Chapter 13: Disciplinary Committee in Chaos (4)
A string of events.
Kim Sunja was boiling with rage.
What she had expected to be a smooth and favorable disciplinary committee had gone completely off the rails, starting with Kim Youngcheol.
‘You bastards. After taking all that money, you dare betray me?’
She could understand it from Kim Youngcheol.
She hadn’t trusted him much from the start—he never seemed reliable. But Oh Dae-hwan, the principal of Cheonil High School, was another matter entirely. He was well-known among parents. Ever since he was appointed, the children of parents who supported Cheonil had received careful attention under his watch, graduating without a single blemish and setting a precedent.
When she first met Oh Dae-hwan—
He had mentioned that precedent.
That was proof of a solid transactional relationship, and Kim Sunja had donated a massive sum to Cheonil without hesitation.
And yet—
He betrayed her.
She could have forgiven Kim Youngcheol. But Oh Dae-hwan, who should have stood by Jung Minho to the end, sided with Kim Hyunsung—knowing full well he was destroying years of precedent. Her fury was at its peak. She knew the eldest son of Myungjin Construction was no ordinary man, but that didn’t mean she could let her son’s issue end like this.
Kim Sunja spoke.
“I will never allow my son to take the blame! You bastards. Just wait. I’m going to call my husband.”
She stood up.
Regardless of whether the meeting paused or not, she walked over to the window and took out her phone.
The atmosphere turned ice cold.
Everyone watched her every move as the classroom fell so silent that even the dialing tone could be heard.
Click.
[What is it?]
“Darling! Listen to me. I told you they’re holding a disciplinary committee over our Minho, right?”
[I remember.]
“Well now they’re blaming everything on our Minho! Both Teacher Kim Youngcheol and Principal Oh Dae-hwan! Do something, will you? Just because the eldest son of Myungjin Construction is the guardian of the kid who hit Minho, these ungrateful bastards are throwing our relationship out the window. Where are you? How soon can you be here?”
She raised her voice so everyone could hear.
Her husband—
Jung Mancheol, born with a silver spoon, was a man of great pride who would stop at nothing when it came to solving problems like this. She believed in him. She believed he would storm in, furious, and fix everything for Jung Minho. But strangely, a strange silence hung over the call.
[…So Go Chang-beom is the guardian of the attacker?]
“What? You know him? That’s perfect. Come here right now and teach these bastards—”
[You idiot! Are you trying to ruin our family? How dare you act like that against the son of Myungjin Construction? Are you insane? Get back here right now. Forget the disciplinary committee—just let Minho take the punishment. Get back here immediately!]
In that instant—
Kim Sunja’s eyes widened.
The completely unexpected response left her frozen in place, stunned.
Profanities poured from the phone.
The harsh words echoed through the room, and everyone could clearly hear Jung Mancheol’s reaction.
That moment marked the de facto conclusion of the disciplinary committee.
* * *
Kim Sunja returned to her seat.
Where once she had sat triumphantly, now she sat blankly, unresponsive to anything anyone said around her.
Oh Dae-hwan spoke.
“It’s time to reach a conclusion. In this case, while Student Kim Hyunsung’s assault on his peers is deserving of punishment, prior to that incident there was a clear pattern of school violence led by the group known as the Park Mincheol gang. Let me ask you all: are the students who committed ongoing school violence at fault, or is it the student who used his fists to stand against it? As the principal of Cheonil High School, I admit my failure in preventing such situations, and I intend to root out the true problem at hand.”
He looked around.
At Kim Youngcheol and the other teachers.
At the parents.
No one objected.
Even though his preamble made the outcome obvious, they all silently supported Oh Dae-hwan’s stance.
Finally, locking eyes with Go Chang-beom, the man gave a lazy nod as if to say, “Go on.”
It was an unspoken deal.
In exchange for losing Kim Sunja, Oh Dae-hwan would gain Myungjin Construction.
“I will assign Student Kim Hyunsung 100 hours of community service. Though he acted in response to violence, sending four students to the emergency room carries consequences he must bear. And as for Jung Minho, Park Mincheol, Kang Chang-seok, and Jo Yong-taek—these four will be expelled for their egregious acts of school violence against their peers.”
Expulsion.
The moment the word left his mouth, Jung Minho’s face was overcome with shock.
* * *
The disciplinary committee was over.
Outside, Jung Minho felt as though his world had collapsed.
‘…Expelled? I’m being expelled?’
Expulsion.
He couldn’t believe it.
Before the committee began, both Kim Sunja and Principal Oh Dae-hwan had reassured him everything would be fine. But then Go Chang-beom showed up, and everything spiraled out of control. Everyone scrambled to stay in his good graces, and in the end, the worst outcome came true—expulsion for the Park Mincheol gang.
Tears welled up in his eyes.
He was only seventeen.
He had dreamed of graduating high school and living a campus life. But expulsion—was an unbearable reality.
And then—
“Jung Minho.”
“You son of a bitch.”
It was Kim Hyunsung.
As Jung Minho surged forward in a fit of rage, he was suddenly held back—by Kim Sunja.
“Mom?”
Her expression was devastated.
Moments earlier—
After being cursed out by Jung Mancheol, she had received a single text from him.
[Do not, under any circumstances, provoke the eldest son of Myungjin Construction. If we get blacklisted by Myungjin here in Daesan, tax audits or worse will come at us from all directions, and we won’t be able to protect our assets. You should’ve judged who you were up against. End this quickly and bring Minho home. Got it?]
It was a grim reality.
Wealth couldn’t solve everything.
Myungjin Construction had long established its roots in Daesan, possessing not just wealth but power. People like Jung Mancheol fully understood what it meant to go against a company like that. Wealth enough to own dozens of buildings? If Myungjin Construction chose to tear Jung Mancheol down, all that wealth would be stripped to its bones.
Tax audits.
Reports of building code violations.
Disruption of rental operations—among others.
There were many ways.
Now faced with reality, Kim Sunja could no longer act wildly for Jung Minho’s sake.
Kim Hyunsung smiled.
Looking at Kim Sunja, unable to raise her head, he turned to Jung Minho and said,
“Kneel and beg.”
“What?”
“I said, kneel and beg.”
“Why should I? I’ve already been expelled by the disciplinary committee—what’s the point in kneeling now?”
“You should ask your mother that. Whether kneeling is the right thing or not.”
Jung Minho looked at Kim Sunja.
She averted her eyes.
She couldn’t bring herself to tell him to kneel, so she couldn’t meet his gaze.
His eyes trembled.
Then, through the ringing in his ears and his shock, Kim Hyunsung’s voice echoed.
“Something really fun is about to happen to your family. So go ahead and try your best to soften my heart. Who knows? Maybe I’ll let it end at expulsion.”
Kim Hyunsung’s words—
Jung Minho couldn’t understand them.
But Kim Sunja could.
“Minho. Kneel and beg.”
“Mom, why are you saying that!”
“Now!”
Kim Sunja screamed.
Tears welled up in Jung Minho’s eyes.
He couldn’t accept reality.
He had ruled over Cheonil High School like a predator, lived a life of privilege with nothing lacking—and not once had he imagined such humiliation. He wanted nothing more than to flee the scene. But seeing the desperate look in Kim Sunja’s eyes, he wore a broken expression and eventually fell to his knees.
Thud.
“I’m sorry. I’m really sorry.”
He bowed his head.
Choked up.
So humiliated, so furious—
He couldn’t hold back the tears.
Kim Hyunsung crouched down in front of him and whispered in his ear, making sure Kim Sunja wouldn’t hear.
“Sorry, but that’s not enough to make me feel better. So go ahead and look forward to it—because from now on, your future will be full of misery.”
In that moment—
Jung Minho snapped his head up.
He was about to lash out in a fit of rage, but the second he saw Kim Hyunsung’s face, his heart sank.
Kim Hyunsung.
He was looking down at him with the face of a demon.
* * *
Go Chang-beom got in his car.
It was the sports car he usually drove.
Fastening his seatbelt, just as he was about to leave the school grounds, he recalled what Kim Hyunsung had said after the disciplinary committee ended.
“Please ruin the lives of Jung Minho, Park Mincheol, Jo Yong-taek, and Kang Chang-seok. I don’t just mean making their school life uncomfortable, or preventing them from getting decent jobs as adults. I mean destroy them so thoroughly that even their parents, who raised them this way, are forced to face hopeless despair. Use any means necessary and crush their lives completely.”
It was malicious.
A request so vile someone could very well die because of it—and it made Go Chang-beom reevaluate Kim Hyunsung.
He thought Hyunsung was clever.
Smart people usually avoided making enemies. But Kim Hyunsung was hellbent on crushing them, to the point where calling him a demon felt apt. Thinking back, Kim Hyunsung had said he would use Go Chang-beom as a guardian to cause a lot of trouble. There must be circumstances only he knew. Still, Go Chang-beom didn’t ponder deeply over things that didn’t immediately concern him.
“Whatever happens to those bastards isn’t my problem. As long as I benefit, that’s all that matters.”
He, too—
Was a thug.
If trampling on other people’s lives meant he could become chairman of Myungjin Construction, he would do anything, no matter the method. That was who Go Chang-beom was at his core.
VROOOM!
VRRRROOOOOOOM!
Go Chang-beom slammed on the accelerator.
In his giddy mood, he figured tonight was a good night to go out to Gangnam.
* * *
The disciplinary committee had ended.
Kim Hyunsung returned home.
The school told him to come back starting tomorrow, so he laid alone in the empty house, thinking back on what had just happened.
Kim Youngcheol and Oh Dae-hwan.
They had pulled him aside and said,
“…Hyunsung, you know how hard I tried for you, right? So please, keep our secret between us.”
“Student Kim Hyunsung, if you had told me earlier that your guardian was the eldest son of Myungjin Construction, I never would’ve pushed for a disciplinary committee in the first place. Sure, what I just said probably sounds shallow. But I hope you don’t take it the wrong way. From now on, that shallowness of mine will actually help you a lot during your time at Cheonil. So if you could say something nice about me to Mr. Go Chang-beom, I’d really appreciate it. And if you two ever meet again, maybe you could even arrange for me to join you.”
It was different from his past life.
The two people who had driven him to his death—
Now smiled desperately at him, wagging their tails like they’d hand over their guts and gall if he asked.
It was revolting.
But he accepted it.
For the sake of what was to come, he had to become one of them.
And then—
Ding.
A text came in.
Several more followed before he finally checked his phone, and on the screen was a familiar name.
– Hyunsung. It’s me, Park Mincheol. Can I please talk to you for a moment? Please, just once.
A desperate message.
Park Mincheol, too, had accepted his new reality.
