Sabaeja's Clever School Life (7)
Even her angry face is cute, isn’t it?
Thinking this way probably makes me sound like a weirdo, but I mean it.
Han Yubin carried a distinctive air that set her apart from every other student. Refined features that looked carved, skin so clean it almost glowed—her looks seized the eye at once. It matched the untouchable, haughty atmosphere around her perfectly, right down to that icy gaze.
Rumor had it that after graduating Cheonghwa she went through Seoguk University’s business school and law school before landing at a major firm. Of course, before this time rewound, she had been someone I never even dared look at. The cold-blooded witch who stood at the school gate every morning with the guidance teacher. Seeing her again now, the way she got mad was actually pretty cute.
“Heh.”
The laugh slipped out before I could stop it. My guts really had swollen, hadn’t they?
“You… you… are you laughing at me right now?”
Han Yubin’s eyes went even rounder, big enough to look like a cartoon character’s.
“How about we intellectuals show each other a little respect?”
“Respect? I’m the head of the Student Discipline Department!!”
Her temper clearly ruined, Han Yubin barked the words. So what was I supposed to do about that?
“What elementary school class year are you?”
“……??”
Han Yubin’s face said exactly what the hell kind of nonsense is this. I had a clear reason for asking about elementary school class year instead of college. Call me petty if you want; I didn’t care.
“I’m on a different level from you people.”
“…….”
Han Yubin’s expression went blank with disbelief.
“I’m a return student who repeated two years of elementary school. So watch your mouth.”
“……!!”
Her face crumpled. She seemed to realize the situation had taken a weird turn. Adolescence is the age when even a single year becomes a vital status marker.
“Don’t call me ‘you.’ At the very least use ‘friend,’ or better yet, call me ‘oppa.’”
This was the power that came with a billion won in hand. In a few days that billion would balloon into hundreds of billions. And those hundreds of billions…
The vague fear of the future had vanished. Confidence took its place, and nothing scared me anymore. The security money brought had given me this freedom. I finally understood the psychology of people who threw cash around. I could match their eye level and deal with them on equal terms now—including the Han Yubin still huffing and puffing in front of me, unable to swallow her anger.
“So?”
The male student beside her stepped forward. I didn’t know his name. Mid-170s, a prickly face that suited silver-rimmed glasses. The way he glared was extremely annoying. I had seen that look countless times before. The moment they decided they were superior, contempt and mockery leaked straight through their eyes.
“Didn’t you hear? Call me hyung.”
“Hyung? Puhahahahahahaha.”
He laughed, flashing neat teeth—then cut it off cold. Madness flickered through the contempt in his gaze. Exactly the attitude I expected. At this point I didn’t even need to check: most of their heads were already cracked. Humanity wasn’t part of the curriculum around here. As someone living in the same era, South Korea’s future looked bleak.
“You insolent bastard.”
Talking to me? When have you ever dealt with me? Steam rose from the crown of my head because of one black knight. From experience, finding anyone at this school with a properly screwed-on head was nearly impossible.
“If you end up getting your mouth shut like Oh Gwangjun, will that make you feel less embarrassed?”
I asked it lightly. Everything that had happened today would spread as rumor anyway. Ha Taewoong had turned into a mad dog. Mess with him and he bites. Gossip at about that level…
“What? You’re proud of repeating? You worthless bastard. Is violence justified?”
He was trying to provoke me. The name on the nametag…
“Yang Jihun. Who the hell are you?”
“What?”
“Never heard the name. Must be from some nobody family?”
“Y-you bastard!”
“What’s your father do? Does he maybe handle work for the Han Yubin family?”
“S-shut up!!”
Yang Jihun blew first.
“Thought so. Tsk.”
I clicked my tongue at the enraged boy.
“You… you really want to die?”
“Can you kill me?”
“This bastard…”
The moment Yang Jihun’s eyes flipped and he looked ready to charge—
“Stop it.”
Han Yubin stretched out an arm and blocked him.
“…….”
Like a servant instantly calmed by a single word from the young mistress of the main house, Yang Jihun went quiet. The blazing eyes he couldn’t hide were still deeply irritating.
“Ha Taewoong.”
Han Yubin called my name short and sharp.
“What is it, Han Yubin.”
I matched her tone.
“I’ll formally report today’s incident to the Student Executive Committee.”
“Suit yourself.”
“……You’ve decided to live your life recklessly, I see.”
“Yeah. The sabaeja my-way you people talk about.”
“Crazy bastard…”
Han Yubin’s expression looked like someone had just punched her. Yeah, I acknowledge you people too. After returning to this point I finally understood: the world is not about living kindly. It never rewards the good. If you have the ability, you live like the kids standing here. You hide arrogance thoroughly inside cultured manners. That heavenly realm is only allowed to the South Korean upper class who twist the world however they please.
“Thanks for the compliment.”
“Pfft… heh.”
Right on cue another suppressed laugh floated over. The culprit was Kang Ari again. She still hadn’t left the cafeteria. Sitting in her seat, head slightly bowed, shoulders shaking as she fought the laughter.
“What are you looking at!”
Bodyguard An Aram barked the second eyes turned their way.
“…….”
Clack, clack.
Unable to hide her displeasure, Han Yubin brushed past me radiating cold air. As head of discipline she had held real sway on campus until now.
Then—
“Wait.”
I called her to a stop.
“……??”
She halted and looked back with eyes full of questions. I walked slowly toward the sour-faced Han Yubin. Reached out a hand.
“Wh-what are you doing…”
She flinched and cried out. She must have remembered the moment Oh Seora took a slap from me. The same Han Yubin who had been so fierce toward me moments earlier now trembled like a deer in front of a hunter’s barrel.
“……On your clothes. Here—lint.”
I pinched the obvious bit of fluff off the right shoulder of her uniform and showed it to her. Then I gave her shoulder a light, casual brush.
Han Yubin at least wasn’t a beast-tier character. Even now she hadn’t crossed that line.
“…….”
She stared blankly with round eyes, as if dumbfounded. A faint flush seemed to color her face.
“I’ll… remember what happened today.”
“Don’t be too grateful for small things. We’re friends, after all.”
Her meaning was different from mine, but I interpreted it however I liked. The incident had already grown beyond control. The aftershocks coming next? I wasn’t the old me anymore. I wasn’t afraid.
Shasha.
Han Yubin vanished from the cafeteria, leaving only a clear, cool aqua scent hanging in the air.
“……Ha Taewoong. I see you in a whole new light.”
Park Jiwoong looked at me with pure awe. Until now, no sabaeja—and no ordinary student either—had ever pulled this kind of insane stunt against the discipline department. And the opponent had been Han Yubin.
“Scared?”
“Hehe. No.”
Confidence filled Park Jiwoong’s eyes too. His laugh was light, his energy clean.
“Then?”
“Feels fucking refreshing. Like chugging a cola after eating a whole sweet potato.”
Vitality returned to his gaze. Not the intense half-dark-red light that had stood out when he was taking Oh Seora’s abuse one-sidedly. It had shifted to a clean, clear blue. Park Jiwoong’s fate looked changed. That alone was enough. The MZ-generation gang boss who would make the whole country tremble a few years from now no longer existed.
If it came down to it I could just drop out of school. I already had enough capital for a foundation. From now on I was going to live free.
I looked around the cafeteria.
“…….”
Everyone held their breath as if they had agreed on it beforehand. Even the ones who’d been casually running their mouths about sabaeja a moment earlier looked away.
“Heh.”
Looking at them, a snicker escaped. Only half a day had passed. In that short time my life had already changed. I would make sure they could never look down on me again. The sabaeja Ha Taewoong who had lived getting trampled was gone. Through Oh Gwangjun and Oh Seora I had proven my presence for good. Even if that presence came from violence… for beast-tier characters without a shred of humanity, a club was the only medicine.
Grandma had given me one order: live your short life fun.
At that moment—
“Oppa……”
“……??”
An unfamiliar “oppa” from right behind me. I spun around fast. The second I saw her, one person sucked straight into my eyes.
“……??”