Chapter 23
Chapter 23
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 23
Chapter Title: The Outsider Eyeing Festival Funds Embezzlement
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◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ - Han Si-a's POV
The sound of the door being smashed.
The sound of an adult man yelling in anger.
An explosive boom that felt like it would tear my eardrums.
Tinnitus ringing in my ears.
For a moment, the acrid smell of gunpowder,
And then, overpowering it all, the intense and revolting stench of blood.
- Mom?
- Mom...
A red puddle formed on the carpet,
And her body sprawled atop it had already lost its life.
Helplessness.
Even if I tried to scoop the blood overflowing from the back of her head back in,
Even if I gathered the scattered bits of flesh from the floor,
Her life did not return.
Helplessness.
Even if I tried to plug the hole in her forehead,
Her life did not return.
A overwhelming helplessness that denied my very existence.
- Dad.
- Dad.
- Mom isn't moving... When is she coming back?
Red.
The smell of blood.
The red that filled everything around me,
And the lingering metallic stench of blood that wouldn't fade.
I was found by the adults' eyes, pinned beneath my mother's corpse—it was six hours after the gunshot rang out.
.
.
.
"Si-a."
At the psychologist's call, I opened my eyes, and on the table before me sat a red stuffed doll.
The nauseating stench of blood that pierced my nose gradually faded, replaced by the faint aroma from the diffuser in the counseling room.
I was undergoing psychological counseling for PTSD and trauma recovery.
This treatment had been repeated many times already, but the metallic tang still lingered at the tip of my nose.
"Your condition seems to have improved quite a bit lately, Si-a."
The psychologist uncle spoke with a mechanical smile that betrayed no real emotion.
"But I'm a little doubtful whether this is true improvement, or if you're just not showing it."
"From my position as your counselor... it would be easier if you could honestly tell me what you're feeling."
Fooling this man had failed again today, as expected.
But that was fine.
Completely curing PTSD was nothing but a pipe dream.
As long as it was mitigated enough that I didn't show it, there was no hindrance to daily life.
"Do you still feel impulses for revenge lately, Si-a?"
"I've told you several times already—it's not an impulse; it was the result of rational judgment."
"But one act of revenge could mean spending most of your future life in prison... Can you really call that rational?"
The same question and answer every time.
The psychologist was very worried.
This uncle seemed to believe that the time I picked up an awl against a classmate was when I lost control of my emotions and my eyes went blank.
"Life is just eating, sleeping, working, and dying anyway. Besides, that kid was a first-time offender, an attempted crime, and an elementary schooler—they were obviously not going to get any punishment."
"If my future life is going to be miserable because of trash like that, then it's better to punish them myself, go to jail, and call it a gain."
The psychologist simply put on his mechanical smile and scheduled the next session.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ The time was late May.
The many holidays had flown by like arrows, and now high schoolers' attention was turning to the big upcoming event.
The school festival.
In creative works from the neighboring country, school festivals involve
running stalls to sell cheap food at high prices to locals,
making high school girls wear maid outfits for a maid café,
or having a drama club that actually exists and putting on a big play—
romantic stuff that makes you wonder, 'Is this really okay?'
But our great Republic of Korea naturally has none of that.
Students selling food for money? Potential food hygiene law violation. Banned.
Maid café? In the Confucian nation of Korea, dare to do something so embarrassing? Banned.
Drama club? No way a proper club like that runs in an academic high school. Doesn't exist.
Then what are we supposed to do? Figure it out yourselves! It's about fostering autonomy and teamwork!!!
Still nothing to do? How dare you talk back to the teacher? Penalty points for you.
As a result, the 'festival' in Korean high schools
consists of a haunted house no one fears,
a club activity exhibition no one cares about,
and a gym performance carried by a band that's prepped for a year and some cheap no-name invited singer.
From my perspective as a regressor, the 'school festival' is an event whose romance I long ago dug up and left with just the husk.
But the young high schoolers, still green and unaware of the world's cruelty, seemed pretty pumped up.
Life is just eating, sleeping, working, and dying in an accident...
Watching the kids chase illusions like 'youth' and 'memories' there made me feel pity for them.
Planning and submitting exhibits for each class to showcase at the festival is basically a group project for thirty people.
Regardless of my thoughts, the festival-related discussion under the homeroom teacher's lead was heated.
Yes. Extremely hot.
Because the boys and girls had split off and started arguing again.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ - Han Si-a's POV
The school festival is like overpackaged potato chips—an event that's all hype.
So I don't really want to bother with it.
But to maintain human relationships in a group, one must fulfill the duties assigned within that group.
And in Baekseung High School Class 1-1, my position is unequivocally the 'leader'.
So today, too, I dance on the edge of a blade, plastering a cheap smile on my face as I deal with the vermin.
Synthesizing the opinions of vermin who babble wishlists without considering the school's limits,
Persuading vermin who oppose without offering alternatives just because they don't like it,
Comforting vermin who've already lost motivation,
And...
Regardless of what those vermin think, guiding them toward the direction I've decided is right.
Of course. If I follow the vermin's opinions and end up with vermin-level results, the blame all falls on me, the leader.
Exams, exhibitions—if I participate, the results must be the best, no exceptions.
I don't want to helplessly watch a project I led turn into a total mess.
What exhibits can we prepare that don't require much effort, interest both students and teachers, and stay within the festival operating funds provided by the school?
I decided on a 'Local Eats Recommendation and Review Exhibition'.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ - Yoo So-mi's POV
Something... something's happening.
I'd heard there was a class meeting about the festival, so I was tense and excited,
standing at the front podium, focusing on the class president leading the meeting.
But when our eyes met briefly, the class president spoke in a slightly trembling voice.
"Um... So... So-mi... I-if you have any ideas, y-you can... say them..."
The class president, taking the facilitator role up front, seemed extremely nervous, voice shaking.
Hmm... But I didn't really have any specific ideas...
Still, hoping the meeting would go smoothly, I lightly suggested 'haunted house'.
...
And with that, the meeting ended.
Our class kids busily moved among themselves, planning, dividing roles, coordinating opinions.
Even those assigned tougher roles accepted without a hint of displeasure.
Feeling a bit alienated, I asked Sin Su-jeong, the one I'm closest to in class, what I should do.
"So-mi, you're good at drawing, so once the other prep is done, we'll ask you for ghost designs! We'll finish everything else so you can just boss anyone around!!"
"Yeah. Leave the annoying stuff to us, So-mi, and rest for now... That'd be easier for us too."
Our homeroom teacher was thrilled, saying this was the first time class unity was this strong.
Well... if everyone's happy, I guess it's fine?
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Our Class 2 ended up scrapping the class-wide festival participation after endless boy-girl fights, decided by the homeroom teacher's ruling.
Instead, each person must submit one individual free-theme exhibit.
The homeroom teacher threatened that if anyone half-assed it, they'd be stuck in the teachers' office on festival day writing reflections,
so if you don't want to be writing reflections while everyone else plays, show at least minimal effort.
I inwardly saluted our class for successfully eliminating the 'group project' called the 'festival' through mutual trash-talking and fighting.
Yeah. That's autonomy and cooperation. Love you kids.
And naturally, my interest turned to the festival operating funds allocated per class.
.
.
.
"Yi-an, I understand your thinking, but saying you'll use the entire class's festival operating funds alone is a bit hard to accept."
"Teacher, if our Class 2's exhibits flop, you'll lose face too, right? You don't seriously think these disjointed individual pieces can match other classes' joint exhibits, do you?"
"Ugh...!! Still, this is funds for the students' education...!! As a teacher, I can't approve such loopholes!!"
"Hey now, Teacher! Loophole? This is a proper 'scientific experiment exhibit' that lets students directly see and experience the scientific phenomenon of 'centrifugal force' with their own eyes!!"
I'm in a one-on-one with the homeroom teacher in the teachers' lounge, negotiating to monopolize the event operating funds allocated per class.
With our Class 2's joint entry scrapped, those funds have nowhere to go—they'll just sit idle and vanish into the teachers' pockets.
Once I get approval to use that 100,000 won in operating funds, I'll get double receipts from the vendor or cashback later to siphon the money into my own pocket.
Heh heh heh heh... Don't worry, I'll make the festival exhibit worthwhile. Trust me, the only sane one in your class.