WILL: A Wonderful World Part #7

Part 7: Strange Teacher

_{content warning: suicide}

[BGM: Air]
Okay, so, the goal here is pretty obvious- keep Rocky from punching the teacher out. Maybe we can also keep Li Wen's friend, Jing, from being humiliated? But with four pieces to re-arrange there's plenty of possibilities here, even with it only being one person's letter.

Let's start with a small change and see how that goes. What if Li Wen is the first one to get up, rather than Rocky?

Jing was sobbing, and I was completely in shock too.

Not only did Mr. Wen tear up her sketch, he even said to her,
“Are you serious? Did you seriously just draw something like that? I will not tolerate this kind of thing in my class.”

Seeing Jing crying like that, I couldn't control my anger,
“Mr. Wen! You are way out of line! You need to apologize to Jing!”

Mr. Wen gave me a glance and picked up my sketch.

Rocky stood up from his seat, “Hey, didn't you hear her? You need to apologize!”
Mr. Wen didn't pay him any attention, so Rocky jumped in front of him and punched Mr. Wen right in the face!

Mr. Wen, however, didn't react, despite just being hit by a student.
He simply gave Rocky a glance, put down my sketch, and walked out of the room without saying a word.

Rocky... he was always so self-righteous.
The only thing more important in his life might be his “ball games”.
I bet if the bell had rung and the class had been over, he wouldn't have bothered and would have gone off to play basketball.

After that, Mr. Wen never came back to the class.
Maybe somebody filed a complaint about him, or maybe...
I had always had a feeling that he... didn't look like he wanted to be a teacher...

The next art teacher always dressed impeccably well. He was also incredibly dull.

Well hey, it was worth a try. The game's hinting pretty strongly that we need to get the bell to ring sooner, so maybe if we re-arrange things like so...

...and have him not pick up and tear the sketch til after the bell rings, that'll be a better outcome? (Guessed by Cloacamazing!; PepperedMoth and Junpei's guesses also result in this ending )

Mr. Wen tore up Rocky's sketch and said,
“Why don't you bring this to the class next time, so everybody can practice with it?”

Rocky's face suddenly turned into the brightest red I had ever seen. A minute ago he had been acting like the king of the world.
What did he draw exactly?...

“You, you... aaaaargh!”

He punched Mr. Wen right in his face!
Mr. Wen, however, didn't react, despite just being hit by a student.
He simply gave Rocky a glance, put down my sketch, and walked out of the room without saying a word.

Since then, Mr. Wen never came back to the class.
Maybe somebody filed a complaint about him, or maybe...
I had always had a feeling that he... didn't look like he wanted to be a teacher...

The next art teacher always dressed impeccably well. He was also incredibly dull.

Okay, obviously THAT wasn't what we wanted to happen, either. Though we can probably make a good guess as to what Rocky's drawing was... In any case, let's keep trying and see if we can get a better outcome.

Maybe the problem was that Rocky needs to get out of the picture sooner so he won't be goaded into assaulting a teacher. If we have him get up and the bell to ring immediately, that might do the trick?

Mr. Wen tore up my sketch, and he even said to me,
“I will not tolerate this kind of thing in my class.”

Jing was frightened and she sat back down.
I was in complete shock and my nose started to feel stuffy.

Was that really necessary?

“Hahaha... you IDIOT!”
Rocky loudly jeered.

That bastard!
I made a face at him.

Well... at least he didn't assault the teacher? That's an okay outcome (which is why it's a B ending and not a Bad one), but I think we can do better- we're going for the S ending, after all!

Maybe we need to have the bell ring immediately? That could solve the problem.

Jing was sobbing, and I was completely in shock too.

Not only did Mr. Wen tear up her sketch, he even said to her,
“Are you serious? Did you seriously just draw something like that? I will not tolerate this kind of thing in my class.”

We were just some regular high school students. We were not in an art school! Are YOU serious?!

“Bo-ring--”
Rocky picked up his basketball from under his seat, casually walked out of the classroom and disappeared into the after class crowd that was filling the hallway.
Other people were leaving as well, while talking with each other about what had just happened.

Nobody ever mentioned picking an assistant ever again, either.

I walked with Jing on the track field and told her dozens of jokes until she finally felt a little better.
That old man... not only did he dress terribly, his temper was even worse!
How could the school hire such a person to be a teacher?

...Well, we did have the intended effect of 'Rocky is too distracted by the fact he can go play basketball to get goaded into fighting with his teacher', but this doesn't really feel like that happy of an outcome, either, so we're still not where we want to be.

This is the solution to get us the S ending. While it may not make much sense right away, let's see how this plays out...

“You... stay and clean up the room.”

What?
I stopped what I was doing and looked at Mr. Wen in disbelief.

He handed my sketch back to me.
“After all, you're now my assistant for this course now.”

He turned away and walked back to the front of the classroom.
I then realized that everyone who was still in the room was staring at me.
Everyone looked like they were gawking at a circus monkey on the street.
What the hell...
I had no intention of being a freaking assistant to that guy.

Jing put her arm around my shoulder.
“'Congratulations!' Let me buy you dinner some time, you poor kid, haha.”

I burst out laughing.
Well, whatever. Haha.

For starters, we need to isolate Rocky's getting up from 'Jing and Li Wen stand up', because that in turn changes the context- he's not getting up to volunteer, he's getting up to leave. The problem with having the bell ring immediately was that people had already been getting ready to go the whole time, so the class was essentially “over” and Wen Zhaoren would never end up looking at Li Wen's art (and picking her as his assistant for the class).

Jing unfortunately is still humiliated by having her drawing torn in two- whatever it was, there's no getting around it- but quickly realizes that she may have dodged a bullet, especially when her friend gets the assistant role to a teacher who's just shown himself to be a bit of a tactless jerk. This helps her get over the pain quicker, since there's someone who 'has it worse' than her. Therefore, the S ending.

…

[BGM: New Life]

NEW MESSAGE: In the Alley

NEW MESSAGE: Tennis!

…

[BGM: Friend of Mine]

My Sister

Hong Kong was different than what I had imagined.
Back home in Mexico, everything was so colorful.
But Hong Kong was just grey.

Grey streets, grey buildings, brey store signs.
Grey homeless people.
And there was me, sitting in the middle of them, looking odd.

I never knew that pesos couldn't be exchanged into Hong Kong dollars here!

When I woke up I found a few more coins by my feet.
I had to take them. I must survive.
None of the homeless people seemed to like me very much, perhaps because they could only get about half as many coins as I.

I had a big sister, named Alicia. She was nine years older than me.
We both grew up in an orphanage in Monte Tláloc.
It was a rural place. You had to travel 4 kilometers to get to the nearest town, Coatepec, just to make a phone call.

I couldn't remember anything about my own parents.
My big sister was the only person I had in this world.

Nine years ago, Alicia had left Mexico to make more money.
She used to write me letters every few months.
Every time the mailman came, I would be so excited to see if there was an envelope with my name on it.
Even though I couldn't read much, Auntie Benita would always read them to me.

Alicia didn't seem to have the easiest time, but she had seen so much of the outside world.
And by reading her letters, I felt like I got to see what Alicia had seen as well.
I could almost feel like I was right there with her in the big, new, interesting, and fascinating world that we had never seen before.

However, we had stopped hearing from her about a year ago.
Her last letter had come from Hong Kong.
So I had asked Uncle Depp to find a tutor for me who could teach me how to read and speak a little of the local language. I had worked so hard to make more money for the trip. I had done all this just so I could come to Hong Kong... even though I wasn't sure if she was still in this city.

Still, even if there was just the tiniest hope, I would never give up.
I knew I had to find my sister and make sure that she was okay.

I had arrived at Pitt Street.
Pitt Street had been on the postmark of Alicia's last letter. Maybe someone nearby might have seen her.

Before I left, Auntie Benita had given me an old cellphone. I pulled up a picture of Alicia on the phone.
I held up the phone, asking people door to door to see if they had seen my sister.
I couldn't tell if they simply couldn't understand me. They would wave their hands at me every time, before I had barely spoken.

Almost halfway through the street, I found myself behind a huge crowd of people.
Thick, dark smoke was coming out of the building nearby. People were shoving and running out of it.
More and more people started to gather on the street. Many of them were even taking pictures with their phones.

The firetruck finally arrived.
My cellphone suddenly rang.
My cellphone fell to the ground.

My cellphone was vibrating on the ground. Then it fell through the storm drain!
No!!

The sewer water was flowing rapidly in the drain.
I held onto the drain and tried my best to look down.
Maybe the phone was stuck somewhere?

I looked for a long time, and even tried to reach in with my hand.
But I couldn't get it!

I was so tired, disappointed, and desperate. I couldn't pretend any more; I fell to the ground, feeling like shit.
That cellphone was the most valuable thing I had.
It had the only picture of my sister on it!

Lord, please help me.
I really didn't know if I could ever find my big sister without it...

Carlos

[BGM: Sunny Day]

Case: Kidnapping

The office wing of Criminal Investigation Unit 4 looked like a small warehouse that hadn't been organized in forever.
It was crowded and messy in the first place. Then, almost every desk had stacks of files that were at least 20 centimeters tall, as well as all kinds of evidence and other random items.

I stood up straight and gave a salute.

“Chang Gyeong-Min! Reporting for duty at Unit 4!”

There were only two other people there besides me.
One of them was wiping down his rifle. He looked at me with a strange, examining look on his face.
The other one had dark circles around his eyes, which made him look like he hadn't slept for days. He was looking over some files. Judging from his seat, this must be the infamous lieutenant of Unit 4, Kang Baek-Ya.

Liutenant Kang gave me a glance, with a half-smoked cigarette in his mouth. Then he mumbled.
“You... Over there.”

I followed the direction of his look and saw the desk that he seemed to be referring to.
Many old bags from McRonald's were stacked on top of it, all filled with leftovers and trash. It was also directly opposite the bathroom, facing it.
Ahaha... It was okay. As long as I had somewhere to sit...

I was about to ask Lieutenant Kang what I should do next when the phone on his desk rang.
He took the call, put down the phone and announced to us that there was a gang-related hostage situation two blocks from the station.
I never thought my opportunity to defend justice would arrive so soon!

Lieutenant Kang put out his cigarette in an ashtray and stood up. I followed him.
He grabbed his coat and asked, “Hey, new guy, have you got your gun?”

My gun? No, not yet.

“Then where do you think you are going? Stay by the phone. Take notes if anything comes up. Don't speak too much.”
“I-I can still help without a gun! As a policeman I swore to defend justice, to prevent all offenses against people and property...”

“Justice? Hahahahahahahah!”
Lieutenant Kang burst into laughter before I could finish my sentence.

“You think justice is going to block a bullet from hitting you? Well, kid, I've seen plenty of idiots like you. In my unit, there is only one rule you need to remember at all times, which is to FOLLOW THE ORDERS.”

Eh? That wasn't what I meant at all, I was just trying to help.
First day on the job and I was already having such a misunderstanding with my lieutenant.
But before I could explain myself, Lieutenant Kang continued.
“If you have a problem with staying by the phone, you could just go home, and don't bother coming back tomorrow either. I'll let the old man know.”

After they left I sat down at my seat opposite the bathroom.
As my nose was catching glimpses of the faint smell I let out a defeated sigh.
When I had been in the police academy, people would always have an understanding smile on their face whenever Unit 4 was brought up.
Everyone had heard all sorts of rumors about this place.

Lieutenant Kang was the infamous “dictator” of the Criminal Investigation Department. Everyone must follow his orders without question.
He had a peculiar personality and he was extremely rough, even cruel with the criminals.
Besides, Lieutenant Kang was a lot younger than the other units' lieutenants. Therefore, many people speculated that Lieutenant Kang had only gotten his position because of nepotism. As a result, no rookies ever wanted to join Unit 4.

As for the unit that everyone dreamt of getting into, that would have to be Unit 1.
Unit 1 had over 30 officers, and it was widely considered to be the best unit in the department.
Yet, here I was, assigned to Unit 4...

I was sulking when the phone rang again.
There was another hostage case in Bupyeong-dong!

Since no one in Unit 4 was available...
I supposed this was my time to shine!

[BGM: Pensive Moments]

I hurried to the scene in ten minutes.
It was a ten-story apartment building.
I could vaguely see two people on the ledge of the rooftop.

People told me that they were a married couple.
The husband had borrowed too much money from loan sharks and couldn't pay them back. That was why he wanted to jump off the building, and he had forced his wife up there with him.
Well, let's see how I, Chang Gyeong-Min, would brilliantly solve this crisis!

One of his feet was already at the edge of the ledge.
He was holding a knife against his frightened wife's neck.

I walked over there.

“Stop! I'm telling you to stop!”
He got riled up, and his right foot missed the ledge. He fell over the edge and dragged his wife with him.

“Wait! No!”
Before I even had a chance to talk him down, both of them disappeared out of my sight.

It was a terrible scene at the bottom of the building.
Even though I was 10 floors above the ground, I felt like I could still smell the blood. It almost made me sick.
I stood there in shock. For the first time I finally recognized what it felt like to be a real policeman.

Oh God...
What the hell have I done?!
Could I be any more stupid?!

Please Buddha! Please let me have another chance... please!

Chang Gyeong-Min

***

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Part 7: Strange Teacher