Ch 172
Became a swordsmanship instructor at the academy
Chapter 172
"Is there anything else you want to ask?"
"No. Thank you."
"Well, it's nothing much. I heard you haven't been causing trouble lately and your class attitude has been good?"
"I was immature before."
To be precise, it wasn't me but the previous Lee Ji-sung.
"You...have really changed. Your mother was very worried about what would happen if you kept wandering astray even after coming to high school, but I'm glad."
"Yes. Um, then I'll be going..."
"Alright. Go ahead."
I greeted him and left the teachers' office.
Originally, I had planned to pick up the USB yesterday and identify the culprit at the same time, but the plan went slightly awry due to the fight with Kim Do-hyun and the vice principal's intervention.
In the original work, Kim Do-hyun was set up as someone who cherished his family dearly, so I thought he would immediately give in if I said I'd help him, but his pride was stronger than expected.
Is it because he's going through puberty?
But fortunately, I remembered that Lee Ji-sung's relative works as a teacher at the school.
She's practically a stranger as the granddaughter-in-law of his great-aunt, but seeing how Lee Ji-sung's mother told him to talk to her first if he caused trouble, it seems she had spoken to her separately.
I don't particularly remember it, but seeing how friendly she acts, she might have been bribed.
Anyway, thanks to that, the matter was easily resolved.
When I asked for the list and basic information of how many new teachers joined this year, she immediately told me.
A total of six teachers newly joined Hunter School this year.
It's more than I thought, but half of them are women.
It was surprising that our magic teacher was among them too.
I found out that she had worked until last year, took a break for just one semester, and then returned, so she's not completely new.
Since women wouldn't have taken hidden camera footage in the first place, I excluded the three women and investigated the whereabouts of the three male teachers.
As if things were going well, while searching through the school website, I was able to find out that two of them had attended a seminar last week.
When I asked the head of academic affairs again, he said the seminar was held over the weekend for two days and both of them were in Daegu for those two days.
Then naturally, the culprit is the remaining one.
Shin Dong-sik, the 3rd-year English teacher.
The place where I originally found the USB was also on the floor used by 3rd-year students, so it must be him, but how do I expose this?
In the original work, Kim Do-hyun deduces the culprit like I did and tells his homeroom teacher.
I thought I could do the same, but our homeroom teacher Choi Seo-ra hates...no, abhors me.
She might cut off everything I say and frame me as the one who took the footage.
She's a member of the criminal organization Antas in the first place.
Would it be better to just use my distant relative?
"What date is it today?"
"The 28th."
"Then number 8, come out and solve this. Number 8?"
The female student sitting next to me taps me.
"What?"
"Um, the teacher is calling you..."
"Who's number 8?"
"That's me, sir."
I went out immediately and solved the problem.
"It's completely wrong. From start to finish, there's nothing correct. Are you by any chance in the swordsmanship class?"
"I'm in the magic class..."
"You're in the magic class and can't even do this? Then how are you going to calculate advanced magic formulas later? Go back in, you bastard."
The kids snickered and laughed at the teacher's scolding.
It's annoying, but there's nothing I can do.
Lee Ji-sung had completely cut ties with studying, and I was originally terrible at math too.
Since math is necessary for magic, I study separately in the self-study room after classes, but since I have so many other things to do, I only recently finished middle school level.
"Since number 8 failed, shall number 18 come out and solve it instead?"
As I returned to my seat, I saw Min Chan-seong getting up from his seat.
So that guy was number 18.
Unlike me, he went out with a confident expression and smoothly wrote down the answers.
"Perfect even with the verification. Your handwriting is also very neat. Are you also in the magic class?"
"Yes, I am."
"This is what a magic class student should be like. I'll give you 1 point."
"Thank you."
Since we're in the same magic class, I'm being completely compared to him.
I don't feel very good about it.
I should hurry up and study more, I thought, and at that moment the bell rang and class ended.
Well, studying is studying, but the hidden camera culprit comes first right now.
Since it was lunch time, I was thinking of going to find my relative right away, so I was putting my books away when I felt something catching and took it out to find a book I hadn't seen before.
[Prejudice]
The title looks stuffy at first glance... Is it a philosophy book?
Who put this here?
It seems like someone mistakenly put it in, and there's a library stamp from Hunter School on the cover along with a barcode.
In a normal case, I would ask whose it is and return it to them, but I can't do that.
There's a 99.9% chance that whoever made the mistake won't come forward out of fear of talking to me.
I shouldn't make the classroom atmosphere heavy for no reason, so I should return it on my way.
As I was about to get up from my seat, a piece of paper fell out from inside the book.
I wondered what it was and unfolded it, and I was really surprised.
On the piece of paper, two sentences were written in elegant handwriting.
[The person you think is the culprit is not the culprit. Only when you abandon prejudice can you find the true answer.]
I haven't told anyone about finding the culprit, so no one should know...
"Who put this book on my desk?"
I thought this wasn't the time to consider the atmosphere or anything, so I asked, but no one came forward saying it was theirs.
What the hell is this?
***
I was worried about what would happen if he didn't discover it, but fortunately it was just a needless worry.
"Why the sudden book?"
"Why is he acting like that?"
"I don't know. I thought he'd been quiet lately, but maybe he's starting again?"
"That might be it..."
The class atmosphere was about to get a bit heavy due to Lee Ji-sung's sudden outburst, but when no one gave him an answer, he just went outside.
He seems to be going to the library to check the borrowing records, but it's futile.
It wasn't borrowed normally but secretly taken out.
Honestly, I'm not sure if this is the right thing to do, but since Do-hyun won't be getting involved, I had no choice but to do it this way.
He must have been quite surprised since it was advice that perfectly fit his situation, but I hope he focuses on the message rather than the messenger...
The content written on the paper I slipped between the pages of that book are all lines from that book anyway.
I was pondering how to help when I remembered a book Se-jin had given me as a gift that I read on the plane to America.
It happened to have lines that fit the situation, so I checked the library just in case, and fortunately it was there.
Anyway, having gone this far, unless he's a complete idiot, he'll think about it once more, right?
"Chan-seong, let's go eat lunch."
"I'm feeling a bit sick today... I'm going to skip it. Go and eat."
"Are you very sick? Shouldn't you go to the infirmary?"
"It's not that bad. I just ate too much for breakfast, so I feel a bit bloated."
"Then I'll buy some digestive medicine or cola from the store on my way back."
Really... Seong Ji-an is so extremely caring.
After the kids left, I also left the classroom and headed toward the library.
I thought Lee Ji-sung would handle it well on his own, but I couldn't help but worry.
When I went inside and looked around, I could see Lee Ji-sung sitting in a corner with a serious expression.
Is he waiting because the librarian isn't here since it's lunch time?
I picked out a random book from the bookshelf, opened it, and glanced at him furtively, but he sat in his spot for almost 20 minutes without moving.
He seems very confused. Should I have delivered it in a different way?
But I couldn't suddenly go up to him and say 'I'll help you find the culprit too.'
Still, he seems to be thinking about it... Huh? The librarian came.
***
"Excuse me, could you tell me who borrowed this book? I didn't borrow it, but I found it at my seat."
"Library books should be returned by the borrower themselves, but who did that? Anyway, thank you."
"You can tell me who borrowed it, right?"
"Of course. Just a moment."
The librarian typed on the computer and then tilted her head.
"There's no borrowing record at all?"
"What? That can't be. Please check again."
"There really is no borrowing record. Here, look."
The librarian turned the laptop around to show me the screen, and there really was no borrowing record.
"Did you perhaps just take it from the library?"
"No. I really found it at my seat."
"Each book has an anti-theft barcode attached, so if you took it out without permission, an alarm would have gone off."
Come to think of it, when I brought this book in, the machine in front lit up.
I told the librarian teacher about this fact.
"Hmm... Wait. It really did go off 20 minutes ago. But when the alarm goes off, it's all recorded, and it was just once. That's strange."
In the end, I had no choice but to leave the library empty-handed.
I thought I would be able to find out if I came to the library...
Just in case, I asked to check the historical borrowing records, but no one has ever borrowed this book until now.
The school bought the book because it was a bestseller, not because someone specifically requested it...
I feel like I'm possessed by a ghost.
Even if it's really a ghost, it doesn't seem like it's trying to harm me, but rather trying to help me.
The two sentences written on the note.
According to the first sentence, the person I think is the culprit is not the culprit.
And the second one.
'If you abandon prejudice, you can find the true answer' - this seems like a hint about the real culprit...
Wait, prejudice?
I had completely excluded the female teachers from suspicion.
Because most of those who commit crimes like installing hidden cameras are male.
But what if the second sentence was pointing out this part?
It was just my own assumption, but there's nothing bad about checking... No wait, of course I should have checked.
If the teacher I pointed out as the culprit isn't the culprit, not only will my image not recover, but I'll fall even further into the abyss.
If I make a mistake, I might be misunderstood as the one who filmed the footage and get expelled.
I need to investigate from the beginning again.
***
Five days have passed since I gave Lee Ji-sung the hint.
The rumor hasn't spread yet, but seeing that a police car came to school yesterday, it seems the hidden camera culprit was caught.
"Hey, did you hear? Yesterday when the police came, it was thanks to Lee Ji-sung from our class that they caught the hidden camera culprit."
"Hidden camera culprit?"
"You know, the police came a few days ago. The 3rd-year Korean teacher was the hidden camera culprit."
"If it's 3rd-year Korean, isn't that a woman? She came once as a substitute when our Korean teacher went on vacation."
"Right. It was a woman. Why on earth?"
"I heard while passing by the teachers' office that it was some card debt? Anyway, she needed money so she was going to sell it on the internet. Hidden cameras were found in the 3rd-year girls' bathroom and dormitory too."
"That's crazy. I hope I wasn't filmed."
"Fortunately, she was caught before selling it, so nothing was leaked."
"Completely disgusting. How could she do such a thing. But how did Lee Ji-sung?"
"Don't tell me he also went into the girls' bathroom and discovered it?"
"No, he found it after seeing a USB that the hidden camera culprit dropped and reported it?"
"Wait, then doesn't that mean Lee Ji-sung also saw those videos?"
"Probably? But they said there wasn't much... And he immediately went to the head of academic affairs and handed it over."
"So he wasn't complete trash after all."
"Still, it's not like he caught her himself, right?"
"The culprit's face wasn't even shown in the video and Lee Ji-sung didn't know who dropped it either, so they caught her by deducing together?"
"Really?"
"Anyway, if he hadn't reported it, it would have been a real disaster."
"This incident made me see him differently. Honestly, I've never been in the same class as Lee Ji-sung, so I only heard rumors, but he's completely different from the rumors."
"That's true. I also saw him working out in the fitness room in the evening recently."
"Come to think of it, he has lost a lot of weight compared to when I first saw him."
"Min-woo, who shares the same dorm room, says he studies in the self-study room until the latest every day."
"Maybe the rumors were a bit exaggerated?"
"That might be it. Honestly, I hadn't seen it directly either, just heard stories..."
"Didn't we approach him with prejudice?"
The class is all talking about Lee Ji-sung.
Since things went as planned, his image should improve a bit now, right?
"Everyone's being weird just because he did one good thing. Do you know how much Lee Ji-sung bullied Chan-seong?"
Of course, there are still kids like Seong Ji-an who dislike him, but it should be much better than before.
Already, some of the boys are approaching him first to talk.
Personally, I didn't particularly like the protagonist, but he's not as much trash as the previous delinquent, so things should gradually get better.
I was thinking it was fortunate when the front door of the classroom opened.
It was supposed to be time for closing homeroom, but instead of homeroom teacher Choi Seo-ra, it was two very familiar faces.