Transmigrated as the Side Top used as an Emotional Trash Can - Chapter 35.1
“I don’t think you were responsible for the assault against Byeongjun.”
After exchanging a few words with me, the teacher went straight to the point.
“Usually, the victim student’s statement and the accused student’s statement tell different stories. You two are a typical example of that.”
Of course they would. I had written the truth in my statement, that I hadn’t done anything to Byeongjun.
“But the witness interview records and the statements from other relevant witnesses supported the same account as your statement. Do you understand what that means?”
The witness interview records were probably documents based on the accounts of the students who had seen Kim Byeongjun and me grappling with each other in the hallway. The other witness statements were probably documents about me that my friends had written themselves.
The witnesses, my friends, and I were all telling the same story. And Kim Byeongjun’s story contradicted all of them. That meant….
“Byeongjun is… lying, isn’t he?”
“That’s right.”
The teacher took a tablet from the shoulder bag she had brought and showed me the screen.
“But Byeongjun really was assaulted. The medical report and the photographs sent by Byeongjun’s mother both prove that.”
On the screen were large and small bruises across Kim Byeongjun’s forearms, shoulders, calves, and other parts of his body.
“These are called defensive wounds. They’re in places where injuries from a fall couldn’t occur. Someone truly assaulted Byeongjun, and these wounds were caused when he tried to defend himself.”
They were familiar injuries. There must have been particularly severe bruising and lacerations on his fingers and the backs of his hands.
“Would showing me this really be good for Byeongjun?”
“Yes, that’s why I’m showing you. I’ve been watching you ever since the initial decision was made regarding the School Violence Committee.”
The teacher looked at me with a gentle smile.
“You aren’t the kind of child who would do something like that.”
The plausibility of this novel tended to work however it pleased, which often caught me by surprise.
The truth was, I had felt deeply wronged. But I couldn’t easily imagine someone helping me or making an effort to prove my innocence.
Ah, I had been in the position of a victim for far too long.
In the original world, I had simply endured being bullied without even thinking of fighting back. What would have been different if someone had helped me like this back then?
“It’s unfair for you to suffer because of something you didn’t do.”
Perhaps I had lost the will to resist because, from the position of a victim, I believed I had no choice but to accept punishment without this kind of help.
I should have struggled and insisted that it wasn’t true. I should have actively defended myself. I should have asked for help and searched for a solution.
I couldn’t believe I was only realizing that now.
“Actually, a School Violence Committee hearing isn’t convened that easily. The case between you two is still being investigated.”
It was shocking.
The School Violence Committee that had frightened me so badly hadn’t even been officially decided yet.
“…Then, my swimming competition….”
The thought that I might not have needed to give up on the swimming competition surged inside me, leaving me unbearably resentful and bitter.
“Adults can be truly cowardly. There was no need to frighten you this badly….”
The teacher stroked my back and said she was apologizing on their behalf. I obediently accepted her touch as I recalled everything that had happened.
The teacher in charge, who had subtly pressured me by saying it would be best to prepare myself. Kim Byeongjun’s mother, who had flown into a rage and threatened to report me. Kim Byeongjun, covered in bruises from an actual assault.
I see. They had put on a show of taking severe measures to appease Kim Byeongjun’s mother.
And I had unnecessarily cowered and gotten swept up in the entire situation.
“I want to find the real instigator. The person who truly made Byeongjun suffer.”
“…Is there anything I can do to help?”
“I’d like you to write a letter to Byeongjun, if you’re willing. The police are handling the investigation, and there’s nothing we can do except wait for Byeongjun to be honest.”
“Then… I’ll try.”
When I agreed, the teacher smiled with satisfaction as though she found me admirable and took several candies from her bag.
“You’re such a good child-.”
My hand twitched as I accepted the candies at her words. Being called a ‘good child’ didn’t feel like a casual compliment to me.
To me, being ‘good’ meant keeping my mouth shut and staying quiet, doing whatever I was told, and not becoming a nuisance.
“I….”
That was why I desperately wanted to ask an adult.
It was a question I had never been able to ask because I had already passed through childhood once. Now that I was living through childhood again, I could finally ask it.
“Am I doing well?”
Had I truly done my best?
Could I actually have done better, only to foolishly ruin everything? Had I closed my mouth far too easily whenever someone called me good?
“Haha.”
The teacher laughed. Her laughter made me tense instinctively, and I clenched my fists.
“How could a child as young as you have done any better than this?”
“Ah….”
“You’re good. Far too good. You did well.”
It felt as though a powerful gust of wind had swept away all the thick dust piled inside my head in a single instant.
That sense of freshness and lightness settled inside my heart.
Only now, while living someone else’s life.
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