Chapter 119

Seventeen-year-old Tae-woo took a deep breath in front of the main gate before entering the classroom he was seeing for the first time.

It was his first time ever going to high school in his life.

A new semester at a new school.

There probably weren’t many people who wouldn’t be nervous.

If a close friend from middle school had been assigned to the same school and same class, the burden would have been somewhat less, but he had been assigned to a school far from home.

Even if he knew people at the school, there was a high probability that no one he knew would be in his class.

When he entered the classroom, the seats were nearly full. It was a natural result.

‘Am I a little late?’

Even though Tae-woo had made several round trips to familiarize himself with the route before school started and came using the map embedded in that divine gift of civilization called a smartphone, he had gotten lost several times while going to school today and arrived late as a result.

It was truly fortunate that he had left home a little early in the morning since he hadn’t streamed late the night before.

‘Otherwise, I would have been late on the first day.’

No matter how much you travel in this world, there’s no such thing as a familiar, easy route! That’s why you have to leave early! Even then it’s always close!

That was Tae-woo.

School started with homeroom at 7:40 AM and first period began at 8:10 AM.

The current time was 7:38 AM.

That must be why there were only 3 seats left.

He didn’t know how many more people would come, but there were only two choices available to Tae-woo right now.

‘Either sit next to that guy, or sit alone without a partner like that guy.’

The only student sitting alone was incredibly handsome at first glance.

Also, unlike the other students in the room who were carefully observing each other, he was reading a book calmly with an upright posture.

There was an aura that made it difficult to approach him.

His sitting alone probably wasn’t without reason.

However, Kim Tae-woo was a man with contradictory characteristics—he liked staying home and gaming and was comfortable being alone, but at the same time, he couldn’t stand actually becoming alone.

So he sat next to the remaining person.

“Hi?”

Tae-woo’s voice trembled slightly as he greeted someone he was meeting for the first time, and that handsome guy nodded his head and responded leisurely.

“Hello.”

* * *

What on earth was he looking at?

‘Martial arts novels?’

No matter how much it was the first day of school with no classes, everyone still pays attention when the teacher is speaking in front.

Even delinquents tend to become model students on the first day.

But this guy sitting next to Tae-woo was somehow different.

‘I think his name was Jin Seo-jun?’

Even his name seemed handsome. That’s why looks are important. Damn.

Anyway.

This guy was amazing somehow.

Even during class time, he kept the book on his lap and read it, but there was no sense of awkwardness in his gaze management even from right next to him.

‘What kind of technique is he using?’

Tae-woo thought that Seo-jun’s skill at secretly doing other things was equally impressive.

‘This bastard was one of my kind?’

Intuition.

A signal sent by the unconscious mind of someone who handles massive amounts of information, like big data.

That intuition was now telling Tae-woo that Seo-jun seemed like he would become a pretty compatible friend.

‘No way. Is he worse at studying than me?’

* * *

It was 2 o’clock, and they headed to the auditorium for the entrance ceremony.

Boring, sleep-inducing procedures were carried out, and the turn for the new student representative’s oath approached.

Then, when the new student representative came up to the auditorium for the oath, Tae-woo’s eyes, which had been yawning, widened.

It was Seo-jun.

No matter how uninterested he was in studying, Tae-woo knew that usually the student who studied the best would take this kind of position.

‘What the hell. How annoying.’

This was purely meant as admiration.

Though it was mixed with a bit of jealousy about his looks.

* * *

Three days had passed since school started.

It was a busy time adapting to a new environment, but also a time when things were gradually settling into place.

Now the teachers meeting them for the second time began actual classes.

And.

For three days, from the morning when he came to school until he left for home, Seo-jun had done nothing but read books without getting up from his chair even once.

He would occasionally close his eyes and fall into thought, but never getting up from his chair remained unchanged!

‘He really is a model student!’

His ability to sit still was amazing.

During that time, no one had approached Seo-jun first, and Seo-jun hadn’t approached anyone either.

He hadn’t even eaten lunch.

He wasn’t studying, but still.

It wasn’t humanities books but just martial arts novels, but still.

He kept reading even during class time, but still.

‘Since he’s the new student representative, he must have some kind of know-how for studying.’

Maybe it was training to build concentration?

Tae-woo thought it was amazing, so whenever he went to the school store, he would buy an extra drink for Seo-jun and hand it to him.

Direct bribes are usually the best method.

“Hey buddy, take this.”

“Thanks.”

Seo-jun said simply as he received his fifth drink.

Then during the next class period, Seo-jun closed his book for the first time, having apparently finished reading it, and put it in his bag.

Afterwards, Seo-jun stretched and said quietly.

“What’s for lunch today?”

The question that students ask most often! Today’s cafeteria menu!

This was the first time Tae-woo felt that Seo-jun was the same kind of student, and he excitedly told him the menu and asked if he wanted to eat together.

Seo-jun nodded and said he understood, and Tae-woo told the friends he usually ate with that they should eat separately today, then went down to the cafeteria with Seo-jun during lunch time.

Today there was chicken leg, which was hard to fail among school meals, and Tae-woo, who had received his meal in a good mood, headed to an empty seat.

After sitting across from Seo-jun, they were eating while chatting moderately when suddenly someone who had been going to dump their tray bent their waist 90 degrees in front of their table.

“Hello!”

What?

And.

‘Who is this?’

Since they were the only ones at the table, it was clear they were greeting Seo-jun.

But the name tag color of the people who had bowed was different from theirs.

The fact that their name tag color was different from theirs, who were first-years, meant these people were upperclassmen.

Were they close enough to joke around?

But the atmosphere didn’t seem like joking at all.

When Seo-jun accepted their greeting while eating his chicken leg, they disappeared.

But this was just the beginning.

The place where they were sitting was near the back, close to where you dispose of leftover food, and the upperclassmen who had been eating in front were now about finished and it was time for them to go dump their trays.

So many people passed by that spot, and upperclassmen who greeted Seo-jun kept appearing at a rate of about one in ten.

“Hyungnim! Hello!”

A fierce expression, and,

“Oh, you came here?”

A large build.

What these people had in common was that they all looked menacing and gave Seo-jun sharp 90-degree bows like a sword.

Each time this happened, Tae-woo’s expression grew worse.

‘I’m screwed.’

An underclassman who upperclassmen kept greeting like thugs?

First, he should doubt whether he was actually an underclassman.

‘Did he get held back after causing trouble?’

This seemed like the highest possibility.

If so, it would also explain why he had been so calm and relaxed until now.

For this guy, high school wasn’t his first time.

Also, seeing how famous he was, there was a high possibility he had caused major trouble.

Tae-woo’s words became dramatically fewer from that point on.

After they finished eating, Seo-jun said to Tae-woo.

“Hey, buddy. Want to go to the school store?”

Seo-jun was trying to repay him.

But Tae-woo interpreted it differently.

‘I got involved with the wrong person. I’m screwed.’

He remembered how he had brought drinks to Seo-jun for the past three days while calling him friend, and interpreted Seo-jun’s words like this,

‘If I want to remain as a friend, I should buy something from the school store?’

What had happened had already happened. Then what should he do to have a somewhat decent remaining school life?

Tae-woo displayed a moment of quick thinking and did the best he could do at the time.

“Drinks aren’t enough, so how about bread for dessert?”

“Sounds good. Then I’ll…”

“No! You go up to the classroom first and wait! I’ll go right away and come back!”

From that day on, various breads that were popular items at the school store were added to the types of food Tae-woo brought.

* * *

[‘Anonymous’ donated 50,000 won!]

[How did you and Tae-woo first become friends?]

Seeing the donation, Tae-woo shed tears internally as he recalled the past.

‘I really offered up a lot of bread for a while there.’

Those were the memories.

The memories of worrying about how to spend the remaining three years of high school and not being able to stream properly.

Does that bastard remember this?

Tae-woo glared at Seo-jun.

The middle school Seo-jun had attended was right next to the high school Tae-woo had attended, so Tae-woo could easily hear about Seo-jun.

Fortunately, he learned it wasn’t about being held back or causing trouble, but the evaluation was still bad.

People who weren’t close to Seo-jun said it would be better not to get close to him since he hung around with some delinquent kids.

And those delinquent kids who had been dragged around by Seo-jun said this,

‘Don’t get involved. Just don’t ask questions and don’t get involved.’

‘Have you ever seen hell?’

‘I never knew I would end up studying.’

‘Us, Seo-jun’s friends? No way.’

‘Right. If we were friends, he could never do that to us.’

At that time, Seo-jun was listening to their conversation from behind, and that’s how Tae-woo became his one and only friend.

The next day, what were definitely Seo-jun’s former friends who had clearly been dragged to that gymnasium came every break period asking him to please just look after them once, becoming friendship appeal ambassadors.

Model student –> Amazing concentration, school’s top student –> Troublemaker held back after causing incidents –> ???

Having gone through this change in perception, Tae-woo gave up trying to figure out Seo-jun and diligently went to the school store.

“Well, Tae-woo here was generous. He brought bread every day to share, so I thought ‘What’s up with this weird guy?’ and then we just became friends.”

-Won his heart with bread lol

-Friendship fee? LOL

-Lmao did he really just buy it to share?

-Is Tae-woo naturally born to be a bread shuttle? LOL

-Bread shuttle would really be controversial

“Bread shuttle? No, I never said anything like that? And I don’t even particularly like bread.”

Tae-woo, who couldn’t stand listening anymore, said something.

“Then why didn’t you tell me to stop buying bread?”

“Well, a friend I’d barely known for a month kept buying it, so it would be weird to refuse for no reason.”

That’s right.

“Makes sense.”

It really does make sense.

Tae-woo looked up at the ceiling, hiding his tears.

Why is this bastard strange about everything else but thinks normally about useless things like this?

He was genuinely curious.

“Oh? Did the chicken arrive? Thank you for your hard work, everyone.”

“I’ll go get it right away!”

The habit ingrained in Tae-woo’s body immediately reacted.

* * *

The next day.

Seo-jun smiled warmly as he remembered his high school days for the first time in a while while heading to his lecture.

‘He was sincere, diligent, quiet, kind, and ordinary.’

He was also a student who had a positive influence.

Originally, showing exemplary conduct to guide junior students was a senior’s natural duty.

There was no violence or personal interest. Really.

He wasn’t saying this because he felt guilty.

‘By the way, I wonder why Director Oh Ji-hye called me.’

Originally, they were supposed to meet in a few days, but she had asked Seo-jun if he could come today.

Since it was near the university, it didn’t really matter when he was called anyway.

‘Is it because of LOS?’