Chapter 4

4. You're a genius.

The small boy, who almost had his precious camera stolen by hooligans, stood there, still in shock.

The boy was still confused about what he had seen.

'What the hell is Woo Jin-hyuk?'

They were in the same class, but they had never exchanged a single word during the entire semester.

No one in the class, not just himself, had ever properly talked to that guy, except for Do Min-woo, who always hung around with him.

The guy always sat by the window, looking at the distant mountains with a powerless and gloomy expression.

But that guy had knocked down the hooligans in an instant, as if he were a different person.

'He wasn't even wearing glasses.'

The guy who always wore thick glasses.

He almost didn't recognize him. If it weren't for the boy's keen eye for video, which made him carry a camera, he might not have recognized him.

He had seen Woo Jin-hyuk without his glasses in the classroom once.

It was just a moment, but the boy had clearly remembered Woo Jin-hyuk's bare face.

The Woo Jin-hyuk behind the glasses... was quite handsome, which left a strong impression.

However.

The change was not just the glasses. Woo Jin-hyuk, who had been as thin as a refugee, now had a well-defined, lean appearance.

'I should go and thank him... '

The boy hesitated for a long time. If it weren't for the expensive camera he had just bought, he wouldn't have run away like that.

He wasn't a coward who would abandon a friend who had stood up for him and run away.

But now that he had already run away, it felt even more embarrassing to go back.

'Ah, he probably recognized me anyway.'

The boy mustered his courage and stood up, slowly approaching Woo Jin-hyuk, who was stretching.

"Um, hey..."

Woo Jin-hyuk stopped his movements and looked at the boy.

'Sure enough... he's definitely different.'

It's definitely Woo Jin-hyuk, but the feeling is completely different. And.

'He's really handsome.'

He was definitely handsome to the point of being surprising. It was different from the brief moment when he saw Jin-hyuk without his glasses in the classroom.

Back then, he looked quite handsome, but also gaunt and pale, almost like a sick person.

But now...

His face, without the glasses, revealed deep eyes and a handsome appearance.

His cheeks, which looked appropriately plump, flowed into a sharp jawline.

This... could easily pass for an idol's appearance.

The boy was momentarily stunned. But he quickly shook off the thoughts clouding his mind and spoke.

"T-thanks... I'm not usually so rude and run away like that..."

Woo Jin-hyuk, who had been staring at the boy, finally seemed to understand what he was saying.

"Oh, it's fine. I didn't do it to hear a thank you."

Woo Jin-hyuk said it nonchalantly and then hung upside down from the bar.

'What? Could he not recognize me?'

The boy's pride was slightly hurt. Even if he wasn't very noticeable, they had been in the same class for a semester...

But he calmed himself by recalling Woo Jin-hyuk's usual personality.

'Yeah. He might not even know who the class president is.'

A guy who didn't get along with anyone except Do Min-woo.

He was as cold as ice and never responded to friendly greetings.

'He was a difficult person to get along with...'

The boy, who was about to frown, remembered that 'difficult to get along with' had saved him.

'Ah... he looked difficult to get along with, but... he was a good guy.'

The boy didn't want to be an ungrateful person who looked down on his savior.

"Anyway, thanks."

Woo Jin-hyuk didn't respond and continued to focus on his exercise.

'Sure, he's difficult to get along with... no, he's a savior. A savior.'

The boy looked at his precious camera, which Woo Jin-hyuk had saved, and calmed his heart.

Since Jin-hyuk didn't seem to care, there was no reason for the boy to stay. As he turned to leave, he stopped.

"Ah, Woo Jin-hyuk. I'm Lee Young-joon."

The boy introduced himself. Whether Woo Jin-hyuk heard him or not wasn't really important. He just felt he should.

Then he turned and walked out of the playground.

'Lee Young-joon?'

Woo Jin-hyuk, hanging upside down from the bar, repeated the name as he watched Lee Young-joon's back disappear.

At first, he thought the boy was a child because of his small stature. But since he knew his name and spoke informally...

'Is he a classmate?'

Woo Jin-hyuk tilted his head and then swung his body back and forth.

His body, which had gained elasticity, lightly landed on the ground.

***

Knock knock.

"Come in."

Woo Jin-hyuk's mother peeked in through the door, carefully entering and placing a fruit plate on his desk.

"Jin-hyuk, are you not overworking yourself? If you can't remember, you don't have to force it. Take it slowly."

Her face showed both pride and concern.

The sudden accident. After that, her son seemed to have become a different person.

Even during the summer break, he woke up early, made his bed, went out for a light workout, and came back just in time for breakfast.

It was a time when he usually wouldn't even get out of bed. When he went to school, he barely woke up and often left the house without eating.

But now, how much he ate for breakfast.

Not only that, but after eating, he insisted on doing the dishes. She thought it would last a few days at most.

Surprisingly, he had been doing the dishes every day for almost a month.

When she and her husband went to work, he spent the whole day either exercising or studying.

Even on weekends and holidays, he continued to study and exercise regularly.

Studying and exercising. He used to avoid both. His grades were always in the lower ranks.

Jin-hyuk's mother had long given up on expecting anything from his studies, especially after the accident.

All she wanted was for him to be healthy and for his memory to return.

But... recently, her son Jin-hyuk seemed almost like a soldier.

As a mother who hadn't been in the military, she couldn't really know, but it felt that way.

His sudden change was both admirable and worrying.

"Okay, I'll study at a leisurely pace. Don't worry."

His tone was also unusual. Jin-hyuk was originally a child who rarely responded to his mother.

He didn't rebel, but he didn't react much either.

'Teenagers can suddenly change...'

Jin-hyuk's mother, who was somewhat surprised that it wasn't in a bad direction, tried to calm herself.

Jin-hyuk, who had been watching his mother leave the room carefully, turned back to his book.

***

One month ago.

When Jin-hyuk decided to live doing what he wanted, the first thing he wanted to do was study.

In his previous life, Jin-hyuk was a good student. No, "good" might be an understatement. He consistently ranked first in the school without ever attending a cram school until the end of middle school.

The orphanage director, who resented Jin-hyuk, made his life even harder.

"This brat, silkworms eat mulberry leaves. Go to a specialized high school and learn a skill! How much can you achieve by studying and not listening to me!"

It was because of the director's daughter, who always ranked second in the school due to Jin-hyuk.

But despite all the oppression, Jin-hyuk, who stubbornly studied, suffered countless beatings and eventually exploded, ending his academic career.

But the end of his connection with school did not mean the end of his studies.

"After the successful test of..."

Woo Jin-hyuk began to read the English passage fluently.

It was natural for Jin-hyuk to be proficient in English. In the mercenary unit, basic communication was always in English, and there were many members from English-speaking countries.

After 17 years in such a multinational mercenary unit, it was almost a miracle that he hadn't forgotten Korean.

Especially James, the explosives expert who worked with Jin-hyuk for 15 years, was from MIT's engineering department, though he didn't graduate.

James had joined the mercenary unit while fleeing from the police after being involved in a drug case.

It was unknown whether he had actually committed a crime. Judging by his character, it seemed he might have been falsely accused.

James was also an orphan, but unlike Jin-hyuk, he had a younger brother.

Despite being a senior, James treated Jin-hyuk like a younger brother, taking care of him from the moment he was deployed.

For years, James taught Jin-hyuk, and as a result, Jin-hyuk became proficient in English, able to read university-level textbooks without much difficulty.

'Hey, Jin. I wish I had a brother like you.'

'Do you miss him?'

'I do.'

'Will you see him someday?'

James just smiled. Later, Jin-hyuk learned that James's brother had already died.

Around that time, he also realized that the seniors who remained in the mercenary unit had nowhere to go, just like himself.

Perhaps for that reason, James showed Jin-hyuk a lot of affection.

'Jin, you must... get out of here. You're not a fugitive like me.'

James hoped that Jin-hyuk would leave the mercenary unit and return to a normal life. He taught Jin-hyuk with that in mind.

However, there was something Jin-hyuk never told him. The fact that he was also a fugitive in his home country.

It wasn't that he was trying to deceive him. It was something he might have easily told someone else.

But Jin-hyuk didn't want to disappoint James, who treated him like a younger brother.

Anyway. The subjects James taught, if translated to Korea, would be English, Math, and Science.

Of course, the science included unfamiliar topics like bomb making and disassembly.

Because Jin-hyuk enjoyed learning and wanted to meet James's expectations, he studied very hard.

'Wow, Jin! You're a genius.'

James was amazed the first time he saw Jin-hyuk solve a math problem. Jin-hyuk was clearly solving problems from a Korean middle school curriculum, but according to James, even American high school students couldn't solve them.

Woo Jin-hyuk opened his math book, recalling his memories with James.

'Sets and propositions, number systems...'

The early parts were easy to understand once the concepts were grasped.

'If I can master factorization and equations by the end of the first semester, that should be enough.'

After solving English and Math, the only subject left was Korean. It was a matter of memorizing for other subjects.

Memorizing was Jin-hyuk's specialty.

Korean, after all.

Even though he had been away from Korea for 17 years, he was still Korean.

Woo Jin-hyuk opened a Korean reference book with a bit of ease.

'...'

Korean was a bit of a problem, Jin-hyuk thought.

***

The study he started a month ago.

Now, the high school he had so desperately wanted to attend in his past life was just around the corner.