GBH 62

Flustered, Song Yi-heon blurted out without thinking:

“I’m crazy about women.”

Song Yi-heon had been collecting photos from the internet, cutting into his study time to choose men for Song Min-seo, but hearing this unexpected remark, his thoughts momentarily froze as if buffering. He had reflexively answered according to Kim Deuk-pal’s standards, but then remembered that Song Yi-heon liked men. Before he could correct himself, Song Min-seo asked:

“Why are you showing me these photos then?”

“…You’re young and pretty, so instead of meeting old men like the chairman, you should meet guys around your age.”

Though he called Song Min-seo “mother” to others, Kim Deuk-pal’s soul couldn’t bring itself to say “mother” when facing Song Min-seo, who was younger and more youthful-looking than him, so he omitted it. Song Min-seo, not particularly concerned, understood it was directed at her. She snorted derisively.

“Who doesn’t know it’s more fun to play with young men?”

“Then play with them instead of the chairman.”

Kim Deuk-pal recalled the rooms owned by the organization that celebrities often visited. Nightclubs probably wouldn’t do, but somewhere like clubs that young people frequently visit… However, Song Min-seo, seemingly uninterested in conversation, leaned her forehead against the car window.

Speaking to her bony back, Song Yi-heon announced:

“I’m going to cut ties with the chairman.”

Song Min-seo, who had seemed lifeless as if she had given up on everything, convulsed suddenly as if electrocuted.

“Who are you to decide that…!”

She immediately became sharp. She raised her nails, which had lost their luster and become dry and cracked. Despite living in a nice house with a nutritious diet, she looked so emaciated that she seemed on the verge of death.

“If you want to cut ties, do it yourself…!”

As Song Min-seo showed signs of having a fit, Song Yi-heon gathered both her wrists and covered the red button with his thigh to prevent her from unbuckling the seatbelt. The driver checked the commotion through the rearview mirror and looked for a place to stop in case of an accident.

“I don’t care about the chairman, but I’m worried about you… mother.”

Even as he awkwardly called her “mother” and tried to calm her down, her resistance only grew stronger like a spring. She struggled fiercely, making one wonder where such strength came from in her thin body.

“Who are you to interfere! Without the chairman, without him, there’s nothing left in my life…!”

“The one who’s pretty and good at acting is Song Min-seo, not the chairman. Don’t stake your life on that old man.”

Song Min-seo struggled to free her trapped wrists. She needed to be calmed down before the resistance turned into a fit. Song Yi-heon hugged her and stroked her back.

“I won’t give up on you. I’ve always been by your side.”

Unable to push away her son who had only been skin and bones, Song Min-seo bared her teeth. She ruthlessly bit the tender flesh of his neck. The flesh was pierced and a tangy scent spread. Her teeth dug into the white skin, and blood beaded in a circular pattern. Though his bitten lip bled from enduring the pain that felt like a chunk of flesh was being torn away, Song Yi-heon didn’t push her away.

Rather, as Song Min-seo quieted down, clenching her jaw tightly, Song Yi-heon allowed her to bite his neck and gently stroked the back of her head.

“Let’s end things with the chairman.”

“…”

“You’ve always been pretty, mother. There was never a time when you weren’t pretty. Even without the chairman, I liked that you were pretty.”

Song Min-seo’s jaw relaxed. Silent tears flowed like a dam breaking. Song Yi-heon embraced her.

“So, let’s live beautifully now.”

* * *

Se-kyung, wearing a white cap pulled low, knocked on the door. The corner of printed mock exam papers peeked out from the cross-body bag slung over one shoulder. Song Yi-heon, who had called Se-kyung over to study together for next week’s June mock exam, wasn’t answering. After waiting for about a minute, Se-kyung knocked again and finally heard permission to enter from inside.

“How many times do I have to tell you that you can just come in?”

Song Yi-heon, half-naked wearing only shorts, greeted him somewhat reproachfully from in front of the window where afternoon sunlight was pouring in. Having just showered, a cool mistiness emanated from his skin where moisture still lingered. He tossed an ointment to Se-kyung and turned around.

“Good timing. Apply some medicine for me.”

Catching the ointment, Se-kyung’s expression cooled as he saw the bite mark on Song Yi-heon’s neck. The neck, where scabs had formed along the shape of teeth marks that had dug into the flesh, showed signs of turning into a dark bruise. Se-kyung lightly brushed the scab with his fingertips.

“Who did this?”

“Mother.”

Se-kyung’s simmering anger subsided reluctantly.

“I see…”

“Why are you just standing there? Hurry up and apply it.”

Song Yi-heon glanced over his shoulder and urged Se-kyung. He had planned to hastily apply the ointment himself while looking in the full-length mirror, finding it bothersome, but when Choi Se-kyung arrived, he comfortably entrusted his neck to him. While waiting for the medicine to be applied, he talked about the hospital visit from the morning. He felt he should at least say how it went, since Se-kyung had recommended it.

“I went to the hospital you recommended, and it was good. I made another appointment too. I should keep going regularly, hii-!”

Song Yi-heon’s whole body bristled at the soft flesh licking the wounded area. Even his fine body hair stood on end like a startled cat. Looking towards his bitten neck, he saw Choi Se-kyung resting his chin on his shoulder, brazenly bringing his face close.

“They say licking a wound helps it heal.”

He ran his tongue, which had just licked Song Yi-heon’s wound, over his lower lip. Se-kyung’s eyes, shaded by the brim of his cap, sparkled with mischief.

Song Yi-heon was also familiar with the folk remedy Se-kyung mentioned, so he calmed his startled heart.

“Man, you should say something before doing that… No, more importantly, why use saliva when there’s medicine?”

“You’re right. My mistake.”

Se-kyung agreed with the scolding words with a lazy eye-smile, then hugged Song Yi-heon from behind with both arms. Song Yi-heon had been tolerating Choi Se-kyung’s increased skinship lately, but feeling uncomfortable with him clinging so closely to his bare skin, he tried to push him away. However, the arms wrapped around him from behind held him tightly like restraints. Se-kyung, pressed close to Song Yi-heon who fit perfectly in his arms, acted silly and then, looking at his chest, said:

“It’s been a while since I’ve seen it, Pink.”

After scanning the bare upper body, he noticed that not only the nipples and lips, but even the flesh visible under the nails was a light pink. Se-kyung remarked in surprise at his new discovery:

“Most of you is pink, huh.”

“My d1ck is pink too. What are you going to do about it, you brat?”

Song Yi-heon’s voice immediately turned fierce as he shouted. He had let the pink talk slide, but now it was going too far.

“You keep acting up because I’m going easy on you as a friend.”

He twisted his body to free himself from the arms wrapped around his upper body, intending to teach him a lesson so he’d never talk about pink again, but Se-kyung’s smiling face didn’t change one bit. Instead, his muscular arms tightened their grip, and Song Yi-heon found himself panting as his strength gradually faded.

“You bastard… Are you not going to let go?”

“So we’re friends.”

However, as Se-kyung seemed to be mulling over this newly defined relationship as if shocked, Song Yi-heon felt a twinge of embarrassment. Ashamed of naively being happy about becoming friends with a younger guy at his age, he tried to act as if he didn’t care and move on as if nothing had happened.

“If you don’t want to, then don’t.”

“No, I like it. I want to be friends too.”

Even though there was a hint of surprise, Se-kyung said he wanted to be friends without a moment’s hesitation, which improved Song Yi-heon’s mood slightly.

“But you know what? I heard this somewhere…”

As Se-kyung lowered his voice meaningfully, Song Yi-heon couldn’t help but quiet down to listen to what he was going to say. As Song Yi-heon leaned in to listen, Se-kyung’s drooping eye corners crinkled up, fluttering like a fox’s tail. He blew a soft breath into Song Yi-heon’s ear and whispered affectionately:

“I heard friends even give each other handjobs.”

“Y-y-you crazy bastard!”

The number of times Se-kyung got hit that day exceeded two fingers…

* * *

Students who had finished lunch were spending their lunch break in various ways around the school. Some female students walking around the school grounds after their meal dropped a popsicle wrapper on the ground.

“Hey.”

Hong Jae-min, with his bright yellow hair, rose from among the bushes in the flowerbed, glaring fiercely at them.

“Pick it up.”

“Oh, o-okay…”

After the girls picked up the trash they had dropped and hurried away, Hong Jae-min smoothed his wrinkled nose bridge and bent down among the bushes to continue picking up trash.

“Do they think this is a trash can?”

Hong Jae-min, who had littered more than anyone else before, grumbled like a righteous person as he finished his school community service. The nape of his neck, exposed to the harsh early summer sun, was tanned dark and glistening with sweat. He cursed the clear sunshine and the lush bushes.

“Ah, damn it all, growing so vigorously.”  

He had thought two days of unexcused absence would end with just a reflection paper and a parent consultation, but when he was assigned school community service, his mood soured considerably. He had gone to the faculty office thinking he’d only need to write a reflection paper since his parents wouldn’t respond to calls, but as soon as the disciplinary teacher saw Jae-min, he slammed the desk with a 30cm ruler. Word had reached the teacher about Jae-min’s fight with students from another school in Myeong-dong. And only Hong Jae-min’s name was mentioned, conveniently leaving out Choi Se-kyung and Song Yi-heon who had also been in the fight.

Presumably, Choi Se-kyung was too intimidating to mess with, and they didn’t know Song Yi-heon’s name, so only Hong Jae-min was mentioned. While it was understandable that Song Yi-heon wasn’t mentioned, it was annoying that Choi Se-kyung had managed to avoid consequences, so Jae-min took out his frustration on the innocent flowerbed. As he was kicking an unknown bush, a ball flew from the playground and hit him on the head.

“Which bastard was that!”

Hong Jae-min, clutching his stinging head, yelled furiously in the direction the ball had come from. The boy who had kicked the ball froze in fear. Thinking it must be him, Jae-min was about to aim the ball at the boy’s face when Song Yi-heon intervened.

“Hong Jae-min! Throw the ball!”

Song Yi-heon, shouting while drenched in sweat as if he’d been running around the playground, acted as if he had forgotten everything that had happened at his house last week. Hong Jae-min, who had been haunted by Song Yi-heon’s “I don’t want to” all this time, irritably kicked the ball high into the sky.

After finishing his community service during lunch break, Hong Jae-min came out with his bag from the classroom. Although the bell for the 5th period had rung, Jae-min leisurely made his way down to the incinerator, going against the flow of students rushing to their classrooms. The incinerator, which was being demolished, looked empty with its slate walls gone.

Hidden in the shadow of the school wall, Jae-min reached into his bag for cigarettes. However, instead of the rectangular cigarette pack, only round spheres met his palm.

“What? Where did the cigarettes go?”

When he couldn’t find the cigarettes no matter how much he searched, he turned the bag upside down and shook it. The hard-earned cigarettes were gone, and only lollipops spilled out. It was obvious who had done this. Not in the mood for candy, Jae-min squatted down. As he was picking up the candies to put them back in his bag, a surge of annoyance made him throw them down. The candies that hit the dirt ground bounced away.

“That annoying Song Yi-heon bastard…”

This candy was charity. In Song Yi-heon’s new manner of speaking, it was sympathy given to a young kid who smokes without regard for his health. Song Yi-heon would probably take a cigarette from a passing stray dog and give it candy instead. To him, Hong Jae-min and a stray dog were on the same level.

Perhaps Jae-min might even be worse than a stray dog. As memories of cornering Song Yi-heon in the incinerator and beating him surfaced, Jae-min turned his head away as if to avoid them.

Hong Jae-min spotted his gang members coming to the incinerator. With half the gang torn apart, they didn’t see each other as often as last year, but happy to see them skipping class just like him, Hong Jae-min waved.

“You’re here.”

The gang members, who had been joking around as they approached, hesitated upon seeing Jae-min. There was a momentary awkward atmosphere, but then the gang gathered around Jae-min as if nothing was wrong.