A Peaceful Day.
A Peaceful Day.
Hanguk Jungang Middle School's principal asked me—the nominal top admittee—to give an entrance address,
and I, naturally, turned him down flat.
But when he said a few words would cover my tuition, I wound up on that auditorium stage without another complaint...
Ten minutes of blabbing for five million won in tuition... no matter how I looked at it, that was a total steal.
The formal entrance ceremony raised its curtain, and I, Da-yeon, Ji-hoon, and Tae-oh all ended up in the same class.
You might think, 'No way, what a ridiculous coincidence!!!' but it was obvious what had happened. Lee Jin-seok must have greased quite a few palms...
Da-yeon and I wanted to be seatmates, but the board had assigned seats with boys and girls lined up in separate rows, so I sat down by the window.
My seatmate turned out to be Ji-hoon.
And right next to us sat Da-yeon and Tae-oh.
Park Ji-hoon and Kim Tae-oh were trading looks, as if they found each other thoroughly irritating.
Or maybe they were into each other?
Ji-hoon had shot up fast and was now 174 cm.
"You gonna hit two meters or what?"
"You know what my dream is?"
"What."
"The moment I hit 2M, I'm bulking straight to 130 kilos and becoming the strongest man in the world."
"That's so fucking you. Dumbass."
Next to us, Da-yeon and Tae-oh let out quiet laughs.
Hanguk Jungang Middle School.
A rumor had spread that Kim Si-yoon would be attending this school.
When I saw Si-yoon in that drama, my heart had pounded at the mere fact that she was my age...
And when I actually saw Kim Si-yoon speaking as the new-student representative... she practically glowed.
I had ruled Eulji Elementary School, and I arrived full of expectations, dead set on making Kim Si-yoon my woman, no matter what.
And since I had no idea which class Kim Si-yoon would be assigned to, I'd planted friends in advance.
But all that effort was for nothing... the moment I walked into my assigned class, there sat Kim Si-yoon.
Good god... she's beyond what I imagined...
Kim Si-yoon, with a face that looked like she lived in a world all her own...
But the thug-looking little bastard sitting right next to her was messing with my future girlfriend.
As I sat in the classroom, familiar faces came into view.
Now, it was time to show Si-yoon who I was.
A runt with fairly decent looks stared at me for a while, then went and sat in the opposite corner.
Whenever I go somewhere new, it's always the same—everyone, guys and girls alike, steals glances at me.
I ignored those familiar gazes and kept chatting and laughing with Da-yeon.
And then that runt spotted someone and waved.
"Yo~ Hyeong-seop~"
The runt called Hyeong-seop turned pale and glanced nervously at the runt who had called his name.
"Kang Hoon, ah... uh... hey..."
When the runt called Kang Hoon sent him a look, Hyeong-seop squeezed his eyes shut and sat down in front of Kang Hoon.
The moment Hyeong-seop sat, Kang Hoon kicked his chair.
"Been a while, huh?"
"Y-yeah..."
"You not happy to see me?"
"....H... happy."
Out of nowhere, Kang Hoon brought a book down on Hyeong-seop's head.
Thwack!
"Pissing me off, you little shit—answer's so goddamn slow..."
"S-sorry."
Da-yeon kept glancing over, visibly bothered, but I ignored it and kept bantering with Ji-hoon.
I'm no champion of justice, and honestly, it's none of my business who gets bullied.
But with that Kang Hoon constantly looking my way while tormenting the runt named Hyeong-seop, I could tell exactly what was going on.
Kim Tae-oh was doing his job too, paying attention only to Da-yeon.
As time passed, more runts trickled in to fill the empty seats until the room was packed.
Soon after, the homeroom teacher walked in.
The teacher wrote something on the board.
After introducing themself, the teacher pointed to the kid in the very front row.
"Want to introduce yourself first?"
"Yes."
I didn't know why we had to, but at the homeroom teacher's instruction, we abruptly jumped into self-introductions.
I looked at what was written on the board.
- Name, dream, hobby, special skill, favorite saying, least favorite saying, and what you want to achieve while attending school.
That's an awful lot of requirements.
The runts at the front started presenting, and that idiot Park Ji-hoon was, as consistently as ever, scribbling doodles like a moron.
When my turn came, I sighed and stood up.
Even the people who normally never listened to presentations fixed all thirty-three pairs of eyes on me.
"Hah... I'm Kim Si-yoon. My dream is to be a jobless bum. My hobby is drawing. Special skills... swimming, drawing, music, acting, I guess. I don't have a favorite saying. What I hate hearing is love confessions. I don't have a goal."
After my turn ended, the homeroom teacher looked at Ji-hoon, my seatmate.
Ji-hoon, who'd been doodling without a care, got up once he met the teacher's eyes.
"I'm Park Ji-hoon."
Park Ji-hoon read the items on the board one by one, stated them, and sat back down.
Then, as the line of runts cycled through, it became Kang Hoon's turn.
Kang Hoon spoke while looking at Park Ji-hoon.
"Kang Hoon. Fighter. Fighting. Fighting. Let's throw down. No least favorite saying. My goal is to date Si-yoon."
A runt who blatantly picked a fight with Ji-hoon and even confessed to me at the same time...
But after what he'd just said, watching the teacher drag him outside made him look every bit the kid he was.
And despite me having kindly told everyone I hated it, he'd confessed right to my face. In many ways, this runt was already getting on my nerves.
Si-yoon had started paying attention to me.
Ha... as I thought, her type must be a strong man.
How could I tell? Because loads of girls around me had crushes on me too.
And the guy sitting next to Si-yoon looked pretty thuggish himself, so my guess was definitely right.
I quickly texted the friends I'd run with back in elementary school.
Because I didn't like the look of the thug sitting next to Si-yoon, and I planned to school him properly.
At lunchtime, the runt named Kang Hoon brought his friends over and was making a racket in the otherwise quiet classroom.
The runts kept stealing glances at me and Da-yeon as they did.
"The one on the left, you take her. Si-yoon's mine."
"Whoa... her tits are huge, like my mom's...?"
"Heh? Gonna be a sight when she runs."
"Fuckin' hell."
When we stayed still, the runts stared outright at me and Da-yeon.
Da-yeon, seemingly used to those kinds of looks, ignored them.
I, however, felt anger toward a runt other than Ji-hoon for the first time.
'Well, this is irritating...'
More than anything, seeing Kim Tae-oh just sit there despite all this only annoyed me more.
At the thought of whether he was actually doing his job.
I didn't assign Kim Tae-oh to Da-yeon just to stop physical attacks.
I tapped Ji-hoon with my shoulder, and Ji-hoon looked at me, sighed, and stepped up.
Once Si-yoon nudged him, Ji-hoon shrugged his shoulders and rose from his seat.
Scrape.
Tae-oh and Da-yeon watched the scene unfold.
Kim Si-yoon, having been the one to send him, was fiddling with her long hair and reading a book as if she knew nothing.
"Jeez..."
But Park Ji-hoon also had a hard time just standing by and watching those runts.
The runts flinched at Ji-hoon's broad shoulders as he walked over.
"What're you talking about? Mind if I play along?"
Ji-hoon placed his hands lightly on the boys' shoulders, but as his grip gradually tightened, the runts' faces twisted further and further.
Kang Hoon, who had been openly staring at Si-yoon, let out a scoff and abruptly threw a punch at Ji-hoon.
Thud.
Ji-hoon caught the fist and squeezed, and Kang Hoon's scream began.
"Aaaaargh!!!"
When Ji-hoon followed up with a light strike to the jaw, Kang Hoon collapsed onto the desk as if he'd been put under general anesthesia.
"Why'd you suddenly throw a punch like that? I almost got such a shock I killed you... What do you guys think? He wouldn't have a word to say if I did kill him, right?"
""....""
Having watched their leader and best fighter, Kang Hoon, get stretched out like that, the runts couldn't say a word.
Ji-hoon dragged a chair over and sat down in front of them, then toyed with Kang Hoon's swollen hand as he lay there.
"So, what were you talking about?"
""....""
Ji-hoon thrust his face toward the runts, who maintained their silence.
Thanks to his eye surgery, Ji-hoon had been transformed into a thuggish type and now carried an image that seemed pretty dangerous to get tangled with.
"What, cat got your tongue~ Rude as hell... I asked what you were talking about."
"S-sorry."
"Why sorry? What kind of conversation makes you sorry?"
"N-no..."
Bam!
When Ji-hoon slammed the desk next to the downed runt, they all freaked out.
And Kang Hoon, the moment he regained consciousness, scrambled up and sat rigidly at attention.
"Oh? Did I wake you? My bad..."
""....""
Ji-hoon casually threw an arm around the shoulder of the runt he'd first questioned.
"What's the matter~ You know that's not the answer I wanted... Hm?"
Ji-hoon said this to the runt whose pupils were trembling, his face looking like he was about to piss himself.
"Kang Hoon... was it? Let's be good friends from now on, yeah? I'm really looking forward to school life. Take good care of me for the next three years, okay?"
"...Hic!"
The moment Ji-hoon let go, they fled, but Kang Hoon, who stayed behind, flinched.
"Don't bother with martial arts or whatever. Just study hard."
"Y-yeah, I mean yes..."
Ji-hoon smiled at the runt, then stood up.
The runt nursed his fist and jaw while watching Ji-hoon warily.
As Ji-hoon approached, Si-yoon secretly held out her fist a little, and Ji-hoon gave Si-yoon's extended fist a light bump.
Da-yeon, who had watched all this with sparkling eyes, checked Tae-oh's expression and whispered quietly,
"So brutish..."
And Kim Tae-oh also glanced around before looking at Park Ji-hoon with a disdainful gaze.
"Showing off your strength to the weak... how like you."
If I found that absurd just listening to it, imagine how Ji-hoon felt.
I watched to see his reaction, and sure enough, he seemed pretty ticked off and about to say something.
I tapped Ji-hoon on the chest and addressed Kim Tae-oh.
"You're just sitting still after Da-yeon had to hear that kind of talk... Just so you know... if it had been me instead of Ji-hoon who went over there, I'd have driven a pencil into each of their heads—each in a different color—and made them take responsibility for the nonsense they spouted so thoughtlessly, weak or not."
""....""
"Just because Da-yeon acts unfazed like that doesn't mean you, Kim Tae-oh, are doing a good job. Do you actually know how hard this is on her?"
"Si... Si-yoon..."
Da-yeon looked at me with worry.
"People think Da-yeon is mature and doesn't let it bother her, but we're fourteen, you know? If you want to do your job right, start by thinking about how Da-yeon feels instead of slacking off just because you're the grandson of the HSW director."
I stroked Ji-hoon's head and smiled.
"Now that's a man~"
""....""
I left Ji-hoon with goosebumps all over his body and sat back down.
Kim Tae-oh was deep in serious thought.
I'd figured Kim Tae-oh had strong pride, but even after hearing words like that just now, he was reflecting on himself rather calmly.
When Da-yeon noticed and started to worry, Kim Tae-oh spoke.
"I'm sorry... I had no idea. Back then, when I did something like that, I thought it scared you... I'm truly sorry."
"Ah... no..."
Da-yeon, her face flushed, was smiling.
When I first entered this middle school, I'd figured it would be as fancy as the private elementary school in Seoul I'd attended, but...
Just as I'd thought, the cafeteria was fancy too.
I filled my plate at what was basically a buffet and sat down.
Anyone could tell from our plates that Ji-hoon and I, and Da-yeon and Kim Tae-oh, had completely different tastes.
Park Ji-hoon and I had piled on mostly meat, while Da-yeon and Kim Tae-oh had gone heavy on vegetables.
"How do you eat only veggies and still have boobs that big?!"
Kim Tae-oh and Park Ji-hoon spat out their food at my suddenly-blurted blunt question.
And just as Kim Tae-oh—who believed Da-yeon was still self-conscious about her body—was about to snap at me for saying something like that when I was supposed to be her friend—
when Da-yeon's following answer left him speechless.
"I dunno... maybe I take after my mom..."
Kim Tae-oh still didn't have a clear picture of the relationship between me and Da-yeon.
"Wow... I wish I could be big like you, Da-yeon..."
"Why do you have to make it embarraaassing...."
Apparently, he still didn't know Da-yeon was weak to compliments.
Especially the compliments that I give her—she's practically desperate for those.
I looked over at Park Ji-hoon, who was shoveling down his food.
"That not enough?"
"Huh? I can just go get more."
"As expected... you sure can eat..."
While I was talking to Ji-hoon, Kim Tae-oh's eating speed very, very subtly increased.
Park Ji-hoon was eating every last scrap of meat in this cafeteria as if he intended to devour it all himself.
"Dude, that's your third bowl... you're gonna burst, you little shit."
"I think I'll be full after just a little more."
Because of Ji-hoon, who kept going back for just meat without a care for the pointed looks the cafeteria lady was giving him,
I wound up being the more embarrassed one.
So I got up and brought him a tray loaded with more meat myself.
"Thanks."
A fourteen-year-old who single-handedly devoured enough meat side-dishes to feed twenty people: Ji-hoon.
""Whoa....""
Da-yeon and I, already finished with our meals, were simply marveling.
Ji-hoon was eating at least twice as much as he had back when he lived as Jae-hyeong.
"This little shit's a poop-making machine..."