#1
Han Seo-jun opened his eyes with a ragged gasp. His chest rose and fell rapidly as both hands clenched the white bedsheet beneath him. For several seconds, he simply stared blankly at the bedroom ceiling, trying to understand something that should have been impossible.
He was still alive.
Seo-jun immediately sat up, but his head began spinning. He ignored it and checked his entire body, from his face and neck to his chest and both feet still planted on the floor. There were no wounds and no pain, even though just moments ago he had been certain that his body had fallen from the roof of Haneul High School.
Seo-jun looked around the room in confusion. The simple desk, clothing rack, textbooks, and calendar hanging on the wall all looked so familiar. Slowly, he walked toward the calendar, and his eyes widened when he saw the date displayed on it.
Six months before everything happened.
"This... is impossible," Seo-jun muttered in a trembling voice as he touched the calendar. He still remembered that date because in his previous life, six months after that day, his life would be destroyed by an accusation he had never committed. Six months from now, he would lose his job, his family would be humiliated, and the entire world would know him as a teacher who committed a crime against his own student.
Seo-jun turned and walked toward the mirror beside the wardrobe. The man staring back at him was not the gaunt figure with a pale face and eyes full of despair who had stood on the building moments ago. It was himself at twenty-nine. His face looked tired from working as a contract teacher, but his body was still healthy, not yet broken by the pressure that was coming.
He had returned.
Seo-jun touched his cheek, then slapped himself hard enough for his face to sting. "It hurts," he said as he held his cheek, staring at his reflection in disbelief. If this was a dream, it was far too real to be called a dream.
However, something troubled him even more than the journey through time: the reason he had returned. Seo-jun clenched his fists as he remembered his previous life. He still remembered the reporters who had chased him, the comments from people cursing him online, the disgusted looks from his neighbors, and the friends who had slowly disappeared after his name was dragged into the scandal. It had all started with an accusation, but Seo-jun had become increasingly certain that something had been wrong from the beginning.
Especially when he remembered the student who had accused him. Before his death, Seo-jun had briefly seen the girl standing alone in the schoolyard on the same night he had been on the roof. Her face had not looked like that of someone celebrating after destroying her enemy. She had looked terrified, like someone who had no other choice.
"I don't know who's behind all this," Seo-jun said, staring sharply at his reflection. "But this time, I'll find out the truth before it's too late."
Suddenly, an electronic sound rang out in the empty air before him. A transparent blue window appeared, and Seo-jun immediately stumbled several steps back in shock. He reached out to touch it, but his finger passed straight through the surface of the screen without feeling a thing.
[The Omniscient Teacher System has been activated.]
Seo-jun stared at the words in confusion. He had never seen technology like this before, much less something that could appear out of nowhere in front of him without any device.
"The Omniscient Teacher System?" Seo-jun asked, his brows furrowing as he tried to understand what was happening.
[System User: Han Seo-jun.]
[Age: 29.]
[Occupation: Contract Teacher.]
[Current Workplace: Haneul High School.]
[Status: Regressed.]
Seo-jun's gaze stopped on the final word. He didn't know who had given him the system, but he was now certain that his return to the past was no coincidence. If this was a second chance given to him, he wouldn't repeat the same mistakes.
[You have been given a second chance.]
[Protect your students.]
[Uncover the truth.]
[Change this school.]
[Become the greatest teacher in the world.]
Seo-jun read each sentence in silence. Then, without realizing it, he let out a quiet laugh. After so long, something had finally made him feel hopeful. Tears slowly streamed from both eyes, but this time they were not tears of despair like the ones he had shed before his death.
"Then," Seo-jun said as he wiped away his tears and stared seriously at the blue screen, "I'll make the most of this opportunity."
A new screen appeared before him.
[Main Quest: The Teacher Who Knows Everything.]
[Objective 1: Protect the students of Haneul High School.]
[Objective 2: Find the truth hidden within the Haneul Educational Foundation.]
[Objective 3: Prevent the incident that will destroy the Host's life.]
[Objective 4: Change Haneul High School.]
Seo-jun read all the objectives carefully. He immediately understood that the third was connected to the tragedy that would destroy his life, while the second was related to something he had been trying to expose before everything turned around and destroyed him. The corruption of the Haneul Educational Foundation.
In his previous life, Seo-jun had discovered evidence that the foundation was manipulating education funds and using the school as a source of profit. He had intended to report it to the government, but before he could do anything, he was accused of sexually assaulting a student instead.
Now, he had six months. Six months to prepare himself... Six months to find the truth. And six months to prevent the tragedy that had once destroyed his life.
Before Seo-jun could ask anything else, the system displayed another notification.
[Tutorial Quest Created.]
[FIRST STUDENT.]
[Objective: Discover the hidden potential of a student considered academically or socially problematic by the school.]
[Reward: 100 Teacher Points.]
[Bonus Reward: Teacher's Eye.]
Seo-jun raised an eyebrow as he read the mission. "So my first mission is to find the potential of a problem student?" he asked, looking at the system screen curiously.
"What does Teacher's Eye do?"
[Teacher's Eye allows the Host to see information that normally cannot be observed with the naked eye.]
Seo-jun fell silent.
The ability sounded interesting, but the system offered no further explanation. He began to understand that this system wouldn't simply give him every answer, and perhaps that was the point. A teacher shouldn't rely solely on answers handed to him.
Seo-jun picked up the notebook lying on the desk and opened it. Inside was a list of the students he had taught, and several names immediately reminded him of events from his previous life... One of them was Lee Min-jae. A second-year student known as a troublemaker.
His academic grades were poor. He was often late. He had been involved in several fights. He had even received a warning letter from the school for skipping class.
However, Seo-jun knew something the other teachers didn't. In the future, Lee Min-jae would experience something that would change his life, and Seo-jun had always regretted that he never truly tried to understand the boy at the time.
Maybe this time, Min-jae was the first student he had to save.
"All right," Seo-jun said as he closed the notebook. "If the system wants me to become the best teacher, then I'll start with one student."
Seo-jun then put on the jacket hanging from his chair. He stood before the mirror and straightened his tie, watching the reflection of a twenty-nine-year-old man who looked like an ordinary contract teacher with no power or connections. Yet behind that face was someone who had experienced the future and knew how the world would destroy his life. This time, he wouldn't let it happen.
Seo-jun picked up his work bag and walked toward the apartment door. His hand stopped on the doorknob when he remembered the night of his death, when he had thought there was no longer any reason to keep living.
Now, everything was different. He still had a chance. He still had students to protect. He still had the truth to uncover.
And he had a system that might help him change everything.
"Six months," Seo-jun said with a faint smile as he opened the apartment door. "I have six months to change the ending of this story."
Seo-jun stepped outside, leaving his apartment to begin his second life as a teacher. Behind him, the blue system screen appeared one last time before slowly fading from view.
[Welcome back, Teacher Han Seo-jun.]
For the first time since his death, Han Seo-jun smiled.
This time, he would not be the victim.
This time, he would become the teacher who knew everything.