I must admit, watching Queen In Hyun's Man for the past few days have wiped out all thoughts of School 2013, but now, the love is back(: (co-existing with drama blues for Queen In Hyun's Man, aaah I want a Boong Do)

So, we start off with the repeated scenes of Se Chan and In Jae looking shocked at their classroom. Much to my surprise, the camera draws out to show that Se Chan's classroom is empty. (So is In Jae's, but that's not very surprising for me.) The teachers rush in and the Principal is aghast. 

Serves you right. Someone just kick her off the position already. 

The two teachers leave their respective classrooms and look at each other. The Principal orders them to follow her to the office, and they exchange puzzled, oh-no, looks. 

Then we switch over to Nam Soon and Heung Soo, with an addition to the scenes we saw previously: Nam Soon notices that Heung Soo doesn't jump and realises it's because of his legs. 

The realisation shows on his face, and Heung Soo knows. He jumps back into the room and tells Nam Soon to leave by the window instead. The gangsters chase into the room and close in on them, but Nam Soon obviously isn't going to run away. The two of them stand back to back, and Nam Soon mutters, "You take the left, I'll take the right." Heung Soo nods without hesitation, "One…two…" "Three." Immediately, the two of them start fighting, throwing punches and kicks, and totally owning the gangsters. Wheee what chemistry. 

The two of them manage to make their escape out of the room and onto the main road where they run gleefully away from the gangsters. 

And this is so like the scene where the two of them ran away from an irate shopkeeper, that it just makes my heart warm. At least in this moment, they are sharing, basking in the same brotherhood. 

And as they run, smiles start to blossom on their faces. 

Heung Soo (I'm sorry, flailing hair and all~)

Nam Soon:D 

With the gang hot on their heels, Nam Soon quickly boards a bus and Heung Soo gets on just before the doors close on the gang. Whoopie! Heung Soo puts his arm on Nam Soon's shoulder as they grin at the angry gang outside the bus. 

 

Ahh~~ I love it. This friendship.

But of course, reality hits them again, and Heung Soo withdraws his hand. The two of them quietly tap their cards to pay for their bus fares, before taking separate seats. Heung Soo keeps his gaze on the scenery outside, while Nam Soon looks at Heung Soo occasionally with a wistful, sad expression. Omo.

Teacher Jo hears Ki Duk and Jong Hyun playing ball in the corridors and they run away before he can talk to them. Back in the office, Principal is getting angry over an entire class that skips class. When Teacher Jo steps into the room and says that the homeroom teachers should take care of the kids first, the Principal immediately gets out of her seat to follow them. In Jae asks if they could see the students first, and she retorts if In Jae wants to conspire with the kids first. This is retorted by Teacher Kang, "I think you should budge out of this matter." The Principal looks offended, while he continues, "This is a matter that concerns Class 2. The homeroom teachers of Class 2 are us. Whether we conspire or not, we will take care of our homeroom business."

AWESOME. Look at his badass attitude, hoho. 

The clique starts talking and Min Ki worries about his clean record. The teachers arrive to find the entire class holing up in the library. Hey I'm quite impressed. Only a few students actually played soccer during this time.

The bus reaches the school, and Heung Soo alights. Nam Soon looks at him from his window, and suddenly decides to get off as well. The camera focuses on Heung Soo's legs, before he leans down and touches his legs which are in pain. Nam Soon asks if his legs are okay and Heung Soo replies, "It's none of your business." Nam Soon points out that it's none of HIS business as well whether he gets beaten up or not but Heung Soo 'clarifies' that he did it because he didn't want to see Oh Jung Ho being happy (for making him suffer.)

Nam Soon brushes that aside, and said, "Thank you." "For what." "For fulfilling your promise.." He smiles, "You crazy bastard."

As he walks away, a flashback shows Nam Soon punishing a few members, and almost kicked them when Heung Soo stopped him, allowing the members to leave. He told Nam Soon that whether they were friends or not, he's going to keep him out of jail. That's a promise. 

Back to reality. Nam Soon takes a deep breath before walking away. 

I was wondering why even the mean girls cut class, when Mean Girl No. 1 is all like, if we choose one teacher, we might be at a disadvantage when we sit for the other teachers' test. The other students protest that it's not their fault, they were just being loyal. During the teachers' meeting later, the Vice Principal gets himself all worked up, and when Uhm Force points out that it's also the school responsibility, he's all, "Are you blaming the Principal?" He questions the two teachers why Class 2 is so troublesome, "Is it the students or the teachers?" And Badass Kang points out, "Do you really think this is caused by the students or the homeroom teachers?"

Yay Badass Kang vs Vice Principal, 1-0. 

The two teachers worry over the attendance, and Se Chan thinks that In Jae should be the one that yields. 

Most students like easier lessons but once they see that their grades are bad, they will chose his SAT-oriented lessons anyway. In Jae feels that a teacher should be able to teach how he or she likes, without having to worry if it's SAT-oriented or school-based. Se Chan replies, "It's not the teacher that teaches that's important, the students that learn are more important. No matter how they do in school, there's no kid that doesn't want to go to college." 

In Jae sighs and her shoulders droop. Aww. 

Heung Soo finds the trio and Jung Ho taunts him that the gang is going to keep chasing after the two of them. Heung Soo replies, "Exactly what are you believing in that makes you so snobby? Go Nam Soon may have retired but I haven't."

He's in a Heung-Soo-good-mood. I like.

Obviously his mood dissipates when Jung Ho continues taunting that he's a dog that just crawls back to Nam Soon even when his leg was ruined. Heung Soo's smile disappears and he punches Jung Ho, who lands on the ground. Score. As he crawls back to his feet, Heung Soo tells him, "If you want to keep attending school without trouble, then stop it right here. Or you'd see where my limits are." 

Then…his expression is replaced by an innocent smile with the head tilted to the side.
 

Hahaha.

As Heung Soo turns to leave, Yi Kyung wants to follow after and beat him up, but is stopped by Ji Hoon. Nam Soon sits up in his bed and remembers the two teachers who want him back in school, and the various students who shouted his name when he walked by their classroom the other day. 

The two homeroom teachers pretend that they are going to give every student an unexcused absence but turns out, they are just going to make them clean. Since they did do something wrong, Se Chan reminds them not to slack on the cleaning. In Jae tells Ji Hoon and Heung Soo to find her after the class, and Ji Hoon winces. Nam Soon opens the door and enters, but keeps his eye on Heung Soo's back. As he sits down, Se Chan jokes, "Go President, if you were coming to school, why did you come late?" Nam Soon answers quietly, "I was thinking about whether to come…" and Heung Soo's expression flickers. 

After class, Woo Young approaches Nam Soon.

Who asks if he has been taking care of things. Woo Young nods, and says he emptied the trash and even changed the mop.

Look at that kind, smiling face. Just look. I would empty the trash and change the mop if that's what it takes^^

Suddenly, Nam Soon's head is attacked..by Kang Joo lolol who strangles him using her arm and saying that Se Kyung suffered because of her. Nam Soon looks at Se Kyung, and wheezes out for Kang Joo to stop. Hahahaha. 

In Jae reminds them about their attendance, and Uhm Force comes to borrow Heung Soo. Left with Ji Hoon, she tells him that his grades had improved. He replies shyly that he merely did a few questions he knew and guessed the rest. In Jae encourages him to try because just by doing a few questions, his grades went up so much. Teacher Jo comes in and wants to see Ji Hoon's palm. He wipes it on his uniform before holding it out for Teacher Jo, who declares that he's either going to be a gangster or a policeman. Seeing that he's a late bloomer, he doubts gangster is what he will be. 

In Jae tells Ji Hoon that Teacher Jo is really good at reading palms.

Awww. Nothing better than a bad guy turned good.

Uhm Force takes Heung Soo and leads him to the room where Nam Soon is waiting. He reminds them about their school service, and the homeroom teachers enter. Uhm Force asks who will take charge of the school service, upon which Se Chan looks at In Jae, and In Jae volunteers. Uhm Force tells Se Chan to be in charge of it, since if it's him, he can at least rap a knuckle on the boys' heads. Look at In Jae, she can't even reach anywhere near it! And In Jae's like —

Look I can!

Hahahaha. I didn't realise she is that small. 

So thus ensues the cleaning of the guys' toilet. Se Chan walks in and checks the toilet when the two say they are done. He finds something on the top of the door.

And holds it up.

Hahahaha. 

"Did you say that you are done?" Heung Soo reaches out for the butt, upon which Se Chan recoils. Haha, because Heung Soo's wearing the gloves he used to clean the urinals. Heung Soo holds out his palms, and Se Chan drops the butt inside. Their next school service — clean out an entire room filled with unused chairs and tables. The two, in sync, take their mops, and head into the room with determination. Hehe love them. Se Chan stops them and drops the bombshell — carry all the chairs and tables to the rooftop first before cleaning out the room.

Oh you are such a jerk Se Chan hahaha. 

The two thus resignedly carry tables and chairs up slowly to the rooftop. It's so cute, to see them carting the things up, and at one point, Nam Soon has an idea of using the elevator, only to find Se Chan INSIDE the elevator (hello dude, have you been waiting there all day just for them to press the 'open' button hahaha). Se Chan locks up the elevator happily and sends the two back on their job.  As they are halfway through, Nam Soon collapses on a table and the two of them say, IN SYNC AGAIN^^, "Aah, Kang Se Chan, that bastard." 

Hahahaha. Awkward look. 

Who repeated that scene? I did! I think Lee Jong Suk and Kim Woo Bin make a really awesome duo. 

Min Ki's and Se Kyung's mothers meet with the Principal and Se Chan out of school. Min Ki's mother uses the aggressive technique, while Se Kyung's mother is passive-aggressive, but both carry the same point — it's not good for the students to have two different teaching styles, so just use Teacher Kang's. It's better. 

When they get back to school, Principal fumes about how she has to listen to the parents. She's the Principal and she makes the decisions. (Well, then make good ones! Or get off the seat.) She wants Se Chan to help in persuading In Jae to change her teaching style, and when Se Chan doesn't want to get involved, she asks who he thinks will get into trouble if the kids get bad grades again. Se Chan closes his arms and looks at her. HAHA. 

The Principal recovers almost immediately and says nope, they will push it to Teacher Jung who insists on teaching school-based.
 

Nam Soon takes the table and chair from Heung Soo and Heung Soo asks if he's pretending to be nice again. Stop fighting guysss. Nam Soon replies that he's just a helpless punk who comes to school to pull off some tricks, and makes no reply when Heung Soo questions, "What kind of tricks."

In Jae continues with her group activities during class, and it seems like everything's going well — no one sleeps in her class, and they kind of enjoy it. As she gets Woo Young to read out the poem, she notices the mean girls obnoxiously studying their papers. Both Se Chan and the Principal walk by the classroom, and Se Chan observes her lesson for a while. When he returns to the staffroom, he picks up the poems on In Jae's table and reads them, before smiling. 

The class ends, and the mean girls talk very loudly about how In Jae's just doing all these activities because she can't teach. Oof. 

When In Jae comes to her desk, Se Chan hands her a book on the past five years of examination questions. She tells him that she will really consider changing her method of teaching if no students sleep during his lesson. And so off she goes later to watch how Se Chan teaches. She gets stunned initially when Se Chan uses a song to teach the class, and even the mean girls participate enthusiastically, but just a little of that, and he resumes his normal way of teaching. Before the class ends, he notices In Jae and she looks pointedly at the back rows of students who are sleeping. 

He asks her about what she thinks, and she says that she will continue to teach using her own way, believing that it will get better when time passes. She asks about Nam Soon and Heung Soo, and Se Chan's like ohhh I forgot. He goes up to the rooftop and dismisses the two, but talks to Nam Soon before he leaves. "It's heavy right…Park Heung Soo…the burden won't get lighter…but it will get bearable."

Nam Soon looks at him, before he walks off. Ah, Se Chan, do you have a burden as well?

Because of Se Chan's questions, Nam Soon recalls how he just coiled up at home after he destroyed Heung Soo's legs. 

Meh:(

Se Chan insists on carrying out special lessons just for Class 2 to pull up their grades, and In Jae asks if he's that desperate to improve their results till he will use the free-choice study periods. 

Ahh, but I see where Se Chan's going. 

In Jae pops by later during his special lesson and notices that most of the students still sleep anyway. She leaves right before the class ends, and some of the clique immediately escape out of class, complaining about Se Chan. He hears but simply walks away. When school ends, Nam Soon walks past Heung Soo and says, "See you tomorrow," before walking away, but earning himself a, "Retarded punk." 

Se Kyung and Kang Joo cannot get Se Chan's voice out of their heads haha but Se Kyung's thankful for his special lessons anyway. Se Kyung accidentally lets out that she has talked to Heung Soo about Nam Soon before, but quickly brushes it aside by saying the two have a lot of common — they sleep throughout the special lesson. Kang Joo picks her on that, teasing her about how she's not looking at the board but at them. Se Kyung hurriedly defends herself, saying she was trying to see if Kang Joo was sleeping. "So did I doze off or not?"

….Hahahah. Se Kyung guesses, "You did," but Kang Joo tells her with a laugh, "I didn't~"

Ji Hoon checks the corridor before reading the notice board, that has a new announcement about vocational school. He tells In Jae that he wants to try applying for that, but In Jae tells him that application for that needs perfect attendance…which he doesn't have. He becomes dejected. He thought that as long as he came to his senses and tries hard, everything will be fine, but it's not. In Jae tells him to hold on to that determination just a bit longer, as she works out if there's any other way for him to try applying. 

Aww. When he leaves the room, he runs into Jung Ho who probably overheard his conversation. Ji Hoon is tired. He tells that he cannot go to vocational school because he skipped school too much. "Let's stop."

Jung Ho is in disbelief and he beats Ji Hoon up on the rooftop.

He takes a stick and almost hurls it on Ji Hoon who is lying on the ground, when he yells and asks if Jung Ho is going to crush his legs too like what Nam Soon did to Heung Soo. Jung Ho falters, and throws the stick away before leaving. 

So the days go by — Nam Soon and Heung Soo cleaning up the school, Se Chan continuing with his extra lessons and all. On the day of the exam, the Principal tells In Jae to take the underperforming kids out of exams and just give them another lesson. She protests and says she won't do it, but Se Chan steps in (and literally, steps in front of her) and tells the Principal they will consider it.

Omo, I love how he's starting to protect In Jae already. ^^

In Jae fumes at how Se Chan gives a vague answer, and gets even angrier when he says he will really consider it. To her, these kids still come to school even when they don't want to. To take them out of the exams so that their scores won't pull down the class average, that's not what a teacher is supposed to do. Her only wish is to send the entire Class 2-2 to the next homeroom teacher when they move up to 12th Grade.

But Se Chan points out dejectedly that that's only possible if she remains the homeroom teacher till the end. Even if he gives extra lessons, it won't help much, but he still does it anyway, because the least he can do is to prevent the grades from going down. Because if it goes down, the one who will get targeted is In Jae, not the Principal because she will not take the responsibility.  She will be the one to go, because she insists on group activities and all, and she's a short termed teacher. Because the parents chose him, so even though they are both short term teachers, she will be the one targeted. "How can you keep running forward while ignoring your surroundings?" Awwww.

I knew it, I knew it. I mean, the usual Se Chan won't give extra lessons and all, and he still does it anyway, even when the students criticize him and he hears the criticisms. It's because he's doing it to make sure the grades don't go down the toilet bowls and into the sewers. And at this point, I don't really like In Jae. Her stubborn attitude, while probably attracting Se Chan, is irritating me, I'm sorry. And I know that's not the feeling the show is trying to get from its viewers, but I'm annoyed. Her attitude towards treating the entire class as a whole, so that no one is left out is admirable and in fact, I think it's helpful. But the idea that Se Chan has to do extra, has to contribute more so as to cover up for In Jae's lack of up-to-par lessons is the part that irritates. She gets so grounded in her own belief and ideals that she fails to see how it can affect other people like Se Chan. 

But anyway, it's still nice to see a sweet Se Chan. As she walks away, Se Chan tells her he will do it if she cannot bring himself to, and she walks back to him and tells him with determination that it's not something she or any teacher should do. 

Se Kyung collects the phones and hands them to In Jae. Se Chan ends up not calling the underperformed kids out of class, and even offers to carry the bag of phones for In Jae who refuses to hand it over. He tries to strike up conversation about how even the kids who skip school turn up that day, but nah. No reply. 

During the last-minute meeting before the exams start, Se Chan looks at In Jae worriedly.

So sweeeet.

When the papers are given out, Jung Ho and Yi Kyung place theirs on the lockers. Nam Soon and Heung Soo, along with some other students go to sleep. And soon it's over. During the break, Kang Joo tells Se Kyung she wishes the two of them will go to the same university, and Se Kyung points out, "Do you know how much your grades have to go up for that to happen?"

Kang Joo smiles sheepishly before pointing out, "Or your grades can go down:D"

Heung Soo leaves the classroom to smoke but darts into the empty room when a cleaner is about. Nam Soon follows him and asks if he's not going to take the rest of the exams. Approaching footsteps alert the two of them, and when the security guard enters the room, there's no one to be seen but a cigarette butt on the floor. The guard takes the butt, leaves and locks the room. Oh no.

Nam Soon and Heung Soo get out of the closet and they realise they are locked in. With no phones to call anyone for help. And Nam Soon just pointed out mere minutes ago that anyone found skipping exams would be in trouble. 

The next examination, English Listening Comprehension, starts and Jung Ho notices Ji Hoon listening very intently. He gets annoyed, feels betrayed probably, and takes out his phone (previously he lies to Se Kyung that he didn't bring his phone.) He ups the volume of his game, thus disturbing the entire class. In Jae is stunned, and asks him to hand over the phone. She tries to grab it but he just continues. Min Ki shouts his name in annoyance and he retaliates with another shout. The recording continues to play over the sound system. 

And Badass Kang comes over to Jung Ho, and grabs his wrist, swinging the handphone out of his hand and on the floor. Jung Ho tells him to let go because he will leave by himself. The Principal walks by and exchanges glances with In Jae. Se Chan drags Jung Ho out of the class and let go. Jung Ho walks away, but Se Chan gives him one last chance — turn around if he still wants to go to school. Continue walking and he won't get back into his class again.

Jung Ho picks the choice of walking on. 

-the end-

I'm sorry but my annoyance with In Jae is climbing up. I know I called her a sweet teacher before, and she's still sweet, but she has no awareness of consequences. And that's when I really like Badass Kang. Look at how he handles Jung Ho. Okay, so In Jae is small and has no strength, but she barely tries to force the phone from Jung Ho, instead merely telling him to stop playing with the phone. Also, judging by the tears in her eyes at the end of the episode, I think she's going to be all disappointed with Se Chan for chasing Jung Ho away and stuff. Which will irritate me even more. 

Se Chan on the other hand, is earning lots of points. And I think that in actual fact, In Jae and Se Chan just make a really good pair. And I can't like either one of them at the same time. Previously I totally love In Jae when she stands up for Heung Soo, and I didn't like Se Chan much. But her passion for ALL the kids, her sensitive nature, and her frailty get in the way sometimes and this is when I'm thankful for Se Chan. I guess they will rub off each other's bad sides?

Jung Ho's just…meh to me. I don't dislike him, neither do I like him as a bad thug. I think he's just a very, very insecure guy who needs to feel strength by thrashing others. Maybe when we finally learn his back story, I will like him a little more, but for now, he's just a pitiful figure that I feel no pity for.

I can't wait to see more of Heung Soo and Nam Soon! Especially since it looks like Heung Soo hurt Nam Soon accidentally in Episode 10!

<3thoughtsramble