# Chapter 50
On the way home from school when everyone was returning home. The young Geonwoo in the dream was sitting alone in front of the school gate, playing and drawing pictures in the dirt.
-Geonwoo~ What are you doing?
Just then, someone called out to Geonwoo. Geonwoo lifted his head toward the sound. There stood a pretty little girl. She was from his class.
The girl with pigtails crouched down next to Geonwoo and gently asked,
-Why aren’t you going home and staying here?
-I’m waiting because hyung said he’d come.
Geonwoo answered with a bright smile, as if just thinking about his hyung made him happy.
-Hyung? Is that Guide oppa from before coming?
The girl was one of the children who had received delicious snacks and listened to long stories from the hyung back then.
Suddenly, a large shadow fell across Geonwoo. Wondering what it was, Geonwoo looked up.
-Hey, monster!
A mischievous voice called out to Geonwoo from above. It was the tallest boy in the class.
-Go home quickly before you explode!
The boy said that and glanced at the girl, gesturing as if telling her not to play with Geonwoo.
This boy had bullied Geonwoo a lot usually. He hadn’t done so before, but after Geonwoo was diagnosed with Esper potential, he started bullying him.
-Go away quickly!
The boy kicked the dirt on the ground, flinging sand at Geonwoo. Normally, Geonwoo would have just quietly moved away, but seeing the sand all over his clothes, his lips protruded sulkily.
‘I’m meeting hyung soon…’
He had picked out and worn nice clothes to meet his hyung, but now they were ruined with sand. Geonwoo was upset.
-Stop it!
So, uncharacteristically, he shouted angrily. This surprised the boy for a moment, but then he shouted even louder.
-You! Don’t you know Espers get locked up if they touch normal people?
The boy acted as if he had some powerful backing. Meanwhile, he continued kicking, flinging more sand.
Seeing this, Geonwoo felt a surge of anger. In that moment, he remembered what his hyung had said.
[That’s all lies, so if someone bullies you, just kick them hard!]
So Geonwoo did exactly what his hyung had told him and kicked the boy hard. The boy’s body wobbled after being hit in the leg, and he fell backward. The boy, seemingly unable to properly comprehend what had just happened to him, sat on the dirt ground with a bewildered expression, looking at Geonwoo.
Then,
-Hey!
Shouting, the boy rushed at Geonwoo. Geonwoo didn’t back down and engaged in the physical fight too.
His hyung had said it.
[I should tell kids not to hit anyone, but… you just hit back when someone hits you! At the very least, don’t just take it!]
His hyung had said this when Geonwoo kept showing up with injuries to meet him. And hyung was the first person who had ever said such things to Geonwoo. Everyone else always said, because you’re an Esper, because you’ll become an Esper, because you might manifest as an Esper, it probably doesn’t hurt much so just endure it. Everyone spoke as if it was an established law.
But hyung was different.
[How can it not hurt when you haven’t even manifested! Geonwoo, it hurts you! If you’re in pain, say you’re in pain! If you don’t show it, no one knows. Show it all, and if someone bullies you for being an Esper, fight back!]
So Geonwoo fought hard. Bang, crash! In front of the school, Geonwoo and the boy’s bodies tangled. Children coming out for dismissal looked at them with wide-open mouths and surprised expressions. The children formed a circle around the two.
-Wow! Geonwoo won!
And Geonwoo was victorious!
But he didn’t look so good. Both his knees were scraped, and his clothes were a mess of dirt and dust. His hair was also disheveled.
‘Hyung is coming soon…’
This was bad.
The situation had gone too far to fix, so Geonwoo just opened his eyes wide with a “what should I do?” expression.
Plus, his scraped knees hurt so much. Geonwoo’s face crumpled. They were bleeding and kept stinging.
Children gathered around Geonwoo. All of them were kids who had heard about Espers from the hyung. The children looked at Geonwoo and said,
-Geonwoo, you’re so cool!
They kept exclaiming in admiration. Since many of them had been bullied by the boy, their eyes sparkled even more as they looked at Geonwoo.
With everyone reacting that way, Geonwoo felt embarrassed to show he was in pain. So he just scratched the back of his head and laughed awkwardly.
At that moment, his hyung appeared.
-Geonwoo?
With a surprised face, the hyung ran to Geonwoo.
-Are you okay?
The hyung immediately knelt down and examined Geonwoo’s injuries. He brushed off the dust on Geonwoo’s clothes and carefully checked his wounds.
At this, Geonwoo’s lips trembled.
The pain, which had been bearable until now, strangely became more intense. So Geonwoo shed tears, one after another.
-Waaah-!
He broke into loud sobs right in front of his hyung. He kept sniffling, saying it hurt.
The hyung, startled, tried to comfort Geonwoo.
-Geonwoo, does it hurt a lot?
The hyung took Geonwoo’s hand, seemingly to lead him to the nurse’s office. As Geonwoo’s feet moved, the pain in his scraped knees intensified.
Because of that, his crying got louder.
The hyung picked Geonwoo up on his back. Geonwoo wrapped his arms tightly around the hyung’s neck. Even while crying, he clung firmly to the hyung’s body.
The children were bewildered by Geonwoo’s sudden outburst, and they seemed surprised to see him cry for the first time.
Geonwoo was carried on the hyung’s back to the nurse’s office. The nurse seemed to have stepped out momentarily, as there was no one in the office.
-Sit here for a bit.
But that wasn’t a problem. The hyung very naturally found and brought the necessary medicines. He even disinfected the wounds and personally applied the medicine.
As the hyung applied the medicine and blew on the wounds with a gentle “hoo-hoo~”, the pain gradually subsided. Only then did Geonwoo feel embarrassed for crying so loudly. He fidgeted. Even Geonwoo himself didn’t know why he had reacted that way. It was just that when the hyung asked, “Are you okay?”, his tears burst out.
As if understanding Geonwoo’s feelings, the hyung said with a smile,
-I was like that too when I was young. When someone comforted me asking if I was okay, tears would flow for some reason. I’d just cling to them and cry my heart out.
So it’s okay to cry as much as you want, Geonwoo, the hyung said. Geonwoo liked those words so much that he grinned widely. He also liked being called “Geonwoo” kindly, not “Esper” or “monster.”
-Huh?
Suddenly, Geonwoo tilted his head. The hyung was holding a bag. That wasn’t strange. The hyung always brought a bag whenever he came.
-Hyung?
-Yes?
-The bag is bulging? What’s in it?
But what was strange was that the bag was getting increasingly fuller. The bag, which had initially been small, gradually changed into a larger bag, and now it was bulging.
-Ah, I need to take some things outside.
The hyung said that simply and then knelt down again. He posed as if telling Geonwoo to get on his back.
-I’ll take you home.
At the hyung’s words, Geonwoo got on his back without hesitation. Having been carried before, Geonwoo knew how reliable this back was.
-So I kicked him, bam!
While being carried home on the hyung’s back, Geonwoo recounted what had happened earlier.
-You did well. If there are kids like that again, do exactly the same thing. Understand?
-Yes! Hyung!
Geonwoo couldn’t understand why being told not to endure felt so good. With a beaming smile, he nuzzled his face against the hyung’s neck.
But then, a big middle school boy in uniform came running from afar. Behind him was the boy who had fought with Geonwoo earlier. The two looked identical, like two peas in a pod.
-Hey! Are you Choi Geonwoo?
A tall middle school boy, probably in 7th or 8th grade, pointed at Geonwoo accusingly.
-Did you hit my little brother?
When the tall middle schooler spoke, Geonwoo’s heart raced. The boy he had fought with earlier was already tall, but his older brother was much taller. He looked big even compared to his own age group.
-You’re in big trouble now! Our hyung is super good at fighting!
The boy boasted proudly. Earlier he had run away crying, but now with his older brother beside him, he stood with his shoulders squared, looking at Geonwoo.
Geonwoo, being the firstborn without an older brother, became dejected. The opponent in front of him wasn’t someone he could defeat just by kicking.
-Hey, who are you? Aren’t you going to put him down?
But trouble spilled over to the hyung. Since the hyung was carrying Geonwoo, the middle schooler picked a fight with him.
-Hyung…
Geonwoo looked nervously. He tried to get off the hyung’s back.
But the hyung bounced Geonwoo back up and continued carrying him, sighing.
-I don’t want to get involved in kids’ fights, but…
The hyung said that, then,
-Hey. Middle schooler.
He called out to the middle schooler.
-Your brother touched Geonwoo first. He deserved what he got.
-What?
-So unless you’re here to apologize, just leave.
At those words, the middle schooler’s face turned bright red. He rolled his eyes and looked the hyung up and down. The 13-year-old hyung who looked obviously young.
Thinking that this tiny, chickpea-sized kid was talking back to him, the middle schooler approached Geonwoo and the hyung with large strides. From behind, the boy shouted loudly, cheering for his brother.
-Teach them a lesson, hyung!
It was a very annoying sight.
Then, the hyung put Geonwoo down. Geonwoo reached out to hold the hyung’s hand.
It seemed like… they needed to run away.
Ah! But his legs were the problem. Geonwoo lowered his head. Both his knees were still scraped raw, red areas as big as his palm.
‘I don’t think I can run…’
While Geonwoo was making a sad face and worrying, suddenly there was a loud sound — Thud!
