Chapter 15

Chapter 15 – Having Too Much of a Good Thing #2

Park Sung-kwang’s power was considerable since he was the son of a politician .

It was the day after he declared war .

Tae-hyuk felt it the moment he went to school .

The mood of the students had changed .

“…Seo Tae-hyuk . Is he late again?”

“Shh . Talk quietly . He’s going to hear . ”

“What does it matter if he hears? Will he bite my head off? Or beat me?”

“…T-that . Last night…”

“V-violent incident? Hiik!”

This was just at first glance .

Buzz buzz!

Many students on the road were talking about Seo Tae-hyuk . It was like he was a celebrity!

‘… That isn’t it . Also, aren’t the rumors about me spreading quicker than I initially thought?’

He had thought that at the least, it would take one more day for them to spread .

Tae-hyuk had become the worst gangster of the school overnight .

‘Conquering all the bad groups in the area . Bullying money from students in other schools . Using violence . Playing naughty pranks on girls passing by . … I’m not some hero of a manhwa!’

All of this occurred in around half a day . It was ridiculous, but the students believed the rumors either way .

Tae-hyuk could guess why it spread so quickly .

Park Sung-kwang had probably used SNS (Korean social media) as a means to spread these rumors . He probably opened around half a dozen chat rooms, in which he freely slandered Seo Tae-hyuk . The rumors would then blow up by themselves as they were reinterpreted and spread to more people . It was repeated so many times that most of the students now knew of Seo Tae-hyuk’s bad deeds .

Tae-hyuk laughed bitterly .

‘He really is the same as his father . ’

Manipulating public opinion using the media . Although there was no proof behind that claim, it was still a clever use of both technology and psychology .

Tae-hyuk was doing bad things . Even if someone didn’t believe that claim at first, their doubts would soon turn to conviction after hearing several people repeating it .

Park Sung-kwang had many friends, and put the money that came from being the son of a politician to good use . There were at least 10 people involved in this matter . That number was enough to incite most of the students in school .

Now no one would believe him if Tae-hyuk accused Park Sung-kwang of cheating .

‘I just wanted to be a model student . Isn’t this the opposite from what I wanted?’

Tae-hyuk licked his lips .

Furthermore, it was obvious that it wouldn’t end with just this .

‘Oh my god…’

A miracle was occurring as Tae-hyuk walked . Students parted in front of him like he was the plague . The situation was more serious than he thought .

Once he opened the door and walked in, the loud classroom suddenly became quiet . People started whispering in small voices; and although he didn’t hear them, he knew what they were talking about .

Tae-hyuk walked to his seat and sat down, prompting the person next to him to increase the distance between their seats .

“……”

He couldn’t say anything .

“Tae-hyuk…”

An Eun-young, sitting in the seat in front of him, spoke in a small voice .

“… Is this Park Sung-kwang’s doing?”

Tae-hyuk wiped at his eyes like he was moved .

“Do you believe in my innocence?”

“O-Of course! S-sorry . Because of me… Do you regret it now?”

‘I’m kidding… Why are you so serious?’

That was just in Tae-hyuk’s head .

Tae-hyuk didn’t hesitate as he replied to An Eun-young .

“What are you talking about? If I could travel back in time, then I would still save Class President . ”

It was natural . It wasn’t uncommon to form connections with intelligent people .

“Huh…? Eu? Yes? Yes… I-I see . ”

An Eun-young’s face instantly turned red .

She tried to answer but couldn’t speak . Then An Eun-young raised her finger like she suddenly remembered something .

“Ah, right . The student adviser said for you to go see him straight away…’

“Well . Maybe this incident has even entered the ears of the teachers . Either that, or Park Sung-kwang is planning to beat me . ”

“L-Let’s go together…! I will tell Teacher-nim that Tae-hyuk did nothing wrong!”

Tae-hyuk shook his head .

“No . Recently I have become friendly with Class President . ”

“Uh, yes . Friendly . ”

“Then would they believe Class President’s claim of my innocence?”

An Eun-young was dumbfounded at Tae-hyuk’s words .

“S-Still!”

“I will go to the office now . ”

“Then I’ll be waiting at the door!”

Despite his words, An Eun-young still wanted to come along .

Tae-hyuk chose not to refuse anymore .

* * *

Once he went to the office, the student adviser greeted him more angrily than usual .

“Tae-hyuk! Tae-hyuk! Tae-hyuk! Hey, you son of a bitch . Why did you do it? It has only been a few days since you promised to be reborn . Yes?”

“I’m not sure what you’re talking about . ”

“You bastard! I know . I know it all! Don’t try to lie and deceive me . Tell the truth, and I will consider extenuating your circumstances .

“I really don’t know what you’re talking about . ”

“This bastard… Denying it until the end! There was a witness, a witness! Did you think no one saw you when you hit a student last night? His leg was broken so badly that he has at least 12 weeks of recovery! I thought you were a good person who got into small trouble . Have I been deceived? Say something, you son of a bitch . ”

Tae-hyuk couldn’t even laugh due to the sheer absurdity of the situation .

“I harmed a student?”

“Hah! It seems I was mistaken about you . Showing no signs of remorse and reflection after brazenly hurting someone . Who? Kim Jin-soo! I went to the hospital last night and saw him . He was beaten half to death . ”

“……”

Tae-hyuk clenched his hands into tight fists .

He had thought that it was just a bunch of rumors . But someone was really hurt?

Kim Jin-soo, who had been fine just yesterday, was now in the hospital . What really happened?

‘Park Sung-kwang . You really went this far . ’

He had broken the leg of his follower just to frame Tae-hyuk .

Tae-hyuk felt anger boiling inside of him .

“Ahyu . This shameless guy . In my heart, I want to make you exactly like Jin-soo . Yet, I’m very sad because I can’t . At any rate, a disciplinary committee will be held after the test tomorrow . This will probably result in a suspension or worse . By the way, I will be strongly arguing that you be expelled . ”

“Is that so?”

The smile disappeared from Tae-hyuk’s face .

Expulsion . If An Eun-young wouldn’t separate herself from him, then would they be kicked out of school together?

Tae-hyuk felt a fierce anger towards the man called Park Sung-kwang .

“You are still denying it like this until the end! Very well, you can go now . ”

“Oh, by the way, Teacher-nim . Have you ever received a bribe from Park Sung-kwang?”

“Huh? What did you say?”

“Nothing . Keep up the good work . ”

Tae-hyuk left the office without looking back .

* * *

An Eun-young, who had been listening to the conversation outside, looked like she was about to cry .

“T-Tae-hyuk… R-really . I’m s-sorry…”

Tae-hyuk smiled and stroked her head .

“No, I should be the one to say sorry . In fact, I even wanted to play this little game at first . ”

“P-play?”

“But now, I think that I should go to war . ”

He had planned to steal the test paper submitted by Park Sung-kwang and make him sit in the re-test alone .

But that wasn’t enough anymore .

This was a dirty fight where one of the two people had to be finished .

Either Seo Tae-hyuk would be expelled, or Park Sung-kwang would be ruined .

“Hrmm . I thought something like this would happen after I threw the bait . ”

Shortly after Park Sung-kwang had declared war, Tae-hyuk had called his father’s secretary and laid a trap . If it worked properly, then it would be very fatal for Park Sung-kwang .

And…

Tae-hyuk explained his plan to An Eun-young .

Her cooperation was necessary in order for it to be successful .

“… I’ll give it a try . But will it really succeed? It seems to heavily rely on luck…”

Tae-hyuk replied in a confident voice .

“I will do it somehow . Believe in me . ”

“Uh, yes . I trust you . ”

‘Phew . I sound so irresponsible since she doesn’t know about the Demon Revealing Mirror . It is good that she still believes in me . ’

Tae-hyuk inwardly sighed with relief . An Eun-young trusted him to such a strange degree .

Of course, he had no intention of betraying her .

“Then, shall I start the cheating?”