Chapter 44
Chapter 44
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 44
Chapter Title: Old Friends, New Friends (2)
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In his previous life, Jin-hyuk rarely got up from his chair except to use the bathroom. But things were different now. After sitting for a long time, he could feel his quadriceps relaxing around his knees and his pelvic muscles contracting.
His legs had gone numb.
'Feels like the blood isn't circulating.'
He'd heard that sitting in one position for too long created asymmetrical tension in the thigh muscles, which could later cause issues with the knees bearing the body's weight. It was ultimately a problem stemming from his high muscle mass.
'I need to stretch during breaks.'
Not just that, but to check on his old friends—and the ones who would become friends in the future.
He strolled along casually.
Tae-yang Middle School was attached to the high school.
The high school faced the main gate and bordered the athletic field, while the middle school was behind it. There was a small field behind the middle school too, mostly used for outdoor classes or sneaking smokes.
If those big guys weren't visible, they had to be behind the school. Jin-hyuk's legs naturally carried him there.
'There they are.'
In the shady spot, two friends were standing at ease with their heads bowed. In front of them stood four larger guys. A stranger might mistake them for ssireum club coaches.
'Seniors, probably?'
The school's ssireum coach wasn't that big. There were more players bulkier than the coach, and the middle school team was no exception.
As he approached his friends, curses reached his ears.
"Hey, you fucking punks. Didn't bring the money?"
"We're sorry."
"Sorry my ass! You should've stolen it if you had to!"
The seniors raised their hands, and the friends flinched, hunching their necks.
It was an unfamiliar sight to Jin-hyuk.
In his previous life, he hardly ever wandered the school during breaks, and since he had nothing worth taking, no one had ever robbed him. Guys didn't pick on Jin-hyuk, who came to school every day with a messed-up face. He'd thought Shin Woo-sung and Lee Seung-hoon weren't the types to get beaten around either.
'Never thought the seniors might be the ones beating them.'
Seeing his friends endure this bullying while still treating him kindly made his chest tighten.
'Looks like I'll have to protect you guys this time.'
Jin-hyuk deliberately dragged his feet to make noise.
Thud.
"Hey, what're you doing there?"
"Who the hell are you? New kid too?"
"Yeah. New kid. Want some money?"
Jin-hyuk pulled a few ten-thousand-won bills from his wallet and waved them. His dad had given him so much pocket money he had nowhere to spend it.
"Look at this punk? Talking down to his seniors like—"
The senior reached out and shoved Jin-hyuk's head.
Smack!
At the same time, Jin-hyuk uppercut the guy's jaw with the bills.
"Wha—"
Shock spread across everyone's faces.
The most surprised was Jin-hyuk himself.
'Oh? I didn't mean to do that.'
Oh god. He'd hit someone with money.
"Mama, mama."
"Aww, my baby girl. Want some milk?"
"Yee-hee. Go see oppa."
"Oppa went to school."
"Went to schoo?"
Yu-jin seemed curious about her brother, who she'd stuck to all vacation long and was now missing.
Han Yu-young sat Yu-jin on her lap and fed her.
"Let's eat. Ahh."
"Ahh."
Her husband had started running around busily preparing for the year's farming.
Staying home alone with her daughter, who couldn't yet hold a conversation, felt stifling, and she worried about her son out in the world.
"Wonder if it's lunchtime now. Hope he's made some friends."
"Mmm, mmm. Oppa, oppa."
Yu-jin seemed worried about her brother too. She mumbled her food while talking about him.
After a simple meal, she put Yu-jin in the stroller.
General stuck close like a bodyguard.
"Yu-jin-ah, look over there. Flowers are blooming."
"Fwowers!"
"Forsythia already?"
"Fow-sy-thia!"
The spring announcement from sky and earth was always so fresh.
The clear stream flowing steadily, forsythia and sprouts in the fields.
And the spring sunlight filling it all with warmth.
Han Yu-young picked a forsythia flower, put it in Yu-jin's hand, and tucked one in her hair.
"So pretty, my girl."
"Ehehe, pwetty?"
She parked by the stream, and they watched it sparkle. The rocks shifting inside suggested crayfish playing.
General sat down following his owner.
"Ah, feels good."
Though her life hadn't been long, she reflected on it.
Her mother, who had cared for her imprisoned father, passed quietly in her sleep when Han Yu-young was nineteen. As a late child, it was hard to call it a premature death.
Her father, already past seventy and having endured prison, soon followed his wife.
'I miss my mom and dad.'
The comfortable life of a rural landowner was spent on bribes for her father's release, leaving Han Yu-young alone at the end. The woman who became her father's concubine and her stepsister took what little remained.
The brother-in-law even held a knife to resisting Han Yu-young. The nearest neighbor was over 200 meters away. With no one to help, she huddled in a corner, trembling in fear.
'Thieving bastards, lightning-struck bitches, dog bitches, robbers.'
Han Yu-young, who couldn't voice curses, maxed out her anti-magic resistance inwardly. She avoided the town teahouse couple—her stepsister and husband—like the plague, skipping markets and snacks even after getting a car.
Her strict father had always returned from market with hairpins, skirts, and fried snacks piled high for his daughter. Now her husband filled that role.
'Oppa got me through it.'
He was the one who lifted her after losing parents and fortune.
After meeting Son Gwang-yeon, Han Yu-young could wipe her tears. Fearing her sadness would burden him, she never spoke of her life's hardships.
Han Yu-young sighed idly.
Life had been happy since meeting her husband, but worries returned after Jin-hyuk entered middle school.
'Sigh, our son with his weak body and soft heart. Lots of mean kids in town—hope no one's bullying him. Hope he's not teased for his bedwetting.'
She didn't know their criteria...
To a mother, a child was always a worry no matter where they went.
'What if they pick on his old-man personality?'
So Han Yu-young worried today too.
And so.
Bzzz.
She didn't notice General biting the stroller to stop it rolling toward the stream.
Grrr.
My charge, I protect!
"Huh? Look at this guy?"
The senior hit with money looked utterly bewildered.
Jin-hyuk was flustered too.
'Ah, damn it.'
His hand had moved on instinct. He'd planned to just hand over the cash and end it. A few bills for his friends' freedom seemed worth it. But the water was spilled. It wouldn't end peacefully, and Jin-hyuk knew it.
"You little—!"
Whoosh!
A powerful thud echoed from the hard ground. The sound of a ssireum-honed heavy body lunging. But that was it.
Grab.
The senior's fist was caught in Jin-hyuk's hand. Effortlessly.
Jin-hyuk spoke quietly but firmly, staring straight into the guy's eyes.
"Listen well, think well, and answer."
"Urk! Let go!"
The guy struggled wildly.
He strained to pull free, but the harder he tried, the tighter the new kid's grip. The freshman was big for a middle schooler, but this senior trained hard and was older—losing in strength made no sense. His face showed it.
"Arghhh."
He couldn't hold back a groan.
The pain in his hand, crushed by the freshman's fingers, was no joke. The merciless force on untrained flesh was terrifying.
"You gonna keep bullying my friends?"
"Eek."
"Answer."
"Fuck off!"
Jin-hyuk was inwardly impressed. How'd he know?
'Pretty insightful.'
Impressive judgment. Senior experience, huh.
"You brat!"
The guy's left fist flew.
Pretty agile, but their speeds differed vastly.
To Jin-hyuk, it looked painfully slow. Like begging to be dodged.
Jin-hyuk twisted the held right fist as a shield, circling to the guy's right. The punch sliced empty air far from him. He released the fist and grabbed the wrist, pressing his right thumb into the elbow's inner crook.
"Aaaah."
Big build, strong, but still a teenage boy. The childlike scream made Jin-hyuk chuckle.
He torqued the elbow hand inward, the wrist hand outward, and swept the legs.
Thud. A sound and vibration befitting the weight rose from the ground.
"Uwaaaah."
Another bulk charged.
Troublesome.
Pow!
The nearby kids heard a pop.
The charging bulk flopped like a ragdoll with snapped strings. No one saw Jin-hyuk's fists clearly connect with the guy's philtrum and jaw.
'He's not dead, right?'
The fallen guy shook his head, trying to regain senses.
Relieved inwardly, Jin-hyuk glared at the remaining ssireum club members.
"Hey, you guys."
At his call, the other two hesitated, no fight in them.
"Bully my friends again, and you're in trouble."
No real reaction.
Silence meant agreement.
He extended a hand to his frozen friends.
"Let's go. Woo-sung-ah, Seung-hoon-ah."
Shin Woo-sung and Lee Seung-hoon judged fleeing best and followed without protest, glancing worriedly at the sprawled seniors.
'Should've stayed in class.'
He briefly wondered if meddling was pointless. It might harm his friends' futures. But ignoring injustice for their sakes—when he had the power to stop it—was that right? Jin-hyuk wanted to live selfishly, but not cowardly.
"If anyone bugs you, tell me right away."
He turned to his two friends, face serious. They just nodded.
'Might get noisy.'
He thought stepping in was right, yet felt uneasy.
Because beaten by a junior—not a senior or adult—they'd seek revenge.
Jin-hyuk had a hormone-fueled, vigorous teenage boy's body too, ready to explode anytime. He knew their mindset well.
Sure enough.
After fourth period, at lunchtime, guests arrived.
Slide! Bang! Crash!
The back door flew open violently, the frame hitting the floor, glass shattering into shards.
"Who's the punk who messed with the ssireum club?!"
High school senior Choi Tae-yang used Standard Math Textbook as a pillow for a deep nap. He'd scarfed lunch early to sleep during break.
Nothing beat a book for a pillow. The cool feel cleared his mind. He even draped his jacket over his head.
Then a junior rushed in.
"Hyung! Tae-yang hyung!"
"Slurp—wanna eat?"
"Man-soo hyung went to beat up some middle schooler!"
"What? Man-soo's here—"
Huh, where'd that big bear go without eating?
He'd vanished at lunch, so Tae-yang assumed cup ramen run.
"Why a middle schooler?"
"Middle schooler's a middle schooler. What middle schooler matters?"
Choi Tae-yang bolted up.
He didn't know details, but the ssireum club captain touching a middle schooler?
Wait, that idiot Park Man-soo stepped up?
Slap slap!
To shake sleep and grasp the situation, he smacked his cheeks and sat back.
"Whatever the reason?"
"Some freshman knocked out our third-year middle school club member..."
A first-year beating a third-year? A ssireum clubber?
Tae-yang burst laughing.
"Haha, bullshit. C'mon, make sense—"
Wait, he knew one guy who could.
Tae-yang nodded slowly.
"What's the freshman's name?"
"Son... something—agh!"
Tae-yang shoved the junior and bolted from the classroom.
Thud thud. His huge frame sprinting made the hall shake.
"Oh nooo! Man-soo! Not himmm!"
Pre-eaten lunch fuel burned fast.
Adrenaline pumping, Tae-yang squeezed his leg muscles.
Park Man-soo was in danger.