The vice principal realized that this was not going to end as a typical school violence incident.
Still, perhaps with some intuition, he began contacting the parents of the students one by one before assigning tasks on this side.
Of course, amidst all this, the slaps continued.
After relentlessly delivering light slaps only to one cheek, the first-year student who received the punches started to resemble their skin color until all the perpetrators were gathered in the vice principal’s office.
By the time the last student arrived and was similarly modified, the parents of those students began arriving at the school one after another.
Naturally, the vice principal’s office turned into chaos every time a parent showed up.
“Who did this to my child?” Some aggressive fathers even resorted to throwing punches, disregarding any notion of magical girls entirely.
It was expected that the body of the magical girl, which didn’t even suffer a scratch from the claws or talons of monsters, would remain unscathed by the punches of adult men.
“Are you okay?”
“What am I going to do about this slap, oh dear.”
The parents, realizing that I was not someone to be trifled with, started to worry only about their kids as if I didn’t exist.
Since it seemed that roughly enough people had gathered, I decided to express my anger first.
“Everyone, quiet.”
I slammed my legs down in front of the long desk in front of the couch, creating a loud noise.
Glass shards and wooden pieces shot out in all directions.
“Ahhh!”
“Ugh!”
The atmosphere that had been buzzing with concern for their daughters suddenly became silent with the screams, as everyone quickly quieted down.
With two claps, parents and school aggressors alike turned their gazes to me as I opened my mouth.
“So, why have I gathered you all here? Your daughters must all know, right?”
I glanced around the room filled with mothers, fathers, and students.
The students who were perpetrators probably noticed this a long time ago.
It was obvious who was gathered here.
Even if their heads were clouded by smoke, they knew better than the oblivious parents.
Mothers and fathers, equipped with the mindset of “my child would never do that,” nudged their daughters as if to ask what exactly was happening.
The disgruntled parents likely thought to themselves.
For a magical girl to step forward and slap, could there really be something wrong?
The collective emotions of unease and anxiety.
It was as if the police had suddenly barged into the school to slap the kids and gather them.
“……”
The perpetrators remained silent even as their parents nudged them.
In the end, I had to step in and get the parents to make the perpetrators confess voluntarily.
“You’re saying you absolutely don’t want to admit it, right? I’ll say it for you. Hand over your phones.”
“Han Yeseul, your phone.”
At that point, it was a few enlightening parents who became proactive.
In particular, after cooling down, one father snatched the phones from the hands of the perpetrators and submitted them to me….
“Oh no!”
“Why is this? Did something really happen?!”
The perpetrators who had stubbornly refused to hand over their phones now understood the atmosphere with the vice principal and reluctantly handed them over.
Since the desk in front of the couch was completely destroyed, the smartphones piled up on the sofa one by one.
Most were the latest models, as if they had been raised like precious treasures at home.
“Now, let’s see… Han Yeseul, right?”
The smartphone at the very top of the pile on the couch.
I looked at its owner, read the name on the name tag, and opened the messenger app to check the messages.
Oh dear, there are quite some colorful message anecdotes here.
“My dad is so pissed… he’s not giving me allowance again… I can just receive it from a punching bag… what’s the worry?”
With every anecdote I read, Han Yeseul’s face turned pale.
The one who swung a fist at me was the father of this perpetrator, and apparently, he has failed in parenting.
“Next… Park Suji, hey… not responding? I’m going to kill you? You’ll have to get beaten at school to hurry up and reply, can you see how clueless you are?”
The sinister anecdotes of the perpetrator students were being read in front of their parents one by one.
“Next is Kim Hyeji, lying about buying academy materials… get the money, if you can’t, you’ll get hit once for every thousand won….”
Hunched over with my elbows on my knees, swaying in an idle manner, I glanced up at the students and their parents standing.
Silence filled with tension enveloped the room.
“Hah.”
With a mocking smile and a shake of my body, I delivered the final remark.
“You’ve really raised some fine children, haven’t you?”
“Ah, dad, it’s not like that….”
It wasn’t just me who was shocked yesterday.
The fathers, suppressing a silent rage, maintained expressions devoid of emotion.
“…Is this real?”
“Mom, that’s not it….”
“Don’t call me mom, if that’s real, then I’ve never had a daughter like you.”
“Mom!”
The steadfast belief of mothers that their children could never do such things was shattered.
After all, I had even brought the withdrawal records from Shiyeon’s bank account, leaving them with no way to deny it.
Trying to defend their child at this point would only result in the pain of shattered trust and expectation.
Some parents acted as if they had never had a daughter and began to leave the vice principal’s office.
I called out as they leaned their heads aside toward the hidden scenery beyond.
“Excuse me? I understand you’re shocked, but please don’t leave?”
“…Yes.”
With the parents brushing off the hands of the perpetrators and returning to the vice principal’s office, they came back inside.
The daughters cautiously extended timid fingers, but as soon as they touched them, they received a sharp slap, and those fingers retreated.
The visit to the school was not merely motivated by the need to confront those who had bullied Shiyeon.
There was also a definite need for a clean resolution with no room for error.
From the perspective of the victims, that was all that mattered.
“Whatever you plan on doing to your daughters at home is none of my business, but you need to hear everything and provide compensation.”
“…Yes.”
“Now, first of all, the total amount taken from our Shiyeon is 920,000 won plus 8,000 won….”
I was shocked when I connected to Shiyeon’s smartphone for internet banking last night.
Over the course of just a month of bullying, they had managed to extort around a million won.
Even considering the rising cost of living, that was still quite a lot of money taken in a short period.
Of course, that was money that would be spat out by the perpetrators and their parents.
I wasn’t concerned about who had taken more; I just wanted them to pay right there on the spot.
In the tense atmosphere where everyone was merely glancing at each other, the first father who threw punches took a step closer.
“What’s the account number? I will send 1 million won right away on behalf of the other parents.”
“Just put it directly into this account.”
First, we resolved the financial issue, adding more as needed.
When I flashed Shiyeon’s account number, the deposit was successfully completed.
Still, there was much left to say.
I turned to the vice principal and spoke.
“I would prefer if the students who were aggressors transferred to other schools.”
“That might be a bit difficult….”
The vice principal was the one most aware of the school’s situation.
Of course, considering that it was only the beginning of the first semester.
But this wasn’t a suggestion; it was a demand.
“Oh really? Then… I will withdraw from Incheon.”
“Excuse me? What do you mean by withdrawing….”
The vice principal was the first to get flustered by this news.
Of course, this was of half-hearted bravado.
It’s not easy for magical girls to change regions, and I, of course, preferred my familiar home in Incheon.
However, it was also true that my departure would not bode well for those living there.
A pristine area with a one-digit percentage of monster appearances.
Such an image was not something that could be easily created but was entirely dependent on the magical girl of that region.
The news of a magical girl being replaced significantly impacts property values.
Especially after Senior Jiun had completed her magical girl transfer in Sokcho, I heard that the property values there had fluctuated for a while.
“And I will clearly say that I am leaving because of the school violence of certain students from a particular school.”
“Yes, what?!”
“Oh, I don’t care about any of that; if it gets too messy, we can just leave.”
With a carefree expression, I waved my hand dismissively.
The first to put it into words would be those hearing my proposal.
So, it was a mutually beneficial choice.
“That’s right; either you can become a clean school that takes care of school violence….”
The subsequent implications followed if the school ignored my suggestion while trying to protect its own students.
“Or you can kick out a magical girl who maintains a one-digit percentage of monster appearances from her region, and have the notoriety for being the hotbed of school violence spread across the country, leading everyone here to be counted as the traitors responsible for the plummeting property values in the metropolitan area.”
Long explanations of negative ramifications followed.
In effect, the school found itself without options.
And in truth, even if they heeded this proposal, Shiyeon had plans to transfer schools anyway.
After all, once a student has been bullied, they cannot just blend harmoniously into a scenario even if the main aggressors have disappeared.
“Now, make your choice.”
