Semantic Error - Chapter 0

More than half of the students were asleep in the university seminar room. In a large class attended by more than a hundred students, it was hard for even the professor to get everyone oriented.

Furthermore, nothing about the appearance of the presenter on stage was eye-catching. The presenter wore an unfashionable checkered shirt and dark blue jeans, and his face was hard to see because of  the black cap on his head obscuring it. Once he pressed the laser pointer to play the presentation, the eyes of the bored spectators were suddenly filled with astonishment.

[ The desirable characteristics and roles in society for a Hanguk University student.]

The letters being 93 points big was already an atrocity, but more surprising than anything else was the font in GulimChe. No, the biggest problem was the blurry Bonobono character in the background? Or was it the sincerity of each letter in rainbow colors?

“I’ll begin with my presentation.”

The presenter moved on to the next slide indifferently, as if mocking the audience’s reaction. This time, only the subtitle was written in yellow on the black background. However, the unreadable font and its dreadful size still remained.

“In this presentation, I’ll be taking a look at the reputation of renowned Hanguk University graduates, to see the talent, honesty, creativity, and passion Hanguk University instills in their students, while redefining desirable personality traits and exploring what responsibilities and roles they might play in the future….”

The students who had woken up at the sight of the shocking Powerpoint screen, quickly began to fall asleep again. The speaker’s voice was dull and flat,  and no matter how long they waited, the first sentence never finished.

“First of all, I’m an honest person.”

The presenter meticulously checked whether talent training was accessible on the Korea National University website and concluded that it was not. Politicians who were disqualified as lawmakers for their criminal record of bribery, professors who forged documents, and businessmen who got work applications for money were the graduates he cited as examples.

The content was unusually thorough and the presentation was rational. It was rare for a student to be so diligent in a group project worth only two credits. Unfortunately, less than ten individuals, including the  professor, seemed to be listening by the end of the lecture. The presenter ended his discussion lasting a little over ten minutes, stressing authenticity and integrity, but there was little applause.

“That’s all.”

As soon as he moved to the last slide, the small audience burst into startled chatter. Even the students who were not interested in the presentation, paid attention to the screen.

[ Leader: Chu Sangwoo
  Presenter: Chu Sangwoo
  Data research part 1: Chu Sangwoo
  Data research part 2: Chu Sangwoo

   Data gathering: Chu Sangwoo
  Final presentation creator: Chu Sangwoo
  Group members: Chu Sangwoo ]

The professor raised his glasses with a puzzled look while the students were in a frenzy. He  observed the lecture room and thought that the speaker and the popular character in the powerpoint’s background  garnered a good response.

A student wearing a hat entered the faculty room and the professor urged him to sit down with a perplexed look.

“Good to see you, Sangwoo. I just called you in to talk with regard to today’s presentation.”

“Was there a problem?”

“The presentation was impressive. But….”

The professor flipped the attendance book open, looking nonplussed. Chu Sangwoo presented an amazingly in-depth presentation, but this was still a joint task at the end of the day. There were still three more people in his group.

“Did the other members of the group not participate at all?”

“Yes, that’s right.” The student answered without change in his expression.

“Tell me in detail.”

“Originally, I was only supposed to do the research for the first part and create the presentation. But the person assigned to do the second part of the data research did not keep her promise to send it by six o’clock yesterday, so I completed it instead. For the person in charge of presenting, he couldn’t attend today because of his aunt’s death, so I took over for that, too.”

“What about the last member?”

“I’ve never even seen him before.”

The professor nodded and checked the attendance book three times. He looked closely to see if he could find something.

“There’s a prospective graduate in your group. He mentioned in his email that he couldn’t make it this week because he was flying overseas to attend a contest.”

“I’ve heard that he’s a contestant.”

The professor looked at the student, “Knowing the situation, don’t you think it’s too much to leave his name out?”

“No, I don’t think so.”

“Why?”

“If he’d been contributing and only missed today’s class, I would consider it. But he’s never attended a meeting and also didn’t help with the assignment.”

The professor pushed the attendance book forward, “Look here. It says that he’s been present in all the classes except for some absences before and this week….”

“I don’t know. He must have made someone attend on his behalf.”

The professor’s expression changed oddly after hearing the student’s answer.

“I see. I got it. You can go now, Chu Sangwoo.”

“Alright .”

The student bowed his head and left the lab with a grave face, just as he did when he came in.