# Chapter 86
The surroundings froze at Kwon Dojin’s rare curse. More people started trembling, carefully controlling even their breath. After the smoke that had been clouding my vision cleared, Kwon Dojin released me and irritably dusted off his shoulders.
Only then did I notice the chalk eraser marks on Kwon Dojin’s clothes and drew in a sharp breath. Apparently, the harassment I thought would end when Kwon Dojin came to school hadn’t ended yet.
“A-are you okay?”
I stammered, feeling flustered. Kwon Dojin looked up at me and forced a smile, but the anger within it was clearly felt.
“I’m fine. What about you, Habin?”
“Of course I’m fine since you protected me-.”
As I spoke, the chalk marks that hadn’t disappeared yet caught my eye, so I reached out and dusted them off. Kwon Dojin kept his eyes down and quietly accepted my touch, but soon grabbed my hand and lowered it.
After straightening his back, which he had bent while shielding me, he clicked his tongue at the vivid marks left on his uniform. Then he unbuttoned his shirt, took it off, and threw it on the floor.
He clearly had no intention of wearing it again. Standing slightly askew, Kwon Dojin looked around once, then glanced at me and slightly raised the corner of his mouth.
“Habin.”
“Y-yeah?”
“Would you mind stepping outside for a bit? This won’t take long. Your bag is-, give it to me, it must be heavy.”
While I hesitated, feeling an inexplicable pressure from his hardened gaze and curved lips, he took my bag. Then he gently pushed my shoulders to move me away from the door.
The moment I was far enough away, Kwon Dojin shut the door forcefully as if he’d been waiting for this. I stared blankly at the classroom door that had closed with a loud bang right in front of me.
“What is going on…”
Seriously, what’s happening?
The situation was simple, yet hard to understand because of that. Didn’t the kids know that Kwon Dojin was coming to school today? They shared everything about the motorcycle incident through their phones, but didn’t they share that Kwon Dojin had returned to school?
That’s absurd. When they locked me in the gym storage room, they carefully checked if classes were being held in the auditorium, yet they didn’t check something this simple?
“They’re crazy…”
“What’s going to happen to those kids in that class?”
“I don’t know. They’re probably all screwed.”
Those who had been holding their breath started murmuring. There was a hint of sympathy, blame for doing something unnecessary, and curiosity about how Kwon Dojin would react.
Among the groups gathering to pour out various opinions, I just blinked blankly, detached from the commotion.
Crash-!
“Gasp!”
“W-what was that!”
The chaos increased with an extraordinarily loud noise. The implicit belief that Kwon Dojin wouldn’t pose a major threat to the class students was shattered along with that sound.
More and more people were debating whether they should go into the classroom to stop Kwon Dojin or call a teacher, but no one stepped forward. Given the power that Kwon Dojin’s name held among them, this was natural.
“Kyaaaah!”
As a scream echoed from inside the classroom, the atmosphere grew even more serious. Both inside and outside the classroom, confusion intensified, with many falling into panic. Standing there stupidly in the midst of this situation, I suddenly came to my senses as the best solution occurred to me.
Why does this school still insist on using old-fashioned chalk blackboards that cause incidents like this? Of course, it’s the students who are wrong for using educational materials for bullying.
Still, if only they had changed it—No, even if they had, similar behavior would have happened. If they were the type who wouldn’t have done it just because of a lack of materials, they wouldn’t have done it in the first place. Realizing my thought was too optimistic, I started moving my legs diligently.
“Baek Han, is Baek Han here?”
Though Class 3 wasn’t far, it felt like it took forever. When I urgently opened the back door and called for Baek Han, everyone’s attention turned to me, but that was okay. Baek Han’s presence was more important than that.
“Lee Habin? Why are you here?”
“Y-you, come quickly. Hurry.”
Despite waving my hands frantically to call Baek Han, he just frowned without any intention of moving.
“Why?”
“Quickly come and try to stop Kwon Dojin, okay?”
“Kwon Dojin? Why should I stop him?”
“Ah-! I’ll explain later. It’s really urgent, hurry, hurry.”
Only after I urged him again did Baek Han finally stand up. Frustrated with his slow pace, I eventually entered Class 3 and pulled Baek Han’s arm.
“What’s going on? Did someone pick a fight? Is there a brawl?”
“No. If it were that, I wouldn’t have called you!”
Fighting was an everyday occurrence, so there’d be no reason to call him for that. Baek Han looked at me as if I were crazy, but only when he saw students near our classroom panicking did he sense something was wrong.
“What’s really going on? Why is everyone like this?”
“Kwon Dojin has captured the class kids. I don’t know if he’s using violence or not, but anyway, he’s angry-.”
“What, is that all?”
I was desperate, but Baek Han remained completely calm. He seemed unbothered even when I told him that Dojin was dealing with ordinary students not in the hierarchy.
“We heard screams too, how can you say ‘is that all’? Quickly go in and try to stop him.”
I pushed Baek Han toward the classroom door. Pretending to be pushed by my strength, Baek Han put his hands in his pockets and turned his head to look at me.
“I don’t particularly want to stop him. They probably did something wrong first. Let them get scolded.”
“What if it’s more than just ‘scolding’! Do you want to take the blame for hierarchy issues all by yourself? If something happens to Kwon Dojin, you might have to handle all those responsibilities alone.”
“Ah shit, I don’t want that.”
Baek Han ran his fingers through his hair and sighed. Then he took his hands out of his pockets and grabbed the door handle.
“You owe me a drink later.”
“Yeah. I’ll buy you whatever drinks you ask for. Limited to drinks only.”
As I nodded and promised, Baek Han finally opened the door forcefully. The door hit the wall with a loud bang. Though the door was open, Baek Han’s back blocked my view of the classroom interior, so I poked my head around his side.
“Take it easy, I said take it easy.”
“Baek Han? Why are you-.”
Perhaps pausing what he was doing because of the noise echoing through the classroom, Kwon Dojin straightened his bent back and turned in our direction. Then Kwon Dojin’s eyes wavered when they met mine, as I had my head out from behind Baek Han, and he dropped whatever he was holding.
I tried to follow its trajectory, but Baek Han’s palm covered my face.
“What? Why?”
“You stay out for now.”
“Just me? Why!”
“Why? Because it’s you.”
Before I could grab Baek Han’s hand covering my face, he turned and pushed me out of the classroom. Looking up at Baek Han in bewilderment at this familiar situation, he gestured for me to back away.
“Isn’t that too much just for me?”
“No, it’s not.”
Baek Han firmly pushed me away and closed the door again. Having been unexpectedly forced out of the classroom again, I was exasperated.
“Baek Han-nim came?”
“Ah-, thank goodness.”
Unlike me, the surrounding students found relief and peace just from the fact that Baek Han had entered the classroom. If his intention was to stop Kwon Dojin, there was no need to close the door, but they didn’t seem to be thinking about why he had closed it.
* * *
Baek Han glared at the person in Kwon Dojin’s grasp and clicked his tongue. He had released them when Lee Habin was looking, but somehow he had grabbed them again without notice.
Since he didn’t know exactly why Kwon Dojin was so angry, he couldn’t just blindly intervene. If he had known this would happen, perhaps he should have asked Lee Habin about the situation first.
“Why did you come here?”
“Why do you think? Lee Habin urgently looked for me.”
“Habin did?”
Baek Han was irritated by the look that seemed to ask why Habin would look for him. He couldn’t understand why Dojin was questioning everything like a jealous lover. Even if they were dating, which they weren’t.
Baek Han decided to focus on completing the task Habin had entrusted to him rather than playing along with Kwon Dojin. That was better mentally.
“They’re not broken anywhere, are they?”
“…I’m not that incapable of judgment.”
“That’s good then. The justification?”
Dojin silently threw his uniform with chalk marks on it. Catching the fluttering clothes, Baek Han saw the marks on the shoulder and nodded with satisfaction. This was more than enough.
“As long as you’re not doing this without reason.”
“You have no trust.”
“I don’t think we’re the kind of people who give and receive trust.”
Since that wasn’t wrong, Dojin shifted his gaze from Baek Han and looked around the classroom. Those who had relaxed their tension while Dojin was talking with Baek Han hurriedly lowered their heads at Dojin’s gaze.
Irritated by Dojin’s behavior, which showed no intention of ending, Baek Han ran his fingers through his hair. Why did they have to do unnecessary things and cause trouble?
“Let’s end it here? You’re not going to keep Lee Habin standing outside, right?”
Knowing that Kwon Dojin wouldn’t listen to ordinary reasons, Baek Han mentioned Habin from the start. As expected, Dojin, who was about to ignore Baek Han, hesitated when Habin’s name was mentioned.
He raised his head and looked toward the window facing the corridor. Though the corridor wasn’t clearly visible due to the lockers, he could still tell that there were many people gathered there.
“The bell’s about to ring. It’s time for class. Either end it now, or continue elsewhere, choose one.”
After contemplating until the end at Baek Han’s words, Dojin finally threw down the person he was holding. Baek Han clicked his tongue, seeing that he still wouldn’t let them go gently.
As Dojin showed signs of wrapping up the situation, sighs of relief erupted from all over the classroom. Some even collapsed to the floor as if their legs had given out.
“I know what you’ve all been doing until now.”
At the low, sinking voice, the relaxed atmosphere tightened again. Taking in sharp breaths, they covered their mouths with both hands, praying that no unnecessary sounds would escape.
“You’ve got some nerve, messing with Habin in my class.”
Brushing back his disheveled hair, Dojin swept the surroundings with cold eyes. A tapping sound echoed as he drummed his fingers on the desk in a steady rhythm.
“You all know that you’re responsible for the actions you’ve chosen.”
Be smart.
At this clear warning, the class students could only swallow dry saliva.
