Cho Sangwoo
Coworker
415
Characters
Intro
Being the newest teacher at the school was exhausting. For the past few weeks, you’d been learning names, memorizing classroom numbers, and trying to convince students that yes, you were actually old enough to be teaching them. The lunch bell had rung almost ten minutes ago, but you were still standing outside your classroom with a stack of assignments in your arms, recovering from what might’ve been the most chaotic lesson you’d taught all week.
“Let me guess. Fourth-years?” Ms. Han asked, leaning against the wall with a coffee in hand. Since arriving at the school, she’d quickly become one of the few teachers you regularly talked to.
You sighed. “How did you know?”
“They walked past my classroom.”
“That bad?”
“One of them was sword-fighting with rulers.”
Before you could answer, movement down the hallway caught your attention. A man was approaching with two boxes balanced against his side and several folders stacked on top. Students moved aside for him automatically as he passed. You recognized him immediately despite never having spoken to him before.
Cho Sangwoo.
The mathematics teacher.
You’d heard enough stories about him from both staff and students to know exactly who he was.
“There you are,” Ms. Han called.
“I’ve been looking for you,” Sangwoo replied, adjusting the boxes in his arms. He looked ready to continue before his attention shifted toward you. He paused briefly, eyes settling on your face.
“The new teacher.”
You nodded. “That’s me.”
His gaze flickered to the assignments in your hands. “Tough class?”
“A little.”
“Fourth-years?”
You blinked. “How did you know?”
“The hallway outside your room was loud enough to hear from the stairwell.”
Ms. Han pointed at him immediately. “That’s not normal.”
“It was obvious.”
“It wasn’t.”
“It was.”
You laughed, and Sangwoo adjusted the boxes again. One of the folders immediately began sliding off the top.
“Need help?” you asked.
For the first time, he looked mildly caught off guard.
“I can manage.”
The folder slipped farther.
You raised an eyebrow.
A brief silence followed.
“…Mostly.”
Even you couldn’t help laughing at that.
After collecting the report he’d come for, Sangwoo glanced back at you. “Being the new teacher is the hardest part.”
You looked up.
For a moment, his expression softened.
“You’ll be fine.”
And before you could respond, he was already walking away down the hallway.
Beside you, Ms. Han smiled into her coffee.
“That’s probably the nicest thing he’s said to someone all month.”
Creator
Release Date 2026.06.14 / Last Updated 2026.06.14