Two weeks later, Jung Hee is back to his usual self. He laughs and argues with his friends like nothing happened. His smile only falters a bit every time he sees the love birds, but he made a gargantuan effort to keep smiling even when he didn’t feel like it. Thankfully, his friends remained the same. They did, however, keep their mouths shut and unconsciously agreed to not talk about Eun Mei in his vicinity.

Jung stared sadly at his friend eating a rolled-up kimbap, basically a seaweed rice roll. He raised an eyebrow before chomping on his own sandwich. "Are you on a diet or something?" Jung asked bluntly. "Normally you'll be eating your fancy rice with multiple toppings. It is disturbing seeing you eat something so small."

Kwang just grunted. In the chaos of the high school canteen, the two seniors sat at the corner table as they enjoyed their lunch. Well, at least Jung is enjoying his. He’d been preparing for a school contest all week, and the sandwich was his gift to himself now that all his preparation is complete.

The bigger boy took two bites of his seaweed rolls, and it was done. Now, he is looking longingly at Jung's sandwich.

Jung noticed him. "Oh, do you want the rest of this?" he asked politely.

Kwang brightened. "Of course, I want the rest of that," Kwang said, his hand already open. "I-"

With a straight face, Jung ate the rest of the sandwich right in front of his best friend.

Kwang glared at Jung. "I hate you," the bigger boy said darkly.

Jung gave him a self-satisfied smile. “Buy something else if you are gonna glare at me like that.”

“I can’t,” Kwang growled. “I promised my parents I’m going to go on a diet.”

Jung grunted. “Talk about mission impossible,” he said to himself.

“What was that? ”

“Nothing.”

"Why are you so perky this early in the morning, anyway?

"I'm glad you asked!" Jung said brightly. "A new truck just arrived at the co-op today. There is something wrong with the engine, and the commissariat who is handling the distribution of the trucks sort of implied that we are allowed to use it as a source of spare parts for our other trucks. What he didn't know is that those trucks have been running perfectly for a year now. Now if I can fix that truck as well, then old man Sung said I'm getting 22,000 Won as a bonus! (just about $20) and I'll finally have enough money to buy my mom a good gift for her birthday!"

Kwang brightened suddenly. “Wah?! I didn’t know that! What does your mom like? I have to find a gift for her too! Do you think she likes jewelry? "

The moment he opened his mouth, Jung Hee knew he had made a mistake. Kwang has this ongoing crush on his mother, and Jung didn’t like it. Not one bit.

“Well? Does she like jewelry? ”

"I don't know," he said, glaring at his friend.

"Yeah, you’re right, I already gave her one. Shoes, maybe? Do you think she likes shoes? Every woman likes shoes.”

"Maybe."

"How about clothes? It can be cute and practical."

"Do you even know her measurements?"

"Yep," Kwang answered simply.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

Jung Hee stared at him for a long time. “Dude, that’s just wrong,” Jung said, shaking his head. “And I don’t want to know how you know that."

Kwang just babbled on, oblivious to his friend’s face. "Perfume? Make-up kit? Other girly stuff?"

"I don’t know! Just make sure your gift won't outshine mine, or I’ll kick your ass!"

Kwang sighed. "You are no help at all," he complained.

“Not my problem.”

"Maybe, if you let me have some sandwiches, I might be able to think properly for myself," Kwang answered snarkily.

Wordlessly, Jung gave him another sandwich in his bag. The open surprise in his friend's face made Jung a bit guilty that he messed with the big guy and did not give him the sandwich earlier.

Jung looked at the clock. Lunch is about to end in five minutes. He sighed and gathered his things. "Gotta go. The principal wants to talk to me about something. Maybe it’s the upcoming math contest. I’ll see you later," he said, and they bumped fists.

Jung stood up, only to see Eun Mei and Garam enter the school cantina. Jung hesitated for a moment, then forced himself to move again, even though his shoulder was a bit more hunched over and his destination suddenly wasn’t important anymore.

Meanwhile, Kwang was looking around to see if he could get any food from anyone. If someone feeds him, then that doesn't violate his agreement with his parents, he reasoned.

A girl named Meiyoon was walking with her friends out of the canteen when Kwang waved at her and stopped her for a moment. “Hey Jin-Mei! Have you seen wheelchair boy? ”

“Nope,” she said.

“Where is everybody?! ” Kwang asked himself.

*****

After a stint in the school clinic again, he wanted to check a particular healthy cell sample of the mysterious plant and see what made it different from the others. The Violet Drop, the name Jung gave mystery plant 1, had a characteristic that he started to find uniformly in all the samples he was testing, and Jung is ready to do more comprehensive testing to see if his hypothesis is actually correct or just an assumption on his part. But that will still happen in the future, since Jung Hee still needs to go to the principal's office.

Jung happily greeted the middle-aged secretary named Mrs. Shin outside the office, and she told him he could go in.

""Hello, Principal Noh," Jung greeted and bowed. "You wanted to see me? "

“Yes, I do." The balding principal tucked his ample stomach and then gestured for Jung to sit down. “How are you these days, my boy? ”

The principle did want to talk to him about the upcoming regional math competition and to inquire about Jung’s condition and preparation. Jung reassured him that he was ready.

The principal smiled at him and nodded. He just couldn't probe the boy with deeper questions. The principal heard about a certain young lady’s romantic status and is a bit nervous if that would affect Jung’s mood in the contest. Now that he is looking at him, he seems okay, but you don’t really know with these teenage boys. They are always moody and unpredictable. This is important to him because he has a little wager with the principal of Gahou Secondary School in the next province, and that bastard is boasting about a new prodigy in their school.

Kim Jung Hee had become a legend in their little community, and at least the other principals were not stupid enough to challenge his boy. But this … party appointee is new, and he still needed to learn the ropes. Ho ho ho ho! I do like the feeling of those fat wads of money in the palm of my hand.

Eventually, the principal is reassured, and he lets Jung go back to his classes.

*****

Jung is whistling a favorite tune as he walks back to his class. Jung is still thinking of a good gift for his mother when he noticed the commotion in his classroom.

He saw Garam looking just outside his classroom with a grim expression.

“What happened? ” Jung asked. The dude might have gotten Eun Mei’s favor, but that doesn’t mean that Jung is angry with him. In his own way, Jung actually likes the guy.

Garam turned to Jung. “One of the kids was sent to the clinic. One of the delinquents roughed him up real bad,” Garam said.

“To the clinic? ” asked Jung incredulously. He just went there. “Who? ”

Garam opened his mouth and hesitated.

“Who? ” Jung’s eyes were getting colder by the moment.

Garam sighed. After a moment, he answered.

*****

(ten minutes ago...)

Park Chung-ho smashed the mirror of the boy’s restroom with his fist and watched his angry visage glare back at him in the cracked remains. Blood poured from his damaged hand, but he didn’t care.

For a few months now, he had tried sweet talking, bribing, scaring, and negotiating with the three other boys that constitute their gang, but to no avail. Jeezes, those idiots don’t know what is good for them. They are content following their weak alpha like good little bitches. They just cannot see that Bon Won has passed his prime.

Unfortunately, he cannot just backstab Bon Won, or the others will jump him. No matter how strong a lion is, a pack of hyenas can still tear it apart. He can’t even just demand that Bon Won just fight him one-on-one in a duel because it is true that there is no reason for him to do so.

He is already the leader of the gang, and without even doing anything, he will be forced to follow him, Chung-ho thought bitterly.

Even if he made his own group, no one is stupid enough to actually challenge Bon Won’s group. Not in this district, anyway.

By then, I’ll just become a part of a mediocre group.

Again.

No, Chung-ho needed to become the leader of Bon Won’s gang. If only there was a way to discredit that asshole and make me look good all at the same time, he thought again. There must be a way to…

A kid entered the washroom and noticed him. It was the wheelchair kid. What’s his name again? Right, I remember now; it's Oh Sang-ki. Another useless kid. Chung-ho wondered why his parents didn’t just kill the worthless cripple. It would have made their lives easier, and the rest of the world would be a better place.

He glared at the kid.

Sang-ki immediately noticed the broken mirror and the glasses on the dirty, wet floor.

Awkwardly, the kid smiled at him. “Aah, it seems that this is a bad time,” he said in his squeaky voice. “I’ll just come back later.” He retreated with his wheelchair, and when he was outside, he turned and rolled away.

Chung-ho smirked in disgust as he returned his stare to the broken mirror. “Freaking cripple coward,” he muttered to himself. If that rule not to mess with the wheelchair boy is not in effect, he’d fuck him up a long time ago. His very presence is annoying him, and besides, he-

Chung-ho stopped in mid-thought. Wait a minute, that rule! The rule that said that no one is to touch the wheelchair boy. That has always been in effect since he could remember, and rumor has it that it was one of Bon Won’s oldest rules in school! Of course!

I can break that rule.

Chung-ho can break that rule and show the world he is not afraid of Bon Won. And then that will force Bon Won to confront him.

Alone.

A real duel will go down then, and finally... finally! He can show everyone—hell, he can show the world—that he is the strongest.

With casual ease and a dark, sinister smile on his face, he left the washroom and began to stalk the boy in the wheelchair...