A work by Lee Mun-yeol that became a hot topic after being included in a 6th grade elementary school textbook.
The process of formation and fall of power was depicted within the space of an elementary school classroom.
It depicts the psychology of a child who is being bullied and a child who bullies them, the indifferent teacher who resists injustice, and the image of a child who is being bullied as an adult, suffering from a sense of defeat and despair.
It was also included in the 5th grade elementary school textbook.

It's been almost thirty years already, but when I look back on the lonely and difficult fight from spring to fall of that year, I always feel as lost and gloomy as I did then.
Perhaps that kind of struggle is precisely the state our lives often fall into, and perhaps it is the feeling I receive because I still haven't escaped from it.

In mid-March of that year, when the Liberal Party government was still in its final days, I left the prestigious elementary school in Seoul that I had proudly attended and transferred to an unremarkable elementary school in a small town.
The reason my whole family had to move was because my father, who had been a civil servant, had been blown away by the wind. At that time, I was twelve years old and had just started fifth grade.

--- p.3

'Five guys being dragged around by one person all day? Those fucking idiots.'

"You guys had your hands tied? You idiots."

When he was yelling and beating me like that, it was as if the person had suddenly changed.
We didn't know English, but the effects were not long in coming.
Among us, five of the odd and quirky street kids finally ended up facing the stone statue.
Seokdae acted more fiercely than ever before, but when the other kids also attacked him fiercely, he was unable to take on the five on his own and ended up running away.
The teacher gave each of the children a copy of President Kennedy's book, "Men of Courage," which was very popular at the time, and praised them in front of many others to the point that we all envied them.
Then, the next day, the same thing happened in Michang's side, and after that, Seokdae never appeared in front of the children again.
'Five guys being dragged around by one person all day? Those fucking idiots.'

"You guys had your hands tied? You idiots."

When he was yelling and beating me like that, it was as if the person had suddenly changed.
We didn't know English, but the effects were not long in coming.
Among us, five of the odd and quirky street kids finally ended up facing the stone statue.
Seokdae acted more fiercely than ever before, but when the other kids also attacked him fiercely, he was unable to take on the five on his own and ended up running away.
The teacher gave each of the children a copy of President Kennedy's book, "Men of Courage," which was very popular at the time, and praised them in front of many others to the point that we all envied them.
Then, the next day, the same thing happened in Michang's side, and after that, Seokdae never appeared in front of the children again.

--- pp.131-132

Because of that, I forgot that I didn't have much time left and watched closely what Park Won-ha was doing.
The boy glanced at the other homeroom teacher who was coming out of the exam room and quickly wrote his name in the space he had just erased. To his surprise, the name was Eom Seok-dae's.
After writing down all the names, the child finally found some free time. He looked around furtively and when our eyes met, I felt a prickle.
Because of that, I forgot that I didn't have much time left and watched closely what Park Won-ha was doing.
The boy glanced at the other homeroom teacher who was coming out of the exam room and quickly wrote his name in the space he had just erased. To his surprise, the name was Eom Seok-dae's.
After writing down all the names, the child finally found some free time. He looked around furtively and when our eyes met, I felt a prickle.

--- p.93

Moreover, what further solidified my first impression was the teachers' office.
The principal's office of the school I attended was spacious and bright, as expected from one of the best schools in Seoul, and the teachers there were all neat and energetic.
But in that teachers' office, which was the size of a winter classroom, there were teachers who looked like country men, sitting listlessly, smoking cigarettes like chimneys.
My homeroom teacher, who recognized my mother as she brought me into the teachers' office and approached me, was also far from what I expected.

I thought she would be a gentle, kind, and stylish teacher, even if she wasn't a beautiful and kind female teacher, but she wasn't like that, starting with the sleeves of her suit jacket, which were covered in white drops of makgeolli.
I couldn't be more disappointed that he, who had messy hair that hadn't even been combed, let alone oiled, and who was half-listening to his mother's words with a face that made it questionable whether he had washed his face that morning, was becoming my homeroom teacher.
It was impossible to know what kind of premonition the year-long bad relationship had already brought to mind at that time.
That ill-fated relationship began to surface a little later when I was introduced to the other children.


"This is Han Byeong-tae, the new transfer student.
"I hope you get along well in the future." And what further solidified my first impression was the teachers' office.
The principal's office of the school I attended was spacious and bright, as expected from one of the best schools in Seoul, and the teachers there were all neat and energetic.
But in that teachers' office, which was the size of a winter classroom, there were teachers who looked like country men, sitting listlessly, smoking cigarettes like chimneys.
My homeroom teacher, who recognized my mother as she brought me into the teachers' office and approached me, was also far from what I expected.

I thought she would be a gentle, kind, and stylish teacher, even if she wasn't a beautiful and kind female teacher, but she wasn't like that, starting with the sleeves of her suit jacket, which were covered in white drops of makgeolli.
I couldn't be more disappointed that he, who had messy hair that hadn't even been combed, let alone oiled, and who was half-listening to his mother's words with a face that made it questionable whether he had washed his face that morning, was becoming my homeroom teacher.
It was impossible to know what kind of premonition the year-long bad relationship had already brought to mind at that time.
That ill-fated relationship began to surface a little later when I was introduced to the other children.


"This is Han Byeong-tae, the new transfer student.
"I hope you get along well in the future."

--- p.10