Chapter 12: Disciplinary Committee in Chaos (3)
A few days earlier.
At Kim Hyunsung’s request, Go Chang-beom looked visibly flustered.
“…You want me to be your guardian?”
It was unexpected.
He thought Hyunsung would approach him for material gains, but the sudden mention of a guardian left his mind tangled. It hit him again—Kim Hyunsung’s age. At seventeen, he still needed an adult. But for a kid with such deep calculation to want a guardian, he couldn’t help but wonder what the real reason was.
“Why? If you’d asked for money, that would’ve been easier compensation.”
“It’s true I’ll need your wealth for what I’m planning to do. But if I only needed money, I had other options.”
There were many ways.
Future knowledge.
It meant endless possibilities.
But lying in that hospital bed, reviewing countless plans in his head, he realized money alone wouldn’t solve everything. The ultimate goal lay at the heart of power. To bring down someone who possessed more than just wealth, he too needed to reach a position of that magnitude.
Go Chang-beom.
He was a crucial piece of the puzzle.
In the distant future, he had become a nobody, but in this life, Go Chang-beom had to be someone entirely different.
“I’ll be honest. I plan to stir up a lot of trouble at this school. Not just the kind of school violence kids typically get into—but things big enough to cause legal problems. And when that happens, I want you to handle everything for me. As the eldest son of Myungjin Construction, with massive financial resources at your back. Those credentials will definitely hold weight here in Daesan.”
His gaze turned fierce.
The memories of his past life surged.
In those countless hellish moments, Kim Hyunsung showed killing intent.
“I don’t want my relationship with you to be a one-time thing. If you fulfill your role as my guardian, if you show me something I can be satisfied with—then I promise you here and now: I’ll make sure you become the chairman of Myungjin Construction by any means necessary. And beyond that, I’ll place even greater power and wealth in your hands. That way, no matter who I go up against, you’ll be able to stand tall.”
Go Chang-beom twitched a smile.
It was absurd.
He could’ve dismissed it as a child’s fantasy, but Go Chang-beom had already witnessed part of Kim Hyunsung’s capabilities.
He was the real deal.
The look in his eyes.
The results he showed against Go Chang-seok.
They were proof that Kim Hyunsung was genuine.
Go Chang-beom spoke.
“Hyunsung, if that’s the issue, then don’t worry about it.”
Kim Hyunsung’s request—
This was the one area where the otherwise useless Go Chang-beom had confidence.
“Back in school, there wasn’t a single person in Daesan who didn’t know me. How do you think I managed to graduate after raising hell day in and day out? I’ve mastered the art of leveraging Myungjin Construction’s influence. Trust me. No matter what kind of trouble you stir up, if I’ve got your back, it won’t become a problem.”
* * *
Back to the present.
Go Chang-beom proudly tossed his business card onto the table.
Thud.
“Take a look. See who I am. I wanted to handle this quietly, but people really don’t know their place. Hyunsung is someone I truly care about. He’s not the kind of kid who would cause trouble for no reason, and when I heard the Disciplinary Committee was being convened, I personally convinced him to let me attend.”
A beloved younger brother.
Hyunsung.
He stressed the words.
Highlighting their special relationship, Go Chang-beom habitually tapped the card with his finger.
“Actually, I had plans to sponsor Cheonil High School under the name of Myungjin Construction. Cheonil is Daesan’s top school, and I just wanted our Hyunsung to attend somewhere decent. But this is disappointing. I didn’t realize Cheonil was such a cheap and pathetic school.”
“Are you threatening us…?”
“Threatening? I’m simply stating facts.”
He cut off Kim Sunja.
She was trying to de-escalate the situation, but the moment Myungjin Construction was brought up, she was already thrown off.
“What is the job of an educator? Isn’t it to guide students toward the right path? Then why exactly is Hyunsung being punished? If you’re thinking of punishing him for using his fists to stand up against school violence, then why didn’t Cheonil take action when violence was running rampant before? Explain yourselves. If you just ‘didn’t know,’ or if things got swept under the rug because Jung Minho’s parents are rich, then I won’t sit quietly. I’ll mobilize everything I have in the name of justice.”
It was a calculated statement.
If Kim Hyunsung were punished—
He would invoke the full force of Myungjin Construction’s backing.
Even though his words were undeniably threatening, no one present dared to stop Go Chang-beom.
And for good reason.
Go Chang-beom made his intentions crystal clear from start to finish.
“My father once told me something. Never do business with scum. I’ll remember each and every face in this room. If I end up taking the reins of Myungjin Construction, I won’t do business with those who pointed fingers at our Hyunsung. You can call it a threat. I call it justice. The past clearly shows who the victim and the perpetrator are. If you ignore that and stick to your bias, then in my book, you’ve already been bought.”
It was blatant intimidation.
Complete sophistry.
He should have been focused on the case, but instead, Go Chang-beom went all in, dividing the room into good and evil.
The opposition was evil.
Kim Hyunsung was good.
Even though the other party ended up in the hospital, punishing evil was the right thing to do.
And if anyone disagreed with him—they could forget about ever doing business with Myungjin Construction again.
The people in the room exchanged wary glances.
Myungjin Construction.
The powerhouse of Daesan.
They couldn’t afford to fall out with him. Especially not the kind of people who were rotten enough to be present at this meeting—none of them could say anything, regardless of how furious Kim Sunja became. The atmosphere flipped instantly. In the icy tension that followed, Kim Sunja’s people had no choice but to shift the blame to a single individual.
Oh Dae-hwan.
He was the only one who could overturn this situation—the principal of Cheonil High School.
* * *
All eyes turned to him.
Oh Dae-hwan was flustered.
Kim Sunja signaled to him with her eyes, asking for help, but he too couldn’t afford to speak recklessly.
‘Myungjin Construction? Since when did Kim Hyunsung have the eldest son of Myungjin as his guardian?’
Every year—
As new students enrolled, Oh Dae-hwan would obsessively investigate their backgrounds.
If any student came from wealth, he would try to milk them for all they were worth, which was how he’d built ties with Jung Minho’s parents. In that process, Kim Hyunsung had fallen out of interest. While he was useful for boosting the school’s academic average, living with his grandmother and without parents meant there was nothing to gain from him materially.
And yet—
Now Myungjin Construction was in the picture?
If there had been even a single line of information connecting them, this disciplinary committee would never have been convened in the first place.
‘The eldest son of Myungjin Construction is clearly showing a special interest in Kim Hyunsung. If I take Jung Minho’s side and try to protect him, I’ll never have any ties to Myungjin. No—in this Daesan circle, I’ll be completely ostracized just for being on the opposite side.’
Sweat soaked his back.
He was at the edge of a cliff.
Feeling uneasy, a sudden thought crossed Oh Dae-hwan’s mind.
‘What if I abandon Jung Minho?’
A shiver ran through him.
That single premise changed everything.
‘Come to think of it, this is an incredible opportunity. Go Chang-beom said he was thinking of sponsoring Cheonil because of Kim Hyunsung. If we secure Daesan’s backing, Cheonil could become a nationally recognized elite school in no time. Jung Minho’s parents? Myungjin Construction? Who should I side with? Even if I get stoned for being a traitor right now, thinking about Cheonil’s future, this really isn’t a difficult decision. And the people here—if Cheonil grabs hold of power, none of them have the guts to throw stones.’
His expression changed.
He had made up his mind.
Under everyone’s gaze, Oh Dae-hwan spoke.
“I fully understand why Mr. Go Chang-beom is upset. I’ve tried my best to remain neutral, but I’ve heard multiple reports since the start of the semester that Jung Minho has been at the center of ongoing school violence.”
“Principal!”
“Mrs. Jung Minho. This is not your turn to speak. I am not here to declare who is right or wrong. I’m only stating the facts I’m aware of, and I will take all of those facts into account when making the final decision of this disciplinary committee.”
Murmurs spread among the crowd.
They all knew.
Oh Dae-hwan had changed his stance.
Kim Sunja looked visibly shaken as she tried to regain control, but once Oh Dae-hwan had made his decision, he pressed forward without hesitation.
“Student Kim Hyunsung is, in my eyes, Cheonil’s top honors student. So let’s hear from him and decide how we handle this incident.”
He handed over the floor.
The entire atmosphere had shifted.
Now it was Kim Hyunsung’s turn to step forward.
* * *
It was quite the entertaining scene.
In his past life—
Things had been completely the opposite.
Back then, both Oh Dae-hwan and Kim Youngcheol had openly criticized him. But now, they were raising their voices on his behalf.
‘They’re the very reason I couldn’t escape school violence. If they had stood up for me and called out the perpetrators, if they had punished them and protected me—I wouldn’t have died so miserably.’
He felt no joy.
Only rage boiled inside him.
Watching them switch sides reminded Kim Hyunsung once again of the purpose behind his return.
Kim Hyunsung began to speak.
“Before this incident, my friends repeatedly told the teachers that Park Mincheol’s gang was leading school violence. Every time, the teachers responded the same way. ‘That’s not the Park Mincheol I know.’ ‘It was probably just kids messing around.’ ‘Be a man and handle it yourselves.’ Occasionally, there were teachers who claimed they’d look into it, but instead of solving the root of the problem, they simply told us to be careful—warnings that only added fuel to the fire. Yes, I hit Jung Minho. I sent Park Mincheol’s gang to the emergency room. But let me ask—why is it that a single act of violence from me is what triggered a disciplinary committee? Why is it that when my friends walked around with bruised faces, the school did nothing, yet the moment we fought back, this meeting gets called like they were waiting for it?”
Seventeen years old.
This wasn’t the plea of a child.
There was a savagery in his words that left everyone in the room feeling overwhelmed.
“Because the level of violence was different? That’s not an excuse. If I had jumped off the roof after being tormented by school violence, the school would have still taken the side of the powerful students.”
That’s what happened in his past life.
A vegetative state.
Lying in a hospital bed, Kim Hyunsung had heard how the perpetrators all graduated without a hitch.
It was reality.
[If you have money, you’re innocent; if you don’t, you’re guilty.]
An unchanging truth.
And if that truth couldn’t be changed, then from now on, Kim Hyunsung would wield it to his advantage as one of the powerful.
“I won’t waste time making excuses and insisting I didn’t do anything wrong. What I want is for Jung Minho and his gang to be punished. If they are not properly punished, then even if I get expelled from this school, I will make this incident public. That is my stance. That is my will.”
He looked at Jung Minho.
Locking eyes with the stunned boy, he declared fiercely:
“Only clear and decisive punishment can resolve this issue.”
