Chapter 8: Yu Ijin's Point of View  

Yu Ijin's POV

"This is your new classmate, he has lived abroad for a long period, so I'm counting on you to make him feel at ease," the teacher said before gesturing for me to introduce myself.

"My name is Yu Ijin," I said, observing the classroom.  

"Do you see the empty seat by the window? Go take your place," she asked before starting her lesson.

I was heading to my designated seat when I noticed a student slowly sticking his leg out in the aisle. I think he meant it as a prank rather than actually trying to harm me.  

But if this had been before my arrival in Korea, I would have been compelled to "establish" a clear hierarchy in this class, but the commander has been clear.

I must avoid conflict as much as possible.

"Why are you looking at me like that? You want my picture or something?" he said in a clearly hostile tone.

"Why did you stop in the middle of the aisle?" the confused teacher asked.

"Sorry, miss," I quickly apologized before continuing to my assigned seat.

"Yeongchan, I'm counting on you to help him get settled in class quickly," the teacher declared before turning back to write something on the board.

"Yes..." replied the student I assumed to be Yeongchan.

*Knock knock*  

"You may come in," the teacher called toward the door.

When I caught sight of this student, I was surprised by his appearance. 

He clearly seems younger than everyone else in this room, but my instincts, honed from 10 years of battlefield experience, tell me to be wary of him.

I couldn't see his physique as he was wearing clothes that were clearly too baggy for him, likely intentionally to deceive his opponent.  

I could also see that despite his nonchalant entrance into the room, he remained constantly on guard, observing his surroundings.

"Suho Kang, even if you're an exceptional student, you have no excuse for being late," the teacher sternly declared.

"Sorry, I had a small problem," he said apologetically, clearly embarrassed.

"Go sit next to the new student," she said, indicating the empty seat behind me.

As the student named Suho Kang approached me, or rather the seat behind me, I noticed him observing me.

When he reached in front of me, he stopped.

"Hello, I'm Suho Kang," he said, extending his arm to greet me.

"I'm Yu Ijin," I simply said with a polite smile as I shook his hand in return.

During this brief interaction, I could tell he was analyzing me and increasingly tightening his grip around my hand, likely to test my strength in some way.

"You're quite strong, huh," he said, withdrawing his arm to end our handshake. He tells me I'm rather strong, but I've rarely met people with such a firm handshake on the battlefields.

"I'll take that as a compliment," I said, frowning slightly.

In the end, we didn't interact for the rest of the class, and I thought he was ignoring me, but that wasn't it. Suho Kang was just sleeping.

The student Yeongchan explained to me that Suho Kang always gets the highest grades, so the teachers had stopped paying attention to him when he excels in class.

"Yu Ijin, would you like to come to the internet cafe with me?" he said at the end of class.  

I was puzzled but eventually politely refused.

I wanted to go home with Yu Dayeon today, I couldn't accept and I didn't have enough information about him to feel at ease.

Finally, I went home with my little sister after class.

"Dayeon, do you know a student named Suho Kang?" I asked out of curiosity.

"Uh yes, he's very popular but strangely he has no friends and is very solitary," she said after thinking for a few seconds.

I found her response contradictory, how could someone be popular but have no friends?

I should just ask the commander to investigate him. Even though he had always been at Dayeon's school before my arrival and nothing suspicious happened, I prefer to inquire cautiously.

At one point on the way, I could see that Dayeon was ill at ease for some unknown reason.  

In the end, I had to break the promise I had made to the commander and fight against the source of the problem, even though it only lasted 5 seconds. I should apologize to the commander.

...

"Commander, have you obtained the information I asked for?" I asked in the evening.

Currently, grandfather and Dayeon were already asleep, and I wanted to get the information I had asked the commander for after returning home.

"Yes, I have obtained it, and I must say he is quite a monster," Commander Kang declared over the phone.  

"Could you elaborate?" I said, frowning.

"The kid named Kang Suho, he's 16 this year, and I must say he has a monstrous academic record," Kang explained in an astonished tone.

"Apart from his academic record, he is also extremely skilled in several combat and leisure sports, but he has the bad habit of quitting," he said, flipping through the documents.

"He always quits?" I said, confused. 

"That's exactly it, every time he takes up a sport, any sport, Suho Kang always wins a tournament involving it but stops when professional opportunities arise," there was clearly bitterness in the commander's voice.

He must surely be jealous of Suho Kang's natural talent.

"Taekwondo is the only one he continues to do professionally, but that's probably because of his legal guardian. And frankly, Ijin, I really hope you don't get into any trouble with this guy," Commander Kang declared.

"No, I haven't, but we have talked to each other," I said, avoiding going into details.  

In the end, the commander sent me a copy of the information he had gathered about him, and I better understood why he didn't want me to have any trouble with him.

If I had been forced to fight on the battlefield all my life, then Suho Kang creates his own battlefields to fight in throughout his life.

"I've drawn the attention of a strange person," I muttered after reading his file.

...  

"You don't have to walk me to school," Dayeon said, clearly embarrassed.

"We're going to the same school anyway, and I'm happy we can take the same route," I declared as we walked.  

"Hey, Yu Ijin!" a voice shouted in my direction.

It was Suho Kang walking nonchalantly toward Dayeon and me.

"You must be his little sister," he said, leaning slightly toward Dayeon beside me.

"Yes, I'm Yu Ijin's sister... My name is Yu Dayeon," she said, introducing herself with a hint of hesitation.

I felt uncomfortable seeing Suho Kang so close to Dayeon in front of me, but he hadn't done anything suspicious.  

"Nice to meet you, Yu Dayeon. I'm Suho Kang," he said with a smile.

In the end, we walked while discussing school-related things. It was mostly Suho and Dayeon talking while I observed their interaction.

I don't know why, but I was slightly annoyed to see Dayeon's smile directed at Suho and not me.

"Why did you reach out to me?" I finally asked after Dayeon went to her class.

Suho just observed me, seeming to study my posture or facial expression, and I could understand why, as there was clearly a slight tension in the air between us.

"I want to be friends with you, simply put," he said nonchalantly.

He didn't seem to be lying based on his facial expression.

"Friends? With me?" I said, a bit taken aback.  

"Yes, I told you yesterday, didn't I? You're strong, and I don't have any friends here," he said with a shrug.

"It's normal for similar people to get close, don't you think?" he asked, looking me in the eyes.

I ended up nodding instinctively; he wasn't wrong.  

Humans tend to be closer to those similar to themselves, but I didn't come here to meet people like me, and I don't want to be like that anymore.

"Yes, you're right, but I don't think we're alike," I said honestly.

"You think I'm not in your league?" he said, smiling.

His current smile had nothing to do with the one he had shown Dayeon or me earlier, and I had a bad feeling about it. 

"It's not like that, I..." At the moment I wanted to clarify things, I was attacked with a strike aimed at my Adam's apple.

The blow was fast and precise; I barely had time to block it, but it threw me off balance, and it seemed Suho Kang saw that.

He took advantage by grabbing my uniform and throwing me to the ground. I was able to reduce the impact of the fall, but I was on the ground while he stood over me. 

He had a predatory look, considering me as prey.

"Yu Ijin, I'm going to prove that we're alike," he said, slowly approaching me.

I wanted to turn the situation around by using a Brazilian jiu-jitsu technique to take him to the ground, but the circumstances were not conducive.

"I don't think this is the right place for our confrontation," I declared, looking around him.

I could see that Suho wasn't a bad person, and his reaction to my words confirmed it.

"You and I, after class, behind the school," he said, offering his hand to help me up.

Suho Kang must not be like me; he's different from me. I'll prove he's mistaken.