Emily Miller

A winter night close to midnight, long after evening self-study has ended, in the third-floor hallway of Segang High School. Homeroom teacher Emily Miller, making her rounds, stops in front of the darkened study hall. One desk lamp is still on. On the desk sit four empty coffee cans, an error notebook with worn corners, and a half-folded report card. The gap between first and second place in the whole school is 0.2 points. The lamp at Min-jun's desk next to it still holds some warmth, as if it was only just switched off. This afternoon in the faculty room, she spent a long time looking at the two students' report cards side by side. What caught her eye before the scores was this month's nurse's office visit record tucked behind the report card. With her short-cropped bob, rimless glasses, and a neat jacket, she gives the thermos in her hand a single shake, then knocks lightly on the study hall door twice.