Chapter 9. The Falling King
The school field descended into chaos in an instant.
Shocked students crowded around the windows and edges of the field.
Teachers ran around frantically, pushing everyone back.
The head of student discipline had gone completely pale.
"Students, get back!"
"Don't go near him!"
"Someone call 119!"
Do-yoon stood at the hallway window and looked down.
It had seemed as though an explosion had erupted around Park Tae-seong.
But after looking more carefully, Do-yoon realized it had not been an actual explosion.
A temporary metal plate covering drainage construction had been overturned.
The weakened ground beneath it had partially collapsed.
Park Tae-seong stood at the center.
His shoulders rose and fell as he breathed heavily.
His blood-covered hands were clenched as if he were barely restraining something.
The red mark that had appeared on the back of his hand was gone.
But his bloodshot eyes and twisted expression remained.
"Park Tae-seong!"
A PE teacher came running.
"What the hell are you doing? Have you lost your mind?"
Tae-seong did not answer.
But dozens of students had already seen everything.
They had watched him scream.
Kick the metal plate.
Lose control in the middle of the field.
Do-yoon slowly stepped away from the window.
He's collapsing.
This was only the beginning.
Until a few days ago, Park Tae-seong had been the king of this school.
Students avoided even making eye contact with him.
Teachers hesitated to scold him because of his family.
Money.
His parents' influence.
Regional connections.
Those had been his crown and shield.
But cracks were beginning to spread across that crown.
Once a crown cracked...
It could never return to what it had been.
That afternoon, the special audit officially began.
The entire school was turned upside down.
Documents from the previous several years were piled inside offices and meeting rooms.
Auditors checked school violence reports.
Counseling logs.
Teacher interview records.
Disciplinary committee files.
Deleted CCTV footage was also recovered.
Some footage the school claimed had disappeared after the retention period was still present on the server.
Investigators found signs that only specific time periods surrounding incidents had been selectively removed.
Hidden things began emerging one by one.
"Why wasn't this report processed?"
An auditor placed a document on the table.
The head of student discipline wiped sweat from his forehead.
"We judged it to be simple joking between students..."
"The student requested counseling five times."
The auditor's voice turned cold.
"He reported assault."
"Extortion."
"Threats."
"And you're saying you considered all of that a joke?"
The head of student discipline could not answer properly.
"What's even stranger is the counseling record."
"The original report still exists."
"But every document related to follow-up action disappeared."
"Who deleted them?"
Even the principal's expression hardened.
Kim Do-yoon's name was clearly written on the documents.
These were traces of the times Do-yoon had repeatedly asked for help.
The school had never properly investigated.
They told the victim to endure it.
They gave the aggressor nothing more than formal warnings.
It was not that nothing had been done.
They had deliberately made it look as though something had been done.
Do-yoon watched from farther down the hallway.
Every time he asked for help, teachers had told him there was not enough evidence.
They told him not to make a big issue out of a fight between friends.
They told him Tae-seong had apologized, so he should forget about it.
Now...
He could finally see how many adults had known the truth and chosen to ignore it.
"Hey."
Someone cautiously spoke behind him.
Do-yoon turned.
A student from his class stood there.
He used to follow Park Tae-seong around.
Sometimes laughing at what Tae-seong did.
Sometimes simply watching.
Do-yoon recognized the face but could not immediately remember the name.
That was how little they had ever actually spoken.
The student hesitated for a long time before lowering his head.
"I'm sorry."
Do-yoon looked at him without expression.
"For what?"
"For... pretending we didn't know."
The student could not continue.
Was he apologizing for not stopping Tae-seong?
For laughing while Do-yoon was bullied?
For hiding the truth because telling it might hurt him too?
Do-yoon smiled bitterly.
It was strange.
The moment he gained power...
Apologies began to appear.
Once Han Myeong-jae moved and a lawyer stood beside him...
The vanished truth returned.
Only now did people start talking about justice.
When Do-yoon had possessed nothing...
No one looked back.
Do-yoon said nothing and walked past the student.
Once, he had wanted an apology.
He had desperately wanted someone to admit they had done something wrong.
But now...
Those words did not reach him.
It was too late.
Near the end of the school day, Park Tae-seong's parents arrived.
A black sedan stopped in front of the school.
Students along the hallways and windows looked down.
Tae-seong's father was the CEO of a local construction company.
Expensive suit.
Luxury watch.
Foreign car with a driver.
Even after hearing his son had caused a disturbance on the field, he entered the school with the same confident steps.
The moment he sat across from the auditor, he spoke firmly.
"Our son is also a victim."
Whispers spread through the hallway.
"A victim?"
"After everything he's done?"
Tae-seong's mother immediately supported her husband.
"Do you know how much stress Tae-seong has been under lately?"
"He acted emotionally because the school failed to protect him."
"Teenage mental health problems are extremely serious these days."
Do-yoon heard the words from a distance.
He did not even feel like laughing.
Park Tae-seong had bullied countless students.
Now he was being turned into the victim.
To his parents, the fault always belonged to someone else.
If their son used violence...
It was because of stress.
If they fabricated evidence...
It was because they were protecting their child.
Desire always stood on its owner's side.
People could change the truth as much as necessary to protect the conclusion they wanted.
Then an auditor dropped a thick file onto the table.
Thud.
"Very well."
