Chapter 9: The Age of Barbarism (2)
A stillness fell over the dawn.
Today again, I pedaled my bicycle loaded with milk crates.
Even with less sleep, I liked working. I didn’t need to ask Mom for money, and I could feed my siblings milk every day.
Also, my body grew stronger with more muscle. It was a stroke of luck when I could drink milk for free from houses where the family was away on a trip.
Ssaeng— ssaeng—
I liked the moist air brushing against as I cut through the wind.
The last delivery spot.
As I turned toward the entrance leading into the mansion, I nearly crashed into an oncoming bicycle.
Screeech—
I quickly turned the handlebars and ca to a stop.
Thankfully, the milk didn’t spill.
I saw a fallen bicycle and a scattered newspaper on the ground.
The man who had fallen got up and looked at with a grin.
“Cheonmyeong!”
It was Yang Seok-gu.
“You fell but you’re still laughing? Are you delivering newspapers?”
“Yeah. It hasn’t been long. Seeing you deliver milk made think I should do sothing too.”
“You need to learn to ride a bike better. And go slower.”
“Maybe it’s because the bike is too big. I’m not used to it.”
“I’m done once I deliver here. What about you?”
“I don’t have many left either.”
I picked up the newspapers scattered on the ground.
“Thanks.”
“No need to thank .”
Yang Seok-gu and I gathered the newspapers and placed them in the bicycle’s rear rack.
At that mont—
“Hey!”
I turned around at the voice calling out, and Ji Jeongseok ca running in wearing shorts.
“What are you guys doing here?”
He nodded after looking at the newspapers and milk.
“You guys are aweso!”
“You out for a workout?”
“You guys work out too, so I figured I should.”
“Exercise and labor are different. Labor’s harder because we get paid.”
“You really are smart.”
Ji Jeongseok grinned at and continued.
“You guys must be tired. Don’t you have to wake up at four in the morning?”
“It’s fine once you get used to it.”
“Got five minutes?”
“Five minutes?”
“Let’s have so soda.”
Ji Jeongseok took our hands and led us to the bench in front of the grocery store.
“Sit tight. I’ll get the soda.”
He went into the store and ca back with three bottles of soda.
“Drink up.”
“Thanks, I’ll enjoy it.”
Yang Seok-gu must’ve been thirsty because he gulped it down.
Ji Jeongseok tilted his head and stared at .
“What?”
“So, are you going to beat Wang Dohun? You’re losing more than two hours a day.”
“Do I have to beat him?”
“It’s my wish.”
Ji Jeongseok had given various reasons for needing to beat Wang Dohun.
He moved to Mokdong for land speculation, ca to raise his grades, and had an arrogant tone.
I looked at Yang Seok-gu and said,
“Seok-gu, can’t you beat him?”
Yang Seok-gu opened his mouth wide and looked at in disbelief.
“Co on, you’re bad at studying.”
“I don’t like that guy either. I hate his arrogant attitude, and how the teachers take his side.”
“See? Even Seok-gu dislikes him. You need to crush him properly.”
“?”
“Because we’re friends.”
Ji Jeongseok put his arms around our shoulders and pulled us in.
“I like you guys.”
I didn’t know why Ji Jeongseok was acting like this.
I an, I was good at studying, so I could be used as a tool to outshine Wang Dohun—but why Seok-gu?
“I think I should get going now.”
Yang Seok-gu stood up.
Co to think of it, I shouldn’t be idly hanging around either.
“I should go too. Thanks for the soda.”
“See you later.”
Yang Seok-gu and I pedaled in opposite directions.
Even though it was just a bottle of soda, it made for a cheerful morning.
P.E. class.
Four people lined up to run the 100 ters.
I was in Group 3.
Yang Seok-gu, in Group 1, was getting ready to run.
He said he was confident in running because he used to play pranks like ringing doorbells and running away back in elentary school.
The P.E. teacher at the finish line raised his flag.
From the start, Yang Seok-gu was fast. Of course, it also helped that the other kids in his group were chubby.
Anyway, he finished in first place.
Ji Jeongseok was in Group 2.
Since I had seen him jogging in the early morning, I was curious to see how he’d perform.
The flag went up.
Ssaeng—
It was overwhelming skill.
Ji Jeongseok finished in first, leaving more than 10 ters between him and second place.
“12.8 seconds.”
“That guy’s a monster.”
I could hear the voices of classmates holding stopwatches in the back.
Even to , it seed incredibly fast.
Now it was my turn in Group 3.
As if fate was playing tricks, Wang Dohun stood next to .
He looked at and asked,
“You fast?”
“Slower than a turtle. How does anyone even finish 100 ters?”
“Really?”
Wang Dohun smiled in satisfaction. He must’ve thought I was the easiest in this group.
Was he thinking of as his rival?
The P.E. teacher raised the flag.
I intentionally started late.
Wang Dohun ran while watching my lane.
At the 50-ter mark, he was third, and I was in last place.
Tadadak—
I sped up and ran next to Wang Dohun. The panic in his eyes was amusing.
Wang Dohun clenched his teeth and sprinted to beat .
But there was no way he could match soone trained through labor.
About 5 ters before the finish line, I casually overtook him.
“Wang Dohun! For the first ti, I didn’t co in last in a race. Thanks.”
Wang Dohun seed to have given it his all and collapsed onto the ground.
I crouched in front of him.
“You’d better train hard. Out of the 340 points, the physical test is worth 20. You think you’ll get into Hanguk University like this?”
Wang Dohun gasped several tis and asked,
“I heard you never lost first place in middle school?”
“I just studied based on textbooks. I couldn’t afford private tutoring.”
“I don’t know which middle school you went to, but in high school, you can’t be first just by studying textbooks.”
“I’ll show you it’s possible.”
I patted him on the shoulder and added,
“Next is the ball throw. I’m ridiculously good at throwing balls.”
Wang Dohun was so tense he could only blink.
As expected, I crushed him in the ball throw too.
Wang Dohun threw 23 ters, I threw 55 ters.
I had completely overwheld him.
There was a reason I did this.
Because I clearly rembered Wang Dohun from my past life.
A three-term mber of the National Assembly from Gangnam and the leader of the Korean Conservative Party’s reform movent.
Wang Dohun, who declared a presidential run with the slogan of “50s generation leadership,” was a bad man.
As chairman of the National Assembly’s Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee, he handed out governnt contracts received from subordinate agencies to acquaintances—and yet, he was never punished.
Of course, I couldn’t say I had no personal feelings. Yongho Construction, the company I ran, suffered because of him.
I had to cut this off at the root from now.
How could such a pathetic guy beco the rising star of Korean conservatism?
Of course, it’s simple if you hide the truth and deceive the public.
“Cheonmyeong, let’s go wash up.”
Ji Jeongseok ca running over after picking up the ball.
I went with him to the faucet area.
“Kekekeke.”
“Why are you laughing like that?”
“You totally flattened Wang Dohun’s nose. It felt like a rice cake stuck in my throat finally went down. You didn’t see his face when you passed him, did you? He looked like he’d lost the whole world!”
I could understand Ji Jeongseok’s resentnt toward Wang Dohun. But still, this guy really intrigued .
It was as if he already knew what kind of person Wang Dohun would grow up to be.
I turned on the tap and shoved my face under the water, soaking it completely.
Refreshing.
Yang Seok-gu, who had co beside at so point, put the faucet in his mouth and drank the water.
“Filthy bastard.”
“Is my mouth dirtier than the faucet?”
“I agree with Cheonmyeong.”
“You guys are terrible.”
I was hungry.
Ji Jeongseok and I turned on the faucet full blast and put the tap in our mouths like Yang Seok-gu.
“Filthy bastards!”
We looked at each other and burst out laughing.
Sixth period math class was replaced with self-study because the teacher had an ergency at ho.
As usual, Ji Jeongseok was reading a book.
Math was one of my weaker subjects, so I worked through the problems.
Kang Cheonmyeong was smart.
With the mories of my past life and a brilliant brain, I felt defeating Wang Dohun would be no trouble at all.
The thrill of solving the hardest problem and getting the right answer.
As I grinned with satisfaction, there was a commotion near the first row by the windows.
“Look here! Dokka’s getting hit!”
The classmates crowded to the window. What was going on?
They said the gym teacher wasn’t hitting soone, but getting hit?
I rushed to the window too.
It was an unbelievable scene.
As usual, students in gym uniforms were doing push-ups on the field, but Dokka was being ruthlessly beaten by a man.
The man hitting him was wearing a military uniform, with three bamboo flower insignias on his cap.
A colonel.
They said Dokka had retired as a major.
Did the two know each other?
The man with the colonel insignia stomped on Dokka’s joints and said sothing to him.
The distance was too far to hear what was said.
Dokka kept bowing his head.
Could it be—
I looked at Ji Jeongseok.
He lived in the military apartnt.
The boldness he showed when he stood up to Dokka, telling him not to insult his father.
And most of all—
‘Just wait. I’m not going to let that crazy bastard Dokka get away with this.’
Could it be?
Was that Ji Jeongseok’s father?
“Shit! Even Dokka can’t move in front of a colonel.”
“Damn, that’s so satisfying. But who’s that colonel?”
“Did soone report it?”
The students who were lying on the field stood up.
“Shit! That was so cool!”
As the students admired the scene, the class president shouted.
“What are you all doing! Sit back down!”
Oh Man-seok.
A bastard who wielded the authority given by the horoom teacher however he pleased.
I hated that bastard.
At the class president’s words, the students returned to their seats. But the ones in the back row were still absorbed in the scene outside, staring through the window.
“Hey! You two, co out!”
Only then did one student spot Oh Man-seok and protest.
“Sorry. We just heard.”
“Out!”
Wrinkles ford between Oh Man-seok’s brows, which resembled a primate’s face.
Of all people, Yang Seok-gu was one of the two.
The two walked to the front of the class.
“Did you forget what the teacher said? What I say is the sa as what the horoom teacher says!”
Oh Man-seok’s face twisted like a bulldog’s.
“Since you didn’t listen to , it’s the sa as disobeying the horoom teacher. Anyway, trash bastards like you need to be punished to listen.”
Oh Man-seok picked up two chalkboard erasers.
“Both of you, hold these in your mouths!”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t hear because I was looking outside.”
One of them pleaded like he was about to cry, but Oh Man-seok beca even more forceful.
“Then do you want a beating instead?”
“…Okay.”
As that student and Yang Seok-gu held the erasers in their mouths, Ji Jeongseok suddenly stood up.
“Class president! Don’t you think this is going too far?”
As expected, it was Ji Jeongseok.
“Why ?”
“This isn’t a jungle, and you’re not so predator. Apologize right now for calling them trash bastards!”
“Is this bastard crazy? You too, co out!”
There was no comparison in size.
Oh Man-seok had the build of a ssireum wrestler, completely outclassing in weight.
“You co here!”
“What? Fuck! What an unbelievable bastard.”
Oh Man-seok clenched his fists and ca toward us.
I wanted to stop this no matter what.
Otherwise, Ji Jeongseok might get beaten to a bloody pulp.
“This bastard treats the teacher’s words like shit? Fuck, soone needs to beat him to knock so sense in!”
Just as Oh Man-seok reached to grab Ji Jeongseok by the hair, my body moved instinctively.
All I thought about was protecting Ji Jeongseok.
Without even realizing it—
I slid my arm under Oh Man-seok’s armpit and slamd him to the ground.
‘Shit, I’m screwed!’
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