SRC 42

Chapter 42

After Jun finished his confession, Saint Teacher used teleportation magic so that he could leave the principal’s office without running into the other students.

Thanks to that, Jun arrived right in front of the classroom door, wiped his face clean, and entered with a composed expression.

“Now, I will hear your side of the story.”

Only then did Saint Teacher call the remaining three students into the principal’s office.

Finally able to speak, the children hurried to offer their excuses.

“Don’t believe what Jun said earlier!”

“He’s accusing us without any evidence.”

“We treated him so well as friends. It doesn’t make sense for the principal to personally interfere over a simple conflict between friends.”

At that bold statement, Saint Teacher’s eyes gleamed.

“Each of you can take responsibility for those words, correct?”

“Of course!”

“That’s an obvious question.”

“We did nothing wrong.”

At their confident attitude, Noah, who had been standing behind them, placed down the crystal orb he had developed.

“Then shall we see whether the truth matches what you’re saying now?”

The shameless confidence they had just shown disappeared the moment they saw Noah’s crystal orb. They swallowed nervously.

Just from their tense expressions, it was obvious they lacked confidence.

“One by one, place your hand on it and say the same thing again,” Liam ordered.

Even at his command, the three students hesitated to extend their hands.

“If you keep hesitating, I’ll believe everything you said is a lie. If you truly think Jun is lying, raise your hand confidently and say so.”

Aiden also pressured them.

At that moment, one of them gathered the courage and placed his hand on the orb first.

“We did nothing wrong. The fault lies with Jun, who falsely accused us innocent friends.”

As soon as the first student finished speaking, the crystal orb turned murky gray.

“So even you think your words are lies.”

Noah immediately announced the result.

“T-that can’t be. Isn’t the orb malfunctioning?”

“Noah’s orb does not malfunction. Are you daring to doubt my invention?”

“I spoke sincerely—how can this be the result?”

The first student, clearly angered by the outcome, protested strongly against Noah.

At that moment, Emma pushed her way forward and spoke toward the orb.

“I want to beat these three up right now if that’s what it takes to reform them.”

The moment she finished speaking, the crystal orb turned bright blue and emitted a clear light.

“See? The orb reacts to my sincerity.”

Now that they could no longer deny the orb’s effectiveness, the three began revealing their true colors one by one.

“Shouldn’t he be grateful that we even accepted such a pathetic kid as our friend in the first place?”

“We just cared for him in our own way.”

“Aren’t there many different kinds of friendships?”

Even while keeping their hands on the orb, they insisted they were right.

Naturally, the orb never once turned blue.

Instead, it grew murkier and murkier, eventually turning almost black.

“You will not take a single step out of this principal’s office until the truth comes from your mouths.”

Saint Teacher gave them a final warning.

The members of “Deulsamo” standing behind them also pressured them silently with their gazes.

The three, who had been busy making excuses, eventually began confessing one by one.

With every detail revealed, the expressions of everyone else in the room grew darker.

What they had done was far beyond something that could be dismissed as a mere conflict between friends.

Listening to it all made it clear how much Jun had suffered.

At least it was fortunate they had discovered him relatively early.

“Good work speaking honestly.”

“Then… are we being let go?”

“Yes. Instead, you will be completely released—from the Academy.”

“What do you mean by that?”

For the confused students, Liam kindly added an explanation.

“It means you will never again be allowed to set foot in this Academy.”

“W-What? Why us…! We told you everything honestly like you said!”

Saint Teacher’s sharp gaze pierced them.

“Be grateful that this is all you’re receiving because you spoke honestly. Otherwise, I might have had you charged under Imperial law for assault and intimidation.”

Each word that slipped through his clenched teeth carried weight.

Hearing Saint Teacher speak while suppressing his anger, the students were too frightened to say anything further.

“You should be thankful for the principal’s kindness. Otherwise, I would have made sure you could never hold your heads high in this world again.”

From behind, Liam lowered his head slightly and whispered loud enough for the three to hear.

“No need for the student council to handle this anymore. You’re no longer students of our Academy.”

Aiden sneered at them.

Emma delivered the final blow to the three now wearing tearful expressions.

“If you knew from the start that this was wrong, you should have stopped immediately. You tightened the noose around your own necks.”

Reflexively touching their own necks, the students lowered their heads.

Even when class time came, Siana and I were still curious about the boys’ punishment.

“What do you think happened to them?”

“I don’t know, but Senior Liam and Senior Aiden must have given them an appropriate punishment.”

Since they were taken to the student council room, they would likely be referred to the disciplinary committee.

I only hoped the boys who bullied him would receive proper discipline and change their ways.

What worried me more, however, was the boy who had been bullied and would have to continue attending school.

“Do you think that boy who was bullied is okay?”

“It seemed like he didn’t really have other friends and just ended up hanging out with them.”

“Then does that mean he’s alone now?”

“The other students in his class probably don’t know the situation.”

The reason it had been so hard to find him at first was because the bullying hadn’t been obvious on the surface. The other classmates didn’t even realize it was happening.

So they probably wouldn’t even guess why the boy suddenly ended up alone.

And since it wasn’t their problem, it was doubtful they would even care.

“I can’t help but worry. Should we go check on him?”

“You’re thinking the same thing as me.”

Siana and I clasped hands.

“Let’s go see him during the next break.”

As soon as class ended, we moved without delay.

I hesitated because I didn’t know which class he was in, but Siana immediately said he was in Class D.

“Did you memorize every student’s face?”

“No, just the first-years.”

“That’s still impressive…”

While I looked at Siana with admiration, we quickly arrived at Class D.

Looking in through the back door, I immediately recognized the boy’s back.

He was hunched over like a shrimp, almost burying his head in the desk. Even from a distance, he looked like a frightened hamster trembling in fear.

We walked past the students of Class D and approached him.

“Hi.”

The boy lifted his head toward the sound of my voice.

“O-oh, hi.”

Fortunately, he seemed to recognize my face right away.

But the wariness on his face didn’t fade easily.

“Did everything get resolved?”

“…I’m not sure. For now, I said everything I needed to say.”

The deep worry still hadn’t left his face.

“Trust Senior Liam. He’ll definitely repay them for what they did to you.”

And since they were taken to the student council room, Aiden and my sister surely wouldn’t let those boys off easily either.

After all, they were the protagonists of this world. There was no way they would overlook something unjust.

“I hope so.”

Jun gave a weak smile at my words.

Still, it was a relief that he could smile at all.

I held out my hand first.

“I’m Olivia Bardedor. What’s your name?”

I had already heard his name from Siana, but I introduced myself on purpose so he wouldn’t be startled.

“Ah, I’m Jun Rubelrn.”

“I’m Siana Kaibe.”

“O-oh, I see.”

Jun awkwardly took each of our hands.

It seemed uncomfortable for him to greet us with both hands at once.

“Jun, since we’ve met like this, how about we become friends from now on?”

“Friends?”

“Yeah. I told them earlier—you’re someone who’ll become my friend in the future.”

“You didn’t just say that?”

“I meant it.”

At my serious attitude, Jun’s eyes trembled.

Siana added gently,

“I’m sorry I couldn’t help you directly. I thought bringing someone else was the best option.”

“So you were the one who called Senior Liam. No, that was more than enough. Thank you.”

“So we’re friends now, right?”

At Siana’s repeated question, Jun hesitated for a moment before slowly nodding his head.