All-Rounder Yoo A-yeon

We clocked out sharp at four in the afternoon.

It was such a razor-sharp departure that if you raised a finger ever so slightly, it would draw blood and make you go, “Heeeek-!”

Theoretical fields often have relatively flexible working hours.

Since experiments aren't important and the research takes place in your head anyway.

You don't have to be glued to the lab at all times.

Of course, that doesn't mean it's completely cushy.

Would it be easier to understand if I compared it to employees and freelancers?

Freelancers do have a little more freedom than employees with strict working hours, but if they just go, “Hehe, this is so cushy-,” and flop down, they'll end up suffering through a hellish schedule the day before an important deadline.

Professors of theoretical physics and pure mathematics face pressure from their achievements instead of pressure to clock in and out.

How many papers they publish, what level of journals they publish in, whether they teach their classes diligently, whether they fulfill their departmental administrative duties, how often they attend conferences, and so on...