First day of the new semester.
Fuck, I'm in the same class as Yang Jeong-won again.
I hadn't expected anything from school, but if there was one thing I wished for, it was to avoid Yang Jeong-won. Yet here we are, same class again.
Still, I felt somewhat relieved inside.
If it were some new guy, it'd take forever to get used to each other, so not having that adaptation period was pretty nice.
My life as a shuttle at school was pretty much set in stone anyway,
so it was better to do it with someone I was compatible with.
Plus, Yang Jeong-won cares about me a lot, you know?
Thinking like that put my mind at ease again.
With that in mind, I looked at Yang Jeong-won.
Yang Jeong-won looked at me with a peculiar expression.
What's with him?
He should perform the 'Come here,' throw money on the floor, and do the 'Go buy bread,' but he wasn't doing any of that.
Why was that?
Had he finally heard the delicate, sensitive voice of his own heart?
Had he decided to quit the delinquent life that didn't suit him and return to being an ordinary thug?
I was curious, but I didn't ask.
Asking wasn't the proper attitude for a shuttle.
"What are you looking at, you fucking bastard."
"Huh?"
I must have been staring at Yang Jeong-won for quite a while, lost in thought.
Having spent a vacation unlike my usual ones, I must have behaved differently than normal.
This too was not the proper attitude for a shuttle.
I was about to apologize right away, but.
"Did you think I'd be easy just because you grew a bit taller? You fucking bastard."
Yang Jeong-won reacted aggressively.
Come to think of it, was I about the same height as Yang Jeong-won now?
When I measured at the boxing gym last time, I was 180.
Was Yang Jeong-won 182?
Well, it wasn't just my height. I'd exercised a lot, so I'd put on plenty of muscle too.
There was a faint 王 shape on my abs, though it wasn't clearly defined.
But I was still a shuttle.
I went over to Yang Jeong-won to apologize.
Ah~
So Yang Jeong-won wasn't 182, but 180.
Our eyes were exactly level.
"Hey, you wanna fucking die?"
Yang Jeong-won swung his fist like always.
If you open your shoulders that wide before throwing a punch, it's obvious where the fist is going.
I dodged the punch unconsciously.
Honestly, I should have taken it.
Then everything would have ended simply after taking a few hits.
But what your body has learned reacts unconsciously.
As the punch came, I unconsciously took my stance, weaved to dodge the punch, and threw a jab.
Tap.
Having been lightly struck on the face by my left jab, Yang Jeong-won—whether excited or what—threw a barrage of reckless punches.
I told you, when your shoulders open like that, I can see the punches.
I dodged lightly and threw a one-two.
Ah~ I didn't really hit him because I wanted to.
Muscle memory is scary.
It's basically an unconditional reflex.
When a punch comes, I dodge and immediately throw a one-two.
I did this for three hours a day, for six months.
When a punch comes, I automatically dodge and a one-two comes out.
It's not my will.
It's an unconditional reflex. Unconditional reflex.
I was doing my best to fulfill my role as a shuttle, but there was nothing I could do when my body moved first.
I had said I would break free from being a shuttle, but that was supposed to be before graduation.
Right at the start of the semester was too soon.
This wasn't part of the plan.
But this is pretty thrilling?
It feels very different from hitting sandbags or mitts?
There's a taste to it.
The impact feels good.
It's even fun watching Yang Jeong-won huffing and puffing.
But all this time, I was getting hit by such lousy punches?
I was trembling in fear of that?
I went to school getting beaten by punches that anyone could naturally dodge after just three months of boxing?
I should tell Yang Jeong-won.
Learning boxing or something wouldn't be bad if he wants to properly carry out his activities as a delinquent.
Then he needs to properly understand what boxing is, right?
I was still a beginner with much to learn, but I felt I was more than enough to teach Yang Jeong-won about boxing.
Wouldn't Yang Jeong-won learn much faster from experience than from words?
As a shuttle, I did my best to teach Yang Jeong-won about boxing.
Dodge the punch, one-two.
Backstep.
Dodge the punch again, one-two, hook.
Backstep.
Another punch... why is he down?
Get up. Get up. It's not time to fall yet.
.
.
.
Fuck.
The first thing that came out when I came to my senses was a curse.
Yang Jeong-won, who had passed out and woken up.
It hurt, but more than that, he felt like shit.
It was humiliating.
He didn't know how to enter the classroom.
Getting beaten up by Gong In-bae in the classroom.
And on the first day of the semester, no less.
The bastards seeing me for the first time are going to think I'm a pushover, aren't they?
Gong In-bae had come back looking a bit bigger,
so I was going to rough him up first to set the tone.
That way, it'd be easy and nice to establish classroom discipline without any big fights.
But instead, I got beaten up there.
It wasn't just taking a few hits—I was laid out flat on my back.
I'm fucking furious.
It's shameful.
What pisses me off more is that I can't think of any way to beat that bastard Gong In-bae.
Not a single one of my punches lands.
My fists are knockout punches,
one hit from my fists means an instant KO.
But he doesn't get hit by them.
Unable to bring himself to enter the classroom, Yang Jeong-won was just wandering nearby.
********
'What the hell, why is he so tall?'
Gwon Ju-a was in the same class too.
Sitting in the very front row, she was sneakily looking around to see who was in her class this time when Gong In-bae walked in.
But had he always been that tall?
His body had changed, and the fit of his school uniform was different too.
Had he gotten a bit more handsome?
His gaze seemed different too.
After that day, she had gone to Gong In-bae's house several times.
Wherever he had gone, there was never anyone home whenever she went.
Gwon Ju-a would enter that empty house.
She would sit on the wooden bench where she had eaten ramyeon and stay there for a while.
Sitting there looking down at Seoul, she felt her mind at ease.
It felt like the worries she currently had were nothing.
Though she would have to shoulder them again the moment she came back down, she liked being able to forget them, if only for that moment.
It would have been even better if she could have eaten ramyeon and coffee there.
Feeling sorry, she had bought ramyeon and left it on the bench.
Anyway, Gong In-bae, whom she hadn't seen even once during the entire vacation, had come back having grown much taller.
And immediately got into a fight with Yang Jeong-won.
No, she had thought he would get beaten up one-sidedly,
but the Gong In-bae she saw today was a different person.
Swish swish, he dodged, bang bang.
Again, swish swish, dodging, bang bang.
After doing that a couple of times, Yang Jeong-won collapsed.
No, he was completely knocked out.
Yang Jeong-won, who had gone to the infirmary and come back, was hanging his head low, perhaps out of shame.
******
I was tearing at my hair.
I should have endured it, but I couldn't.
Damned unconditional reflex.
Yang Jeong-won had collapsed.
The next step was as obvious as fire.
In dramas, movies, and web novels, what comes next is always the same.
Yang Jeong-won, who lost to me, brings the top dog of the grade.
If I beat the top dog of the grade, he brings the top dog of the school.
If I beat the school top dog too, he brings the top dog of a nearby alliance.
And if that doesn't work, he'll bring some gangster thug, saying he's his uncle or something.
If I'm lucky enough to beat him too, he'll go to meet someone called 'Boss,' won't he?
At a cozy bar in the basement.
In a quiet bar not conducting business, the Boss would pour a glass of whiskey and say,
"I heard you can throw hands? Come under me. Then I'll overlook the ruckus you've caused until now."
"What if I refuse?"
"You'll have to leave an arm or a leg behind."
"No. I'll be taking that right Achilles tendon of yours, Boss."
With those words, I'd slide the whiskey glass in front of me toward the Boss, then the hulk standing behind me would lunge at me, and I'd take him down with a headbutt... then as gangsters burst through the door, weaving past them while landing a one-two, hook.
But...
why isn't anyone coming?
Isn't the grade top dog supposed to come?
That's the order, isn't it?
Or at least the school top dog should come, right?
Why are they just leaving me alone?
Yang Jeong-won?
Shouldn't you at least pick a fight with me?
Why are you averting your eyes?
Why are you doing this?
Stop it, this is making me more anxious.
********
Fortunately, after knocking Yang Jeong-won down, no one came looking for me.
It was just one time.
After knocking Yang Jeong-won down, my life completely changed.
No one treated me like a shuttle anymore.
They didn't treat me particularly well either, but I wasn't a shuttle they could treat carelessly whenever they wanted like before.
My goal of breaking free from being a shuttle by graduation had been achieved early.
Just by breaking free from being a shuttle, my school life became completely different.
Since I had been living as a shuttle since elementary school, I couldn't have imagined such a school life existed.
I no longer had to be careful about palms flying toward the back of my head at any moment,
or get hurt by the abusive language pouring out constantly.
Also, I could use my break time fully.
No one tapped me while passing by as a joke anymore.
Rather, there were kids who struck up conversations with me.
Before, they looked at me like I was some kind of bug.
Thanks to that, I was living a comfortable school life.
That such a school life would unfold for me.
This was nothing short of heaven.
When school ended, I headed to the mart.
My daily routine went like this.
Go to school in the morning, and when school ended,
stop by the mart and shopping mall to check if there were any new releases, or items that could sell on Danggeun, and put the good ones in my inventory.
Then go to the gym, and come home to end the day.
A simple but very efficient pattern.
Speaking of efficient, I remembered there had been a change regarding my inventory.
It wasn't an upgrade? like last time, but I had slightly changed the way I used my inventory.
After the last upgrade, my inventory had expanded,
but changing to a count-based system meant some things took up far less space than when it checked by volume.
For example, Yang Jeong-won's necklace was still in my inventory, and it took up one slot.
I could put up to 10 similar items in one slot, but I didn't have any other gold accessories.
So that one small necklace was occupying one inventory slot.
I couldn't take it out because it was stolen goods.
It was such a waste for something like that to occupy one slot, so I thought of another method.
The answer came more easily than I thought.
It was making packages.
I realized this while putting beef in my inventory,
that a 300g pack of meat and a 1kg pack were both recognized as one item each.
For example, if I put in one pack of beef, it's Beef x1. If I add another pack of beef, it shows as Beef x2.
Regardless of weight or volume, one pack is recognized as one item.
So what if I put two packs in one bag and put it in my inventory?
I tested it right away.
The bag vanished in a swoosh, and it showed Beef x1.
When put in a bag, it recognizes it as one item regardless of contents or quantity.
Meaning, one bundle of beef no matter how many pieces were inside.
Awesome~~
Jackpot.
With this, I had to change how I used my inventory.
I had to pack things for storage.
Before, I put beef in my inventory as-is in the packs sold at the mart, but now I put beef, salt, ssamjang, lettuce, and naengmyeon together, made it into a package, and put it in.
This way, it becomes Beef x1.
Once this succeeded, my food became much more varied.
I didn't have to eat beef all the time anymore.
Sashimi, samgyeopsal, chicken—if they were in packaged form, I could put them in the same slot as beef.
That slot was no longer a beef slot.
It became Food x1.
I didn't stop there.
I started dividing items up like that.
I needed a lot of bags.
This method brought about a revolution.
I no longer had to store things by category.
I could put various items in freely.
I prepared bags suited for their purposes, from carriers to hiking bags, pouches, and so on.
I just put foods that were easy to eat in plastic bags,
and items I brought to sell were organized separately.
And in one hiking bag, I kept valuables for emergencies.
Just for emergencies.
It contained money and the necklace.
Apart from that, there was nothing important in my life.
Go to the mart and steal items,
organize my inventory, put them away properly, and study English.
That was how I was spending my third year of high school.