School Cleanup - 3

Ever since last night's Friday night, a single video had been setting the internet ablaze.

It even made the nine o'clock news.

This was nothing like the orphanage director couple.

True to an IT powerhouse, every scrap of personal information got doxxed without me lifting a finger.

Of course that comment would vanish soon enough. After all, it named a sitting National Assemblyman and a sitting chief prosecutor in full.

But it didn't matter. The entire country already knew.

"Pfft!! Still hilarious no matter how many times I watch it. Shouldn't we submit this to the Academy Awards or something?? Anyway, the call should be coming any minute now..."

As expected, so predictable and cliché.

Right on cue, Kim Gyuyeon's call came through.

"Is that a threat?"

"Haa... Guess I have to go even if it means dying. To protect the orphanage... Fine. Where do I go?"

I hung up and headed to the meeting spot.

The same abandoned construction site from yesterday.

"Thought you'd be too scared to show, but here you are? You fucking piece of shit."

"Must've been tough rounding the kids up. How many total?"

"Thirty-two, you bastard."

"Each one packing a weapon, too. You know this is special assault, right? Up to five years or a fine of ten million won or less."

"So what? My old man's an Assemblyman, and their old man is a chief prosecutor. The one getting the shit beaten out of him and going to jail today is you, you fucking retard. And where the hell are those little minions from yesterday? Don't tell me they got scared and ran?"

"It's the weekend. Everyone's busy."

"Ha... Look at this crazy bastard... Fine, let's see how long you can keep acting tough in front of me. Hey, half-kill that fucker and drag him over here."

"Don't kill him! We have to hang that bastard up there!"

"You strip naked and run for us once, you fucking asshole!!"

"Alright~ Let's go~~"

What is this, Busan?

They'd clearly watched too many movies.

And were these even students? Or just thugs?

Once the uniforms came off, you couldn't tell them apart.

"What are you doing? Not gonna swing?"

"Yeah. Not swinging."

"Then take the beating."

"Kh...!!"

I didn't dodge the fist flying at my face.

I didn't dodge the kick slamming into my side either.

Just like that, without a single bit of resistance, I got thoroughly worked over.

"What the hell is with this retarded bastard."

"He's just smart. Act up for no reason and you only get hit harder."

"Got all tense for nothing."

"But we're really getting a hundred thousand each, right?"

"If they don't pay, we doxx those bastards too."

"Just drag him for now. Once we do that, our job's done, right?"

"Yeah. Hey, get up. Stop staggering and walk straight, you fucker."

"Ugh...! Uuugh!!"

My whole body ached.

But taking beatings was old hat by now.

Of course, getting hit this hard in this life was a first.

"Kneel, you bastard."

"Ow...! Take it easy...!"

"Why? Try talking back like earlier? Go on, talk back, you fucker!!"

"Guh..!!"

Of all the rotten luck, the tip of Kim Gyuyeon's swinging foot drove straight into my solar plexus.

And as if they'd been waiting for me to go down, Lee Daejin and Park Gongmyeong started stomping me.

They really were the type who only swaggered because of daddy's backing, so the hits were manageable.

But how long was I supposed to play along? Let's get this over with already!

"Huuuu...."

After getting stomped for a good while, I was standing on top of the abandoned construction building.

About three stories high, the unfinished structure.

And the guys Kim Gyuyeon had called were wrapping rope tightly around my body.

"We're done, so settle up now?"

"I'll pay, I'll pay. Who the hell stiffs people? I'm Kim Gyuyeon."

"Love the fast payment. Call us again if you need us next time~ Let's go, boys."

Once they took the cash envelopes, all thirty-two of them melted away like the tide going out.

Left here were just me, Kim Gyuyeon, Lee Daejin, and Park Gongmyeong.

"But is he tied tight enough over there?"

"I said he's tied!"

"Check again anyway! If he gets loose we actually become murderers."

"Heh heh heh... Why? Scared I'll fall and die?"

"Shut up! You bastard!"

"Aren't you scared?! You could actually die!"

"Of course I'm scared? I'm fucking terrified, man."

"Obviously you're terrified! Now you know how scared we were?!"

"You're fucked, you bastard! We're hanging you up here the exact same way, then stripping every last scrap of clothes and making you run the streets! Just like you did to us!!"

Just like I did to them.

Yeah, I was getting paid back exactly as much as I'd dished out.

Yesterday I'd shoved those guys off this very spot and left them dangling in midair.

Then I'd stripped them completely naked, threatened to hang them a second time, and they'd fled like madmen.

That was the truth behind the naked trio who'd strolled through downtown Seoul.

So why were they just eyeing each other instead of pushing?

"What are you doing? Not gonna push?"

"I'm gonna push, you bastard...! Lee Daejin, you do it."

"Me??"

"Then should I do it?!"

"That's... Hey, Park Gongmyeong! You do it. You know my dad covers for your old man, right?"

"That's not how you say it! By that logic you guys live off the money our old man hands out too!"

"What did you just say, you fucker?! Say that again!!"

When it came time to actually push, they were too terrified of becoming murderers and kept shoving the job onto each other.

This wasn't the show I'd taken that beating for.

If you're going to do it, do it properly. If you're going to take it, take it properly.

"You guys are putting on one hell of a circus."

"What..?"

"Shut the fuck up?!"

"You really gonna die... Huh?? Why.... did it come loose..?"

The guys who'd been grabbing each other by the collars and fighting over who should do it stared at me with dumbfounded faces.

Because the rope binding my body had come free.

More precisely, when I closed the elbows I'd kept slightly spread while they were tying me, the rope simply slipped right off.

"Go ahead and kill me, you worthless idiots. And Kim Gyuyeon, I told you, didn't I? You're a brain-dead bastard with nothing to show but an Assemblyman dad. Spend your whole life licking his stinking feet under daddy's wing, you fucker."

"You son of a bitch..!!"

"Why? Wanna deny it? Or just try pushing me, you sucker!!!"

My taunt made Kim Gyuyeon's face twist purple and red.

Then he strode straight toward me.

"You fucking...!! Die!!!!!!"

Did he think I was going to dodge?

As the foot he threw drew closer and closer to my body, Kim Gyuyeon's pupils started thrashing wildly.

Thud!!

In the end, Kim Gyuyeon's kick slammed into my chest.

My body toppled backward.

The sky was especially clear today.

Somehow not a single cloud in sight.

The hot sunlight was blinding.

Ah... I'm scared.

Even when I regressed, jumping off a building had been the absolute last resort.

Because it was terrifying.

And yet after regressing, I was falling again.

I'm really fucking scared.

So....

"Save me!!!!!!"

This feeling wasn't unfamiliar.

I'd been cradled by this once before the regression, after all.

The soft embrace that caught me after I fell from the building.

An air mat.

"You didn't piss yourself, right?"

"Hey, let's check. He might've actually shit himself."

"Hundred percent he did. That 'save me' wasn't acting."

"Shut up and just pull me out already."

The guys grinning down at me buried in the air mat glanced at my lower half as they hauled me free.

"Stop looking. I didn't piss myself."

"Tsk..."

"Shame."

"We could've teased him forever..!"

I stared flatly at the guys who were genuinely disappointed, then shifted my gaze sideways.

A man walking over with bandages wrapped thickly around his head.

Hwang Hyeonuk, temporarily out of the hospital because of me.

"You're a real lunatic. Betting your life just to frame them for attempted murder?"

"I lived, didn't I?"

"Only because I got here in time! Do you know how much I sweated trying to get the rescue team to cooperate?!"

"Thanks to that we cleaned out all the local thugs too, right?"

"Haa... Fine, your balls are huge."

"Let go of me!! Let go! Do you know who I am, arresting me like this!!!"

"My dad's a chief prosecutor!! You all want to get fired?!"

"How much do you want?! How much do you want!!!"

Kim Gyuyeon, Lee Daejin, and Park Gongmyeong being hauled off by the police.

Not just them—every last one of the thirty-two thugs who'd ganged up to beat me were on their knees with their hands raised.

"It was you... You planned this whole thing, didn't you!!!!"

"Yeah, that's right."

"You fucking bastard!!!!!"

Yeah, this was the board I'd set up.

I'd known they'd come for revenge and prepared in advance.

On the way here I'd roughly explained to Hwang Hyeonuk what would go down and asked for help, and my three friends had hidden all around, filming me getting assaulted and shoved off the building.

That was why I'd taken the beating without any resistance.

This country's laws are so fucked that if you throw even one punch it becomes mutual combat.

"That bastard planned everything!! This is a frame-up!!!"

"I'll pay you! Arrest that bastard instead of me!!!"

"My dad goes to the sauna with your chief! Eats meals with him! They do everything together!!"

"Idiots."

Outrage, bribes, daddy's connections.

None of it would work this time.

I had mountains of evidence those guys didn't, and this whole crowd of police and rescue workers had witnessed me falling from the building.

And the videos my friends shot would go to the broadcasting stations and get uploaded online.

Even if reporters got blocked by external pressure, I'd create a situation where they had no choice but to write the articles.

Bang!!!

At the loud noise I lowered the phone I'd been holding and looked toward the open door.

"It was you..!!"

"Our son, attempted murder?!!!"

"We already know you planned this whole thing!!"

"Hurry up and go tell them the truth!! Our son did nothing wrong!!"

"You planned it!!"

"What do you want?! Money?? I'll give you as much as you want! Just say our son is innocent!!!"

After the fathers, the mothers came charging into the counseling room too, grabbing me by the collar and shaking me wildly.

Ah, what a pain.

"Assemblyman, Prosecutor, President. And the madams. Please don't worry. I will take full responsibility for persuading this student. Principal, leave him to me!"

"Please do something quickly..!"

"Yes!"

The principal and vice principal who'd been in the counseling room with me started fawning all over those people, trying to soothe them by persuading me.

"Sunwoo, we've decided to convene a school violence committee against Choi Yeongbeom student just as you wanted."

"Well done."

"So regarding this ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠incident, let's just call it a minor prank ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠between friends and..."

"A minor prank? Kicking someone off a building is a minor prank? Which school does the vice principal's son attend? I'll go play a little prank on him too."

"What?! This bastard, going after someone else's son..!!"

"Vice Principal!!!"

"I-I'm sorry... Haa... Sunwoo. If this goes to court you can't win. The Assemblyman, the Prosecutor, and the President here will hire the best lawyers. You'll have to fight with ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a public defender the state assigns, and that's a fight with zero chance of winning. So let's settle this with a reasonable settlement amount. You need money, right, Sunwoo~ Take the settlement, buy the orphanage kids something delicious, and in a few years you'll have to leave the orphanage—you'll need money to get a place to live then."

"What the hell do you think you're doing!!!!!!"

Whoa~ What a set of lungs.

Still going strong, I see.

"Ch-Choi, Representative Choi! Ah, perfect timing! That bastard did this to our son..."

"President Park Seoksu, watch your language. Is my client your 'bastard'?"

"What..?"

"You're here, Uncle? These people were yelling at me, and the vice principal was threatening me so much I almost cried~"

"Sorry. Took a little longer putting the legal team together."

It'd been a while.

I hadn't seen Uncle for some time because he'd been so busy.

How was it that becoming the head of a law firm made him busier than when he was just a lawyer?

Weren't you supposed to get freer the higher your rank went?

"Choi Myeonghun, representative of Hanul Law Firm. From this moment on, if you have anything to say to Cha Sunwoo, you will say it through Hanul Law Firm. Furthermore, effective immediately, Hanul hereby resigns from all litigation related to Dongjeong Industries."

"Representative Choi!!"

"Moreover! We will not accept any future requests from Dongjeong Industries whatsoever."

"Haa... Fine, let's see how this goes! You think Hanul is the only law firm out there?!"

"There are many. Far too many. But none with a win rate as high as ours."

Hanul Law Firm ranked among the top five firms in the country.

But Choi Myeonghun the lawyer wasn't my only card.

"Representative Choi. Can you take responsibility for that statement?"

"What responsibility are you referring to, Chief Prosecutor Lee Cheolwoo?"

"Whether I should take that to mean Hanul is turning its back on our prosecution."

"Turning its back on the prosecution... What do you think, Prosecutor Jeong Suyeon?"

"The one who should turn his back on the prosecution is you, Chief."

"Je-Jeong Suyeon..? Why are you here..."

"You are under urgent arrest on charges of bribery. Chief Prosecutor Lee Cheolwoo."

"What the hell kind of bullshit is that!!!!!"

"Long time no see, Noona."

Wink-