Chapter 101.2

(Continued)

Baek-seo couldn’t immediately understand what she meant.

“That’s just what I call it. Or in other words… a ‘mountain of corpses.’”

Baek-seo squinted her eyes.

“…Is it a place where the discarded ones were abandoned?”

Children who couldn’t endure the forced training during Golden Time died.

They were discarded.

So, the Head Principal had to dispose of them somewhere.

Chae-won nodded.

“No cremation? Just stacking them up in a place far from the Zero Zone?”

“Exactly. And they don’t even rot.”

“They don’t rot? Did they undergo some special treatment?”

“I don’t know. Probably only the Head Principal or her closest confidants know. What I do know is that the children who died in the Zero Zone are stacked up in some space beneath my hideout, barely decaying even after all this time. I once checked it out of curiosity, and I’ve regretted it ever since. It still shows up in my dreams sometimes.”

A mountain of children’s corpses.

And they weren’t even rotting.

Just hearing about it made Baek-seo have no desire to see it.

“Well, I’m sure the Head Principal had a reason for it. Probably not a normal one. The fact that she piled up the kids’ bodies in a place far from the Zero Zone and the fact that they don’t decay… It’s like they might be some kind of sacrificial offering to some mysterious power.”

“…….”

“I don’t know what it is. Figuring that out is your Disciplinary Committee’s job.”

For a while, Baek-seo remained silent, lost in thought.

Chae-won watched her quietly before flashing a bright smile and mouthing the words.

“So, where should we start with the Head Principal’s story?”

……

As Moon Chae-won’s testimony continued, the Disciplinary Committee officers were plunged into shock.

Park Minhyuk trembled, Ha Ye-song forgot her usual pranks, and Yoo Do-ha couldn’t relax her tense expression.

“I-I didn’t mishear that, did I…?”

Minhyuk’s voice quivered.

“Someone slap me….”

Smack!

“Ouch!”

Ye-song slapped Minhyuk hard, causing him to roll on the floor.

“It’s… It’s not a dream….”

Thud.

Minhyuk fainted.

Ye-song, still fixated on the glass wall, lifted Minhyuk up and slapped him again.

Slap!

“Huff…!”

Minhyuk regained consciousness.

“Ha, this is insane… What’s going on…?”

Doha sighed, holding her head.

The conversation between Chae-won and Baek-seo had been nothing short of shocking.

The Head Principal was an enemy.

The atrocities committed by the Head Principal.

The truth about the Zero Zone.

The deaths of many children born with innate magic power.

Baek-seo’s past as the Head Principal’s assassin.

The reason Baek-seo had been captured by Chae-won.

The fact that the Head Principal had targeted Woo-jin’s life.

And so on.

The Disciplinary Committee officers were overwhelmed by the sheer volume of disturbing information.

After about two hours, the story ended. When Baek-seo left the visiting room, the officers greeted her.

Minhyuk was frightened, and Ye-song looked bewildered. The only one who maintained a composed expression was Doha.

Just as Baek-seo was about to speak to them.

“You heard…?”

Smack!

Suddenly, Doha slapped Baek-seo across the face. Baek-seo’s head turned sharply.

Minhyuk and Ye-song’s eyes widened.

“D-Doha!”

“Yoo Doha, what’s wrong with you?!”

Doha, with a fierce look and a voice on the verge of breaking, murmured.

“Oh Baek-seo. Why… didn’t you tell us anything until now?”

Baek-seo had anticipated this reaction. Without even touching her reddened cheek, she looked at Doha with a gentle expression.

“The information was dangerous. It shouldn’t be mentioned under any circumstances, even accidentally, where ears might be listening.”

“Weren’t we supposed to be on the same side? That’s what I always thought! Ha, so you didn’t trust us, huh?”

“I’m sorry. I wasn’t confident.”

“Hey, Oh Baek-seo!”

Doha raised her voice and stepped closer, glaring at her. Ye-song, shouting “Doha, calm down! Calm down!” tried to mediate between them.

“Fine, let’s say you’re suspicious, good at putting on masks, calculating, and a sociopathic woman who doesn’t easily form bonds.”

“That’s… a bit too harsh, isn’t it…?”

Baek-seo awkwardly smiled.

Doha ignored her and continued.

“But didn’t we risk ourselves to save you last time? The leader almost died! And from what I’ve heard, we also turned against the Head Principal back then…. Even after all that, we didn’t feel like comrades to you?”

“…Yeah.”

“You’re saying ‘yeah’…?”

“You’re weak.”

At Baek-seo’s blunt response, Do-ha and Ye-song were taken aback.

“Uh…?”

Minhyuk, who was genuinely on the weaker side, felt as if he’d been stabbed in the chest.