Chapter 6: Met A Jerk On The Way Too School.

An Hours Later…..

Takeo stood in front of the apartment building, looking down at his phone. His first genuine contact. After the whole shebang with the Jongsu High kids, Liam approached him one last time and asked for his number.

"Ishii…. Takeo, right? Can I have your number~ Pretty please….?" Honestly, if Takeo didn't somewhat respect the cane-man, he would have punched the dude in the face.

That guy was one of those unpredictable, chaotic neutral types who had many faces…. An annoying bastard who hid everything under a distorting mask. From Takeo's experience, he knew that the grey-haired one had a history of some sort too him.

Looking up at the building before him, he sighed. It was already well into the evening, and the sky above was an inky curtain of darkness, alongside the luminous crescent moon above. A few urban crows flapped their wings as they passed above eerily, and Takeo could vaguely see a small rat-like critter scurrying down a drain under the yellow-orange street lights. His apartment building was a small but pretty well-maintained place on the outskirts of Seoul, a good five minutes from J-Highschool.

It was made from concrete and rebar, with seven floors and only a few residents. Each unit was equipped with an air conditioner, alongside a small patio and balcony. The building was a sterile grey, with chipped green paint long faded, and dark smudged windows, save the ones on the second floor, which glowed an artificial yellow light.

Walking down a side alley, Takeo hoisted himself up over a dumpster, before walking up a smaller stone stairway. Heading through the rickety elevator from the inside was unpractical, which could be shown by the fact that he could run to the top floor before the old machine could even get to the third floor.

He lived on the fifth floor as the only resident of the six units in that area. Making his way up the steps quickly, Takeo's ponytail bobbed about as he entered through a heavy side door, clambering down a hallway. It was a drab place, with rugged red carpet, and freshly painted white walls. The paint job had been done a few months back, before Takeo even "existed" in this world. It was a strange thing to think about.

Walking up to his apartment door, he took out a simple metal key, and with a few twists and wiggles, the door creaked open, Takeo, stepped inside. He turned on the light switch and walked into the main part of the unit. The floor was made up of middle-aged wooden tiling, and plaster walls covered in beige wallpaper. A large mattress sat in the middle of the room, along with a fluffy brown blanket and a few large pillows. A small table sat next to the mattress, with a sleek metal laptop upon it, alongside a lush green potted plant.

To the side, a small doorway led into an old marble-tiled kitchen, complete with an industrial oven, microwave, and a surprisingly new refrigerator. The restroom for some reason, sat inside of the kitchen, most likely due to some design issues courtesy of the architect or whoever planned the place.

It was a simple bathroom that you could find anywhere in Seoul. Also, marble tiled, with a drain, toilet, sink, and showerhead. Dumping his belongings on the mattress, Takeo sighed. It had been a busy day, but in the end, he felt that everything was worth it.

The Following Day….

Looking up into the sky, Takeo rubbed his eyes groggily as he walked down the steep road. It was a long one, made from tar-covered concrete, and painted over more with black paint. It was bumpy, and not very ideal to ride a bike on.

To the side, countless small ramshackle homes sat, with scrap-metal roofs and crumbling stone walls. This part of the city had definitely seen better days, but Takeo enjoyed the atmosphere. The outskirts of Seoul were pretty unpolluted, at least in this "webtoon edition".

As he walked, passing by a few parked cars and random stray cats, he came across a large wall plastered with vibrant new posters. Across their colorful paper surfaces, were the pictures of who seemed to be k-pop idols and models. Every single one of them was beautiful and handsome and possessed a load of makeup too. It was just how the industry worked.

Takeo sighed as he stared on. There were a few familiar faces, to be sure. For one, the most irrelevant side character… Aru? Opportunistic blonde. And then, there was a man that Takeo was just itching to meet. DG, the pink-haired dude also known as James Lee.

He wondered how it would feel to fight him… Takeo's spine tingled a little. By far, kpop man seemed like one of the strongest in the series. Hoisting his school bag about, he turned around, about to leave, before he heard a loud voice break through the area.

"Hey! Hey! Wait up!" That familiar bubbly female voice broke out, as he heard rapid footsteps approaching.

"Mary Kim. How you doing?" Takeo shrugged, as the beautiful young girl rushed towards him. She was as pretty as ever, wearing a short striped skirt, alongside a denim jacket and a white crop-top. Her wavy platinum-blonde hair was partially tied back in a bandanna, while the rest well accented her curves.

Her long eyelashes fluttered as she smirked, and they bumped fists. Stretching her toned thighs, she nudged her head back, as another person came running over the nearby bend. "Taking his sweet old time….." She muttered as an irritated-looking teen ran up to them.

Wearing a black hoodie, among other designer brands, the teen wore a stylish cap that covered his head completely, and extremely tinted sunglasses hid his eyes from view. He was broad-shouldered, built much like that of a boxer. Veins seemed to pulse through the sunglasses' body, and his skin was pale.

He had a slightly jutting chin, and his hands were large and hallowed. Despite all of this, Takeo could tell that he was… Strong. It was the judo jerk man himself, and also the weirdo he had seen the other day. The spectacular loser, Vin Jin.

"So you're the new transfer…. Don't seem like much." Cracking his fingers, Vin Jin got up close, an arrogant expression on his face.

"Eh. Nice to meet you, sunglasses. You're really as charming as Mary said!" Takeo smiled, patting the shorter teen on the head.

"Y-you bastard! Get the f*ck off me!" Shaking the hand off, Vin Jin's face contorted grotesquely as he attempted to push the taller teen. Of course, Takeo didn't budge in the slightest, which caused the sunglasses-wearing teen to become even more pissed.

"What a charmer! Anyway, we'd better hurry up. Don't want to be late to school, do we?" Takeo smiled warmly at Vin Jin, who looked ready to kill him. It was always such good fun pissing off the short-tempered ones.

Turning around and ignoring the problem child, Takeo began to whistle as the half-blind teen began hurling insult after insult at him. It was quite… Unsavory.

Mary Kim covered her mouth, attempting not to laugh at Vin's misfortune. Really, what a good friend some people were. They walked down the road, turning about, before finally making it in front of J-Highschool.

By this time, Vin Jin had already somewhat cooled down, but that murderous glare was still there. It honestly couldn't really be helped though. From what Takeo could see in the story, for the most part, the judo major was about ninety percent jerk.

While Vin sulked, Mary and Takeo began to chat happily. They had much in common, which made conversations a lot easier. There was still a good ten minutes before school began, so they had plenty of time.

"You're from… Sendai? I've never been to Japan before, is it a fun place?"

"Yeah. But I'm obviously biased."

"Are all the Highschool girls there really into Goth?"

"Eh… Sort of? The trend is becoming sorta out of fashion."

"Do you like ice tea?"

"Is Vin Jin actually bald?"

Of course, the conversation, as most did, died down after the bell rang as Takeo rushed to his classroom. He quickly greeted his classmates before slapping down in his seat. Lying there, he sighed. It would be a long, tiring day….

The morning passed by quickly, with Takeo for the most part, boredly staring out the window and half-listening to the lecture. Unlike other educational systems, the Korean one was mostly based on lectures and studying, rather than hands-on assignments. It was mostly silent in the classroom, with the scribbling of pencils and erasers the most prominent sound.

Writing down a sparse amount of notes, Takeo twirled his pencil with ease around his fingers as he blankly stared into the whiteboard. The teacher, a stout man with a pin-striped shirt, rambled away as he wrote stuff relating to the Joseon Period. While he did enjoy history, the lecturing teacher was sorta.... Bland at it. He'd honestly be more absorbed in the textbook then this guy.

After attempting to listen to the teacher for a few more seconds, and failing, his attention became drawn too the school's front field. There wasn't much to look at, but it was honestly more interesting then the lecture. The serenity of "nature". Also known as…. Trampled litter-filled grass. People around the area really didn't care for nature.