The Dog and the Master
Suddenly, Choi Deok-bae spoke up from the side. In that instant, Yoon-gi’s eyes glazed over with a cold, predatory focus. Clatter! As he kicked his chair back, it flew across the room and slammed into the wall, but before the sound of the impact could even register, the sickening thud of a fist connecting with a face echoed through the classroom.
Whack!
"Agh!"
The 'bastard' who had stolen his life was still holding a fork with a piece of braised beef on it. He hung in the air for a fleeting second before crashing to the floor.
"Y-Yoon-gi!"
Won-hee looked at Yoon-gi with a mix of shock and awe. She assumed he had thrown himself into the fray so bravely for her sake. But in reality, Yoon-gi had lunged at the thief for purely personal reasons.
"You little!"
Of course, the thief was a nasty piece of work himself; he didn't just cower after one hit. With blood streaming from one nostril, he scrambled to his feet, lunged at Yoon-gi, and threw a punch.
"You—!"
Yoon-gi only uttered the first part of what he wanted to say, easily dodging the thief's fist. Simultaneously, he delivered a counter-punch, striking the other side of the thief's nose.
Splat!
Blood erupted from both nostrils, creating a scene in the classroom that looked like a fountain of gore.
"Whoa, he's dead meat today. Yoon-gi is actually really good at fighting."
At Jin-su’s words, the eyes of the other students, including Won-hee, locked onto them.
"Really?"
"Yeah! He’s been learning Taekwondo, boxing, and Kendo."
"Why didn't I know that?"
"Because you aren't close to him."
"Hey!"
Jin-su and Won-hee started bickering, but the rest of the class turned their attention back to Yoon-gi and the thief. The thief was already lying flat on the floor, being beaten mercilessly by Yoon-gi. He looked half-conscious, but Yoon-gi didn't stop.
"Oh, so I stole your life? What, do you want me to apologize? You have such great genes, yet you live like that and blame others—that's why your life is such a pathetic mess."
Those were the words the thief, who had been the class president, had once said to him. And the beatings that followed at the hands of the thief's lackeys. As all those memories flooded back, Yoon-gi couldn't control himself. Choi Deok-bae, knowing this, didn't try to stop him at all, but an unexpected person did.
"Yoon-gi, stop. Don't do this because of me."
As Won-hee hugged him from behind, Yoon-gi’s eyes flashed wildly for a moment before he realized who it was and regained his composure.
"He's going to die at this rate."
At Won-hee’s words, Yoon-gi sighed and stood up. 'I want to kill him, but I have too much to lose to do it here.' He truly wanted to kill him. If he hadn't surrendered in his past life, this guy would have killed him without a second thought. But because there was so much he would have to give up the moment he killed this guy, Yoon-gi decided to hold back for now. 'Instead, I'll make sure to break him properly.'
As Yoon-gi sat down, the other students cautiously gathered around the thief. But they only watched; no one helped the unconscious boy.
"What's his name?" Yoon-gi asked, and Jin-su answered immediately.
"You don't know Kim Chan-yeol?"
"No."
Yoon-gi had spent his first and second years almost entirely focused on his studies, paying little attention to anything else.
"He was a famous bully in Class 11 during his first and second years. He’d hit kids and steal their money, so everyone hates him."
"Is that so?"
"Yeah! If kids didn't bring money, he wouldn't just hit them—he’d break their fingers, snap their nose bones, or scratch their arms with box cutters. I heard it was insane. Our classroom was far away, so we were fine, but the kids in nearby classrooms had a really hard time."
Hearing Jin-su’s words, it was clear that the thief’s personality was different from his own. He had been the type to be bullied and cowed, beaten like a dog by that butcher every single day, while the thief had been busy tormenting others even back then. He was even cunning. Even in the old days, brutal crimes by young children occurred, and such kids were hard to control because there were no legal provisions for punishment. Kim Chan-yeol must have already figured that out at a young age. Considering he was only in the third grade of elementary school and already breaking other kids' fingers without hesitation.
'I had a suspicion, but now that the name is the same, I’m relieved. I can break him with peace of mind.' Even though Choi Deok-bae had already confirmed it, he had been worried that he might have beaten the wrong person since he had turned him into such a pulp. Now, he could focus entirely on his revenge.
"Yoon-gi, shouldn't we take him to the infirmary? If something happens to him, it'll only be a loss for you..."
At Won-hee’s words, Yoon-gi shook his head.
"Leave him be. He needs to pay the price for daring to touch the people around me. If I hadn't been here, you would have been the target, right?"
Won-hee looked deeply moved. "That's true. I heard that once he targets someone, he torments them endlessly. In the second grade, the kid whose parents owned the stationery store became his target, and he had to bring him all his school supplies for the entire year."
Won-hee looked serious again. "Then what if... Yoon-gi..."
"Me? Getting bullied?"
When he put on a feigned angry expression, Won-hee shook her head vigorously.
"Just eat your lunch."
"Okay."
After lunch, Park Seon-ja entered the classroom and let out a low scream when she saw Kim Chan-yeol sprawled out in the center of the back of the room.
"Eek! Kids, what happened? What on earth happened?"
But no one answered. An atmosphere had formed where telling the truth would mean snitching on Yoon-gi, so the students didn't answer even though it was their teacher asking.
"Class President! What happened?"
Because she didn't want to do troublesome work, Won-hee was the class president, not Yoon-gi. Of course, Yoon-gi was the vice president.
"Well, that is..."
Won-hee squeezed her eyes shut and shouted, "I hit him!"
"I hit him!"
The words came from two places at once. Even Jin-su raised his hand and claimed he did it, making Park Seon-ja frown.
"Are you all lying to me right now?"
At Park Seon-ja’s sharp, chilling tone, both Jin-su and Won-hee trembled, but they shouted again.
"I did it."
"I told you, I did it."
But then, Yoon-gi raised his hand.
"I'm sorry, Teacher. He was stealing the kids' lunches during lunch break and ruining the atmosphere, so I hit him."
"Even so... For now, I'll take Chan-yeol to the infirmary, so everyone, do self-study!"
Park Seon-ja scooped up Chan-yeol and quickly exited the classroom.
"You heard her? Everyone, self-study!"
At Won-hee’s words, all the students looked at Yoon-gi and began to study quietly.
Kim Chan-yeol eventually had to go to a nearby hospital. However, while Kim Chan-yeol was receiving treatment and being admitted, Park Seon-ja and Yoon-gi were having a conversation in the empty infirmary.
"Look, Yoon-gi. Didn't you hit him too hard today...?"
If a student of similar standing to Kim Chan-yeol had caused trouble, she would have slapped them immediately to vent her stress and establish an atmosphere of fear, but because the other party was Yoon-gi, Park Seon-ja’s attitude was extremely polite, as if she were dealing with the principal.
"I heard stories about him, and since he's such a notorious kid, I thought I had to go that far for him to stay quiet."
It was a lie Yoon-gi told after the fact, but Park Seon-ja believed it.
"Still, it seems too excessive..."
"I'll be careful in the future. I'm sorry."
As Yoon-gi bowed his head, Park Seon-ja nodded. Even though Kim Chan-yeol had been hospitalized, she didn't really have anything to lose.
'If I offend Yoon-gi and lose my tutoring gig, I'm the only one who loses.'
On the other hand, one thought crossed her mind. 'Is this why he asked me to tell the Chairman to let him learn sports?' Yoon-gi wasn't being tutored by Park Seon-ja, but she helped him quite a bit in determining the speed and direction of his studies. For example, middle school-level subjects or physical training.
"Sports? Wouldn't you be short on time for studying?"
At his grandfather's words, Yoon-gi shook his head.
"I heard from the teacher that you need to build stamina through exercise to have the energy to study."
"Is that so?"
At Choi Ki-hyun’s serious gaze, Park Seon-ja nodded quickly.
"Of course. You need stamina to study well. Besides, considering the military training subjects later on, it doesn't hurt to build up physical strength in advance."
"What if the child decides to become an athlete and drifts in that direction..."
"I will take responsibility and educate him so that never happens, so you don't have to worry."
"Then, I have no choice but to trust you. I assume you know what it means to be trusted?"
"Of course."
Recalling her past conversation with Choi Ki-hyun, Park Seon-ja felt cold sweat running down her back as she remembered the tension of that moment, but she shook her head slightly, judging her thoughts to be mere speculation.
'Even so, he's just a child, there's no way. Besides, he was the one who said he wanted to learn Taekwondo with Jin-su, and he wanted to learn boxing because it looked cool on TV.'
Having finished her internal weighing, Park Seon-ja smiled softly and said to Yoon-gi, "Yoon-gi, I know you're the vice president and you're trying for the sake of the class atmosphere, but you should be careful not to be too excessive like today. Understand?"
"Yes, I'll be careful from now on."
Since Yoon-gi had never caused any trouble other than this incident, Park Seon-ja thought about patting his head, but remembering he was the 'Chairman's grandson,' she kept her hands behind her back and nodded.
"Right, then you may go back."
"Yes. Then, I'll be going."
As Yoon-gi turned his back to Park Seon-ja, Choi Deok-bae’s voice echoed quietly, observing the expression on his face.
Kim Chan-yeol, who was discharged after three days, couldn't even make eye contact with Yoon-gi after being severely beaten. But that was it. Thinking it was okay to touch the other kids, excluding Yoon-gi, Jin-su, and Won-hee, the moment recess started, he opened the backpack of a kid whose family ran a supermarket and started checking inside.
"What is it, give it back..."
The timid kid resisted once, but that only gave Kim Chan-yeol an excuse.
"Hey, I just looked, I didn't take it, did I?"
He had rummaged through it to take anything good, but the kid didn't have the guts to stand up to Kim Chan-yeol.
However.
Smack!
With a crisp, satisfying sound, Kim Chan-yeol’s forehead plummeted vertically toward the desk, creating a loud bang.
"Who is it!"
Kim Chan-yeol jumped up, his face filled with rage, but his eyes began to tremble uncontrollably.
"Don't act up."
"U-uh..."
Seeing Yoon-gi’s chilling gaze, Kim Chan-yeol immediately tucked his tail, left the bag, and headed to his seat. Yoon-gi picked up the bag and returned it to its original owner.
"Thank you, Yoon-gi!"
At the kid’s words, who looked as if he had met a hero, Yoon-gi smiled lightly and sat down.
'This won't be the end. That guy is a stubborn bastard.'
As Yoon-gi expected, Kim Chan-yeol continued to try and create 'trouble' for the other kids. But every time, Yoon-gi would step in, hitting him in the back of the head or kicking his butt, suppressing him. His standing in the class inevitably began to shrink. It had only been a few days, but the kids were already slowly starting to rebel against Kim Chan-yeol.
But the climax was something else entirely. When Kim Chan-yeol was almost perfectly isolated in the class, Yoon-gi approached him and held out his backpack.
"From today on, you carry my bag. You made other kids do it plenty, so you don't have any complaints, right?"
Even though he had been 'educated' before, Kim Chan-yeol, whose frustrations had piled up over the last ten days, lunged at Yoon-gi again, only to be beaten to the brink of death once more.
Choi Deok-bae’s meaningful question echoed in his mind. 'That butcher bastard is the type to drink himself into a stupor even if his own child died.'
Yoon-gi smiled meaningfully. And just like that meaningful smile, the next day, the butcher appeared in the classroom with a face full of fury.
"Who is Choi Yoon-gi!!!"