Chapter 6: The Trap Called Friendship

The school’s garbage-sorting area behind the building.

Kang In was standing in front of Kim Hyunsu and Oh Mincheol.

It was already class time, but that no longer mattered.

Those few minutes had been the only time he had left to plan what to do next.

Now, he really could not avoid the situation.

“Hey, keep watch over there.”

Oh Mincheol turned his head and said that to someone.

Park Sumin was standing a little farther away.

Kang In lowered his eyes for the moment.

He had expected something like this to happen, so he had already spoken to the classmate sitting beside him.

Since he was currently being targeted by Kim Hyunsu’s group, Kang In had told his classmate that if he disappeared from his seat during class, he should go to Teacher Yoo Gongsik during the next break and tell him what had happened.

Judging by his classmate’s frightened expression, Kang In wasn’t sure whether it would actually work, but at least he had prepared some insurance.

Strangely, they had not hit him first today.

Kang In glanced upward.

The two of them were examining him from different angles.

Kim Hyunsu looked at him with interest, while Oh Mincheol seemed dissatisfied about something.

Kang In was just an ordinary student, but from Kim Hyunsu and Oh Mincheol’s perspective, he was a very strange presence.

After spending so much time as school delinquents, they had developed a sort of instinct for identifying easy targets.

Students who unfortunately appeared on their radar usually became their toys without even daring to think about resisting.

But even to them, this guy named Kang In was a little strange.

He seemed like a complete pushover, but at the same time, he somehow didn’t.

That made it difficult to decide how to deal with him.

Kang In was simply standing there with his head slightly lowered, but he definitely did not look completely terrified.

“Why did you bring me all the way here?”

Kang In spoke first.

His tone was not sarcastic. He genuinely sounded curious.

“Why? What the fuck do you want, you bastard?”

Oh Mincheol tried to intimidate him, but his words were not particularly threatening.

If anything, they sounded awkward because they did not properly answer Kang In’s question.

This time, Kim Hyunsu spoke.

“Hey, did you tell Ultra?”

“Tell him what?”

“What the fuck do you think? Did you tell him about us?”

“I didn’t tell him anything. Was there something I was supposed to tell him?”

“You little bastard.”

Oh Mincheol lost his patience and grabbed Kang In by the neck with his left hand.

Kang In immediately grabbed the area around Oh Mincheol’s little finger.

Then he focused his attention on Oh Mincheol’s right arm.

You could tell whether someone was about to throw a punch by watching their shoulder.

If you watched their hand, it was already too late.

He had to watch the shoulder and determine the direction the punch would come from.

The moment the fist came flying, Kang In intended to bend the little finger as hard as he could.

“Wait.”

Kim Hyunsu stopped Oh Mincheol.

“This guy can actually do something?”

Kim Hyunsu patted Oh Mincheol on the back and whispered.

“Let’s leave him alone for now. There’s nothing good that can come from messing with someone like this. Let’s just go back to class.”

Then he turned his head and looked at Kang In again.

“Hey, Kang In. Wanna hang out with us after school?”

“What?”

Kang In and Oh Mincheol’s eyes widened at the same time.

“Don’t worry. We’re really not trying to bully you this time. Why would we bully you? Some girls from Youngshin Girls’ High School are coming later too. If you’re interested, meet us at the school gate after school.”

With that, Kim Hyunsu left with Oh Mincheol.

Park Sumin soon followed closely behind them.

Kang In was left standing there alone.

“What the hell?”

Another completely unexpected situation had occurred.

All the time he had spent preparing himself to get beaten up and telling himself that he would fight back at least once suddenly felt meaningless.

Girls from Youngshin Girls’ High School?

Kang In remembered the delinquent female students he had seen with Kim Hyunsu while riding the bus home last night.

Their school uniforms were worn incredibly short, and they had sharp, pretty faces.

But there was no denying the strange sense of rejection he felt from their delinquent appearance.

“As if I’m going.”

Ding-dong-dang-dong!

Before he knew it, the bell announcing the start of the next class rang.

How had the time passed so quickly?

Class and the break afterward had ended in the blink of an eye.

“Phew.”

Kang In let out a sigh of relief, but a bitter smile appeared on his face.

In the end, Teacher Yoo Gongsik had not come before the break ended.

“Hey, why the hell are you leaving that guy alone?”

Oh Mincheol demanded an explanation from Kim Hyunsu, clearly unable to understand.

“You saw that guy, didn’t you? He was staring straight at your right shoulder.”

“What?”

“Didn’t you see where he put his hand? If you’d thrown a punch, that bastard would have crippled your little finger.”

“Hah. You think a guy like that has the guts to do something like that?”

“At the very least, he’s not someone who’s just going to stand there and take a beating.”

“Even so, we can’t just leave him alone. We have to beat the shit out of him eventually.”

“We need to approach him differently. Let’s become friends first and slowly put him in his place.”

“Hah, fuck. Do we really have to go that far? I can’t stand watching that.”

Kim Hyunsu placed a hand on Oh Mincheol’s shoulder.

“He definitely isn’t the type to get scared easily. And if you don’t like him, you don’t have to become friends with him. I’ll handle him.”

“Fine. Do whatever you want.”

“Right now, he doesn’t completely look like a loser. But if we introduce him to a few girls and hang out together, his true nature will gradually come out. And if he’s got any brains, he’ll probably think becoming friends with us isn’t such a bad idea. He’ll probably see it as a good opportunity.”

Kim Hyunsu chuckled.

He looked like he had finally found a new toy to play with after a long time.

And this was the kind of toy that would be even more fun to slowly break down over time.

Kang In was sitting on a bench in the school field, stretching.

There was no point in going back to the classroom right now. It would only attract attention.

Warm morning sunlight shone down on his face.

The quiet school field and the cool autumn breeze.

Skipping class once in a while wasn’t so bad.

Even if someone complained later, he could simply say that he wasn’t feeling well and had been resting in the nurse’s office.

Anyway, Kim Hyunsu’s reaction had been completely unexpected.

Perhaps Kang In had misunderstood him in some way.

That didn’t mean he suddenly thought well of him.

Rather, he had assumed Hyunsu was simply an animal who followed his instincts, but perhaps he was smarter than expected.

Earlier, he had clearly stopped Oh Mincheol after seeing Kang In’s reaction.

Of course, Kang In had made it very clear that he was not someone who could be bullied without reason, and his attitude had been confident enough that there was no problem with it.

But that alone wasn’t enough to stop people like them.

Kim Hyunsu had sensed it in that moment.

He had realized that if Oh Mincheol threw a punch, Kang In was planning to break his finger.

It had really been a good thing that Kang In watched that Modern Life YouTube channel last night.

Without recklessly escalating the situation, simply showing that he wasn’t going to sit there and take everything had been enough to help.

“Make it clear that you are also willing to attack your opponent.”

That alone could be enough to defend yourself.

No matter how strong someone was, there was no human being without a weakness.

Surely even that little finger couldn’t be strong.

Kang In chuckled at his own ridiculous thought.

“Anyway, hang out together? Is he crazy? As if I’m going.”

What would happen if he refused?

Those guys would definitely be waiting for him at the school gate after class.

They wanted to become friends with him?

That was obviously complete bullshit.

Kim Hyunsu would definitely try to manipulate him somehow and slowly break him down.

Falling into such an obvious trap would be incredibly stupid.

But then Kang In suddenly changed his mind.

“No. Maybe I should go along with them.”

The confidence he had gained from what had happened earlier was something he normally would never have possessed.

Maybe experiencing the life of a delinquent like that wasn’t such a bad thing.

He was also genuinely curious about how Kim Hyunsu intended to manipulate him.

And today alone, he had nine opportunities to use his ability.

“Hmm.”

A strange excitement began rising inside him.

He suddenly felt the desire to experience something extraordinary and break away from his ordinary life for once.

Kang In was secretly surprised that he could even think this way.

As he calmly looked at the situation, his ordinary daily life was gradually beginning to feel different.

Before he knew it, school had ended.

Vroooom!

“Ahhh!”

The sudden roar of a motorcycle engine startled the students leaving through the school gate.

Oh Mincheol had deliberately played a prank on the students passing by.

Kim Hyunsu and Oh Mincheol laughed at their reactions while the students simply walked past them without saying anything.

“Whoa, you actually came.”

Kang In was already walking toward Kim Hyunsu and Oh Mincheol.

“Yeah. You said we should hang out.”

“Good. You made the right choice.”

As Kang In spoke with Kim Hyunsu, the students around them stared curiously at the two of them as they walked past.

His classmate was among them.

He wore an expression of disbelief.

“So where are we going?”

“We need to eat first. Once we order, the others will come on their own.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Hey, get on the back.”

Kim Hyunsu moved forward, making room on the motorcycle.

Kang In somehow squeezed onto the back seat and wrapped his arms around Kim Hyunsu’s waist.

It felt strange.

He was actually sitting right behind Kim Hyunsu.

More importantly, wasn’t this extremely dangerous?

“Let’s go.”

Vroooom!

The deafening roar of the motorcycle engine filled the air.

The powerful wind slammed into Kang In’s face.

After riding around for a while, they arrived at a sign for an underground drinking establishment.

Kang In looked up at the sign as though he had expected it.

“Hey, let’s go inside.”

Kang In, Kim Hyunsu, and Oh Mincheol entered into the dim concrete interior.

When they opened the glass door covered with delivery-order stickers, a room illuminated by yellowish lights appeared before them.

It was clearly the kind of illegal establishment where no one cared about the customers’ identities.

The three of them sat down in a corner.

“The others will be here soon. Want me to just order whatever?”

Oh Mincheol raised his hand and placed the order skillfully.

“Is this your first time somewhere like this?”

Kim Hyunsu grinned at Kang In.

“Uh… well, it’s not exactly somewhere I could normally come.”

Ding-ding!

“Yo! Hyunsu! Mincheol!”

“Huh? Who’s that?”

A flirtatious voice suddenly filled the room, and the atmosphere quickly became noisy.

Kang In unconsciously turned his head toward the voice.

The first girl he noticed had long, straight blonde hair and pale skin.

She wore her school uniform tightly and had a black mask hanging around her chin.

Another female student appeared beside her.

She had short black hair and slightly drooping eyes that gave her a strangely attractive appearance.

“Jeez, hurry up and get inside!”

Finally, a male high school student appeared at the back.

He had a short sports haircut similar to Hyunsu’s, with a scratch shaved into the side of his temple.

The three of them entered the establishment noisily.

“Hey, did you order?”

“Yeah. Just sit wherever.”

The blonde girl nodded toward Kang In.

“What’s with him?”

“Oh, this is Kang In. My friend.”

“Your friend?”

The blonde girl looked Kang In up and down, narrowing one eye.

She looked genuinely surprised.

“These are my friends. Yoo Suyeong, Lee Hyojin, and Gong Chansu.”

Kim Hyunsu casually pointed at each of them and finished the introductions.

Meanwhile, the girl with short black hair had already slipped into the seat beside Kang In.

She smiled warmly and greeted him.

“Nice to meet you~ I’m Lee Hyojin. Suyeong and I are in the same class at Youngshin Girls’ High School.”

Her voice was relaxed and slightly lazy.

“Yeah, nice to meet you. I’m in the same class as these guys.”

Gong Chansu poured himself some water and observed Kang In.

“Do you live around here too?”

“Yeah. I live in the Ido Apartments down there.”

“Oh, that area?”

Tap, tap, tap.

Meanwhile, the blonde Yoo Suyeong simply stared at her phone without saying anything, deliberately paying no attention to Kang In.

Clunk.

A moment later, bottles of alcohol were placed on the table.

“Whoa…”

There were five bottles of soju.

Crack.

Gong Chansu skillfully opened a bottle of soju and began pouring.

Yoo Suyeong and Lee Hyojin whispered to each other while looking at their phones, while Kim Hyunsu and Oh Mincheol began smoking cigarettes.

Everyone acted as though this were completely normal.

“You should have some too.”

“Uh, okay.”

Kang In awkwardly accepted the glass.

He needed to stay alert.

He had prepared himself mentally, but he hadn’t expected that he would actually end up drinking alcohol.

Kang In looked down at the liquid gently moving inside the glass.

Then he looked at the delinquent students sitting in front of him, laughing together.

He needed to carefully watch for the right moment.

For some reason, he had a feeling that he would need to use his ability properly this time.

Would he really be able to survive this situation?