Chapter 5
Chapter 5
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 5
Chapter Title: The Return of Evil (5)
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Five minutes earlier.
Left alone, Kim Young-cheol jittered his leg anxiously.
Even after biting his nails and racking his brain over and over, he knew solving this issue with his own abilities was impossible.
‘Three kids got hauled off to the hospital. The school obviously doesn’t want the incident to blow up, but if Kim Hyun-seong doesn’t get properly punished, the victims’ parents will raise hell. Especially Jeong Min-ho’s parents. Those people won’t just stand by when it comes to their son’s friends.’
The problem was serious.
He had accepted Kim Hyun-seong’s demands for now, but as a mere teacher, there were limits to what he could handle.
Who were Jeong Min-ho’s parents?
Well-known rich folks in the area.
Not only did they own several buildings, but from the moment Jeong Min-ho enrolled, they spared no expense in financially supporting Cheonil High School. Hadn’t they recently funded new sod for the fields with their money? As someone the principal personally oversaw, Jeong Min-ho’s parents naturally wielded significant influence.
And above all else.
He himself had taken their money.
If Jeong Min-ho’s parents started throwing a real fit, he had no way to handle it.
‘Think, think, think.’
His leg shook.
He tore at his hair in agony, desperately trying to come up with the best solution.
But.
There was no way.
The only halfway viable fix was to separate Jeong Min-ho from this incident.
‘Kim Hyun-seong didn’t touch Jeong Min-ho. His parents weren’t harmed either, so if I persuade them right, they might let it slide. They’re just his son’s friends, after all. If I go to Kim Hyun-seong and beg him not to lay a finger on Jeong Min-ho, it won’t be the worst-case scenario yet.’
He shot to his feet.
He needed to control Kim Hyun-seong and Jeong Min-ho as quickly as possible before things escalated further.
He hurried his steps.
His mouth felt parched.
And then he saw it.
Smack!
Smack, smack, smack!
Through the window.
Jeong Min-ho was getting his cheeks slapped.
Terrified students watched from a distance, while Kim Hyun-seong, with a ferocious glare, grabbed Jeong Min-ho by the collar and landed slap after slap. The sound alone was chilling. As a teacher, he clearly should have intervened, but the moment his eyes met Jeong Min-ho’s, he involuntarily turned away.
“……Fuck.”
He had no choice.
Jeong Min-ho’s parents or whatever.
If his affair got exposed, he was done for.
Kim Young-cheol ignored the curious stares from the students and hurriedly slipped out into the hallway.
* * *
How long had he been hitting him?
Jeong Min-ho lost consciousness.
Pathetic.
He hadn’t even taken that many hits before passing out.
‘This is all it took, and he mocked me?’
Rage boiled up.
For three years, Park Min-cheol’s gang had tormented him, laughing hysterically at him as he curled up and stifled his groans. They said weaklings like him ended up that way, that they would’ve fought to the end. Kim Hyun-seong had just wished those moments would pass quickly amid their jeers.
But.
Their reality was pitiful.
Compared to what they’d done to him, this was a drop in the bucket, yet they trembled like they were about to die.
Thud.
He dropped Jeong Min-ho.
Wiping the blood from his hands, he stood up to see his friends staring at him with eyes full of fear. It must have been shocking for them. The Kim Hyun-seong they knew wasn’t like this; his ruthless violence created a sense of alienation, like he was a different being in the same space.
Creak.
Thump.
He sat in a chair.
He caught his breath.
Delayed pain surged from all over his body, and turning his head, he saw Jeong Min-ho still sprawled on the floor.
“Fucking loser.”
Truth be told, Kim Hyun-seong knew.
If he hadn’t touched Jeong Min-ho, they could’ve somehow swept this under the rug.
But he didn’t care.
If he was going to pick and choose who to get revenge on, he wouldn’t have slapped Park Min-cheol’s face the moment he regressed. He would’ve chosen a happy life avoiding them instead. But after enduring a hellish vegetative state, his worn-down mind craved only vengeance.
This was the result.
Looking at Jeong Min-ho bleeding on the floor, Kim Hyun-seong knew what was coming.
‘It’s gonna be chaos.’
The three already carted off.
Now one more.
It was assault worthy of the news.
Since it crushed the principal’s dream of turning Cheonil High School into a prestigious school, he’d push for harsh discipline. They couldn’t pretend it never happened either. The countless eyes watching him were proof. Even if they tried to cover it up, the witnesses’ testimonies would drag Kim Hyun-seong to the judgment seat.
‘If even Cheonil High School can’t handle this, my revenge is impossible anyway.’
He faced reality.
This was just the beginning.
Sure enough.
Amid the distant commotion, Kim Hyun-seong leaned back in his chair and stared blankly at the ceiling.
* * *
One student.
Over ten adults.
Centered on the calmly seated Kim Hyun-seong, the adults raised their angry voices.
“We absolutely cannot tolerate this incident. Not only did Kim Hyun-seong brutally assault his friends to the point of hospitalization, but even after his meeting with Teacher Kim Young-cheol, he showed no remorse and attacked Jeong Min-ho. The crime is utterly heinous. Have you all seen the victims’ faces? They were beaten to a bloody pulp, a state you’d only see in a gangster movie.”
“Exactly. We need to impose severe punishment right away.”
One teacher chimed in agreement with Cheonil High School Principal Oh Dae-hwan’s words.
This incident.
It wasn’t something they could just gloss over.
Even the other teachers nodded; Kim Hyun-seong had committed an unprecedented act at Cheonil High.
English teacher Lee Min-young spoke up.
“I agree with the principal. We should expel Kim Hyun-seong…… Why?!”
Prod.
At Lee Min-young’s words.
Kim Young-cheol nudged her from the side.
As she glared at him in surprise, Kim Young-cheol shot her a fierce look that screamed to stay quiet if she didn’t know the truth. He hadn’t told her yet. That Kim Hyun-seong knew about their affair, and if he got expelled like this, all their lives were over.
He glanced warily at Kim Hyun-seong.
Even as all the teachers swarmed and made a fuss, his face remained relaxed, like it was someone else’s problem.
Kim Young-cheol said.
“Kim Hyun-seong was wrong, yes, but as his Class 1 homeroom teacher, I’ve observed that the incident started with the victims, led by Park Min-cheol.”
“What do you mean by that, Teacher Kim Young-cheol?”
“There’ve been constant rumors about Park Min-cheol’s gang bullying students. I’d planned to properly address and punish it someday, but Kim Hyun-seong couldn’t take the bullying anymore and snapped. Teachers. Kim Hyun-seong is a victim before he’s a perpetrator. Punishing him like this would make us teachers do something we shouldn’t.”
He twisted the narrative.
With no room for excuses, he swapped the roles of victim and perpetrator.
It was the best Kim Young-cheol could do.
But despite the homeroom teacher’s claim, Principal Oh Dae-hwan couldn’t let it slide.
“Punishment is still inevitable.”
“Principal!”
“Teacher Kim Young-cheol!”
Oh Dae-hwan’s neck veins bulged.
If it had just been the first three.
He might’ve let it pass lightly.
But seeing Jeong Min-ho carted off beaten to a pulp, Oh Dae-hwan knew severe punishment was necessary.
‘Jeong Min-ho’s parents won’t let this go. To appease their rage, I need to crush the perpetrator.’
His eyes sharpened.
Oh Dae-hwan had a dream.
To make Cheonil prestigious, he had to cling tight to connections with the powerful.
“One week from now, we’ll convene the disciplinary committee. We’ll decide Kim Hyun-seong’s punishment there, so everyone, keep your mouths shut—no rumors. And Kim Hyun-seong, you’re suspended until the committee meets. Reflect on what you did wrong during that time, and come back in a week with your parents.”
Oh Dae-hwan had no interest in Kim Hyun-seong’s family situation.
Whether he had parents or not.
Who he lived with.
At his forceful declaration, Kim Hyun-seong stood without protest.
“Understood.”
* * *
Outside.
Kim Young-cheol hurriedly followed.
Only after confirming no one else was around did he speak to Kim Hyun-seong in a desperate, hushed voice.
“Hyun-seong. I did my absolute best. Once you touched Jeong Min-ho, even I, a mere teacher, couldn’t fix it no matter how hard I tried. So…… Whew, forget it. You couldn’t hold back your temper, right? If you’d just sat still, I might’ve had a chance to smooth things over.”
What an amusing guy.
Moments ago, he’d loomed over him aggressively, slapping his face, but now he’d already switched to a submissive stance.
Of course.
Only someone like this could explain his life.
The type to sell out his guts and gall depending on the situation, he’d abandoned any teacherly responsibility and lived like trash. No particular anger rose. Kim Hyun-seong had known what Kim Young-cheol was like from the start, and that he couldn’t resolve this.
“I get that you tried hard enough.”
“Right? Then our secret……”
“But.”
He stopped dead.
Looking up at him, he fixed a cold stare.
“You knew all along that Park Min-cheol was bullying students, huh? Remember this. Until the day I graduate from this school, the only way to keep my mouth shut is to do your utmost for me. No matter the outcome. If you don’t show that attitude, I’ll rip apart not just your life, but Teacher Lee Min-young’s too—the one who had an affair with you, Teacher Park Min-cheol. I promise. I’ll keep every word I say.”
“……Got it.”
His face paled.
Seeing him speechless, Kim Hyun-seong left him behind and headed to the classroom.
Kim Young-cheol.
Deep down, he wanted to destroy him right then.
But he wasn’t the real target.
Just one of the many pieces of trash from the life Kim Hyun-seong had lived, and he couldn’t discard a useful card by toppling him now. Kim Young-cheol was necessary at least until he established a base at Cheonil High School. A mere teacher, but his trashy life meant he’d spare no means to survive—which was exactly what Kim Hyun-seong needed.
He entered the classroom.
Ignoring his friends’ stares, Kim Hyun-seong grabbed his bag and left immediately.
‘One week ahead.’
More than enough.
For the future.
To lay the foundation for revenge.
After that week, Oh Dae-hwan would witness a disciplinary committee far from what he expected.