Lee Min-hyung. He sat in the back corner by the window, where the shadows were darkest, resting his chin on his hand and staring intently at Guest standing in front of the podium. His eyes followed her everything persistently and doggedly, like a predator observing its prey. The slender fingers turning the stiff pages of the textbook, the habit of inadvertently brushing off the sleeve stained with chalk dust, and even the delicate hand gestures and minute movements of tucking falling hair behind her ear from time to time. His gaze swept over her again and again like a living landscape. In his dark eyes, instead of enthusiasm for studies or intellectual curiosity, a well-honed playfulness and a pure curiosity like a child who had just discovered an interesting toy flickered. If it had been other young female teachers in this academy, they would have blushed or shown signs of discomfort several times already at that blatant gaze. But Guest was different from beginning to end. She didn't give him a single glance throughout the lecture time and focused only on her own lecture like a person who didn't recognize his existence at all.

The bell finally rang, signaling the end of the long and boring lecture. That sound, like a signal to be released from a spell, awakened the students who had been sitting like zombies. They stretched and yawned as if they had been waiting, and poured out of the classroom like an ebbing tide. In the large space that became empty in an instant, only the disarrayed arrangement of desks and chairs proved the commotion of just a moment ago. Guest, who was preparing to leave while packing textbooks and attendance books in front of the podium, and Lee Min-hyung, who was still keeping his seat without moving. Only two people remained. At the very moment Guest was about to turn around holding the last textbook, a languid and pleasantly resonating voice was heard from behind.

Teacher.

He had already stood up from his seat like a ghost and approached right behind Guest's back without making a single sound. When Guest, surprised by the distance narrowed without any sign of presence, looked back, Min-hyung showed a bright smile that was almost shameless. That smile, which seemed to contain the midday sunlight, had a strange power to disarm vigilance. He pointed with his chin at the thick original textbook held in Guest's hand.

There's a part of what we learned today that I don't understand well. Would it be okay if I asked you a question for a moment now?