And then he grinned.
“From now on, anyone who makes that kid sing is dead. I hate listening to it.”
From that day on, the guys who treated Yeon Cheonguk like a jukebox at school completely disappeared. As cleanly as insecticide removing head lice.
Life was more comfortable, but Hwang Jegu’s indifference still twisted his guts. It seemed like his feeling was ‘That bastard who didn’t even listen to my singing dares?’
And Hwang Jegu, thinking he’d built rapport with Yeon Cheonguk all by himself, often grated on his nerves at school. Pretending to be close wasn’t funny at all.
Walking around the playground and throwing cans at the Class 3 second-year window to wake Yeon Cheonguk from his sleep was being nice. When ballads came on during lunchtime school broadcasts, he’d scream until the second-year classroom hallway echoed.
“Uwaaa-! I said I hate listening to Yeon Cheonguk sing!”
The songs coming through the speakers were tracks sung by famous ballad singers.
Once, when the homeroom teacher again made him run an errand to fetch Hwang Jegu, he ignored it.
“Ah, teacher. I won’t do it.”
“Tsk! Why aren’t you going quickly? Tell him to come to the teachers’ office.”
“Ha…! No, why should I…!”
“You brought him well last time, kid.”
“I can’t do it anymore. I’m scared of him too.”
He planned to make excuses that he couldn’t find him. He wanted to avoid encountering that bastard as much as possible. Holding the chalkboard eraser, he walked slowly to a place that wasn’t Hwang Jegu’s habitat. He was wandering around the water fountain next to the gymnasium, thwacking chalk dust into the air when it happened.
“Let’s go together, baby.”
Wasn’t that the sound of crutches a few meters behind him? Yeon Cheonguk turned around with a stiff face. Hwang Jegu, who had followed behind, plopped down sitting on the water fountain and looked up at Yeon Cheonguk.
His left leg and right arm had splints with casts wrapped tightly around them. Flicking a lighter on and off, he brazenly demanded.
“Hey. Scratch here for me.”
“……”
He pointed between his widely spread legs at his own crotch.
“Fuck, I can’t reach.”
He wanted to smack him in the face with the chalkboard eraser. Yeon Cheonguk twisted his body at an angle where Hwang Jegu couldn’t see. He lifted the eraser and hit the tiles like crazy with a full swing. Chalk dust rose like smoke.
After even clenching his mouth shut and doing an angry eraser-dusting, his right shoulder was stiff.
Huu, when he caught his breath and took a step back, Hwang Jegu was grinning. Watching that smirking face, fear spread from inside his ribcage.
“Hehe…. Fuck, kid. Can’t you hear me?”
At the slow, drawn-out curse, Yeon Cheonguk ended up getting scared.
…He made a mistake. He should’ve just played along with a few jokes. When he was blaming himself from a few seconds ago, Hwang Jegu snatched the chalk eraser. The soft, elastic cushion hit Yeon Cheonguk’s right buttock with a pow.
“What should I do with a kid who doesn’t listen?”
“…Hey. What are you doing…!”
Yeon Cheonguk was so flustered he didn’t even realize he’d used the wrong form of address again. He sidled back one or two steps, but Hwang Jegu, who caught up with large strides, grabbed Yeon Cheonguk’s right arm and began targeting his buttocks in earnest.
Crazy, what’s with this acting close…! He was fortunate to have the presence of mind to hold back from saying that.
Pow! Pow! White smoke kept rising from Yeon Cheonguk’s buttocks.
“Hyung-ah’s hitting! That’s right, hit him!”
He limped along and tormented him for over five minutes, hitting with the chalk eraser like it was his younger brother.
“Stop it, please. I said stop!”
“That hyung-ah tried to burst my balls. Super, no, very bad hyung-ah.”
Thoroughly insane bastard.
It wasn’t just dislike—he hated him like hell.
He even had the impulse to transfer schools, but he controlled his mind. If he just waited a little, he could escape. Because vacation was the day after tomorrow! And because Yeon Cheonguk wasn’t planning to attend supplementary classes!
Yeon Cheonguk stood in front of the Kkaebi Video rental shop counter today too with a hopeful face.
“018-***-7918.”
Damn it. After borrowing on his behalf a few times, he’d even memorized that bastard’s cell phone number. Even the fact that the cell phone number’s last digits were 18 was just like him somehow.
The part-timer now automatically pulled up Hwang Jegu’s member information when Yeon Cheonguk came. The part-timer poked his face out beside the monitor.
“A new volume of <Berserk> came out, are you taking it?”
Berserk? What kind of medieval Renaissance whatever title is that? Could that bastard even read history manga? Yeon Cheonguk answered indifferently.
“Well, if it were that bastard, would he have picked it up right away?”
“To be precise, he preempts and extorts it, but yeah.”
“Then why are you asking? Give it to me.”
The part-timer’s mouth twitched. He looked like he wanted to argue about why he talked like that. However, he soon swallowed his anger. It seemed like there was someone visible behind Yeon Cheonguk like a halo.
The part-timer, who obediently scanned the barcode, said.
“Here, take it. Tell him that after calculating including late fees, he has exactly 500,000 won in points remaining.”
He wasn’t going to tell him. Without even pretending to listen, he gave a delinquent greeting and left the rental shop.
Berserk. The cover was extraordinary. Yeon Cheonguk had no way of knowing it was a masterpiece among masterpieces that moved the hearts of countless readers with artwork and direction drawn with devotion. Because he was a sloth with no interest outside of part-time work, dating, and singing.
He flipped through a few pages on the way to school. The art had an intense pull that strongly drew people in.
It wasn’t just the drawing skill and art style that were intense. The slaughter scenes the manga depicted were quite cruel and provocative. His gaze lingered on the black and white drawings soaked in blood. Covered in blood and creepy—it was somehow similar to Hwang Jegu too.
While flipping through, he hit a limit. Since he didn’t know the characters’ names, he couldn’t even speed-read superficially.
After walking a few steps, Yeon Cheonguk turned around. He stopped a student from the same school passing by and asked the time. There was still plenty of time until school started.
Yeon Cheonguk ran back the way he came and entered the rental shop again. He pulled out <Berserk> Volumes 1 through 3 and placed them on the counter. The part-timer sent him a questioning look.
Whatever, old volumes were 200 won each. Let’s pocket 600 won.
“Please rent them under the same name.”
“…That kid never does things like reviews.”
“He will now.”
He lied casually and borrowed the books using Hwang Jegu’s points. His bag was full of manga so his shoulders were stiff.
Yeon Cheonguk read Volume 1 in his hand here and there on the way to school. The basic cruel tragedy of human life. Unfair misfortune. Revenge punctuated with blood and an art style that made his blood boil.
After hiding it in his bag again and passing through the school gate, he opened it again as soon as he’d gone halfway around the playground. He finished Volume 1 sitting in his seat and dozed during morning assembly, then took out Volume 2 again during break time to read.
He slept well during first period class, then continued reading again during break time. By the time third period ended, he was so focused his eyes were bloodshot.
“…Fuck. It’s interesting, isn’t it?”
He didn’t want to admit it, but it was interesting. That’s how Yeon Cheonguk came to open his eyes to manga.
Being captivated by the power of pictures and story was similar to the moment when singing made him fall into a trance as if he became the world. ‘Communion with nature.’ He moved his lips and muttered a word he didn’t remember learning in Korean class or ethics class.
“Tsk, aaah…! There’s no next volume.”
Yeon Cheonguk’s adolescence came to extend from song indulgence to manga indulgence. That day was the start that made Yeon Cheonguk a manga enthusiast. The fact that the habit of having to go to bookstores in person and read while physically touching paper formed because of that bastard! Looking back in the future, it would be outrageous.
What’s so interesting about this? Geez. Is <The Young Kindaichi Case Files> interesting too, then?
He wanted to read the next volume quickly. Yeon Cheonguk leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.
The guy sitting in the back seat threw a glasses wiper, telling him to move his face. Yeon Cheonguk lay back further with the glasses wiper covering him. He sprawled out enough to almost fall over, and a hot yet cool presence flickered from above.
“…?”
Come to think of it, the classroom suddenly became quiet. He didn’t hear the bell ring, but did the teacher come in early? Even if a teacher came in, it wouldn’t become this quiet in an instant as if cold water had been poured. Was it the principal?
Then something cold was placed on Yeon Cheonguk’s Adam’s apple. Startled, Yeon Cheonguk ended up falling backward with his chair.
“Shit…! What…!”
What firmly blocked the chair tumbling down was someone’s thigh. Yeon Cheonguk rolled to the side and ended up grabbing that someone’s waist.
Judging by the deep body scent and waist circumference, it wasn’t an ordinary student. A moment was enough to recognize the identity.
“I thought I’d die of boredom. Hurry up and hand it over, the manga.”
“……”
The reason the classroom became as quiet as a mouse was because of the appearance of someone who had no reason to come to Class 3. Hwang Jegu blocked the chair with one leg and grabbed Yeon Cheonguk by the collar to lift him up. He was even holding crutches under his armpit.
Hwang Jegu swung his knee to right the chair. Yeon Cheonguk was obediently seated in the chair, held by the collar in his hand.
A frozen yogurt was placed on the desk. The probability of preempting frozen yogurt at an all-boys school snack shop was about 1 in 1,000. That precious item was right before his eyes.
