Chapter 1: I Want to Become a Top Tutor! (1)
"Another failure this time.."
A sigh escaped naturally. Ever since I got back from the military, finding tutoring jobs just hasn't been working out.
"Damn.. damn.. Before enlisting, I used to have at least four students a month..!"
Honestly, I'm confident in my abilities. Teaching, managing students' mental states I honestly think I'm top-tier in this market. I've sent plenty of students to top-three universities.
"Sigh.."
Truthfully, I know the reason.
The tutoring market lives and dies by word of mouth. The gap from my military service is the problem.
If only my reputation would spread properly just once…
Thinking that, I scrolled through a tutoring job site. At the top banner, profiles of top tutors promoted by the company were displayed by subject.
".. I want to be a top tutor too."
If I became a top tutor, I wouldn't have to worry about losing tutoring jobs like this, right? It'd be great if students and parents came to me with money in hand, begging me to teach them.
Well, in reality, I'm just one of countless tutors.
While I was scanning the site with a bitter taste in my mouth, suddenly my phone turned off.
"Hey, hey! What's going on!!"
I slapped my phone with my palm like crazy, but there was no response.
"No, nooo!!!"
My desperate scream drew glances from passersby. But for me, the more important thing was that my precious phone, bought to celebrate my university entrance, had died.
"No.. no.. I was planning to use it for another four years.."
"Mom, that man is crying holding a rag."
"Shh! Don't look at that!"
I can't deny that my phone was so beat up that even a little kid passing by said that. Still, if I tried, this old phone that shut off every 30 minutes still had some use left.
"Hoo..."
I sat on a park bench for a long time, staring blankly at the night sky.
Yeah, let's find another part-time job. Just until I get tutoring work again, just until then. I already decided to take another semester off and earn tuition before going back to school. I could go back to the factory, work at a cafe, convenience store, restaurant, loading jobs anything is fine.
I can do anything!
"First, I need to buy a phone."
I should look for an old model under 100,000 won on the secondhand market. As I thought that and looked down at my phone, suddenly the boot screen appeared.
"Huh?"
But the screen was quite different from any boot screen I'd seen before.
[System: Installing top tutor exclusive app.]
".. What is this?"
[System: Checking aptitude... checking... check complete. Setting top tutor area.]
A top tutor, huh. I am good at teaching, but if I were a top tutor, I wouldn't be worrying like this.
That's not the point! What the heck is this now
[System: Tutor 'Kim Sehyun's' top tutor area is ]
Huh, this is a bit curious.
What could it be? The Korean language test where I missed one question on the hardest exam ever? The social studies test I got a perfect score on? Or the English that even made 9th graders get a 2nd grade?
Just as my curiosity was easing, the sentence on the screen was completed.
['Micro.']
?
What micro?
The micro in micro and macro? The microeconomics I audited?
[System: ...Resetting terminology within tutor 'Kim Sehyun's' knowledge. Tutor 'Kim Sehyun's' top tutor area is 'MILF'.]
...This must really be hacking. Definitely the work of some crazy person who knows all my adult video preferences.
"I'm screwed.."
What if I get a text asking for money? I really only have rent and living expenses for this month. The military savings is the last reserve I must not touch... If they ask for this, I'll have no choice but to bite my tongue and die.
"Damn.. damn.."
Curses burst out of my mouth. I don't know what I did wrong, or how badly I lived, that they want to end my social life.
Ding
The electronic sound announced the boot completion.
Yeah, let's talk to whoever this is. No, rather, let's beg. I hope whoever is bothering a poor guy like me has at least some pity.
With trembling hands, I turned on the phone screen, and the message window from the boot screen popped up.
[System: Installation complete. Proceeding to the final step.]
Why do they ask me like I have a choice? If it were a hacker, they would have sent a threatening message by now.
As I started thinking that, I felt something strange.
The next moment, my consciousness went dark.
At that moment, my phone, falling to the ground, displayed the last message and was spectacularly shattered.
[System: Installing tutor assistant program.]
".. Hey! Student!!"
Ow, my head...
"Student! Wake up!!"
Five minutes, just five more minutes... just five more minutes to sleep...
"Student!!"
Slap!!
"Huff!!"
The shock of the slap made my eyes snap open.
"Wh-where am I uh, uh?"
"Hey, why is a perfectly fine student like this?"
The person who slapped me was an old man, the park caretaker. Although my head was surprisingly clear for someone just waking up, paradoxically, I couldn't get my head straight. That was because
[Profile view.]
Name: Kang Chunbae
Age: 68
[No other information is available. Please get a grip.]
There was a hologram-like window floating next to the old man's face. By the way, telling me to get a grip was strangely irritating. But now was not the time to get worked up about that. It was enough to be flustered by such a thing appearing in front of me.
"What... what is this..."
"Huh? Are you okay? Did I hit your cheek too hard?"
The old man started massaging my cheek with both hands. Somehow my head was getting clearer, so I thought it was just the process of waking up.
"Ah, uh... I'm sorry, sir..."
"What, you're awake? Oh, you scared me... I thought I hit you wrong!!"
"Ah... haha... I'm sorry... What time is it now?"
"Huh? It's six o'clock. I came to work in the morning and was surprised to find a student sleeping here. Are you sick?"
"No, no. I was working late yesterday and dozed off..."
"Tsk tsk... Young people have a hard time..."
The old man clicked his tongue sadly and took out a bottle of Bacchus from his pocket and handed it to me. The strangely lukewarm feeling made my mind slowly come back.
"Drink this and go home quickly."
"Ah... thank you..."
I took the bottle absentmindedly, but the packaging was quite worn.
"Ahem..! That was from the office... Don't worry!"
"No, I wasn't worried, sir. Thank you very much!"
"Alright, alright... tsk tsk..."
The old man looked at me sadly and patted my head.
"Grandpa?"
"When I see young people these days, I feel sorry for them. They work so hard... sigh..."
"Ah... haha..."
"So go home quickly, you rascal!!"
"Yes!!"
I felt strangely touched. When I got up and was about to go to my room, the old man called me back.
"Student, student!!"
"Yes?"
"Isn't this your phone?"
He picked up something that looked like a phone from the bench where I was lying and handed it to me. But I was sure it wasn't my phone. It was so clean and undamaged, it couldn't be mine.
"Uh... nooo "
Just as I was about to say no, the old man's pocket phone rang.
"Huh?! Oh no! Mr. Kim is acting up again! Student, take this and go! I have to go to the office!"
He said that while handing me the phone and left grumbling.
"Huh..."
I stood there dumbfounded, holding Bacchus in one hand and the phone in the other. This phone was definitely someone else's.
"By the way, what was that hologram earlier..."
I muttered while fiddling with the phone. Then the phone screen lit up and unlocked.
"Huh...?"
The screen was the same as my nearly broken phone, except for one app.
"Top tutor assistant app..."
Could it be...
At that moment, a beautiful woman out for morning exercise passed by me. And very naturally, a hologram window appeared next to her figure.
[System: Class target detected.]