The Trendsetter (2)
"Aigoo is not..." The moment Kim Myung-hwan glared at Jin-soo, a clatter echoed through the room. Yoon-gi’s desk began to tilt toward the floor, tracing the arc of a protractor, and simultaneously, Yoon-gi’s fist shot toward Kim Myung-hwan’s jaw.
Crack! Crunch! Kim Myung-hwan’s upper and lower teeth collided with terrifying speed, producing a sickening sound, and broken shards of teeth spilled onto the floor.
Though Kim Myung-hwan was momentarily dazed by the sheer impact, Yoon-gi’s punishment didn’t end there. A roundhouse kick slammed directly into Kim Myung-hwan’s stomach while he was still suspended in the air. The force sent him flying to the front of the classroom, where he slammed his back against a chair occupied by another student before collapsing to the floor.
"Kehek!" Kim Myung-hwan, who had blacked out from the pain only to be jolted awake by it, coughed uncontrollably. But he wasn’t given a moment to compose himself. Yoon-gi’s eyes were still rolled back in a cold, predatory haze.
"S-save me..." Kim Myung-hwan begged for mercy with slurred words, but Yoon-gi began to stomp on his face. The sounds of thud, thud and crunch echoed through the classroom, yet not a single person dared to intervene. Having witnessed the first strike, the classmates were too terrified to even approach.
"Hey, s-stop him!" Yoon Shin-gyu, Kim Myung-hwan’s friend, urged Jin-soo and Won-hee, but both simply shrugged.
"We can't stop him either. Maybe if he were on the verge of death, we could?" At Won-hee’s words, Jin-soo nodded.
"There’s one thing you should never say in front of Yoon-gi: insulting his parents. There was a guy in fourth grade who did that, and his right elbow bone was shattered."
"Yoon-gi did say later that he let him off easy because he was young, but I don't think this guy will get any leniency. He’s worse than when he lost it in third grade."
Just as Won-hee said, Yoon-gi was stomping on Kim Myung-hwan even more cruelly than he had when he beat up the 'thief.'
"Hey, let's stop him. He’s really going to die at this rate."
"Sigh, these idiots always judge Yoon-gi by his looks and get themselves killed. If Yoon-gi really wanted to, becoming the school boss would be nothing."
Shaking their heads, Jin-soo and Won-hee rushed at Yoon-gi, grabbing his lower and upper body respectively.
"Yoon-gi, calm down!"
"He’s going to die! And if he dies, the pain ends, doesn't it?"
At Won-hee’s strangely logical remark, the black irises returned to Yoon-gi’s eyes as usual.
"...Hmph." Yoon-gi snorted, straightened his clothes, and returned to his seat. Seeing Yoon-gi, who hadn't even broken a sweat after such a ruckus, Yoon Shin-gyu and Lee Sang-woo tried to flee, but a single word from Yoon-gi froze them in their tracks.
"Kneel."
In an instant, the sound of knees hitting the floor echoed through the classroom. Yoon Shin-gyu and Lee Sang-woo broke into a cold sweat, kneeling before Yoon-gi with their heads bowed low.
"Why don't you try stabbing my head with a ballpoint pen?"
Their faces turned deathly pale. The thought that he might have overheard their conversation near the storage room earlier caused their own situation to overlap with Kim Myung-hwan’s. They instinctively turned their gaze toward the crumpled Kim Myung-hwan, where they saw Jin-soo and Won-hee talking.
"You take him to the infirmary."
"Are you crazy? What kind of relationship do I have with this jerk?"
"Then should I take him? If Yoon-gi goes on a rampage against those guys, can you stop him alone?"
"Ah, damn it..."
Yoon Shin-gyu and Lee Sang-woo prayed desperately that Won-hee would take Kim Myung-hwan to the infirmary. Perhaps their prayers were heard; Won-hee eventually grabbed Kim Myung-hwan by both feet and dragged him toward the infirmary, while Jin-soo approached Yoon-gi.
"Yoon-gi, don't worry. If you make them look the same, you and I can just grab them one by one and take them to the infirmary."
Watching the two of them with horrified expressions, Yoon-gi leaned his face close to theirs without changing his expression at all.
"You two... if you show up at school tomorrow, you're dead..."
With that, Yoon-gi sat down and said nothing more. However, Yoon Shin-gyu and Lee Sang-woo didn't dare to stand up. They felt that the moment they did, Yoon-gi’s fist would fly toward their mouths.
"“Ugh...”"
In the end, they couldn't straighten their knees until the teacher walked in.
"What are you two doing? Why don't you sit down?"
The math teacher’s voice was laced with annoyance. Any student who had reached middle school could tell that this was an incredibly awkward instruction, and the homeroom teacher’s behavior during the end-of-day assembly was enough to imprint Yoon-gi’s power on the entire class.
"Everyone, go home safely."
The teacher didn't say a single word about Kim Myung-hwan, who was likely hovering between life and death in the infirmary. Even though the students knew that Kim Myung-hwan had been carried to the hospital on the gym teacher’s back during the sixth-period break, the homeroom teacher treated him as if he didn't exist. And the next day, through the students who were quick with news, the truth about Yoon-gi’s family background began to spread throughout the school.
Among the tightly packed desks, exactly three were empty. The seats of Kim Myung-hwan, Yoon Shin-gyu, and Lee Sang-woo. Yoon Shin-gyu and Lee Sang-woo hesitated as they tried to enter the classroom, but upon seeing Yoon-gi rise and walk toward them, they bolted out the school gate in terror. The student disciplinary committee members patrolling the main gate tried to catch them, but it was impossible to stop two people running for their lives. Consequently, the story of the "Duo who fled through the school gate during morning arrival" also spread across the school.
"Um... Yoon-gi." Park Sang-hyun, a classmate whose father served as an Army Warrant Officer, spoke to Yoon-gi cautiously.
"Yes?"
When Yoon-gi responded with a very soft smile, contrary to how difficult it had been for him to speak, Park Sang-hyun was flustered and lost for words.
"Sang-hyun, don't be too afraid of Yoon-gi. Yoon-gi is really generous as long as you don't insult his parents. Think about what that jerk said to Yoon-gi yesterday. Is that something a human being should say?"
At Jin-soo’s words, Park Sang-hyun recalled what Kim Myung-hwan had said to Yoon-gi yesterday. Even thinking about it now, it was a comment that had crossed the line, so Park Sang-hyun nodded with a bitter smile and spoke to Yoon-gi.
"I guess... that guy did go too far. But Yoon-gi, you’re really good at fighting. Do you exercise?"
This time, it wasn't Yoon-gi or Jin-soo, but Won-hee who answered instead.
"Yoon-gi has been exercising consistently since first grade of elementary school. If I’d known it would be like this, I would have followed Yoon-gi and exercised too..."
"Hey, do you think you’d end up like Yoon-gi just by exercising? The foundation is different, you know?"
At Jin-soo’s jab, Won-hee jumped up and tried to put Jin-soo in a headlock, but it was Won-hee who ended up in the headlock instead.
"Hey, you might be smarter, but my body is better!"
"Aaaargh!"
Watching the two of them acting like Dumb and Dumber, Yoon-gi chuckled before looking back at Park Sang-hyun.
"It’s true that I’ve exercised consistently. About 30 minutes to an hour a day? You need stamina to study."
"I see... Does exercising help with studying?"
"Definitely. If there’s a boxing gym nearby, I recommend you join. They’re good at working you hard in a short amount of time."
"My dad told me to exercise too... Oh, wait, that’s not what I wanted to ask."
Park Sang-hyun didn't give a bitter smile this time, but let out a short laugh, his tension significantly eased, and asked what he really wanted to know.
"My dad is an Army Warrant Officer. He says you’re tutoring at Colonel JSD’s house. Is that true?"
Yoon-gi didn't deny it at all and nodded immediately.
"Yes."
The conversation between the two drew the attention of other students. Especially the fact that he wasn't receiving tutoring, but giving it, made most of the students react with fascination, and unlike yesterday, they began to gather around Yoon-gi.
"Wow, then did you tutor Colonel JSD’s sons when you were in elementary school too?"
"I only tutored the firstborn."
"That’s amazing. Is that even possible?"
"I had already finished all the advanced learning. It just so happened that I was recommended as a tutor, so I ended up doing it."
"Wow... I heard Colonel JSD is a real power player in the Army these days. You’re truly amazing. No wonder nothing happened yesterday even though you beat Kim Myung-hwan to a pulp..."
Park Sang-hyun’s commentary-like words sank into everyone’s ears. Seeing this, Yoon-gi smiled softly again, looked around at everyone, and opened his mouth.
"I’m sorry about yesterday. I shouldn't have caused such a noisy scene, but I can’t tolerate insults toward my parents. I’m sure such things won't happen in the future."
Yoon-gi’s words were interpreted by the students in two ways. One was that he wouldn't show such behavior again, but the other was that there could no longer be anyone bold enough to insult his parents in front of him. However, this "apology" of Yoon-gi’s was clearly understood by the students, and thanks to this, he succeeded in becoming a "close yet distant" existence, unlike the initial perception that he was just distant.
"Yoon-gi, that mechanical pencil... is it American-made?"
When another classmate, Kim Min-jong, approached Yoon-gi and asked, Yoon-gi unhesitatingly picked up the pencil and handed it to him.
"That’s right, I bought it in the US. I have an American older brother who goes to Harvard, and he said the professor there uses it. So I bought one."
"Wow, it really is a Montblanc!"
Kim Min-jong wasn't exactly at a chaebol level, but he was definitely on the wealthy side, and he had the ability to accurately gauge the value of the wristwatch, clothes, and stationery Yoon-gi wore.
"What’s a Montblanc?"
At Park Sang-hyun’s question, Kim Min-jong gave him a look of pity.
"You don't even know that? It’s the ultimate brand in the world of mechanical pencils. As far as I know, this pencil costs over 200,000 won."
In modern value, that would be over a million won. Of course, in the modern era, the internet has developed, so it would be half that price, but in this era, thanks to margins and various other circumstances, it boasted a price equivalent to a month’s salary for a large corporation employee.
"That’s more expensive than my dad’s monthly salary..."
At Park Sang-hyun’s words, everyone in the class formed a consensus while simultaneously looking envious, but this was only the beginning.
"Wow, this is a Pelikan fountain pen... I asked my parents to buy me this, and they said they’d buy it as a university entrance gift..."
"How much is that one?"
At Park Sang-hyun’s question, Kim Min-jong answered without hesitation again.
"As far as I know, it’s over 500,000 won. I know it’s hard to get this in the first place. There’s no way a stationery store would sell something this expensive, right? I heard it’s hard to find even in specialized fountain pen shops..."
Until the first period began, "Kim Min-jong’s Appraisal of Treasures" based on Yoon-gi’s belongings continued, and this continued during the subsequent breaks and lunch hours. Naturally, the rumors spread in an instant. Not only did he put the elementary school boss Kim Myung-hwan in the hospital, but he was also the tutor for the house of Colonel JSD, the current power player of the Army, and the fact that his maternal grandfather was a US Army Brigadier General spread as well, making Yoon-gi the biggest celebrity in school. Moreover, because his looks were also top-tier, he became a significant topic among the female students in the other classes, and thanks to this, the existence of Yoon-gi began to slowly spread to other schools as well.
A few months passed like that. As he even topped the exam scores, a trend began to emerge where children from wealthy families, including the school Yoon-gi attended and even nearby schools, started trying to use the same items Yoon-gi used. Even if they couldn't use the exact same products, there was an effort to use the same brand, and even if they couldn't use the same brand, a trend emerged to at least use the grade just below it. And just as this trend was taking hold, the exterior construction of the department store finally reached its final stages. The interior design to be carried out in a few months was Fernandez’s specialty. Furthermore, the time to finalize the brands to be brought in was approaching.