Ch.53053 – Bullying Game 2

# Chapter 53 – School Gang Game #2

It was already 3 PM.

After school.

The time when all the students were preparing to go home.

I met up with Jeongseok at the library.

“Ha Yeongwon. Are you ready?”

We might have to fight with the seniors today.

For high school students, seniors who are just a few years older can be terrifying.

Being targeted by seniors at a rough school like Yeongji High meant a nightmare.

It was the same as saying you’d have trouble walking around this Gaeryong City.

Bong Jiyeon, the leader of Class C’s gang who had been acting however she pleased with the backing of the seniors, was now going to be targeted by those same seniors and subjected to various forms of harassment.

I couldn’t know exactly how it happened, but I could roughly guess the fragments.

Bong Jiyeon had the quirk of “Androphobia.”

There was no way Bong Jiyeon, who feared half the world’s population, could survive well in a gang that was the very essence of the popular crowd.

Naturally, discord and conflict would arise.

Jeongseok seemed unable to accept what was about to happen.

Jeongseok said:

“Yeongwon. You wouldn’t know since you lived in Seoul, but Bong Jiyeon’s gang is quite famous in Gaeryong. They can be considered truly vicious. They’re really scary guys.”

Vicious.

What an old-fashioned word.

“How scary are they? Scarier than the ghosts we’ve met?”

I was someone who had survived meeting a tiger.

Would I now be afraid of wolves?

But Jeongseok gave it some serious thought.

“In some ways, they might be scarier than ghosts.”

I see.

Even a wolf that’s not as fierce as a tiger is still a beast that eats people.

Jeongseok explained about the gang Bong Jiyeon had been part of.

Extorting money from peers was just the basics. There were also stories about them breaking into cars, speeding on stolen motorcycles, or luring adult men through compensated dating, then beating them with clubs and blackmailing them.

A juvenile crime ring you’d see on the news.

The “Su-ho Fam,” Bong Jiyeon’s gang, was like a collection of urban legends all bundled together.

At that point, it was no different from another form of horror.

“Do kids like that really exist? Is that even possible?”

What are the police doing?

What are the adults doing instead of guiding these children?

I wondered how such delinquent kids could exist, but Jeongseok added an explanation.

“At the center of the gang is Kwon Suho. That’s why adults tend to hush up most incidents. They don’t want to make a big issue out of it.”

“Ah. So it’s called Su-ho Fam because of Kwon Suho. But who is Kwon Suho?”

Soon Jeongseok looked at me with an expression that said, “What’s with this guy?”

“Hey, Yeongwon. How can you attend Yeongji High and not know Kwon Suho? I’m not looking down on you, I’m just surprised. Class 3-A, Kwon Suho. He’s the grandson of the Oseong Electronics chairman.”

Oseong Electronics was where my mom had worked hard as a cleaner, sweeping and wiping.

The grandson of the chairman of one of Korea’s top conglomerate companies.

“He must be super rich.”

It was strange that such a rich person was attending a rough school like Yeongji High, and even stranger that he was gathering kids to play gang games. The world was full of diverse human characters.

“Bong Jiyeon used to date Kwon Suho. That’s when she became part of the gang. I don’t know the exact details, but… if Bong Jiyeon gets targeted by Kwon Suho now… she won’t have a good time.”

A school gang backed by a third-generation chaebol heir.

That was like a bomb that even adults couldn’t handle.

“There were rumors that Kim Geonho was acting up in class because he wanted to join Su-ho Fam. From what I know, the graduated seniors who served under Kwon Suho all got direct employment at Oseong Electronics or its affiliates.”

It was more and more surprising to hear.

Is this really happening in 21st century South Korea?

On one hand, it was chilling.

“Hey, Jeongseok. According to what you’re saying, if you get targeted by Su-ho Fam, it’s not just your school life but your entire life that’s ruined? Are you sure we can do anything about this?”

It seemed like a problem that wouldn’t be solved even if we reported it to the police.

Can I really do anything?

“Yeongwon, you have the Status Window.”

“That’s true, but it’s not all-powerful. If that Kwon Suho guy was on the player list, I might be able to do something, but I’ve never even met him.”

If Jeongseok couldn’t be level-headed, I had to be.

“No! Yeongwon! In terms of potential, you’re the worse guy! Have confidence! They’re just playing gang games, but you could become a real psycho! Gang members are no match for you!”

Is he complimenting me or insulting me right now?

I wondered what kind of person I was in Jeongseok’s mind.

“Hey, man. Say something that makes sense. Are you telling me to throw them down the corridor and kill them? If they become third-generation chaebol ghosts and come after me, I’m really screwed.”

At my cold assessment, Jeongseok seemed to be deep in thought and reduced his words.

Then he spoke quietly.

“Should we ask Yang Juhui? Wouldn’t she help us somehow?”

Jeongseok seemed to think of Yang Juhui as some kind of ultimate weapon.

Certainly, Yang Juhui would be able to take down a few gang members.

But could Yang Juhui defeat Kwon Suho, who had Oseong Electronics backing him?

No.

I didn’t think so.

“Hey, Yang Juhui has her own problems to deal with.”

“What did I do? You jerks. Why are you whispering about me when I’m not around?”

Yang Juhui appeared in the library.

The library and Yang Juhui were a very mismatched combination.

# # #

“Kwon Suho’s gang? You guys want to have a showdown with them?”

Yang Juhui frowned after hearing our story.

“Are you crazy? They’re complete psychos. What could two weaklings like you do?”

So the Su-ho Fam gang members were psychos even by the standards of the brave Yang Juhui.

As a former gang member herself, Yang Juhui seemed to know a lot.

“If Bong Jiyeon got targeted by them, her life is over. What a stupid girl. Why did she go around bragging about dating someone like Kwon Suho? Sigh. I knew this would happen eventually.”

Yang Juhui said she had attended the same middle school as Bong Jiyeon.

Yeongji Middle School.

“Bong Jiyeon became a bit of a jerk after she injured her leg while trying to be a track athlete. That’s when she got targeted by the older students. The bullying was pretty severe. Hiding her chair. Making her bag disappear.”

Jeongseok was surprised by Yang Juhui’s explanation.

“That happened in middle school?”

Since Jeongseok had attended a nearby boys’ middle school instead of Yeongji Middle, he didn’t seem to know the details about Bong Jiyeon. Just as I was thinking this was an interesting story, Yang Juhui added:

“Yeah. After about a month, Bong Jiyeon couldn’t take it anymore and started dating a popular senior from Yeongji High. That was Kwon Suho. Once she was with Kwon Suho, the other gang members couldn’t touch her.”

Is this the story of a promising young athlete’s downfall?

However, Yang Juhui showed an expression of incomprehension.

“I think I vaguely heard that Bong Jiyeon and Kwon Suho had some issues while dating. But it didn’t seem serious enough for her to be targeted by the gang… Why did it turn out like this?”

“I don’t know either.”

Jeongseok shook his head.

No one knew why Bong Jiyeon ended up like this.

I was the only one who knew the reason.

Because I hadn’t explained to everyone about Bong Jiyeon’s “Androphobia.”

This was a fact I hadn’t told even Jeongseok.

For some reason, it seemed better not to mention it going forward.

I pretended to go to the bathroom and manipulated the Status Window to remove Bong Jiyeon’s quirk.

It cost 100 points, but… I felt a little better!

“Whatever the case, I wonder if we can finish this before evening.”

Sitting in the bathroom, I quietly calculated the time.

Teacher Hong Miri had said that the chairman of the Yeongji High School Foundation had invited us to dinner tonight.

It was almost a unilateral notification, but it would be impossible to refuse.

My plan was this:

First, get Bong Jiyeon out today and somehow make contact with the “Su-ho Fam” gang.

Then they would appear on my player list, and I could deal with them through the Mercenary Corps. If I stalled for a few days, I could even throw them into the Nightmare Corridor.

It was also an opportunity to see the effect of the “Mercenary Corps” that I had once dispatched to Yu Dahui more clearly.

Bad guys need to be taught a lesson by even worse ghosts.

“Let’s call Bong Jiyeon and keep her with us.”

I left the bathroom and rejoined my friends in the library.

Jeongseok asked:

“Just keep her with us? What are you planning to do?”

“We’re supposed to have dinner at Yu Dahui’s house today, right? From what Teacher Hong Miri said, it seems like we can bring friends, so why don’t we say Bong Jiyeon is our friend and take her along? No matter how tough these gang members are, they can’t do anything against the chairman, right?”

From what I’d heard, the Yeongji Foundation chairman was a complete bastard whose ancestors were pro-Japanese collaborators who even drove people to suicide. And he seemed powerful enough to control local elections.

No matter how vicious these gang kids were, could they match the real villain, the chairman?

In other words, this was using one evil to fight another.

Even I thought it was a brilliant strategy.

Jeongseok greatly admired my ingenious plan.

“Wow, Yeongwon. You really are a model villain. How can you naturally come up with such thoughts? I guess it’s no coincidence that you got the Status Window. I truly respect you.”

Jeongseok had a talent for making compliments sound like insults.

Anyway, we decided to head to Class C to meet up with Bong Jiyeon.

Bong Jiyeon, probably afraid of the seniors, was still in the classroom and hadn’t gone home yet.

“Hey, Jeongseok. You go call Bong Jiyeon. Ask her to have dinner with us tonight.”

“Me?”

Jeongseok trembled.

Jeongseok was the type who couldn’t perform when given the opportunity.

“Hey, Jeongseok. If she doesn’t listen well, go slap her once. Then Bong Jiyeon will probably fall for you. You have to do it.”

“What kind of crazy talk is that? Slap her? Juhui, can’t you go talk to her? It might be easier since you’re both girls.”

“What? I don’t want to either. When she was in middle school, she said some really harsh things to me when she broke off our friendship to join Kwon Suho’s gang. Until she apologizes for that, I want nothing to do with Bong Jiyeon.”

Yang Juhui disliked Bong Jiyeon.

Naturally, only I was left.

“Fine. I’ll go. It’s right for the leader to take the lead in situations like this.”

I entered Class C.

As I entered, the eyes of the few students who remained in the classroom turned to me.

It was natural since a student from another class had suddenly entered.

I approached Bong Jiyeon, who was sitting in the back, staring out the window, and said:

“Excuse me, are you Bong Jiyeon?”

“……”

She flinched.

Bong Jiyeon, who had been looking out the window, was greatly startled.

Soon, like a cat with puffed-up fur, she looked at me and slightly backed away.

“…What do you want, asshole?”

“……”

How can someone’s personality be so sharp?

Does Jeongseok like this kind of thing?

Now I see that Jeongseok was a complete masochist.

Come to think of it, I think I’ve heard that people who like horror generally have masochistic tendencies.

With that personality, he must be suffering in our ghost-filled party.

In the end, all things were connected by a single line.

I gained unexpected insight in an unexpected place.

Thanks to this insight, I was able to ask with a more relaxed attitude:

“Bong Jiyeon. Come have dinner with me tonight.”

“He must be crazy.”

“Bong Jiyeon goes crazy when guys talk to her these days.”

The atmosphere was tense in many ways.

However, I knew that Bong Jiyeon’s “Androphobia” quirk was gone.

She should be fine with me talking to her.

“Are you flirting with me right now? Do you know I just broke up with my boyfriend?”

“What’s flirting?”

“What you’re doing right now! No matter what, do you think I’d date a loser like you? You’re Yang Juhui’s lackey. I get it. Yang Juhui put you up to this, right?”

It was a very scathing insult.

I was trying to help Bong Jiyeon because of Jeongseok, but she wasn’t being cooperative.

However, I could notice fear and terror in Bong Jiyeon’s eyes.

She must still be under the influence of the quirk.

Like with Jeong Sojin, she probably needed a big shock to come to her senses.

There was no need to slap her.

I slowly raised my hand and clapped once in front of Bong Jiyeon.

“Kyaak!”

Thud.

Bong Jiyeon fell as if her legs had lost strength.

I spoke to the fallen Bong Jiyeon:

“How about it? Are you coming to your senses now? Are you still afraid of me?”

Bong Jiyeon, who had fallen to the floor, looked up at me.

Then she frowned.

“W-who said I’m afraid of someone like you?”

Bong Jiyeon’s face turned red, either from embarrassment or fear.

Thinking of what happened with Jeong Sojin, I decided to give her a warning just in case.

“Let me tell you in advance, don’t fall for me. It would be troublesome.”