He intended to only rest for a while on the desk, but before he realized it, he fell asleep. After a slight shake on his shoulder, he snapped awake.
He glanced at Ethan, then looked to the front, only to find a teacher was already in the class. Instantly, he straightened himself and rubbed his eyes.
The teacher was a middle-aged man with a bald head and a mustache. His heavy face was enough to scare a child, but from the class situation, it didn't seem to be the case.
They murmured, and some were even asleep. The teacher wasn't even bothered by that.
Christan studied the room for a moment, then exhaled and reached for the book in his bag.
Who was he to judge that when it was his first day in the class after a week since the semester started?
The subject was Physics. What a hassle. No wonder the students had given up. Should he do the same? He didn't think he would get anything.
The teacher picked up a stack of papers from his desk. "Here are your test papers."
A few heads lifted.
The teacher continued calmly, "This was the first test I ever gave you. Most of the questions were from your middle level." He took a long, deep breath. "Honestly, I just wanted to know your levels and where to start. You didn't disappoint. Really."
A few students near the front exchanged uncertain looks. The most friendly teacher they had ever met at this school had, yesterday, handed them an unannounced test, and the next day he was standing with them in hand.
"Jasper Brown." The teacher's voice easily cut through the murmurs. Then he added, "Scored two."
Students groaned, followed by laughter from parts of the room. Surely it was funny to hear someone else's score.
Christan almost chuckled as the red-haired guy, who had tripped him earlier, rose from his seat, cursing under his breath.
The teacher kept calling names, and then came, "Zaren William. Twelve."
Of course he had to think about recruiting some models, Christan thought inwardly, which brought a smirk to his face once again.
Zaren gritted his teeth and went back to his seat after taking his paper in frustration.
After a few more names, the teacher called, "Agrey Nicholas. Fifty-five."
The guy who had almost hit him with a ball and asked him to join basketball stood up. How lucky he was, balancing sports and studies.
"That was the highest score," the teacher added lightly, as if it were a joke.
"These here... They scored..." The teacher smiled, which, up close, appeared stiff. "Zero."
Students laughed, especially at the fact that they were more than those above that.
"I guess I made it tough."
Then the teacher started calling names one by one. With each name, the laughter in the class increased.
"I envy them," Christan muttered to himself, as he leaned his head on his hand on the desk.
When was he ever happy finding a zero mark? He could only pretend not to care.
"Apart from the newcomers," the teacher said, "all of you have received your papers."
The teacher remained silent for a moment, as if he was deep in thought. The silence stretched further and further.
When he raised his gaze to them, he said in an even, almost painful voice, "You scored zero. And you laughed? How is that possible?" His expression changed slightly. "If I were you… I would be scared."
For an unexplainable reason, the air seemed thicker as the teacher no longer looked calm, and the whole class went silent.
"Do you have any idea what you have done?"
The teacher stepped away from the desk and slowly walked toward the rows, stopping beside one of the students.
"Humphrey." The teacher leaned in, his hand on the desk, his face cold. "If I'm correct, you laughed when you got your paper with nothing in it."
Humphrey watched the teacher in surprise. The school uniforms never had name tags, and yet the teacher knew his name.
"You didn't even try? Like I was supposed to do that for you?" The teacher's face hardened as he shouted, "If you had paid attention in my class, you wouldn't be this useless, you moron!"
His strong voice vibrated through the class. Even if he was talking to one person, it was clear it was meant for all of them.
Humphrey glared at the teacher. His fists tightened, but he didn't dare do anything.
"Before you came here, you nearly beat your teacher to death, right?" Still maintaining his cold expression, the teacher asked.
Humphrey rose from his chair, too provoked to stay seated.
But the moment he stood, his nose met something heavy, sending him back into his seat.
Humphrey frowned, touched his nose in disbelief, and glanced at his hand to find blood. "You..!"
However, the teacher hadn't finished. Still maintaining his seriousness, he grabbed his collar and landed another heavy fist on the same spot—again, and again, and again.
Blood splattered on the desk and across Humphrey's face and his seatmate, who panicked.
The sound of the hits was so horrifying that Christan couldn't breathe.
When the teacher stopped, his hand was covered in blood, and Humphrey's body dropped back into his seat, unable to do anything.
Ethan glanced at Christan, only to find his eyes filled with tears and his nails digging into the back of his hand, leaving lines of blood from scratches.
Immediately, he grabbed his hand to stop him.
Christan turned to Ethan almost instantly. For a moment, even Ethan questioned his decision to touch him, as his eyes glinted as if he were about to attack.
He let go of him.
The teacher wiped his knuckles with a handkerchief as he casually called, "Class representative."
Agrey stood up, his hands trembling.
"Assign some students to get a stretcher and carry Humphrey to the infirmary. And remember to mark his attendance."
Christan moved his eyes around the room, reading the students' expressions.
A couple of them trembled, but most smirked. Others' jaws dropped in surprise and they mimicked the teacher's moves, while some were indifferent, just like Jasper.
Why had he forgotten this? Those guys were once offenders; violence wasn't a surprising thing.
Three years.
He actually had three years in this place.