“Oh, my! I never knew! I apologize! You were the Clan Leader’s spy!”
“Don’t be sorry. Didn’t I tell you? It’s just a normal Horticulture Team. You don’t need to think about other stuff right now.”
“….”
Sung Kak quietly lifted the teacup and drank tea. But the hand was shaking. It was because he expected why Kang Hyuk came to visit him this night. He said, putting down his teacup.
“I knew this day would come. You are here for T.Y.C.”
Kang Hyuk was just smiling without answering. Pressed by the smile, Sung Kak jumped up.
He then took out a bottle of liquor from the display case, picked the stopper and gulped it down.
“Whew.”
He looked around Kang Hyuk.
“I’m sorry, I couldn’t bring up to talk without a drink.”
“I understand.”
“It’s a pretty long story. …will you listen?”
“I’ll listen as much as you need.”
The day dawned with the roaring of chickens.
“W-what happened?”
“Why am I here?”
As soon as the sun came up, five of the students opened their eyes and realized they were in a forest. The forest was some distance from the camp. Camp was connected to the real forest.
“Ugh, I have a headache.”
“What the hell happened?”
They recalled last night’s events. Apparently, they followed Ok Haemi for his belongings.
But then…
‘I remember following Teacher Ok.….’
Suddenly, their bodies did not move, and the voice did not come out. They couldn’t remember anything after that. Then two Teacher appeared with the whistle.
“You! Why are you here?”
“Go back to the camp!”
“Uh- O-okay, sir!”
The five second year student quickly returned to the campground, and Shim Gu, watching them from above the tree, grinned.
“You all are lucky you’re students, you immature punks!”
Last night, Shim Gu knocked out all the students who were after Ok Haemi and laid them here.
It was a job to clean up after the immature students, but he felt good doing it because it kind of brought him back to the memories of old days.
‘For some reason it reminds me of the old days.’
And it was also a night where he learned a lesson that he should not let my guard down.
The central section of the campground As soon as Nam Soang woke up, he immediately started meditating. After finishing the meditation, he asked T.Y.C.’s vice president, third year students beside him in a refreshed feeling.
“So, what happened? How many people are joining us?”
“…No one.”
“What?”
“No one is joining this time.”
“What did you say?”
Nam Soang was surprised. First night was an exception, but he expected at least few to have succeeded on the second night’s attempt. But there wasn’t any. It was a unexpected outcome.
“And there’s something else that happened last night. I couldn’t wake you up to report right away.”
“What is it? What else to report?”
“Yes.”
He spoke in a small voice.
“Many of our members have been arrested.”
“Arrested?”
“I mean, some got caught by the Teachers who were watching. They all got penalty points.”
“How did they get caught? What about the secret passage?”
“Well, the secret passage was the problem.”
The vice president scratched his cheek.
“The secret passage is gone.”
“The secret passage is gone?”
Nam Soang couldn’t understand this sudden situation. The secret passage had been handed down for generations, and had never been a problem. Hiding there, no Teachers found themselves, and they were able to do what they thought was what a true youth should do.
“What should we do? The members who got caught this time got a lot of penalty points. You know academy had been coming down on us pretty hard these days.”
Nam Soang became angry. He was angry that this had happened before he finished his term, and that he was not in the situation he wanted.
“We have no choice. I’ve got to talk to him.”
“What? Who are you talking about?”
“Our sponsor.”
He got up immediately, and headed for Bright Moon Building before he even went for breakfast. He had to meet their helper, Sung Kak.
“Teacher! Are you there?”
Nam Soang stood in front of Sung Kak’s Residence and sang Sung Kak. Cook greeted him at his call.
“What happened so early in the morning?”
“Is teacher here?”
“Yes, he just came back after finishing his training. Hold on a second.”
Cook went inside, and soon Sung Kak came out.
“What’s going on?”
“I need to speak to you in private.”
“Come in.”
At Sung Kak’s words, Nam Soang entered Sung Kak’s office. Sung Kak sat down on his seat and asked him.
“So, what’s the matter?”
“Last night, members of T.Y.C…”
“Yes, I heard. You boys did some crazy things, got caught and received huge penalty points.”
With that, Nam Soang bluntly asked.
“I want those penalties to be removed.”
“Why do you think I can do that?”
“I know you can. You have been doing it until now.”
Sung Kak was dumbfounded by bluntness. Nam Soang always has made unreasonable demands so bluntly.
“So, are you telling me to pack up my briberies and beg to other teachers? What makes you think that I have to do such again? You all have done nothing to be proud of.”
“Are YOU proud of things you have done?”
“What did you say?”
“You’ll be in a lot of trouble if I say anything. It’s not hard to imagine what might happen to criminal who are involved in bribery from parents to….”
At that moment, Sung Kak slapped Nam Soang on the face, and Nam Soang blinked at the unexpected situation. It was not the situation he expected. Sung Kak had always change his face as usual and do as he wanted when threatened. But he was now looking at Nam Soang with a cold face.
“Yes, I did something I can’t be proud of, but a student blackmailing a teacher with it? You should be ashamed!”
” Are you crazy?”