GBH 107

While Song Yi-heon shouted angrily, he had all sorts of doubts – whether this was really something to run away from, why he was running when he just needed a moment apart from Se-kyung to think, but his hands and feet moved diligently regardless.

Ah, eek, ugh… screams erupted each time he pushed past students who didn’t understand the situation. Song Yi-heon roughly shoved students aside, squeezing through the gaps he created. He looked like someone who had mastered the technique of forcing his body through even the narrowest spaces.

In his days as a young gangster, when youth and physical strength were all he could rely on, being chased or chasing others was a common occurrence. Se-kyung couldn’t keep up with Song Yi-heon, who ran as if he had returned to those days of fleeing through narrow, winding market alleys as he ran away.

Se-kyung couldn’t break through the crowd, and the gap between them widened.

However, Se-kyung, well-known on campus, had quite a network. He shouted to a male student crossing Song Yi-heon’s path, “Seung-woo! Catch him!”

“Get out of the way!” Song Yi-heon shouted simultaneously to the same student.

“Huh? What?”

The student, suddenly caught in the crossfire, decided to follow Se-kyung’s instructions as they knew each other. As the student instinctively spread his arms to block, Song Yi-heon twisted his torso and raised his shoulder. He put his weight on his thin shoulder and collided with his torso, causing the male student to fall.

Surprised students cleared a path, but Se-kyung’s allies weren’t just one.

Another male student who had been watching the chase from the beginning waited for Song Yi-heon to pass, then pounced. Song Yi-heon, distracted by clearing his path forward and watching for Se-kyung behind, couldn’t avoid the arms coming from his blind spot.

“What the- Who are you?!”

Song Yi-heon twisted his upper body, trying to break free from the arms restraining him from behind. But the arms around his torso tightened, and a voice filled with triumph called out to Choi Se-kyung.

“I got him! I got him, Se-kyung!”

“Hey! Let go!”

“Se-kyung! Here! Over here!”

Song Yi-heon made a growling sound.  

The student who caught Song Yi-heon thought he had misheard. But it was indeed the sound Song Yi-heon made in his throat. The student who had been happily calling for Choi Se-kyung stiffly turned his neck. Song Yi-heon’s breath felt chillingly cold on the student’s skin as he turned to see who had caught him.

His eyes, as clear as if drawn with a pen, were close. So close that even the black lines in his light-colored irises were visible. In his sharp gaze, which were raised like serpent eyes, a silent storm raged.

Ah, I’ve messed up, he realized, but it was too late. The student, headbutted by Song Yi-heon, saw stars flash before his eyes, then felt a stinging pain spread across his nose bridge, followed by warm liquid flowing from both nostrils.

“Ugh…”

The student clutched his nose and staggered. Blood gushed from both nostrils under his hand.

Song Yi-heon considered giving the impudent interfering student another blow, but by then, Choi Se-kyung had drawn much closer.

“Song Yi-heon! Stop right there!”

“Tch, damn it.”

Song Yi-heon spat and blended back into the crowd of students. Now the students cleared a path on their own, and as he sprinted through, he came upon an open space.

It was an area set up by the newspaper club for a water balloon game. Behind a panel with a hole for the face, a student receiving punishment would stand while the winning student threw water balloons at the panel. The game, which had been progressing well, seemed to have paused momentarily due to the unexpected chase, but participants still held water balloons.

Song Yi-heon spotted a rubber tub filled with water balloons, quickly ran over, and gathered an armful. Then he started throwing them at Choi Se-kyung, who had just emerged from the crowd.

“Ugh…!”

His aim was good. The impact of water balloons hitting his torso with each throw prevented Se-kyung from approaching carelessly. It seemed like Song Yi-heon’s victory, but when Se-kyung spotted the panel with face holes, the tide turned. Song Yi-heon, following Se-kyung’s gaze, realized his intention and tried to interfere by throwing two or three water balloons at once, but the soaked Se-kyung managed to pull out the panel.

“Song Yi-heon, let’s talk!”

“Choi Se-kyung, you crazy bastard! Cut it out!”

The water balloons burst loudly against the panel, but they couldn’t harm Se-kyung, who was approaching with the panel as a shield. Realizing the water balloons were ineffective, Song Yi-heon threw the few remaining ones all at once and fled.

Pop, pop, pop! 

The water balloons burst like game sound effects.

“Song Yi-heon!”

“Don’t come!”

A desperate call and a scream echoed through the clear autumn sky.

“Yi-heon!”

Song Yi-heon increased his speed, fueled by the desperate calls. If Se-kyung’s calls were spears, Song Yi-heon was sprinting at full force to avoid the spearhead trying to pierce his back. It was a chase. Like creditor and debtor, police and gangster, hero and demon king, love and war…

The line of club booths seemed endless. If he was tired now, he’d be caught. Glancing over his shoulder, Song Yi-heon saw the madness in Choi Se-kyung’s pursuit and leapt over a table in one fluid motion. Students on the other side scattered in shock.

“Ahhh!”

“Song Yi-heon!”

Landing on the seller’s side, Song Yi-heon swept items off the table towards Se-kyung in a counterattack. Bookmarks and book displays carefully crafted by the literature club members rained down on Se-kyung. Shielding his face with his arm to avoid sharp corners, Se-kyung squinted to locate the panting Song Yi-heon.

While Choi Se-kyung might have the advantage in strength and build, he couldn’t match Song Yi-heon’s agility and quickness. Unable to vault the table like Song Yi-heon, Se-kyung reached across, trying to grab him.

Song Yi-heon bent his willow-like waist backwards to avoid Se-kyung’s hands. His abdomen and buttocks clenched tight to keep from falling backwards. Se-kyung’s hand barely missed, grazing above Song Yi-heon. A shiver ran down Song Yi-heon’s spine at the close call.

“Ah, sh-!”

Dodging Se-kyung’s arm, Song Yi-heon straightened and grabbed the table edge to flip it, but the heavy table didn’t budge. After narrowly avoiding Se-kyung’s second lunge, Song Yi-heon abandoned the table and chose to run.

“Yi-heon! Hey! Song Yi-heon!”

Song Yi-heon, stretching his long legs like a deer, quickly left the sports field and passed through the school gates. Though Se-kyung called until his throat was sore, Song Yi-heon, now a small dot beyond the gate, never looked back. He ran desperately, disappearing down the slope below the horizon.

Thus, the one who had turned the festival upside down escaped the scene.

* * *

Late that night, Song Yi-heon, who had fled straight home from the festival, shut himself in his room and wouldn’t come out. Skipping dinner, he lay motionless in the darkness. The pitch-black room, with blackout curtains drawn, mirrored his burnt-out inner state and his bleak prospects for school tomorrow.

His mind raced: Why did he run away in such a panic when he could have just lied about not liking Se-kyung? How could he show up at school tomorrow? He’d left the festival in chaos. How could he face Choi Se-kyung? What if Kim Yeon-ji found out he liked Choi Se-kyung?

His throbbing, complicated thoughts eventually gave way to numbness. Song Yi-heon buried his face in his pillow. A silent scream spread into the pillowcase.

His phone’s screen lit up again, set to silent mode after too many rings. The blue light briefly illuminated the ceiling before fading to darkness. Knowing it was likely Choi Se-kyung’s persistent attempts to contact him, Song Yi-heon didn’t even try to plug in the charger.

He didn’t stir even when there was a knock from outside.

“Yi-heon-ssi.” When there was no answer from inside, the housekeeper spoke through the door crack. “Se-kyung-ssi is here.”

‘That bastard actually came to the house…’ 

Song Yi-heon bolted upright, fearing Choi Se-kyung might barge in, but the closed door remained quiet.

“I told him to come in, but he says he just wants to drop off your school bag and wait outside.”

Even after delivering the message, the housekeeper lingered by the quiet door.

“Oh my, it’s getting chilly at night these days. I hope he doesn’t catch a cold…”

The muttering at the door crack carried the pressure for Song Yi-heon to quickly go out and prevent Se-kyung from catching cold. Knowing the fox-like Choi Se-kyung had long since won over the housekeeper with his pretty smile and polite manner, and that she would keep fretting about the neglected Se-kyung if left alone, Song Yi-heon couldn’t hold out any longer.

It was impossible to know the limits of Choi Se-kyung’s tightening siege.

As the iron joints of the front gate creaked open, Choi Se-kyung, who had been leaning against the wall, straightened up. Under the streetlight, Se-kyung’s under-eyes were dark from cleaning up the festival chaos Song Yi-heon had left behind. As he stepped down from the gate threshold, a strong musty smell wafted from the weary-looking Se-kyung.

“…”

Of the two stubbornly facing off, Se-kyung was the first to hold out Song Yi-heon’s bag. As Song Yi-heon warily grasped the bag strap from the seemingly impassive Se-kyung, Se-kyung suddenly yanked on the short strap.

Stumbling forward a couple steps, Song Yi-heon was pushed against the wall as Se-kyung spread his legs. When Song Yi-heon tried to slip away sideways from between the wall and Se-kyung, Se-kyung blocked him with a hand on the wall, casting his shadow over Song Yi-heon.

Trapped again between Choi Se-kyung and a wall, Song Yi-heon gritted his teeth and vowed to grow taller out of spite and disgust. 

Se-kyung gazed at the teeth-grinding Song Yi-heon and said, “You like me.”

It wasn’t a question. Se-kyung had already concluded the reason for Song Yi-heon’s desperate attempt to flee. He came to find Song Yi-heon not to ask for an answer, but to confirm.

When Song Yi-heon turned his head away, exercising his right to remain silent, Se-kyung’s palm suddenly covered Song Yi-heon’s heart.

“Hey…!”

As Song Yi-heon panicked and tried to remove it, Se-kyung pressed against him with his lower body.