A Hand Under Her Thighs on the First Day of School

On the first day of school, I slid my hand beneath her thighs.

"Kyaa!"

Anyone watching would have thought I was committing sexual assault. The moment the surrounding students' eyes locked onto us, Jeong Sua realized her mistake and stopped reacting. She must have understood that I had lifted her into my arms to carry her. She was incredibly light. I wondered if she was even eating properly. I regretted not doing this sooner. It would have sped everything up. Sua, nestled against me, seemed to grasp the unusual nature of the situation and never asked to be put down.

"Just show me the way."

"It's over there! The stairs are here! Go up to the third floor and turn immediately left!"

Following Jeong Sua's directions, we reached the classroom. Inside, Kang Suho stood with one cheek badly swollen. Across from him were a middle-school-aged boy who looked like me and an elementary-school boy.

"Hyung? How are you here..."

Thank goodness. His cheek was swollen, but the fighting stance he held told me his spirit hadn't been broken. I set Jeong Sua down and hurried over to Kang Suho. After checking him thoroughly, I saw no injuries beyond the single blow to his face.

What the hell? He's way more intact than I expected. What a shame.

If I was going to do it, I should have turned him into a proper punching bag without shattering his will. Anyway, that was that.

"Was it you? The bastard who took an already unappetizing face and made it even more disgusting."

If I hadn't arrived quickly, this incident would have turned Kang Suho into an introvert. Since I wasn't the one bullying him, the event had simply taken a different route. I could never allow Kang Suho to become introverted. I had to end this event by any means necessary. Otherwise, I would end up in prison one way or another.

I glared at the middle schooler in front of me. He stared at my name tag, his face growing darker by the second. Embarrassment and fear. Those two emotions swirled together in his eyes.

"Hwasan Middle School uniform... and if that's Kang Ijin..."

What? Did this guy know me? That only made it stranger. I had never done anything in those circles that a thug like him would recognize. At most, I was simply close with Ha Seongjin, the leader of Hwasan Middle's delinquents.

Either way, I walked toward the middle schooler who was hesitating in confusion. The closer I got, the more he retreated, but my pace was faster. The instant I was within range, I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠snapped my head back and slammed it forward with every ounce of my weight behind it.

Crack!

Our skulls collided.

"Guh!"

The delinquent staggered, losing his balance. My own head throbbed and I nearly staggered too, but—

Pain is the very thing that excites me more!

I surrendered myself to the long-forgotten thrill of combat.

"Get lost!"

I drove my foot hard into the stomach of the guy clutching his head.

Crash!

He rolled across the floor and only stopped when he slammed into the far wall.

The loud commotion drew students in droves. I ignored every whisper and murmur, climbed on top of him, and rained fists down on his face.

Thud!Thwack!

His head snapped back and forth with every punch. The way his face flushed crimson and his flesh rippled with each impact made the beating deeply satisfying.

"S-sorry... j-just this once—guh...!"

"You shouldn't have done anything wrong in the first place."

Thud!Thwack!

The more I hit him, the more blood coated my knuckles. It wasn't mine. Blood from his mouth and nose smeared across my fists. Inside his mouth, blood burst and dyed his teeth red.

"Hyung! Stop it now."

"Oppa. Please stop. You're going to kill him!"

Kang Suho and Jeong Sua grabbed both my wrists and pulled. I still wanted to keep pounding him, but the sight of Jeong Sua on the verge of tears cooled my head. I rose obediently.

"Fucking filthy."

I wiped the blood off my hands onto the bastard's clothes and turned around.

Come to think of it, there was one more.

A young boy sat trembling on the floor, terrified of me. What was this? He looked like an elementary student.

"He's that person's younger brother."

Jeong Sua approached and answered the question she must have read on my face. For a split second I considered whipping my head around and forcing a kiss onto her lips, but I held ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠back.

"Hey, elementary kid."

"Y-yes!"

"Calling your big brother into an elementary school fight? How pathetic. I'll overlook it this time, but if you ever touch my little brother again—"

I drew my thumb across my throat in a slicing motion.

Go to hell.

"I won't let you off either."

"Hiiiiik!"

My threat hit home. Something hot leaked from beneath the kid. He had pissed himself in terror. Satisfying. That was the fate of a loser. Anyone who messed with me should run away soaking wet.

"Let's go."

"Is it really okay to leave them like this?"

Kang Suho looked at the bloody mess sprawled on the floor and the kid who had wet himself.

"We don't have any problems. No matter what happens, the adults will handle everything."

I felt zero worry about the situation. Why? Because I was still protected under the Juvenile Law.

A new year arrived. Just in case, I stayed on edge through the graduation ceremony and right up until Kang Suho entered middle school. In the end, Kang Suho became a middle schooler without incident. And, amazingly, without turning introverted.

"I did it! I actually did it! The settings written down really can be changed!"

I could escape the fate of being "Ijin." Being nothing more than a delinquent was bad enough. The future where I ended up in prison didn't suit me at all. At the same time, hope swelled inside me. If I tried hard enough, I really could become the protagonist.

Riding that emotion, I sent a message. To whom? To Jeong Sua. I had her contact information but had never called or messaged her before.

Hey, kid. Come out for a second. I have something to say.

Today, I had decided to confess to Jeong Sua. The guarantee that heroines belonged only to the protagonist had vanished. By claiming a heroine that only the protagonist should possess, I would be reborn as the perfect new protagonist.

"Ijin-oppa... um... I'm sorry. I like someone else..."

But it seemed I was still rushing things.

I have a motto in life: there is no tree that doesn't fall after ten strikes. What if it doesn't fall? Then strike it an eleventh time. Keep striking, and eventually it will fall. Effort brings results. If it still doesn't work, then put in even more effort.

Just like how I had completely overturned the original settings.

But lately I've started wondering if this approach is right.

Zero wins, three hundred and ninety losses.

I had confessed to Jeong Sua three hundred and ninety times and been rejected three hundred and ninety times. Confessions through messages, greetings that turned into confessions, confessions while eating, confessions when parting, confessions in dreams, and every little variation in between. Seven years had passed since my first confession to her, which meant roughly one confession per week.

Even so, Jeong Sua still wasn't mine.

But she wasn't Kang Suho's either.

Jeong Sua remained unclaimed by anyone. I had already become an adult, and Kang Suho had just reached adulthood as well.

"Hyung, how do I look?"

Kang Suho spun around in his new uniform. He looked like a girl completely drunk on how cute she was. It was disgustingly repulsive. I almost smacked the back of his head for spouting the kind of nonsense girls would say, but held back. He was still my only younger brother, so I decided to soften my words a little.

"Fucking disgusting."

"Haha, I knew you'd say that, Hyung."

Kang Suho laughed as if he had expected it and straightened his tie. Unfortunately, after he turned thirteen, the event that was supposed to make him introverted never happened. It was probably correct to say the setting itself had disappeared. The reason floated above Kang Suho's head.

Settings could change at any time. The reason this setting had ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠changed was probably because I had twisted the story so it could no longer flow according to the original script.

But the new setting is still full of deceptive bullshit. Fuck.

Still, it didn't matter. That setting could change again anytime. Therefore, the interest from the heroines that Kang Suho was supposed to receive would all be mine. He would never build memories with any of them.

You just sit there and watch me fuck every woman while you rot in the loser's seat for the rest of your life.

My goal had not changed with the passage of time. To steal everything the protagonist was supposed to have and make the author who gave me such a pathetic role suffer properly. How dare they try to shove me into prison after making me a mere extra? Let's see if the story flows the way you decided. The protagonist you chose will possess nothing. Every heroine will be fucked by me. And I will ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠become the protagonist of this world.

Just sit quietly, suck your fingers, and watch me run wild.

The protagonist of my life is me. I will never be swayed by a fate someone else decided.

While I was making that vow, Kang Suho, who had been on the phone, spoke to me.

"Yeah, I'm here. Got it... Hyung, Sua says she's at the front door."

"Tell that kid to stop coming to our house."

"Sua, did you hear? Hyung says stop coming over."

I had only said it as a throwaway remark. But this idiot relayed every word straight to Jeong Sua.

Because of this disgusting bastard, my favorability is going to drop even more.

The reason I kept confessing only to be rejected was definitely because of him. Seriously, the kid had zero tact.

"Sua says she doesn't want to."

"I wasn't expecting anything anyway. Let's just go."

I grabbed my bag and tossed Kang Suho's roughly toward him. He fumbled in surprise but managed to catch it before it hit the floor.

"Thanks, Hyung."

"...Yeah."

I had thrown it hoping he would drop it, yet he caught it with reflexes and even thanked me. It left me speechless. The kid's motor skills weren't bad. If things had followed the original setting, he would have become introverted, shut himself in his room, and lived like a pathetic shut-in. His body would have grown weak from lack of exercise and he would have looked like a total loser.

He's grown up far too healthy. Maybe I shouldn't have saved him?

That regret hit me every time I looked at his face.

"W-wait, Hyung! I'm not ready yet. Let's go together."

"No thanks."

He could come down slowly by himself. I wanted to be alone with Jeong Sua in the meantime. Ignoring his desperate calls from behind, I opened the front door. Jeong Sua stood right outside, greeting me with a bright, happy smile.