Chapter 3: Five Minutes Before the Moment of Decision

Kang In was looking down at his book while feeling the breeze coming through the window.

The sharp gaze he could feel from behind made it impossible to focus on the words, but he gritted his teeth and tried to concentrate on the novel.

The book was about a boy who, after going through countless hardships and making tremendous efforts, gained an ability and eventually defeated evil.

It was the story of a boy who grew through his defeats and eventually achieved success.

Even if the story was predictable and simple, Kang In’s heart strangely began to beat faster as he watched the boy overcome every hardship with determination, unlike himself.

Page after page turned.

Could I overcome this situation and grow as well?

He still felt frustrated because of his deep doubts about himself, but he could not afford to waste the opportunity he had been given.

He continued sitting calmly despite the cold gaze he could constantly feel from behind.

A student who was reading a book alone in the classroom during lunch break.

Kang In did not realize that, from Hyunsu’s perspective, the very fact that he was sitting there quietly reading made him stand out quite a lot.

Perhaps Hyunsu might even think he was being incredibly annoying.

Regardless, now that he had attracted attention, Kang In could not avoid the situation like he had done before.

Using the mirror hanging beside the classroom blackboard, Kang In checked the wall clock behind him.

It was 12:40.

There were about twenty minutes left until lunch break ended.

He prayed that everything would pass peacefully, but he could not shake the uneasy feeling that something bad was definitely going to happen.

Tap, tap.

All his attention focused on the sound of slippers gradually approaching from behind.

“What are you reading?”

Before he knew it, Hyunsu had come right up to him and snatched the book from his hands.

“Oh, it’s just a fantasy novel.”

Hyunsu looked the book over with an annoyed expression.

“Why the hell did you bring something like this to school and read it?”

“I haven’t read a book in a while either. It’s actually pretty interesting.”

Kang In raised his head.

He did so because he did not want to look intimidated.

There’s no need to be scared. Just stay calm.

But I don’t need to stare straight at him and give him another reason to start something.

So Kang In kept his eyes fixed on the book in Hyunsu’s hands.

“……”

An oppressive silence followed.

Hyunsu’s eyes looked like those of a predator searching through every corner, desperately looking for an excuse to torment some small creature hiding somewhere.

At that moment, Kang In remembered seeing Hyunsu reading the comic book he had taken from Cheolmin a while ago.

He desperately squeezed his brain for the memory of its cover.

“It’s similar to that comic book you were reading before.”

“Oh, really?”

Hyunsu raised one corner of his mouth.

“That thing was fucking boring. You guys actually find stuff like that interesting?”

“Ah, really?”

At that moment, an inexplicable sense of humiliation swept over Kang In.

Anger slowly began rising inside him, but at the same time, he felt as though he was getting dangerously close to giving Hyunsu a reason to start something.

Kang In glanced at the mirror once before looking away.

12:50.

About ten minutes remained.

“Still, you should give it a try. Want to borrow it?”

“No.”

Thud.

Hyunsu casually threw the book onto the desk as if he had lost interest.

“Anyway, I haven’t eaten lunch yet.”

The next line was obvious.

“Go buy me something from the convenience store, will you?”

“……”

The pressure was beginning.

The moment Kang In obeyed Hyunsu’s request, his life would fall into a swamp that would be almost impossible to escape.

I have to refuse somehow.

Even if I have to get beaten up.

That’s right.

He had already been beaten once.

Kang In remembered the day he died.

He could never forget it.

The moment he collapsed without being able to resist at all, his body slowly becoming cold.

But something was strange.

The memory he thought would become a trauma had instead made his mind unusually calm.

Kang In was incredibly composed right now.

He recalled the way Hyunsu had moved when he was beating him.

At first, he had definitely…

Screech.

“Ah, seriously! Why the hell did the ball bounce over there?!”

“Because you’re fucking terrible at the game, you idiot.”

“Didn’t we come in pretty late? Don’t we smell like sweat like crazy?”

“Just take your clothes off and let them dry.”

The friends who had been playing soccer had just returned.

They quickly took off their gym clothes and began changing back into their school uniforms.

The classroom instantly became noisy.

Ding-dong-dang-dong!

Just as Hyunsu was about to continue speaking, the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch break.

Rumble, rumble, rumble.

Students suddenly poured into the classroom like the tide rushing in.

As the atmosphere became chaotic, Hyunsu glanced down at Kang In.

“During the next break, okay?”

“……”

Hyunsu gave Kang In a light tap on the back before returning to his seat.

“Phew.”

A small sigh escaped Kang In without him realizing it.

At least he had avoided immediate violence.

But he had failed to avoid becoming Hyunsu’s target.

For now, all he had managed to do was not answer.

But now he needed to move on to the next step.

Kang In inhaled deeply and closed his eyes.

I should have asked Prosephrin if I had any other abilities.

Even though this was a predetermined experiment, if she was a demon, couldn’t she have given him a few more abilities?

Of course, at first he had thought the Real-Time Regression ability would allow him to do anything.

But now that the situation had become real, he simply could not find the courage to stand against Kim Hyunsu.

Still, there was nothing he could do about it now.

Thinking about it, Prosephrin had probably already made all the decisions before he even met her.

He probably had never been given a choice in the first place.

There was no point regretting it now.

And it wasn’t as though he could die again.

Kang In opened his eyes and looked at the teacher who had entered the classroom to begin the lesson.

The teacher had an indifferent expression and tone, as if he had little interest in the students and only intended to do as much work as he was paid for.

Kang In had given up on the idea of asking the teacher for help a long time ago.

If this were a problem that could be solved with a teacher’s help, Kim Hyunsu would never have been allowed to run wild like this in the first place.

In fact, Kang In had known the answer to this problem for a long time.

‘At some point, I have to stand up and fight like a man.’

And he had to do it against Kim Hyunsu of all people.

Could I actually win?

Kang In had never had a proper fight since the brief scuffles he had gotten into back in kindergarten.

Thinking about it, he had hardly ever had a reason to fight at all.

He had always been the type to give in and let things pass peacefully.

Then Kang In realized something.

The source of the fear that had been lurking inside his heart all this time.

He simply did not know how to fight properly.

‘Even if I get beaten up, when I have to stand up and fight back, I have to fight back.’

Kang In repeated those words over and over, engraving his determination into his mind.

The teacher conducting the lesson had disappeared from his awareness a long time ago.

Kang In’s brain had begun working toward something much more important than the lesson in front of him.

The only way to overcome this situation was—

To use his Real-Time Regression ability to learn Kim Hyunsu’s fighting patterns.

And he had to master those patterns within today’s five available uses.

It was certainly a situation that required him to stay extremely focused, but it was not necessarily a bad one.

Hadn’t he already gained one huge experience?

In a way, it was not five attempts.

It was six.

He had no idea that a single experience could become this valuable.

At that moment, a line from a movie suddenly came to Kang In’s mind.

‘A guy who has been hit before is the one who becomes good at fighting.’

And so he waited for the class to end.

His tension had not completely disappeared, but after experiencing death once, some part of Kang In had somehow become stronger inside.

There was no need for him to go to the convenience store.

As soon as class ended, he could simply socialize naturally with the other students.

Normally.

If Hyunsu picked a fight, he would just refuse.

Hyunsu would definitely attack immediately.

His first attack pattern was a slap.

Hyunsu always slapped his opponent first to intimidate them.

I’ll avoid that first attack and step back.

Then I’ll experience his next move directly.

If the situation becomes unfavorable, I’ll simply regress.

Ding-dong-dang-dong!

The bell rang, signaling the end of class.

Kang In naturally began talking with the classmate sitting beside him.

They talked about games, a variety show they had watched the previous day, and movies that would be released soon.

Even while talking, Kang In was waiting for Hyunsu somewhere in the back of his mind.

But—

Smack!

Kang In casually turned around.

Hyunsu was already bothering Cheolmin again, repeatedly slapping his thick cheeks.

“Huh?”

Kang In wondered if Hyunsu had forgotten about him.

Hyunsu did not even look in Kang In’s direction, as if nothing had happened.

That’s right.

To Hyunsu, Kang In was a completely insignificant creature.

Not even someone worth paying attention to.

Right now, Hyunsu had a much more entertaining toy.

He was simply following whatever instinct and stimulation were right in front of him.

That was all.

“……”

Kang In blinked and turned his head back around.

Is this really okay?

It was unexpected, but if things could simply pass like this, it would be the best possible outcome.

Still, he could not let his guard down.

He had an uneasy feeling that a boomerang with an extremely wide arc was going to come flying back at him sooner or later.

Hyunsu had clearly forgotten for the moment, but he would probably pick a fight with Kang In later and ask why he had not brought him food from the convenience store.

It would only take a moment for Kang In to lower his guard and get beaten up.

“Hmm.”

Thinking about it made the situation complicated.

In other words, he had no idea when, where, or how Hyunsu would pick a fight with him.

Am I going to have to stay tense like this during every break from now on?

That was far too inefficient.

He could not keep waiting around in an uncertain situation like this.

While he was thinking about it, laughter came from behind him.

Bam!

“Ugh!”

“Ah~ Jin Cheolmin, this bastard is fucking hilarious. No matter how many times I see it, hitting him feels fucking great.”

Hyunsu had already wrapped himself around Cheolmin and put him in a headlock.

Cheolmin’s face was being crushed against Hyunsu’s thick arm, and his black-rimmed glasses had become badly crooked.

Hyunsu’s lackeys laughed as they watched Cheolmin struggle on the floor.

Meanwhile, the students sitting at their desks continued pretending that nothing was happening.

“Ah, shit. I’m suddenly fucking hungry. Ah, damn, lunch! Hey, Cheolmin, you go to the convenience store… Ah! Right!”

Hyunsu suddenly opened his eyes wide and released Cheolmin from the headlock.

“HEY!”

A powerful voice came from far away.

It was unmistakably Hyunsu calling Kang In.

Meanwhile, Kang In pretended not to hear him, even though he knew exactly what was happening.

“Hey! Ah, shit, what was that kid’s name again? Hey, do you know that bastard’s name?”

Hyunsu asked the students standing nearby what Kang In’s name was.

Kang In.

Kang In.

His name could be heard being whispered from different parts of the classroom.

“Hey, hey. Isn’t he calling you?”

The classmate sitting beside Kang In nervously poked him.

Kang In simply looked calmly at his classmate without saying anything.

There were a few variables he had not expected, but there was no reason to panic.

“Hey! You!”

Once again, that terrifying voice called out to him at full volume.

Thump, thump, thump.

“……”

The classroom gradually became quiet.

The students looked back and forth between Hyunsu and Kang In, watching the situation unfold.

Some of them even pulled out their phones, hoping to record a juicy video.

Kang In paused for a moment, pretending as though he had no idea he was being called, and then slowly turned around.

“Me? What? Why?”

Kang In opened his eyes wide and looked directly at Hyunsu.

“……”

The atmosphere instantly became cold.

Some students quickly turned their heads away, pretending not to notice what was happening.

For most other students, even making eye contact with Hyunsu would have been unthinkable.

“Huh!”

A disbelieving laugh escaped Hyunsu.

His upper body shook back and forth once in disbelief, and his eyes and mouth began twitching.

“…What the fuck are you doing right now?”