GBH 44
by EmerlynAfter being absent for several days, Choi Se-kyung returned to school, where his classmates, now aware of his situation, offered belated condolences. Since then, he attended classes, ate meals, and studied, with days passing like a squirrel’s spinning wheel. As early June approached, the early heat of summer arrived. Students who felt the heat wore light clothing to school. On the day Kim Deuk-pal saw students dressed in light clothing, he rushed home after school to rummage through his wardrobe.
He found the summer uniform he wore last year and tried it on, but it was so small that he wondered how he even managed to wear it back then. He knew he had grown taller, but the pants were so short that his ankles were fully exposed, and perhaps because of his workouts, his chest had broadened, making it difficult to button the shirt without tugging hard on both sides.
After barely managing to put on the uniform, Kim Deuk-pal spun around in front of the full-length mirror. Kim Deuk-pal decisively discarded them and bought a new school uniform from the uniform store. Wearing a perfectly fitting uniform, with long sleeves and a slender neckline showing, he exuded a vibrant vitality reminiscent of early summer.
At lunchtime, cheers erupted on the sports field. Amidst shouts of “Block Song Yi-heon! Steal the ball!”
“What are you doing? Catch Song Yi-heon!”
It might seem ridiculous to put so much effort into a lunchtime soccer game, but if they don’t participate, it would be difficult to stop Class 1 of the third-year’s relentless lose streak.
It was all because of that Song Yi-heon. Since Song Yi-heon joined, class 1 of the 3rd grade had come from a losing streak to winning the preliminary rounds, advancing to the decisive match.
A boy from the opposing team extended his leg to tackle and intercept the soccer ball. His desperate tackle kicked up a cloud of dust. Song Yi-heon appeared to stagger at first glance. This gave the opposing team a faint hope. However, when Song Yi-heon leaped over the tackled leg amidst the dust, their astonishment turned to disbelief. But there was no time to be surprised.
“Song Yi-heon, receive!”
A teammate who had received the ball passed it back to Song Yi-heon, who jumped and kicked the soccer ball with all his strength. The ball flew straight toward the goal. The captain of the opposing team screamed with desperation.
“Block the goal!”
Defenders and attackers alike crowded the goal line, but they were a step too late to catch the soaring ball. The soccer ball brushed the goalkeeper’s fingertips and lodged into the goal net. It was a goal.
“Yaaahhh!”
The boys of Class 1 raised their fists in triumph and rushed toward Song Yi-heon, cheering.
After playing soccer under the scorching sun and getting drenched in sweat, the kids took over the water fountain area. Even after splashing water on their faces, the heat didn’t subside, so they dunked their heads under the faucet to cool off. Unable to properly dry themselves, they either shook their wet hair or wiped themselves with the bottom of their T-shirts. Song Yi-heon casually took off his white shirt. His body, with lean muscles not bulked up through professional dieting but honed through occasional workouts, highlighted under the hot sunlight.
“Wow, look at Song Yi-heon’s muscles.”
The boys gathered in admiration, but Yi-heon’s physique wasn’t extraordinarily muscular; it just looked good due to his natural proportions.
“Did you bulk up your shoulders?”
“Did you go to the gym or do boxing? How did you get like this?”
“Where did you go? Let’s go together. I’ll focus on my exams and build my body.”
Ignoring their questions, Yi-heon grabbed a hose from the tap and tossed it to a nearby boy.
“Splash some water. You know how to cool down?”
“How could I not know? I used to do it when I was a kid in the countryside. It’s been about ten years. Lie down.”
As he was about to lie down, thinking that it sounded like the kind of bravado you’d expect from someone with a ten-year-old unused driver’s license, a whistle rang out.
“Hey, look at that flexible waist, mister.”
“Song Yi-heon, what are you doing stripped down like that?”
A chorus of playful, exaggerated voices imitating a sleazy tone erupted from above the faucet area. It was a group of girls from the same class. They each held a snack, having apparently just returned from the school store. Even Choi Se-kyung, who had opted out of the soccer game because he didn’t want to sweat, was among them.
If he had been there, they would have won more easily. While Song Yi-heon regretted not having Se-kyung on the team and resolved to recruit him for the next match, the girls settled down by the water fountain in earnest.
“Song Yi-heon’s body is amazing.”
“Isn’t it? You girls might not know this, but this kind of muscle is really hard to build.”
As the girls gathered around, admiring, the boys puffed up with pride as if it were their own bodies being praised, using Song Yi-heon as their frontman. They eagerly explained how impressive these muscles were, their hands freely roaming over Song Yi-heon’s upper body. In the background, Se-kyung’s eyebrows twitched.
A boy, eager to show off the biceps, raised Song Yi-heon’s arm, revealing a hairless armpit. When a finger pointed to his chest muscles accidentally brushed his nipple, Se-kyung’s smiling face contorted strangely. Though he smiled, his mouth looked stiff as he suppressed discomfort. Meanwhile, Song Yi-heon himself seemed completely unbothered.
To Kim Deuk-pal, it looked like a bunch of baby chicks chirping together. He figured, let the kids have their fun—where else would they get to see a body like this? But the more they touched, the darker Se-kyu’s expression became.
“Yi-heon, are you really aiming for a sports scholarship student?”
“My friend is preparing for the Physical Education college entrance exam. Want me to introduce you to his academy?”
The conversation about admiring muscles shifted to university entrance exams. Only then did Yi-heon push away the hands groping his torso and show discomfort.
“Not everyone can get into a sports college. I’m just working out. You guys should work out too, instead of just talking about dieting all the time.”
“Why are we talking about dieting here?”
“Song Yi-heon, that’s crossing the line.”
Already stressed about the weight they’d gained from sitting and studying, the girls’ faces turned serious when Song Yi-heon made his remark.
“No, I mean, I think it’s cute and healthy-looking, but you’re the ones who keep complaining about gaining weight—”
“Cute and healthy? Complaining?””
Song Yi-heon stammered, trying to explain himself, but the mood only grew more hostile. The boys, sensing the tension, slowly backed away, leaving Song Yi-heon to fend for himself.
Choi Se-kyung, who had been standing back without joining the conversation, watched the scene carefully and then tapped the shoulder of a nearby girl. Whispering into her ear, the girl smirked mischievously, glancing towards the boy holding the hose at the faucet.
“Hey, hey—”
“…?”
He covered her mouth with his palm so only he could see and mouthed something, glancing toward Song Yi-heon. The boy, catching on to the plan, smirked and aimed the hose. After exchanging signals, they turned on the faucet.
“Calm down and listen to me. I said you’re still pretty even if you gain weight—Ah! Hey! That’s cold!”
As Yi-heon tried to persuade the girls, cold water sprayed out unexpectedly. Startled, Yi-heon tried to dodge, but the stream of water followed him persistently. His futile attempts to avoid it made everyone burst into laughter at the faucet. Even Choi Se-kyung, who had watched Song Yi-heon get soaked without lifting a finger, smiled in satisfaction.
During the 10-minute break, Kim Deuk-pal had countless things he could do, but he mostly spent it at the convenience store. As soon as Song Yi-heon, a VIP customer, entered, the store lady waved him over, saying she had a new product. It was a plastic round container filled with ice cream.Intrigued by its new form, different from hard bars, choco pies, or cones, Kim Deuk-pal bought it on the spot.
Upon opening the lid, he saw finely shaved pink ice. Tilting the plastic cone like drinking a beverage, the shaved ice flowed into his mouth, and the peach flavor was surprisingly good. Enjoying the fact that his young teeth didn’t ache from the cold, Kim Deuk-pal deliberately chewed the ice.
Despite chewing on the ice, the heat persisted. What kind of school doesn’t turn on the air conditioning in the sweltering summer… Although it was only early June, and not quite midsummer, Kim Deuk-pal couldn’t help but wonder if it was just Song Yi-heon’s body that was particularly sensitive to heat. He flapped the hem of his summer shirt to cool off. Having soaked his T-shirt during lunchtime, he was only wearing the summer shirt, and as he fanned it, the cool breeze on his bare skin was a relief.
Feeling somewhat cooler, he headed to the classroom but felt odd glances from around him. Looking around, there were only students heading their own ways. Wondering if he was just being paranoid, he scratched the back of his head and suddenly lifted his chin to look up. Indeed, on the upper floor staircase, Choi Se-kyung was leaning on the railing, looking down at him.
“What are you looking at?”
Feeling awkwardly observed, Kim Deuk-pal muttered as he went upstairs. Se-kyung came down, meeting him at the stairwell. Smiling ambiguously, he suddenly remarked,
“Pink.”
“Yeah, it’s delicious.”
Usinga phrase often used by Kim Yeon-ji to describe flavor, Kim Deuk-pal offered the ice cream cup. However, Se-kyung’s gaze was not on the ice cream but on Song Yi-heon’s chest.
“Wanna try a bite? You can have some.”
“Later.”
“Later? It’ll be gone by then.”
Wondering why he said he’d eat it later, knowing it would melt, he pushed the cup towards him, but then noticed something that made his eyes widen. To be precise, he wasn’t looking at the ice cream but at Se-kyung’s finger pressing down on his nipple.
“…What are you doing?”
“Your nipple is greeting me.”
Se-kyung pressed down on the protruding nipple with his index finger, as if ringing a doorbell, and then walked away. Kim Deuk-pal looked down through the gap in his shirt, which had been flapping to create a breeze. Realizing that Se-kyung had pressed his nipple again and what “pink” referred to, the heat of embarrassment flushed his face once again.
“Hey, what the…!”
The “pink” wasn’t the ice cream but Song Yi-heon’s nipple. When Se-kyung reached for the other nipple, Kim Deuk-pal swatted his hand away with a fist, and Se-kyung just shrugged.
“You told me not to hold back.”
“But still, you can’t just go around pressing someone’s nipple without warning. You’re lucky I’m a guy; if I were a girl, you’d have gotten slapped and dragged to the police.”
“Good thing, then. The person I want to press a nipple belongs to a guy.”
“What?”
Despite Kim Deuk-pal’s warning gaze, Se-kyung finally revealed his long-awaited intention.
“Don’t let anyone see.”
Was he talking about exposing himself at school? Or was there a girl from the water faucet earlier that he liked? Curious about his reason, Kim Deuk-pal looked at him skeptically, but Se-kyung simply repeated his request.
“I’d prefer it if you didn’t show anyone else.”
Thinking that revealing he wanted to keep it all to himself might scare off the fake Song Yi-heon, Choi Se-kyung sealed his lips with a bright smile. The time wasn’t right yet. He was waiting for the moment when the fake Song Yi-heon couldn’t escape.
In the study room shared with Se-kyung, Kim Deuk-pal unusually turned up the air conditioner. The grades written on his mock exam report card were nothing short of terrifying. With the college entrance exam just five months away, the numbers on the report card were like a horror show. The chill of anxiety made the room feel even colder.