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Chapter 95 Harleen Quezel Wants to Help
Chapter 95 Harleen Quezel Wants to Help
As Mrs. Gunn's exploitation of homeless children to commit crimes was exposed, the original charitable boarding school was auctioned off to the Wayne Foundation in accordance with procedures.
Less than a week later, Zheng En became the de facto person in charge of the school.
The first thing to deal with after taking over the school is personnel changes.
The teachers at the school were mainly divided into two categories. One category, like Mrs. Gunn, was responsible for teaching teenagers about crime, including how to use guns and how to steal.
These teachers are usually well-informed and had already heard rumors of Mrs. Gunn's arrest and fled, either hiding in gang-ridden areas to avoid trouble or changing their identities and completely cutting off contact, making them very difficult to catch.
The other type is the ordinary teacher, who specializes in teaching students to read and write.
Thanks to the unique circumstances of the United States, the cost of education for ordinary people is very high. Even in a large city like Gotham, the overall literacy rate is not high, and many teenagers can misspell even a few common words, not to mention homeless children at the bottom of society.
Mrs. Gunn saw the enormous potential for the Gotham gang's growth and knew that what they lacked was not low-level thugs, but rather a high-quality, decisive management team. Therefore, she took a very strong stance on the education of homeless children.
When Zheng En saw this part in the school's internal electronic files, he was shocked, but he had to admit that Mrs. Gunn's deduction made a lot of sense.
The other party's conjecture was not unfounded, but based on the Falcone family's practice of stuffing people into the army.
Due to policy directives, the U.S. military has needed to deploy large numbers of troops around the world in recent years to "uphold justice."
Places like Iraq, Syria, and Venezuela are severely affected. Due to years of war and extremely poor treatment of soldiers, the main recruitment approach is to accept anyone who comes along.
Often, gangsters don't even need to bribe anyone; their underlings can just sign up and get in.
These gang members join the army, learn on the battlefield for a few years, and then return to become the backbone of their gangs.
Such highly qualified individuals often played a far greater role in a gang war than illiterate thugs who only knew how to risk their lives. Having tasted the benefits and with the Romans taking the lead, various gangs began to follow suit.
But military service takes several years at a time, and the situation in Gotham is unpredictable. If some small gangs really follow suit, the gang members who went to learn from the experience might return, but the gangs might not still exist.
Moreover, these gang members who have returned after completing their training are very popular. Small gangs provide them with skills to learn in the military, but upon their return, they may be poached by larger gangs, or even used against their own gangs, resulting in a complete loss instead of a gain.
It's important to understand that corruption is rampant in the U.S. military. While serving, soldiers are required to pay for their own meals at the mess hall. This money is deducted directly from their basic salary, but it's siphoned off at various levels, including, but not limited to, Commissioner Smith, with less than a third actually reaching the mess hall.
Without gang subsidies, these service conditions wouldn't attract gang members.
As for infiltrating the army to resell military supplies for profit, that's a different matter entirely. Small gangs can hardly capture that portion of the profits; cultivating relationships with superiors and subordinates requires a significant upfront investment, and many social obligations cannot be settled simply with money.
Given the above points, Mrs. Gunn's charitable boarding school became, in a sense, a very low-end alternative.
What if you can't fill the military with high-quality gang members? Just pick them from schools. They're young, malleable, and while they're certainly not as effective as those who have graduated and returned, they've been in Gotham for a long time, have their own connections, and have a deep understanding of all aspects of the situation.
Moreover, if a major gang wants to recruit people into the military, they need to recruit people who can read.
If Mrs. Gunn's affair hadn't been exposed, in a few years, the process of joining Gotham's orthodox gangs might have become: being born, abandoned by parents, wandering the streets for various reasons, being taken in by Mrs. Gunn's school, being picked up by the mob, then being put into the army because of being literate, and then returning to the mob as a mid-to-high-level member after leaving the army.
If he or she hadn't tragically passed away at any point in the process.
Although Mrs. Gunn was wicked, she had no problem with teaching street children to read and write.
Even when these teachers were called to the Gotham Police Department for questioning, many of them were only surprised to learn that Mrs. Gunn had been arrested and expressed no knowledge of the crime teaching.
After all, although Mrs. Gunn had cultivated relationships with superiors and subordinates, she was still afraid that someone might report her and ruin her plans. Naturally, the fewer insiders who weren't bound by vested interests, the better.
After taking over the school, Zheng En will continue to hire these teachers to teach teenagers.
Although some people voluntarily resigned after learning that they were teaching criminal reserve officers, most people stayed due to livelihood issues.
Just like Harleen Quezel, who has an additional part-time job in addition to teaching students to read and write.
Zheng En never expected to see her resume in the school's personnel file.
Judging by the timeline, the other party found a new part-time job not long after he bombed Arkham, which was Mrs. Gunn's boarding school.
According to the contract, regular teachers, including Harleen Quezel, taught in the mornings, while the afternoons were for imparting knowledge about crime.
Shortly after taking over the school, Zheng En held a meeting with the remaining teachers. The meeting was brief, mainly focusing on encouraging them to teach well and discussing salary increases.
Verbal reassurances are too weak and ineffective; only a salary can truly motivate working people.
After the meeting ended, Harleen Quezel quickened her pace to catch up with Jung Eun.
"Hello, I'm Harleen Quezel, do you remember me?" She held the documents in her hands, looking a little flustered. "Thank you so much for Halloween, otherwise I definitely would have gone to the hospital."
Because Jung Eun wore glasses after drawing [Shinpachi's original form], Harleen failed to recognize that the other person was the one who knocked her unconscious in Arkham.
"I've always wanted to thank you, but I was in such a rush that day that I didn't even have time to exchange contact information."
"You're welcome." Jung Eun adjusted his glasses, a flash of white light appearing on the lenses. "If you really want to thank me, then do me a favor."
Jung Eun always knew how to take advantage of opportunities, so Harlin swallowed back the words she was about to use to invite her to dinner. "Sure, just let me know if there's anything I can help with."
"This is a long story, let's find a place to talk it over properly."
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What Jung Eun wanted to talk about was both long and short, but it mainly concerned the teenagers in the school.
Previously, the "breeding ground for crime" was just his personal metaphor, but after Mrs. Gunn's crimes were publicized, those teenagers inevitably began to be viewed with prejudice and became seen as potential criminals.
The teacher who had previously resigned said frankly, "Teaching homeless children is inherently risky. The students in this kind of school are of very low quality, and we are afraid that they might pull out a knife or a gun in a fit of anger."
"Now that we know Mrs. Gunn's true colors, the chances of something bad happening are even greater." He handed in his resignation, his attitude very sincere. "Who knows, they might have just killed someone yesterday and be sitting in a classroom today. I only have one life, and I really don't dare to gamble."
This is harsh, but it's a harsh reality. Although Wellen's infiltration led to the sending of teenagers involved in criminal activities to detention centers for education, it's an undeniable fact that other children also received criminal education.
Jung Eun can understand the teachers who resigned, but he also believes that these teenagers who haven't done anything yet should not be treated this way.
Whether it's through eye contact or words, these subtle expressions of attitude have power, and this power can easily lead restless teenagers astray.
"Didn't you all say I'd definitely do something bad? Well, I'll show you!"
This kind of rebellious, self-destructive mentality is quite common among teenagers.
They pre-determine a bad outcome, force them down that path, and then, after they've fallen, say, "See, I knew it."
What's there to be proud of in something like this? Jung Eun didn't want to see this happen, so she naturally had to take action.
Appropriate intervention is beneficial to the physical and mental health of teenagers. Zheng En was originally thinking about where to find a psychologist to be stationed at the school, and then he saw Harleen Quizel in the personnel file.
Although many people's impression of Harley Quinn is only that she was seduced and corrupted by the Joker, and that she was so crazy about him that she was willing to die, that's because she met the Joker.
Before she met the Joker, she was an excellent psychologist.
Even though Harlin has only recently graduated and hasn't yet made a name for herself in the field of psychiatry, Jung Eun saw her internship resume and found her experience to be quite impressive.
Jung Eun believed that dealing with a group of ordinary teenagers would be no problem for her.
Although this decision may sound crazy to those familiar with DC, upon closer examination, it is highly feasible!
After listening to what he said, Harleen nodded. "I understand, Mr. Jean. I will try my best."
Harleen was an extremely empathetic person. Even after being seduced and corrupted by the Joker, she still tried to persuade Jason when he tortured him. However, her love was too crazy and blind, so much so that her hands were stained with blood.
After successfully persuading Harlin to become a psychologist, Jung Eun still has to deal with school matters.
Mrs. Gunn was a very ambitious person, which was evident from the scale of the dormitory building she built.
After Jason and other homeless children from the surrounding streets moved into the school, there was still a large area available for people to live in. It is unknown what scale it was originally built to.
When Zheng En took over the school, he naturally had to take over the original students as well. Otherwise, these teenagers would have nowhere to go and no other way out but to commit crimes.
After briefly explaining the arrangements for them, Jung Eun left.
Rather than simply saying it, concrete actions are more reassuring.
"So—can we stay?"
The teenagers, who had previously thought they would be expelled, looked at each other in bewilderment. After Jung Eun left, they started chattering amongst themselves.
"As long as you study hard, you'll have food and lodging, and you can even get a job at Wayne's factory in the future, is that true?"
The teenagers taken in by Mrs. Gunn were homeless children who had nowhere to go for various reasons. Some had been abused by their parents for a long time, some had escaped from foster homes, some could not bear the torment of being a child laborer, and some did not want to be the object of sexual exploitation.
They are used to being taken from, and they know all too well that there is no such thing as a free lunch.
Mrs. Gunn took them in so that they would commit crimes, steal, and bring back gold and silver jewelry that would make the other person smile.
Under Mrs. Gunn, they knew what they were supposed to do.
Those who learn and apply criminal knowledge and perform well can receive praise and rewards, and those who are lucky may even be recommended to join a gang after adulthood.
After Mrs. Gunn was arrested, they did discuss what to do in the future.
Some people want to run away because they don't know what they will face next. They may be sent to other states by the police, or if they are young, they may be auctioned off and sent to foster homes.
Among this group, those who feel capable of venturing out have already run away, fearing that if they delay, they won't be able to escape. Most of those who haven't run are still hesitant, believing that things haven't gotten that bad yet and they can wait and see.
Some people never thought of running away. They were fearless and believed that even if something happened, they could fight back and that they could leave whenever they wanted.
Some people had heard of the Wayne Foundation's reputation and were tempted to give it a try.
Jung Eun knew that giving these teenagers things for free would only make them uneasy, because they didn't know what Jung Eun would ask for from them.
They know perfectly well that free things are the most expensive.
So he took the time to explain to them, "You are useless to me now. I need you to study hard and learn well. Wayne's factory needs employees. You will be useful when you can understand the rules and regulations and work as required."
"Gotham has too many idiots, and recruiting employees from elsewhere is troublesome and requires additional settling-in allowances. Training you won't cost much, and even paying you market wages will save a lot of costs."
When Jung Eun said this, she looked very casual, just like she did with Wei Ren that day.
The less he cares, the more likely they are to believe him.
Because they had nothing to begin with, their pressure actually lessened a lot when Jung Eun adopted a dismissive attitude.
For them, the idea of having food, lodging, and a job provided was like a windfall, and while they were delighted, they couldn't help but be skeptical.
Someone mustered up the courage to ask Wellen, "You have a good relationship with the new principal, is what he said true?"
"If you don't like it, then get out."
Because of Mrs. Gunn's affair, Wellen had been called a spy for several days and hadn't given anyone a friendly look. Ironically, his demeanor reassured the others.
If the new principal really had ill intentions, then Wellen would have gone to great lengths to get them to join.
Moreover, as someone working under the new principal, what harm could there be in doing things together with Wellen?
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