Chapter 5: There are times when it is stronger to avoid completely.

‘What did this brat just say?’

“Do you want to get disciplined?”

‘Oh, great. What a load of crap. Has it come to this, a mere elementary schooler acting superior over a one-year age difference?’

The two brats behind him were also looking over and snickering.

From the looks of it, they seemed to do this kind of thing often.

Due to my preference for eating slowly rather than quickly, a habit from my previous life, I must not have encountered this guy before.

“Even the teacher told us not to cut in line!”

Seonjae retorted to the brat at the very back with an indignant expression.

But, as expected, Seonjae’s action was of no use whatsoever.

“What? But there’s no teacher around here, is there? Tell on us? Do you have proof that we cut in line?”

At the words of the brat, who spoke with a mocking smirk, Seonjae’s face began to redden.

“But we saw it!”

“What? How can we believe what you saw? We saw ourselves standing here from the beginning, so what are you going to do about it?”

The children in front of those brats were just watching, as if they didn’t want to get involved.

What could one expect from elementary schoolers in the lower grades, anyway?

Since the upper graders, who these kids wouldn’t dare mess with, could only come to the cafeteria after the lower graders had finished eating, there was no hope for other help.

“More importantly, aren’t these kids rude? First graders talking back and using informal speech to second graders.”

One of the brats, who had been laughing and watching from behind, suddenly said that.

‘Birds of a feather flock together; this guy also has a really bad upbringing.’

It seemed those guys perceived this as some kind of fun game.

I actually don’t like my parents.

Although there was still some time left, once I became a middle schooler, my parents would focus solely on raising me as a worthy successor, just like in my previous life.

However, among my parents’ words, there were a few that I truly believed were right.

Do not live being taken advantage of.

That was one of them.

In my previous life, it was a phrase I hadn’t paid much attention to.

Instead, out of resentment towards my parents, I even scoffed at it.

But after experiencing hardship by being taken advantage of, I realized that those words were true.

And I intended to uphold those words until the very end in this life, even if it meant dealing with brats.

“Hey.”

“Hey?”

As I, who had been quietly standing at the very back, suddenly stepped forward, the brats’ gazes also focused on me.

‘No matter how much they glare, they’re still just brats.’

“Did you just say ‘hey’?”

“Then what should I say? Oh, my little puppy?”

At my words, the second graders’ faces began to turn red in contrast.

‘Ugh, I wonder if they’re going to explode like that.’

“What did you just say? Puppy?”

“Then you guys are puppies, what, are you people? Then act like people.”

I wondered if it was okay to say such things to elementary schoolers who were now in second grade, but well, I was a first grader now.

‘Mental age? No one knows anyway, so what does it matter?’

“You, you…!”

The brat who had been tormenting Seonjae while standing at the very back couldn’t even speak properly, stammering and just glaring.

‘There’s no way a second grader would have the vocabulary to retort to this.’

“You, do you really want to get disciplined?”

The guy finally couldn’t hold back and raised his fist.

To raise a fist after just two words, while kids are said to lack patience, these brats seemed to lack it even more.

“What? You’re going to hit me? Go on, try it.”

I subtly shifted my body.

Blocking or dodging a child’s fist was simple, and if push came to shove, I could counterattack, but with my current body, it was obvious that counterattacking wouldn’t even hurt them.

“What, this!”

The brat at the very back, finally unable to tolerate it, swung his fist at me.

“Soan!”

A shriek was heard from behind.

Well, even if it was a child’s fist, it was obvious that with this body, which lacked resilience, it would hurt a lot if I got hit.

As the fist came somewhat close, I subtly leaned my body backward.

My body, losing its balance, began to fall backward little by little, and the fist reaching out from the front lost quite a bit of momentum trying to catch up with me, who was suddenly falling backward.

As I plopped down on my bottom, the three people watching from behind rushed towards me.

“That’s what happens when you act rude!”

As I fell, the brats became even more emboldened.

Only the kid who hit me looked at his hand as if something was strange, appearing flustered.

It made sense, as it wouldn’t have felt like a proper hit.

“Seriously, you guys!”

The gentle Hyojeong and Minjeong were checking my body and helping me up, while Seonjae blocked our front.

Well, there wasn’t really a need for that now.

“What’s going on…!”

The teacher who was inside the cafeteria rushed out frantically.

There was no way lower-grade children would be eating without supervision.

The homeroom teacher probably didn’t check outside thoroughly, so those brats must have known that and acted out.

But if it was a case of an upper grader hitting a lower grader, then it was a different story.

“They hit Soan!”

Seonjae, perhaps thinking this was her chance, immediately told the teacher.

Then, the brats panicked and stood still, but then started spouting nonsense, like I had fallen, or they had been standing still and I suddenly did that.

However, the teacher wasn’t listening to their words.

Before that, upon seeing my name and face, she seemed flustered, and then her expression quickly turned serious.

As I later learned in my previous life, my name and face seemed to be quite well-known among the teachers.

It was natural, considering I was the child of the owner family of the most influential group in the country, and my father, an alumnus of this elementary school, made significant donations every year.

And sure enough, it seemed to be the same this time.

“Did anyone else see what happened?”

The teacher didn’t even listen to the brats’ protests and asked the surrounding children.

However, there was no way other children would step forward.

I got up with the help of the two.

My body was so weak that even though I hadn’t been hit properly and had only fallen on my bottom, my entire body was numb.

“There’s a camera over there.”

I pointed to the CCTV installed near the cafeteria entrance.

My movement was intended to be captured better by that camera.

From the start, there was no way teachers would unilaterally believe one side of the parties involved.

Even if I was a student they needed to pay attention to, a teacher had duties to perform, so they couldn’t just take my side.

In that case, I just needed to leave behind physical evidence.

Since CCTV doesn’t record audio, even if those guys claimed I swore, if the other kids kept their mouths shut as before, and we vehemently denied it, it would be hard to find fault.

“I see. The teacher will check later.”

I subtly observed the brats’ expressions, and their faces were quite something to behold.

I didn’t know if they hadn’t known there was a camera there, or if they had forgotten in their excitement, but it was quite satisfying.

‘If that camera wasn’t there, I’d stick out my tongue and tease them even more.’

Ultimately, those brats were dragged away by the teacher.

They looked over in our direction as they were being dragged, but I ignored them.

If their parents were contacted, they wouldn’t dare come near me again anyway.

If even one visible injury had appeared on my body, there was no way my parents would have stayed still, so they should actually be grateful that I only plopped on my bottom.

“Are you okay?”

Seonjae, who had been protecting me, turned around and asked, checking my body all over.

My bottom still felt numb, but there was no major pain.

“Well, that’s a relief, but why did you do that?”

To put it precisely, it was because me stepping forward would end things much more cleanly, and I also hated just being taken advantage of, but I couldn’t tell the children that directly.

“Because I was angry, of course.”

At my words, Seonjae nodded vigorously.

“That’s true. Cutting in front of us, and hitting Soan, too.”

“Still, don’t do that again.”

Hyojeong interjected into the conversation.

Even if she was scared of me, she genuinely seemed worried in this situation.

While I had no real intention of becoming friends with Hyojeong, being worried about wasn’t a bad feeling.

“Still, I didn’t expect small Soan to step forward like that.”

At Minjeong’s words, Seonjae nodded again.

“I thought she was a bit strange, but honestly, I’ve seen her in a new light.”

‘Strange child?’

“She talked to us, but then she didn’t say anything from behind, and instead, she was looking at us with strange eyes. And Hyojeong said something too.”

“W-wait, what are you talking about!”

Hyojeong stretched out her arm as if to cover Seonjae’s mouth, but the table they were sitting at was wider, so her hand couldn’t reach.

“What, what did she say?”

Curious about what was said, I asked in return, and Seonjae glanced at Hyojeong.

Following her gaze, I saw Hyojeong shaking her head rapidly from side to side.

“It wasn’t anything bad.”

Seonjae shrugged and left it at that.

‘Considering what happened before, no matter how I think about it, it probably was something bad. But digging into it now wouldn’t be beneficial, so should I just let it go?’

“More importantly, don’t step forward next time. You look so weak.”

“My body isn’t that weak, though.”

Minjeong looked at my body worriedly once more.

It was true that this body wasn’t very strong, but it shouldn’t be that weak.

‘Seeing how I’m perfectly fine after two face-plants on the floor, it might unexpectedly be a sturdy body.’

“Still, you have to step up in situations where you need to. You shouldn’t live being taken advantage of.”

After saying it, I had an ‘oops’ moment.

‘Was that too early a thing to say to children? But I couldn’t take back what I’d already said.’

“I think that’s right.”

Seonjae seemed to like these words.

Come to think of it, Seonjae was the one who had stepped forward first earlier, not me.

“Seonjae, you should be a bit quieter. If it hadn’t been for Soan just now, you would have been hit.”

At Minjeong’s words, Seonjae’s expression immediately became downcast.

‘Unexpectedly, Minjeong might be the one with the initiative between those two.’

As I was watching that scene, I felt a gaze from beside me.

When I slightly turned my head, Hyojeong was staring intently in my direction.

Although she quickly lowered her gaze to her lunch tray when I turned my head, it seemed she had been watching me the whole time.

I considered asking what was wrong but decided against it.

It didn’t matter what Hyojeong was thinking anyway.

‘While I have every intention of giving her a slight boost, I have no intention of truly becoming her friend.’

I will not live being taken advantage of.

Hyojeong was clearly included in the target of this statement.