episode_0004

Episode 4:Middle School is a Jungle

I ran for a week.

After running, I’d come home and immediately work out my muscles, including push-ups.

Was it behavior too unlike myself?

My mother immediately reacted.

-Did my son perhaps get a girlfriend he likes in middle school?

A girl I like.

Regrettably, Mother.

I probably won’t be showing you any grandchildren my entire life.

Am I crazy to get married.

What happened last life when I did that.

[Stamina increased by 1.]

But that doesn’t mean I intend to live as a loser like I did in my previous 1st round.

At least if I choose, it won’t be living alone because I’m a loser.

In the 2nd round, I will confidently become a popular kid, a victor who has declared non-marriage.

[Stamina increased by 1.]

[Stamina increased by 1.]

.

.

.

That’s how a week passed.

My body changed so much that it was clearly noticeable even in the mirror.

First, my shoulders that curved inwards and my bent waist and back like a turtle neck.

These two straightened out like a lie.

Before, I had to force myself and strain to puff out my chest.

Now, I’m just standing naturally and my chest automatically puffs out confidently.

Originally, just doing muscle exercises for a few days doesn’t build muscle this quickly.

It’s not like I hadn’t exercised in my previous life.

But for me in the 2nd round, whose life became a game after obtaining the status window, it was possible.

[Stamina: …… → 9]

After exercising for a week like that, my stamina quickly went from the initial 5 to 9.

Going beyond simply having knowledge of regression.

Now, I am definitely changed in a way that is visible.

It’s a clear difference between the 1st and 2nd rounds.

Ding!

[Sub Quest: The Pushover]

[Content: Show the target 『Lee Ho-kwon』, who sees you as a pushover, firmly that you are not anymore.]

[Reward: Life Point 1p]

And now, it’s not just me and my parents who know about that change.

“Hey, you glared at me before, didn’t you?”

It was time to clearly show it to those around me too.

Lee Ho-kwon led his gang and came over to my seat.

All the kids he brought were just troublemakers similar to himself.

Seems like he already built his group within a week.

“Hey, ignoring me?”

The reason he came was obvious.

To bully me.

Back in the 1st round, I had just spoken to him because I was nearby.

At the time, he judged that a guy who was ‘out of his league’ dared to talk to him.

Saying that was outrageous, he kept bullying me until I transferred schools.

But thinking about it now, that was just the result.

There was a reason that came first.

That bastard looks like a pushover.

So let’s go have some fun.

There was no reason more or less than that.

Whether he didn’t like that I glared at him, or whether I wagged my tail first and lowered myself.

It was a process that was going to happen like this anyway.

So.

“Yeah. What about it?”

I accept it coolly.

Without avoiding his gaze even slightly.

I confidently answered yes to Lee Ho-kwon’s non-question.

“……?”

“Uh…….”

“…….”

For a moment, the kids are flustered.

“Huh, look at this bastard.”

Soon Lee Ho-kwon laughs as if dumbfounded.

As Lee Ho-kwon looked around with an empty laugh, his hangers-on awkwardly laughed along, matching his mood.

“What’s with this kid? He’s crazy.”

“Looks like he doesn’t know who Ho-kwon is?”

“A guy with no connections. Is he nuts.”

Come to think of it, in the 1st round too, he kept saying he knew a lot of older guys.

“Hey, you know One-Punch?”

Suddenly Lee Ho-kwon changes the subject.

One-Punch.

True to its name, One-Punch, it’s a game where players take turns hitting each other once.

You could call it a stupid power flexing content for guys that was insanely popular when I was in middle school.

No, actually it’s not even a power flex.

First, according to the rules of One-Punch, the principle is to hit each other’s forearm once.

Lee Ho-kwon doesn’t break that rule either.

It means he also gets hit by others when doing it.

However, he’s fine.

Anyway, the other kids can’t hit Lee Ho-kwon hard.

There’s such an implicit rule.

So instead, the kids act like this.

They ‘pretend’ to hit Lee Ho-kwon hard with all their might, giving his forearm a light massage once.

Conversely, when they get hit by Lee Ho-kwon, they pretend to be in tremendous pain.

By making Lee Ho-kwon laugh and feel satisfied like that.

They also elevate him even higher with ridiculous nicknames like King of One-Punch, Nuclear Fist, Fire Fist, etc.

They do ‘Entertainment One-Punch’ like this.

Isn’t it really stupid?

Honestly, Uhm Seok-dae from Your Twisted Hero looks much better.

At least he had some dignity.

“Let’s do it. Scared?”

Just as Lee Ho-kwon was saying let’s do One-Punch, and the surrounding kids were wildly egging it on, without even a moment’s delay.

“Alright. Let’s do it.”

On the contrary, I immediately said okay as if I had been waiting.

“…….”

“…….”

“…….”

At the unexpected scene, bewilderment spread among those around me again.

“This kid doesn’t know Ho-kwon’s Nuclear Fist.”

“Since it’s Ho-kwon, Tiger Fist?”

“Hey. Shut up.”

Lee Ho-kwon didn’t seem to like them messing with his name, so he immediately scolded them.

“I’ll go easy on you. You hit first.”

Lee Ho-kwon yielded the first move, pretending to be generous.

However.

“Never mind that, you hit first.”

I shook my head and offered my forearm first.

At my appearance, the surrounding kids went “Ooh~”.

There was half a feeling of amusement and half a sneer of ‘putting on an act’.

“……Ah, this bastard really.”

The corners of Lee Ho-kwon’s eyes furrowed for a moment.

Clearly I had touched his pride.

―This bastard should be crawling by now, shouldn’t he?

―A bastard who looks like a loser is being totally cocky?

―Hit first? Fine. I’ll take this chance to properly crush him and teach him who’s above and who’s below.

With such an expression, Lee Ho-kwon clenched his fist tight and.

Whoosh!

Threw a punch at my forearm with all his might.

It was simultaneous with that.

[Used 1 『2nd Round Exclusive Stat Elixir』.]

[Stamina selected.]

My stamina value, raised to 9 through exercising for a week.

My stamina, which was only slightly below average considering the average is 10.

[Stamina stat increases by 5.]

[Stamina: 9 → 14]

Instantly increased to 14.

Numerically, over 50%.

The value of 50% is greater than imaginable.

Normally in games, to raise it by even just 10%, let alone 50%, people spend all sorts of money to get good items.

Usually, if you compare rare and unique items at the same level range, there’s about a 10% difference in stats.

But for it to suddenly go up by 50%?

Normal.

Rare.

Unique.

Legendary.

Epic.

And Mythical.

With 10% each, a total of five tier differences.

To put it simply.

The me from 1 second ago and the me now.

“……Hmph!”

It’s virtually the difference between Normal and Mythical.

Clench!

Sensing that, I instantly put strength into my forearm.

Woosh!

Lee Ho-kwon’s punch thrown with all his might in a fit of rage.

My forearm, simultaneously putting the weight of my entire body into a short forward dash.

Thwack!

A strange sound occurred.

It was a sound beyond just hitting a forearm with a fist.

“Aaaaargh?!!!”

Lee Ho-kwon immediately collapsed onto the floor.

Clutching his strangely bent forearm, he writhed on the floor.

“Ah, it hurts……! Ugh, Keu-eok…… Heu-eong…… My, my arm……! My arm! Euk-kaaaak…… Ah, it hurts……!”

In an instant, the classroom became chaos.

Everyone was at a loss.

Stomp, stomp.

In that place, only I was moving aloofly.

Approaching Lee Ho-kwon, who was collapsed, hugging his twisted wrist and crying loudly.

I quietly whisper into his ear.

“Now it’s my turn to hit, right?”

* * *

Regrettably, I was only hit by Lee Ho-kwon this time too.

Well, what could I do when he was writhing on the floor and crying loudly just because one of his wrists was slightly badly bent?

Since he wouldn’t offer his forearm.

I have some commercial ethics too.

How could I hit a middle schooler who’s crying loudly?

“Han Kyung-jun!”

―That was all a lie.

“You turned a kid into an arm cripple, and what’s with that proud expression?!”

I just had no choice but to retreat because a teacher suddenly appeared in the chaotic classroom.

“Aren’t you even sorry to your friend? Huh?!”

Not at all.

Violence issue occurred right at the start of the semester.

As the homeroom teacher, it could only be a huge headache.

Besides, Lee Ho-kwon was taken away to the emergency room.

There was nothing left but to spout all sorts of noisy things at me, the only one remaining.

To this, I neither particularly explained my situation nor expressed my unfairness.

Because I already knew from having experienced it once that it would be useless anyway.

This damn homeroom teacher, I had told him how many times I was bullied in my previous 1st round.

He didn’t help even once.

No, on the contrary, after calling both me and Lee Ho-kwon.

『You two shouldn’t fight from now on? Get along from now on! Okay, a handshake of reconciliation between the two of you!』

This is the teacher who pulled that crap.

You probably know what happened to me afterward without me even having to say.

“Blah blah blah……! (Sounds of an old fogey vaguely heard through one ear)……!!”

So at first, I listened to everything.

While doing so, I waited until ‘that word’ came out.

“……Huh?! Do you even know what you did wrong right now?!”

And as soon as that word I was waiting for came out.

“Yes, I know.”

I initiate action.

“What, what……?”

The teacher, who had been listening with his mouth shut until then, was momentarily flustered by me suddenly coming out so confidently.

“What, you know? You know?!”

However, perhaps because he wanted to maintain his authority as a teacher, he raised his voice even higher.

“Fine! If you have anything to say, go ahead and say it!”

“…….”

I didn’t say anything.

Because there was no need to.

Swipe.

Instead, I took out my phone.

“You, you! Did you bring your phone to school?!”

Ignoring that teacher who was making such a racket, I continued operating the old feature phone and showed it.

“This kid……!”

The teacher tried to snatch the phone from me, but then.

“Huh……?”

He suddenly stopped.

He couldn’t help but do so.

『Let’s do One-Punch~』

Because a video was playing on the phone.

In it, Lee Ho-kwon’s gang surrounding me intimidatingly and sneering was all recorded exactly as it happened.

I had set it all up in the drawer behind the classroom, hidden from view, knowing something like this would happen.

“Wh-what is this……!”

At first, he was the type of teacher who would get angry, saying “What is this?”, like his usual old fogey personality, but

“Th-this is…….”

As time went on, he inevitably spoke less and less.

The reason is obvious.

Because not a single one of my wrongdoings was recorded in that video.

No, far from wrongdoing, there wasn’t even any reaction.

What the video showed was exactly this:

①Lee Ho-kwon’s gang surrounds me.

②I suddenly stand up and offer my forearm.

③Then Lee Ho-kwon hits me.

“I was only hit.”

That was truly all of it.

From what was visible in the video, Lee Ho-kwon, after hitting me first.

Afterward, was a fool who stupidly broke his own wrist.

Nothing more and nothing less than that.

It wasn’t noticeable at all that I had deliberately pushed my forearm forward to make him break his wrist.

They usually call it ‘snap-hitting’.

Because I precisely aimed for the moment Lee Ho-kwon’s fist touched my forearm, and exerted a strong force in that single instant.

If it were the weak me from the original 1st round, such a high-level technique would have been impossible.

But now it was possible.

The 4 points of stamina increased by exercising for a week, and.

The additional 5 points of stamina raised by the Exclusive Elixir.

Added to the original value of 5, the total stamina value of 14 made that possible.

“…….”

The teacher, who had watched the entire video, couldn’t speak.

Slide.

Having confirmed that, I put my phone back into my pocket and.

“Then, since I did nothing wrong, I will return to the classroom.”

As I was about to return to the classroom.

“You, you……!!”

The teacher ended up uttering the last words he shouldn’t have.

“What’s with that attitude when your teacher is talking to you! Come here right now!”

Haha.

How could it not deviate even an inch from my prediction.

Well, fine.

This, did the teacher bring this upon himself?

* * *

It became a complete mess.