The startled crowd swallowed their breath in silence. In the explosive, hair-trigger situation where no one dared step forward, only Taeheon was aggressively cornering the man.
“Then why are you pissing me off? I’m fucking pissed too, so shall I treat you the same way you treated that girl?”
“Ugh, uhk!”
“Speak, you fucking bastard.”
Taeheon spat out with a dead-serious face.
“Uk, hahk.”
Terrified that he might block the man’s airway, he hurriedly stepped back to create distance, but Taeheon closed in just as much. Then he grabbed the bastard’s chin with his large hand, forced his mouth open, and shoved the lollipop down his throat. As if he would really kill him, as if bastards like this deserved to die.
The light in his eyes, brimming with rage, flashed for an instant.
“Why are you holding back? Use your fists. Use your feet too.”
“Uhk. Eugh!”
“I want to see the faces of those high-and-mighty lawyers in this country. I’ll line them up and show them to you too. So stop holding back and fight back. Got it?”
“H-hyung. He’s gonna die like this.”
Yun Hajin, who had been nervously swallowing his saliva, unable to do anything, hurriedly rushed over and wrapped his arms around Taeheon’s waist. Looking more terrified than the man in crisis, he dragged Taeheon backward.
“Hyung, stop. He’ll really die!”
“Fuck.”
Taeheon, spitting out a curse like a sigh, forcefully shoved away the jaw of the man he’d been gripping the whole time. The man, flinching with a terrified face, couldn’t take a few steps before collapsing with a thud. A sense of humiliation swept across his flushed face. Having been done in by a mere lollipop, it would be impossible for him to show his face after this.
“Yun Hajin.”
Taeheon turned around with a savage expression. Startled, Hajin let go of the hem he had been holding and quickly stepped back.
“You’re scared he’ll die? You’re scared this bastard will die, but you don’t give a shit if that girl dies? Are you people even human? Fuck, if you were born with a dick, you shouldn’t do shameful shit like this.”
“Today was just a little scuffle—”
“Hajin.”
A frosty voice cut him off.
“Your father works at Yun Heon Construction, right? Due for a promotion soon.”
“H-hyung!”
“How about I make sure he gets screwed over?”
“No, I was wrong. I won’t do it again, I won’t.”
Terrified, Yun Hajin shook his head violently. Taeheon stood so close that their cheeks nearly touched and whispered quietly.
“You should’ve made better friends. Why are you hanging out with bastards like these? What would your father think? Huh?”
“I—I was wrong.”
“If I catch you pulling this shit again and you wind up in my sights, you better be prepared to get served with a lawsuit. I’ll make sure you can’t show your face in this world again.”
Click—Taeheon raised the end of his eyebrow.
“You know who I am.”
“....”
Yun Hajin affirmed with silence.
Taeheon lightly grabbed his shoulder before letting go and turned his back. The hesitant group moved in unison and left. Yun Hajin was no different.
After everyone left, Taeheon approached the silhouette sprawled out limply. Even from a distance, it was a pale, slender, and small frame.
“Why would you deal with bastards like that. Foolish.”
Taeheon crouched before her and brushed away the hair covering her face with his fingertips. Her cheek, which looked as though she had fainted, was swollen.
Fuck. He turned around in anger, but the place was empty. Taeheon slightly regretted letting the bastard go just like that. He should have smashed his skull in.
“I’ll carry you.”
Taeheon glanced at her, motionless, and carefully reached out. But his hand only hovered in the air, the distance refusing to close.
“Fuck. I should’ve held a girl before.”
It was the first obstacle he had ever faced in his life.
He hesitated for a long while before pulling the sleeves of his hoodie—worn over his school uniform shirt—down as far as they would go. Then, careful not to let his skin touch hers, he supported her back and the backs of her knees and lifted her.
“Damn light.”
She was so light he wondered what she even ate to survive.
What did he care. Taeheon, breaking his gaze away, left the secluded spot and walked toward the infirmary. Most of the guys he passed along the way bowed their heads to him. One quick-witted guy ran up and opened the infirmary door for him before leaving. No one asked what had happened. Pretending not to know even if they did, and not asking even if they were curious, was treated as an implicit rule.
Taeheon laid her on the innermost bed where he wouldn’t be in the way of those coming and going. He checked the pillow height and tucked the blanket securely up to her chin.
Lying on the white bed under a blue blanket, her face was white and small like snow. And pure. So pure it was hard to believe she had made such a voice.
‘Can you kill me?’
‘If you can, try killing me.’
She hadn’t been afraid of them. She had unleashed the rage she had been suppressing all this time. Pushed and pushed to the point where dying seemed better, like that.
He wondered what U Haerim’s final moments had been like. When she had begged and begged and finally let go of everything, what emotion had that child felt? Had she resigned herself, or had she resented someone?
“Ha!”
What woke him from his thoughts was a rough breathing sound.
Blinking away his shallow reverie, Taeheon turned to her with calm eyes. She, with a face full of fear as if waking from a nightmare, hurriedly tried to sit up the moment their eyes met.
“Stay put. If you move suddenly, you’ll get dizzy.”
“....”
She, who had looked ready to get off the bed at any moment, obediently leaned back. Then she pulled the crumpled blanket over and hugged it to her chest.
“You look like hell.”
Her swollen face, cracked and parched lips, and bloodshot eyes made her look like someone who had been bedridden for days. Tch—clicking his tongue, Taeheon got water from the purifier installed near the entrance and held it out to her.
“Drink. You’re not in good shape right now.”
She glanced at the cup once, then at Taeheon, before carefully reaching out. Holding the cup with both hands, she swallowed a sip, then another of the lukewarm water, sizing him up furtively. Tilting her head as if gauging whether he was with the group or not, she set the cup down and straightened the blanket.
Finally checking her wristwatch, she suddenly furrowed her brow. The minute hand was swinging erratically inside the cracked glass, likely from hitting something when she fell. Having no choice but to check the wall clock in the infirmary, she gasped and swallowed hard.
“Thanks for helping me today. It’s not like I’m seriously hurt, so I don’t think I should be here skipping class. Ah, you should hurry back to class too.”
“By your standards?”
Ugyeong, who had been about to turn away, paused and tilted her head.
“Is violence only what you can see? Does something have to break and bleed to count? In that situation earlier, you were already on the verge of death. And you’re saying you’re not seriously hurt?”
“....”
She opened her lips slightly and blankly stared at his somewhat agitated face. Fuck, forget it. As if telling her not to mind what he’d said earlier, Taeheon tilted his head to one side and let out a sigh.
“If I was jumping to conclusions, sorry, but the kids probably already talked about why you missed class, so don’t worry about it.”
“That’s unlikely.”
Taeheon raised his furrowed eyes to look at her.
“It’s true, there’s no way they would’ve told properly. Everyone probably said they didn’t know where I went.”
“You think they only saw you? I carried you here, right in front of them.”
“....”
As she thought about what he meant, her eyes suddenly widened. In other words, the male student before her held more power than the group from earlier. His words and actions carried great influence within the school.
Having grasped the full situation, she swallowed nervously. A fear of an altogether different nature than when she had been caught by the group washed over her.
As she helplessly touched the metal bed frame, a large hoodie flew through the air in an arc. Without knowing why, Ugyeong reached out with both arms and caught it.
“Put it on. You’re shaking.”
“Ah, no. I’m fine. You wear it.”
“Want me to put it on you?”
“Ah, no.”
Not knowing why, but feeling as though she had to, Ugyeong hurriedly put her arms into the hoodie. Without needing to adjust it, the large garment flowed loosely over her. Perhaps because of the remaining warmth and scent in the clothes, it felt cozy.
“Are you an outcast?”
“No—”
Ugyeong fidgeted and trailed off. Then she nodded slowly. It was strange that he asked as if he knew nothing when rumors had surely spread throughout the school, but there was no reason to hide it. She would find out anyway.
“What’s your name?”
She unconsciously lowered her gaze. But because she had layered the clothes over her uniform, there was no way a name tag would be visible. Even so, his gaze had not once wandered near her chest. It was clearly a different attitude from the bastards who stared like perverts.
“If you don’t want to tell me, don’t.”
“Seol Ugyeong.”
She spat out her name in an urgent tone. Since he had helped her anyway, it didn’t seem bad to at least tell him her name.
“Seol Ugyeong.”
“Yeah. Seol Ugyeong.”
“Your name is cold. Is that why you looked cold?”
Spouting an absurd sophistry that wasn’t even funny, he wore a bitter smile.
Ugyeong could easily guess what he had recalled from her name. She thought: she had wondered if she was born in winter and sensitive to the cold, but it seemed her name was cold, just as he said.
Thanks to him lending her his clothes, today was warm, at least. Though getting into it with that group had been the worst, this moment alone remained an unprecedentedly warm memory.
“See you at lunch tomorrow.”
Ugyeong, lost in thought, straightened her head.
“Why?”
“To eat.”
“...Eat? With me? Why?”
“Because I want to.”
The reason he added was as absurd as the sudden proposal. Did she look pitiful because she was an outcast? While she sank into gloomy thoughts as if self-destructing, he raised his left wrist to check the time. Then he lifted his head and gestured toward the bed.
“I’m leaving, so take a nap. There’s no one coming anyway, so it’s perfect.”
Following his gaze, Ugyeong looked down at the bed and recalled something she’d heard one morning. The homeroom teacher had said that the school nurse gave birth earlier than expected, so the handover to the replacement hadn’t been completed properly. For the time being, there was no one to look after them even if they got hurt, so they should take good care of their health and absolutely not get into fights.
Therefore, it meant that no one would come to the infirmary after he left. Just as she was wondering whether she should really take a nap, scheming uncharacteristically while lost in thought—
“Ah, and. I don’t mind the casual talk, but don’t call me oppa. Call me sunbae or something.”
“...Why?”
He turned around, holding the infirmary door handle. And he put an awkward smile on his lips.
“Because I’m older than you.”
“Are you a third-year? I’m a third-year too. But I entered school late, so I’m twenty now.”
“I was held back.”
“Ah, then we’re the same age—”
“Held back twice.”
The moment he cut her off, her eyes flashed. She quickly straightened her posture and placed her hand respectfully over her lower abdomen.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”
“Yeah, rest.”
“Yes. Thank you for today.”
A short laugh sounded by her ear as she bowed her head deeply.
If a passing teacher had seen the current situation, they would’ve scolded him, asking if being held back was something to brag about to cause such a fuss. But in their world, it was quite a sensitive issue. Though their status was that of students, by age alone they were already adults, so it was only natural to give and receive treatment befitting that.