Chapter 12: To School (5)

Chapter 12: To School (5)

The next day...

Kang Jin-Ho emitted an overwhelming aura as he walked up to Jeong In-Gyu.

“W-what the heck?!” The latter flinched at the intimidating aura and stumbled back. What on earth had gotten into this guy all of a sudden?!

Kang Jin-Ho wordlessly glared at Jeong In-Gyu before finally saying something. “Are you going to the PC Room today, too?”

"No, I gotta go to cram school," Jeong In-Gyu replied without a moment's hesitation. That swift counterattack left Kang Jin-Ho speechless as he faltered on the spot. Jeong In-Gyu asked back, "What's the matter "

“It's just...”

“Wait, did you spend the whole night playing practice matches because you couldn't accept yesterday's loss? You can't be that narrow-minded, right?”

Kang Jin-Ho's figure froze like a statue.

Jeong In-Gyu dismissively chuckled. "There's no way. The master of games, Kang Jin-Ho, would never do that. Am I right "

“...”

“Hold on. You were serious yesterday? You... were not going easy on them?!”

Cold sweat began trickling down Kang Jin-Ho's forehead.

Jeong In-Gyu stuttered, “Y-you...”

“It's fine if you're not going!” Kang Jin-Ho quickly turned around to walk away.

“Really now, just what's going on with him...?” Jeong In-Gyu dazedly muttered to himself while staring at his friend's back. He slowly shook his head at how Kang Jin-Ho's anger could clearly be felt even from behind.

***

“But, I need to go to a PC Room!”

Kang Jin-Ho couldn't think of a way to vent his frustration. Even if he hadn't operated a mouse in decades, he had still figured that things would work out one way or another. But he had been quickly proven wrong. One needed to pour in a lot of effort to revive a forgotten skillset.

So, he had spent the whole night practicing like a mad man, but now... There was no way to show off all of his hard work? How could something so insignificant be capable of making him this unsettled

While he sat there, unable to calm his heart, Lee Tae-Ho called out his name. "Hey, Jin-Ho."

Tae-Ho was a part of the 'Four Musketeers’, together with Jeong In-Gyu, Oh Min-Jae and Kang Jin-Ho.

“Mm?” Kang Jin-Ho looked up.

Lee Tae-Ho sat on Kang Jin-Ho's desk before speaking what was on his mind, "We're thinking of going to karaoke, so, like... Why don't you come with us "

“Karaoke?”

“Yeah.”

The word, 'karaoke’ managed to trigger the reminiscence of a long-forgotten past in Kang Jin-Ho’s mind. Singing, was it

After suddenly finding himself in Zhongyuan, Kang Jin-Ho obviously didn't have a single thing from the modern era on him other than faint memories of a song he had heard a long time ago. Humming that song to himself whenever things got too difficult or lonely was his only retreat from the storm.

That was how it was during his early years in Zhongyuan, but as his status began rising higher in the later years of his life, he gradually forgot about that song. His memories of the modern world had mostly faded away by then, and he also didn't have the mental leeway to sit around longing for the modern way of living, either. Updated chapters at novelhall.comehow, though, the word 'karaoke' seemed to have triggered the longing he often felt back in Zhongyuan.

'Karaoke, is it '

Kang Jin-Ho suddenly wanted to sing again for the first time in ages. He nodded to express his participation. “Okay, I'll go.”

Lee Tae-Ho suddenly wrapped his arm around Kang Jin-Ho's shoulders, a sneaky grin forming on his lips. When the latter cocked an eyebrow with an expression that seemed to be asking what had gotten into him, Lee Tae-Ho quietly whispered the true reason for this invitation. “Se-Yeon will be joining us too, you see.”

“Se-Yeon?”

“Yup. That Se-Yeon.”

“I see.” Kang Jin-Ho nodded disinterestedly as he had nothing else to say. It didn't matter to him whether she came or not. He just wanted to sing, that was all.

The classes eventually ended, and kids going to karaoke began to gather. Kang Jin-Ho didn't particularly recognize anyone in the group besides Lee Tae-Ho. Han Se-Yeon was the obvious exception, though. He found it rather interesting that he instantly recognized her. Considering that he initially couldn't fully remember Jeong In-Gyu, that girl's face must have been branded quite deeply in Kang Jin-Ho's memories.

He must have been really smitten with Han Se-Yeon back then.

“You're also coming, Jin-Ho?” Han Se-Yeon asked, looking a little surprised.

'Cigarette, is it...'

Kang Jin-Ho’s eyes narrowed when he suddenly remembered that he used to smoke a bit back in his high school days, ostensibly for 'stress relief.’ Moreover, after the accident, smoking became even more important to him than having decent meals. After all, he didn't have much of an avenue to vent his stress thanks to being a paraplegic back then.

Although it wasn't good for one's health... It would be a lie to say that he wasn't interested. What was so great about this thing that he had to smoke it so religiously in the past

"Alright." Kang Jin-Ho accepted the cigarette and lit it up. And predictably... "Cough! Cough! Ahhh-choo! Bleeergh?!"

“Hey, man, what the... What's suddenly gotten into you?!”

“Bleeergh! Wuuuph!”

Lee Tae-Ho jumped back. "H-hey?!"

Kang Jin-Ho barely managed to collect himself in the end. His bloodshot eyes glared straight at Lee Tae-Ho next. “...You should quit smoking, Tae-Ho.”

“Have you gone crazy for real?”

"Urgh..." Kang Jin-Ho was about to discard the cigarette in pure disgust, but something made him take one last drag. A lingering feeling, perhaps? He must have gotten used to it because it didn't taste so bad the second time. However, it didn't take long for a dizzy spell to hit him. "Why do I feel light-headed "

“That's why we smoke this sh*t, right?”

“But, this isn't what I remember...”

“What do you mean?”

"Never mind." Kang Jin-Ho stubbed the cigarette and quickly stepped outside the bathroom when the choking smoke became unbearable. This experience failed to enlighten him on why his past self smoked this crap so much.

Lee Tae-Ho caught up to him and asked. “What's wrong? Acting like that was your first cigarette and all...”

"Nothing much. Just, you know." Kang Jin-Ho smiled wryly and stepped back inside the private booth. His schoolmates were in the middle of a sing-along. The mic was currently commandeered by Han Se-Yeon, her choice of tune being a high-energy track by a popular idol. Both boys and girls were dancing around the room, seemingly soaked in the atmosphere.

Kang Jin-Ho found this scene rather amusing to behold. All of them had come here to have fun, yet something about this whole thing seemed a little unnatural and stiff. Rather than these kids genuinely having fun... How should he describe it? They were pretending to have fun

'Are they trying to look good to her '

The 'her' in this case was Han Se-Yeon, of course. She was a bit of a celebrity in the school, so it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that many kids wanted to look good in front of her. Besides, this sort of thing happened all the time wherever humans lived anyway.

A similar thing had also happened back in the Demon Cult, involving an expert named Mellow Demon. Despite being a demonic art practitioner, he didn't know his place and held a deep fascination with art. He had hypnotized himself into believing that he was an excellent painter and would sometimes proudly exhibit his works to others, too.

Whenever that happened, the onlookers would trip over themselves to praise how wonderful his paintings were. As such, Mellow Demon's mistaken belief about his abilities as a painter was further solidified by their praises. That was until Kang Jin-Ho saw one of his paintings and brazenly commented, "My foot can draw better than you."

Today, something similar was unfolding in this karaoke lounge as well.

“Hey, you're better than an actual singer!”

“I heard you got scouted by an agency! They want you to become an idol, right?”

"You might be better than the Super Girls, Se-Yeon!"

Han Se-Yeon grinned softly as praises were heaped on her. "Don't be absurd, guys. You're making me blush!"

“We're being honest, though!”

Kang Jin-Ho couldn't help but smirk faintly. Even a professional singer evaluated as trash was better than an amateur. A pro idol was filtered from a huge pool of talented hopefuls via a stringent selection process, after all.

Sure, some pro idols weren't exactly up to snuff, but to say that Han Se-Yeon was better than them? Her abilities weren't good enough for that kind of evaluation.

“Jin-Ho, you wanna have a go?” Han Se-Yeon, perhaps wanting to change the subject, called out to Kang Jin-Ho.

He nodded. “Sure, why not.”

“Hurry up, will you? You haven't sung anything so far.”

"Alright. Mm..." Kang Jin-Ho opened the song list and browsed for that one song. Eventually, he found the song that he used to hum whenever his loneliness had gotten the better of him. "Can you start the... Homecoming for me "

"Let's see, what's the track number... " Lee Tae-Ho found the track number and got it started on the karaoke machine. The prelude commenced without any fanfare. Kang Jin-Ho sucked in a deep breath, then held the mic close.

He began singing the first verse, only for the crowd to erupt in laughter.

“What is he doing?”

Kang Jin-Ho was somewhat off-key, and his rhythm was also strange. However, for some reason...

They all forgot to laugh as the song continued.