Chapter 407

「Chat (300+)」

[Eborum: No Name, please accept me 2nd try.]

[Semaaru: Where are you? If you’re nearby, I’ll come pick you up.]

[Saetbyeol: Older sister, you should probably come home soon…]

[Teacher Sim Hyo-Chan: Your parents have been contacted. Just know that for now.]

[Yusia: Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?]

[Yoonseul: (Crying)(Crying)(Crying)(Crying)(Crying)]

The autumn wind is cold.

Today, it feels particularly bone-chilling.

When I clench my teeth, one of them wiggles.

[Teacher Ku Wonyu: No Name, prepare yourself today ^^]

I can’t figure out why my steps toward home feel so heavy.

I certainly don’t regret my actions.

Thud—

I sit at the bus stop.

I feel like people are looking at me strangely.

The college student sitting beside me slowly moves away.

When I scratch my scalp, a few strands of hair a meter long fall out.

My hair’s a mess, my clothes are in disarray, and in my rush to leave school, I didn’t even think about using a cleaning enchantment.

Ten minutes until the next bus arrives.

I caught a model taxi, a privilege of the rich.

“Please take me to Gaepo Parthenon Apartment Complex Block 1.”

“…I will serve you with utmost care.”

Whoosh—

After about 5 minutes of departure,

The taxi driver hesitantly asked, “Student, are you alright? If you’re seriously hurt anywhere, we can stop by the hospital first?”

“It’s not my blood… I’m fine.”

“Ah… Yes.”

First thing when I get home, I need to figure out what to do with this blood-stained uniform.

Professor Cheon will surely be furious.

Even if I were in the parents’ shoes, I would have been furious too.

Because that’s the role of being a parent.

As soon as I get home, I have to sincerely apologize without excuses.

“But did I really do something so wrong…?”

A small voice of resentment bubbled up in my heart.

I used magic to seal the torn ACL of the student to prevent missing the golden time for surgery.

The student with first-degree burns will hardly have a scar.

To die from excessive bleeding, one would need to lose more than 1.5 liters of blood, and 50 mL is nowhere near enough.

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

That way, evidence suggesting I coerced them might have been hard to find.

But it felt too cruel for them to carry Ethereal PTSD with them for life, so a small sense of conscience stopped me.

“Am I wrong… Hiassen, Niobe? Was this the best choice?”

It’s strange that I want Hiassen’s stinging advice today.

[You should do absolutely nothing. Please, don’t intervene at all and just live quietly like a little mouse. What’s so difficult about that?]

[If I hadn’t been there—]

[The town that only exists because you’re there might as well cease to exist cleanly.]

Even though he was the emperor of an empire, he said that the world’s destruction wasn’t his concern.

What a laughable guy.

His voice is as vivid as if he whispered it an hour ago—all the way up to the moment when he plunged a cold blade into my beating heart.

I wish I could have cleanly forgotten my past life…

Until the time I get rid of Falphurgis…

Am I still ‘me’ even if I lose my memories?

“Shall I stop here in front of the main gate? That’ll be 44,000 won.”

It took less than 30 minutes to arrive home.

Slap—

I slapped both cheeks to shake off my daze.

“It’s not that bad, No Name. The world isn’t ending, and I’m not dying anytime soon.”

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

Like a kid.

A kid…

“Ah…”

[39th floor.]

“Big sister! Why are you so late?”

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

Why is she outside?

She was panting like a retriever that just came back from a walk and kept checking my face.

“Did you wait here the whole time? How could you know when I’d arrive?”

My mind was in such turmoil that I didn’t even send messages to anyone.

“Our house is like Siberian tundra. How can I even get in? And I have something important to tell you.”

“Important message?”

“Listen closely. Dad and the principal from your school are home right now.”

I already knew that from checking my messages and putting my phone into airplane mode.

“How mad are they at you?”

“Extremely?”

“Ouch.”

I contorted my face.

“You have to apologize. You absolutely must. Otherwise, the situation could get super complicated.”

“I already thought about doing that.”

“If you don’t get Dad’s forgiveness tonight, I’ll dye my hair back to its natural color, strip naked, and wander the streets!”

“You call that a threat…!”

“Because of you, the situation could get buried if you act this way. Didn’t you check the internet on your way? The whole world is talking about you, nothing else!”

I saw the messages but didn’t check the internet.

I didn’t really want to know either.

‘Just this keeps making me feel like I committed some unforgivable sin…’

Those students were the perpetrators who drove someone to the brink.

I’ve been running around trying to save as many people as I can.

Someone, however, is playing around trying to kill someone else.

Clearly, Jung So-hye was pushed to her limits.

Recalling the first time we met, she seemed emotionless, like someone planning to commit suicide the next day.

I held back the feeling swelling up from deep inside me.

I reached out my arms towards Adella.

“Hug me.”

Without hesitation, Adella slipped her hands under my armpits and lifted me.

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

“Cheer me on.”

“Absolutely. You’ll be fine. Just go in there and say, ‘I’m sorry. I was wrong.'”

Being small is so annoying at times like this.

I get upset over trivial things and get moved by minor matters.

I pulled my arms upward and forced myself out of her embrace.

I rubbed my eyes with my sleeve and grabbed the entrance door.

“Why is this door handle so cold?”

Adella silently pushed me from behind.

As soon as I opened the door, a cold wind hit me.

The house was covered in hard ice, from the shoe cabinet to the wooden floors.

I looked up at the vents and sprinklers.

They were also frozen solid and not working at all.

I didn’t imagine that her describing our house like Siberian tundra was so literal.

“Back.”

“Is No Name here?”

“It took long enough.”

As I greeted them, the stern voices of Principal Ku and Professor Cheon echoed simultaneously.

Their voices reverberated slightly.

There was no need to enhance their vocal cords with aura.

I carefully stepped across the thin ice.

“Would you like to sit here?”

The adults sitting side by side on the couch pointed to the center of the living room.

Even the carpet was frozen hard.

I knelt directly on it.

Professor Cheon was the source of the cold wave.

Arctic temperatures radiated from him, freezing all the furniture.

The saying that Professor Cheon ‘folds his learning’ when he’s angry is true.

Broken ice pieces, numbering in the dozens or even hundreds, piled up like a mountain on the floor.

Just this once…

The grace of parents is like the heavens.

I bowed my head, unaccustomed to bowing down anywhere.

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

***

“You’re not the one to decide what punishment the perpetrators deserve, No Name. Are you a judge? Do we appear pathetically weak because we can’t realize social justice and just teach children in school? Not at all.”

“No.”

“Not what? Because people have been cheering you on, did you think you could do anything? Did you think people would applaud when you dislocated the legs of school bullies? Sure, you might feel wronged, but people are now going to think of you as someone who can’t control their emotions. And they’ll think that way forever. Listen carefully: all you did was let out your frustration.”

“That’s right.”

“Do you really understand that? You truly seem irredeemable. What have you learned at the academy?”

It’s a repeating decimal, or rather, an infinite loop.

I’ve been kneeling for four hours already.

Whenever I try to layer a bit of aura on my aching knees, Professor Cheon forcefully suppresses and extinguishes it.

The evening has long passed, and the beautiful full moon hovers behind the living room window.

“No Name, focus.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t wiggle your toes.”

“Yes.”

Any slight movement in my neck or eyes triggers a correction from Professor Cheon.

This is torture, if one can call it that.

Better to rupture an ACL and be done with it.

My legs are going numb, my lower back aches, and I feel like my ears could bleed.

Professor Cheon turned out to be much more devious and mean than anticipated, and Principal Ku was truly scary, capable of hurling harsh words all day.

Even the initial sound advice seemed annoying after being repeated endlessly.

“You’re not genuinely remorseful, No Name.”

“I am genuinely remorseful.”

“No, we lost. We, as your parents and teachers, lack the ability to properly guide you. Please forgive that.”

“I really am remorseful.”

“No Name.”

“Yes.”

“I’m about to administer corporal punishment. I’ve judged that the current method of education is ineffective with you. Do you agree?”

“I prefer that option.”

Oh, corporal punishment.

How wonderful.

Educationally, corporal punishment is wrong, but historically it’s been the most efficient teaching tool.

Finally, this dreadful time will come to an end.

“Mr. Cheon Kyujin, go into the bedroom. Na-me and I will remain here in the living room.”

Mr. Cheon Kyujin immediately stood up and walked away into the bedroom without looking back.

Bang!

The frozen hinges and contracted air caused the door to slam shut loudly.

“I think you fully understand why you’re being disciplined.”

“Yes. I can follow everything Principal has said from the beginning.”

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

The ice connecting my knees to the floor cracked apart.

Principal Ku gripped my side with cold hands.

Then she lifted me and laid me across her knees.

“…?”

I turned my head, puzzled.

“How many spanks can you endure on your backside?”

“Eh… backside… spanks?”

What…

This isn’t a matter of endurance.

Was it necessary to come all the way back from a past life for this?

Is it not excessive to receive corporal punishment at the age of nine on my behind?

“Principal, this isn’t a matter of endurance.”

“No issue. I understand. One hundred.”

“No.”

“One hundred fifty.”

“…”

“Good, one hundred fifty. If you use a single bit of aura, we’ll start from the beginning.”

“…”

Zzzzzt—

Sparks jumped from Principal Ku Wonyu’s hands.

The sparks hit the frozen floor, creating a black char mark with rising smoke.

She’s truly insane.

“No Name, show your backside.”

“What? Why… why?”

“Because you can’t spank your backside unless you show it. Should I spank your pants instead?”

Correction.

She’s crazily insane.

No, she’s not even woman.

‘So, that’s why Professor Cheon didn’t seem feminine… this old crone.’

“Two hundred.”

As if reading my mind, Principal Ku Wonyu declared with an ominous voice.

I timidly lowered my pants.

“Yes…”

“Na-me, we agreed on backside spanks, not underwear spanks.”

“Yes…”

After enduring the humiliation of lowering my striped pink-lined underwear in front of a stranger, she finally stopped pressuring me.

The tender skin met the freezing air, causing goosebumps to rise on my bottom.

I will never…

Thwack!

“Oof!”

“One.”

Unknowingly, tears welled up in my eyes.

It hurts.

But the shame is multiplied thousands, tens of thousands of times.

It’s not the pain in my backside. Between the electric current she sends through my aura, it feels as if my whole body is being electrocuted.

No, my backside also hurts. It feels like being struck by a hot pan, burning and searing.

Thwack!

“Hooww!”

“Two.”

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

“Haaak! Haaauuugh…!”

Even as I tried to grit my teeth and endure,

[Invocation: Static Induction]

Crack! Zzzzzt!

“Uuuughh!”

“Now that’s six. We’ve got a long way to go.”

Humans are terribly powerless against natural disasters.

This is Hell.

“Aaah… it hurts! Huuugh…”

***