# Chapter 131
I stopped walking for a moment when my mother called my name.
“Taeho, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing. Let’s go in.”
I tried to ignore them and go inside, thinking they surely wouldn’t cause trouble on a day like this. As we got closer to the main entrance, the distance between us naturally decreased, and the two of them noticed me and moved abruptly.
Their movement was so intense that even my mother, who hadn’t been looking their way, noticed them. And when she looked at Jo Youngmin and Hong Hachan, her expression hardened. She seemed to know exactly who they were, her eyes turning cold.
“The nerve of them showing up here. So shameless…”
My eyes widened at her sharp tone, which I’d never heard before. She glanced at me and urged me to hurry, waving her hand.
“Let’s go in. Taean said he saved seats for us, so we can sit right away.”
“…Okay.”
While I was responding somewhat dazedly, unlike the two guys who hesitated, intimidated by my mother’s fierce glare, their parents led their sons directly toward us.
I couldn’t avoid them with my crutches, and there was no time to stop them. As the group approached us, my mother stepped forward as if to shield me.
“What do you want?!”
I felt a strange emotion seeing my mother yell with such a displeased expression. The guys were visibly flustered, biting their lips as if something wasn’t to their liking. After scanning their sullen expressions, I turned my attention to a voice speaking in an emotionless tone.
“We came because you weren’t answering your calls.”
I wondered if they had come to apologize. If they were waiting on a school event day, they probably wanted to reach a settlement. They should be bowing deeply to apologize or ask for forgiveness, showing humility that would still be insufficient, but their tones and expressions were all completely impassive.
“You said it wasn’t a big deal, but suddenly you filed a report?”
As I stood there with my mouth open in shock at such a brazen question, my mother, seemingly as dumbfounded as I was, deeply furrowed her brow.
“When did my Taeho ever say that? He didn’t even respond to you!”
“Let’s just ignore them and go.”
I turned my body, trying to stop my mother who was shouting angrily. Their extremely confident attitude had killed any desire I had to engage with them. Seeing this, the woman with glasses urgently grabbed my arm.
“Hey!?”
“Our children have already been cleared of any involvement. Why did you suddenly change your mind?”
While my mother cried out in surprise behind me, I calmly looked around at all of them, then spoke directly to Jo Youngmin and Hong Hachan.
“What do you mean you’re not involved? You all helped when I fell. And you even put drugs in Moon Seoheon’s water, didn’t you? Don’t come arguing with me—take it up with the lawyer.”
After making my final point clearly to their parents, their bold confidence disappeared, replaced by panic. They turned around to question their sons.
“W-wasn’t this already settled? You said it was over?”
“Y-yeah, it was. Hey, why are you suddenly acting like this? You… you said you didn’t want to deal with any of it and we should handle it ourselves.”
I couldn’t help but laugh bitterly at Jo Youngmin’s whispered words as he nervously looked at me. So what? Did they take that to mean they were innocent? Whatever Yoon Taeho might have said, if he really wanted to let it go quietly, my parents wouldn’t be this angry.
After all, victims, unlike perpetrators, tend to hide or tremble in fear. I answered them as brazenly as they had been acting.
“I don’t remember that.”
“…What?”
I shook off the hand on my shoulder and moved closer to my mother. She put her arm around my shoulders, and I leaned into her embrace as we slowly walked away. Having someone on my side felt incredibly reassuring—it had been a long time since I’d felt this way.
“Hey! Honestly, we didn’t do anything that wrong!”
“Y-Youngmin?”
What nonsense is this now? The guys continued talking, seeing my stunned, incredulous expression and misinterpreting something. Their voices had grown even louder than before.
“Ye Abin and Son Gyucheon made us do it! We had no choice! Sure, we hung out with them all the time, but were we actually friends? We were just trying to fit in, it was really hard for us too.”
“Th-that’s right! Honestly, we never thought about pushing you off there. We were just as shocked as anyone.”
Hong Hachan chimed in, agreeing with Jo Youngmin as they both tried to justify their evil deeds.
Shouldn’t these guys be locked up somewhere, either in detention or in a facility? I clicked my tongue in disgust at their nonsense and grabbed my mother’s arm as she was about to hurl insults at them.
The commotion was drawing attention from people nearby. Surely they wouldn’t be foolish enough to cause more of a scene here. But contrary to my expectation, Jo Youngmin, as if brainless, scowled deeply and yanked my arm hard.
As my body lurched heavily, my mother let out a sharp scream. Then there was a dull thud as someone hit the ground. That someone was Jo Youngmin, and I was being held up by the person who had just slammed him down.
“Huh? …Moon Seoheon?”
Moon Seoheon had somehow appeared beside me, supporting my back with his left hand while staring at the fallen Jo Youngmin with a coldly hardened expression.
Jo Youngmin’s parents rushed to their son, who was groaning and holding his forehead as if he’d hit his head on the ground, and shouted furiously.
“What do you think you’re doing?! We’re going to report this!”
Their voices, raised as if for everyone to hear, created a commotion around us. People who were about to enter the building and those who came out because of the noise were all staring at us. Instead of sighing, I lightly tapped Moon Seoheon with a troubled feeling.
“Hey. You didn’t have to kick him. You could’ve just separated us. We were in an advantageous position.”
Expressing my concern about him making the situation more complicated, he just glanced at me briefly before addressing Jo Youngmin’s parents.
“Go ahead and report it. I need something like that to make this fight worth my while.”
Everyone fell silent at his firm informal speech. Perhaps they all realized the implication behind his straightforward attitude—whether they could handle this situation.
Unlike their previous confidence, their shoulders were now hunched as they looked at me with faces that almost seemed pitiful.
“Go inside. It’s about to start.”
“O-oh. Okay.”
Moon Seoheon, his expression softer than when he was looking at the perpetrators, spoke gently to my mother. Soon, my mother regained her composure and led me inside, though my eyes remained on Moon Seoheon.
As he stood there, keeping his position with a cold gaze fixed on the perpetrator, I faintly heard him mutter:
“It was because of you all. I should have never let you hang around with him.”
When we entered, the audience seats were already half-filled. Since the front rows were almost completely occupied, I looked around trying to find our seats. My mother whispered, pointing to a spot and saying we needed to go that way.
As I carefully made my way through the arranged folding chairs, people who saw me with my crutches moved their chairs to make it easier for me to pass. I quickly nodded in thanks as I continued, soon reaching our destination. The seats Yoon Taean had reserved were in the middle of the front row.
“Is this right?”
I casually asked, feeling uncomfortable in such VIP seats, and she confirmed, quickly having me sit down. The venue filled up completely while I sat quietly observing the stage. By the time my father, who had been parking the car, joined us, all the seats were filled, with people standing at the back.
The students must be preparing backstage. Moon Seoheon must have been waiting there too, yet he came outside and knocked Jo Youngmin down. Thinking back to the earlier situation, I let out a sigh, wondering if he had come out worried about me after noticing them.
As it was, I couldn’t act freely because of my family who thought I had dissociative identity disorder, and unlike before, I had to be mindful of The Four’s quiet response and Yoo Wono. I also needed to have a good talk with Moon Seoheon, and I was slightly worried about whether I could get back safely.
After being lost in thought for a while, the room darkened and the lights above the stage brightened. Gentle music flowed from the speakers, announcing the start of the regular performance.
As I adjusted my posture to focus on the stage, I heard someone sitting down beside me and turned my head. Kwak Junhee nodded in greeting and immediately looked forward. After watching him for a moment, I too quietly focused on the stage.
The performance was of considerable quality for a high school production. From orchestra to musical numbers, band performances, and simple dances, the show captivated people without a dull moment.
I had only experienced watching plays twice before, and had never seen a concert or musical, so if I dared to give a review, I would say it was excellent.
A student in the center performed a vocal piece accompanied by violin, creating a beautiful harmony. When it ended, the audience applauded enthusiastically for the students who had demonstrated their talents so brilliantly. Behind the satisfied-looking students leaving the stage, only the final performance remained.
As the students came up on stage, another round of applause, almost like cheers, continued. I unconsciously gulped, the sound hidden by the applause.
My parents waved at Yoon Taean, who was holding a guitar. Being right in front, he noticed and smiled sweetly, which caught my eye.
Perhaps because we were seated in the front row, whenever they slightly lowered their gaze, our eyes would meet immediately, making me lick my dry lips nervously. Since I should have been up there instead of Yoon Taean, I couldn’t help but feel awkward.
Perhaps due to feelings of guilt, I suddenly wondered if this would ever end even if I went back. Even if I cleaned things up neatly, if Yoon Taeho still didn’t want to live, I would return here again… or maybe this body would really die.
If he was willing to tell Yoo Wono about the drugged drink, maybe Yoon Taeho was also afraid of his body switching. Despite saying he would return to normal, I had no idea what he might do to my body.
Come to think of it, more than a week had already passed here, so more time must have elapsed there, and it was strange that nothing had happened.
While I was lost in these thoughts, a powerful drum sound reverberated loudly, as if to wake me up. As I quickly raised my head at the melody that seemed to shout “focus,” the intense rhythm from before changed to a lighter one.
I soon focused on them, staring intently at the stage, with a relieved expression as if after today, I would have no lingering attachments.
