“What?”
First, I asked back innocently.
It wasn’t entirely an act—I was genuinely curious how they’d managed to connect Yeon Cheonguk specifically to the flyers.
The phone number on the flyers was the nightclub office. The people in charge of flyer distribution were usually the lowest-level management staff, and they were typically ambiguous punks who couldn’t even make it into the gangster crowd. There was no one with enough sense to remember the names of kids who came to work part-time day by day.
A psychological battle with Hakju began.
“I called you because I know everything.”
The number one repertoire of parents and teachers appeared. Yeon Cheonguk also gave the prescribed rule-like defiance.
“What do you know and how? I have an important appointment right now, so I need to go.”
“Oh my… you know I can see right through your lies, don’t you?”
To be fair, I hadn’t been good at lying since I was young. Even now, though I was trying to act calm, I probably seemed stiff somehow.
Still, Yeon Cheonguk denied it to the end. Unless that bastard had specifically ratted out Yeon Cheonguk, they couldn’t nail me with evidence from just one flyer.
In that case, I felt like I needed to know for certain whether that bastard had snitched, so I wouldn’t feel wronged.
One more thing. Honestly, wouldn’t it be a bit unfair to my secret if I admitted it too readily? Even if it had already been exposed through an unwanted incident, it felt like the secret wouldn’t be disappointed if I at least kept protecting it to the end.
I stalled, giving myself strange excuses.
“Even if it’s not a lie, you won’t believe me anyway. It’s not like you’re forcing a confession after deciding on the culprit…”
“Just confess, Yeon Cheonguk.”
“But I’m being wrongly accused.”
“Oh geez…!”
As I grumbled with a blank face while rubbing the desk, Hakju, unable to bear his frustration, finally spilled the truth. He’d failed at witness protection.
“There’s a kid who saw you going into your house with several dozen of those flyers!”
So that bastard went too far in the end.
I was annoyed by his recklessness and the ignorance that came from being reckless. What was he planning to do by making things this big?
“That attitude of lying and keeping your mouth shut is worse than scattering these around the school!”
Getting hit didn’t matter. Pain was something you could just endure. Yeon Cheonguk’s point of anger was elsewhere. The fact that there was now one unsettling incident that might remain a weak point for his singer debut. Irritation rose to the top of my head.
“How heartbroken your parents would be if they knew you were going in and out of places like this! Are you going to add this worry on top of parents who are already suffering because of your grades?”
The shouting made me sensitive, and I clearly showed my bad mood.
“Who is it? I think I need to report them for stalking.”
“What did you say, punk?”
“It’s absurd… why would they follow…”
“Shut up!”
Hakju’s voice rose even higher than before.
Moreover, since it was an incident that had made a commotion at school all day, even kids who were on their way home had all come out to watch the beating. Just estimating the scale of onlookers stuck to the counseling room door, there were about twenty people. Probably even more were anticipating Yeon Cheonguk’s pain from getting beaten with the paddle by Hakju.
“And I did distribute this in Myeongdong, but I didn’t distribute it at Seolyun High.”
“Yeon Cheonguk. Don’t make me any angrier.”
“It’s true. I didn’t scatter this.”
“Then who distributed it! Get down, punk!”
Damn it, I couldn’t remember that guy’s name. What a bastard with no presence! Yeon Cheonguk let out a deep sigh in frustration.
“I don’t remember his name, but I can point him out if I see his face.”
“Ha…! Shut your mouth and get down. 30 strikes.”
Yeon Cheonguk really wasn’t a cowardly wimp. To be able to mutter back like this even while getting down on the floor.
“If I distribute in Myeongdong, at least I get paid hourly. Why would I distribute it here when I don’t even get paid?”
“This bastard, to the very end…!”
Hakju’s anger also rose to the top of his head. Just as the thick club rose high—
CRASH! I thought the counseling room ceiling had collapsed. Startled by the loud noise, I looked up. Yeon Cheonguk, who had been looking around at the intact ceiling, turned his gaze downward.
Hakju was also looking back at the window with eyes wide open.
What, did a war break out? Just as I was muttering, another bomb came flying through the blue sky.
This time I saw it clearly. The identity of the bomb flying through the window.
It was a chalkboard eraser with a can tied to it.
BANG! The chalkboard eraser flew at a terrifying speed and hit the window hard enough to shatter it.
Hakju threw down his club and rushed to the window in a hurry. Yeon Cheonguk also sneakily got up and stood behind Hakju, looking over his shoulder.
Beyond the window, the playground burned in pale orange sunset light.
In the middle of the flames of light, Hwang Jegu was standing with one arm wrapped around someone’s neck, waving his hand.
The guy caught in Hwang Jegu’s grasp was Kim Yuyoung’s boyfriend whose name I couldn’t remember. Hwang Jegu lifted the guy’s chin and shouted loudly toward Hakju.
“Arrested!”
“You…!”
Hakju, who had been growling and baring his teeth, rushed out of the counseling room. A command to follow came with it for Yeon Cheonguk.
The students who had been lined up along the stairs next to the counseling room waiting to hear the sound of the beating scattered in confusion. Yeon Cheonguk glared at them fiercely as he descended the stairs.
I stuck right behind Hakju as he ran to the playground and watched the situation, and it was even more spectacular than before.
Hwang Jegu was shooting a basketball at the guy’s forehead. BANG. The heavy ball hit his head. Oh my god, that must hurt like hell.
Following that, sharp impact sounds—THWACK, CRACK—came from the basketball that kept hitting the guy’s cheeks and forehead. It was a sight that made even observers shrink back.
“Hwang Jegu! Can’t you stop?”
“I’m just playing around, playing.”
“Stop it right now, you bastard!”
When Hakju’s eyes blazed, Hwang Jegu turned around with a benevolent smile. While continuing to dribble the basketball on the guy’s forehead.
“It’s just playing around, right? We’re just playing around between us.”
“Haha…”
“Fuck, we’re close. It’s fun, right? Little buddy.”
The guy nodded like a robot with a smile. Around them, a crowd of male students who’d been leaving through the school gate had gathered noisily. Even the complexions of the gathered students froze cold with tension.
“Tsk, I don’t know my friend’s name. Anyway, this guy turned himself in.”
In front of Hwang Jegu who was making handcuff gestures while providing his own sound effects of “click click,” Hakju was speechless. Kim Yuyoung’s boyfriend was frozen like ice, trembling in his hands and legs. Kim Yuyoung should have seen this.
Hakju let out a sigh as if dumbfounded.
“So, wait. You’re saying you scattered flyers from the place where Cheonguk works part-time around the school? Why on earth?”
“Ah… just, as a prank…”
While the guy answered in a crawling voice, Hwang Jegu listened to the conversation with an indifferent face. Then after a moment, he said this:
“Part-time work? I asked him to do it, why? It’s a shop owned by a teacher I know.”
“……”
The fact that Yeon Cheonguk was involved with an adult entertainment establishment got a reversal in an instant. It became tyranny that Hwang Jegu had ordered.
Hwang Jegu continued dribbling the basketball on the guy’s crown.
“Are you interested in our comprehensive arts teacher’s shop? Adult night. Dancing, singing, conversation. It’s comprehensive arts.”
“…No.”
“Then what. Are you bored? Is it time to taste the thrill of pissing yourself from fear?”
“N-no…”
Yeon Cheonguk, who had been looking pitifully at the guy answering diligently with a face that wasn’t really smiling, suddenly averted his gaze. He almost made eye contact with Hwang Jegu, who was approaching.
“Why would you make Cheonguk do something like that? Is it true?”
Hakju asked Hwang Jegu with an angry face. At the same time, Hwang Jegu threw the basketball in front of Yeon Cheonguk. My body stiffened at the ashen scent brushing past and the vivid gaze.
He tapped Yeon Cheonguk’s Adam’s apple as he answered.
“Cheonguk’s use of this is fucking amazing.”
“……”
“He’s really fucking good at seducing people.”
Hwang Jegu turned and left the playground. Like someone who couldn’t hear Hakju’s shouts calling him.
Hakju yelled at the top of his lungs. It was about how if that were true, it would be in-school service, and to come to the teachers’ office immediately. But Hwang Jegu, who had disappeared far away into the burning sunlight, didn’t come back.
Yeon Cheonguk had to suppress the urge to grab his collar right then and ask him.
Wasn’t I not in your world?
…Are you doing this without knowing the reason too?
