IRLPLBIO Chapter 3 Part 1

Fucking hell. Jae-gu muttered the drawn-out curse under his breath.

Throughout the class, Jae-gu’s nerves were on edge. He didn’t want his shoulder to touch Han Seong-cheol’s. He didn’t even want to breathe the same air.

He was so tense that eventually, the back of his neck ached. The remaining five minutes felt like five hours.

After he and Han Seong-cheol were forcibly seated together, Jae-gu fidgeted his leg 300 times a minute and checked the clock 30 times. He was so restless that the homeroom teacher came over three times to hit him on the head, and later even threw pieces of chalk at him, but it was no use.

As the end of class neared, Jae-gu’s fidgeting intensified; he now seemed poised to glue his eyes to the clock rather than his textbook. Finally, the homeroom teacher exploded.

“Yang Jae-gu, aren’t you going to focus! If you’re going to act like that, get out, you punk!”

“Yes, thank you!” Jae-gu replied.

Jae-gu happily shot up. It had been so long since he’d been in high school that he didn’t realize he could leave during class.

It would have been better if he’d been kicked out sooner.

Towards the back of Jae-gu’s head as he strode out, the homeroom teacher’s enraged shouts echoed.

“That, that crazy…! Hey! Yang Jae-gu, you, damn it, aren’t you going to stop!”

Han Seong-cheol, left alone, let out an incredulous laugh.

It was the first time he’d encountered someone so openly rejecting him. Jae-gu, acting like a hedgehog with all its quills raised before Han Seong-cheol had even done anything specific, was truly baffling.

He stared in disbelief, and their eyes met when Jae-gu turned back at just the right moment. A small doubt arose: did Jae-gu know something to act this way? Had he perhaps heard about Han Seong-cheol from someone in Seoul?

“Hey! Yang Jae-gu!”

The homeroom teacher’s voice grew even louder.

Whether it was good luck or bad luck, just then, the bell announcing the end of class rang, swallowing the echoing shouts. The huffing homeroom teacher, swinging his pointer stick (which he used as a rod), headed towards the faculty room.

Han Seong-cheol noticed Jae-gu, who had already gone some distance, wearing a look of sheer relief.

Han Seong-cheol’s expression grew a little more complex. He wondered why he kept watching Yang Jae-gu.

It was then. With a clattering noise echoing through the hallway, noisy guys appeared.

“Hey, Jae-gu! I heard you got into a brawl again today!”

“As expected, Yang Jae-gu. And there’s a new transfer student, right? Oh, you’ve already got him sitting right next to you. Good.”

The carelessly chattering guys draped their arms over Jae-gu’s shoulders from both sides. In an instant, Jae-gu found himself back in the classroom he had just barely escaped.

Jae-gu, led by the utterly clueless guys, found himself closer to Han Seong-cheol. Han Seong-cheol, feigning a “likable demeanor to gain others’ favor,” acted meek. Jae-gu’s expression twisted even further.

Han Seong-cheol observed Jae-gu with a ‘look at this?’ attitude. Yang Jae-gu was proving to be more annoying, yet more intriguing, than he had anticipated.

The guy standing to Jae-gu’s right suddenly spoke to Han Seong-cheol. “You transferred from Seoul, right? You probably don’t know how things work, so I’ll tell you straight. Just hand over the protection money here. How much is it— Cough!”

The guy, whose back knee had been kicked, stumbled forward. It seemed Jae-gu’s action to shut up the blabbering guy’s mouth had been a bit excessive.

Another guy, with wide eyes, foolishly mumbled, “What? Why, why? What?” Still, he understood that Jae-gu was winking repeatedly, signaling him to shut up.

Even after witnessing the ridiculous scene, Han Seong-cheol tilted his head with an expression that suggested he didn’t understand what was happening. Whether he thought it wasn’t time to show his true colors or wanted to project a good image, he looked quite like a model student. However, to Jae-gu, who knew Han Seong-cheol’s true nature, he seemed even more disgusting.

“Protection money?”

“I don’t know what they call it in Seoul, but you know, that thing.”

The guy to Jae-gu’s left made a circle with his thumb and forefinger, signaling money. The half-witted guy, seeing Jae-gu’s sharp glare, stealthily hid his hand behind his back.

During this period, Jae-gu was quite well-known both inside and outside of school. Even if he wasn’t known for anything else, his fighting skills were exceptional. His friends, knowing this well, usually tried to go along with Jae-gu.

Remembering his past self, Jae-gu lowered his voice. He had to hide his fighting skills enough to avoid catching Han Seong-cheol’s eye and being taken to Seoul, yet maintain enough authority for his words to stick with his noisy friends.

“Don’t talk nonsense.”

“What? You’re not going to take protection money from him?”

“No. I don’t take it from other kids either.”

The guy’s eyes widened like huge marbles. He quickly looked around, then whispered into Jae-gu’s ear. However, because he didn’t know how to lower his voice, there was little difference from just talking normally.

“Are you crazy? Then where are we going to get money to play with?”

Looking back, it was ridiculous. There wasn’t really anything that cost a lot of money during this period. It was just fun to hang out with many friends… now, he didn’t want to steal others’ money just to have a little fun himself.

“…We don’t need it. Let’s go.”

When he gestured for them to come out, the two guys nodded without complaint. But as if they’d grow horns on their butts if they just left quietly, one guy eventually added something unnecessary.

“You’re not, by any chance, saying you like that slick Seoul guy, are you…? Muffled sound!”

The guy seemed to have no learning ability.

While firmly covering the mouth of the guy who never learned no matter how many times he got hit, Jae-gu pressed hard with his fingers, even pinching his cheek. The guy, who couldn’t even see Han Seong-cheol subtly furrowing his brow, was dragged out, dramatically feigning pain with “Ahhh!” The other guy, at least, quietly trailed along.

“Ugh, you ignorant bastard. I’ve extended your lifespan.”

“Muffled sounds!”

The struggling guy tapped Jae-gu’s arm. It was a sign of surrender.

The guy, who only thought the current situation was a joke, wouldn’t know that Jae-gu’s words were true. Jae-gu had truly extended his ‘lifespan.’

He didn’t know it at the time, but most of the group Jae-gu hung out with suffered an accident. The day Jae-gu was called away by Han Seong-cheol, the small warehouse that the guys, playing among themselves, used as their hideout had reportedly collapsed.