Chapter 1: The Baking Deparment Actually Somewhat Makes Sense.

A Week Later....

It had taken a while, but now, he was here. In the midst of the nest of evil that was "school delinquent manhwa". Ishii Takeo was in Seoul. Actually, now that he thought about it, perhaps Gangbuk was that place…. Anyway, in his own opinion, Korea did school-fight best. Of course, there were quite a few good fighting mangas out there, like Tokyo Revengers.

Jacob had sent him here with a fresh new identity as a high school freshman. Very fitting. He was a transfer student from Japan, who had been orphaned early on. Now, on this fine Friday morning, he would be going to this new school for the first time.

While he knew how to speak Korean, as he'd studied it for fun outside of school, Takeo was a tad bit nervous. While he was a "genius fighter", and a "prodigy", it would be sorta sad if he were to embarrass himself.

Thankfully, he was quite well-versed in this part of town. Why was that? Because this was a certain place on the outskirts of Seoul. To be more specific, Jae Won Highschool, otherwise known as J-Highschool. It was a place filled with monstrous fighters and individuals, where teachers were basically non-existent, and students were mostly placed in unsuitable majors. This area was from the webtoon Lookism, a pretty popular street-fighting manhwa that was quite popular.

The main character, a certified wimp by the name of Daniel, suddenly found himself with a new K-pop style body and proceeded to become popular. And then, later on, he started to get into some stuff that was mostly non-high school-related. All in all, the art was pretty good, the girls were pretty, a bunch of rich kids, and it was interesting at times. It would make for quite the thrill….

Above, the sky was a clear blue, with fluffy clouds streaking atop, like white paint upon a blue canvas. The sun was shining, and birds chirped cheerfully. He stood on the street in complete silence, looking up at the building before him. It was a large and dull one, made from concrete and steel, alongside some white paint and rebar. The windows were made from tinted glass, and the roof was curved along its sides.

A large industrial gate surrounded the whole property, and a post in the front was made from grey wood. Inside, a middle-aged man wearing a blue uniform tapped away at his phone, bored out of his mind.

Walking over, Taeko politely greeted the guard at the front, bowing slightly: "Excuse me, sir… I am a new student. Do you perhaps know where the admissions office is?"

The guard, who was quite invested in what seemed to be some girl group straightened up, pocketing the phone in a flash. "N-new student! Yes, yes. Just head down the main corridor, and take a left at the first hall. It should be on the end, a big sign. Can't miss it." An exaggerated smile on his face, the guard adjusted his cap, pointing towards the school building wildly.

"Thank you, sir." Smiling, Takeo nodded, as he walked onto the school campus. The front lawn of the school was made of dark green grass, with the main path and a few others, all leading to the different annex buildings.

He was in the main building, where most of the majors were. The strongest in the Tohoku region. Math Olympiad Three-time Champion. The Mighty Ishii Takeo of Sendai was in the Baking Department.

Well, he did, from time to time, enjoy a little baking. Muffins and creme brulee was a specialty of his. Putting that aside, Takeo was still a little irritated at this lame "joke", that Jacob had prepared for him. But then again, there wasn't much that could be done about it. Omnipotent beings were omnipotent after all.

Stepping into the school for the first time, he looked around. It was a simple set-up, with an even corridor, going down straight. To both sides of the main doorway, large concrete stairways reached out, most likely going off to the higher floors. Down the long hall, a variety of doors led into different classrooms, and other, smaller hallways no doubt going off to the other faculties. Despite the delinquentism going on, it seemed that this main area was well maintained. The school most likely wanted to give a positive first impression it seemed.

Above, large light fixtures let off an artificial white glow, and the floor was made from what seemed to be plastic flooring. Takeo made his way down the hall, before stopping at a random mirror that seemed to have been embedded into the wall.

He'd retained the same appearance and physique from before, but he was a tad bit shorter. Perhaps a joke, because he now seemed to be a Highschool Freshman. How fun. Despite having been a Senior when he perished, Takeo had heard…. Things about South Korea's school system. In education, this country was hardcore.

But then again, he himself was also pretty hardcore. The school curriculum in his high school had been a breeze, despite being a good one.

Takeo was one could call a pretty boy of sorts. He was tall and lanky, having long nimble fingers and thin stretching legs. He was a peachy-pale, with unblemished skin, save a few nicks and scars strewn about. His face was like that of a model, having a sharp chin and a long thin nose. He had a chiseled jawline, alongside slightly curved eyebrows.

His eyes were double-lided, his pupils a milky-glazed gold. A mischievous smirk was painted across his face, and long reddened brown hair was swept back in a silky ponytail, save some strands that came down the side of his head in bangs.

Adjusting his school uniform, Takeo shifted about. The uniform actually wasn't too bad in his own opinion. It consisted of a pair of straight grey pants that were surprisingly mobile given their tight appearance, alongside a beige and white inner shirt, that was then matched up with a sleek dark-blue coat fit with a matching blue tie.

It was a welcoming change from the over-tightened gakuran uniform at his previous school, though Takeo figured the coat needed a tinge bit of work. Thankfully, he could somewhat customize his uniform to his liking. Perks of going to a loosely regulated school.

He felt like he was looking pretty dapper.

Strolling down the hallway after adjusting his hair a bit, he turned down to the left, arriving in another hallway. It was pretty much the same as the main one, though it was smaller. He noticed a sign written in Hangul on the nearby wall. Takeo made his way forwards and knocked on a light grey door.

"Please come in." The voice of a low adult man suddenly rang out, and he entered.

It was a surprisingly pleasing place, with beige wallpaper and homey orange lighting. A miniature Eiffel Tower replica sat on top of a wooden cabinet, and various "scholarly" books sat on a neighboring bookshelf. At the back of the room, a bulwark of a desk sat, large and big, taking up a good portion of the room.

Sitting in a typical swiveling office chair, was a giant bear-like man. He had broad shoulders and bulging biceps, which his ivy-green turtleneck seemed to not be able to hide. His face was chiseled, and manly, with solid defining cheekbones and a thin nose.

His grey-black hair was cut in a typical army crew cut, which fit the man well. A neutral expression was on his face, though Takeo could see in the man's caramel-brown eyes that he was definitely extremely tired.

Reaching down with his large calloused hands, the man picked up a small stack of paper, shuffling through the folders. Takeo stared about before noticing a golden nameplate sitting at the head of the massive desk.

It read, in boldened white print, "Dong-Jun (Doris) Kyong".

"Hello, Mr. Kyong, I'm a new transfer student that is coming in today. I've been assigned to the Baking Department….." Shifting on the balls of his feet, Takeo waited patiently as Mr. Kyong slowly turned to look at him.

"A new transfer student, eh? Then you are….. Ishii…. Takeo?" Looking up, the man found a certain folder and opened it.

"Yup." Nodding, Takeo scratched his head.

"Ho. Two new students in a single day…. I thought that dude was decently impressive but you…? Damn….." Doris sighed in contemplation, glancing once more at Takeo. The burly man blinked again, before shaking his head. "Sorry, was a little lost in thought. Gets that way when you've been in the army too long."

"No problem sir." Takeo was usually pretty simple-minded. He was nice and somewhat polite in front of people he had a neutral or good opinion of. As for those who pissed him off? Unless he was a position where he couldn't do anything, he would just beat the sh*t out of them.

"Anyway, you seem like a well-mannered lad, so I suppose this won't take long." The large man reached out and picked up a pen.

Chuckling, Doris handed over a paper, twirling the pen around as they began to talk once more. The rest of the conversation was short and brief, with the older man speaking of a few rules and minor details, before carting him off to class. Looking back at the strange office, Takeo thought for a moment before walking off. It was obvious that the guy was pretty competent.

Takeo's mouth twitched for a second before he walked back down the hallway. His classroom was on the third floor.

Few Minutes Later….

"New student! Please introduce yourself to the class!" The teacher, a gangly man, stepped forwards, his voice nervous. Scrawny to an almost unbearable degree, Mr. Jeong was a pretty nice guy, who was the co-owner of a pretty popular dessert palace downtown. He had dyed brown hair covering most of his head like a rug, and a few freckles across his pale skin.

"New student? Is it a boy or a girl!?"

"Hm… Well, this is interesting."

"I swear to god… It better not be another one of those losers…"

Takeo strolled into the classroom, his face calm and collected, with that telltale smirk on his face. Immediately, the class went wild as they stared in shock. The boys began to grown or whistle, with a few of them sighing. The girls on the other hand…. Started to squeal. At least most of them did. Takeo took this as a compliment on both sides, and just went with the flow.

"Hello, everyone, I'm Ishii Takeo, a transfer student from Japan. I like eating ramen. Thank you for having me~" Smiling brilliantly, Takeo gave everyone quite the impression as he smiled dreamily, causing a good majority of the class to blush.

He really didn't have to ask Jacob for anything related to his appearance. Back in the day, he'd been touted as Japan's Hottest Yankee. Another, albeit lamer addition to his many illustrious titles.

Natural charisma was a must if you wanted to make it big in the whole delinquent gang thing. Back then, when Takeo had just started out, Sendai had been a pretty rough and rugged place in terms of Yankees.

"Thank you for the introduction. Please sit over there in the back please." Seemingly oblivious to the fangirls and brooding boys, Mr. Jeong clasped his hands, smiling.

Takeo bowed once more to his classmates, before walking down the row of desks. The classroom was a small-sized one with not many interesting features. It was rectangular, having plywood and concrete walls painted a light beige, along with plastic flooring of some sort.

To the side, a large window in the back of the room let the light shine through, displaying Seoul's beautiful city skyline. As per usual for most classrooms in the area, the desks were arranged in a simple way, in a block-like formation all of which were slightly apart from each other.

Something pretty notable was the smell of baked and burnt bread in the air, which was probably one of the only ways you could tell that this was the Baking Department.

The students themselves were pretty even in terms of gender, and it was pretty amazing how many people were around in the class. Normally, baking didn't really seem to be that ideal of a job, for some obvious reasons…..

Takeo strolled down the aisles, passing by quite a few students who simply gaped at him in shock. Taking a seat in the back corner, he straightened up as the class once again broke into murmurs of excitement and gossip.

"Settle down, class…. We have much to do, today. So I'll first start off by explaining….." Mr. Jeong broke out into a longwinded explanation about a few new school policies and some updates on upcoming events."

While there were indeed some students that were genuinely paying attention, a good percentage of people had gone on their phones or were talking in muted conversations with each other.

Takeo himself began to somewhat drift out, but he got a basis of what was going on. The rest of homeroom passed by pretty quickly and the rest of the morning periods after were quite simple. It was basically a normal morning for any old high schooler, which was bland, but somewhat welcoming.

While Takeo genuinely did enjoy getting into fights at times or stirring up some drama, he wasn't exactly in the mood to do that on the first day of school. Because of this, he decided to just act normal and not outlandish.

"Class…. You may pack your bags and get ready for break. Please remember to finish the new assignment by the given due date."