BHB 34

“Taegang, did you ask your mother by any chance?”

Lee Myungchan cautiously asked after the end-of-day homeroom. Taegang glanced at Myungchan with a face that showed no recollection.

“I mean, about whether we could do tutoring together…”

“…”

“Don’t worry about the money! My dad works for a big company. We live in X Castle too! You know it, right? The most expensive in this neighborhood.”

As Myungchan rattled off information that hadn’t been asked for, Taegang blinked quietly before finally recalling their previous conversation.

“I don’t think it’ll work out.”

“Huh…? Why…?”

“Are you close to me?”

“…What?”

“I’m asking if you’re close enough to me to be coming in and out of my house.”

At the blunt words, Myungchan was left dumbfounded with his mouth open. Taegang looked at him impassively. Responding politely was fine once or twice, but he didn’t want to tolerate persistent behavior.

“…Haha… I, I see.”

Myungchan swallowed his pride and laughed awkwardly.

“I guess it was burdensome for you… Sorry. I just thought it would be good if we studied together…”

As Myungchan continued with what sounded like excuses, Taegang realized the conversation was over and finished packing his bag. But the other party didn’t seem to think it was over, as he glanced at Taegang’s mood and carefully opened his mouth again.

“Then, do you want to exchange practice questions with me?”

“…”

“Our academy just created a special class. Gathering only the top students…!”

“…”

“So the academy director gave us special practice questions…”

“…”

“I thought it might be good if we could exchange them…”

Taegang let out a deep sigh before Myungchan could finish speaking.

Parasites existed everywhere. Myungchan probably already felt threatened by the mention of private tutoring and was envious. Taegang had already noticed him sneaking glances at his practice questions before.

The tutors assigned to each subject were experts in their fields. They were top-class instructors who specialized in Korean medical school admissions and mostly taught high school seniors. With his mother’s connections as the head of a law firm, nothing was impossible. He could even have a Korean law school professor sit as his tutor.

“Do you know how much that costs?”

“Huh?”

“The real thug is someone like you.”

Taegang clicked his tongue as if talking to himself and turned away. It wasn’t just Myungchan. All the so-called gifted students in the school were the same. They were like parasites, always on the lookout for any scraps of opportunity.

On his way out of the classroom, he saw Han Yeowon’s back as he was noisily goofing around with his group. With a basketball in hand and an empty bag carelessly slung over his shoulder, his retreating figure looked free. Taegang followed behind. One of the nameless group members put their arm around Yeowon’s shoulder in a friendly manner. Yeowon laughed and chatted without showing any sign of discomfort.

Suddenly, Taegang had a feeling that Yeowon would never approach him to talk first again. A vague thought rushed over him that Yeowon would move in the completely opposite direction from him and never look back. Yeowon was a guy who had no regrets. Not in studies, money, or friends.

Taegang stared intently at Yeowon going in a different direction after leaving the school gate first, then turned his steps. Seeing that he wasn’t going in the direction of home, it seemed he was sneaking off somewhere again. Taegang dutifully walked on. The chauffeur was already waiting in front of the school gate. Suddenly, the sight of the chauffeur standing like a totem pole made him feel nauseous.

Why was that? He had always lived this way. He wore his school uniform shirt buttoned up to the neck and dressed neatly without a single wrinkle. He had been devoted to studying since he learned to read Korean. Striving to improve his grades was a natural part of daily life, but at some point, his throat began to feel constricted.

Even though he fully understood that his duty was to grow up smart, upright, neat, and clever, suddenly, at some point, the chauffeur his mother had assigned, the expensive top-notch instructors, the workbooks that were all about scoring points, and even the common report cards were all choking him. It wasn’t simply stress from academic pressure. It was anxiety and unease. Yeowon’s casual side profile that crossed his vision every day, his back that always disappeared without regret, plunged Taegang into an endless abyss.

Intense emotions swirled. This is how it always was when he thought about Han Yeowon. He was like an impurity in Taegang’s life, yet he made Taegang yearn more than anyone else, and he was the one who made Taegang the most contradictory in the world.

**

Taegang was living each day with the mindset of enduring. It was fortunate that he didn’t often encounter his busy mother and father. Yet, Taegang secretly guessed. If his mood twisted and went awry, he didn’t know what he might do. Fearing his patience with Han Yeowon might be misdirected, he just endured day by day.

The newly changed homeroom teacher’s attitude began to shift. Consequently, the level of interest in Taegang also started to rise. As evidence, he was called to the teachers’ office as soon as he arrived at school. The homeroom teacher asked with a bright smile if Taegang had any difficulties and which high school he was considering for further studies.

After wasting 20 minutes on useless talk, as Taegang was about to leave the office, two students in unkempt uniforms who were being scolded by another teacher left before him. As Taegang followed them out, just as he was about to withdraw his indifferent gaze, he hesitated upon hearing an unexpected name.

“Fuck, this is all because of that bastard Han Yeowon.”

One particularly delinquent-looking guy spoke menacingly.

“Ah shit. Should we just beat that bastard up? He’s been acting up a lot lately anyway.”

“I heard his family’s rich, so I tried being friendly with him…”

“We just extorted a bit of money from him, and now he’s snitching, that fucking bastard.”

“Fuck, it’s not like we extorted money from him directly, so why is he making such a fuss? Ah, that son of a bitch, hey, let’s call some seniors and really stomp him.”

Judging from the conversation, it seemed that Han Yeowon had reported their misconduct to a teacher. They were now fired up about how to get revenge.

“When? Today?”

“Let’s ask the seniors first.”

“Do we really need to call the seniors?”

“That bastard is tall. I saw him before, he seems to know how to fight a bit.”

“Are you scared? Fuck. If you’re scared, why are you talking about stomping him? Hey, let’s just call him to the bathroom after school today.”

“The bathroom?”

“Yeah, let’s lock him up and beat the shit out of him.”

The voices chattering and giggling sounded like tremendous noise to Taegang.

“Bastards like that need to get beaten up to come to their senses.”

“Oh, is that possible?”

“Absolutely possible. I’ll make that bastard piss himself just hearing my name, I swear.”

“I heard his family’s rich, is it okay?”

“What good is money when he doesn’t have parents around?”

“What do you mean?”

“Their house is like a hangout for the kids in class 3. Why do you think? It’s possible because his parents are never home.”

“Still, I heard his house is really nice.”

“Ah, fuck. If you’re envious, why don’t you go kiss his ass too?”

“Hey, who said that? I’m just saying… Anyway, are we doing it today?”

“Yeah. Get someone to call him over.”

“Okay.”

Of the two having this lowbrow conversation, one headed to the classroom, while the other stopped and gestured for his companion to go in first. It was the student who was bragging about perfectly executing their planned scheme.

“I’m gonna have a smoke before I go in.”

Taegang found himself unconsciously following the guy as he walked towards the corridor leading to the back of the school. Taegang had never been in a proper fight before. He was just taller and naturally bigger than his peers. He usually avoided unsightly acts like fighting.

“Ah, fuck… I don’t have a light.”

The guy muttered lowly as he searched his pockets while heading outside. And the moment he turned around, Taegang blocked his path.

“What the…”

The guy looked up at Taegang, who was standing like a telephone pole, wrinkling his face fiercely. Taegang quietly looked down at him and suddenly clenched his fist and planted it squarely in his own face.

With a thud, Taegang hit his own face hard enough to rattle his molars and draw blood from his lip. The guy momentarily lost his senses at the sight of Taegang doing this. He blinked in bewilderment, looking at Taegang as if he were crazy. Despite committing such an act, Taegang calmly opened his mouth.

“You hit me first.”

At these absurd words, the guy responded with a face as if he had seen a ghost.

“What the hell are you talking about, you crazy bastard… Hey, are you insane?”

The guy let out a hollow laugh as if he had seen something funny, twirling his finger near his temple as he spoke. Taegang roughly grabbed the collar of the shirt the guy was wearing sloppily. The guy’s eyes widened at the sudden, brutal force, and he burst out:

“Wh-what are you doing?! Let go of this!”

But his body was already being dragged, and despite his struggles, the strength was too much to resist. Being dragged somewhere like a bolt from the blue, the guy punched Taegang’s arm and clawed at it with his nails, but to no avail. He was eventually dragged to the bathroom at the end of the corridor.

The corridor and bathroom were silent without a soul, as the class bell had already rung. After dragging the guy into the bathroom, Taegang shoved him into the farthest stall as if throwing him.

“Wh-what is this! What the fuck are you doing right now!”

Taegang wiped the blood flowing from his mouth with the back of his hand. Then he closed the bathroom door, diligently locked it, and spoke calmly.

“What am I doing?”

Then he clenched the fist that had hit his own face again.

“Locking you up and beating the shit out of you.”