi-seol had been assigned to Jangha High School, located forty minutes by boat from the mainland, where she was currently working.
Because the school lacked staff housing this year, she was temporarily living in quarters set up at the health clinic.
Yi-seol stopped when she saw a blue delivery truck parked in front of the back house’s gate.
“Looks like someone’s moving in today.”
The head of the health clinic said this as he came out behind her, carrying recyclables.
The back house had been empty for nearly a year after the elderly man who lived alone there passed away last year.
For the past few days, they’d repaired damaged parts and redone the wallpaper and flooring, and today furniture and household items were being moved in.
“Do you know who’s moving in?”
“I hear some men from Seoul are coming. Even the real estate agent hasn’t seen the tenant’s face—he’s only talked to him on the phone.”
An interior contractor who had gotten off the truck greeted Yi-seol and Director Jang, then began directing the workers as they carried the moving boxes inside.
She wondered what the inside looked like now.
She was curious.
“I don’t know why people from Seoul come all the way down to the countryside like this, when everyone else is leaving. Teacher Yoon, aren’t you going? You’ll be late.”
“Oh—yes. I should go. I’ll be off.”
“Alright, have a good day!”
Yi-seol hurried her steps.
Climbing the hill along the road beside an orchard full of blooming apple blossoms, the high school building came into view.
In front of it stretched a green field covered in artificial turf; to the left stood newly built staff housing, and to the right, a student dormitory that had been expanded a few years earlier.
When she had first been assigned here last year, to Jangha High School, it had felt unfamiliar and lonely, with no one she knew—but now it felt fairly familiar.
Still, it was only late April, yet it was already this hot.
Did she have to brace herself for another sweltering summer?
“Good morning, Teacher!”
Students from Class 3–3, who had been looking out the window, spotted Yi-seol and waved cheerfully.
“English teacher! You’re so beautiful!”
Someone shouted from the window of Class 3–2, and the students burst into laughter, saying, “Beautiful? What country is that word from?” Soon after, a boy’s gruff voice echoed across the schoolyard.
“Teacher! Please marry me!”
Raucous laughter followed the public proposal.
Yi-seol clicked her tongue and shook her head.
Today, the kids’ jokes were especially over the top.
“Hey, you crazy bastard. I was first. If you want to propose, get in line.”
“The first one to say it wins.”
“Teacher, marry me instead, not him!”
“Listen to the way you’re talking—so rude to the teacher.”
They bantered back and forth among themselves.
At a loss for words at their childish jokes, Yi-seol let out a dry laugh, waved her hand to signal them to go inside, and hurried on.
Today, too, would be a hectic day.
Official documents that had to be processed by the end of the week, setting midterm exam questions, preparing printouts for exam prep—work was piled up like a mountain.
After lunch, teachers sitting around a table drinking coffee beckoned her over.
“Teacher Yi-seol, come over and have some bread.”
“Yes.”
“Did you hear the news?”
The science teacher asked with a serious face, handing her a piece of bread.
“What news?”
Her heart dropped, wondering if some major incident had occurred at the start of the semester.
There were always incidents at school; one could never relax.
On top of that, there were a few students in the third year who required special attention, making it feel like walking on thin ice all the time.
A few faces from her class flashed through her mind.
“They say a returning student is coming to the third year.”
“A returning student?”
Transfers to a rural island high school like this were rare enough—but a returning student?
“According to the vice principal of academics, he’s apparently quite old. They say he’s no ordinary person.”
The Korean language teacher added.
An older returning student coming to a rural high school like this.
The conversation among the teachers continued.
“We don’t know which class he’ll be assigned to, but it’ll be a headache.”
“If he’s an older returning student, it probably won’t be a big problem. He’s likely had enough social experience. It’s more that he might have trouble adjusting among younger students.”
“Is that so? I’ve been in education for over twenty years, but this is my first time seeing a case like this—I don’t know how it’ll turn out.”
Yi-seol stared at the bread in front of her, lost in thought.
There were three classes in the third year.
A one-in-three chance—so the possibility of the returning student ending up in her class wasn’t low at all.
“But wouldn’t it be better to just take the GED and get a diploma instead of returning?”
“He must have some reason he has to come back.”
At that moment, the vice principal entered.
“Teacher Yoon Yi-seol, please come to the principal’s office.”
“Ah… yes.”
Her colleagues looked at Yi-seol with slightly uneasy expressions.
Tense, Yi-seol left the teachers’ office and headed for the principal’s office.
Just then, the third-year head teacher—also the homeroom teacher of Class 3–1 and a math teacher—came out.
Behind him followed a male student who was a head taller than the teacher.
Fair-skinned, with intelligent, sparkling eyes, a small face with well-defined features—handsome beyond doubt—and yet, familiar.
Could it be…?
“Is he a transfer student?”
“There’s also a returning student. Go on in.”
The head teacher gestured toward the principal’s office with what looked like a sympathetic gaze.
The student greeted her with his eyes.
His gaze lingered long as it passed by Yi-seol’s side, then gradually moved away.
When she knocked and entered, she saw the broad backs of the principal and the returning student.
Her heart began to race.
That irregular heartbeat she’d felt in the morning.
Even as she told herself it couldn’t be, a strange premonition made it beat faster and faster.
“Welcome, Teacher Yoon. Please sit here.”
The principal, his hair graying and nearing retirement, smiled and offered her a seat.
As Yi-seol slowly approached the sofa, her eyes met those of the man who had been facing away.
Her pupils shook as if an earthquake had struck.
“Ah…!”
She had never imagined she would see this man again—let alone at school.
His striking yet masculine features seized her attention at once.
Deep, serious eyes; a high, elegant nose; full lips with clear lines—there was nothing ordinary about him.
They’d only spent a few days together, but his handsome face was impossible to forget.
He had left suddenly without even saying goodbye, leaving her curious and disappointed—yet here they were again.
Was this what people called a trick of fate?
Then the student she had just passed must be this man’s younger brother.
But the man looked at Yi-seol—caught between surprise and joy—with a blank expression.
His ambiguous gaze made it impossible to tell whether he even remembered her.
“Now then, this is Teacher Yoon Yi-seol, who teaches English to Class 3–3. And this is Mr. Lee Tae-shin, who is returning to school as a third-year this time. He was seriously injured in high school and couldn’t graduate because he had to undergo long-term treatment. He’ll be joining your class, so please take good care of him.”
“My class… a returning student?”
“I don’t think there will be any major difficulties. Teacher Yoon, please pay a little extra attention to help him adjust to school life.”
She had so much she wanted to say, but staring at his face left her mind blank.
“…Yes, Principal.”
The man she thought she would never meet again had returned as a returning student.
And to her class, of all places.
