A Bit Cold

After learning the full story, Beihai was somewhat surprised, but quickly found it normal. This school wasn't divided into rocket classes or regular classes—it used a crude sorting method.

It followed society's pattern: elites, ordinary middle-class, and so on.

Class A were social elites, or management. Spending points for benefits was nothing to them; on the contrary, they profited, playing the long game with strategic goals.

Class B were probably normal, law-abiding citizens.

Class C were a bunch of punks. Doing business with them naturally came with thug logic—extorting protection money, bullying the weak. Pay for something? Back in the day, that was tribute to your elders.

But if a true overlord emerged among those punks, the danger would skyrocket.

Class D were called defectives, likely a bunch of oddballs. Pleasant on the surface, but with some dark side underneath—maybe in personality or past experiences.

Now, law-abiding citizens going up against shameless punks? Without official intervention, of course the punks would beat down the citizens. After all, there's a saying: good people deserve to be bullied.

After understanding the situation, Beihai started discussing it with Honami Ichinose, typing back: [What does the school say? Did you tell the teachers?]

Honami Ichinose glanced at the message and immediately typed a reply, looking a bit frantic—she really was out of options.

After all, everyone in Class B knew the rules now. Under those circumstances, who knew what Class C might do? Bullying, harassment, or dragging Class B students into unmonitored areas to beat them up—all of it was possible!

[No use. Without solid evidence to accuse them, neither the teachers nor the Student Council will take it up.

I asked our homeroom teacher, but it seems this kind of thing is handled by the Student Council. The teacher can only recommend us.]

This message opened Beihai's eyes again. This school really had some bizarre moves. At the start, they cracked down hard on bullying, but now what was this?

Student safety wasn't guaranteed—it was almost condoned. Were they trying to simulate society's dark corners?

But in the end, these students were just kids fresh out of middle school. Did they think their minds were superhuman? Weren't they afraid someone would pull a flying man act off the teaching building?

Social simulation with no way to prove anything without key evidence, letting chaos fester below—what kind of strength was that supposed to build?

Beihai was stunned for a while, then couldn't hold it in and laughed.

[You know what? I actually have a solution here. In this school, evidence, bullying, and accusations don't matter.

As the school itself says, strength is everything. Points can buy anything. Just bribe the Student Council.

They'll help handle it. No guarantee it's a one-time fix, but you can do some extra extortion and cooperation—shake down Class C together.]

It was perfectly normal for the Student Council to have authority. Forget Beihai's past life's student council members—though they acted obedient around teachers, they were the teachers' dogs. Once they bit down, they were ferocious, wielding immense power.

In Sakura Country, it was even more extreme. If you watched anime, you'd see student councils usually had huge authority. In this school, it would only be magnified.

A bold guess: they might even influence the school administration. No matter how you speculated, they couldn't be powerless to stop bullying.

Wasn't this just mimicking society? Bribery was an art. Had they learned which way the fish head faces?

Honami Ichinose's messages stopped. For a long time, she was typing, then finally sent a single word: [Eh]

[Bribing the Student Council... with points? Would they agree? That feels... a bit unrealistic.]

Since it was her first time, even her typing was hesitant. She was clearly nervous, probably never having done this before.

[No, on the contrary, it's very realistic. Both the school's rule that points buy everything and the society it's trying to simulate—it's all realistic.

Don't worry, you won't lose out. And don't fret about the Student Council not taking points, because they're never a monolithic force.

Bullying can be big or small. Even if it hadn't happened, the Student Council could hammer it out with a gavel. If they overstepped and acted first, they could settle it before the Student Council president even reacted.

And since it did happen, it's even easier to handle. I think between expulsion and compensation, they'll lean toward the latter. As long as the profit's big enough, no one won't be tempted or take action.

Class C's total points, or rather Class C's value in this bullying incident—how easily they can slip away depends entirely on the Student Council's greed and your kindness.

After all, once they back down, they won't be the ones deciding the compensation terms.]

Honami Ichinose felt a strange chill. It was April, so why did everything around her seem so cold? This was just a bullying incident, yet it could crush Class C outright. Even if they recovered, it would take a long time. Class C's leader wouldn't be able to unite the class anymore—this was too big, no one would obey him.

It was that simple: one rank higher crushes the one below. As long as the points were right, they could turn Class C into a blood-sucking target, slap on false charges, and use a dozen methods to deal with them.

Besides, they were freshmen. The Student Council was usually second- and third-years. The new students hadn't joined yet. Would the upperclassmen go easy on them? They didn't know each other at all. People's joys and sorrows were different.

Honami Ichinose felt a lingering fear. If she hadn't seen Beihai's point purchase on the forum, hadn't contacted him first, even paid points—would these tactics have been used on her? What would Class B's situation be?

She didn't dare think about it. Class B's position was too awkward—arguably the most dangerous. Those below wanted to climb up, those above kept a tight guard.

So no matter who it was, as long as they connected with Agent 17, Class B would definitely be in the crosshairs.

Unconsciously, Honami Ichinose let out a sigh of relief. Good, good. That day, she was the one who contacted Agent 17.

Thinking this, she couldn't help gripping her terminal tighter. No, she had to buy him out. Sometimes, you didn't need to use a talent like this, and keeping him cost little, but you absolutely couldn't let him go.

Otherwise, chaos would reign, and she'd be tearing her hair out!