Chapter 5 — The Price of Justice
The situation had grown far too large.
At this point, a long investigation was no longer possible.
The crowd wasn't going to accept a simple promise to investigate the matter.
They wanted an answer.
And millions of people watching on the magic net wanted one too.
The officers at the scene were practically helpless. They could only contact their superiors and wait for instructions.
The orders came quickly.
Kael's father was fired from the police force.
The parents of the other two bullies suffered the same fate. Their superiors had already contacted the companies they worked for, and they were dismissed from their jobs as well.
Then the school was dealt with.
The principal was called.
All the teachers and staff members involved were fired.
The three bullies were expelled.
In the span of a single afternoon, everyone connected to the incident had their lives turned upside down.
Whether anyone would be willing to hire them again was another matter.
Their names had already spread across the magic net.
Their reputations were ruined.
And the school itself was probably finished.
With such a stain on its reputation, no parent would want to send their child there anymore.
It wouldn't be surprising if the school eventually shut down.
In a way, Ren had single-handedly changed the system of bullying, for a long time to come.
From now on, schools would have to take bullying far more seriously.
Teachers would think twice before ignoring it.
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Parents would think twice before protecting their children.
Because who knew what would happen if another bullied child decided to follow Ren's example?
A simple incident could turn into a scandal involving millions of people.
As for Ren's parents...
They had received the public shaming of the year.
They stood among the crowd with their heads lowered, unable to defend themselves while everyone around them looked at them with disgust.
But Ren wasn't satisfied with just ruining everyone's reputation.
If he was going to go through all this trouble, he might as well gain something from it.
He raised his voice.
"What about me?"
The crowd turned toward him.
"They need to compensate me!"
The crowd immediately became agitated again.
"He's right!"
"Every one of them needs to compensate him!"
"After everything this child has suffered, he deserves compensation!"
"He's been going through physical and mental trauma every day!"
"Money is the least they can do!"
The police officers looked exhausted.
The lead officer closed his eyes for a moment.
Another headache.
He looked at Ren.
"Do you have a magic phone?"
"Yes."
Ren reached into his bag and pulled it out.
Fortunately, the magic phone had survived the fight without a single crack.
Magic phones were cheap enough that almost every child owned one.
Creating a bank account was also simple.
So Ren created one right there.
Then the compensation began.
The amount each person had to pay was determined according to their involvement.
Each of Ren's classmates' parents had to pay 500 Astra.
They hadn't bullied him themselves, but they had failed to help him.
The teachers had to pay 2,000 Astra each.
The families of the three bullies had to pay 10,000 Astra each.
And the school itself had to pay 15,000 Astra.
Money began flowing into Ren's new account.
His magic phone displayed the transactions one after another.
500 Astra.
2,000 Astra.
10,000 Astra.
15,000 Astra.
Eventually, the balance reached 75,000 Astra.
The average person earned around 1,000 Astra a month.
For a five-year-old child, 75,000 Astra was a considerable amount of money.
Ren looked at the number on his screen.
He was satisfied.
'Not bad.'
He put the magic phone back into his pocket.
However, there was one person who hadn't given up.
Kael's father had been watching the transactions on his own magic phone.
Something didn't make sense.
He had already heard his son's side of the story.
And now he noticed a large transaction in his account from earlier.
His expression changed.
He quickly approached the officers and showed them the transaction record.
"Officer, look at this! There's a transaction here from before all of this happened. My son told me that—"
"Shut up."
The officer cut him off.
Kael's father froze.
"How dare you make excuses?" the officer said angrily. "You're a former police officer. You should have known better than to let a situation like this happen."
"But—"
"Enough."
Nobody wanted to listen to him.
Not the officers.
Not the crowd.
Nobody.
His life had already been ruined.
His career was over.
His reputation was destroyed.
There was a good chance his relatives would eventually distance themselves from him as well.
Finding another job would be extremely difficult.
The same could be said for the other families involved.
They had all fallen to the bottom because of this incident.
Ren watched silently.
Then he remembered something important.
"At least have someone heal me."
The officers stared at him.
The lead officer sighed.
"Fine."
He turned toward the others.
"Pool your money and order the healing potion and cleaning spell talisman."
The officers were already frustrated enough.
This incident had badly damaged the reputation and trust of the police force.
But deep down, they knew something else.
The children of people with power often behaved like this.
Especially when their parents were supposed to represent justice.
Ren's situation wasn't necessarily unique.
The difference was that this particular incident had become so massive that they were forced to take action.
Soon, another delivery man arrived.
The lead officer took the healing potion and gave it to Ren.
The potion's magic immediately began repairing his injuries.
The swelling disappeared.
His bruises faded.
His split lip healed.
The pain vanished.
Then the officer activated a cleaning spell talisman.
The dirt covering Ren's body and clothes disappeared.
In just a few moments, Ren was completely healed and clean.
The matter had finally been settled.
Or at least, that was what everyone thought.
Ren, along with his parents, was escorted home in a police magic car.
His parents remained silent throughout the entire ride.
Neither of them said a word.
Shame was clearly visible on their faces.
But beneath that shame...
There was anger in their eyes.