Chapter 3: Professor Lee's Punishment

As we followed Professor Lee, he gave us one bag each to carrey. While walking, I noticed a sign indicating the staff room ahead. I rejoiced internally, thinking fortunately I wouldn't have to sit through those boring lectures again.

From the corner of my eye, I suddley glanced beside me and saw a beautiful girl from the acting major walking alongside me. As I thought of how beautiful she is and what punishment awaits us, Professor Lee spoke first.

"You two, what punishment would you like to have for coming late? Tell me."

When I heard that, my mind started to gear up on what excuse I should make that would sound convincing enough for this strict Professor Lee.

Should I just tell him it took me time to find the class because I was confused on the way here? Anyway, this sounds convincing, and I was not that late.

As I looked towards Kim Soo-jin, I wondered what excuse she would give because she was 15 to 20 minutes late—well, I'm not exactly sure.

All right, I need to quickly get out of this situation, so I spoke first:

"Professor, I was late because I got confused while finding the class and..."

While I was speaking, Professor Lee cut me off and said sternly:

"No excuses are allowed."

After hearing that, Kim Soo-jin and I looked at each other without speaking. We arrived at the staff room and went in. Professor Lee, sitting at his table, looked at us.

Not having enough courage to look him in the eyes, we both simultaneously looked down, avoiding his gaze.

Professor Lee bent over from his chair with his hands up in the air, making a rectangle, and abruptly said,

"I think, Your heights match. Kim Joon-ho, what's your height?"

I confusingly replied, not knowing what Professor Lee was up to,

"190 cm."

As Professor Lee looked towards Kim Soo-jin with the same expression, she also awkwardly replied because this was not making any sense,

"160 cm, professor."

As he heard that, a loud clap resounded in the staff room.

After hearing the loud clap, I heard the surrounding teachers whisper:

"He is at this yet again."

"Those poor students, I feel bad for them."

"Why won't he stop doing that?"

"Should I just tell them not to listen to him?"

"Hush, if you did that and he finds out, he will scold you to death."

As Professor Lee stood up, grabbed our shoulders, he said,

"Yes, I thought so. Your heights really match."

What the heck? How does 190 and 160 seem similar to him? It has a 30 cm gap for god's sake. Didn't he go to school, or is he a psycho? Did I meet a psycho professor on my first day? What bad luck. As I had despair on my face, Professor Lee spoke.

"Great, I have decided your punishment. You both will make a short film together, and this will also be your end-semester project. This way, you won't waste your time. Kim Joon-ho, as you are from a design major, you will handle the design aspects of the film, including set design, costumes, and visual aesthetics. Kim Soo-jin, as you are from the acting major, will oversee writing the script, directing the film, and acting in it."

As Professor Lee's words fell, we were awestricken by the absurdity. Not even a single day of university had passed; we hadn't even started our courses yet, and he wanted us to make a film. While we were utterly shocked by his madness, the professor spoke yet again:

"Do you understand?"

While we weren't speaking, he thought we were going to argue, so with a smile he said:

"Remember that this is your punishment, and this will also be your end-semester project. So don't even think about doing it haphazardly because if you do, I will make sure you get a 0 on the end-semester project."

As I saw him saying this smilingly, only one word came to my mind: devil. This must be a devil professor, definitely a devil professor. While I was thinking of getting out of this as soon as possible, I heard a beautiful and sweet voice coming from beside me which had given up hope:

"So, on what theme would you like to make a film?"

When I heard that, all my thoughts of declining went up in smoke.

As Professor Lee heard this, he beamed a smile and looked towards me without speaking, but his eyes said it all: the girl is on board; come on, are you not a man?

When he saw my utterly defeated expression, his beaming smile widened.

"You have all the freedom to decide about the short film. No need to ask me about anything, but before starting filming, consider giving me the script to read. If that's all, you can go now. I have many more things to do."

Sighing deeply, I bowed and we got out of the staff room. While outside, she spoke first:

"Well, this is probably too late now, but anyway, let's greet each other. Hi, I am Kim Soo-jin from the acting major."

As I heard her speak, i was rooted in place, a beautiful and charming girl was outstretching her hand while greeting. My heart started to beat wildly.

This was the first time I saw a beautiful girl greeting me, as most girls preferred staying away from me after seeing my worn-down clothes.

That's why I had no experience and was frozen in place. As she looked towards me, not moving, she shook her hand in front of my eyes and said:

"Hello, what are you daydreaming about?"

When I heard her voice, my senses immediately returned to me. Recalling how embarrassing I was earlier, not knowing what to do, I flusteredly grabbed her hand, shaking it vigorously, and awkwardly said:

"Yeah, nice to meet you. I am Kim Joon-ho from the design major."

Giggling slightly as she saw my awkward and flustered greeting, she said:

"Calm down, Kim Joon-ho. Let's exchange numbers."

"Yeah."

As we exchanged numbers and added each other on KakaoTalk, this was the first time I had a girl's number in my phone, not to mention the girl was a heavenly beauty.

"So, Ms. Kim Soo-jin, when do you have free time to discuss the film?"

This time, while speaking, I was calm.

"Let's meet after class tomorrow."

"Okay, bye then. Have a good day."

"Yes, you too, Mr. Kim Joon-ho."

After deciding when to meet, we went our separate ways, as there were no classes besides the one in the morning due to it being our first day.

While going home, the smile on my face wasn't going down at all. I looked at my phone, which had a girl's number, and my smile deepened even more. Giggling to myself and daydreaming about romance, I got home to my humble garden.

As I arrived home, washing up and wearing my gardening clothes, I started to plant strawberries in the area which I had cleared yesterday. It took me around two hours to plant and water them. As I watered the newly planted strawberries, I also watered the rest of the plants after removing weeds and fallen leaves.

Fertilizing and pest control were the second tasks. After I finished four hours of hard labor, I was exhausted but also satisfied after seeing my garden neat and tidy. Gardening is something I started to enjoy early in life, and it's the way I earn money for my living expenses.

When I finished the daily chores, I walked towards the peony flower plant. I took my phone out and looked at the peony flower plant from last year, comparing it to this year's. It had grown quite a bit. As I caressed the plant, I said:

"When are you going to give me a flower? It has almost been three years."

For three years, I have been taking care of this plant daily, but it hasn't even given me a single flower. As I wait for the flower from this plant, my excitement rises daily, awaiting the day when I see the flower.

The first time I bought this plant, I had no excitement, nor did I know I would be so eagerly waiting for the flower. I merely wanted to help the Granny on the streets, who was having a hard time selling the plant.

Anyway, as I walked inside my house, finishing work, my phone's notification sounded:

cling cling!

When I opened my phone, a smile formed on my face because the notification was from KakaoTalk, and I had only one friend on KakaoTalk—Kim Soo-jin.

As I hurriedly changed and washed my hands, opening the KakaoTalk app, I saw the message:

"Hi, have you thought about what kind of film we should make?"

As I read the message, I replied instantly:

"Isn't the scriptwriting you were going to do?"

"So, are you not even going to help me out? 😢"

As I saw the crying emoji, I immediately got flustered and replied:

"No, I am not saying that. I don't mean it. I am going to help."

When she saw my reply, a laughing emoji was sent.

As I saw that emoji, I facepalmed, thinking, "What am I saying?" I needed to change the topic to rid myself of this embarrassment, so I randomly replied:

"Let's keep our main theme on the Psychological Thriller genre. What do you think?"

When I sent this message, no reply came. I thought she was thinking, and a big silence followed. As I waited, there was no reply even after two minutes, so I wrote, "Are you done thinking? If you don't like it, we could do as you say."

As I sent this message, her reply came simultaneously:

"I am okay with Psychological Thriller because I was also thinking about making a thriller mystery."

When I saw her reply, I sighed in relief because I thought she didn't like it and wanted to decline me politely.

There was also a laughing emoji on that message, which i sent earlier saying If you don't like it, we could do as you say..

After seeing this laughing emoji, I was annoyed. What was I to think if she doesn't reply for so long? Is she a laughing Buddha or something? She keeps sending laughing emojis all the time.

As her message came yet again:

"So the main theme has been decided, Psychological Thriller, right."

I replied instantly:

"Yes."

A long message came:

"Let's create our own stories and bring them tomorrow to show each other after class. From that, we can see what the other wants from the film. What do you think?"

Well, I don't have any objection, so I replied:

"Ok."

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And this was the first day I met Soo-jin, a beautiful and charming girl with a great personality. I think this was the same day I started to fall in love, slowly and gradually.

This girl was a godsend for me, who made my dimming life gain a new shine. She came into my life at a time when I was ready to let go of everything.

Because living is harder than letting go, she was the one who taught me how to enjoy life.

And this was the best day of my life.

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