Ch.407402 – Spanking

「Chat(300+)」

[Lee Bo-reum: NoName hurry up and pick me up]

[Seo Ma-ru: Where are you? If you’re nearby, I’ll come get you.]

[Cheon Saet-byeol: Sis, you need to get home quickly…]

[Teacher Shim Hyo-chan: I contacted your parents, just so you know.]

[Yoo Si-a: Are you okay? Are you hurt?]

[Seol Yoon-sul: (crying)(crying)(crying)(crying)(crying)]

The autumn wind is cold.

Today my bones feel especially chilled.

When I clench my teeth, one of them wobbles loosely.

[Teacher Gu On-yu: NoName, prepare yourself today ^^]

I don’t know why my steps toward home feel so heavy.

Surely there wasn’t even a speck of regret in my actions.

Thud-

I sat at the bus stop.

It feels like everyone is looking at me strangely.

The college student sitting next to me slowly inches away.

When I scratch my scalp vigorously, several strands of meter-long hair come out.

My hair is a mess, my clothes are a mess. I left school in such a hurry that I didn’t even think to use a cleaning spell.

Ten minutes until the next bus arrives.

I hailed a premium taxi, a privilege of the wealthy.

“Please take me to Gaepo Parthenon Apartments, Complex 1.”

“…I’ll serve you kindly and wholeheartedly.”

Vrooom-

About 5 minutes after departure.

The taxi driver hesitantly asked.

“Are you alright, miss? If you’re badly hurt somewhere, should we stop by a hospital first?”

“Ah… this isn’t my blood. I’m fine.”

“What? Okay.”

As soon as I get home, I need to figure out what to do with this blood-stained uniform.

Professor Cheon will be furious.

If I were a parent, I would have been just as angry.

That’s a parent’s duty.

When I get home, I should apologize sincerely without making excuses.

‘But did I really do something so wrong…?’

A sad, honest feeling wells up from one corner of my heart.

I used magic to seal the tissue of a student with a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament so they wouldn’t miss the golden time for surgery.

The student with first-degree burns wouldn’t have scars anyway.

For a person to die from excessive bleeding, they need to lose more than 1.5 liters of blood—50mL isn’t even close.

I could have used hallucination magic like I did with Kariri’s stalker.

Then it would be difficult to find evidence that I threatened them.

But I stopped because of a shred of conscience—making them live with etheric PTSD for the rest of their lives seemed too cruel.

‘I think this was the best I could do… Am I wrong, Hiasen, Niobe?’

To think the day would come when I’d want Hiasen’s sharp advice—I’ve lived to see strange things.

[Don’t do anything. Please don’t step up and live quietly like a mouse. What’s so hard about that?]

[If I hadn’t been there—]

[A village that can only be maintained by your presence would be better off cleanly disappearing.]

Despite being the Emperor of the Empire, he said it wasn’t his business whether the world ended or not.

What a ridiculous man.

His voice is so clear, as if he whispered to me just an hour ago.

Even the moment when he pressed a cold blade against my beating heart.

If only I could cleanly forget my past life…

Yes, just until I eliminate Walpurgis…

If I lose my memories, am I still “me”…?

“Should I drop you off at the main entrance? That’ll be 44,000 won.”

In the end, I arrived home in less than 30 minutes.

Slap-

I hit both cheeks with my palms to snap out of it.

‘It’s not a big deal, NoName. The world isn’t ending right now, and your family isn’t dying today or tomorrow.’

I just need to take my punishment like a child and be done with it.

Like a child.

Child.

“Ah…”

[39th floor.]

“Sis! Why are you so late!”

As soon as the elevator doors opened, Adella greeted me in her pajamas.

Why is she outside the apartment?

She examined my face continuously, panting like a retriever just back from a walk.

“Have you been waiting here the whole time? How did you know when I’d be back?”

My mind was so troubled that I didn’t text anyone.

“Our home is a complete Siberian tundra—how could I go in? And I had something important to tell you.”

“Something to tell me?”

“Listen carefully. Right now, your father and your school principal are at home, okay?”

I already knew from checking KakaoTalk after switching to airplane mode.

“How angry are they both with me?”

“Extremely-extremely-extremely-mega angry?”

“Ugh.”

I scrunched up my face.

“Go in and apologize no matter what. No matter what, sis. If you don’t, the situation will get really bad.”

“I was planning to do that anyway.”

“Don’t just say it—promise me. No, we need an even more certain promise… If you don’t get Father’s forgiveness today, I’ll wash out all my hair dye and run around naked in the streets.”

“How can you call that a promise…!”

“Even if I did that, it might not even overshadow your issue! Didn’t you check the internet on your way? The whole world is talking about you!”

I checked KakaoTalk but not the internet.

I don’t really want to know either.

‘This keeps making me feel like I’ve committed some terrible sin…’

Those students were perpetrators who drove a child to the edge.

I’m running around breaking my back trying to save even one more person.

Meanwhile, some people are trying to kill others for fun.

Jung So-hae was clearly pushed to her limit.

Thinking back to when I first met her, her emotions were so dead that it wouldn’t have been strange if she committed suicide the next day.

I suppressed the feelings welling up from deep inside.

I spread my arms toward Adella.

“Hug me.”

Without a word, Adella put her hands under my armpits and lifted me up.

“This is the first time I’ve hugged you like this. You’re really light.”

“Cheer me up.”

“There, there. You can do it. Just go in and say ‘I’m really sorry, I was wrong’—that’s all you need to say.”

At times like this, I really hate having a child’s body.

Getting emotional over nothing and being moved by trivial things.

I forcibly escaped from her embrace by pulling my arms upward.

I wiped my eyes with my sleeve and grabbed the front door.

“Why is this doorknob so cold?”

Adella silently pushed my back.

When I opened the door, a sub-zero wind rushed in.

The house was completely covered in hard ice and snow—the shoe rack, the wooden floor, everything.

I looked up to check the fire sprinklers.

As expected, they were frozen too, completely non-functional.

I never imagined that when she said the house was like a Siberian tundra, she meant it in a literal, physical sense.

“I’m home.”

“NoName, you’re back?”

“You took a long time.”

As soon as I greeted, the principal’s and Professor Cheon’s fierce voices were heard simultaneously.

Their voices echoed slightly.

They didn’t need to enhance their vocal cords with aura like that.

I carefully stepped on the thin ice.

“Would you sit here?”

The adults sitting side by side on the sofa pointed to the middle of the living room.

Even the carpet was frozen solid.

I knelt down on it.

Professor Cheon was the source of the cold wave.

Extreme cold air was blowing out in all directions, freezing all the furniture in the house.

The saying that Professor Cheon folds paper cranes when angry was true.

Dozens, hundreds of ice cranes with broken necks were piled up like mountains on the floor.

Okay, just this once.

A parent’s grace is as vast as the sky.

I bowed my head deeply—a head that had never bowed to anyone.

“I’m sorry. It was all my fault, Dad, Principal.”

* * *

“NoName, it’s not up to you to decide what punishment the perpetrators should receive. Are you a judge? Do you think we’re so pathetically powerless that we can only teach children at school instead of realizing social justice?”

“No, I don’t.”

“What do you mean ‘no’? Did you think you could do whatever you wanted because people pamper you so much? Did you think you’d get applause for breaking the legs of school bullies? You must have had your reasons, and you might feel wronged. But people will now think of you as a kid who can’t control her emotions. Forever! Listen carefully, you were just venting your anger.”

“That’s right.”

“You admit it and still did it? You’re really hopeless. What did you even learn at the Academy?”

It’s a repeating decimal, no—an infinite loop.

I’ve been kneeling for four hours now.

When I try to add a little aura to my knees because they’re cold, Professor Cheon ruthlessly suppresses my aura.

Dinner time has long passed, and a beautiful full moon hangs in the living room window.

“NoName, focus.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t wiggle your toes.”

“Yes…”

Whenever my head or eyes move even slightly, Professor Cheon points it out.

This is torture, if anything.

I’d rather have my ligament torn once and be done with it.

My legs feel like they’re getting frostbite, my back aches, and my ears feel like they’re bleeding.

Professor Cheon was much pettier and more nitpicky than I thought, and Principal Gu was a terrifying person who could spout harsh words all day.

Even things that initially sounded like good advice started to make me rebellious after hearing them repeated endlessly.

“You’re still not sincerely reflecting, NoName.”

“I am sincerely reflecting.”

“No. We’ve lost. Please forgive us for our limited capacity as parents and teachers.”

“I really am reflecting.”

“NoName.”

“Yes.”

“From now on, I’m going to administer corporal punishment. It’s because I’ve determined that our current educational methods can’t save you. Do you agree to this?”

“I prefer this way too.”

Yes, corporal punishment.

How wonderful.

Although educationally incorrect, corporal punishment has traditionally been the most efficient educational tool.

Finally, this miserable time might be coming to an end.

“Cheon Kyu-jin, go to the bedroom. I’ll stay in the living room with Name alone.”

Professor Cheon stood up and went to the bedroom without looking back.

Bang-!

The door closed hard due to the frozen hinges and contracted air.

“I think you understand why you’re being punished.”

“Yes. I can repeat everything you said from the beginning, Principal.”

“Good. Stand up and come to the Principal.”

Crack-crack-crack-

The ice connecting my knees to the floor broke.

Principal Gu grabbed my waist with her cold hand.

Then she lifted me up and laid me across her lap horizontally.

“…?”

I turned my head and frowned.

“How many spanks can you endure?”

“Uh… spanks?”

Not even a cane on the calves, but what is she… doing now?

I didn’t need to go back to my past life for this.

Isn’t it too much to receive a spanking at nine years old?

“Principal, this isn’t about endurance—”

“No problem then. Alright, 100 spanks.”

“No.”

“150 spanks.”

“…”

“Yes, 150 spanks. If you show even a little aura, we’ll start over from the beginning.”

“…”

Crackle-crackle-crackle-

Sparks flew from Principal Gu On-yu’s hand.

Black scorch marks rose with smoke where the sparks hit the icy floor.

She’s truly insane.

“NoName, bare your bottom.”

“What? Why…?”

“If it’s a spanking, I need to spank your bottom. Should I spank your pants instead?”

Let me correct myself.

She’s truly, truly insane insane.

No, she’s not even a woman.

‘No wonder Professor Cheon doesn’t see her as a woman, you old hag.’

“200 spanks.”

As if reading my thoughts, Principal Gu On-yu announced with a murderous voice.

I timidly lowered my pants.

“Name, I promised a bare bottom spanking, not an underwear spanking.”

“Yes…”

Only after suffering the humiliation of lowering my pink-striped panties in front of a strange woman did her nagging stop.

Goosebumps rose on my delicate skin as it met the cold air.

I will never again.

Smack-!

“Hnngh!”

“One.”

Tears welled up involuntarily.

It hurts.

It hurts a thousand, ten thousand times more because of the humiliation.

It wasn’t just about my bottom—my whole body felt electrocuted as the aura sent currents through me.

No, my bottom was also a problem—it hurt and burned as if I’d been hit with a hot frying pan.

Smack-!

“Haaugh!”

“Two.”

Smack- Smack- Smack-!

“Hng. Haak. Haaugh…!”

“Three, four, five.”

Even though I tried to clench my molars to get through this moment,

[Cast: Static Electricity Induction]

Zap- Crackle-!

“Hnnnnngh!”

“That’s six now. Still a long way to go.”

Humans are so powerless in the face of disaster.

This is hell.

“It… it hurts aaauuugh!”