The walk to Minji's apartment wasn't as far as Jun-seo had expected it to be. But despite the short walk, they got to know each other better, and Jun-seo learnt that she had recently moved from Canada to South Korea, and that she would finish the rest of her study here. She didn't say which university she was transferring to, but she did mention that it wasn't that far from where she was living.

Immediately after that, Jun-seo had a few campuses in mind. One of them was his campus, but he didn't put much hope into the possibility. After all, his university wasn't that high-ranked compared to the other two in the area.

"I will be fine from here."

Minji's voice snapped him out of his thoughts, and Jun-seo looked at her, and then at where they were at. It was the entrance gate to the apartment complex. After taking in the sight, he looked at her with a small smile and nodded, "well then, I will see you around," he said and bowed to her.

He was about to walk away when Minji stopped him. "Um... I don't want to sound weird, but... can I have your number?"

Jun-seo turned on his heels and walked back toward her, "yeah, sure," he nodded. He didn't see a problem in giving out his number to the girl that she had just saved from a thief and helped finding her access card. "It's..."

Minji took her phone out and wrote down the number, "right, I forgot to ask you for your name," she giggled and looked at Jun-seo, "so um... What's your name?"

"It's Jun-seo. Ahn Jun-seo," he replied.

After saving the number, Minji looked at him, a smile etched on her face. "I will send you a text later, be sure to save my number too, okay?" she giggled.

"Sure, I will do that!" replied Jun-seo, returning the smile before noticing a few girls approaching them. "Are they your friends?" he asked, gesturing at the others as they continued to walk toward them.

Minji hummed and followed his finger, looking over her shoulder in the direction Jun-seo was pointing at. She quickly looked back at him and nodded, "ah, right—they are my friends!" She confirmed and turned on her heels, waving at them excitedly.

The girls looked at each other and played around by pushing each other as they ran toward Minji. The closer they got, the louder their laughter were, and Jun-seo crossed his arms as he watched Minji meeting up with them midway.

They talked to each other for a bit, and feeling like he was in their personal space, Jun-seo turned around and was about to walk away when Minji stopped him once again. She smiled and introduced the girls to him.

One of them was a girl who looked like someone of mixed-race heritage based on her face, named Danielle. Another one was named Hanni, and then, there was someone else that now that she was closer, Jun-seo recognized her. It was his coworker; Ning Yi-zhuo, still in her uniform. No wonder she was asking about Jun-seo's thoughts on Minji.

It turned out that they were living together. Jun-seo should've realized that the moment he saw how close Yi-zhuo was acting around Minji earlier at the store.

"It was fortunate that you were taking this route today, Jun-seo," commented Yi-zhuo, drawing Jun-seo's attention. "At least you were able to help Minji find the access card. It would be disastrous if we have to ask the office for help... again."

Jun-seo crossed his arms, "which reminded me, don't you guys have a spare or something?"

Yi-zhuo shrugged, "well, we do, but we left it in our apartment, and it just so happens that we were all busy and away from home today. Only Minji remembered to bring her card with her, so, yeah..." she chuckled and looked at Minji, who was scratching her temple awkwardly.

"Ah, I see..."

Minji cleared her throat and bowed, "thank you for helping us, Jun-seo."

"Don't mention it," replied Jun-seo before looking around him, "well, I guess I will be heading home now. I will see you guys around," he said to them, bowing.

Yi-zhuo nodded, "I'll see you at work tomorrow," she said and bowed as well. Minji and the other two thanked him as well before bowing and watching him walk away.

—

After walking Minji home, Jun-seo resumed his journey back to his place. It felt significantly quiet as compared to when he was walking with Minji earlier. As he continued to walk down the street, he heard multiple footsteps behind him, followed by a voice.

"There he is!"

Jun-seo quickly looked over his shoulder, finding a group of men walking toward him. "He was the one who intervened earlier!" said someone, emerging from among the group with a scowl. Jun-seo quickly recognized him as the thief who tried to steal Minji's purse.

A man, bulkier than the thief, emerged from the group of friends while cracking his knuckles, "trying to be a hero, aren't you?" he scoffed, looking down on Jun-seo. He walked closer toward him and raised a hand, not wasting a second before throwing a punch.

Jun-seo was quick to avoid the hit, taking a few steps back before clearing his throat, "dude, I don't understand you guys. It's obviously wrong, what your friend did," he pointed out and looked behind the burly man where the group of friends were cheering and spurring their friend on.

"Look, man, I really don't want any problem here, okay?" sighed Jun-seo and looked at the thug. "Isn't it fair that I let your friend off for what he did? I could've reported it to the police, but I let him slide," he seethed.

The thug laughed his ass off and looked over his shoulder, "look at this dude, acting all tough," he mocked and looked in front again, the smug on his face replaced with a scowl. "Do you think you were doing us a favor by letting him off the hook?"

"How dense are you?" the thug continued to taunt Jun-seo.

Seeing that it was pointless to argue with them, Jun-seo sighed and turned on his heels, ignoring them as he started to walk away from the scene. He heard them shouting and telling him to stop, but he didn't do anything, and instead, he started to walk faster.

Jun-seo thought that he was safe now that he was out of the thugs' sight, but he was wrong. He was flung forward, and he dropped the bag he was holding before hitting the ground hard. Jun-seo grunted and turned around the ground, huffing as he opened his eyes to look at who pushed him.

It was the thug, smirking while breathing heavily. "I told you to slow down, didn't I?" he said and stepped on Jun-seo's chest, squeezing the ball of his foot against it. Not long after that, the thug's friends showed up and laughed at Jun-seo's helpless state on the ground.

"Is this really the guy that caught you?" jeered the thug, looking at his friend. "How did you let this weakass dude get you?"

His friend didn't say anything, but the thug looked at back Jun-seo and scoffed, stomping on his chest once before stepping back, "I will return the favor and let you off the hook," the thug spat and turned around, walking away while laughing at Jun-seo.

Jun-seo huffed and pushed himself up from the ground, resting against his elbows as he watched the group of thugs walk away. "Dammit..." he muttered, throwing his head back, closing his eyes.

He quickly opened his eyes as he heard footsteps running past him, and when he looked in front, he saw the familiar backs of his friends, Jungwon and Jake, almost flying as they kicked the thug and one of his friends from behind. The others quickly turned to look at who they were, and before they could do anything, Jun-seo's friends beat them up.

Jun-seo slowly got on his feet and grabbed the bag from the ground, slowly walking toward them. "Dude, that's overkill," he coughed up, watching the thugs on the ground, writhing in pain.

Jake looked at him and chuckled, "how can you let people hit you like that?" he teased and stomped on the wrist of one of the men.

"I know, right? It's almost like Jun-seo forgot how to fight back," chimed Jungwon with a sheepish smile. "I know you are a pacifist, but seriously, learn when to fight back, dude," he added before looking at the thugs on the ground.

He chuckled and grabbed one of the men by his foot, sliding his shoe off before smacking it against the burly man's face repeatedly.

—

After beating up the thugs, Jun-seo and his friends walked home together, Jungwon carried the bag that Jun-seo brought with him, while having his arm around his shoulders, Jake having the other arm around his as they walked together.

"Fortunately, we were on our way to 7-11 just now," sighed Jungwon as they walked.

Jake nodded, "yeah, and who would've thought we got to see our friend being pinned on the ground by some dude," he chimed in, a sheepish smile on his face.

Jun-seo chuckled softly and shook his head, "yeah, no, that sounds weird out of context," he retorted.

"Hey, my point is, you should've stood up for yourself back there. Why were you taking the beating like a helpless guy?" replied Jake before sighing. He stared at Jun-seo for a few seconds, probably wondering how this one dude managed to stay alive up until this point without fighting when he needed to.

"Violence is not the answer, Jake," replied Jun-seo, chuckling softly.

Jake looked at him and raised an eyebrow, "who are you, the Dalai Lama?"

A laughter escaped Jungwon's lips as Jake continued to bicker with Jun-seo. Jun-seo found himself laughing as well, shaking his head. "I'm just saying, fighting is not the answer to everything," he shrugged and cleared his throat.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Jake rolled his eyes and gently nudged his friend's side, "now, shut up and let us carry you in peace," he huffed.