Justice Must Prevail
The blood drained from the face of the student affairs chief.
The second-in-command of the organization was that enraged?
If he handled this badly, he could lose his livelihood over it.
"O-oh, this is a misunderstanding! An absolute misunderstanding."
With the first excuse that came to mind, the student affairs chief hurriedly turned to Song Tan, putting on the gentlest expression he could manage.
"Now, uh... Trainee Song Tan? When did I ever mention expulsion? Hm?"
"During the interview just now, you said that even if there was no record in the system, I could still be expelled if the Student Affairs Office decided to make an issue of it."
The corners of the deputy chief's eyes slowly rose.
"No, no—what I meant was not that I would expel you! I was saying that in the off chance, if things went badly, something like that might happen, just so you'd know in advance. Hahaha... My, you've really misunderstood me quite thoroughly."
The student affairs chief tried to smooth things over with forced friendliness, but the atmosphere, cold as a frozen pond, showed no sign of thawing.
Pinned into a corner, he appealed as though he had been wronged.
"And you said it yourself at the beginning! That you left school because you were involved in school violence!"
"Because it was true. I did take legal action against the assailants, but I couldn't keep attending school after that. I needed time to heal the wounds in my heart. What exactly is wrong with that?"
As the situation somehow made him look more and more like the villain, the student affairs chief only opened and closed his mouth like a fish.
"Principal."
"Yes? Ah, yes. Deputy Chief. Please, go on."
At the chilly voice, the principal answered like a raw recruit standing at rigid attention.
"Did I hear that correctly?"
"I... well..."
"It sounds as though you tried to intimidate a trainee who was, in fact, the victim of school violence. Am I misunderstanding this?"
"Intimidate? No, no, that isn't it. We were simply trying to stress the seriousness of the matter..."
BANG!
"What in the hell kind of situation is this!? Huh?"
The deputy chief slammed a hand down on the desk.
The force of it made the student affairs chief flinch so hard he clutched at his own knees without thinking.
He was usually gentle, but once angered, he was notorious for being so hot-blooded that no one could rein him in.
"Student Affairs Chief."
"Yes, Deputy Chief."
"I want a proper explanation. Say it yourself."
"I... I merely received a report that Trainee Song Tan had left school because of school violence. As the student affairs chief, I felt it was necessary to verify whether that was true."
"Ah. So you thought you'd start by bullying him into submission? First of all, is that even a valid reason for expulsion? What do you think, Principal?"
The principal spoke in a barely audible voice.
"Ahem, no, it is not."
"Right. Of course it isn't. What kind of insane organization punishes someone for being the victim of school violence? Are you trying to get yourselves buried in public opinion?"
"N-no, of course not."
"And even if you thought he was suspected of being an offender, was there anything in the records? Hm? Student Affairs Chief? Answer me."
"Th-that... that is..."
With nothing to say, the student affairs chief lowered his head little by little.
"No, there wouldn't have been. If there had been, he wouldn't have been able to enroll in the first place. So you brought him in under the pretext of an interview, didn't you!? You planned to pressure him little by little until he admitted it in his own mouth. Am I wrong?"
"I-I'm not! I never intended to go that far..."
"If you had no such intention, then on what basis did you decide this trainee was a perpetrator of school violence? Your words don't make sense!"
"............."
The student affairs chief had become completely mute, chewing on his own lips instead of answering.
"Are you a judge?"
"As the person responsible for managing trainees, I was simply doing what I had to..."
"Responsible? Well, that's well said. You took a story that had not been verified, dragged up something that wasn't even in the records, and went out of your way to threaten an innocent trainee. How do you plan to take responsibility for that, Student Affairs Chief?"
Seeing that he still had no answer, the deputy chief said in a low voice,
"You've done something utterly shameless that damages the organization's credibility."
"I-I was wrong. Please, just forgive me once..."
"You should be asking the victim for forgiveness, not me."
Desperate now, the student affairs chief grabbed Song Tan and begged him.
"I made a terrible mistake. I should have looked into it properly before calling you in for an interview... Please, forgive me generously."
At the pleading voice, Song Tan gave a calm nod.
"I understand."
The deputy chief, who had been watching in silence, gave a light clap.
"See? It would have been far better to admit it cleanly and wrap things up properly."
"Haha... yes, Deputy Chief."
"Ah, and there'll be an inspection headed your way soon."
"What!? No, but we've wrapped this up—why..."
"I received a report as well. They're only checking whether it's true, so you needn't worry too much. It's just a formality. A mere formality."
The student affairs chief's face went even paler.
They said you couldn't shake dust off a person who wasn't dirty, but he had far too much to hide.
In effect, it was no different from a death sentence.
And just like that, Song Tan somehow became the first trainee ever to bring down the student affairs chief.
It was an unofficial record no one would ever know about.
***
The weapon rampage at Chungju Station that had shocked the entire nation.
When the aftershocks of that incident had begun to fade, a flood of major news coverage erupted all at once.
Citizen Hero Who Stepped In for a Child... Identity Revealed as Police Academy Trainee
No Uniform, But a Sense of Duty... Hidden Identity of the Chungju Station Hero
Weapon Rampage at Chungju Station Stopped Barehanded... The Brave Citizen Was a Police Trainee
Amid Criticism That the Police Were Absent, the "Hero" at the Scene Was Actually a Police Officer
On the afternoon of the ○th last month, a man armed with a knife had threatened civilians on the Chungju Station platform.
The scene had descended into chaos in an instant, a hair-raising situation that could easily have escalated into mass casualties.
At that moment, one man offered himself as a hostage in place of a child and, with quick wits and sharp improvisation, subdued the criminal.
At the time, he had left the scene without revealing his identity, but follow-up verification later confirmed that he was a trainee at the Central Police Academy.
In an interview with this paper, the trainee explained why he had hidden his identity.
"I didn't think who I was mattered in that situation. I had been taught that protecting civilian safety is something anyone who dreams of becoming a police officer should do, and I believed that. 'The police must be the first to stand beside citizens in times of crisis.' I was only acting according to what I had learned."
Once this fact became known, even amid the criticism that had long swirled around the police's response, some public opinion shifted positively, calling it "an example of the police's true nature."
A police official stated,
"This is a case where the spirit of protecting civilians, emphasized throughout police training, was realized at the scene, beyond the courage of one individual."
He added that the department was internally considering appropriate recognition for the trainee's achievement.
Just reading it made dopamine surge through the veins, and social media and online communities were literally boiling over.
The public sentiment that had been negative toward the police flipped in an instant, and netizens became obsessed with uncovering the true identity of that police trainee.
Rumors flew in every direction: he was a judo national team special recruit, no, a wrestling special recruit, no, a special forces veteran. In the end, no one could uncover his background, and as time passed, the once-fiery issue sank beneath the surface, just as these things always did.
All that remained was the nickname Chungju Super Intern Cop.
***
"Aren't you missing out? You should just reveal your identity now."
On the way to the training grounds, Lee Seungho whispered to Song Tan.
"I'm not interested."
Song Tan answered carelessly, and Lee Seungho beat his own chest in frustration.
"You're throwing away this golden opportunity? You're practically a police hero right now. You'd barely have to lift a finger, and everybody would be talking about you... If you play this right, even headquarters might call you in."
"I'm not all that interested."
"Good grief..."
Lee Seungho shook his head again and again.
It was the kind of once-in-a-lifetime chance everyone dreamed of, wasn't it?
He couldn't understand why the youngest among them would kick it away.
But Song Tan wasn't stubborn for no reason.
If my identity gets out, nothing good comes of it.
For someone whose goal was to catch criminals in the field, becoming publicly known was a severe disadvantage.
There was always the possibility that a suspect might recognize his face.
He had already reaped every benefit he could, so there was nothing to regret.
"Sigh, do whatever you want. Still, you're a strange one. Am I talking to a twenty-two-year-old who just got out of the army, or to some monk who's attained enlightenment...?"
Muttering to himself, Lee Seungho suddenly seemed to remember something and glanced around.
"By the way, did you hear? The student affairs chief got kicked out all of a sudden. But apparently he wasn't really dismissed on his own—he was taken down by an inspection."
"Why?"
"Obvious, isn't it? He either did a ton of shady shit behind the scenes, or he did it right out in the open."
One of the other groups of trainees was marching toward them in neat rows.
Spotting one of them, Lee Seungho called out.
"Hey, Han Gi-tae."
Whether he hadn't heard or was pretending not to, Han Gi-tae just walked past without stopping.
Lee Seungho, offended, frowned.
"That bastard's completely gone off the rails too. Guess the rumor really was true."
"That he was disciplined?"
"You know about it too? I thought well of him at first, but he was a dirty bastard underneath. As the chief trainee leader, too... Tsk, tsk. If he keeps acting like that, he could be totally finished."
"Finished how?"
"I mean the top graduate spot. That'll definitely be reflected in the evaluations... It's fatal, I'd say."
"Still, his grades are so good that he'll probably get it unless something major happens, right?"
"Who knows. He's got a scary cheetah charging up from below, so he's probably shitting himself."
With a teasing grin, Lee Seungho draped an arm around Song Tan's neck.
"But why are you suddenly working so hard? Your theory grades shot up like crazy too."
"Just... I thought it wouldn't be bad to try doing something I hadn't done before."
"What kind of brand-new bullshit is that?"
Looking at Lee Seungho's dumbfounded expression, Song Tan only gave a meaningful smile.
***
The final twenty-five-week training course at the school came to an end, and from week twenty-six onward, the trainees were deployed to actual field assignments.
Song Tan was assigned to the Banpo District Unit under the Seocho Police Station.
Since it was not an area with especially high policing demand, the field training went smoothly, and his evaluations were top class.
That was because he made a decisive contribution by spotting a hidden-camera suspect whom everyone else had overlooked with his razor-sharp eye for detail.
And so, after a full eight months of training—thirty-four weeks, 1,190 hours—it all came to an end.
Two weeks remained until graduation.
An official notice announcing the recipients of government awards for the 310th graduating class was posted on the Central Police Academy website and trainee bulletin board.
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Affiliation: Central Police Academy
Name: Song Tan
Recommended Award: Presidential Citation
Summary of Merit: Enrolled as a new police trainee in the 310th class of the Central Police Academy and devoted himself to his studies throughout the training period.
He achieved the highest score among all expected graduates and served as an example to others.
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The news that an ordinary trainee had beaten out the chief trainee and taken first place spread through the school in the blink of an eye.