After sitting through a meeting between the various older women in his life, Alex was forced to accept that he now had to begin tutoring so that he may improve his grades. And considering the fact that he could not train for his next fight, due to his current injury. The man had no choice but to do so. Thus, he found himself in the library immediately after his classes end, where Min-Ji was waiting for him with her face in a book.
The moment she saw the handsome playboy enter the room, her jaw dropped in shock. After all, she never actually expected him to show up for her tutoring session. And the moment he sat down in front of her with a rather bored expression on his face, she could not help but tense up.
“Alright, I’m here, so what exactly are we doing?”
Min-Ji did not immediately respond to this remark. Instead, she reached towards the first book, which was actually high school level mathematics, because after looking at the man’s grade, she realized he needed a refresher. However, when she reached for the book, her hands began to shake, which is something that Alex immediately took notice of.
Evidently, he was causing this young woman some form of distress just by sitting across from her. But he did not immediately try to rectify this attitude of hers, and instead listened to her lecture on mathematics that he should have perfected years ago.
Oddly enough, no more than thirty minutes went by before Alex had mastered the material and scored perfectly on the quizzes that Min-Ji had given him. She was so shocked by this that she couldn’t help but believe the man was pretending to be stupid. And thus she was quick to ask about this, with a timid tone in her voice.
“Are… Are you just pretending to be an idiot? Was your whole plan to get me to tutor you this entire time?”
Alex looked at Min-Ji with a strange expression on his face, before he broke out into laughter. This, of course, caused the girl to pout until the man spoke up again.
“Sweetheart, you’re being paranoid. I didn’t plan to have bad grades, I’m just not very good at math… Luckily I have now found myself a proper teacher…”
This, of course, did not cause Min-Ji to feel any better, and thus when she reached over to the next book, to begin a lesson on the next level of mathematics, her hands were still shaking. Fearful now that Alex was indeed playing with her. When Alex noticed that the girl was still afraid of him, he couldn’t help but sigh.
“Min-Ji, I’m not some big bad wolf who is going to kick down your door and devour you… That is unless, of course, you want me to?”
Min-Ji finally relaxed ever so slightly without even realizing it, as she blushed in response to Alex’s comments. The man had truly seen right through her. And luckily for Alex, he saw the girl’s affection rise ever so slightly.
[Min-Ji’s affection: 50/100]
Upon seeing that this girl was easier to charm than Nari or the police woman he kept encountering, Alex smirked as he took a look at the next material. And once more, he had mastered an entire year’s worth of lessons in only thirty minutes.
Upon getting another 100% on the quiz that Min-Ji had given him to see how much of the information Alex had retained, the girl pouted as she quickly voiced her opinion aloud.
“There is no way you understand this material so quickly! You’re cheating, aren’t you?”
Alex, of course, scoffed and feigned offense when he heard this, before explaining to the girl that he was not cheating, at least not by any conventional means.
“I was right… You really do think the worst of me! Min-Ji, I took the quiz right in front of you, how exactly could I have cheated when you watched me this entire time?”
Alex was only slightly lying. While he hadn’t cheated in any way, that was obvious. He still had an enormous advantage that no other human had. After all, thanks to his system, he had gained a unique skill that increased his learning speed and memory retention significantly beyond normal human limits.
Because of this, he was theoretically able to learn an entire bachelor’s degree’s worth of mathematics in a matter of days if he was so inclined. It was just simply the fact that Alex despised mathematics, and would rather not have to do it, even in its simplest forms.
Min-Ji of course glared at the man, believing she was being tricked, that is until, someone interrupted their fun. The same nerdy boy who had previously attempted to study with Min-Ji called out to her when he saw her sitting at her usual table. Of course, his view was entirely obscured by the bookcase in front of him, and thus he could not see that she was sitting with Alex.
“Hey Min-Ji! Fancy meeting you here. Do you perhaps want to study together?”
The moment after stepping forward to forcefully sit at the girl’s table, the boy noticed that she was not alone. But then again, neither was he. If he was a short average looking nerdy boy, with classes, and freckles, then his friends were perhaps the most stereotypical geeks of them all.
One of them was an average height young Korean man, who looked more like an inflatable beach ball than a human being. He was so fat that Alex couldn’t even see his neck. This man also wore glasses and had a seriously bad case of acne. He was balding to a horrific extent despite being a college freshman, and had a sparse neck beard. He also wore a spiderman shirt that did not completely cover his stomach.
And the other friend of this “main character”, was a tall, and lanky fellow, with a rat-like face, round glasses, and a shaggy haircut that looked like it hadn’t been properly groomed in years. This man thankfully wasn’t wearing a spiderman shirt, instead he was wearing a Star Labs T-shirt, which Alex did not understand was just as bad. Interestingly enough, this guy had the opposite problem of the fatty, as his t-shirt was far too big for his body.
Alex actually felt the instinctive need to bully these guys, but that was until he saw the looks in their eyes. Seeing as how Min-Ji was probably the only girl willing to give these losers the time of day, even if it was merely exchanging pleasantries, they both gazed upon the girl with ravenous expressions. Ones that Alex had seen in the eyes of stalkers and rapists in the past.
While the “main character” himself seemed entirely unaware of his friends’ thoughts towards Min-Ji, Alex saw the truth, and was quick to intervene not wanting Min-Ji to be anywhere near these two weak, and pathetic men who were perhaps the most dangerous kind of man of all. Alex simply stood up, showing his natural size and strength as he looked down on the three young men, before telling them to scram.
“Get lost! Min-Ji is tutoring me right now, and I’d rather not be interrupted by a bunch of geeks. So how about the three of you go bother someone else?”
The “Main character” immediately backed down and shrank in stature as he heard Alex’s threat. He was just about to do as the man said when the fatso decided to piss on the electric fence. The rotund man pushed his glasses forward, and began to speak in a tone that was filled with wheezing, no doubt from the difficulties he was having breathing due to his severe obesity.
“Ackchyually, you don’t have the right to tell us to leave! This is the University’s Library and as students, we have the right to sit wherever we please!” Alex wore a sadistic smirk when he saw that this fat tub of lard was legitimately trying to force his way into Min-Ji’s life. And because of this cracked his knuckles, before grabbing the fatso’s shirt and pulling him closer, which was a surprising act of strength and intimidation as he spoke his thoughts in a venom laced voice. “Don’t I? Might is right, so unless you all want a visit to the hospital I suggest you leave Min-Ji alone, permanently!” The morbidly obese man was about to piss his pants in fear when Min-Ji grabbed hold of Alex’s arm and attempted to stop him. “Alex… Don’t… They’re not worth it!” Alex did not break his grip over the fat man’s shirt, nor did he avert his gaze. Instead, he stared at him, and the lanky man with a murderous glint in his eyes, before informing Min-Ji of the truth. “I know they may seem harmless, Min-Ji, but weak men like them are the most dangerous of all. I see the way they look at you, the lust in their eyes. These men aren’t the sheep they portray themselves as. They’re a pack of starving wolves, and they will devour you in a second if you let your guard down…”
As much as Min-Ji thought of Alex as a meathead and a thug, she had to admit the man was better at detecting threats than her, and because of this she quickly backed up ever so slightly when presented with such an alternative perspective, much to the dismay of the three men. As for the fat and lanky fellows, they looked at each other with an expression that said, “Oh shit! We’ve been found out!” While the “main character” merely gazed at Alex in confusion, not understanding how the foreign man had come to such a conclusion. After all, he was a naïve boy, and could not see the darkness in his friends’ hearts.
Min-Ji, however, frowned after thinking through Alex’s words for a couple of moments, and asked a question she didn’t think he had an answer for. “If they are a pack of starving wolves, then what does that make you?” Alex, however, did not balk at the question she had given him, nor did he stammer in his response. There was nothing but confidence in his voice when he responded to the girl with a charming smirk on his face. “Isn’t that obvious? I’m a sheepdog! Now how about you three run along, before this sheepdog tears you three wolves to pieces?” After saying that, Alex let go of his grip over the fat man’s t-shirt and shoved him backwards. Where the three young men scurried off in fear of further retaliation. Alex scoffed in disdain as he dusted his hands in a gesture similar to that of Pontius Pilat washing his hands after sentencing Jesus to death. He then turned around to see that Min-Ji was blushing profusely. Never before would she have thought that a guy like Alex would stand up for her, or protect her from dangers she was not even aware of. She couldn’t help but ask for an honest answer from him. “Tell me the truth, were the three of them really that dangerous?” Alex did not lie to Min-Ji despite having a perfect opportunity to slander the MC, whose name he did not even yet know. Instead, he spoke the honest truth as he sat back down and broke open his notebook again. “The one in the middle was harmless. As for the other two, you should keep your distance from them. They want something from you that you can’t give them, and by the looks in their eyes, they might try to force you if given the chance….”
Min-Ji thought about Alex’s words for a moment before asking about the MC, whose name she also wasn’t aware of. “So, the guy in the middle? He’s one of my classmates. You say he is harmless. Isn’t that a good thing?” Alex, however, shook his head before lecturing the girl about what a harmless man truly was. “Not at all. A harmless man is a worthless man. If that boy’s two friends tried to force themselves on you, he would not even attempt to interfere, and even worse, he might succumb to the pressure and join in. You don’t need a harmless man in your life. You need a monster who has control over himself so that he may protect you from the other monsters who don’t. Hence why I am a sheepdog, and they are wolves….” Min-Ji blushed once more when she heard Alex’s words. She seldom had interaction with men, and until now she had always thought that Alex was the big bad wolf that her mother had always warned her about. But suddenly after this petty incident, her entire perspective of Alex, and men in general, had shifted.
And as she thought about this matter with deep reflection, Min-Ji’s affection towards Alex rose rapidly until it stopped at 75/100. This caused Alex to smirk once more, as he silently opened up the next textbook and began to read. After all, it would be wise of him to make the most use of this time and improve his grades.