Chapter 30:

Jung frowned as he stared at the ancient wall clock in their school library. His class was assigned to clean the small facility that afternoon, and the whole class is now busy rearranging chairs, cleaning the windows, waxing the floor, and dusting the books.

Jung and Kwang were storing the brooms and mops when the librarian asked Kwang if he could reach for the wall clock and replace the batteries inside it. Kwang is the biggest student in the whole school, despite only being in their second year of middle school. Once he easily grabbed the clock, he handed it over to Jung. Kwang is so afraid of damaging things that he always lets Jung handle intricate objects.

Jung sighed. He grabbed the wall clock and deftly changed the batteries inside, but the clock still didn't move. The boy frowned and stared closer to the simple mechanism. Jung quickly grasped what the cogs are for and what they are not. Jung is always been fascinated by the intricacies of mechanisms and has viewed any machine as one big puzzle. The problem was that the metal click that connects the battery to the wiring was dislocated. Jung expertly twisted a paper clip into a swirling coil that turned into a small metal spring. With his tongue out, he nimbly placed it back, and when the battery connected a second time, the clock finally worked.

Congratulations!

You have unlocked the general skill "Jury Rigging."

-The ability to repair or maintain an object or structure using alternative parts, tools or process.

Requirements: INTELLIGENCE 1, AGILITY 1, WISDOM 1 (requirement met)

Current level: 0

Needed skill points to upgrade to the next level: 1

Remaining Skill Points: 0

That made Jung raise an eyebrow. He already have the "repair" skill, but that only works if he has all the necessary components and parts before he can "repair" the item. This new skill, he realized is if the parts are broken or missing and he can replace the parts with alternative ones.

Jung nodded to himself. When he reached level ten, Jung studied the list of perks available to him and finally decided on a perk called the “Preserve or die” perk. Basically, any non-biological item that he makes, repairs, restores, or rebuilds will last a lot longer than its natural life, provided, of course, it is not targeted specifically for destruction.

"What the hell are you doing, you nerd?" Kwang said in an exasperated voice. "Everyone else had already returned to our classroom."

It was one of the biggest phenomena in school that Kim Jung Hee and Cao Kwang Ho became friends despite their different characters and lifestyles. Kwang was the same boy that was rude to Jung in their first day in class, and for months, the giant boy started bullying Jung.

Jung tolerated the harassment for a time until he had enough. Despite his time training in the gym, Jung has never been in a fight. But every kid that knows him knows that if he gets angry, he can become very, very dangerous. There is simply this weird way Jung Hee’s eyes start to look at you that will make any would-be bully feel ill at ease with him. It was the look of a predator watching a prey who is deciding right that moment whether or not he could be bothered to turn you into a snack.

That same glare manifested in Jung as he looked at Kwang when they were 7 or 8 years old. Kwang hesitated when he felt the chill, but he mustered his fear and attack Jung. Jung simply evaded the attack, hooked Kwang’s leg and encouraged his momentum by pushing him at the back. Kwang fell face first in the hard concrete, and he stopped moving and started moaning.

Jung started walking away when he heard the quiet sob from the big kid as he continued to lay down there. Jung hesitated, then he returned to the humiliated boy. “Are you okay?” he asked.

It took a moment before the boy said in a sniffling voice, “Yeah. Get lost.”

Next thing he knew, Jung was half carrying and half dragging Kwang to the nurse station, and he stayed as the nurse both admonished and administered first aid to the young boy. When they were alone for a moment, Kwang awkwardly said in the silence, “I’m sorry. You just... I don’t know. You just pissed me off with your overconfident attitude. Like everything is so easy for you.”

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Jung blinked at him. “No, it’s not!” he protested.

“Yeah, you do!”

And suddenly they were arguing and joking, and after hanging out for a few more weeks, they were suddenly best friends.

Now Jung looked at the big oaf with a smile as Kwang patiently waited for him. Kwang had proven himself to be a good friend and loyal. The thought that the kids used to think of Kwang as a grizzly bear is now funny to Jung.

With a sigh, Jung’s gaze returned to the clock. After fiddling with it for a few more seconds, he reluctantly returned the clock to the librarian and explained that it wasn't the batteries that were wrong with it. He promised to return to the library tomorrow and checked it further. He just needed a few more permanent parts that he can scrounged up from his dad's cooperative. The librarian just nodded and set the clock aside.

Jung stretched his aching back and followed his friend out of the library. Then he brightened when he passed by Eun Mei's classroom and noticed the girl sitting alone and writing something. Jung veered towards the class since it is obvious that they are on a break from an absent teacher. Kwang sighed as he left his friend. He liked Jung, but he didn't want anything to do with the snooty bitch.

Jung flopped to the empty seat next to the girl, and he smiled at Eun Mei with his puppy dog smile. "Hello, Eun Mei!" he said cheerily. "What are you doing?" For the last 2 or 3 years now, Jung and Eun Mei have not been placed in the same class, much to Jung’s dismay. But that didn’t stop him from visiting her room every time he could.

The girl didn't bother to hide her annoyance as she glared daggers at Jung. "Could you please don't bother me now, I am still doing my assignments," she said.

Jung glanced at the girl's neat handwriting. "Is that fractions? I'm good at fractions! I can help you if you want."

"No."

"Your answer in number 3 is wrong. You converted the wrong denominator here so your subtraction on line 2 went bonkers," Jung explained.

Eun Mei checked Jung's assessment, and she silently changed her answer while muttering to herself. Jung just smiled at her.

Jung continued to offer to answer numbers 5 and 6 for her, but she refused, and he would have been content to just sit there and watch her, but the girl in the chair he was sitting in returned, and he was forced to stand up. With no more seats available near Eun Mei, Jung simply stood there for a moment before awkwardly saying goodbye to the young lady. Eun Mei didn't even acknowledge his leaving.

The girl that was sitting next to Eun Mei stared at the handsome boy's back, leaving the classroom. "Why do you always treat Jung Hee like dirt? He is always nice to everyone, and everyone likes him."

Eun Mei again didn't bother to answer and ignored her classmate. Seeing her being ignored, the girl huffed, pulled out her manwha in her bag and ignored Eun Mei as well.

If Jung is well-liked, many of the students in the class and the rest of the school hate Eun Mei. Despite her beauty, everyone seems to realize that she was a cold bitch who didn't bother to interact with the rest of the kids in school. Throughout the years, many tried to befriend her, both boys and girls, but she ignored them all. Many are angered by her implied haughtiness, and some tried to bully her because of it. Unfortunately for the would-be bully, her deadly comebacks and subtle insults humiliated their fair share of students, 5 and the rest simply gave up on her.

But the really dangerous bullies intensified their harassment. Like the vice president of the student body. The girl named Charyeung was in love with the 2ND year high school student body president, Lee Sungri, who also confessed to Eun Mei. Eun Mei brushed him aside, just like all her suitors. The older kid was a bit humiliated, but he shrugged it off and went on with his life.

But the vice president girl decided to teach Eun Mei a lesson.

One morning, after making sure no teacher is around, she and her friends dragged Eun Mei to the back of the school and started to beat her up but Eun Mei didn't take it lying down. She was a demon, and she clawed, bit, and kicked all her assailants back. Two of the seven girls received injuries and needed stitches in the clinic. Eun Mei was hospitalized.

It became a great mess. Fortunately or unfortunately, Jung was busy when a part of the field caught fire from the unusual heat of summer, and all farmers were called in to do emergency harvesting of the not yet fully grown maize. When he went back to school, a subdued story was given to him by his friends, and although he tried to visit her in the hospital, she ignored him.

Then the inquiry happened.

The principal was a good man and would have investigated the entire incident thoroughly had he been there. Unfortunately, the principal was recalled back to Pyongyang for a yearly briefing, and the vice principal was the one in charge in school that day. The vice principal only cared about the reputation of the school and their annual budget. So when he had to intervene about the scandal, he wasn’t happy at all. Both parents from both parties involved were called out. Since Charyeung is an honor student and whose family has connections to the communist party, the vice principal chose to side with the girl, and Eun Mei was castigated, and Eun Mei’s mom was forced to apologize.

Charyeung walked away smugly and told everyone who would listen that she had just put the arrogant girl in her place. Eun Mei didnt say anything and simply walk away.

Two days later, a flower pot from the second-floor balcony fell on top of the vice president's head when she was about to enter the school building. She suffred a serious head wound, and she was hospitalized. She was in a coma for 3 weeks.

And then she died.

There was a great memorial that most of the students attended. One notable absentee was Eun Mei. When friends of the former vice president confronted Eun Mei in the girl's bathroom one day and demanded an explanation for her absence, she didn't bother to reply.

"So you didn't learn your lesson from the beating we gave you, huh? Next time, we'll make sure you learn your lesson more thoroughly," one of the girls warned her in a sneer as she cracked her knuckles.

Eun Mei sighed and said almost to herself, “Do I need to look for another flower pot? I thought one was enough. But girls in this school are too idiotic to learn their lessons. It’s a tedious task, but I think I know where to find another one.”

The silence in the room was palpable. All the students just stood there long enough that it all became awkward. Eun Mei stared them down as she washed her hands and then walked away with her head high. No one stopped her.

After that, everyone left her alone. The gossip and whispering continued, but no one decided to confront her ever again.

It was Jung who made everything almost normal again. Everyone gawked at the growing handsome kid, who is known to be very intelligent and good at sports, and the all-around popular guy, continued to pursue Eun Mei without any care in the world.

It lessened the fear they had about the strange girl. Jung and Eun Mei’s antics throughout middleschool were legendary. Eventually, a few girls on a dare started to approach Eun Mei again. A few of them even became sort of friends with Eun Mei. Once she is around other girls who are not hostile to her, she became almost normal again.

The flower pot incident was dismissed as an exaggerated coincidence. Eun Mei's coldly killing a girl with a flowerpot was just ridiculous. They were just still in middle school then, for god's sake.