Time Travel is a Cheat

"Everyone, pay attention. You better do well on the test because if you fail, I will have to haul you back in during the break."

"Ehhhh, but teach! The new game is about to come out! You can't do this to us!"

"Do you think that I want to be stuck at school? Hah! They won't even pay me extra for the remedial lessons. I have a nice virtual game date planned during the break so if any of you fail... I'll make sure to make your lives a living hell!"

"That's not fair!"

"Come on teach! Give us a break!"

"That's what I'm trying to do goddammit!"

Seojoon opened his eyes and was met with a familiar yet unfamiliar view. All around him were teenagers wearing school uniforms sitting down in desks. It was a nostalgic classroom, which was very odd to Seojoon.

He slowly got up and rubbed his eyes. The last thing he could remember was that he was out on the bench during the snow before he had fallen asleep.

Seojoon did a small stretch before getting up out of his seat. Although the students looked familiar, he was a hundred percent sure that they were not his students. He did not know why he was in a different classroom, but now he had to go back to his class. He had his duty as a teacher to teach his students.

Seojoon was just getting up when the teacher of the current classroom let out a shout.

"Kim Seojoon! Why are you getting up during the middle of class?"

Giving a little start, Seojoon stared at the teacher who had yelled at him. Now that he had a good look, he realized that the teacher wasn't one of his coworkers. However, some part of his brain told him adamantly that the teacher in front of him was no doubt a teacher he knew.

Unintentionally, Seojoon started to use honorifics while addressing the teacher.

"Er.... sir. I'm trying to get to my class," answered Seojoon tentatively, still not sure what exactly was going.

There was a burst of laughter as the teacher gave Seojoon an annoyed look. "Are you still drunk on sleep? You are already in your class! Now sit down in your seat before I give you detention for disrupting class!"

"....yes sir."

Seojoon slowly sat back down into his seat, now fully awake. He gave a quick glance around and came to a shocking revelation that the students around him looked exactly like the young versions of his old school friends.

Seojoon shook his head. It wasn't that the students looked like the young version of his school friends, but that they were his school friends. Seojoon immediately glanced down at his clothes and saw that he was wearing his old high school uniform.

"What the fuck is going on?" He muttered quietly under his breath.

Seojoon sat in his class and listened to the lectures that he had already learned before as he tried his best to make sense of what exactly had happened.

Was this all some sort of realistic dream? He was a thirty-eight years old man not even a day ago and now he had reverted back to his...

Seojoon gave a quick glance at the class calendar up in the front.

....He had reverted back to his sixteen-year-old self once again.

It had to be a dream or something. It didn't make any logical and scientific sense. Many people had fantasied about going back in time but Seojoon had enough knowledge to know that it was impossible with human means. Even if by some miracle God had decided to give him a second chance, why the hell would he do that? And why would he do it to a person like him? There was no other possible solution other than that the reality he saw before him was only a well-constructed dream that highly realistic qualities.

Seojoon felt a painful twinge on the top of his head as his teacher smacked him with a ruler.

"Stop spacing out Kim Seojoon! I don't care if you know everything I teach already!"

"Yes, sir! Sorry, sir!"

Seojoon snapped out of his daze and immediately straightened his back as another bout of laughter decorated the classroom. It definitely wasn't a dream. The pain from the ruler still lingered on his neck even after quite some time had passed by. But he had to completely make sure that he had indeed gone back in time.

Seojoon gave another look at the calendar before squeezing his brain for anything about what was going to happen that day.

October fourth.... what was going to happen during October fourth of the year 2047?

Seojoon slowly scribbled down everything that came to his mind

One, he went to school.

Two, he would eat his lunch that was made from his mom.

Three.... he would get asked out by a girl?

Wait, no. He would have to take a test first before he got asked out by the girl.

Three, he would take a test.

Four, get asked out.

Five..... he went home and did homework before reading books.

Seojoon nodded in satisfaction at his superb memory before glancing at the clock. The hour had just passed the two o'clock mark which meant that-

"Ok, everyone! Take out a pencil or pen and place everything else in your bags. If I catch you cheating, I'll make sure to add you to the list of people who will need to stay behind during the break."

-it was time to take a test.

Seojoon silently watched as the teacher placed the test onto his desk. He just had an ingenious thought. If he had gone back in time, wouldn't it mean that all the tests would be the same as well?

In his previous life, he was known as the demon of studying. He would rarely spend time on anything that wouldn't increase his academic abilities to a higher level. Any worksheets he got, he would solve them five times until he got everything right. Any question he got wrong, he would practice similar ones six times over. Any reading assignments he got, he would read them ten times over. In his brain were a thousand of accumulated tests and questions that he had hammered into his brain to the point where he could grade a single test faster than a bubble sheet scanner.

Now, if time truly didn't change and everything was the same as before.... then...

Seojoon slowly flipped his test over and did a quick glance at the test on his desk. A small grin crept up his face as Seojoon confidently picked up his pencil.

He remembered the test that was in front of his eyes. He had taken it twenty-two years ago yet it was still fresh in his mind. He remembered all of the questions and all of the answer choices. But most importantly, he remembered all of the answers.

Time-traveling was such a cheat.