Seoul Central High School.
Seoul Central High School.
I know.
I know it all too painfully well. No, I have no choice but to know.
Two years ago... there was an incident I'll never forget, still vivid as if it happened yesterday...
Inside this school, there are a number of kids whose financial means don't even reach an ordinary level.
Kids who got in through the school's special consideration track, or whose families went bankrupt after they enrolled... that sort.
Those kids, unless they happen to be exceptionally talented in some particular area... become nothing more than prey for the filthy students.
Two years ago... there was a female student.
A female student who, inside this foul school, was turned into... a plaything by a group of male students.
Group harassment and sexual assault.
And right here... in the boys' pool locker room.
I didn't know any of it and only learned about the incident after some time had passed. I immediately reported it to the police.
But...
The school administration tried to cover it up and threatened me, telling me not to blow the matter up any further.
The victim, that female student, was on the verge of tears and, for some reason, terrified. She couldn't say a word in front of the police.
Instead of coaxing the girl's story out of her, the police and the lawyer kept pressuring the child...
Was any of that right...?
I stepped up and spoke on her behalf, but I received only cold stares from the police and the lawyer, and a single word: leave...
In order to expose the true rotten, vile nature of these sons of Korea's chaebol families,
I reached out to the people I had ties to from my days as an athlete.
From professors to assemblymen, and journalists.
But... every last connection was severed.
Even my mentor and my peers started ignoring my calls. Then disciplinary action came down on me from the school immediately after...
Haah...
There was nothing more I could do.
There was not a single thing left that I could do for that girl.
All the connections I had built, the worth of 'me' that I had constructed over all that time.
It all came crashing down in a single instant.
During my disciplinary leave, I'd been drinking soju instead of water on repeat. Then I got one call, and for the first time, I made myself walk somewhere.
And there, instead of the girl who'd been crying so pitifully before my eyes... was a photograph of her smiling brightly and beautifully.
The smiling girl's cause of death was... suicide.
I hadn't been able to do a single thing for her.
I hadn't been any help at all.
Feeling so utterly pathetic and worthless, I knelt miserably before that photograph.
The girl's parents... they knew my face.
I was plastered, dead drunk...
So drunk I can't remember...
But even so, I couldn't muster the courage to face her parents.
This school, which outwardly boasts the highest acceptance rate to Hanguk University...
had hidden countless instances of misconduct and secrets beneath the surface.
It was rotten to its very core...
What could I possibly do...?
After looking at that girl's photograph, I made one resolution.
And then... I searched for a way to resolve this.
And then came the text from Mr. Kim, the basketball teacher I used to eat with...
(Mr. Kim) - Mr. Jeong. Don't do it.
What exactly was I supposed to not do...? I hadn't done anything yet...
(Mr. Kim) - Don't look for anything, and don't try to find anything out.
I sent a reply.
(Me) - What are you talking about?
(Mr. Kim) - Don't do anything, even if it's for that girl's sake... Keep it up and you could end up dead without anyone knowing a thing.
(Me) - ...Excuse me?
(Mr. Kim) - Contract killing... stop before your name gets put on a list.
(Me) - What... on earth...
(Mr. Kim) - I've warned you.
A contract killing...
The absurdity of it just made me laugh.
But... it had to be the truth, didn't it...
Because those people were more than capable of it.
After receiving that text.
The students, who used to seem so young, cute, spirited, and full of life, began to look only like monsters.
Those monsters, laughing and chattering away... once they grow up, they'll crawl around doing even more and more... filthy things...
After that day, the atmosphere at the pool started to shift drastically.
Male students who once seemed innocent now transformed the moment a female student walked in, their eyes turning to those of predators spotting prey.
Like monsters who'd gotten their first taste of blood...
Under the protection of their parents, who were fully-formed monsters, they started openly displaying their dirty, hideous true natures.
So after that day, I started living like a mouse trying not to be noticed.
Was I afraid of getting killed? Bullshit... If I thought about that girl, who must have suffered worse agony than death, something so trivial didn't frighten me in the least.
The reason I hid like a mouse was.
So that even if I died, I could expose everything once all the evidence was secured...
I planted cameras all around the pool without anyone knowing and waited for evidence.
But there was the problem that such a horrific incident would have to happen again... That was absolutely not acceptable.
Whether fortunately or unfortunately, after that day, whether because the rumors spread or not, not a single female student ever came to the pool again.
If any did, they'd come for a day and then disappear somewhere else.
As time passed, I realized... that as expected, there was no other way...
As time went on, those filthy, garbage-like little bastards grew older one by one and graduated.
This wasn't something that could just pass by like water under a bridge... It was something that shouldn't...
I'd rather have just killed them myself, but... I'm not some person who only exists in movies.
Cesspool monster bastards gnawing away at the Republic of Korea...
In the end, a feeling of emptiness washed over me, knowing there was nothing I could do...
And still, I couldn't do a thing.
Now, two years later... one of the perpetrators, Go Ju-bin, the son of a major corporation called CGJ who became a senior, remains...
But nothing I can do changes the fact that I have to watch him walk around fine after committing that act.
During those days of acting normal at school while drowning in self-loathing at home...
Kim Si-yoon walked into the pool.
With Hanseong's daughter beside her...
Those two who look so innocent are just the same monsters, I'm sure.
That's when Go Ju-bin showed interest in them.
In his not knowing his place and trying to commit another act, I saw a thread-thin sliver of hope.
Si-yoon is offended... and Hanseong will be offended...!
Now I can do it.
When dealing with a monster, use a bigger monster...
Please... let those small monsters who can't even tell shit from soybean paste... touch Kim Si-yoon and Hanseong's daughter...
I decided enough time had passed. Feigning ignorance, I approached Si-yoon and Da-yeon.
I wanted the filthy monsters in the pool to provoke the greater monsters' wrath even further.
Even if these monsters wearing the masks of schoolgirls got hurt by other monsters, I'd feel no guilt.
Because you're all monsters who could make a person disappear with a single word anyway...
From her very first greeting, from the way Kim Si-yoon spoke, I was certain.
That she was a monster wearing a schoolgirl's mask.
I deliberately made them do warm-up exercises.
As Kim Si-yoon's expression grew more and more displeased... I knew it had worked.
But... but... Hanseong's daughter... Lee Da-yeon's expression...
Could she actually be the kind of monster I knew...?
Why... did that expression of hers overlap with that girl's face...?
Was I wrong about this...?
Just when I thought this really isn't right, after all.
Kim Si-yoon spoke.
"Could you please say something to the other students? Because of the way they're staring at us, we're about ready to walk out right now."
As expected... starting to bare her fangs bit by bit.
I resolutely ignored Lee Da-yeon's reaction.
"I'm really sorry, but all thirty-five people here are only looking at us. We're not dolphins at a zoo, you know."
"...I'm sorry."
I put on an apologetic face and broached the subject with the little monster,
but, as expected, Kim Si-yoon spoke no differently from the monsters I already knew.
"And that's exactly why you've got zero girls here... the fuck is this, staring and being a goddamn nuisance? If you're all shit at swimming too, why don't you just do your drills and cut the crap..."
Just look at her, voicing her displeasure without the slightest concern for how it's received...
These fucking monster bastards, snarling when they can't even control their own piss and shit...
Just as I was thinking that, Lee Da-yeon spoke.
"Si-yoon!"
...Hanseong... no... a reaction like that, when she was raised in a monster's den...
She should've just responded with the same shitty attitude she uses on her secretaries and butlers...
"It's okay~ Let's just focus on swimming and not come back starting tomorrow~"
"Okay..."
It couldn't end like this.
Si-yoon needed to keep snarling and tempt those monsters watching with their filthy eyes even more.
I sighed in frustration at their reactions.
If those two left just like that... then there'd be no more means to catch that monster Go Ju-bin...
And so the two of them got into the pool.
Water already polluted from being full of filthy monsters, and now that new monsters had entered, it felt even more disgusting.
I had just figured they'd come to splash around with whatever sloppy skills they'd picked up somewhere, but...
Seeing them swim, I was at a loss for words.
Da-yeon's skill was already at a national-team level of speed...
But then... what on earth was that monster...?
An utterly overwhelming sight, incomparable to anyone else...
...In a different sense, she's a monster.
The two got out of the water, having enjoyed themselves to some degree.
Si-yoon's expression seemed bad, but that was the end of it...
I accepted that I'd missed my chance.
Just as I started swimming to collect my thoughts, Go Ju-bin made his move.
I sharpened my senses and kept checking Go Ju-bin's movements and actions.
Go Ju-bin approaching Kim Si-yoon and Lee Da-yeon...
Please... please... let him be a pathetic bastard who can't gauge the size of his opponent...
In order to watch the situation, I purposely stopped swimming in the middle of the pool and walked out of the water.
That's when Go Ju-bin toppled onto the deck.
A pointy massage tool clutched in Si-yoon's hand.
Did she actually stab him? For real? Was she a monster that thoughtless?
Or is she someone so beyond reach that she can act this brazenly and get it covered up?
But ending it just like this would mean provoking this monster was all for nothing.
And then Si-yoon's shouting echoed out...
"If you're so curious about a woman, go beat off to porn, you fucking son of a..."
How many people could possibly say something like that straight to that monster's face...?
When I approached, Go Ju-bin was perfectly unharmed.
A part of me felt let down, but I had to act in a manner fitting a teacher.
"What's going on here...?"
"He's been running his filthy eyes over our bodies this whole time, then he confessed, so I shot him down."
"...Is that true?"
Go Ju-bin put on a delightfully frightened face and said,
"That crazy bitch tried to stab me in the eye with the thing she's holding..."
"This is ridiculous... Are you even a man? Just drop the act."
Kim Si-yoon, continuing to provoke Go Ju-bin.
And I continued to goad Kim Si-yoon even more.
"Si-yoon... he's still older than you."
That look of sheer killing intent on Kim Si-yoon's face... She was clearly a monster. My judgment had been spot-on.
"I've seriously seen everything now... Older than me? Hah... Sir? I understand that you're afraid of dealing with their parents and want to avoid the situation, but don't make that someone else's problem. If you're going to do that, maybe don't be a teacher."
A wave of nausea rose up at a monster like this acting all smart and well-spoken, pretending to be the one saying the right thing.
At that, Lee Da-yeon looked at Kim Si-yoon with a genuinely stern face.
"Si-yoon, you just crossed the line..."
...No. You didn't cross any line.
I acknowledged that Lee Da-yeon was a monster slightly outside the mold—a less filthy monster.
But I wished she hadn't reined in this reckless, fucking Kim Si-yoon.
"Sorry... but I still have to say what I have to say."
Thank goodness... truly, thank goodness.
Kim Si-yoon already looked utterly furious.
"You've got them staring at us like we're putting on a strip show, and you're not going to stop that? Hell, even while we were actually swimming, they were blatantly watching from above, practically on the verge of jerking off to it."
"".......""
"This is the first time in my life I've ever found an experience this revolting and filthy. We're leaving. Don't try to stop us. Take care."
She was acting like she was coolly walking away, but she was definitely plotting something.
Just watch... my words will inevitably become reality.
I hope that using Lee Da-yeon—no, the power of Hanseong—she blows this matter up even further.
And a few days later, Lee Jin-seok and Kim Ji-ho sent a notice to the school, and a parent meeting was held.
Look at that... Didn't I say she'd go crying to the bigger monster behind the scenes... Filthy monster bastards...
But by any method... please... even if not all of it, at least squeeze out some of the filthy pus and ooze from this rotted-and-corroded school...
The next day, I received the new school regulations handed down from the administration.
School regulations...?
I quickly read through the rules.
".....Bullshit..."
"Mr. Jeong?"
"...Sir?!"
"Is something the matter?"
"No, sir! Hahaha..."
Just a revision to the demerit point system and a little more power for the teachers... that's all...
Haah... This was the end of it...?
After receiving those filthy stares, they were ending it with this?
Was my provocation too small...? This isn't right.
I couldn't let it end like this.
If Go Ju-bin graduates... I lose my purpose in life too...
After staying up for two nights agonizing over it,
I formed a final plan... and decided to meet with that fully-formed monster, Kim Si-yoon.