Thunk!
“You… Did you think we wouldn’t retaliate for treating us like fools all the time?”
As the rock hit my forehead with a loud impact and fell to the ground, the pig octopus stammered in confusion, apparently surprised that it actually landed. I touched my forehead. In the past, a blow like this would have torn my forehead apart, but an awakened body is surprisingly resilient, causing only a slight sting.
“Hey, is this a sneak attack?”
“What?”
“Come here, you pig.”
Thunk! I dashed towards the pig octopus and swung a punch. I pulled back my strength, but it landed, knocking him down to the ground where he writhed. I thought he could withstand a couple of punches, being athletic, but it was a shame. I chuckled and looked at the six other octopuses behind him. After knocking down the one who used to play sports until the first year of high school, the other octopuses began murmuring, “Has Seon Eun-soo gotten this strong?”
“…Uh, Eun-soo, this was all Park Changjin’s plan. I opposed it!”
“Me too!”
“Oh, really? Come here then.”
I delivered a punch to each of the remaining guys. The sun beating down brightly, and the octopuses on the ground whimpering and unable to get up.
“Are… they dried squid?”
It seemed similar… As I muttered to myself, the pig octopus’s face reddened and he bristled. As he tried to get up with effort, another guy next to him grabbed and restrained him. “Let go of me! Release me!” His voice was loud, although it didn’t seem like he was holding him very tightly.
I left them behind and hurriedly moved my steps towards the classroom. After staying too long under the sun, my heart rate began to accelerate. An uneasy feeling crept over me as if the hot sun might disappear at any moment. I had wasted time unnecessarily.
Initially, I was just walking quickly, but later I found myself running without even realizing it. The gym teacher, seeing me sprinting down the corridor, shouted, “Seon Eun-soo, that’s detention! Detention! Hey, Seon Eun-soo!” but I didn’t hear him even in my ears. What mattered now wasn’t the teacher or detention…
“Heuh, heuk. Hey, Kim Jaeyoung.”
I threw open the front door of the classroom and called out to Kim Jaeyoung. He looked at me with wide eyes, seeing me drenched in sweat.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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“Why were you running? It’s hot outside.”
Kim Jaeyoung, holding a handheld fan, brought it up to my face. The fan, which had clearly once been white but had since turned yellow, made a rattling noise as if it was about to break. It’s so old… Is it an antique? In the past, I used to tease him for being poor despite his noticeable good looks, but every time, Kim Jaeyoung would just look at me as if it didn’t bother him at all. Even now, look at him, confidently holding this ancient, crappy fan in front of me without a hint of embarrassment.
“I don’t know, it’s so damn hot.”
“You’re sweating a lot.”
His eyes crinkled when he smiled, making him look even more handsome… Kim Jaeyoung examined me, drenched in sweat to the point where it was hard to tell if it was from the heat or from nerves. His gaze settled on my forehead. He brushed aside the hair covering it and carefully inspected the spot that had swollen slightly from being hit by a stone earlier.
“Did Park Changjin hit you?”
“This? I got hit with a stone first. You know, to claim self-defense, you have to get hit once before you start fighting.”
“…”
“…You didn’t know that?”
“I know.”
As I awkwardly scratched the back of my neck, Kim Jaeyoung smiled and answered. Then, there was a brief pause in the conversation.
“……”
Normally, if someone you like gets hurt, shouldn’t you be worried about whether they’re in a lot of pain or whether they’re okay? His low-toned brown eyes were unwavering in any situation, making it difficult to gauge what he was thinking.
“Ah, it’s so hot, I’m melting.”
“Why are you carrying a lightweight jacket around when it’s this hot?”
“…When did you see that?”
“I also saw cigarettes in your locker.”
“I-I see.”
Should I be relieved he only found those things…? Besides the lightweight jacket in my bag and the cigarette stash in the locker, I had hidden survival items all over the school, but it seems he didn’t discover those. In the unused club room, I had piled up military disaster bags, canned food with long expiration dates, and weapons that I had bought with some stock sales. If rationed, the food could last for several months… As for the weapons, I sold some stocks to buy them. What’s the point of saving all that overflowing money? It just turns into crap if you have too much of it.
“I tend to feel cold easily… I brought it to wear when it’s cold. Hehe.”
“You feel hot easily too, and you feel cold easily too?”
“……”
He looks genuinely curious, but why does it sound like he’s interrogating me? Ugh, I can’t explain that when the dark day comes, the sun disappears, so the weather gets cold. I quickly changed the subject.
“Cigarettes…! I brought them to sell to the kids for money!”
“Money?”
“……”
Oops. It was a mistake. I can’t believe I just said my intention was money. The more I tried to justify, the more tangled the situation felt. As I stood there in confusion, my eyes rolling around, Kim Jaeyoung gently touched my forehead with a sympathetic gesture. Pressing gently on the area where I had been hit by the stone, he furrowed his eyebrows as if expressing his disappointment.
“I thought we were getting closer, Seon Eun-soo… I’m disappointed.”
This guy, his words and actions are so different! He’s talking like that, yet his hands are pressing on my wound. I thought he was somewhat decent… but it’s still strange. Can I continue to be close with him?
“How would you understand the deep intentions of an elder like me? The day will come when you’ll want to bow down and thank me. Just you wait.”
I intentionally chuckled and leaned my arm on Kim Jaeyoung’s shoulder. Even though my sticky body was clinging to him in the sweltering heat, he didn’t push me away. He just stood there slightly off balance, quietly. Enduring such awkward behavior. Today, he still likes me as much as ever. Whenever I initiate physical contact, like skinship, Kim Jaeyoung’s body stiffens, or he shows symptoms like his ears and neck turning red. I used to confirm his feelings through such reactions. That’s when I could finally feel at ease.
“Hey, let’s go inside. It’s hot.”
“It’s hot inside too because they don’t turn on the air conditioning.”
“What? What does this school even do with the donations it receives?”
“I heard the principal changed his car.”
“This is insane.”
As Kim Jaeyoung and I walked shoulder to shoulder into the classroom, I could sense the curious glances from the students in our class. They must be puzzled by the sudden change—sometimes teasing, then suddenly being friendly, and now sticking together like we’ve always been close. They don’t know about that kind of thing; they’re going to die anyway… No, wait. There’s one person who will survive besides us. That class president over there. His name… was it Yeoyeon? Yeoyeon tends to survive for quite a while. I heard they were pretty close before I started hanging out with Kim Jaeyoung.
‘…What’s with that look you’re giving?’
The class president’s gaze was unsettling. I glanced at Kim Jaeyoung for a moment, and our eyes met. Oh no, why did I look? My face suddenly felt hot, and I quickly turned my head away. I can’t handle meeting his eyes this close. I let out a soft chuckle, gesturing for Kim Jaeyoung to take a seat while I slumped down into mine.
‘Only one more week until summer vacation now.’
I remembered vividly my grandfather’s pale complexion in my dreams, so I extracted a lot of medicine from the doctor and stashed it in the basement. Well, everyone else besides my grandfather was fine… The rest of the people will probably survive without my help. Isn’t that a common theme in disaster movies? The common folks all die, but the rich survive. They all have personalities that are not inferior to any typical conglomerate heirs, so I was confident they wouldn’t do anything sacrificial for others.
‘I’ll probably die before my grandfather anyway. As long as I do well, that’s all that matters, just me…’
The hour of destruction was approaching. I had completed all the preparations I could on my end.
*
“Dare… how dare you…!”
At the back of the school, a muscular high school student with a physique like a pig exhaled heavily, clutching a bottle of liquor upside down. It was Park Changjin, a former judo athlete who collapsed after taking a punch from Seon Eun-soo.
“Seon Eun-soo…!”
Park Changjin didn’t want to admit it—the fact that he went down from a single punch by Seon Eun-soo. He knew that Seon Eun-soo had learned martial arts since he was young. However, the gap between someone who casually learned and someone like himself who was a candidate for the youth national team was incomparable. Up until now, within their group, Seon Eun-soo had held a higher position as a defender, while Park Changjin had been known for his striking ability. Now that this dynamic had changed, the gazes of those who used to cater to Park Changjin’s preferences began to shift. Park Changjin’s pride was hurt, and he was consumed by the desire to kill Seon Eun-soo right then and there.
“Do you think I’ll just stand here quietly?”
ehhehehehe, this is building up 😄
thanks for the chapter ❤️😋
Thank you for the update ( ˘ ³˘)♥
Thank you for the update 🖤 💯
Well that escalated from 2 to 10 in a flash with those delinquents! Lol and look at him testing to make sure KJ still likes him.
Hi is Gcash available in your country? I only have gcash as a way of payment i want to donate ba.
Uhm yes i have a gcash 🙂