Ch.194194 – The Labyrinth Called School 3

# 194 – The Labyrinth Called School # 3

[Kwon Sua Suddenly Announces Retirement]

[The Reason Behind Her Transfer to Yeongji High School?]

[Spotlight on Incidents at Currently Trending Daejeon’s Yeongji High School]

[Series of Missing High School Girls and Refusals to Attend School or Work—]

“Idols really are something else.”

Jeongseok smirked as he looked at the buzzing internet news on his phone. The incidents that had been internally covered up and downplayed by the school were now being stirred up by reporters.

“Student! I’d like a word with you!”

“I’m not a suspicious person, I’m a reporter!”

The school was filled with strangers, frequently thrusting microphones or phones at students, demanding statements.

Mid-May, after midterm exams. A warm spring day.

Yeongji High students could hardly focus on their studies.

On the other hand, some students found excitement and entertainment in the current situation.

“I probably shouldn’t say this, but it feels like a movie.”

“What’s even happening right now?”

First-year high school students were still closer to children than adults. They found these unusual events novel and stimulating, feeling as if they were personally experiencing something momentous.

Events that would be recorded in history.

By this point, various stories were spreading from student to student.

Stories that Yeongji High School was built on a burial ground, making it haunted.

That geomantically, the school was built in a location where it never should have been.

That even shamans didn’t want to visit this ominous, dangerous place, and so on.

“I didn’t expect rumors to spread this far.”

Jeongseok was surprised by the level of interest and rumors that exceeded his expectations.

The influence of idol Kwon Sua had drawn reporters’ attention to Yeongji High School’s “Yeongji Foundation,” revealing that their ancestors had actively collaborated with foreign powers and committed pro-Japanese acts, and that they were still involved in various corruptions that frequently made the news.

“Exposing election fraud in the presidential and general elections would finish them.”

Jeongseok’s father was the mayor. His grandfather had also served as mayor in this city. Jeongseok knew well that there had been corruption in the process.

He knew they had colluded with local influential figures to gather votes, conducted illegal election campaigns, and accepted improper requests.

“If we expose all this, it would cause an even bigger explosion. It would be the catalyst.”

In the Ha Yeongwon Pirates’ secret base, Jeongseok announced moving to the second phase. This phase meant elevating the city’s problems to a national level.

However, Yang Juhui, who was listening, felt somewhat conflicted.

“But they’re your father and grandfather. Wouldn’t exposing your family’s corruption be dangerous in many ways? They’re still your family.”

“That’s exactly why I’m doing it.”

Jeongseok respected his father and grandfather, but he despised them even more. Because they had turned a blind eye to many things while sitting in positions of power.

Jeongseok recalled why he had wanted to become a prosecutor.

When Bong Jiyeon’s sister, Bong Seyeon, died and the culprit was caught, if his father had done his job properly, the situation might not have escalated so much.

“This is my family’s ledger of corruption. I’m sending this to the broadcasting station under the name ‘Ha Yeongwon.’ It will play a big role in the upcoming election.”

Banners reading “Mayor Jung Man-sik, One More Time Despite Everything” were fluttering throughout the city. With the world buzzing about the upcoming election, Jeongseok planned to spread Ha Yeongwon’s name nationwide.

“Are you sure this is okay? I’m already getting an incredible number of DMs and calls!”

After retiring, Kwon Sua had turned off her constantly ringing phone completely.

The problem had grown too large for her to handle on her own.

If they expanded into politics as Jeongseok planned, it would reach a level that high school students couldn’t manage.

“Unnie! Look at this! Na-yu folded a raccoon out of paper! Unnie!”

Pat-patpat-.

Kang Na-yu, who had been playing with Teacher Hong Miri, tugged at her sister Yu Dahui’s sleeve. Yu Dahui looked at her younger sister Kang Na-yu with a calm expression.

If they were going to stop this, now was the time.

Of course, no one verbally suggested stopping.

Everyone wanted to see the end of this runaway log rolling downhill. They wanted to experience firsthand how this burning log would eventually burn out.

“Still, this is a gentlemanly approach. I originally planned to blow up the power plant near the city with explosives. I was thinking of causing a blackout across the city.”

Kwon Sua shuddered at Jeongseok’s words. Blowing up a power plant with explosives? It wasn’t the kind of idea a high school student would normally have.

While she was thinking how fortunate it was that plan had been scrapped, Yu Dahui asked:

“These aren’t plans you could make alone. I see now that you had a collaborator. Is that how you’ve been able to operate without getting caught until now?”

“Yes. I actually wanted to keep it secret. The reason I was able to recover my memories from when I was five was because that person helped me. We met at a family gathering.”

Click-.

When Jeongseok turned on the TV with the remote, the news was in full swing. There was a buzz about the Yeongji Foundation’s chairman being summoned by prosecutors after evidence emerged that massive amounts of money had been used without clear purpose.

“Huh?”

Yang Juhui, watching the news, tilted her head in confusion.

The chairman’s face appearing at the press conference was different from what she remembered.

The chairman was a very young man.

Barely over thirty. Yang Juhui could immediately recognize who he was because his face resembled someone.

# # #

Reporters entering the Yeongji Foundation chairman’s study were overwhelmed by its size and scale, leaving them speechless.

Even for veterans who had visited various scenes and experienced many things, this place was too unfamiliar.

The chairman’s study resembled a treasure vault or museum. Unidentifiable objects were displayed in glass cases, some decorated with ominous animal taxidermy or human skeletons.

News director So Jae-su had a good eye since his days as a reporter. He could tell that many of the items around him were authentic.

His eyes were drawn to a painting of Ivan the Terrible in a frame.

It depicted the elderly, deranged Ivan the Terrible embracing the corpse of his son after realizing he had beaten his tsarevich to death with his staff.

“The chairman is entering.”

Camera flashes erupted at the secretary’s announcement.

The young chairman Cheon Boseong sat in the prepared chair as numerous microphones pointed at him. In this place where only selected reporters were allowed, So Jae-su slightly admired the man jokingly referred to as the city’s daimyo.

‘He’s young. Worthy of being called the 21st century Gatsby.’

Cheon Boseong’s wealth was inherited from his parents. Their parents had also inherited vast amounts of wealth from their parents.

The Cheon family had accumulated wealth since ancient times, and many of their methods were improper.

There were even claims that the series of incidents occurring at the Yeongji Foundation were the blood price for the foundation’s betrayal and corruption.

Of course, Director So didn’t believe such stories. Students being captured and killed to atone for their sins?

It was too far-fetched to publish as an official article. But the moment he entered this study, So began to think these rumors weren’t entirely false.

‘There are too many superstitious objects. I don’t think this is simply a rich man’s hobby.’

So recalled the missing high school girl, Gu Hyena.

She was his friend’s daughter.

After losing his own child at a young age, So had cherished and raised his friend’s daughter like his own.

He had become her father in place of his busy friend who was always traveling abroad, and had been present for all her important moments from her first steps to her high school entrance.

‘Hyena might not be related by blood, but she’s practically my daughter.’

That’s why he couldn’t easily refuse when she asked him to help her become an actress.

Thinking that this young rich man might be connected to the disappearance of the foster daughter he had poured so much affection into made him furious.

So far, So had been a man who covered up many things for money and deliberately exposed others, which had helped him reach his current position, but now he desired fierce justice and personal retribution.

“I’ll take questions now.”

When Cheon Boseong opened his mouth, many reporters raised their hands.

So was one of them.

When Cheon Boseong pointed to So, feeling his turn had come, So asked directly:

“Are you, as the chairman of the Yeongji Foundation, connected to the series of student disappearances?”

Hup-huk- The sound of reporters gasping could be heard. It was a question different from what had been agreed upon.

The reporters present and their broadcasting and newspaper companies received enormous amounts of money and advertising from the Yeongji Foundation.

With the scene being broadcast live, they had agreed to exchange perfunctory questions about “the series of incidents” and then disband, but So had refused to comply.

‘No amount of money matters anymore.’

At the age of 50, he had realized the true duty of a reporter.

He wanted to know the truth and share it. The truth that pierces people’s hearts like a dagger.

“No comment.”

Cheon Boseong answered briefly.

Although he chose not to answer, in a sense, this was as good as a significant response.

As reporters began to stir at the unexpected situation, someone raised their hand.

He was a young, passionate reporter. An eccentric who had switched from being a police officer to a reporter.

Despite not being called on, he stood up and shouted:

“There’s a name that keeps coming up in these ongoing incidents! Who exactly is Ha Yeongwon? I’ve heard that the Yeongji Foundation is deliberately trying to hide that name!”

Thwack-!

The young reporter Kim Da-jeong held out an envelope of money in front of the camera.

“This is a check I received from the Yeongji Foundation in exchange for not mentioning the student named Ha Yeongwon at today’s press conference. I’m sure other reporters received it too!”

The reporters were greatly flustered.

Content that wasn’t in the script kept erupting. Some perceptive individuals wondered if this surprise incident was also part of the script, but they soon changed their minds.

Why would the young chairman broadcast something disadvantageous to himself live? Everyone acts for self-preservation. There was no reason to self-destruct in front of the entire nation.

Everyone looked at the young chairman.

He kept his mouth shut until the stirring reporters all quieted down, and only after about 10 minutes, when a deathly silence weighed on everyone’s shoulders, did he slowly open his mouth.