Chapter 6 First Day of Clubs

'Damn it. The first meeting is in Class 3's room...' He didn't like that at all. 'It was originally held in the library... In which case I could have done some reading..

But here I have to...'

Joon-Woo decided to sit down 2nd to last row relatively close to the door of the class. '... Be alone again!! Why is the teacher not here yet?!'

There were two kids behind him that were talking about skipping Debate Club and going to PC Bang. 'There are definitely some kids who didn't get their first choice of clubs.'

On the opposite side of the room, next to the windows there was Tae Yang, talking to one of the other students. 'Tae Yang, that bastard seems to be getting along well... Why is he so quiet? Why did he have to come to this club? Ugh. Is it because of college admissions? Soccer wouldn't help his application. Weird how he's able to play it so calm and cool now... Who said only punks work dead end jobs? My life is more at stake. That kid even gets better grades than me. That bastard is always able to get his shit together..'

Joon-Woo then remembered something about Tae Yang. 'Maybe not...'

'Anyhow...', he glanced over to Ha Min who was talking to a girl in the last row next to him. "Let's go to the dessert cafe!" - "I'm going to PC Bang, hehe."

'Why's she here too? Is this a gathering ground?'

Last night at PC Bang.

"You guys... Do you know when a person truly dies?" Ha Min asked Joon-Woo and Jong Hwa who were morally defeated. "Wh... When they are forgotten from people's memories...?"

Ha Min, angry, was shaking Joon-Woo. "No! It's when you lose 3 games in a row in league. Why are you guys so useless? A bug could beat you guys! Just get lost."

Joon-Woo was surrounded by flowers. 'I feel sick. Getting beaten up by a girl...'

He lost his mind in class. 'It's all over now. She's not talking to me because she sees me all alone... A loner that no one wants to approach. No one...'

Yet there was hope. "Joon-Woo!!! What are you doing here?! Why are you all alone? Ha! Ha! Come here."

'Seung Ah... It's Seung Ah...!' Beside her was some girl wondering who he was. Seung Ah was smiling a little. "Hey haha. Are you avoiding us or something? Ha ha." 'Seung Ah is calling me!!'

"Man Joon-Woo... I didn't know you were like that... Come sit with people from our class man! You want to be all alone? Come here." Even Class Rep was telling him to come over. The girl sitting next to Seung Ah asked Class Rep who Joon-Woo was, but just got ignored.

'Class Rep...! That kind-hearted kid!! Thank you!!!'

"Oh, ha ha. He really isn't coming because of you, haha."

'Is this for real...? Are they calling me...?!'

His eyes got all watery and he almost wholeheartedly smiled but stopped last second. 'Ah... Don't make weird faces... No! Don't!! Don't smile! You'll look like a loser!'

In a fraction of a second he set on his poker face. 'Ok, good job Joon-Woo Choi. You've tried so hard not to be a loser...'

"Ah... Ok ok! I'll move over."

"Oh? This *Overwatch noob. You're in this class too?" Of course, Ha Min noticed him now, too. She was jokingly looking down on him. (*I don't know why this has now changed to Overwatch in the Webtoon but I'm assuming it's supposed to be Underwatch. The author obviously changed it due to copyright. I guess the translators forgot about it. I'm gonna stick to Underwatch now.)

'I know that voice...', he thought.

"You have to say hi to your big sis if you see her! Jerk." Ha Min was touching her hair strands. 'Who is she, again? What was her name? I don't remember her name! Did she even tell me?' He walked over to Ha Min and her friend. "Ah uh... Uh.. uh.. A..." he was touching his neck as he didn't really know what to say and then said something really stupid. "A... Ass breaker?" Ha Min sighed. Her friend fell into laughter and Joon-Woo... Well, was just standing there.

"Hey! Teach ain't coming. Want to go to the snack stand?" Meanwhile Tae Yang, who wants to skip classes. The other guy just ignored him. "It's Ha Min Park. If you don't remember you're really dead." Since Tae Yang got ignored he listened in to Ha Min telling Joon-Woo her name once again.

"Hahaha, funny! I'm Boram Lee hahaha! You sure you know each other?" - "No, tell him to get lost, I don't know that bastard."

"Hey Joon-Woo... Joon-Woo come and sit T.T We're lonely."

"Hahaha! Hey let's go to the front Ha Min."

Ha Min and Boram Lee moved up one row and Joon-Woo sat next to the Class Rep in the middle. Seung Ah and her friend were in the front row. It was noisy and they all talked to each other.

'I'm real happy.. But I don't know what to say... I'm so used to being alone...'

"Wow! It's so surprsing though, haha!"

Seung Ah and her friend put their chairs over to Joon-Woo and Class Rep's desks. "I guess people can get close", she put her head on her arm while talking, "if they play the same games. Should I play the game too? Is Underwatch fun?"

"Ah ah! Underwatch! Of course!! It's not as popular now, but they update it often, so it's pretty fun!" While looking pretty excited to finally have something to talk about, he thought: 'Oh, I know games well!' - "If it's your first time you should play as a tank, and not a dealer. Dealers are a bit harder to play. (Damage dealers).

"Ah... But if you only play tank aim will go down, so you sometimes need to play as the dealer."

Seung Ah and her friends had a pretty let down expression. They both thought 'He's addicted to games...'

At least that's how Joon-Woo imaged it to be if he told them he played games regularly. 'It'll turn out like that!! If I keep yapping, I'll seem like a loser. This isn't the time to talk about games.'

"Oh... I do play games but these days I'm more into watching dramas. Not lovey dovey ones but those with interesting plots. Haha."

'I'll talk about the things we chatted about.'

"Oh! And I've been listening to a lot of music too. These days I've been craving the indie feel." Joon-Woo was happy. 'Finally I'm able to have a real conversation with you.'

Behind him, Ha Min was listening. The Class Rep did, too. "Rosy Cheeked Teens are cool. I've taken a liking to their music recently. And a lot of people don't know, but there's this hidden gem called 'Z Song'."

"Huh...! You know it too! I really like that one too, ha ha! Wow! Our tastes are very similar." Seung Ah was quite surprised seeing another person with similar tastes as her. "What, are you a match made in heaven? Haha."

'Seung Ah, you don't know but...'

"I'm surprised too, ha ha! Bet I know what drama he likes."

'...This isn't the first time we've talked about this. We used to chat a dozen times a day.' He thought way back, remembering the first couple of days they used to chat a lot. 'We've had this conversation before...' Still, he was glad.

"Anyway", Class Rep turned his head to Ha Min, "it's unexpected that Ha Min plays games."

Seung Ah was not happy hearing about this. "WHAT?! Class Rep you already know Ha Min?!" Dae Hyun looked rather confused. "What? You guys don't know her? Ha Min has the best academic scores in our grade."

She was resting her head on the desk as he said that. Joon-Woo, who couldn't believe what he just heard and turned into stone. "...? I don't like that expression", Ha Min said.

'She's good at games and has good scores? Good grades are everything in this world we live in!!!'

Seung Ah, stunned, turned into stone too. 'Does Dae Hyun like girls who do well in school...?' - "Uh, why are you-"

Joon-Woo's good mood went away in an instant. "Oh.. wow... How impressive Ha Min."

'I feel more useless now... I'm not even that good at games...'

Ha Min was quite worried. "Why does everyone look so down?" As she said that, someone passed her. Her expression changed immediately. "Yeah, why does Joon-Woo look so sad?" (In the Webtoon they used Jin-Woo for some reason, translators messed up I guess?)

The person came closer. "What is this? Ha ha! Is class three having a meeting here without me? Ha ha!" - 'No way...', Joon-Woo thought. "I'm disappointed you left me out of this, Joon-Woo."

'No... Don't come over. Please don't, not now.'

The steps didn't stop coming closer. 'No, don't come over, don't come over, don't come over, please. Please.'

"Hey, why are you ignoring me?" he wrapped his arm around Joon-Woo's neck. "Hey, don't you like me? You feel sorry for me right?"

It was Tae Yang, of course. Joon-Woo avoided eye contact with him and stared at the ground while Tae Yang looked at him directly. "Oh..

yeah. I guess..."

"Then, I'm real sorry but I'm kinda in a hurry could you turn on your wifi hotspot? I need it right now."

'Fuck, bastard. Don't lie.'

He now looked at Tae Yang, sweating. "Sorry... I don't have much left data left..

Tae Yang got even closer to his face. "Then just give me your phone you fucker. Are you stupid?"

'You only want to embarrass me in front of these kids.' He had his phone in his hands. 'Should I give it to him..? What about Random Chat?' Tae Yang, still having his arm on Joon-Woo finally distanced himself a bit. "Ah... Guys I'm sorry haha! For interrupting your conversation haha! We've been friends since middle school."

'If I give him the phone wouldn't they think I'm a loser? Would they even talk to me still? Would they?' Being in a sticky situation he questioned everything, his heart was racing. "Haha, you're doing well in high school, abandoning your friends." Tae Yang continued talking.

'Should I just play along? Make it look like we really are friends...?'

Ha Min watched them closely while resting her head on the desk, wanting to lay low. The others were either on their phone or watched it happen. Joon-Woo was falling into despair. 'No way you idiot. There is no way. They already know. That Tae Yang is a dirty bastard.' His expression turned into something empty. 'But they will probably see me as a pushover. If I just let him get what he wants.'

'No one will be friends with a loser like me.'

He thought about Ha Min and Seung Ah. 'I suppose this can be a good opportunity... They would avoid me starting tomorrow.'

'No.' He pushed away the hand holding onto his shoulder. 'Not this time.' For the first time, he stood up for himself. "Since when were we friends?" He looked at Tae Yang, having built up the courage. "Get lost! I'm not giving you my phone." Joon-Woo stared into Tae Yang's soul. This time, he wasn't afraid.

'Don't get in my way.'

~Chapter 6 end.

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