Chapter 1

On the day I received my state-level Outstanding Teacher Award, with the ceremony broadcast in a live stream, the parents of my students stormed into the auditorium.

Behind them came a group of con-artist shamans dressed up as sorcerers, who poured foul-smelling charmed water down over my head.

"You call yourself an outstanding teacher? Pah!"

"My son Job had a fever for a whole day and night yesterday, crying without stopping. The master said it isn't an illness—he was struck by something filthy!"

As he spoke, the shaman leveled the divination compass in his hand straight at me and drawled.

"That's right. She's the filthy thing."

"She has to be tied up and made to kneel under the midday sun to call Job's soul back. Otherwise even the gods themselves couldn't save him."

Just as I opened my mouth to argue, Job was shoved right in front of me.

His thin little arms were covered in wounds.

"Everyone, come look—the wounds on the boy's hands were done by this beast too, this thing lower than an animal!"

My stomach dropped.

Yesterday after school, Job's mother had messaged me privately, saying something had come up and she'd be a little late.

So I stayed and played with the boy until eight, and even paid for his dinner out of my own pocket.

But I was absolutely certain that when I sent Job off, he was perfectly fine.

So what was going on with this child in front of me, burning with fever and covered in injuries?

Section 1

The words had barely left his mouth when the auditorium broke into an uproar.

Every eye turned toward this group of people, and the reporters swung their cameras onto Job's mother.

On the award stage, only I was left, frozen.

I clutched the banner I'd just been handed, at a total loss.

"Someone like you is fit to be a preschool teacher?!"

Job's mother snatched the banner, hurled it to the ground, and spat hard.

"Pah! Scum like you deserves an award?"

She yanked the child out from behind her and pushed him in front of me.

"Look what you've done to this boy!"

Job instinctively shrank back, his tiny body trembling uncontrollably.

His once bright, sparkling eyes were swollen like walnuts.

What on earth had happened?

The stares and the murmuring all around made my heart pound with dread.

My professional ethics told me I had to stay calm.

"Ma'am, the child is sick. The most urgent thing right now is to get him to a hospital for treatment—"

"Spare me the high-and-mighty nonsense! He isn't sick—you tormented him until you scared his soul right out of him!"

Job's mother pointed at me, her eyes vicious.

Then, in front of everyone, she pulled down Job's pants.

His bottom was covered with dense red welts, a horrifying sight.

A gasp went up across the whole hall.

I grabbed the child's hand.

How could this be?

Yesterday after school the boy had been perfectly fine.

Last night I'd patiently waited with him for his mother until past eight.

For dinner he'd ordered his favorite, the braised beef brisket and tomato rice bowl.

He'd eaten with his cheeks puffed out like a cute little hamster,

saying his mother never let him eat things like this, and never spent time with him.

So I'd made a point of telling his mother, just a couple of words, to spend more time with her boy.

Could it be that because I'd spoken out of turn yesterday, his mother had flown into a rage and set out to humiliate me?

Then these injuries were most likely fake too! They had to be drawn on!

I tried rubbing at the welts, breaking into a frantic sweat.

They wouldn't rub off at all.

Job cried even louder.

Job's mother flung my hand away and gathered the child protectively into her arms.

She screamed hysterically.

"Stop hurting my child!"

"Do you have any shred of humanity left?!"

That set the entire auditorium ablaze.

"I never would have guessed Ms. Lawrence was this kind of person."

"No sense of a teacher's ethics at all, and a person like that got voted an outstanding preschool teacher."

"Who knows whether she slipped somebody money or pulled strings behind the scenes."

The official from the education board couldn't keep his composure and walked out in anger.

Before he left, he snapped at Principal Finch.

"This is the outstanding teacher you people picked? Absolutely disgraceful!"

Zoey Fernandez, the homeroom teacher of Class 3-A, was a strong contender competing against me for the top award this time.

She suddenly stood up, stammering.

"A while back I happened to see Ms. Lawrence drag a child who wouldn't take a nap into the bathroom."

"I don't know what she did, but when the child came out, there was yellow liquid on his mouth."

"At the time I figured my eyes were playing tricks on me."

"But now, looking back…"

The moment she said it, the parent representatives present exploded.

"What else could it be? She forced the child to drink urine in the toilet!"

"A person like that is just a pervert!"

"I demand she be fired immediately! Otherwise we're pulling our kids out!"

In an instant, every accusation was aimed at me.

Job's mother looked at me smugly.

"I really never imagined you'd done so many filthy things—looks like I've done the public a service."

"Now hurry up and come with me out under the sun to call Job's soul back! If we miss the auspicious hour, don't blame me for what comes next!"

The shrill accusations came at me from every side.

The crushing pressure made it hard to breathe.

"No! I never did any of it!"

"Principal! I want to check the security footage!"

"Every classroom in the preschool has a camera. Check them and you'll know whether I ever did anything to harm a child!"