“P-Please.” The librarian’s resistance faltered. “Mercy… I wasn’t thinking. I didn’t mean it.” 

Tears streaked his face as he twisted his head to look up at Mr. Arcturus. 

“Please, just let me go.”

“You’ll beg for forgiveness, but not from me...” Mr. Arcturus leaned in slightly. “... from them.” He tilted his head toward the classroom where the students stood frozen, their faces pale and disbelieving.

Zyair stared, his breath caught in his throat. He’d never seen the librarian like this—broken, desperate, and helpless. He glanced back at Mr. Arcturus who stood as steady as a mountain, hand firm on the librarian’s twisted arm.

“You think you can demand mercy?” 

Mr. Arcturus’s voice dropped to a low whisper. 

“Let’s talk about mercy. Mercy, for the students you tormented day after day. Mercy, for your wife, who endured your lies while you cheated on her. Or for the students you blackmailed, threatened, and exploited—what about their mercy?”

The librarian’s eyes widened, his struggles weakening.

“You’ve smuggled drugs outside this school, used the school and the library as your hideout. Do you think no one noticed? And what about the soldiers you bribed to keep quiet after one of your beatings went too far? Did you really think the truth wouldn’t surface?”

“S-Stop…” The librarian’s face turned ashen, his breath coming in short, shallow gasps.

The soldiers shifted uneasily and were ready to step in, but the lieutenant raised a hand, silently ordering them to stand down. No one could hear what Mr. Arcturus was saying. His words were too low, too deliberate. All they could do was watch. Watch how the librarian got weaker and weaker from the teacher's grip.

“Your wife. She caught you once. Caught you with someone else—your affair with that woman at the club. You told her it was a mistake. But you didn’t stop. You kept it going, lied to her face. She had enough of your betrayal. She was going to leave you—so you hurt her, too. You put your hands on her. Smashing her face against the kitchen counter to make her stay silent. And you think you can demand mercy? You terrorized these students for two years, used them for your twisted pleasure. All while the soldiers stood by and let it happen.”

“W-Who are you?” The librarian whimpered. “Please… no more…”

But Mr. Arcturus took another step back, distancing himself further from the soldiers and Zyair to ensure they wouldn’t overhear his whispers. His grip on the librarian’s wrist tightened, holding it firmly behind his back. He had decided. It was time to take things further.

“Now, let’s talk about the Black Orions.” Mr. Arcturus’s grip didn’t waver. “Don’t even try to deny it. You’ve been trading huge sums of money to them. You gave them what they wanted in exchange for protection. For power.”

The librarian trembled. Sweat beading on his forehead.

“You sold women and children to them. You knew what they did to those innocent lives. They took girls off the streets, from families who thought they were safe, and turned them into slaves—sold them like cattle to whoever could pay. And you knew. You profited from it. You exchanged lives for your own gain.”

The librarian’s breath hitched in his chest, his knees buckling as the weight of the accusation bore down on him. 

He shook his head, “N-no... I didn’t... I just... just wanted to...”

The lieutenant and his soldiers’s brows furrowed as they noticed the librarian’s face had grown unnaturally pale. His body seemed to tremble slightly, as if he’d been drained of all strength.

Meanwhile, Zyair stood frozen for a moment, his gaze darting between the scene and the classroom. Then, with a sharp gulp, he turned on his heel and stumbled back into the room, his face pale and damp with sweat. He leaned heavily against the doorframe, his breaths ragged.

“You allowed that organization to use you.” Mr. Arcturus continued with his low voice. 

His sharp eyes flicked toward the soldiers, watching them carefully, as if daring them to make a move. 

“People disappeared—students, women, men—and you didn’t bat an eye. You were their handler, their little rat, all to save your own skin.”

The librarian’s mind reeled, images flashing through his head, young girls, boys, families who trusted him, all lost to the darkness he’d helped prosper. His stomach churned. Yet guilt did not consume him. Instead, he feared the truth spilling into the public eye—his fortune lost, his reputation shattered, his life undone.

“You killed people.” Mr. Arcturus pressed. “When they came to you, begging for help, begging for justice, you turned them away. Some of them, young girls, students who’d seen too much… you had them silenced. You had them disappear. That one girl, the one from last year—remember her? She was asking too many questions. So you gave her to them. Just like you did to others before her. You made sure the Black Orions never had a loose end to tie up.”

“H-Help…” the librarian cried. His trembling gaze never left the soldiers.

The soldiers exchanged uneasy glances as they noticed the librarian’s face growing paler with each passing second. Lieutenant Livian hesitated, then stepped forward, his hand slightly raised, as if to intervene. But Mr. Arcturus turned his glare on him. A commanding look that froze the lieutenant in his tracks.

With a rough pull, Arcturus yanked the librarian back, his grip firm and unrelenting, as if refusing to let this confrontation end just yet. 

The lieutenant faltered, his throat bobbing as he swallowed hard.

“What’s going on out there?” Freja demanded as soon as Zyair stepped back into the classroom. “And why is the teacher still dealing with that lunatic?”

A few of their classmates turned to look at him, also waiting for an explanation. However, Zyair was panting heavily and unable to speak clearly yet, his chest rising and falling as he tried to steady himself, the shock still evident in his wide eyes. Then, for a fleeting moment, his lips curled into a shaky smile. 

He raised a trembling hand and pointed toward the window where Mr. Arcturus was standing.

“I-I think that teacher is safe,” he stammered. 

“What? What do you mean? Are you out of your mind? What’s happening to that damn librarian, Zyair?” asked another classmate, Freja Felsen.

Zyair didn’t respond. Instead, he let out a loud, shaky sigh, his palms pressing against his knees as he bent forward slightly. To everyone’s surprise, a quiet chuckle escaped his lips, though it seemed more like a release of nerves than actual amusement.

“Safe?” Zora whispered, still clutching the window frame. His gaze hadn’t left the teacher.