Chapter 34- I’m Staging A Mutiny
Jin-woo shook his head and stood up straight. It looked like he was prepared to fight anyone who tried to get past him.
"That\'s it, move out of the way."
One boy among the crowd who was a bit taller for his age shoved his classmates to get to the front. Micah who was closest to the youth wasn\'t able to grab him in time before he rushed at Jin-woo.
In only a few speedy steps the boy\'s menacing face was in front of Jin-woo. He lunged forward and wrapped his hands around Jin-woo\'s waist.
The boy went for a typical tackle to force Jin-woo to the ground using his strength as an advantage. However, after Jin-woo stumbled back from the boy\'s charging force, he fixed one foot behind him and bent his knees.
The boy forcefully tried to lift Jin-woo and slam him to the ground, but Jin-woo seemed as if he was rooted to the ground.
The boy was somewhat astonished that he was so weak he couldn\'t even lift Jin-woo who was smaller than him, no matter how hard he tried. Then before he could react, Jin-woo\'s arms, which were by his side in the boy\'s hold, suddenly flexed.
The boy\'s tight grip was instantly broken, and the situation reversed as Jin-woo gripped the boy\'s shoulders like an iron clamp. At this time four more boys stepped forward from the crowd.
"No, stop!"
Yoon-min yelled and he along with Micah stopped two of them, but the other two boys rushed toward Jin-woo.
Jin-woo twisted his body and flung the boy in his hold to one of the charging youths blocking his advance, before stepping forward to kick the other boy\'s leg. The boy felt an acute pain surge through his shin, and he let out a grunt as his leg gave out underneath him. Then, in his vision, he saw Jin-woo\'s knee growing larger and larger.
Jin-woo actions were almost instinctual but before he could bash the boy\'s face with his knee, he managed to stop it just inches away from his face.
The boy, having thought his face was about to be flattened, fell back onto his butt and looked up at Jin-woo with fearful eyes.
This series of actions only took place in a span of a few seconds, and everyone seeing Jin-woo easily fending off three boys in that period felt like they had just witnessed a scene straight out of an action movie.
"Damn."
Yoon-min exclaimed while looking at Jin-woo lowering his knee. He then recalled his actions of trying to confront Seo-joon for Jin-woo\'s sake, and he realized Jin-woo definitely didn\'t need help fighting his battles.
Yoon-min let out a laugh then gave Jin-woo a thumbs up and said.
"As expected of Mr. Multitalented."
The students hearing this finally recalled Jin-woo\'s reputation and that he was hailed as a prodigy in boxing and Taekwondo. A few of them who were thinking of charging at Jin-woo completely changed their minds.
The three boys who initially attacked Jin-woo retreated into the crowd. Having successfully intimidated his classmates, Jin-woo said calmly.
"As the Class VP, I order that no one leaves."
The students now also recalled that Jin-woo was their Class VP, and he indeed had some authority to command them when a teacher wasn\'t present.
That was like a nail in the coffin and some of the students reluctantly agreed to his request. But some were discontent, and questions as well as opposing comments began flying.
"Why do we have to stay here?"
"Yeah, and how long do you expect us to stay here?"
"Just let us out!"
"That\'s right, you can\'t keep us in here!"
These students shouted over each other as if it were a riot. Micah and Yoon-min looked around realizing the situation wasn\'t going well.
Jin-woo, however, was calm. He glanced back at the students surrounding the body beneath the window, and sure enough the sense of danger was still there, although it was faint. But, like a timer, Jin-woo could sense that it was coming. He never had this feeling, of the sense of danger being a timer before; it was always vague and unclear when he was younger.
But how was Jin-woo supposed to explain this feeling to everyone? Hey guys, I can sense that all of you are going to die if you leave, but you have to trust me and it\'s definitely not because of my schizophrenia?
Looking back at the noisy students, Jin-woo thought for a moment then spoke up over the noise.
"A student is dead, but even until now no teachers or adults are coming to check. As the Class VP I\'m partially responsible for your safety, so until a teacher appears on the scene and makes sure everything is safe, we need to all stay here."
Most of the opposition from the crowd quieted down as what Jin-woo said did make sense. Even as the minutes ticked by no teacher or even other students were coming out of the school to check on the student that fell out of the building. Something must have happened inside the school.
However, an opposing voice came from within the crowd once again.
"You\'re just the Class VP so you can\'t make arbitrary decisions without consulting me first."
Everyone\'s gaze turned to see that the speaker was Ye-jun. Some students\' eyes lit up as perhaps Ye-jun could make Jin-woo back down.
Ye-jun stepped forward under the gazes of everyone, and Mai-sun who was next to him took this opportunity to approach the front of the crowd as well.
Stopping in front of Jin-woo, Ye-jun fixed his glasses on his nose before looking at Jin-woo impassively and saying a single word.
"Move."
Jin-woo stared at Ye-jun silently before saying.
"I\'m staging a mutiny and removing you from duty. I\'m the Class President now."
"...."
"What?"
Ye-jun said after a beat of silence, momentarily taken aback by Jin-woo\'s absurd proclamation. But his face suddenly twitched and he said.
"You think you\'re a pirate or something?"
"Jin, you said we would all die if we left. Did you really take your medication today?"
Mai-sun brought up what Jin-woo first said as she looked at him with a questioning expression.
"Yeah, he did say that."
"Wait, so could he be having a manic episode or something? I heard that people with schizophrenia have delusional thoughts."
Whispers of doubt soon came from the crowd of students.
Jin-woo glanced at Mai-sun and Ye-jun before he went silent. He wasn\'t sure what else to say to delay things, though after delaying for so long, that timer was about to reach zero. As for what was about to happen when it did, Jin-woo didn\'t know.
Ye-jun snorted when he saw Jin-woo remaining silent.
"Someone go and move him so we can leave."
As soon as Ye-jun said that three boys stepped forward. They were his friends and teammates from the volleyball tournament.
"You guys heard the Class President\'s orders."
The boy at the front said as he smirked at Jin-woo.
Three more boys responded to the call and stepped forward.
"Wait, shouldn\'t we at least hear him out first?"
Yoon-min said as he put out his hand to stop one of the boys.
Yoon-min didn\'t know if Jin-woo was really having an episode or not, but after interacting with him he truly couldn\'t see him acting like this without a reason, and Yoon-min would rather have Jin-woo explain that reason than not hearing him out.
Micah felt the same way as he also stood out.
"Ignore them."
The boys hesitated at first when they saw Micah step out, but upon hearing Ye-jun\'s command they continued forward.
Four boys out of the six bypassed Micah and Yoon-min and rushed at Jin-woo.