Monday morning.

Kang Chan was walking onto the school grounds with Kim Mi-Young when he saw Seok Kang-Ho standing in front of the school gate with a hard look on his face.

‘What’s with him? Did he fail to get me out of my classes?’

When their gazes met, Seok Kang-Ho gave him a look that told Kang Chan to meet him before lunch.

The students that ran into Kang Chan on the stairs or in the hallway still avoided making eye contact with him, and silence still followed wherever he went.

“Ha,” Kang Chan sighed, feeling frustrated, but would anything change?

‘Why don’t I just give studying a shot?’

What about an easy subject like Japanese? Just as Kang Chan was staring at the textbook intensely…

“Kang Chan!” It was Seok Kang-Ho.

Kang Chan obediently followed behind him down the hallway. Both of them kept their mouths shut the entire time they were walking since there might be other people around. It looked as though a student was being hauled into the teacher’s office because he had seriously gotten himself into trouble, but Kang Chan had no reason to be concerned about anything like that.

Seok Kang-Ho took Kang Chan to the basement of the school building where the teacher’s office was located. There was a partition wall to the left of the entrance, and a structure on the semi-basement with a window that overlooked the field.

“I’m going to use this place for the athletic club.”

It had a square layout, each side spanning thirty meters. It was a decent space. Although there were only three chairs at the moment, after cleaning up and adding some equipment, it would be a good enough make-shift gym for Kang Chan to get fit before leaving for France.

“What’s the matter?”

“Hang on.”

Seok Kang-Ho left and returned a couple of moments later with two paper cups.

Squeaak. Clank!

“Ah, it’s hot!”

Coffee seemed to have splashed onto Dayeru’s lips when he closed the door while holding a cup of coffee in his mouth. Strangely, he wasn’t good with hot drinks or food.

Both of them sat down comfortably.

“The gangsters you’re meeting today are not your usual thugs,” Seok Kang-Ho began.

“Is that why you were frowning this morning?”

“That’s not the issue here.”

“So what do you suggest I do? Run away? Or report it to the cops?”

“Let’s get the police to help us with them.”

Kang Chan chuckled.

“This is no time to be laughing. If things go south, you’ll be going to France on crutches!” Seok Kang-Ho spoke in a frustrated tone, dragging the end of his sentence.

“If you call the cops, Heo Eun-Sil and Lee Ho-Jun would be done for, no?”

“Do you really think that would happen?”

“But didn’t you say they’re not the usual thugs?”

Seok Kang-Ho grunted in response.

“Daye.”

“Yeah?”

“Legio Patria Nostra.”

“The Legion is our Fatherland. “

“And?”

“We will not retreat.”

Kang Chan smirked. “Then why are you suggesting I run away?”

Seok Kang-Ho seemed as though he hadn’t given up on persuading Kang Chan.

“Even though Heo Eun-Sil and Lee Ho-Jun are total trash, I gave them my word that I would go. I’d rather be stabbed with a knife than go back on my word,” Kang Chan continued.

Seok Kang-Ho puffed out his chest and exhaled, sounding like he was groaning.

“Okay. In that case, make sure you come see me before you leave.”

“Why?”

“I’m going to sharpen a knife for you.”

“Hahahaha, are you trying to put me behind bars?”

“You’re going to use a knife anyway. Isn’t it better if it fits in your hand?”

“I’d be disgraced if they were to do a body search. I’ll figure out what to do on my own.”

Seok Kang-Ho finished the rest of the coffee in one go.

“Wait here. I’ll go get the bullied students’ records.”

As soon as Seok Kang-Ho left, Kang Chan walked over to the window that was facing the field. The window was at his waist level. From the outside, the window would be on the second floor of the building, so a glance through it would be enough to see the entire field.

There was such a thing as fate, and it felt as though it was endlessly forcing him to face a life-and-death battle. Kang Chan went to France because he didn’t want to be someone without anything to his name or power. But now, the life he wanted was all around him.

Maybe he should just try living a comfortable life. Being in the middle of the pack, closing an eye when others got bullied, as well as living with a harmonious family that loved him…

“Tsk!”

Considering Seok Kang-Ho’s personality had influenced Dayeru, Kang Chan felt unhappy about the possibility that he was exhibiting the personality of his body’s owner.

Let’s not live like a coward.

A bowl of pork cutlet. What was the difference between the pork cutlet he had been craving badly up until the day before he left Korea and the one he was having right now? Was he supposed to make peace with the guys that were much bigger than the students they were harassing and turn his back on those who had died an unjust death?

He smirked.

“You messed with the wrong person.”

Squeaaak.

Seok Kang-Ho was opening the iron door when he paused.

“What’s the matter?”

“What’s with the look in your eyes?”

Slam.

It seemed like fixing the door was of utmost priority.

“These are the bullied students.”

“What? Two tenth-graders and two eleventh-graders?” Kang Chan asked.

Kang Chan looked at the four files containing the students’ records and looked up at Seok Kang-Ho.

“What’s wrong with that?”

“They’re not in the same grade?” Kang Chan questioned.

“There are twelfth graders that are being bullied too, but the tenth graders have it the worst. Graduation is just around the corner for the twelfth graders, but the tenth graders have to put up with the harassment for the rest of their remaining high school life, so more often than not, students like them end up dropping out or making extreme choices.“

“Hmm.”

“Even if they were to transfer to a different school, things would remain the same because of the damned internet. If it was posted on the school website that they transferred to another school because they got bullied here, they would automatically be bullied at the new school too, so they’d have nowhere to escape.”

Kang Chan bit his lips hard and nodded.

“Are there any other students who are being bullied apart from these?”

“These four students have it the worst. There are ten other students who are struggling as well, but their situations are relatively better.”

Seok Kang-Ho seemed happy and curious at the same time.

“Let’s form an athletic club,” Kang Chan suggested.

“Huh?”

“Let’s form an athletic club. That way, even after I leave during the school vacation, they can unite together and deal with their bullies. Wouldn’t that be better?”

“Oh!”

“Single out the remaining students and bring me their records. I’ll round them up during lunch and sign them up for the athletic club.”

“Let’s do that. It would be a lot easier for us to get the budget for the exercise equipment. I’ll be the teacher-in-charge.”

The excited Seok Kang-Ho made his way back to the classroom. Even though it was an impromptu plan, it wasn’t bad.

Shortly after, Seok Kang-Ho reappeared with ten more files. Two of the students were female.

Seok Kang-Ho and Kang Chen then removed their jackets and started cleaning the space, sweeping and scrubbing the floor.

“By the way, which subject are you supposed to be teaching right now?”

“Huh?”

Perhaps Seok Kang-Ho couldn’t hear him properly over the scrubbing sounds, but he rubbed his forehead with his sleeve and frowned.

“I’m asking you which subject you’re teaching.”

“P.E..”

“That’s what I thought.”

Just like that, morning came and went.

***

Lunchtime.

The tenth graders took their lunch in their classrooms, while the eleventh and twelfth graders ate in the school cafeteria.

Tenth grade, Class 3. The classroom was very noisy because it was lunchtime. Some students shared a desk with their good friends, sitting across from one another and eating together, while some students ate by themselves.

With his head lowered, Moon Ki-Jin forced himself to eat. The other students sat far away from him as though there were infectious viruses on the desk he sat at. It was like a remote island floating within the classroom.

It all started when a close friend of his started hanging out with the bullies. The bullies then told everyone not to hang out with him for unspecified reasons. As a result, not only Moon Ki-Jin’s close friend but even the entire class started to turn their backs on him one by one until he had become completely invisible to them.

There were people that looked for him, though. The bullies.

Even though he tried resisting, begging, texting, and even buying food for them, the more he did those things, the more severe the bullying and teasing became. Lately, all Moon Ki-Jin wanted to do was jump off the roof.

That was because he saw how a sunbae[1] in twelfth grade named Kang Chan fought against a gangster. He had also heard that that sunbae had been an errand boy in the past, but he had changed after falling off the roof of a building.

When he heard that Kang Chan went up against six people at once on the field, it gave him goosebumps. Kang Chan looked so terrifying when he fought the gangsters in front of the school that Moon Ki-Jin didn’t have the time to think of anything else.