Chapter 4 - Facing the Wimpy Thug

Chapter 4 - Confronting the Wimpy Thug

On a bright morning, Daffa went about his daily routine as usual.

Breakfast, shower, putting on his school uniform, and then walking to school.

But today something bothered him when he saw a group of thugs harassing an old man who was selling packed rice by the roadside.

At first, Daffa ignored the situation and continued on his way to school.

But suddenly he heard a sound of something falling right where the old man was selling the packed rice.

Bagh!

It turned out that the bicycle used by the old man for selling had fallen over after being kicked by one of the thugs bothering him.

Unable to ignore it, Daffa approached the old man to help him.

"Let me lift the bicycle for you," Daffa said as he lifted the old man's bicycle back into its original position.

The thugs watched what Daffa was doing and then demanded protection money from the old man.

"Where's this week's protection money? Do you want me to throw away all your merchandise?" one of the thugs in a denim jacket threatened.

Daffa simply smiled and asked the old man, "What do they want the protection money for, actually?"

Hearing the question made the thugs feel provoked.

"Hey kid, go to school. Don't meddle in our affairs!" the thug wearing sunglasses shouted loudly.

Daffa walked towards the three thugs while asking, "How much is the protection money for this old man?"

"This kid's quite brave," thought the thug in the denim jacket.

"Two hundred thousand per week," answered the bald-headed thug.

"Hmm... so let's consider one punch equal to a thousand then," said Daffa as he punched the chin of the bald-headed thug.

"Hey!" shouted the thug in the denim jacket.

Daffa evaded the punches thrown by the thug in the denim jacket and then kicked his leg with a calf kick.

Bagh!

He followed up with a kick aimed at the head.

Bagh! Bugh!

The thug in the denim jacket fell down with just two strikes. But the thug with sunglasses pulled out a knife from his pants pocket.

"You son of a b***h! How dare you play with us!" he yelled, swinging the knife towards Daffa.

Daffa skillfully dodged each swing of the knife directed at him. But instead of being afraid, he smiled and kicked the hand holding the knife.

The knife flew out of the thug's hand, landing quite far away. Daffa then stared at the thug with sunglasses with a piercing gaze and delivered a powerful punch to his nose.

Bugh!!!

The thug with sunglasses immediately covered his nose. Blood began to flow from his nose as he took a few steps back.

The three thugs felt an overwhelming aura coming from Daffa. They even took a few steps back as Daffa approached them.

"Be careful, just you wait!" the thug in the denim jacket shouted loudly, then ran away, leaving Daffa behind.

The system screen appeared and displayed a notification that the mission had been completed.

[ Mission ]

Taking down the thugs: Completed

Rewards: 600 system coins

Daffa closed his system screen and took out his phone.

"It's better to appear from the phone rather than having a floating screen that startles me at any moment," he muttered, then opened the system app and bought some stamina pills from the [ Shop ].

He picked up his bag, which he had placed near the old man, and headed towards school.

*****

Upon arriving at school, he saw Bayu the Otaku who had just arrived as well. Daffa called out to him.

"Bayu!" he shouted.

Bayu turned towards Daffa and quickened his pace towards the classroom.

"Hmm, why is that kid avoiding me?" Daffa mumbled in confusion.

As Daffa walked towards the classroom, he was stared at by the female students standing along the school corridor. Some even hugged Daffa.

Feeling uncomfortable, Daffa gently released himself from the hugs and went straight into the classroom.

In the classroom, he didn't see Bayu at his desk. His bag was also not there. Yet, Bayu had been the first to arrive in the classroom before Daffa.

"Maybe he went to the cafeteria or the restroom," Daffa thought as he took out his phone from his pocket.

"Hmm... what should we eat today?"

Daffa opened the [ Shop ] menu to browse the available food.

However, the food he was looking for wasn't there.

"I really wanted to eat nasi uduk. Why isn't anyone selling it?"

A few minutes later, Bayu entered the classroom with a bruised face.

Daffa was still focused on looking for the food he wanted to eat later, to the point that he didn't realize Bayu was already beside him.

"Let's just have grilled rice today," Daffa said, placing his phone in the desk drawer.

"Hey, what happened to your face?" Daffa asked when he turned to look at Bayu.

Bayu remained silent and handed a piece of paper to Daffa.

Daffa took it and unfolded the paper. It said, "Don't act so arrogant on the first day of school!"

Daffa's face turned serious, and he crumpled the paper before throwing it out through the window.

"What a nonsense. Who disturbed you?" Daffa asked while placing his hand on Bayu's shoulder.

"Just imagine if you hadn't interfered yesterday. I wouldn't be in a worse state than before," Bayu whispered.

Daffa raised his eyebrows in confusion.

"So, because of that, you didn't want to talk to me." Daffa just smiled and withdrew his hand from Bayu's shoulder.

"And yet, I offered you protection. If anyone bothers you, just let me know," Daffa said with a cold tone, but it sounded gentle.

"The three empty seats actually had students before you came. They were the ones leading this class. But everything changed when the person who rules the school returned." Bayu began to recount the events before Daffa became a new student.

"Yawn... is this a story for elementary school kids?" Daffa asked, yawning.

"Are you making fun of me?" Bayu felt offended.

"No, not at all," Daffa shook his head.

"Huh! I hope you're not someone who's only brave at the beginning," Bayu said, sounding annoyed.

Daffa just stared at Bayu with a cold gaze, then looked up.

"By the way, did you see this?" Daffa asked, pointing to the floating system screen.

Bayu looked towards the ceiling but didn't see anything except the rotating fan.

"See what?" Bayu asked.

Daffa thought for a few seconds before answering.

"Wind. Did you see the wind?"

"You're so weird," Bayu commented and went back to reading his manga on his phone.

Shortly after, they heard loud footsteps. The sound of the footsteps was not like the footsteps of students entering the classroom. Instead, they were hurried footsteps as if chasing or capturing something.

Then Yoga, with a band-aid on his face, appeared and walked towards Daffa.

"Don't start trouble early in the morning! Do you want me to turn your face into a potato fritter?" Daffa teased with a serious face.

"You son of a...! Do you want to die, huh?" Yoga threatened, staring sharply.

Then ten delinquent students entered the classroom, giving Daffa a scornful look.

Daffa let out a sigh and got up from his seat.

*******