Kwang entered the cafeteria with Jung in a headlock and Sang-ki following along, merrily whistling a tuneless tune. A few schoolmates giggle as the three enter the wide area of school.

“Nope,” Kwang said. “I refuse to let you not eat again for the 3rd time this week. And it is only Wednesday! The library or the clinic or wherever you go every lunch break can wait. Today you will eat with us!”

When they were in the nearest table, Jung lifted his friend’s bulk and deposited him in the closest chair. “I get it,” Jung said, easily escaping the headlock. “Now sit down.”

Jung turned to his other friend as Sang-ki parked his wheelchair in front of Kwang’s table. “What would you like to eat, Mr. Ass Kicker?”

Sang-ki raised an eyebrow. "You? You're gonna buy me food?” he asked suspiciously. If there is a negative trait in Jung’s personality, his friends describe him as a miser. Even if Jung is a cold, dead body in the street, you won't be able to pry the small coin from his dead hands. Instead, you'll get a slap in the face, and the hand will drop that stupid coin in a piggy bank.

Jung raised his hand and nonchalantly showed him Kwang’s thick wallet. “I have this,” he said.

Kwang gasped, and Sang-ki laughed at the giant’s reaction. “When did you get that?” Kwang demanded.

“While I’m in a headlock, obviously. And change your damn deodorant, for christ’s sake. I almost suffocated in there.”

“Give me that!”

With a twist, Kwang’s arm wasn’t able to reach Jung’s hand. “Hey! You said you’ll buy me lunch!”

“And then you refuse!”

“And you refuse my refusal! So you’re buying me lunch!”

“I want the strawberry donut,” Sang-ki said nonchalantly.

Both Kwang and Jung Hee stared at their friend. “Again?” they both said in unison. Sang-ki just shrugged.

“I like strawberries.”

Jung sighed. “Fine, and I’ll buy Tubby over here his favorite special: 4 chickens, rice, and extra gravy.”

Kwang said shyly. “I’m on diet today; buy me 2 chickens only. But no leg part!” then he turned to Sang-ki. “And buy Mr. High Jumper over here the same, will ya.”

Jung grumbled to himself as he went to the tray of food. There was a long line in front of him, but it was moving at a steady pace, so he didn’t mind. So, while waiting, Jung started looking at his stat sheet once more, since it put a smile on his face.

Its been a while since Jung received a reward like 100 skill points and he intend to shore up his weaknesses. He is still concerned with the possible damages the system consequence randomly gave him about losing a level. Although he is curious what a loss of level means when you are level 0 in a skill, Jung has no intention of finding out the hard way. So he needed a buffer.

The first thing Jung did is to unlock all of the level zero skill in his list. To Jung’s dismay, there are 48 of them in his list. It is particularly grating to him since some of the skills are so useless looking to him, like the skill “sitting.” Then there are the redundant ones. For example, when he was younger he is able to maxed out a skill called "literacy," which helps him absorbed all the books that he is able to read from various sources and learn from them, but then, there is a separate skill for “Reading,” which Jung found out later helps him simply read faster. Another example of the redundancy is that he has a separate skill for “Walking,” “Jogging,” and “Running.” On top of that, there is another skill one called “Sprint.” Luckily for Jung, those skills except for sprinting have already been unlocked by various means throughout the years, and the skill “Running” even reached level 9 by now.

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It just grated on him that he lost more than half of his skill points just to unlock seemingly random skills. Skills he is not sure he will be using in the future. Jung sighed. But there is nothing to it but to accept it. The rest of his skill points were used to shore up his weaknesses and prepare for his future plans. First, he upgraded the skills 2nd tank and research to at least 2 levels higher. The first one was because he needed to have more stamina as he did his various work around him and also "research" so that he could prepare for the chain quest better.

One of the biggest changes to Jung Hee was when he unlocked various generic skills, like the educational categories. Skills like "General science study," "General math study, and General history." Each one of those skills receive at least one point and to Jung’s delight. Simply listening to his teacher prattle on in class gave him 1’s and 2’s XP bubble floating and popping on top of his head. Neat.

In the end, he changed at least 62 skills in his least and left 5 skill points as backup for the future. He wasn’t completely satisfied with his choices, but they were the choices he made, and he’d live with it.

Jung closed his stat sheet and noticed that he is close to the serving trays.

But then Eun Mei went past the line and directly to the clerk manning the cashier.

“Ah, fair Eun Mei!” Jung said, brightening. “You are growing much more beautiful this fine after-”

“Shut it, kim.”

She went past him and stopped in front of the cashier. She leans towards her and catches her eyes with her stare. The cashier didn’t back down and glares back at her. “How the hell did you run out of soda?” Eun Mei said. “It is only Wednesday. Surely you have more in stock," Eun Mei said.

The cashier just raised an eyebrow. “Unexpected large demand, that’s why. We simply don’t have more.”

“Then order more,” Eun Mei insisted.

“Oh wow, we never thought of that. Thank you for doing our job for us," the cashier said sarcastically. “We’ve already called the factory who made this and 4 other re-sellers of the product. There is a shortage going on because, according to the factory, they did not have enough of the main ingredients. And so they cannot make more.”

“Are you serious? There are no more sodas in school?” Another girl in line asked. People started talking grumbling behind her. Incidentally, behind Eun Mei, was a Chibi Jung crying forlornly in the background.

“There are no more sodas in town,” another kid said. “Of any brand. Only bottled waters.”

Eun Mei let out a frustrated, low growl from her lips. “So when do you think we will get more then?” She asked the cashier in a more polite voice, visibly controlling herself.

“How should I know?" the cashier said to them. “There are still juices available over there," she said, pointing to the juice stand to her right.

“You mean the amoeba juice? No thanks.” Eun Mei smiled sweetly at the cashier, then turned around and power walk out of the line.

There is a lot of grumbling from the kids in line, and many of them agree with Eun Mei on the juices. The juice is officially called Four Seasons. It is made up of fruits like pineapples and apples, mixed with milk and lots of sugar. Unfortunately, it also comes with crushed ice.

Every morning, ice trucks from town will deliver massive blocks of ice to the school cafeteria. Unfortunately, the delivery guys don’t have much lifting equipment, so it became a habit to simply drop the ice on the ground and pull it with a metal tong. The block of ice is dragged all through the cafeteria and placed just behind the counter, where it is crushed into smaller chunks by an ice pick. Students, as well as the school staff, witness it being dragged from the floor of the canteen, which makes it yucky as fuck. Of course, the cafeteria workers swore they don’t use the bottom-dragged part of the ice in their mixture, but that didn’t give much confidence to the students. Unfortunately, if you have limited options, kids are still forced to buy them.

Jung continued to stay and wait in the long line until it was his turn. He delivered the chickens and donuts to their table and promptly announced to his friends, “I have to pee.”

Jung then left the cafeteria and jogged to the principal’s office. The principal’s secretary is not on her post since it is also her lunch break. The principal is out of the country at some sort of government-sponsored conference somewhere in India. So Jung went past the desk and into the office itself. Jung made a beeline to the principal’s desk, and in a compartment behind it was a mini fridge. Jung looked inside and smiled.

A year or so ago, the principal asked for Jung’s help in fixing the fridge, and Jung did it for free. The fridge is given to the workers of the nation who help make the fatherland great, so Jung felt it was his patriotic duty to do his part.

The principal was relieved that his prized possession is working again. He is also happy that he didn’t have to spend a lot of money for it, and as well as being slightly driven by guilt, the principal informed Jung that the fridge is stacked with sodas and chocolates most of the time, and Jung is allowed to get a share anytime he wants.

Jung accepted the offer with grace, but he never really took advantage of the privilege for a long time.

Until now.

Eun Mei is sitting with friends in her own table when Jung suddenly drops a single can of ice-cold soda in front of her. Jung smiled simply at her then silently left to sit at his own table without saying a word to her. Everyone who saw his gesture gawked at him. Eun Mei stared at the soda for a moment, and then, right there in front of her friends, she opened the can and took a large gulp.

“You lucky bitch,” muttered the girl in front of her. Then she turned to look at Jung’s back as he sat down at his own table and proceeded to eat with Kwang and Sang-ki.