BHB 72

Yeowon quietly observed Yoo Kyungcheol, who was courting Jeon Chaemin, as he pushed up his horn-rimmed glasses that were sliding down. The noonas’ words were accurate. Such types make presumptuous advances regardless of the target.

Jeon Chaemin was trying to avoid the situation with a slightly fearful expression. Of course, his attempts to escape were futile as Yoo Kyungcheol kept blocking his way. Jeon Chaemin was a bit shorter than the already small Yoo Kyungcheol. Despite being a man, he seemed infinitely small like a herbivore. They faced off for quite a long time.

“Why didn’t you reply yesterday?”

Yoo Kyungcheol acted like an ex-boyfriend interrogating his lover. The red horn-rimmed glasses and half-styled hair were suspicious… but who knew he’d be this unhinged.

“I came all the way here because you weren’t answering my calls.”

Yeowon watched silently until his cigarette had burned down completely.

“So can’t we have a drink together?”

“… I’m with my friends. I’m sorry.”

“Ha, now you’re pretending not to know.” Yoo Kyungcheol stared at Jeon Chaemin with a suddenly cold expression. He looked just like a delusional patient.

“What…?”

“We drank until dawn that time, and I took you home. We even held hands then, why are you pretending not to remember?”

It was creepy, but to Yeowon’s eyes, he was just a naive idiot. But Jeon Chaemin was trembling, unable to move.

“…That time… sunbae, you suddenly…”

“Don’t tell me you think I’m doing this to you without knowing anything?” Yoo Kyungcheol pushed up his horn-rimmed glasses once more and smiled ominously. Then he grabbed Jeon Chaemin’s hesitating arm and roughly pulled him. 

Jeon Chaemin stumbled and crashed into Yoo Kyungcheol’s uncomfortably close body. 

Seeing his chance, Yoo Kyungcheol tightly embraced Jeon Chaemin and whispered, “I saw you coming out of a gay bar last year, you know.”

“…”

“Do, do all the school kids kn-know about this?” Jeon Chaemin looked beyond pale, on the verge of tears. 

He was clearly the type to get entangled in all sorts of trouble. 

Yeowon finally threw his cigarette butt on the ground and slowly walked over. Meddling was said to be a Korean trait. He was exactly like that. But it wasn’t a stranger, and seeing someone struggle so helplessly, it wouldn’t be right to just ignore it.

It couldn’t be helped. Even if it was this person, it was right to help someone in trouble. It bothered him that it was always Jeon Chaemin getting involved in these situations, but he wasn’t the type to ignore a small fry trying to take advantage of someone’s weakness for their own desires.

Yeowon slowly approached and took a clear photo with his phone camera of the situation where anyone could see Yoo Kyungcheol forcibly embracing Jeon Chaemin. 

Startled by the clear clicking sound, Yoo Kyungcheol turned his head towards Yeowon with a frightened face. “You… what are you doing?”

With the flash on, there was no way he didn’t know what Yeowon was doing. Yeowon looked at the pitifully embraced Jeon Chaemin as if annoyed, without answering. This was the second time. Getting involved because of Jeon Chaemin.

“What do you think? I got evidence of sexual harassment. Why, you bastard?” Yeowon spoke calmly and openly took more photos in succession. 

Yoo Kyungcheol panicked at Yeowon’s brazen camera-pointing and covered his face. “You son of a bitch…! Delete that right now! Don’t you know that’s a violation of portrait rights?!”

Yoo Kyungcheol flailed his arms, struggling against the flash, but Yeowon easily dodged and kept pressing the shutter. His floundering looked so stupid it wasn’t even fun to tease him.

“It’s always bastards like this who are so concerned about their own portrait rights.” Yeowon clicked his tongue and lightly pushed Yoo Kyungcheol’s shin, who was fumbling around unable to open his eyes properly. He fell face-first onto the ground like a paper doll. 

“Ugh!” Yoo Kyungcheol screamed as if he had been ganged up on by dozens of people, clutching his shin and rolling around on the asphalt parking lot.

After looking down at that pathetic sight, Yeowon turned his gaze to Jeon Chaemin. “Sunbae, you…”

Yeowon swallowed the rude words that were about to come out, as if frustrated, and instead let out a long, deep sigh. No matter how weak Jeon Chaemin was, he was still clearly a man. The fact that he couldn’t even stand up to someone who wasn’t as big as Choi Youngdoo or from some powerful family…

“Are you afraid of being found out?”

Of course, he couldn’t fully understand that fear, but… to tremble so much as if he was about to die.

“If you’re so scared that you can’t even move against a guy like that.”

“…”

“Why don’t you just quit?”

Of course, this might also be meddling, but he thought he could say this much after helping in a difficult situation. Above all, seeing Jeon Chaemin made him feel uncomfortable yet sympathetic at the same time, driving him crazy. The fact that he kept becoming the cause of fights between him and Taegang was also maddening. There was some venting of anger towards that as well.

Feeling pathetic himself, Yeowon scratched his head irritably and turned around. At that moment, a sharp sound pierced his ears. Instinctively feeling a chill down his spine, he turned back to see Yoo Kyungcheol approaching Jeon Chaemin with a box cutter. It was chilling how he still targeted the weaker one in this situation.

“Fucking sl-slut… You ended up falling for a bastard like that too? Huh?”

One arm of his red horn-rimmed glasses was broken and crooked. Beyond those glasses, half-crazed pupils were visible. He alternated between chuckling and breathing heavily, unable to control his actions as if he had exploded.

“Fuck… fucking bastards… bitches… all of them, like idiots, drooling over guys like that…”

Yeowon quickly approached and blocked Yoo Kyungcheol, who was blindly swinging the box cutter. Jeon Chaemin seemed equally shocked, unable to run away and just trembling on shaky legs.

“Wh-what’s so good about a guy like th-that…” Even while lunging, Yoo Kyungcheol kept ranting like a madman. 

Seeing that he was completely unhinged and might actually hurt someone, Yeowon struck Yoo Kyungcheol’s arm. However, the randomly swung blade was faster than his movement. Though it was just a stationery box cutter, the high speed made it roughly graze the back of his hand. The sensation of cut flesh was vivid.

Even the one who swung it like a madman seemed to feel the sensation of grazing flesh, as his movement hesitated for a moment. Yeowon first twisted the wrist holding the box cutter to make him drop it. Then he lightly kicked the fallen box cutter away and kicked Yoo Kyungcheol hard in the waist area.

Hit with a force completely different from before, Yoo Kyungcheol fell to the ground, unable even to scream this time, just gasping for air as he lay face down like a frog. When he tried to get up again like a zombie, Yeowon unhesitatingly kicked him in the solar plexus. He might have used a bit too much force, as Yoo Kyungcheol’s body twitches violently before going still. Yeowon turned slightly to check the face smashed into the ground and saw the whites of his eyes. Evidence that he had fainted.

Yeowon was about to kick the unconscious guy’s head again with all his might when he was stopped by Jeon Chaemin, who urgently approached. His face was even paler than when he was being threatened, his whole body trembling. Blankly, like someone who had lost all the light in the world, he carefully grasped Yeowon’s bleeding hand with his shaking hands. And soon, like someone who had lost his mind, he kept repeating the same words while crying.

“Oh no… What should I do… It’s because of me…” Large teardrops covered Jeon Chaemin’s face. He grasped Yeowon’s hand and wept bitterly. 

Yeowon, embarrassed by his seemingly shocked state, pulled his hand away and responded half-heartedly, “Ah, it’s okay.”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry… I’m sorry, Yeowon… What should I do.”

“I said it’s fine…”

His pupils seemed unfocused. He was even panting, as if severely shocked, which made Yeowon more flustered.

“The blood, the blood is flowing a lot, what should we do…? I’m really sorry… Because of me… This is why I…”

“I told you it’s okay. Stop it.”

Strictly speaking, it was the fault of the person who swung the knife, not something for Jeon Chaemin to sob and apologize for like this. Yeowon was more bewildered by Jeon Chaemin crying as if he had lost his country than by his own knife wound, leaving him at a loss for words.

He repeatedly told Jeon Chaemin that  he was fine to calm him down, but he didn’t seem to hear him at all. 

At that moment, unexpected words burst from Jeon Chaemin’s mouth as he cried as if she had lost consciousness. “I’m sorry… I’m sorry… I’m sorry because of me… Really, I’m sorry… Because I like you…”

“This is really starting to annoy… What?” Yeowon was about to snap back in irritation at Jeon Chaemin’s repetitive behavior but stopped short at the unexpected words.

“I’m sorry… Sorry for liking you… For making you like this… Because I couldn’t keep giving up…”

For a moment, he thought he had misheard, or that the person in front of him was confused and mistaking him for someone else, but that wasn’t the case. His name was mixed in with Jeon Chaemin’s repeated apologies. 

“Yeowon, I’m sorry… Sorry because of me… I like you…. Sorry for liking you….”

Jeon Chaemin kept repeating the same words as if broken, crying and crying.

At that moment, Yeowon wanted to faint. Due to the extreme fatigue that washed over him.