Truth and Consequences
The scene I arrived at was exactly as I had heard.
A middle-aged woman, presumably Kim Ildong's mother, was arguing with our homeroom teacher.
"Excuse me, but with his grades, he should obviously be ranked first in the entire school! How does it make any sense that he's second?"
At a glance, it seemed there was some issue with Kim Ildong's grades.
However, seeing how Ildong himself was fidgeting anxiously beside her, this didn't seem to be a situation he wanted.
"Ma'am, let's not do this out here. Why don't we go inside first..."
"If we go inside, you're just going to keep making ridiculous excuses! A kid who was at the very bottom of the school ranking first in just a few months? Do you honestly expect me to believe that?!"
Wait, she's talking about me.
It seemed I was indeed involved in this matter.
Hearing her rant about someone going from the bottom of the school to first place made that clear.
But a ridiculous excuse?
Granted, I had to admit it was a hard fact to believe at first glance.
But making such a scene at school over it was completely uncalled for.
It gave me a pretty good idea of her character.
She's definitely not a pleasant person.
"Bring that bottom-tier kid out here right now. I need to ask him myself whether he cheated or not."
"Ma'am, that is..."
Just then, Kim Ildong spotted me standing among the crowd of students and whispered to his mother.
"Mom, over there..."
"Him?"
She immediately marched over to me, glaring.
"Are you him? The kid who was at the bottom of the school but cheated to get first place?"
"I didn't cheat, but yes, I am first place."
I replied nonchalantly.
There are plenty of ways to prove it anyway.
I had already gone through the verification process with the teachers. If she still didn't believe it, I could just do it again. I had absolutely nothing to hide.
When I let out a small smile, she immediately took issue with it.
"Are you laughing right now?"
Ignoring her, I turned to the teacher.
"Sir, didn't we already finish verifying this matter?"
"Ah, yes! Ma'am, that's correct. We have already verified it, and we confirmed that Hyunwoo took the exam purely on his own merit."
"How can I trust that? For all I know, you're in cahoots with him! And besides...!"
Despite the teacher's explanation, she raised her voice even louder.
It was loud enough to make my ears ring.
So I spoke up.
"You're being noisy."
"What? Hey, you! What did you just say?!"
Just then, my phone vibrated.
Bzzz—
Manager Baek Gyu-min
I ignored her and answered the call.
"Hello?"
"Yes, are you ready to come out? I just arrived."
Huh, already?
He was faster than expected.
But thanks to that, a great way to flip this situation on its head came to mind.
Perfect timing.
I spoke into the receiver.
"Ah, I'm having a bit of trouble getting out right now. By the way, did the person you mentioned yesterday come with you?"
"Yes, he's right next to me."
"In that case, could you both come inside?"
"Hmm? That's not difficult, but... is something going on?"
I briefly explained the situation.
I told him that a parent was throwing a fit, accusing me of cheating because of my sudden grade jump.
Manager Baek quickly grasped the situation and spoke.
"Sounds like a real piece of work."
"Exactly. A total piece of work."
Even while I was on the phone, Ildong's mother continued to throw a tantrum.
"A piece of work?! I am simply exercising my rightful authority! Look at this kid. He's completely ignoring me! And you, Teacher! How on earth do you educate these kids to behave like this? Well?!"
"Ma'am, please..."
A short while later.
"CEO Ji?"
"You're here, Manager Baek."
Manager Baek had arrived.
He wasn't alone; a man in casual clothes with a camera slung around his neck accompanied him.
He's here.
"Is this the gentleman?"
"Yes. Let me introduce..."
Just then, the homeroom teacher asked hesitantly.
"Hyunwoo, who are these gentlemen...?"
"Ah, this is Manager Baek Gyu-min from Wondong Paper."
"Wondong Paper?"
"Yes."
"Hello, Teacher. I'm Baek Gyu-min, a manager at Wondong Paper. Here is my business card."
"But why would someone from such a company be here...?"
"We have some business to attend to. And as for this gentleman next to me..."
As Manager Baek turned, his companion introduced himself.
"Hello. I'm Jung Il-ho, a reporter for the KR Daily."
"A reporter? Why would a reporter be here...?"
Still failing to grasp the situation, Ildong's mother chimed in.
"A reporter? Perfect timing! We have a student and a teacher here who colluded to manipulate grades through cheating! You should investigate this!"
Manager Baek let out a chuckle.
"Grade manipulation? Hahaha."
"Why are you laughing?"
At her sharp question, he shrugged.
"I'm laughing because it's absurd. Why would a genius ever need to manipulate grades?"
"A genius?"
"Of course he is. A high school student who designed a microbial purification system, supervised its construction, and is running a successful business—if that's not a genius, I don't know what is."
"...W-what?"
Even with that explanation, she still looked utterly bewildered.
So I added a brief explanation.
"To put it simply, I developed a highly advanced technology and I'm running a business with it. Do you understand now?"
"......!"
Only then did the realization hit her, and her face filled with shock.
The surrounding students, however, were left scratching their heads.
"What is he talking about?"
"Huh? A business?"
Jang Junyeob and Oh Yunsung immediately chimed in.
"What? You've been running a business?"
"Yeah."
"Is that why you were skipping school for days?"
"Pretty much."
Manager Baek then stepped forward to speak.
"Just the contract our company awarded this student is worth four hundred million won. We also have another one billion won worth of orders lined up. We came to pick him up today for the ceremony celebrating the system's first official run... but it seems none of you knew?"
The crowd began to murmur in excitement.
"One billion won?"
"Holy crap, that's insane!"
"They came to pick him up?"
"Wow, he must be the real deal."
Honestly, saying they "came to pick me up" was a massive exaggeration. They had just dropped by because our schedules aligned.
But the figures were more or less accurate, especially considering the revenue that would follow.
"In any case, it's not strange at all for a student of his caliber to get excellent grades. Wouldn't you agree, Teacher?"
"Ah, yes. Absolutely."
"And the one who actually seems strange is the parent throwing baseless accusations and insults at such a student. What perfect timing, Reporter Jung. Why don't you write an article about this?"
"Hmm, that sounds like a decent story."
With the tables turned, Ildong's mother lost most of her bluster.
"Ugh... B-but still..."
It seemed the situation was mostly resolved.
She hadn't completely backed down, but no matter how much she stubborned her way through, she had no leg to stand on.
Pushing any further would only turn her into the subject of a real news article. She seemed smart enough to foresee that outcome.
"Excuse me, Head Teacher? Just a moment..."
Suddenly, Teacher Kim Suhan appeared.
He was the newly appointed math teacher.
"What is it, Mr. Kim?"
"I have something urgent to tell you..."
"What is it...?"
Pulling the homeroom teacher to a corner, the math teacher whispered something.
Whisper, whisper.
A moment later, the homeroom teacher returned with an incredibly grave expression. He glanced at Kim Ildong briefly before addressing his mother.
"Ma'am. I think you and I need to step inside and have a private conversation."
"Ha, I told you I'm done!"
"It concerns your son."
"What about my son? What kind of problem could he possibly have?"
"Ma'am."
"Forget it. I'm not going inside. Either say it here or do whatever you want."
The homeroom teacher let out a deep sigh.
"Sigh..."
He stepped closer to Ildong's mother and lowered his voice.
"Ma'am, it seems Ildong was caught cheating."
At that, her eyes widened.
"What? W-what do you mean by that?"
Vroom—
We were on our way to the company in Manager Baek's car.
As he drove, he muttered in disbelief.
"Good grief. She had no problem questioning someone else's grades, yet she never doubted her own son's."
"I know, right?"
We were talking about what had just unfolded at the school.
To think Ildong cheated... Whew.
During the final exams, he had been caught by the math teacher with a cheat sheet containing several formulas.
The math teacher had reported it to the principal, but was ordered to sweep it under the rug.
Having no choice but to comply, the math teacher had kept quiet—until witnessing today's commotion, which finally prompted him to tell the homeroom teacher.
And that caused a massive uproar.
The homeroom teacher wanted to make the matter public and discipline Ildong.
Ildong's mother begged for mercy, and the principal stepped in once again to cover it up, but...
These two played a huge role.
I was referring to Manager Baek and Reporter Jung.
They stepped in, warning that if the school didn't handle the matter according to the rules, they would publish a major exposé and bring it to light.
Left with no choice, the vice principal promised to handle it properly.
In the end, the issue was resolved.
It was unfortunate for Ildong, but he would receive a zero for that subject.
"Still, thanks to you two, everything is being wrapped up properly."
"Well, I didn't really do much. I just rode on Reporter Jung's coattails and made some noise."
"Indeed. You spoke with such authority, it sounded like you were the one writing the article, not me, haha."
"Haha, the press really holds a lot of power in situations like this. I should make use of it more often."
Manager Baek conversed with Reporter Jung.
"But really, the mother is the root of the problem. How much pressure did she put on him about his grades to drive him to cheat?"
"Well, that doesn't justify cheating, but seeing her behavior earlier, she's definitely not normal."
"Exactly. If a child does something wrong, they should be disciplined so they learn from it. Trying to cover it up instead... tsk."
"The principal is just as bad. Trying to sweep it under the rug just to save his own skin. Sigh."
I couldn't agree more.
"Right. But you're still going to write the article, aren't you?"
"Of course. I said I wouldn't if they handled it properly, but..."
"That's right. A principal like that needs to be exposed and punished. Absolutely."
"I got lucky and stumbled upon a good story."
We chatted like that for a while.