Devil Returns to School Days - Chapter 172: Head-on Breakthrough (4)

When Kim Hyunsung was being questioned, he made a deliberate statement:

“Not everything will go according to your plans. No matter how much Park Min-cheol testifies against me, the students and teachers at Cheonil High—those who know him—will prove how unreliable his testimony is. If this case ends in a half-baked resolution, you’ll never be able to frame me like this again.”

He spoke calmly.

Even after hearing the Golden Circle’s schemes, knowing exactly what they intended to do once they expelled him from school, Kim Hyunsung remained unfazed.

This was an intentional move.

He wanted to shake Park Min-cheol’s mental state, anticipating the “special plan” that would follow. The police officer regarded Hyunsung with a mocking smile. While threats might work on someone like Park Min-cheol, the officer believed that Hyunsung’s situation was already on the verge of collapse, like a candle flickering in the wind.

The officer chuckled.

“I thought you were smart, but you still don’t seem to understand how the world works. The only people who’ll testify are those with everything to lose. Your classmates will keep their heads down, and the only ones left fighting for you will be Oh Dae-hwan and Kim Young-chul. But do you really think their testimonies will hold any weight? Just like you plan to discredit Park Min-cheol, we can do the same with them.”

The officer leaned in, his eyes filled with malice, as if he were ready to devour Hyunsung.

“You really think the world is on your side?”

The officer didn’t know.

He had no idea how much effort Kim Hyunsung had put into reaching this moment, how many times he had revised his plans, leaving no room for complacency, all to bring down the Golden Circle.

Kim Hyunsung’s gaze grew cold, fully absorbing the officer’s hostility.

—

After the call with Kim Hyunsung, Oh Dae-hwan paced the hall nervously.

Ignoring the nagging words of Kim Young-chul, who trailed behind him, Oh seemed to reach a decision and headed for the teachers’ office.

“Let’s have a word in private.”

He called one of the inspectors into an empty counseling room.

Gone was his previous arrogance—now, his face was filled with desperation.

“I surrender.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I’ll cooperate. If you need damaging testimony against Kim Hyunsung, I’ll provide it as Cheonil’s principal. Just… please, give me a way out. Cheonil’s rise has only just begun, and if I fall here, the school’s future is doomed. Just give me one chance to make things right.”

He was raising the white flag.

Having been abandoned by Kim Hyunsung, Oh decided that selling him out was the only way to survive.

But the inspector smirked.

“You seem to misunderstand something. You’re not the same as Myungjin Construction. Myungjin became a target because it gave real power to Kim Hyunsung, but you and Kim Young-chul? You’re nothing now that Hyunsung has transferred. And more importantly, you’re living proof of the corruption surrounding him. Your testimonies won’t be as valuable as the evidence we have that you took bribes from him. That evidence is a far stronger weapon to bring him down. Why would we let you live?”

“P-please, there must be something we can do!”

“Perhaps. But the higher-ups gave a warning: ‘Don’t underestimate Kim Hyunsung.’ Given his unpredictable counterattacks, they fear that treating him lightly could backfire. And didn’t you just call him? If your surrender is part of a scheme you cooked up with him, why should we take the risk? Killing you both will be safer and more profitable than anything we could gain from keeping you alive.”

Kim Hyunsung’s words in the interrogation room had caused trouble.

The police had reported them to their superiors, and by the time the information reached the inspectors, suspicions arose that Hyunsung might have anticipated an attack on Cheonil. That left no reason to recruit Oh and Kim. Unlike Myungjin Construction, they had no value. Eliminating them entirely would ensure the threat was neutralized.

“So just die, old man.”

It was checkmate.

Oh Dae-hwan’s face turned deathly pale.

—

The grueling interrogation finally ended.

Although Kim Young-chul was excused from class and sent home early, he wandered the streets, unable to bring himself to go home.

In a dimly lit alley under a flickering streetlamp, he nervously smoked a cigarette.

“Hah…”

A deep sigh escaped him.

His entire life had crumbled.

He had lost his job after decades of service. His pension was now in jeopardy, and if he were fined for the bribes he had taken, he might even have to sell his house. But those weren’t the worst of his problems. While he could at least rationalize some of his wrongdoings as sacrifices for his family, the affair with Lee Min-young was another matter entirely.

Everyone knew about it now.

It was only a matter of time before his wife found out, and the thought of explaining it to her made his head spin.

“If I lose everything and my wife divorces me… it’s over. Even Min-young said she wants to cut ties with me to smooth things over with her husband. What the hell am I supposed to do?”

He flicked the burnt-out cigarette to the ground, adding to the pile of butts at his feet. With a shaky hand, he lit another. He was like a man afflicted with a terminal illness, chain-smoking out of sheer desperation.

“That bastard Kim Hyunsung is the problem. If he had just stopped the inspectors, none of this would’ve happened.”

Memories flooded his mind.

He had thought his connection to Kim Hyunsung was a stroke of luck.

When he was taking bribes from Myungjin Construction and visiting karaoke bars every night, he had believed it was the peak of his life. But now, that string of fortune had snapped. As he recalled the pale expression on Oh Dae-hwan’s face when he left the counseling room, Kim knew things were beyond repair. When he sought answers, Oh Dae-hwan had only snapped at him.

“Brother, what are we—”

“Brother? Get lost, you piece of shit!”

It was over.

The only way to survive now was to explain himself.

Flicking away his last cigarette, Kim Young-chul steadied his breath, rehearsing his excuses over and over as he headed home.

The moment he opened the door.

“Honey…”

“You cheating bastard!”

Smack!

A sharp slap landed on his cheek.

—

The sting spread across his face.

Normally, he would have screamed in outrage, but with guilt weighing him down, Kim Young-chul hurried to calm his wife.

“Honey, honey! Please listen to me!”

“You think there’s anything you can say right now?”

“I mean it! I have my reasons too!”

Her eyes blazed with fury.

After hitting him several times, she paused to catch her breath, her gaze sharp and unrelenting.

“Fine. Let’s hear it. What bullshit excuse do you have this time?”

Having barely managed to calm her down, Kim Young-chul knew this was his last chance.

He took a deep breath and began explaining the narrative he had rehearsed.

“This is all a setup. A conspiracy.”

“A setup? What kind of lunatic would go this far with a setup?”

“I get it, it sounds ridiculous. If I were you, I’d think it’s unbelievable too. But there are a lot of complicated factors here. Have you ever heard of the Golden Circle? It’s hard to explain, but they’re a group of real scumbags. I refused to compromise with them and stood up for the students they were harassing. Now they’re trying to ruin me with this setup. Just give me a little time, and I’ll prove everything. I’ll expose what kind of people the Golden Circle are and how they’ve orchestrated all of this. Even Principal Oh Dae-hwan has lost his position! The whole Myungjin Construction scandal? That’s all their doing too!”

It was the best excuse he could come up with.

It was also his only option.

If he admitted to the truth, even he knew there would be no room for forgiveness.

“So, you’re saying you just did your duty as a teacher and got framed? And that you never had an affair?”

“That’s right!”

“You really are a hopeless bastard.”

His wife abruptly left the room.

When she returned, she carried a box from the corner of the living room and emptied it at his feet.

Rustle.

“Say that again after looking at these.”

“H-how…?”

Kim Young-chul’s face turned ashen.

The floor was littered with photos—hundreds of them.

They documented every detail of his personal life.

There were pictures of him entering different motels with Lee Min-young. Photos of him drunkenly carousing with women at bars, his face flushed red.

There was no room for excuses.

The evidence was overwhelming and undeniable.

Looking down at the incriminating photos, his wife shouted in rage.

“I wanted to forgive you. But this? Once, maybe even twice, I could have tried. But after seeing all this with my own eyes, how could I ever stay with you? Get ready for a divorce. Your lies right up to the end are disgusting, and I’ll make sure to take every penny from you in alimony.”

“Honey!”

“Don’t you *dare* call me that! Get out of my house, you piece of trash!”

—

It felt as if the sky had collapsed.

Having lost even the last thread of hope—his family—Kim Young-chul’s face twisted with rage as he stormed out.

He made his way to a bar in Daesan.

The moment he entered, he began screaming at the top of his lungs.

“You bastards! All of you, get out here!”

Bang!

Crash!

He kicked over tables as he barged in, throwing chairs and smashing bottles with wild abandon. His eyes were bloodshot, and he seemed utterly deranged.

“Sir! You can’t do this here!”

“What’s going on?”

The staff rushed out to stop him.

It was still business hours, and other patrons peeked nervously out from their seats, while the female employees fidgeted anxiously. Under normal circumstances, Kim Young-chul would have cared about his reputation as a teacher. But not today. He had lost everything—his job, his assets, his family. All he had left was a burning rage toward those responsible for his downfall.

He grabbed one of the waiters by the collar.

Then, holding up one of the incriminating photos, he shouted,

“Why am I doing this? Look at this, damn it!”

It was one of the photos of him drinking at the bar.

“How the hell did my wife get her hands on this? It’s impossible for someone outside to take these photos unless they were inside the bar. Explain this to me! Who took these? Explain it before I smash this place to pieces!”

The motel photos were one thing.

If someone had been tailing him, it would have been easy to capture proof of his affair with Lee Min-young.

But the bar photos?

That was different.

Only someone who had been in the same space could have taken them, meaning there was someone behind this entire setup. The malicious intent driving this plot filled him with rage. Who was it? Who had gone to such lengths to destroy him? His life was already ruined, but if he could figure out who was behind it, he would make sure they paid.

“I’ll sue them. Whoever did this… I’ll sue them for ruining my life…”

“Mr. Kim Young-chul, you have a call.”

The sudden interruption came from a man who appeared to be the bar’s owner. He held a corded phone out toward Kim with an indifferent expression.

Confused, Kim narrowed his eyes.

“Who the hell is calling me here?”

Seeing the puzzled look on Kim’s face, the owner calmly explained.

“They said you weren’t answering your cell phone. Take the call—it’ll help you understand the situation better.”

For a moment, Kim’s eyes sharpened.

Someone on the other end of the line… could they be the one responsible?

He snatched the receiver, ready to hurl a string of curses—only to freeze as a familiar voice came through.

[Why weren’t you answering your phone?]

“No way… It’s you…?”

His eyes widened in disbelief, and his hands trembled.

[Yes. I’m the one who sent your wife those photos.]

The voice on the other end belonged to none other than Kim Hyunsung.