In the end, the homeroom teacher chose to run away.
There wasn’t much they could do.
It’s their fault for not being more careful about who they accepted money from.
Though it probably wasn’t their intention, thanks to that, they’re also going to get on the chairwoman’s bad side.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the teacher gets replaced soon.
I’m not sure what will happen with the bribe, but as long as they don’t lose the money they’ve already received, they might still live well even after going to jail.
Thinking that way, I could somewhat understand why so many economic criminals commit such crimes.
If they can hide the money well, they can use it when they get out of prison.
“Ha.”
So-hee let out a confident laugh and plopped down in her seat.
“But really, did you spend tens of billions just to win over one teacher?”
“Huh? Of course not. It’s not just about buying off one teacher. You’d be better off asking Senior Yang Hye-in for the details. I just added a spoonful.”
It was true that she only added a spoonful.
Yang Hye-in probably knew much better how to bribe someone.
It was curious how someone who used to just work as a maid knew about these things, though…
Maybe Yang Hye-in had her own ways of confronting things head-on.
If you can avoid the other party’s suspicion, there’s nothing you can’t do.
And if a maid brings in billions of won in cash, it’s only natural to assume that the money doesn’t belong to the maid but to someone behind her.
No matter how rich someone is, they don’t spend half their wealth on a bribe.
Bribes are only given when the person expects to gain more in return.
The reason Eugene Group could spend billions on a bribe is that even that amount of money wouldn’t be a huge blow to them.
Even among rich Koreans, there were those who collected sports cars as a hobby, so if they used that kind of money for bribes, how much could they spend?
Strictly speaking, this was part of Choi Na-kyung’s ‘hobby’.
After all, Choi Na-kyung’s greatest interest seemed to be Ye Sara.
“I’ll cover the money spent.”
At my words, I heard someone gulping around me.
Even Ha-neul had been staring at me with her mouth wide open for a while now.
“You really are rich…”
That’s right.
It’s just that the person currently inside this body hasn’t yet adapted to that insane level of wealth.
I’m not sure when I’ll fully get used to it…
*
“I spent over a billion won to get a good review. It would be disappointing if it doesn’t work out.”
It was enough to overwhelm anyone.
The transfer student, who introduced herself as Ye Sara’s ‘maid’, boldly threatened the homeroom teacher.
She openly admitted to bribing him, with the bribe amount being in the billions of won.
Of course, the teacher didn’t take all of that money.
Based on the conversation between Ye Sara and the maid, that money was likely used to win over the entire school staff or at least part of it.
The principal or vice-principal might have also received a share of the bribe.
In reality, bribing a teacher wasn’t that difficult.
The teachers at this school, even though they weren’t poorly paid, were still tempted by money.
And bribes didn’t always have to be large sums at once.
Those who were open to bribes tended to accept smaller amounts from various people in exchange for favors.
If you had to bribe the entire school with tens of billions, there were definitely people in this school who would do so without batting an eye.
Although not every student’s family could easily throw around billions, if one’s family was within the top 100 companies in the country, they could manage it.
“I’ll cover the money spent.”
Ye Sara said this to the maid.
Yes, the maid’s claim was simple:
‘The money you received didn’t come from the chairwoman, it came from me and my senior.’
What maid in the world could pull together billions of won from their own pocket?
Even after spending that money, they had a few billion left, and Ye Sara called that being ‘broke’.
Yes, some of the world’s wealthy might think like that.
Those who earn in the trillions a year, or even hundreds of billions, might scoff at the thought of someone only having a few billion won.
But not all the students at this school could ignore such large sums of money.
This school has hundreds of students in each grade, and it’s unlikely that every student’s family is worth hundreds of billions.
Many of the students here came from families worth tens or hundreds of billions, sent here to make connections with capitalists.
In fact, most students came from such families.
The conversation between Ye Sara and the maid sounded anything but normal to those students.
And as they listened to that abnormal conversation, a realization hit them.
Even if she was just the stepdaughter of the chairwoman, if Ye Sara decided to act, she could easily cover a few billion won.
She could pay her maid a salary in the billions and treat that money as pocket change.
…And they had been excluding someone like her.
Ye Sara had begun to move.
Rumors were still circulating.
The rumor that Ye Sara’s stepmother, Chairwoman Choi Na-kyung, trampled on anyone who tried to get close to Ye Sara, using any means necessary.
But there were people who were still fine despite being close to Ye Sara.
How?
Perhaps it was because Ye Sara was personally protecting them.
If she had that level of wealth, it wouldn’t be difficult to protect her close aides.
Then suddenly, as if she’d remembered something, Ye Sara looked around.
Her narrow, sharp eyes scanned the classroom.
Her glowing red eyes swept over the now silent room.
Her gaze seemed to say:
‘Now, choose.’
The distant Choi Na-kyung or the close-by Ye Sara.
I heard someone gulp.
*
For some reason, the classroom was oddly quiet, so I looked around and saw everyone avoiding my gaze.
…Was the impact from earlier that big?
Well, I’d be surprised too if I overheard a conversation like that.
Talking about billions as if it was pocket money…
But what can I do when it’s true that I have that much money?
Even I found the whole thing so surreal that I let out a dry laugh.
“…By the way.”
Ha-neul, who had been listening to our conversation, couldn’t hold back any longer and interrupted.
“Weren’t you Sara’s maid?”
“Oh, right.”
At Ha-neul’s question, So-hee clapped her hands as if she just remembered.
“I apologize, Miss. I’ll accept any punishment you give.”
“…”
At her shameless words, I narrowed my eyes and stared at So-hee.
Of course, So-hee didn’t look scared at all.
I had no intention of punishing her.
If anything, she deserved praise for what she just pulled off.
She delivered a big blow to the entire class in a way I hadn’t even thought of.
Using honorifics was uncomfortable, but since she’s a maid, there wasn’t much I could do about it.
“Forget it. No need for punishment. Just be careful next time.”
I sighed as I answered.
So-hee smiled brightly at me.
…She’s definitely on my side, so why does she irritate me so much?
*
“Sara.”
I was dozing off in my seat as usual when I heard someone calling my name.
Shaking off my drowsiness, I looked up and saw that the teacher standing at the lectern was gone.
Oh, class must have ended while I was nodding off.
…I totally wasted that class.
Even though it was still a bit chilly outside, the expensive heating system in the school kept it warm inside.
The windows were also well insulated from the wind.
Thanks to that, sitting by the window, I could bask in the warm sunlight, and naturally, I couldn’t resist dozing off.
“Huh?”
Rubbing my eyes, I looked up toward the voice and saw Ha-neul looking down at me with a serious expression.
She pointed at my textbook and asked.
“Can you solve this?”
“Uh…”
Still groggy, I looked down at the part Ha-neul was pointing at and saw an equation I vaguely remembered from middle or high school.
And as a math failure, of course, I didn’t know how to solve it.
The only part of math I vaguely remembered was sets, and even that would probably trip me up if it was a more advanced problem…
…Now that I think about it, I really do sound dumb.
“…No.”
I knew well enough to feel embarrassed, but I figured it didn’t really matter.
After all, I have money, so who cares if I don’t study?
“Haa.”
Ha-neul sighed loudly, as if to make a point.
“This isn’t something we learned today. We covered it last week.”
Oh, did we?
These days, I only kept my textbook open to stop Ha-neul from poking at my side.
Naturally, I couldn’t remember when or how we learned anything.
I mostly spent my time staring out the window or sitting with a blank expression.
Yeah, now that I think about it, it did seem like we were still covering the early parts of the textbook.
Though it wasn’t part of sets.
But I didn’t look too serious.
It’s only natural.
Like I said earlier, I had money.
Not just some, but so much that I wasn’t sure if I could ever spend it all.
And I was the only one set to inherit that fortune.
The estate was all being managed by a trust company, and my stocks were just growing on their own.
…There’s no way I’d be motivated to study.
“…”
Seeing my expression, Ha-neul spoke as if she knew exactly what I was thinking.
“Well, I guess it can’t be helped.”
She sounded as if she was making a declaration.
“If no one forces you, you won’t do it.”
“…Yeah.”
Brushing her hair back dramatically as if unlocking some hidden power, Ha-neul declared.
I could only stare up at her in a daze.