# Chapter 33
Byeon Seungha’s tone seemed casual on the surface, but the emotion and voice underlying it were terribly threatening and sinister.
Son Gyucheon, whose breathing had returned to normal, looked outside as if considering making a run for it. That bastard Gyucheon—how could he have thought about harming Moon Seoheon when he would inevitably be caught?
Yoon Taeho felt the same way. While I resented the guy who caused trouble and passed it on to me, I also began to feel miserable about my own helpless situation.
While I was struggling with thoughts like “What the hell is this all about because of that bastard?”, I glanced around briefly. Noticing I was looking elsewhere, Seungha turned around slightly.
At that, Gyucheon and his followers, who had been sneaking toward the exit, stopped abruptly. Under Seungha’s fierce glare, Gyucheon lowered his head with a yelp, but his lips were twisted as if he was internally cursing.
“Not paying attention?”
“Urk!”
Seungha frowned and threw away the collar he had been gripping. Instead, he grabbed my hair and yanked it toward him.
My body straightened up, and the pain felt like my scalp was being ripped off, causing me to groan involuntarily. Ko Kyungsu beside me was at a loss for what to do. Whether that annoyed him or not, Seungha looked at Kyungsu.
“Are you on this bastard’s side too?”
Seeing Kyungsu inhale sharply in surprise and stand like a mute who’d swallowed honey, unable to say a word, I quickly said:
“He has nothing to do with this. Just let him go.”
Seungha whipped his head around to look at me and snickered. Seeing my expression harden at his obvious mockery, he tilted his head slightly and rolled his eyes as if intending to scrutinize me thoroughly.
“Acting all concerned for others… Why don’t you answer my question when you’re so good with words?”
“Ugh! That hurts.”
“It’s supposed to hurt when I pull it.”
It truly felt like a handful of my hair was being pulled out. The pain was so intense that physiological tears began to well up. While straining my eyes to keep the tears from falling, I tried to think of what to answer.
Should I say I’ve lost my memory? That I can’t remember anything from the past and have no idea what I did with Gyucheon? But then I smiled self-deprecatingly at this absurd thought.
As if he would believe that. Especially in this situation! An enraged Seungha might go berserk, thinking I was spouting nonsensical bullshit to escape.
So how should I respond? Simply denying everything wasn’t a good approach either. He wouldn’t believe it.
So I carefully considered what the root of the problem was. Right now, this guy was angry partly because he heard what Gyucheon and I said and believed I was lying. But the fundamental cause was his fury over Moon Seoheon nearly being harmed.
“I don’t know what happened on Thursday, but I haven’t done anything to harm Seoheon.”
As I spoke calmly and deliberately, Seungha’s eyebrows twitched significantly. He just stared at me as if challenging me to say more, not doing anything else, so I inwardly swallowed a sigh and looked at him with a steady gaze.
“I’m sorry for saying I don’t know Gyucheon. But think about it.”
Seungha’s expression turned grim at my admission of lying, but I continued without pause:
“If I had admitted we knew each other in that situation, wouldn’t you have reacted this aggressively?”
“Are you kidding me? I only asked if you knew each other. Ah, so it was you who did it after all?”
Seungha, who had been frowning in disbelief, then hardened his face completely and spoke sarcastically. What? He was just simply asking?
Even as I was dumbfounded by this anticlimactic conclusion, I realized that “it” he referred to was about someone giving Seoheon a drink. If anything, I was the one who received and drank something from that guy! Before I could deny it, Seungha dropped a shocking statement:
“He drank a beverage with glue in it and suffered, throwing up. It’s fortunate he only took a small sip. Still playing dumb? This is the kind of childish prank only lowlifes like you would pull.”
I momentarily closed my mouth at those words. I wondered what kind of drink had been given… but putting glue in a drink was certainly a malicious crime.
I immediately turned to face Gyucheon. I stared at him intently, asking if he really did such a thing, and Gyucheon, standing completely still, wore an expression that was both annoyed and bewildered. Meeting my eyes, he muttered while stroking his side, which must still be hurting:
“Even without me… everyone was doing this shit behind the scenes.”
Realizing he was referring to me, I frowned. What? Despite his denial, is this really something he doesn’t know about? I was perplexed because Gyucheon’s words and expression, suggesting that I was the one who did it, didn’t seem like a lie at all.
“Huh, are you seriously joking?”
Seungha must have heard this too, as he made a face of disbelief before pushing me hard against the wall while still gripping my hair.
Bang!
My back hit the wall, and the impact involuntarily made me cry out. Both my grabbed hair and my thin back that had collided with the wall were in tremendous pain. Seungha pressed my body so forcefully that I felt like my ribs might break.
“Urgh, wait…”
Cornered and struggling to breathe, I instinctively pushed Seungha away. As I’d felt before, this body with no muscle was no match for Seungha, who was not only strong but also large in build. I frantically patted his shoulder, as if asking him to calm down, as he pushed against me so hard my shirt felt like it might tear.
When he still wouldn’t budge, I panicked and rapidly blurted out words like a machine gun:
“Urghk! Yes, I lied, and yes, I asked Gyucheon to do something to Seoheon! But I really don’t have any such intentions now! Huk, and I truly don’t know anything about that glue! I swear on my fingers, it’s the truth!”
Seungha slightly loosened his grip at my frantic shouting, but then pressed in again. This time, I saw his fist rising, clearly intending to hit me. Shit, fear surged through my entire body, but I gritted my teeth, thinking it would be fortunate if it ended after one punch. I just hoped my teeth wouldn’t get knocked out.
As I closed my eyes tightly and tensed my face, Kyungsu shouted my name loudly from the side.
“Byeon Seungha!”
Kyungsu calling my name was drowned out by someone else shouting Seungha’s name. Thanks to that, I didn’t feel any pain, but when I opened my eyes wide, Seungha’s fist was right there, within reach if I turned my head. Rolling my eyes, I discovered Kwak Junhee watching us with slightly furrowed eyebrows from a distance.
“Ha……”
Seungha spread open the fist he was about to hit me with and ran it through his hair. With a face still not completely calmed from anger, he turned to Junhee.
Soon after, Yoon Taean entered behind Junhee. He seemed to have come to check on me since I hadn’t returned for so long, and seeing me in such a state caused a complex mix of emotions—embarrassment, misery, and irritation—so I looked at them with clouded eyes.
“Sunbae Byeon Seungha? You said you couldn’t come… Besides, what exactly is…”
Taean looked back and forth between us with a bewildered expression as he saw me suffering in Seungha’s grip. Catching a glimpse of Taean’s eyes, which seemed to contain blame as if asking what trouble I’d caused, I sighed.
“Ack!”
As soon as I sighed, Seungha, who had turned his head back to look at me, suddenly crumpled his expression and kicked my shin. The struck area throbbed with pain, and tears welled up and streamed down my face. I lifted my leg to cradle it because it hurt so much, and Seungha tossed me aside like garbage.
Leaving me slumped against the wall, Seungha headed for the entrance and said one thing to Gyucheon:
“Behave yourself. If you’re caught doing something useless again, it won’t end this lightly. Know that next time, neither of you will be able to move.”
With those words, a suffocating silence enveloped the area. Though he didn’t know what was happening, Junhee seemed to understand there was a problem, as he scrutinized the surroundings with a confused yet stern expression. Passing by him, Seungha spoke to Taean:
“Keep your brother in check. That is, if you want to have a comfortable time at school.”
“…Yes.”
Taean obediently answered and lowered his head. Since I was sitting down, I could clearly see Taean’s hardened face, and I felt sorry. When our eyes met, he furrowed his eyebrows and subtly exhaled.
“What happened? You said you were busy today… what were you looking for?”
“…Ask that bastard.”
In response to Junhee’s words, which stopped Seungha as he was leaving, Seungha turned to look at me and replied coldly. At that, Junhee looked at me. The gently curved lips I had seen often today were now tightly closed. Damn, it seems the good impression I had made has evaporated again.
Suppressing the sigh that was about to escape, I rubbed my shin. As if things weren’t bad enough, Moon Seoheon appeared next. Having just entered, Seoheon’s eyes widened, seemingly surprised by the scene. After briefly scanning the bathroom to assess what had happened, he stared at me. He just stared at me blankly without any expression.
“Let’s go.”
Seungha, who had gently grasped Seoheon’s shoulder before releasing it, uttered those words and went outside. Seoheon stared at me for quite a long time before turning away as Junhee guided him by the arm.
I remained silent, watching their backs as they left.
“Damn it. This is fucking bullshit. I told you to keep watch, so what happened?”
“Uh… sorry, Gyucheon. I was watching from outside, but he suddenly attacked, and I couldn’t do anything. I can’t even move my arm……”
The guy who had been dragged by Seungha at the beginning clutched his right arm. Looking carefully, it was dangling like a jellyfish—his leg must be broken.
I slowly got up from my position and straightened my crumpled clothes. Gyucheon looked at me, quietly cursed with a sneer, and turned away.
“I definitely need to lay low for a while. Let’s go, guys.”
I’m not sure if he was talking to me or to himself, but “for a while”? Does that mean he’s planning to cause trouble again next time? I cursed him internally as a crazy bastard while ignoring him in disgust. Taean approached me with an angry expression.
“Hey, that…”
“Forget it. Don’t say anything. Just follow me home.”
Taean turned his back as if he didn’t want to hear what I had to say. Seeing me with my mouth tightly shut, Kyungsu, who had been there all along, called out to me with a worried face.
“Taeho, are… are you okay?”
“…Yeah. I’ll be going now.”
“Yeah. Go home and get some rest.”
After nodding to Kyungsu, I limped after Taean. Coming outside and looking around, Seungha, Junhee, and Seoheon were all gone, seemingly having left already.
All I could do was sigh deeply at my frustrating situation.
