Chapter 150
Chapter 150
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 150
Chapter Title: New Power Structure ver.p.saebyeok(tp)
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[Part 2 Chapter 13]
§ New Power Structure ver.p.saebyeok(tp)
Kyung-seop Lee, who had heard the news late, went to find Woojin Byun and asked about the situation.
Woojin Byun explained the situation via KakaoTalk right in front of Kyung-seop Lee.
“Saebyeok said that to the Association President?”
Kyung-seop Lee, reading the KakaoTalk messages, was shocked and widened his eyes round.
Now that he knew the full story, he had originally been angry only at Woohee Yeo and Serim Mun, but suddenly he felt anger surging toward Saebyeok too.
What the hell have you been doing on your own?
“So all this time, the reason you’ve been avoiding us was to gather evidence?”
[She said we had to neutralize Woohee Yeo’s group first for the others to accept us favorably. That way, it’d be easier to adjust.]
“What……?”
Kyung-seop Lee felt like he’d been smacked in the head.
Suddenly, he recalled the conversation he’d had with Saebyeok last time.
His own whining about how maybe they couldn’t mix with ordinary people after all.
He’d whined even more than usual because he liked how Saebyeok had hurriedly tried to comfort him, and it had felt good.
He’d thought she’d just brushed it off with some generic consolation and moved on.
He’d overlooked how Saebyeok sometimes paid attention to details he hadn’t even considered.
She might seem thoughtless at times, but upon reflection, the improvements in their situation were all thanks to the things she quietly handled.
Even so, he hadn’t expected her to go this far.
‘No way she did all this just to help us adjust?’
Remembering how he’d whined in front of her made him suddenly loathe himself.
It felt like he was one of the factors that had pushed her into this mess.
He shouldn’t have blamed Serim Mun.
He regretted whining to someone who was handling everything herself without even trying to solve things on her own, fussing over every little detail.
“W-where’s Saebyeok right now?”
“…….”
Woojin Byun whispered that she had gone to school earlier with Serim Mun’s group.
“How can she have the nerve…….”
She probably wanted to look different from the kids who had truly bullied Saebyeok out of malice, so she was throwing herself into revenge more than necessary.
Of course, she was genuinely worried about Saebyeok, but maybe she was exaggerating her actions a bit to lighten the punishment.
Even he would do the same to avoid being hated, he thought, gritting his teeth.
“What should we really do about her……? How’s Saebyeok doing right now?”
[She looked perfectly cheerful on the outside. She went to school playing morning BGM on an acoustic guitar.]
Woojin Byun texted while recalling Saebyeok suddenly turning into a cicada.
She’d bantered playfully with the others about trivial things, just like always.
[Saebyeok. Seems like she’s planning to transfer to the school where the expelled kids go.]
“R-really?”
[I’m going with her. Looks like the others are planning to move too. You coming?]
“Yeah.”
Kyung-seop Lee answered without hesitation.
Truth be told, after being ostracized by ordinary people, he’d only hung out with Abyss kids anyway, so the school didn’t matter much.
And without Saebyeok, he felt empty and strangely scared.
[At the next school, for Saebyeok’s sake at least, don’t let yourself get swept up—say what you need to say.]
Woojin Byun showed him the message, pondered for a moment, then added a few more words and held it out.
[Being awful to the people close to you who care about you.]
“……Yeah.”
Woojin Byun sent the last two messages not just to Kyung-seop Lee, but to Jiyoon Woo as well.
* * *
One day, the school suddenly turned upside down.
The kids from the Association, who had been the subject of so much talk, had submitted all the evidence of school violence that had occurred since they arrived.
Even the awakened kids who’d had a bad reputation from the start were all summoned to the teacher’s office one after another.
“Hey, you hear? All the kids called to the teacher’s office this time are getting expelled!! Immediate action, that’s insane.”
“Really……? What the hell happened?”
“There was a fight between the Association kids and the existing bad awakened kids, and in the process, some Association kids exposed the bullying they’d done to others, and the bad group’s past records got spotlighted too.”
“Hey, it wasn’t exposed—they say the Association kids submitted the evidence themselves?”
The other students whispered as they watched the line forming in front of the teacher’s office.
The line consisted of the awakened kids who had ruled the school before and the Association newcomers.
The existing school awakened kids huddled, glancing nervously at the Abyss side.
“Kids who bullied so meticulously submitting evidence voluntarily? Does that even make sense?”
One student frowned in disbelief at the still-intimidating group.
“Dunno. They say Saebyeok told them to do it.”
Another student tilted his head at the sudden mention of the name.
“Wasn’t Saebyeok like the easygoing position in that group? It’s obviously a hierarchy based on rank, and she’s non-awakened.”
“Hey, don’t generalize. There were kids who weren’t like that.”
The kid who’d been Saebyeok’s desk mate countered, recalling the ones who’d hovered around her desk during breaks.
“But more than that, does it make sense that they voluntarily submitted evidence because Saebyeok told them to?”
“No one believed it, but there were rumors she was the leader of that group.”
“And a kid like that eats in the bathroom stall secretly?”
“That’s her hobby. Dunno. No idea how it all works. But thanks to it, the school’s getting a total cleanup. All the scary ones gone—gonna be nice and refreshing.”
As they passed by the teacher’s office, the students chattered enthusiastically about the storm of events unfolding.
“Hey, there’s Saebyeok.”
Saebyeok was striding over from afar, hands shoved deep in her pockets.
The other kids flanked her like bodyguards.
With the problematic ones right by her side under watch, it evoked the image of a scrawny gang boss from a movie. Especially with all the small scars on their bodies.
“Hey, over there—round up that Tumbler group I mentioned.”
At Saebyeok’s mention of the group that had just come out of the teacher’s office, a few grabbed the ones trying to flee and dragged them over roughly.
“Saebyeok! I’m really sorry!! No, really…… We’re expelled now, so can’t you let it go with this?”
The kids, faces paling the moment they spotted Saebyeok, teared up and apologized.
“Hey, what are you doing? Who told you to drag them like that? I said to politely ask and bring them.”
“S-sorry…….”
As Saebyeok frowned, the kid holding the Tumbler group apologized hurriedly and released their arms.
Saebyeok led the way to a quieter spot, and the kids followed in a swarm.
“What’s going on…….”
“The Association kids…… evolved from gangsters to gangster handlers, huh? Not great either way, but better at least.”
“More than that, that’s how they got called the Tumbler group? That’s kinda funny.”
“The rolling stone dislodges the embedded one and they both tumble to ruin…… Wild…… Wasn’t it supposed to be one-sided?”
“What’s Saebyeok’s real deal?”
“A power-hidden type pretending to be non-awakened?”
She stays quiet, then when things blow up, she suddenly cleans it all up.
Especially dragging out the ones who’d moved quietly and making them submit evidence voluntarily—that was shocking.
She must’ve been the hidden power among the Association kids originally, rising up because the false accusations pissed her off.
Leaving the murmurs behind, Saebyeok slipped away from the spot with a bunch of kids in tow.
§ § §
To set the mood, I deliberately surrounded myself with kids everywhere, shoved my hands deep in my pockets, and put on some swagger.
A bit childish, but against kids who get swayed by appearances, it’s surprisingly effective.
I crossed my legs, rested my chin on my elbow atop my knee, and looked down at the kids groveling desperately.
A few of the dragged ones knelt and started begging profusely.
There were Tumbler group kids, and ones who’d picked fights just because I was a non-awakened Abyss kid.
“Saebyeok, we properly apologized to the other Abyss kids too! You know those kids we said harsh stuff to last time…….”
At that, I turned my head to look at Jiyoon Woo, Hayoung Park, and the others.
“So, you feel a bit better after getting their apologies?”
“The apologies lacked sincerity.”
I turned back and looked down at them. They avoided my gaze, probably stung by how half-assed it was.
“Come on, don’t make a fuss over some backtalk, honestly. That’s petty.”
“More than that, sorry for looking down on you as a non-awakened…….”
“Enough now. We’ve suffered plenty from your group. Can you just stop harassing us……?”
“Yeah! You can’t do this to us! There won’t be any more entanglements, so let us go…….”
I looked at their awakening info documents while they whined excuses mixed with apologies.
“One apology, and you’ve got ten demands……. My neck still stings from what you did.”
As I rubbed my neck with my hand, the dragged kids glanced behind me and froze solid.
“Ah, ah…… Sorry…….”
“W-what do you want? Just say it! We’ll do anything! Our parents have some money……. If forgiveness is hard, can’t you consider that direction?”
I’d gotten a ton of calls from the parents of the kids who’d bullied me.
One tried to bulldoze with money, so I sold off some stakes in hunter groups I held and bulldozed right back.
“Man, must be nice having parents, huh. Even wiping your asses when you shit yourselves.”
I slowly walked toward the one flapping their mouth. As I got close, they shrank in fear, hunching over.
“N-no, that’s not what I meant……. Ah, aah…….”
As I reached out, they all twisted away, trembling.
“What’re you scared of. I’m not gonna hit you.”
“Huh?”
“You’re forgiving us?”
Instead of answering, I grinned and held out the documents I’d been reading earlier, right in front of their faces.
“What’s this?”
“Take a look. It’s a gift.”
They took the documents and checked their names on the ‘Career Rejection Player List.’
I tried to hold back my laugh, but couldn’t stop it from slipping out the corners of my mouth.
So I raised my hand to rub my chin, subtly covering my smile.
Couldn’t do anything about my crinkling eyes, so I left them be.
“Thought you’d awaken as hunters, suck honey, and live easy—guess your futures are blocked now?”