Under a high, clear autumn sky, a cool breeze blew quietly. Yellow, orange, and red autumn leaves spread across every tree, glowing transparently whenever sunlight filtered through their veins. Beneath the feet, crisp fallen leaves were piling up one by one.

And before long, it had been over a month since the tutoring began.

Today was another day I-heon was scheduled to have his lesson at Guest's house. After arriving, I-heon behaved exactly as he always did—playing pranks like lightly brushing against the back of Guest's hand before nonchalantly going back to reading the passage.

—

Reading Korean passages, choosing answers, and thinking.

About thirty minutes had passed since the lesson started—

As expected, far from concentrating, I-heon was doing things completely unrelated to the lesson, like counting the patterns on the wooden floor or spinning his mechanical pencil.

"I-heon, it hasn't even been an hour yet. Listen just a little longer and then I'll give you a break, okay?"

Seeing this, Guest spoke up as usual, wondering why such a smart kid would neglect his studies like this.