Chapter 9

EP 1 – Cause of Death

"You...! You uneducated...!"

The parent who had spilled coffee on me thrashed about as if to hit me.

The homeroom teacher and the other parents all joined together to stop them.

But I spread my arms and approached the thrashing parent without hesitation.

"Ah, go ahead and hit me. Hit me."

"Insup!"

Bang Jeong-a was worried that I might actually get hit, but as I approached, the parent stopped thrashing.

I looked up at the six parents and the homeroom teacher with a smile.

"You can't hit me, can you?"

"What is this...!"

"Why not?"

Suddenly posing a quiz, everyone was at a loss for words.

I didn't drag it out and gave the answer.

"Because if an adult hits a minor, things can get very serious. Legally, it's considered aggravated assault. It might be different if it were just the two of us, but in a public place like this, there's no way to hide it."

"Ha..."

"It seems you're quite angry, but you actually know what I'm talking about. You know that hitting me now could ruin your life instantly."

Everyone was silent.

"This is what the law is for—to prevent people from hitting each other. But your children hit me, and our orphanage high school student retaliated. That's why things have come to this, isn't it?"

"..."

"Look, we've already broken the law, and according to the law, both sides should be punished. Both sides will suffer. That's why we're here to make this as if it never happened. Because if your children's actions are recorded, it could affect their middle school and high school admissions, right?"

"..."

"I'm not saying anything extraordinary. I'm just summarizing what we all know in a more refined language. Right?"

The adults nodded with blank expressions.

I nodded back, satisfied with a smile.

"Then we can just part ways and pretend nothing happened. But if you keep making a scene, cursing, shouting, and throwing paper cups at our orphanage teacher... I might not want to agree anymore, you know?"

The homeroom teacher, who had already experienced a smooth agreement with me, sensed that something was going wrong and quickly tried to mediate.

"Come, come, everyone, you're all too excited to have a proper conversation..."

"Teacher, seven years."

"Shut up, just...!"

"I'll be an adult in seven years, when I turn one year older next week. If I file a complaint and meet with the education board officials, will you be able to continue your career? Do you think I'll forget this incident? You look a bit too young to retire in seven years, so make your own judgment."

The homeroom teacher sat down with a look of lamentation, wondering when the authority of teachers in Korea had fallen so low.

"But you can report it now. There are six parents here, so you could probably find a good lawyer. Do you think we don't have any connections just because we don't have parents? Our director, Moon Chung-jae, is a deacon in a large church and has a baptismal name. Do you think he's been wasting his social life? If we start making a big fuss, contacting the Children's Rights Center, the education board, the local MP's office, and the local TV station, who do you think will be in trouble? Not me. It will be your children and your social standing."

After my long speech, my throat was dry, so I drank the cold coffee the homeroom teacher had left.

"Phew..."

Now, everyone in the room was looking at me as if I were a monster.

If I were in their shoes, I'd probably scream and run away if a fifth-grader acted like this.

"If you understand the situation, let's just part ways without any further words. I want to apologize for throwing the paper cup at Teacher Bang Jeong-a, but since you won't, I'll just leave. I won't apologize for spilling coffee either, so don't bother with any small talk."

I dragged Teacher Bang Jeong-a, whose eyes had already lost focus, out of the room.

That's how this incident was resolved with a smooth agreement from both sides.

Oh.