The quiet Saturday afternoon inside Kirin Arts High's spacious Student Council office was broken only by the continuous, rapid tink-tink-tink of mechanical pencils and the rhythmic shuffling of heavy paper dossiers.
Sitting at the large oak desk in the center of the room, Park Jun-seo felt a dull, throbbing headache building right behind his temples.
Stack after stack of documentation covered his desk.
He needed to review and approve the comprehensive budget allocations for the upcoming second semester, sign off on venue safety permits for Kirin's Got Talent, and authorize the initial promotional budget for the autumn showcase. To make matters worse, homeroom teacher Ms. Choi had dropped off a separate, thick folder of Class 2-B administrative tasks specifically for him to handle as class president.
Jun-seo pinched the bridge of his nose, letting out a low, weary sigh.
Suddenly, two warm, soft hands settled gently onto his tense shoulders from behind. Without a word, fingertips began kneading the tight muscles at the base of his neck with smooth, practiced pressure.
Jun-seo startled slightly, but the moment he caught the faint, familiar scent of floral perfume, his shoulders instantly dropped.
"You look like your brain is about to melt straight onto the desk, Mr. President," Lee Ha-neul's cool, calm voice murmured near his ear.
Jun-seo leaned back against the chair, letting out a long breath as the pressure eased the sharp throb in his head.
"It might actually be melting. I've been reading budget spreadsheets since ten this morning."
Ha-neul reached around his shoulder and deftly slid Ms. Choi's heavy Class 2-B folder off his desk.
"I'll figure out these homeroom tasks Ms. Choi dumped on you. You just focus on the festival permits."
She stepped back, slinging her leather bag over her shoulder.
"I have to get going anyway—my private piano lesson starts in thirty minutes."
Jun-seo turned in his chair, looking up at her with a warm, genuine smile.
"I honestly don't know what I'd do without you, Ha-neul-ah."
Before Ha-neul could reply, a tall figure stepped over from the adjacent strategy table, breaking up the quiet moment with an amused chuckle. It was the Head of the Disciplinary Committee, holding an official attendance log.
"Well, well," the Disciplinary Head drawled, tapping the clipboard against his palm. "Since your official mandatory detention hours for the week are almost wrapped up, Mr. President, you might actually be allowed to go home soon."
Jun-seo let out a dry, quiet laugh, rubbing his sore neck.
"Honestly? I'd gladly accept standard Principal's detention over this mountain of paperwork. I'd willingly fight Myung-dae every single week if that was my punishment instead of reviewing vendor contracts."
Ha-neul smirked, chiming in before turning toward the exit.
"Jun-seo would gladly spend extra hours sitting in real detention with the delinquents—if Principal Han hadn't explicitly ordered him to serve his detention hours right here in the council office."
Ha-neul paused by the door, silently raising both of her small fists toward Jun-seo, mouthing "Fighting!" with a playful wink before vanishing into the corridor for her lesson.
THWACK!
The Disciplinary Head delivered a solid, affectionate smack right across Jun-seo's back.
"You complain, Jun-seo-ya, but without you, this Student Council would have never held half this much power. You're like the legendary chief executive secretary of a mega-conglomerate CEO—building the entire corporate empire behind the scenes while the CEO gets all the sweet glory."
"Aish!" Jun-seo winced, scratching the sore spot on his back where he'd just been hit, though a wry smile played on his lips. "Keep talking like that and I'll definitely consider taking a position as a chief secretary or accountant for a chaebol in the future. At least the salaries over there are sky-high. Until now, I'm just a heavily exploited processing machine. I really wish someone else could do all of this without me."
Right on cue, his right hand was met with a fresh, heavy stack of papers dumped squarely onto his desk by a junior officer—written recommendations for graduating seniors, alumni confirmation letters, and scheduling rosters for the upcoming mentorship meetings between famous Kirin alumni and the Sports Wing first-years.
Jun-seo stared at the new pile, his jaw twitching slightly.
Before he could even pick up his pen, the double doors of the Student Council office suddenly slammed open.
A sophomore member of the Kirin's Secret club rushed into the room, looking around frantically before darting over to a group of junior council members gathered near the water cooler.
"Did you guys hear?!" the intruder whispered loudly, his voice echoing off the high ceiling. "Myung-dae was just spotted near the visual arts wing with another insanely beautiful girl!"
Jun-seo's hand froze over his desk.
He set his pen down with a sharp, deliberate sound that cut cleanly through the chatter in the room.
He raised his head, his dark eyes narrowing into two icy, formidable slits.
"How many times do I have to remind members of Kirin's Secret to stop spreading unverified rumors inside official administrative spaces?" Jun-seo's voice was dangerously calm, carrying a sharp edge that made everyone in the room instantly freeze. "And are you forgetting that this is the Student Council Office?"
Jun-seo leaned forward, resting his forearms on the desk as his gaze locked onto the nervous intruder.
"If you don't leave this room immediately, I will inform Min-ah and Chug-seo about your conduct before the sun sets."
The defeated club member turned pale, stammered a hasty apology, bowed three times in rapid succession, and scurried out the door like a startled rabbit.
Jun-seo slowly turned his formidable glare upon his own council subordinates, who were still standing near the water cooler with wide, terrified eyes.
"If any of you have so much excess free time that you can entertain idle campus rumors on a Saturday afternoon," Jun-seo warned smoothly, his tone laced with absolute authority, "I can easily find enough administrative file audits to fill your entire weekend."
The junior officers bolted back to their respective desks like lightning, typing furiously onto their laptops without daring to look up again.
Jun-seo turned his attention back to the Head of the Disciplinary Committee, his demeanor instantly shifting back to pure, icy professionalism.
"Prepare a complete report for our next Student Council session on the investigation results regarding the Class 3-C bullying scandal in the Sports Wing," Jun-seo instructed firmly. "I want every statement verified and on my desk by Monday morning."
"Understood, Mr. President," the Disciplinary Head replied sharply, bowing before retreating to his station.
"And you three," his eyes drifted to those who were spilling the tea moments ago, "I'll be waiting for the weekly "Kirin's High" newspaper, №10, October 10th 2015."
Jun-seo picked up his pen, took a deep breath, and dived back into the mountain of documents under the quiet afternoon light.