2 – Rule 1. The disciplinary committee leader is never late (2)
These were Woojin’s thoughts.
“If it was unavoidable to be late in order to solve an important event, then that’s that.
Even the reason for taking the subway so late.
By suggesting he had already intercepted Anomia’s plan, everything would have logically fallen into place.
So, Woo-jin was planning to casually assess the situation and say, ‘I have seen through all of your plans.’
Meanwhile, the male student with tattoos widened his eyes.
‘The prefect badge…?’
Naturally, a prefect was one of the groups that needed to be strictly monitored.
This was because they were the enforcement group in charge of regulating illegal activities in each school’s jurisdiction.
So, Anomia had a basic understanding of the form of the prefect badge.
‘Damn, is this… the badge of Asung High School’s Prefect…?’
The badge that Woo Jin was wearing was the prefect’s.
The male student with tattoos couldn’t shut his mouth.
‘I thought he looked familiar…! This is the face I saw in the documents!’
He didn’t recognize him immediately because he was wearing a cap.
An Woo-jin, the new Prefect of Asung High School.
He was one of the strong players who could not assure victory, despite collecting every piece of information and meticulously planning operations.
‘Why is the prefect here…?’
The male student with tattoos harbored doubts.
‘Asung High’s prefect? Why is he here?’
‘I had already grasped that he was the first to arrive at school every day…?’
‘He has no reason to be here, right? Any Asung kid here now will assuredly be tardy…!’
Members of Anomia muttered, plunged into confusion.
It was the natural conclusion to the rising question.
An Woo-jin, the new Prefect of Asung High School, had been an exemplary student who made it to school first every day since his first year. The members of Anomia were already aware of this information.
If an Asung student was here now, tardiness was inevitable.
But why? Why was the prefect, who had been further from lateness than anyone else, that model student who hadn’t shown an ounce of deviation from the rules… here, at this time, on this subway.
‘There’s no way that he would..Oh!’
They arrived at the same conclusion simultaneously.
Because there was only one conclusion that makes sense after all.
‘Could it be, he figured out our plan…?”
“Were we already in the palm of that bastard’s hand…!?”
That was all.
There could be no other reason why the Head of the Student Leaders of Asung High School would be here.
They made painstaking efforts to keep the information from leaking.
They could not even guess how the information had leaked.
What a terrifying man he was.
“……?”
Woojin was perplexed but hid his confusion.
Because he didn’t expect them to deduce his inferences on their own.
It was rather good because now he didn’t need to bother explaining.
It was time to suppress now.
Woojin silently approached the rest of the Anomia organization’s members.
With his game knowledge, he judged that those small fry should be manageable on his own.
“We have no way out! We must fight!”
“Capture him right away!”
“All at once, attack!”
Escaping from a rapidly running locomotive was difficult at the moment.
Like prey struggling to survive in front of a predator, the Anomia organization’s members charged at Woojin all at once.
“Ugh!”
“Keuk!”
It wasn’t much of a fight.
Each time Woojin deftly swung his three-section-staff, drawing a half-moon, a member of Anomia writhed in agony or fainted.
The impact might not have been this powerful even if beaten squarely with a sledgehammer.
What’s more, they couldn’t avoid being electrocuted throughout their bodies while barely deflecting his attack that also carried a thunderbolt’s power.
“Urggh!”
A tattooed male student, who thought Woojin let his guard down, mustered his last strength and raced towards him.
Zwing!
The axe imbued with magic energy cleaved the air sharply.
Woojin dodged with a slight twist of his upper body.
Thump!
“Argh!”
The tattooed male student got hit in the abdomen by Woojin’s three-sectional staff and rolled over on the floor again.
“Urgh! Uagh!”
He vomited up what he had in his stomach, looking up at Woojin with eyes that couldn’t believe what just happened.
‘I can’t… beat him…’
The gap in their skills was noticeable.
While he thought there was no business before money, Woojin comfortably shattered that stereotype.
Finally, the tattooed male student reached his limit and fainted.
The clash continued.
Anomia screamed and fought bravely like a Spartan soldier.
But to the other students present, it was merely a one-sided massacre by Woojin alone.
All the students, including the original protagonist Lee Tae-sung, who were seizing their chance, couldn’t even bother to interrupt and just swallowed their dry spit.
***
The train returned to its original route, and all the Anomia members who had been occupying the train were arrested and transported away.
Our school’s discipline committee barely managed to help out in time.
Now my subordinates will interrogate the Anomia members and dig deeper into the incident. They’ll take care of it.
‘Anyway, Anomia won’t grow any bigger here.’
Anomia can no longer expand its power and will collapse on its own later on.
Of course, there was a chance that Anomia could make a comeback if things went weirdly.
But if such signs showed, I wouldn’t have left it alone.
‘The Mafia, on the other hand, is the problem.’
In contrast, the Mafia, at odds with Anomia, will later inflate their power and start stirring the waters in the black market, becoming a “huge evil.”
But I considered the Mafia not as an eradication target, but as a “subject of attention” on the next level down.
‘They’re going to collapse anyway.’
From Noble mtl dot com
The Mafia will fall apart soon after becoming a giant evil. As an event villain, the reason for its empty end was not mentioned. Maybe it had something to do with the sudden death of the next boss.
So, all I needed to do was to keep a close watch on the actions and movements of that successor. Finding him would come first, but there was no need to rush.
Anyway, incidents involving Anomia and the Mafia were issues that could be handled at my level.
“Good job, chief.”
“You handle the rest. Take a rest.”
“Yes!”
The transportation team member of the Aseong High School student council saluted me and left. We are both sophomores, but due to our roles, he ended up paying me respect.
Oddly intriguing.
Hearing formal language from a classmate.
With such thoughts, as I watched the departing figure of my subordinate, a familiar voice touched my ears.
“You’re truly outstanding, boss, right from the first day.”
The voice was gentle and soft.
Before I knew it, another member of the student council had silently come up beside me. Swiftly, I turned my head in her direction.
Into my sight came a female student, a red armband on her left arm, a sword hung around her waist.
The armband was edged in silver.
It was a sign of a vice-president.
“How is the field direction?”
“I came to see you for a while.”
Oh Baek Seo.
Starting this year, she became my classmate who took on the role of the executive administrator of the student council, and the vice-president.
Hearing the report of a disturbance that started on the subway, she led student council members to this place. Even though there was no need for the vice-president herself to come, she said she came to check up since she heard I was handling everything alone.
Oh Baek Seo is a multitalented person showing adequate capability in many areas, a popular figure with excellent martial arts abilities.
As such, Baek Seo not only became a figure admired throughout the student council but throughout the whole Aseong High School.
Many wondered why such a person was not appointed as the president of the student council from the start. The reason was that Baek Seo did not yearn for the position. She felt it would be too much for her to handle.
‘It’s a huge relief that she didn’t have ambitions for the presidency…’
If she did, I could not have even dreamt of becoming the president.
Anyway.
Knowing Baek Seo’s state of mind from the beginning, I never considered her a rival for the presidency.
I just treated her casually.
This aspect seemed to have led others to perceive me as a person capable of taking things in stride, even when dealing with Baek Seo, and it earned me plus points in being recognized as presidential material. I heard about this at our last get-together.
‘The problem lies in how student council members perceive things.’
I wondered about the members.
They might find it challenging to follow me instead of Baek Seo.
If I were a member, I would have done the same.
Therefore, Baek Seo’s existence alone was a reason for me to try hard to be a more perfect president.
“Isn’t it true? If it weren’t for you, the situation would have blown up?”
Baek Seo studied the documents on the clipboard in her hand and spoke in her usual kindly manner.
“Many students on the subway must have suffered some damage. It’s undoubtedly affected the railroad business as well. The railway operation was fully stopped. Our Chief, you have somehow managed to get in debt various places at once. Well done.”
A smile, akin to a kindergarten teacher addressing a child, spread across Baek Seo’s face.
It felt like she might pat my head at any moment.
“That’s a relief.”
I responded casually, as if I was throwing a glance at the brim of my hat.
Baek Seo looked confused.
“You say it as if it’s nothing?”
“I just did what I had to do.”
“Is that so?”
Yes.
I just did what I had to do.
Baek Seo stared at me and stroked her chin.
For some reason, a fresh smile flowed over her face.
“I thought perhaps the Chief was late on his first day…”
“Absurd. You think I would do such a disgraceful thing?”
“Indeed. The Chief wouldn’t do that.”
For some reason, a cold sweat trickled down my cheek.
“By the way, that’s impressive. I had no idea you knew about Anomia’s plan in advance. I had no clue. Couldn’t you have given me a hint?”
I had no idea either….
“I wasn’t certain. Plus, if it were to leak that I knew their plan, control of the information would be compromised. I was being cautious.”
I shrugged my shoulders and mumbled naturally.
“Well…, you have to become someone the Chief can trust.”
Baek Seo shrugged her shoulders in mimicry of my prior action.
“Not that I don’t trust you.”
“I understand. I was just speaking about the methodology.”
Baek Seo looked at the subway where the incident had occurred.
“Obviously, I can’t excuse tardiness. I’ll submit an exemption for you, so you just attend the opening ceremony. The first squad will take care of the scene.”
“I’ll leave it to you. Report if anything unusual occurs.”
“Okay, I got it.”
My role here has ended for now.
“Well then, I’ll go back to overseeing the field.”
Baek Seo said as such, turned her back, and began to walk away.
But why is she going in the wrong direction?
Ah, she must be going to the restroom.
In any case…, It’s completely over now.
‘Phew….’
I let out a deep sigh of relief internally.
Being late had become unavoidable.
Because on the surface, I had become the character who ‘prevised Anomia’s plan and suppressed them’.
Rather than my image becoming worse, I ended up achieving some results from the first day.
There must have been a reason in the heavens.
Looking at the clear sky, I showed my gratitude. Damn it, I had faith!
Then, Baek Seo seemed to think of something, suddenly stopped her feet, and turned back.
Just after she reached the blind spot, where the members busy recovering the site couldn’t see past the corner.
Baek Seo’s graceful smile was directed at me.
“Director.”
“?”
Baek Seo softly beckoned to me, waving her hand lightly.
“Come over here.”
What’s this about now?
I squinted my eyes and walked over.
I wondered if this was some sort of prank before going away.
As I entered the blind spot, Baek Seo’s hand headed towards my head.
Swish. She straightened my hat and then began to loosen and re-tie my necktie.
“What are you doing?”
“It was slightly bothering me. It was crooked.”
Did it get crooked because of the fight?
“It’s nice of you…, but do you need to do this here?”
In this somewhat secluded place.
Baek Seo looked into my eyes with a meaningful smile and whispered.
“You know, people might mistake us for a couple or something if they see how close we are. If you want to continue this, then go ahead.”
“If it’s like that, no thanks.”
Baek Seo’s words were on the spot.
We are the Student Council that strictly enforces against immorality.
We should not even drop a hint of a dating atmosphere, as we must uphold more than anyone the prohibition rules against relationships. Including the rule specified in the school regulations of Asung High School against dating, claiming it’s a distraction from academics.
A strange silence followed.
Meanwhile, Baek Seo’s soft touch skillfully knotted my tie into a neat shape.
I swallowed a dry lump.
I felt strangely nervous.
What’s with this feeling?
Finally, my tie was tied up.
“All done.”
“Thanks for your help.”
However, this guy wouldn’t remove his hand from my tie.
Does he have something to say?
“…Baek Seo?”
“We’re in our second year now.”
At my calling, Baek Seo spoke.
His voice was soft.
“That’s true.”
Baek Seo removed his hand from my tie and made eye contact again with a bright smile.
“Section Chief.”
“Huh?”
“Take good care in our second year too.”
Suddenly?
‘Ah.’
Come to think of it, today was our first day as the Section Chief and Deputy Chief, right?
His words seemed to mean a nice exchange of ‘good luck’ to each other.
‘Sweet…so sentimental.’
The corners of his mouth lifted slightly.
It was a given to respond in kind to such things.
“I will be counting on you as well.”
After exchanging courtesies, he stepped back.
Bending his head, he inspected and felt the tie around his neck.
Perfectly tied in the shape of a knot.
His multi-talented character was just like a blank canvas.
“You tied it well, for someone who doesn’t wear a tie.”
“I practiced.”
“Why?”
“Just because.”
Huh?
The blank canvas, smiling faintly, bypassed me and left.
…
I had arrived at school.
Given that I was already late, I decided to skip the ongoing commencement ceremony and headed directly to the student council office.
In the room steeped in tradition, there was a calligraphy piece with the slogan ‘For the Revival of Mankind’ hung high on the wall.
‘I should apply for an exemption from being late first.’
Even though the blank canvas said he would take care of it, I didn’t want to burden him further with these matters.
Attendance is taken electronically. I must already be marked tardy. Therefore, I just needed to submit a request for exemption from being late or absent on the school’s website, and then the AI would determine if the reasons given were valid and give a verdict.
‘Huh?’
… Why had it already been submitted?
The submitted request was in the ‘Processing’ status?
I scrutinized the submitted request.
[ Request for Exemption from Lateness or Absence ]
─ Name: Woo Jin An
─ Reason: In line with my role in the student council, urgent matters had forced me to violate the school arrival time. Therefore, I would like to be recognized for regular attendance in accordance with Article 32, Clause six of the School Rules. Enclosed are supporting documents for my claim.
─ Attached file: Student_council_activities_Woo_Jin_AN.PNG [Download]
─ Proxy: Vice President of Student Council, Baek Seo Oh
So, the blank canvas had submitted it.
The application was submitted at the time I was arresting the Anomia gang.
The attached file contained case documents I had never seen before.
‘This…this…’
Ha.
A hollow laugh escaped my lips.
Once an application is approved, there is no way to verify what it contains. It must have happened once school started.
I withdrew the submitted application and filled out a new one.
I decided to keep this case a secret from the deputy.
I wondered whether I should be grateful to the deputy chief for going to such lengths to help me, or resent him…
I pondered on this for a long time.
* * *
“Ms Se Ah, are you well?”
“Yes, I’m perfectly fine~.”
The impeccably dressed high school student, clad in the black uniform of Ah Sung High School, Se Ah, laughed as she answered her smartphone.
Her eyes glowed, almost fox-like.
“My school’s head of discipline personally watched over me. From day one I was involved with the school’s disciplinary team, and even got into debt… It’s quite a predicament, isn’t it?”
Se Ah said, her words full of youthful wit and sarcasm.
She was the girl who had been targeted by Anomia during the subway incident.
While Anomia gave no signs of their acts, Se Ah easily realized she was the target.
Yet, as if nothing happened, she remained calm and composed.
“Ms Se Ah… from now on, please refrain from commuting alone. Anomia has targeted you, as you know. Even though the head of discipline at Ah Sung High School helped you out this time, it doesn’t guarantee that something like this won’t happen again.”
“Oh dear, this is difficult, isn’t it?”
“Please don’t get too excited… this is serious.”
A sigh sounded from the smartphone.
“By the way, I didn’t realize the head of discipline at Ah Sung High School would have figured out Anomia’s plans… We failed to realize it ourselves.”
“Hey, Unni Jung Mi. Do you know something weird?”
“What do you mean?”
With a little chuckle, Se Ah laughed deviously.
“In the beginning, I was saying that I caught the wrong subway? That’s why I was late?”
“……?”
“Anomia must have tailed me stealthily while moving fluidly. That’s how they managed to attack the train I switched to later, right? But the point is that you, Chief of Discipline, happened to be on the exact same train I boarded later. How could this have happened?”
Sae-Ah tilted her head with amusement.
“That person.”
Suddenly, Sae-Ah’s voice quieted, and despite her still smiling, there was depth in her tone.
“They were checking all of Anomia’s actions in real time.”
An Woo-Jin, the chief of discipline, didn’t just stop by figuring out Anomia’s plans in advance.
They went one step further.
Sae-Ah felt something like an obsession from An Woo-Jin.
It was something she could barely approach.
“So? What about the other organizations?”
If this is the situation with Anomia, imagine the larger organizations.
─ I see… I understand what you mean.
“Wow~ You didn’t become the chief of discipline by beating the Five Hundred for nothing. Terrifying, really.”
Sae-Ah returned with a wry tone.
When she decided to enter Ah Sung High School, she had no particular interest in the Discipline Chief.
She was only faintly curious that someone other than the famous Five Hundred had become the chairman.
She didn’t expect this much.
Sae-Ah chuckled to herself.
“I’m starting to get interested.”
So, on the first day of school at Ah Sung High School.
Freshman Lee Sae-Ah lazily arrived late, leaving a record of being the last student to go to school.