“Hey! Have you heard the rumour?”

“What?”

“Early last evening the Maths Thug ran wild at the golf range with a knife in his hand.”

“Really? At the golf range? Why?”

“They say the second-year charity case was learning golf at that hour.”

“And??”

“He got beaten up by that charity case and in the end he was dragged off by the police.”

“Is a thing like that possible at our school?”

“I knew the Maths Thug was a lunatic to start with…… but he’s gone properly mad.”

A rising murmur.

The third year’s class one room, ordinarily quiet enough for the sound of a single needle dropping to be heard.

Because of an incident to be appalled at, the classroom was in an uproar from the morning.

Snap.

At the very front seat, the hand of a Kang Junu who had been solving maths problems stopped.

The content of the incident, still not taken in.

……Mad bastard.

Rage toward Lee Jangyong shot up in a moment.

A base human being who ruled over the pupils on the strength of mathematical ability alone.

Driven out of the school, it seems he has let go of the thread of his mind.

He dared take up a knife against the friend he himself had chosen.

It cannot be forgiven.

He set his mind to ask his mother, and to punish the man more cruelly.

“An emergency parents’ meeting has been called because of that incident.”

“It would be. To dare a knifing at Cheonghwa.”

“It’ll be noisy all day today, won’t it?”

“Heh heh. They say they’ve called that charity case and Pro An in too.”

“Why those two as well?”

“Who knows.”

At the end of the words the gazes turned quietly toward Kang Junu.

“…….”

As though by agreement they all shut their mouths.

The afternoon hours before the attempted murder.

The events among the Management Studies Society members, scattered wide among the pupils by KakaoTalk.

The trillion-scale assets of Ha Tae-ung, who accepted the vice presidency, were confirmed.

On the spot the parents’ association president’s son Lee Jeongjun resisted, and Kang Junu threw him out.

The president who has called the association in emergency today will use the Management Studies Society business as her pretext, and tie the attempt on Ha Tae-ung’s life in with it.

Snap.

In the hand of a Kang Junu whose thoughts had multiplied, the mechanical pencil broke.

Shff.

Kang Junu, working his smartphone at once.

Tip-tick.

He pressed one speed-dial number.

Tee-ree-ree-ree.

A short connecting tone sounded.

—Yes~ son. What is it, this early?

At her son’s call, the Ilseong Hotel chief Go Mihui answered gladly.

“Are you busy?”

—No? Why? Is something the matter?

“I should like you to come to the school.”

—Now?

“Yes.”

—Really? All right. I’ll come straight away.

Go Mihui did not ask twice.

To her there was nothing more important than her son’s business.

“I’ll send the details by text.”

Kang Junu’s manner of speaking, level and cold at once.

The call ended shortly.

“…….”

The third year’s class one room, which had been watching the call, sank into a deeper silence.

That Kang Junu would call his mother, they had not thought.

“I’ve been living too nicely lately. Haven’t I?”

The weighty message thrown out toward the class from the very front seat broke the silence.

The children who had been murmuring until a moment before drove their heads, every one of them, into their desks.

A war of the real royal families.

At a time like this only shutting the mouth and breathing preserves a life.

“You all know why I asked you to gather?”

The parents’ association meeting room, laid out in Cheonghwa High School’s new building.

The view of the school outside was best seen from there.

In a space the size of one classroom a long table for twenty is set.

At the head seat at the centre the parents’ association president Ju Miju sat.

To either side the officers fill the places in a row.

Rather than a parents’ meeting it was closer to a meeting of company people.

The parents’ association is made up entirely of mothers.

There is not one single father.

Ju Miju, boasting an overwhelming force among those parents’ association members.

In society the rumour of the nation’s ill-bred little shit goes round, but inside the Cheonghwa parents’ association it was not so.

The group ranking is at once the power ranking.

That even the Cheonghwa Group foundation chairman is pushed down by Ju Miju is the reality.

Woman though she is, the position of a Hanguk Group direct line is like that.

At present the vice president’s seat is vacant.

The treasurer Lee Gyeongja looked at Ju Miju with an uneasy gaze.

The air in the room is ominous, as though something is about to break.

Ju Miju’s poison-laden gaze glittered continually.

She is called Misery Ju even among the upper class’s connections.

“Yes…….”

“Good heavens, a knifing at a school…….”

“We shall have to protest strongly to the board by the parents’ association’s authority.”

The parents present are ten and more.

In their capacity as officers they raised their voices in indignation.

They were sensitive about the safety of their own children, more precious to them at any time than other houses’.

They were extremely angry at a disgraceful business breaking out at the site of a school’s safety education, where the security ought to be thorough.

“The chairman said she would replace the whole security line. It seems she’ll install more CCTV as well.”

It was the result of Chairman Gu Jayeon’s quick handling of the business.

“Today I called you together because there is a matter more important than that.”

Ju Miju’s voice, calm and at the same time carrying a strong will, overwhelmed the company.

“……??”

The parents wore puzzled expressions.

A matter more important than an attempted murder…….

“You know there is a cause behind this incident?”

“A cause?”

“……??”

The parents’ association officers, who cannot even guess at Ju Miju’s meaning.

Don’t tell me?

The treasurer Lee Gyeongja alone was in a state of having dimly caught on.

The one single pupil who collides with the parents’ association president Ju Miju’s son Lee Jeongjun.

Lee Gyeongja, who has faced that being directly, knows the other party is not to be taken lightly.

“The charity case.”

“……!!”

At the sound of charity case bursting from Ju Miju’s mouth the officers were startled.

They too have ears to hear with, and knew about the charity case Ha Tae-ung.

Haryun Group’s Chairman Ha Cheolgon’s grandson.

However much he has been driven out by the group’s family, the surname Ha is not to be taken lightly.

And yesterday’s business inside the Management Studies Society is a situation in which the rumour has spread wide among the parents as well.

Ha Tae-ung’s asset scale is on the trillion scale.

“He is a charity case driven out by the Ha house. You all know that fellow is stirring up discord in a peaceful school?”

Ju Miju brought out the main point.

“Does he not tell a lie that his assets are a trillion, and then provoke the able mathematical genius Teacher Lee Jangyong until he makes an attempted murderer of the man. Is that all? A pupil even enjoyed a secret love affair with a golf professional at the school.”

“A s— secret love affair?”

“I— is that really so?”

At the provocative statement secret love affair the officers opened their eyes wide and asked back.

Pro An Hyeonju, young and outstanding in looks, whom they know too.

She has a great deal of popularity among the male pupils in attendance.

From a parent’s position a woman professional golfer like that is a thorn in the eye.

And a secret love affair with a pupil?

“The two of them have been going about playing golf at the weekend. They had a private meeting, that is.”

At the words that they had played golf privately the officers were lost for words.

Each of them knew well in what manner their husbands use a golf course.

Most of them do not hesitate even at filthy behaviour, with entertaining for an excuse.

And if a male pupil with the blood not yet dry on his head meets his golf instructor privately…….

“I fear a rumour may get out.”

Ju Miju smiled faintly as the atmosphere of the room flowed in the direction she wanted.

Son of a bitch! I’ll make you morally beyond recovery!

The influence of the Cheonghwa High School parents’ meeting is extremely powerful.

That is why even the foundation chairman is at her wits’ end.

Tie Ha Tae-ung and the golf teacher together as a secret love affair and the pupil guidance committee can be opened at once.

If the parents’ association president requests the calling of a meeting, Ha Tae-ung cannot help being swept up in it.

Cheonghwa in particular is a private high school the education office’s breath does not much reach.

If the agreement of the full parents’ meeting is obtained, Ju Miju can push Ha Tae-ung’s expulsion forward too.

Knock knock.

Just then a knocking sound was heard outside the door.

“Come in.”

Ju Miju answered weightily, as though she had become a presiding judge.

Sliiide.

The meeting room door opened and three people stepped inside.

The head of academic affairs and two others, a man and a woman.

“Officers of the parents’ association, and President, I greet you.”

The head of academic affairs Wang Jindeok bent deeply at the waist toward Ju Miju and the officers.

By contrast, a beautiful boy in school uniform who does not so much as nod his head.

And beside him, standing with a troubled expression, Pro An Hyeonju.

“Is it because he’s a charity case that he has no manners?”

Ju Miju, opening the gunport of the attack first.

Ha Tae-ung, standing bolt upright, gazed at her quietly.

“Did a person who observes manners like that become the Nation’s Bitch over one piece of dried beef?”

“Wh— what did you say??”

(End of Chapter 118)