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Chapter 5: Bullies? (1)
Kang Chan spent the whole night figuring out how to get to school using public transportation and which class he was in. Truth be told, he had reincarnated—into a wealthy family he had longed for at that.
Kang Chan wanted to give studying an actual shot, but gave up in less than an hour since he didn’t understand anything. He found English and Math to be the most absurd subjects. What was the point of learning sentences that would never be used in real life and math formulas only used by math majors?
‘This bastard doesn’t even have books?’
A timetable was taped to the desk, but Kang Chan didn’t understand why there were only a few books. What he had thought was a self-learning book at first turned out to be a textbook, and he only found out after rummaging through his things for quite some time.
Before he knew it, it was morning.
After breakfast, Kang Dae-Kyung asked Kang Chan if he wanted a ride to school, to which Kang Chan immediately nodded. He would rather get a ride and feel uncomfortable around his father than try to figure out how to use public transport in the morning.
Kang Dae-Kyung easily drove their car out of the underground parking lot and onto the main road. Kang Chan gazed out of the window on the passenger side and looked at the morning scenery.
“You’re my son, right?” Kang Dae-Kyung asked out of nowhere. “I’m fine with whatever you’ve become as long as you’re alive. After looking at your diary and text messages yesterday, I understand why you’ve changed. But I hope you can return to how you used to be. I want to see you smile from time to time.”
‘I wonder if I’ll be able to play the role of this person’s son.’
Kang Chan couldn’t answer.
“I couldn’t be more proud of you when you took the call and resolved the issue yesterday. I used to think that people who bragged about their children lacked discretion, but today, I’m one of those people.”
Kang Chan smiled with ease for the first time. He wished he had been born as the son of these people.
“Over there, right?”
Even though Kang Chan didn’t respond to him, Kang Dae-Kyung still dropped him off in front of the school.
“See you in the evening.”
“Yeah, don’t get yourself hurt.”
Before closing the door, Kang Chan poked his head into the car and noticed Kang Dae-Kyung appearing very emotional. His eyes had turned red.
Grin.
That was all there was to their interaction. Kang Chan had nothing to say, and Kang Dae-Kyung had already said what he wanted to say.
After getting out of the car, Kang Chan found the main gate right ahead. Students were flocking to the wide-open main gate, but there were mixed reactions as soon as he appeared. A student quickly outdistanced and avoided him; a student gave him a furtive glance; another openly stared at him... However, there was one thing they all had in common—none of them could make eye contact with him.
Kang Chan entered the school gate, his bag slung over his right shoulder, and the first person he saw was the teacher that had given off a familiar vibe yesterday. He held a long stick used to discipline students, and his gaze immediately shifted to Kang Chan.
“Wear your bag properly before entering the school premises.”
Smirk.
All the students’ eyes darted between Kang Chan and the teacher. However, Kang Chan walked right past the teacher without correcting anything. He held the teacher’s gaze until he had to look over his shoulder.
“I’ll let it slide this once.”
“Thank you.”
The teacher smirked in the same way.
‘I should find out what his name is.’
Even though he was a bit old, Kang Chan liked him.
***
12th Grade, Class 2.
His classmates’ reactions were not much different from the ones he had gotten in the hallway. When Kang Chan walked into the classroom, the loud students instantly became silent and carefully made their way to their seats. They looked at him without making direct eye contact with him.
Kang Chan looked around the classroom and realized that the number of students in his class was surprisingly small, but that didn’t mean he could tell where his seat was, leaving him no choice but to call out to the student sitting at the back by the door.
“Hey, where’s my seat?”
“Huh? Oh! Right over there.”
Kang Chan walked over to the seat the boy had pointed to and sat down. It was the second row from the front and the second column from the left.
‘This is the perfect spot to get sniped at. There aren’t any blind spots. Tsk!’
As he was internally expressing his dissatisfaction, a strange tension filled the classroom. Kang Chan turned around and made eye contact with Lee Ho-Jun as the latter entered the classroom. Lee Ho-Jun was startled, but judging from his body language, it was evident that he wasn’t going to yield to Kang Chan. He sat down in the middle seat at the back of the classroom.
‘That’s what happens when you don’t fully teach someone a lesson.’
Kang Chan could tell from Lee Ho-Jun’s eyes that he was vigilantly waiting for an opportunity to get back at him. Lee Ho-Jun wanted to show everyone he didn’t lose to Kang Chan. It was a foolish thought on his part.
‘For all I know, he might even attack me during class in a bid to save his face.’
However, Kang Chan shook his head and got rid of the terrible thoughts in his mind.
‘He’s a child. I’m up against a child, what…’
“Hey! Kang Chan!”
Kang Chan let out a short sigh and turned his head around.
“Come up to the roof during lunchtime.” It was Lee Ho-Jun. He spoke while clenching his teeth. The bruise on his left cheek and the cuts on his lips and around his eyes were very noticeable.
“To make things easier, if you have backups, just bring them with you all at one go.”
On the other hand, Kang Chan found the fact that Lee Ho-Jun still tried to look tough despite being unable to respond to him adorable.
***
His classes were truly a test of patience. They had homeroom with a teacher Kang Chan didn’t recognize, followed by four hours of class. The ambience was so heavy that the other students were cautious even when it came to breathing. And that was the same for the teachers as well.
Kang Chan was not stupid—he was just ignorant. He soon became sick of listening to words he couldn’t comprehend at all.
Ding dong dang.
It was finally lunchtime.
Screeech!
Lee Ho-Jun got up from his seat and left through the back door.
‘I’m hungry.’
The smell of curry and banchan[1] whetted Kang Chan’s appetite, but he had a promise to keep.
Kang Chan got to his feet.
“Chan.”
A girl sitting in the first column from the left and fourth row called out to him. She had huge eyes and shoulder-length hair with bangs that covered her forehead. It was no exaggeration to say that she looked like a bad impersonation of Snow White. She had a rather sharp nose and was well-endowed, unlike the average female student.
“I heard this morning that the Shimdeok bullies have come too.”
It seemed as though she plucked up the courage to say that. There was a slight look of righteous indignation, as well as pity, on her face.
“You’re not going to go, right?” she asked.
“What would happen if I choose not to go?”
That was when Kang Chan saw her name tag on her chest.
‘Kim Mi-Young… Wasn’t she the girl that had something to do with some photo?’
“You could always avoid him.”
“What if he still comes after me?”
“Then you tell the homeroom teacher.”
Kang Chan took a deep breath.
“You… know I didn’t take the picture, right?”
Kang Chan instantly noticed that the other students were tense.
“When I remained silent and was treated like a fool, not a single soul came to help me, and now that things have gotten to this point, you’re acting like you care about me?”
Kim Mi-Young looked like she was about to cry.
Kang Chan slowly turned around and left the classroom. They were young children, but they could be very cruel in some ways.
‘Yeah. This is all because I didn’t put an end to it.’
Kang Chan decided to drop out of school today.
Smirk.
He was planning to swing by the rooftop before getting some pork cutlets.
‘I’ll go to France and start all over again.’
It was getting a bit burdensome to start feeling affection towards someone else’s parents. And when he thought about his subordinates who had died without knowing why, he felt like he had left the restroom without washing his hands––dirty and bothered.
‘If I was going to be sent back, I should’ve been sent back to the past.’
Naturally, that was on the premise that Kang Dae-Kyung and Yoo Hye-Sook were his parents.
When Kang Chan was going up to the roof, some sloppy-looking male students and female students with thick makeup—looking as though they had just finished their shift at a bar—tagged along.
Kang Chan stopped in his tracks on the stairs. He turned around and looked at the girl in front. She had rolled up her skirt so much that he could see her underwear when she was climbing up the stairs.
“Go back downstairs.”
“Ah, fuck! Who the hell do you think you are?”
Before he even finished speaking, the girl had already started acting aggressively with him. There were a lot of women like her in France as well. They had guts and went around wearing knuckle dusters.
Kang Chan took two steps toward the girl. The black lines around her eyes were so thick that it looked as though her eyes were attached separately to her face.
“What? You want to try me?”
Slap!
The boys at the bottom of the stairs caught the girl. As expected, she had collapsed from the slap.
“Fuck. Off. Before I kill you.”
Looking at the girl, Kang Chan decided to wrap things up by viewing them as enemies rather than treating them as students or children. They weren’t children—they were monsters in children’s clothing. When people became adults, they’d gain the fundamental ability to discern right from wrong, but these kids wouldn’t even be able to do that.
As soon as his eyes gleamed, the students on the stairs hesitated before going down. Kang Chan watched them until they reached the bottom before walking again toward the roof.
‘I’ll crush all of you to pieces.’
He was already going to quit school anyway, so he was determined to take out these bastards. Kang Chan grabbed the handle of the roof door and shoved it open.
He didn’t want to be blinded by the sudden bright light, nor did he want to get ambushed by any of them and get into a brawl.
‘Fools.’
There were about ten people squatting while smoking. Perhaps they felt confident, considering they didn’t even launch a surprise attack on him. Kang Chan walked out onto the rooftop before shutting the door tightly.
“Look at you, coming here on your own. Good job taking the initiative!”
‘That bastard is the leader, huh.’
The sloppy guy looked at Kang Chan and spoke smugly. As soon as he tossed his cigarette, they all stood up and approached Kang Chan. Kang Chan looked at the weapons three of them were holding and felt relieved.
A fillet knife, an iron pipe, and a piece of lumber with nails embedded in it.
Kang Chan couldn’t believe there were people like them in school.
“It seems like you’ve grown some guts after your fall. Try landing in the parking lot today and smash your head to pieces.”
Kang Chan took a deep breath.
“So I fell previously because of you guys, huh?”
“What? You cried for help and acted like a fool before running away, no? I didn’t hit you at all, motherfucker. Has this bastard gone completely insane?”
Kang Chan glanced at Lee Ho-Jun. He had a look of great anticipation on his face.
“Whatever, it all worked out. I was getting fucking annoyed ‘cause I couldn’t collect any money.”
The guy Kang Chan had assumed to be their leader spoke insidiously as he walked towards him.
This guy had good instincts. He was born with that attitude. Walking at a distance meant that he could take the opportunity to calculate if he should extend his foot or throw a fist.
“You motherfucker, keep your eyes wide open!”
The leader swiftly swung his fist at him. Kang Chan went around him, put his right arm in an armlock, and struck the boy’s neck hard with his left elbow.
“Keuk.”
The rest of the students rushed in to attack Kang Chan as he twisted the leader’s arm and struck him again on the neck with his left elbow.
Tuk.
“Ack! Aghh!”
Even though he had completely broken his opponent’s arm, Kang Chan didn’t let go of it. He grabbed the boy by the neck and shoved him in the way of the incoming iron pipe.
Pow.
The move startled the person swinging the iron pipe. His head had probably been smashed open, since Kang Chan could feel blood gushing from the boy’s head on his hand. He had been grabbing the boy’s broken right arm, but now, he dropped it to grab the left arm before twisting it a little.
Pow. Pow pow. Pow pow pow.
Kang Chan then used his left hand to bend the boy’s left wrist and used it to hit the other three boys in their Adam’s apples, creating a brief opening. Taking advantage of it, he leapt up and kicked the faces of the two boys next to him, placed the left arm of the boy he was grabbing between his legs, and descended.
Crack.
“Gaaaaaaaah!”
The boy fiendishly waved both arms and struggled, but Kang Chan wouldn’t let go of him.
“Come here!”
As soon as Kang Chan pulled his arms forcefully, the boy’s arms stretched out grotesquely long.
“Agh. Arrrgh.”
“Fucking bastard. You’re fucking loud.”
Pow.
Kang Chan kicked the nape of the boy, whose body had stooped over. He no longer moved after being thrown to the floor, as though he was dead. The rest of them hesitantly surrounded him.
Kang Chan glared at them.
“You!”
The guy with the filet knife became terrified.
1. A collective name for small side dishes served alongside rice in Korean cuisine, such as kimchi, fish cakes, etc…