Chapter 487: Juyoung Hong (14)
I smiled despite myself at that moment because when I looked back, it was so funny that I had to pay attention to trifling things like that in the past.
I didn’t realize it at that time, but looking back, I felt like my self-esteem was too low.
I built something like a protective shield around myself, so my pride would not get hurt.
Nonetheless, my pride was still hurt at the end of the day.
At that moment, the driver called me again, “Don’t you remember, Juyoung?”
“What?”
“You used to walk with your head down in the past, but these days you are walking with your head up all the time. I’ve been serving you for several years, but this is the first time that I’ve seen you looking so handsome!”
“Really?”
“Yep, and you have grown taller during the summer vacation. Not only your shoulders but also your body shape has grown bigger and majestic. I’ve got a secret to share with you. The butler had a surprised look on his face when he saw you walking in the living room yesterday, so I asked him why, and he said he might have called you the late chairman because you looked exactly like a chip off the old block!”
“Hehehe! I see.”
I returned his compliments with a smile. In the meantime, the car drove smoothly into the school gate. Then I opened the car door and exited the car into the parking lot.
“Well, I’ll pick you up when your class is over.”
“Sure.”
I looked around a bit as I replied. Of course, there were a lot of students who got out of expensive foreign cars like me. In fact, it seemed more natural that I got off like this because my high school was different from ordinary high schools.
Back then, however, I didn’t realize this because I was so narrow-minded that I was preoccupied with slipping under other people’s notice.
Anyway, I passed by them and walked naturally through the campus.
I knew which classroom I should head to because I received a letter from the school before about my classroom assignment.
At that moment, I heard fellow students talking to each other.
“He must be Juyoung Hong, right?”
“Oh, that’s right.”
“What’s up with him? He always got out of the car far from the school, then walked all the way up here, right?’
“You bet. Is he sick and tired of doing it?’
“No, I don’t think so. He was very weak-minded from the beginning. That’s why he’s being treated as an outcast even though he is a son of the Myongjin Group chairman!”
“Hey! Be quiet! He might overhear us. Speak low. Remember he is from Myongjin!”
“Got it!”
Their whispers might have been indistinguishable to my ears in the past, but I could hear it very clearly as if they were chatting right next to me. So I smiled bitterly.
It was the first time that I realized that they took my tenacious efforts to get unnoticed as something like a conscious pretence to draw their attention.
Of course, I didn’t want to argue by shouting that I didn’t want to pretend at all, so I passed by them and moved to the new classroom I was assigned for the second half of my school year.
Then I turned my eyes to the desk right beside the window in the front.
Obviously, sitting next to the window had a great merit, but there were few students who wanted to sit there because it’s right in front of the blackboard and the teacher.
But I always sat there because I was still interested in studying hard then.
This time, however, was different. My desk was still next to the window, but this time I chose one at the far rear, which was the most popular spot, and duly occupied by somebody else.
When I moved there, the guy who normally occupied it, whose face I could not remember well, looked at me.
So I asked, “I want to sit here. Can you give way?”
“…”
The guy frowned at me, with a startled expression.
Perhaps he might have had lots of thoughts in his mind because I was the son of a top businessman, the chairman of Myongjin Group, even though I was no oil painting.
About 30 seconds passed, but he didn’t reply.
Then he got up, carrying his backpack. In other words, he gave way.
But the fact that he didn’t say a single word to me showed his resistance as if he was giving way to Myongjin, not the guy named Juyoung Hong.
Still, I had no complaints because I managed to sit at the desk I wanted.
Other students watched me all along, but I didn’t care because I would draw their attention a lot more in the future.
Anyway, that’s how my second semester began.
Since it was the beginning of the second semester, the teachers spent more time explaining the method and direction of their future classes rather than starting classes right away.
At lunch time.
None of my classmates talked to me throughout the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th periods.
Of course, I didn’t feel lonely because it was me who isolated myself until now.
So, even after arriving at the fancy cafeteria, I was alone. But I didn’t care. I picked some delicious foods from the cafeteria buffet, then moved to an empty seat.
When I was about to eat, somebody sat in front of me.
Of course, I knew immediately that someone was coming towards me, but I didn’t expect he would sit in front of me.
“Hey, you must feel lonely if you eat alone like this from the first day of your second semester!”
“You must be Cholmin Kim from Daesung?”
“…”
There were five top business groups in Korea. The leader of the pack was Mirae, followed by Myongjin, Daesung and Kusan, with Daeyu trailing far behind them.
Excluding the Mirae, the middle three Myongjin, Daesung, and Kusan were almost equal. But it was rather awkward to call themselves the top four, so they decided to include Daeyu and call themselves the top five business groups.
Cholmin Kim was the son of the Daesung Group chairman.
He was my friend as well as my rival, but he normally didn’t treat me as his friend, not to mention his rival.
He replied to my question, “Dude, it looks like you’ve become bolder because you’ve grown taller and gained weight during the summer vacation.”
Even though I was rumored to be the shame and ‘fly in the ointment’ of the Myongjin Group, nobody had openly insulted or picked a fight with me because I was still well protected by my family. In other words, my position was never shaken despite the bad rumors about me.
As the son of the Daesung Group chairman, Cholmin could spit out such derogatory words to me because Daesung was as large as Myongjin.
“Hehehe!”
At that moment, I laughed despite myself.
It’s true that I was insulted more heavily by the rebels in Sierra Leone and those dispatched by Debius, but they were total strangers to me. But I’ve known this guy in front of me for a long time.
“Why are you laughing at me all of a sudden?” Cholmin asked angrily.
As someone who always thought I was inferior to him, Kim seemed to be quite angry that I was acting differently than before. But I thought even his reaction was so funny.
So I responded casually, “Well, there is only one reason why I laughed. Because it’s so funny. It’s been a long time since I heard it from you, who I know well.”
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