Chapter 151: Purge Operation (1)

As a result of the Daesan incident, Vice Principal Jin Kyung-hee found herself in a rather difficult position.

Nervously biting her nails after receiving a call from Park Hyung-jun, she listened to his instructions:

[Before the first-semester midterm exams start, lead the teachers to harass Kim Hyunsung as much as possible. Make up excuses if necessary. What I want is for Kim Hyunsung to not maintain his usual composure. He’s a sharp one, so he’ll definitely realize that the Golden Circle’s goal is to disrupt his exam. Just rattling his nerves will already accomplish our first objective.]

“…Hmm.”

She couldn’t respond immediately.

With the blackout operation recently carried out, numerous issues beyond Jin Kyung-hee’s control had surfaced. The first was the growing distrust among the teachers, and the second was the unease students felt about the situation. Now, with the order to harass Kim Hyunsung further, it was bound to raise more suspicion. Since Kim Hyunsung had already mentioned the Golden Circle by name, this would confirm any doubts among those who had already grown wary of the situation.

“Wouldn’t it be better to hold off for now? There’s a lot of talk around the school lately. If we push too hard, people will start suspecting the connection between the Golden Circle and Daeseong Future High School. We should observe the situation first…”

[Vice Principal Jin Kyung-hee.]

His voice cut her off sharply, cold and piercing.

[Daeseong Future High School, or more specifically, you, Vice Principal Jin Kyung-hee, have already boarded the same ship as the Golden Circle. You know exactly what that means, don’t you? If we fail to produce results this time, both you and I will share the responsibility. If you think you’re exempt from this because you’re an outsider, you’re mistaken. I won’t go down alone.]

“N-No, that’s not—!”

[What? Did you get involved in this without knowing? You’re not that naive, are you?]

She was lost for words.

She knew.

Once you step into corruption, there’s no turning back.

Unless everything remained hidden forever, they would eventually go down together.

Suppressing her anger, Jin Kyung-hee replied.

“…Fine. Let’s proceed as planned.”

* * *

After the blackout incident, the atmosphere at the school changed.

Choi Myung-hoon and the other injured students had not yet returned to class, and the students of Daeseong Future High School began looking at Kim Hyunsung with a mix of awe and fear. His feat of single-handedly taking down dozens of students earned him both admiration and intimidation. Rumors spread quickly about the “Golden Circle” that Kim Hyunsung had mentioned.

Was the Golden Circle real?

If it was true that Myung Su-chan had hired Kang Jae-wook through the Golden Circle, how would they survive school life from now on?

It was a confusing time.

The vast evil lurking beneath the surface was something minors, who hadn’t even reached adulthood, couldn’t possibly comprehend or confront. As a result, the students of Daeseong Future High School remained distant, unsure of how to act.

Around that time, the behavior of the teachers began to change.

At first, they acted cautiously, but soon, their hostility towards Kim Hyunsung became evident.

“Kim Hyunsung, why are you late?”

It was during math class.

He had just returned from running an errand for the Korean language teacher, but the math teacher glared at him angrily.

“The Korean teacher asked me to run an errand, so I’m late.”

“An errand? Is that supposed to be an excuse? An errand is an errand, and class is class. You’re the top student in the nation, and you couldn’t even inform the teacher that class was about to start? Get to the back of the room. Stand there with your hands up, you little punk!”

It was absurd.

But he complied.

With the authority of a teacher, Kim Hyunsung silently walked to the back of the class and raised his hands.

And that wasn’t the only time.

“Kim Hyunsung, are you spacing out during class?”

“Didn’t I tell you last time? I assigned you a homework task on this specific problem, didn’t I?”

“This is the problem with students who have good grades. Instead of focusing on school lessons, they study elsewhere and then ignore what’s being taught here. Because of kids like you, teachers lose their motivation. Get out. If this class doesn’t matter to you, go study by yourself outside!”

In every class.

Kim Hyunsung’s name was constantly brought up.

Being sent to the back of the room to stand with his hands up was mild compared to some teachers who threatened to give him demerits or even threw him out of class. His classmates watched in unease. Even though they didn’t know the full story, they understood that something was seriously wrong.

Kim Hyunsung, however, accepted the situation calmly.

The teachers’ relentless harassment seemed to have no effect on him, and he let their loud scolding slide off him.

A few days later, his homeroom teacher, Jang Won-gi, called him aside.

“Kim Hyunsung. I’ve been hearing that your attitude in class has been terrible lately. Write a reflection paper. If you write it carelessly, or if I don’t sense genuine remorse, I’ll have no choice but to punish you. Got it?”

It was blatant.

Kim Hyunsung already knew.

No matter what he wrote in the reflection paper, punishment was inevitable.

* * *

It was lunchtime.

While his friends were chatting and laughing, Kim Hyunsung sat quietly, working on the reflection paper he had been forced to write.

They were restricting his time.

Forcing punishment on him.

It was clearly a scheme orchestrated by the Golden Circle.

Even knowing this, Kim Hyunsung calmly continued writing the reflection paper.

At that moment.

“Are you okay?”

It was a classmate.

When he approached, several other friends turned to look as well.

“The teachers are doing this on purpose, aren’t they? It’s the Golden Circle—they must’ve taken bribes to harass you.”

“You’re right.”

“…What?”

“That’s right. The teachers are harassing me on orders from the Golden Circle.”

Their eyes met.

For his classmates, this revelation was confusing.

Even knowing the truth, there was little they could do.

Kim Hyunsung spoke.

“Why do you think the Golden Circle is going this far? It’s ridiculous. Just a while ago, they tried to take me down by labeling me a school bully, and now they’re trying to nitpick and harass me. They’re desperate. They threw reckless kids like Choi Myung-hoon and Jo Min-seok at me, but since I’m still standing, the teachers feel threatened. They’re doing everything they can within their power. It’s funny, isn’t it? As long as this school protects me, no matter how powerful the Golden Circle is, this is the best they can do. It’s also how they’ve always operated.”

At some point.

The Golden Circle would explode.

They would break their own rules and cross the line, revealing their malice.

That’s exactly what Kim Hyunsung was hoping for.

He was poking them intentionally.

He wanted to push them to the point where they could no longer follow their own rules and would have to acknowledge that they couldn’t take him down through their usual methods.

“So, you guys.”

He turned to his classmate and everyone else.

Speaking to not only the friend in front of him but to all those pretending not to listen.

“Don’t be so scared. The teachers and the Golden Circle might seem powerful because they’ve lived longer and achieved more, but that also means they have more to lose. If they come after you, make sure they pay the price. If you don’t show them that, you’ll always be the one forced to take the loss in life. Remember that.”

* * *

Lunchtime ended.

Homeroom teacher Jang Won-gi, who didn’t have class afterward, sat at his desk, grumbling to himself.

“Kim Hyunsung, that damn brat.”

Just moments earlier, Kim Hyunsung had handed in his reflection paper.

He didn’t know what it said, but the sight of the densely filled paper irritated him.

By now, he should have snapped.

For days, the teachers had been openly targeting Kim Hyunsung, and even though they slapped him with unjust punishments, Kim Hyunsung had never retaliated. This wasn’t how things were supposed to go. The plan was to wear him down mentally, but if he lashed out, they would use that as an excuse to escalate things.

Yet.

He remained calm.

Seeing his composed face, Jang Won-gi’s insides boiled with frustration.

“He’s definitely a sly one. There’s no way a high school senior could react like that unless he had the mind of a snake. Fine, let’s see how long you can keep this up. In the end, you’re just a student, and I’m the teacher.”

In the end.

It was a fight the teachers had the advantage in.

If teachers held a grudge, they could easily make a student’s life miserable, and the student would be left helpless.

Jang Won-gi felt no guilt.

He knew if they didn’t destroy Kim Hyunsung, they would be the ones destroyed. The teachers at Daeseong Future High School had already entered a deadly game of chicken with him. Those like Jang Won-gi, whose crimes were undeniable, were fully committed to crushing Kim Hyunsung.

*Thud.*

He tossed the reflection paper into the trash.

It didn’t matter whether it was a genuine reflection or not.

The whole point of forcing Kim Hyunsung to write it was to humiliate him; the content was irrelevant.

However, just as Jang Won-gi was about to turn his attention back to his work, he froze.

He had glanced at the contents of the reflection paper before throwing it away, and now the words lingered in his mind like a malignant tumor.

“…No way.”

He hastily dug through the trash and retrieved the reflection paper.

After reading it carefully, his eyes widened as he jumped to his feet.

“This crazy bastard!”

It was clear.

Kim Hyunsung.

This kid wasn’t normal.

* * *

Class had already started.

Yet, Jang Won-gi barged into the classroom, asking the teacher to excuse him as he pulled Kim Hyunsung out.

*Bang!*

He slammed the door of the counseling office shut.

Then, he threw the reflection paper in front of Kim Hyunsung.

*Thud.*

“What the hell is this?”

“What do you mean? It’s a reflection paper.”

“You little bastard. This is a reflection paper? Is this your idea of reflecting on your mistakes?”

His eyes were bloodshot.

At that moment, he didn’t care that Kim Hyunsung was a student.

The contents of the reflection paper had read:

[As I was writing the reflection paper you assigned, I noticed the shiny luxury watch on your wrist. How could you afford a watch worth tens of millions of won? Sure, you might’ve saved diligently on your meager teacher’s salary, but given your extravagant lifestyle of visiting bars every weekend, it seems likely that you have a source of income other than your salary. It makes sense, of course. A dedicated teacher like you, who accepts bribes to smear a student, must be incredibly hard-working. I reflect deeply on my inability to live like that. If only I could live as you do…]

It was a blatant mockery, a form of public accusation.

Jang Won-gi’s eyes flickered with fear.

Just as Kim Hyunsung implied, the luxury watch had been a gift from the Golden Circle, and his lavish lifestyle had been funded by them as well.

Knowing that Kim Hyunsung was fully aware of this, Jang Won-gi’s fury mixed with panic. Despite his outward anger, his heart raced, terrified that his corruption might be exposed.

*Creak.*

Kim Hyunsung sat down.

He looked up at Jang Won-gi with a calm expression.

“Teacher. Want to hear something interesting? If the corruption of Daeseong Future High School’s teachers gets exposed, if it gets reported on a large scale, what do you think the Golden Circle’s response will be?”

“W-What are you talking about…!”

“The intent is clear. The Golden Circle is using you all to sabotage my exams. So, I’m thinking of testing something. If I make the recent violence incident public, they could take me down without resorting to such petty tactics. Even if the school suspends its punishment due to my appeal, they won’t be able to cover up a criminal case. Don’t you think it’s worth seeing what happens? Will the Golden Circle sacrifice all of you, or will they protect you?”

The reflection paper.

It contained only limited information.

Corruption involving the teachers.

It was a level of exposure that would make it easy for the Golden Circle to discard them like pawns.

“The reflection paper you just read? I’ve already sent a report to the Education Office. So.”

Kim Hyunsung smirked.

“Better get ready.”