The principal reached out to his phone slowly, his hand hesitant. He wondered who could be calling him at a time like this, perhaps it was just a coincidence.
But when he looked at the name on the screen, his heart sank. He immediately answered.
"Ah, Chair Runstun! What a surprise to have you on the line," the principal said, his voice already shaky and pitched higher than usual.
Because the person he was speaking to… was none other than the Chair of the National Teaching Board.
The governing body responsible for overseeing all public schools across the country, the board ensured that institutions adhered to proper standards and discipline. When disciplinary actions were required against staff, teachers, or even headmasters, it was the board that made the final decisions.
In the case of public schools, they were also responsible for issuing funding, performance bonuses, and determining administrative placements.
And the Chair, Runstun, was the head of that very board. As far as education went, there was no one higher up the ladder.
Which explained why the principal's tone had changed so dramatically the second he picked up the call.
But what truly unsettled him, what sent a chill down his spine, was the fact that this incident hadn't even been made public yet. The students hadn't been dismissed. The investigation was still internal.
The parents had no idea what had occurred. The entire matter was still very much being kept within the school, so why was the Chair calling now?
"Yes, sir… yes, sir…" Only the principal's voice could be heard as he spoke into the phone, and several times, he audibly gulped.
"But sir, we've yet to run a full investigation on the matter… and we have… yes, sir… yes, sir…" he continued, nodding nervously until the call finally ended.
Slowly, the principal placed his phone back on the desk, his hands trembling slightly.
"What… what was that about? Why did the Chair call?" Mr. Macenzie asked, his voice confused and uneasy.
But the principal didn't respond. Instead, he moved out from behind his chair, walked to Max's side, and after a moment of hesitation, he dropped to his knees and lowered his head firmly onto the floor.
"I apologize for everything I said! I apologize for it all!" the principal shouted. "Please, forget everything that happened and allow me to keep my job! I promise, no matter what, anything you want done at this school, it will be yours!"
Mr. Macenzie was left speechless. His mouth hung open wide, stunned. Never in his entire career had he seen the principal on his knees like this.
He was the one who used to make other faculty members apologize to him, and now here he was, doing this in front of a student.
"Sir, you can't be doing that!" Mr. Macenzie said in a panic.
"Shut up!" the principal snapped. "If you want to keep your job and not end up plastered all over the news, then I suggest you get down here as well… Now!"
Mr. Macenzie wasn't sure what was going on, but he quickly dropped to his knees, mimicking the principal's posture as he bowed beside him.
Seeing the two of them like this, groveling, after having been so smug, could only bring a smile to Max's face. Just then, he felt his phone vibrate. Glancing at the notification, he saw the message:
-500,000
'I wonder what he did with that amount of money to get this kind of reaction,' Max thought. 'One thing's for sure, Aron is certainly proving himself useful.'
As the principal and the teacher nervously looked up at Max, too many thoughts swirled in their minds.
'Who is this kid… How did he manage to get the Chair on his side?' the principal thought, his forehead still pressed to the floor. 'No, not just on his side… it was almost as if the Chair worked for him. But he's just a regular student… right? He has to be… Who is this kid?'
"I bet you're thinking all sorts of things right now," Max said as he stood up and began pacing around the room. "But you're not going to find your answers. Instead, I want you to do exactly what you said before.
"First, answer my questions. Why did you want to pin the blame on me? Did someone order you to do it?" Max asked.
It was clear to him now, he was being targeted at this school. There were too many signs pointing to it, and now that the teachers had shown they were willing to take part, he feared they might be connected to something bigger.
"No one," the principal answered. "It was Teacher Macenzie's idea. With everything that happened at the school, the police were going to get involved. We wouldn't have been able to protect ourselves, so… it was just easier to blame it all on you."
Max was surprised by the honesty, but it wasn't the answer he was really looking for.
"So, Mr. Macenzie," Max said, turning to him. "Why the suggestion? You seemed awfully quick to offer it. On top of that, you did nothing about what happened to Sam."
His voice grew colder.
"When the police came, why didn't you tell them the truth? Why didn't anyone tell them the truth?"
"There should have been more than enough evidence to punish them," Max continued. "Even if they brought in a top law firm, as long as the teachers were there to back it up."
Both the principal and Mr. Macenzie were visibly nervous, trembling as they sat on their knees. Max noticed a glance from Mr. Macenzie toward the principal, almost as if he were asking for permission, whether or not he should speak.
Max walked over and firmly stepped on the principal's hand.
"It was me!" the principal shouted. "I did it! I informed all of the teachers that in situations like these, they should come to me first. That I would decide what action should be taken.
"I told them not to speak to anyone about what happened to Sam. I knew it would make the school look bad if word got out about what had really been going on here."
Max twisted his foot harder, pressing deeper into the principal's hand, making him groan in pain.
Mr. Macenzie couldn't believe what he was witnessing. This is insane, he thought. No student should be able to harm a teacher like this. How is this even happening?
Just as Mr. Macenzie began to rise, ready to step in and "teach Max a lesson," the principal cried out in a panic.
"STAY DOWN!" the principal yelled.
"Why?" Max asked. "The truth is already out there, it's spread all over the school. If anything, wouldn't it be better for the school to just admit the problem and try to improve from it? If you were a private school, I'd understand protecting your reputation, but this is a public school. So what's the real reason?"
"I was paid!" the principal suddenly screamed.
At that moment, Max finally lifted his foot off the man's hand.
He had suspected something was off the moment he entered the principal's office. The luxury furniture, the expensive décor, it all seemed far beyond what someone in his position should have been able to afford on a public school salary.
"And who was it?" Max asked. "Who paid you?"
"It was… it was Dipter. The student, Dipter," the principal confessed, his voice shaky.
"What the…" Max muttered, genuinely stunned.
That answer had caught him completely off guard. Of all the possibilities, that wasn't the one he expected.
A seventeen-year-old student… bribing the principal? Even in all his years working in the underworld, Max had never heard of anything like this. Not from someone that young, and certainly not in a school like this.
He took a breath and then gave his next demand.
"Then I want the same rules they've been getting," Max said coldly. "From this point on, no matter what I do, no matter how far I go, you sweep it under the rug. Got it?"