The Regressed Chaebol Grandson Finds It Hard to Forgive - Chapter 56

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 56. Kneel! (8)

Ding~♬ Dah-ruh-rang~♪ Dah-dahng~♬ Dah-rah~♬

Monday morning.
The man An Jong-wook was leaning back in the principal’s office’s leather chair, letting time drift by at leisure.

He savored his twilight years while appreciating the classical violin piece he habitually enjoyed, as always.

He came to work each day grateful for the fact that even with age, he still had work to do.

An Jong-wook, who had endured forty long years in the teaching profession.

He began his teaching career from Cheonghwa’s earliest days.

After graduating from Seouk University’s Korean Education Department, he first took up the pen as a teacher here at Cheonghwa.

Having been born on an island in Gyeongnam, this level of success was no small achievement.

As a result of spending decades of his teaching career at Cheonghwa, he had come to enjoy the leisure that the position afforded him, living comfortably.

Personally, he owned two apartments in Gangnam’s earmarked redevelopment zones.

It was the outcome of purchasing properties quietly recommended by a Cheonghwa student’s parent during his prime teaching years.

The apartments he had purchased with great effort and by taking out loans had become golden eggs in the present day.

Their value had increased more than tenfold.

He had no worries about making ends meet.

Not long ago, he had torn down the house where his elderly parents from his hometown had lived and built a vacation home by expanding the lot.

Once retired, he could spend his twilight years fishing, as he had enjoyed in childhood.

His children had also secured good positions thanks to the connections made at Cheonghwa.

His severance package was generous, and if he received it as an annuity rather than a lump sum, living expenses would be no problem.

The bribery culture unique to Cheonghwa High School, persisting and maintained in the background to this day.

The amounts hardly deserved to be called mere bribery payments.

Especially once seated in the principal’s chair, a single letter of recommendation could place considerable sums into one’s hands.

Above all, the principal’s letter of recommendation from Cheonghwa High School functioned as a free pass to most universities, including Seouk University itself.

As a result, parents of students who had maintained decent academic records could only light their eyes with eagerness.

The money accumulated in his possession over time exceeded a billion won.
Of course, he had buried it all in overseas stocks.

A method specially taught to him by a former student he had graduated from Cheonghwa as a homeroom teacher.

“Uneventfully…… just finish my term uneventfully and retire well.”

These days, An Jong-wook prayed every day for the school to remain peaceful, with a heart even more anxious than an end-of-service soldier.

“Even now, thinking of that moment makes me dizzy.”

He recalled an incident from just recently.

The Outcast—no, the hidden young master of the Ha Ryun Group—and a minor friction with him.

Had he not been able to resolve it with money, he would have faced dishonorable dismissal over that affair.

Whoosh.

As the violin piece ended, An Jong-wook rose from his seat.

He picked up the coffee cup in his hand and moved his steps.

He approached the window and appreciated the beautiful landscape of the school as May drew to a close.

It was a repeated daily routine whenever he came to school.

Cheonghwa, situated on the prime real estate in the heart of Gangnam.
Its grandeur differed from any other building or place nearby.

Aged trees of various kinds and school grounds so quiet you wouldn’t believe they were in the midst of the city…….

“Huh??”

The principal’s face, An Jong-wook, looking out the window froze in place.
The atmosphere of the school grounds was different from usual.

Classes would begin soon.
Of course, students should not be wandering outside classrooms.

Even if noticeable, it amounted to nothing more than athletics-gifted students loitering before heading to class late.

But today the atmosphere was decidedly strange.

A large group of students moving toward the Grand Auditorium.

Though no sound was audible, the students appeared somewhat excited, their manner extraordinary.

“What on earth…… are the teachers doing!”

An Jong-wook’s irritation flared.

If he could just endure uneventfully until the end of the year, he could receive the golden key and flowers the director would gift him and depart.

A life well-lived, digging steadily in one well.

With only a few months remaining, he wanted not the slightest blemish on his record.

An ominous premonition seized An Jong-wook.
The entire Cheonghwa campus appeared electrified.

A current he had never felt before.

It felt as if something would definitely break loose today.

Knock, knock.

Suddenly, a knock sounded from outside the door.

“Come in.”

Creak.

Before his words had even finished, the door swung open urgently and a man stepped inside.

“Teacher Kim, what’s the matter so early in the morning?”

An Jong-wook’s mood had turned sour.

Kim Chang-yong, homeroom teacher of Year 2, Class 3—someone he rarely had occasion to meet.

Given the incident from not long ago, An Jong-wook did not hide his emotion and regarded him with a cold gaze.

Moreover, An Jong-wook harbored a slight bias against the non-academic teachers.

He disliked that he had come to the principal’s office without an appointment first thing in the morning.

This place, Cheonghwa, was a den where a teacher conducting himself with moral integrity in his teaching profession was utterly worthless.

One had to compromise adequately with injustice and turn a blind eye to live comfortably at Cheonghwa.

“Principal! It’s a serious situation!”

Teacher Kim Chang-yong spoke in excitement, his face flushed.

At that moment, An Jong-wook’s expression darkened.

Serious?
On this pleasant Monday morning in May?

“Wh-what is it? A serious situation!”

An Jong-wook felt fear grip him.

“Right now, Teacher Lee Jang-yong has taken a student to the Grand Auditorium, disputing their grade.”
“What, what! A student? Who? What grade problem?”

An Jong-wook’s mind became a complete mess in an instant.

He himself had yet to be informed of the results of this exam.

Student grade-related work was handled entirely by the vice principal and the academic affairs director.

Now that he thought about it, today was the midterm exam score release day.
Unlike other ordinary schools, which do not release scores due to Ministry of Education policy, Cheonghwa releases everything publicly.

A site producing the apex predators of a competitive society.

Because students directly witnessed their results, they worked harder.

More than ordinary people’s imagination, those belonging to the upper class competed madly and survived fiercely.

They themselves knew well that protecting the honor and wealth they had accumulated was no easy task.

They competed as ruthlessly as ordinary folk could not fathom.

You could see it simply by looking at the students currently attending Cheonghwa High School.

Externally, the academic environment was perfect, but the desperation unfolding within was beyond imagination.

Even smoking athletics-gifted students concentrated until their lungs nearly burst during training.

An Jong-wook, watching from nearby, understood their daily lives better than anyone.

Worse, if a problem with grades had erupted, his otherwise perfect retirement would come to nothing.

“Principal, have you not heard about the Year 2 perfect score?”
“Perfect score? No. Year 2… Lee Jung-jun?”

Lee Jung-jun was the only Year 2 student with a high possibility of a perfect score, consistently maintaining the top rank school-wide.

He was the beloved son of his mother, the parents’ association president.

The bribery payments coming from that household alone amounted to tens of millions of won.

And that Lee Jung-jun had received a perfect score.

“It’s not Jung-jun.”

“It’s neither.”

“It’s Tae-ung.”
“Tae-ung? Who is th—… Gasp!”

In an instant, An Jong-wook’s face went pale white.

An Jong-wook had not revealed Ha Tae-ung’s identity to the teachers, having cautioned them repeatedly.

Instead, he had barely prevented the matter from spreading widely by issuing stern warnings against discrimination toward the Outcast.

Other than homeroom teacher Kim Chang-yong, none of the other teachers knew this fact.

“Teacher Lee Jang-yong is convinced that Tae-ung committed fraud.”
“Th-then!!”
“In the Grand Auditorium, they’re having a math problem showdown…….”
“This son of a bitch!!”

An Jong-wook’s shout rocked the principal’s office.

“Accusing the Young Master of fraud? I’ll kill this bastard!!”

Thump-thump-thump-thump.

Before Kim Chang-yong could stop him, An Jong-wook bolted from the principal’s office.

“Ugh…… I don’t even know anymore.”

Kim Chang-yong shook his head watching An Jong-wook’s retreating figure.

And immediately hurried after the principal.

Ha Tae-ung, who until just recently was nothing more than an Outcast student.

His status had been completely overturned.

The South Korean royal family—something even a teacher like Lee Jang-yong could do nothing against.

A Monday morning at Cheonghwa High School had descended into chaos.

A moment just before the time bomb detonated—chaos itself.

* * *

‘Me……!’

Lee Jung-jun could not accept this situation in any way.

He could not believe he was in the middle of this commotion.

Just arriving at school, he thought he would reconfirm his place at the top of Year 2.

Except for one math problem, he had not stumbled on anything.

Even the third-year senior who had left him traumatized had lost points on a math problem.

He thought it an impassable barrier that no one could escape, and hoped for next time.

But now that lowly Outcast bastard had achieved a perfect score in math—in all subjects…….

Unable to believe it, his pride wounded, he walked to the Grand Auditorium to confirm.

To put it coldly, an incident like an exam question leak simply did not happen at Cheonghwa High School.

Had it been possible, his seniors would have extracted one, as would he.

Exam questions strictly managed at the Cheonghwa Group level.

So it was impossible for an Outcast like him to breach such thorough security and obtain the test papers.

Yet contrary to such facts, the matter had grown.

Lee Jang-yong, Water-Skimming, had escalated the situation.
To think of stepping into a math problem showdown with an Outcast out of pride…….

Lee Jung-jun was also an opponent he could not easily face.

His pride was wounded.
But he had to admit Lee Jang-yong’s skill.

“If you’re burdened, you don’t have to do it.”

The provocation from Oh Jung-hye, who taught mathematics to classes 1 through 3, was added to the mix.

Pah-bah-bah-baht.

He was supposedly Lee Jung-jun, Year 2’s top student overall.

“What do you think Lee Jung-jun will do?”
“The opponent is an Outcast. Would Jung-jun back out with his pride hurt?”
“Our senior Jung-jun will show us.”
“Of course! What kind of person is Senior Jung-jun.”

Nearly every student except third-year had gathered in the Grand Auditorium.

The students wanted an impactful, dramatic story like a scene from a striking film.

‘That bastard…….’

Lee Jung-jun glared at the Outcast, the very source of this uproar.

Their eyes met again.

Pop!

A brief spark ignited.
At that moment, the Outcast Ha Tae-ung’s lips parted slightly.

“Scared?”
“……!!”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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