GBH 52

As Kim Deuk-pal placed his leg on Se-kyung’s thigh, he habitually grabbed and massaged it. They say if a favor continues, it becomes a right. As Se-kyung continued to massage without complaint whenever he suffered from growing pains, Kim Deuk-pal brazenly stretched out his leg. While Kim Deuk-pal’s shameless leg-raising was problematic, Se-kyung’s wordless massaging each time was equally problematic. What started as leg massages only in the study room had now become a practice regardless of time and place.

“You’re really good at this…”

As his strong hands precisely kneaded the sore spots, Kim Deuk-pal sprawled out on his chair. Even though he had never asked his subordinates for massages during his gangster days, for some reason, Se-kyung’s message was addictive and irresistible.

Enjoying Se-kyung’s hand strength, Kim Deuk-pal tilted his head back as a shadow fell over him. Hong Jae-min stood with one leg crossed, nodding towards the door.

“Yi-heon, let’s go out.”

“Where?”

Jae-min was at a loss for words. He had suggested going out because he didn’t like seeing Se-kyung monopolizing and handling Yi-heon as he pleased, but he had no specific destination in mind. However, backing down now felt like losing to Se-kyung, so Jae-min wracked his brain. Then, remembering the sense of camaraderie they shared when sitting at the incinerator, isolated from the world, he asked:

“…Want to skip class?”

“Jae-min, go. Go sit in your seat. You need to get your high school diploma.”

But the comfort and appeal of the incinerator was Jae-min’s personal sentiment, and Yi-heon flatly refused. Yi-heon waved his hand as if shooing away a fly, then lowered the leg Se-kyung had finished massaging and placed his other leg on his thigh. He then closed his eyes and folded his arms, completely ignoring Jae-min, which angered him.

“Hey, you only drag me to the incinerator when you feel like it, but when I suggest going, you refuse…!”

“If you’re dragging someone to the incinerator, what else could it be but to beat them up?”

Kim Deuk-pal pointed out, tilting his head back again. Jae-min, intimidated, spoke in a submissive tone.

“…I won’t hit you. Let’s go. I have something to say.”

“Say it here.”

Too lazy to move, Kim Deuk-pal sprawled out, perching on the edge of his chair. Jae-min, wanting to steal him away from Se-kyung, persisted.

“Hey, let’s go out.”

“Where’s the broom?”

As Jae-min kept pushing, Kim Deuk-pal looked for a broom. Whenever Jae-min created a tense atmosphere in the classroom, it was Kim Deuk-pal who chased him with a broom. As he pretended to look for a broom, Jae-min instinctively flailed to avoid the non-existent broom.

At that moment, laughter mocking Jae-min’s appearance was heard. Se-kyung, who had been obediently massaging legs, apologized when attention turned to him.

“Ah, sorry.”

His tone suggested he wasn’t sorry at all. He didn’t even pretend to cover his mouth where the laughter had escaped. Though his eyes were modestly lowered, his lips were curved – anyone could see he was laughing at Jae-min’s flailing. Se-kyung half-raised his long lashes to look at Jae-min with eyes full of mockery.

Until then, Jae-min had tried to hold back. Having thrown a book at Se-kyung yesterday, he knew further violence would be hard to handle. Jae-min had that much sense.

“Does your ankle not hurt?”

However, Se-kyung worriedly asked while caressing Yi-heon’s bare ankle. This display of familiarity naturally reminded Jae-min of yesterday’s incident in the library. If Jae-min had boasted of fake closeness yesterday, Se-kyung was now casually touching Yi-heon’s bare skin as if they were truly close.

The combination of being laughed at and the resentment from the library incident fueled Jae-min’s anger, causing him to breathe heavily with flared nostrils. Unable to hit Se-kyung, he instead kicked out wildly to vent his frustration.

“Aish, sh-!”

“Ahh!”

Unfortunately, one of the chair legs Kim Deuk-pal was sitting on was in the way. As a result, Kim Deuk-pal, who had been precariously perched on the edge of his seat, fell and landed hard on his backside. With his long legs still on Se-kyung’s lap and only his bottom hitting the floor, Kim Deuk-pal found himself in a comical ‘ㄴ’ shape. 

“Are you crazy?”

He got up, rolling up his sleeves. Seemingly unwilling to forgive the sudden attack, the knuckles on his clenched fist stood out. However, the real spectacle was Se-kyung’s reaction.

“Yi-heon, you should hold back.”

Se-kyung grabbed Yi-heon’s thin wrist to stop him. After provoking Jae-min and seeing him lose his temper, he acted as if nothing had happened. Jae-min, who had rarely experienced such cunning behavior, lacked immunity and became even more agitated.

“That bastard laughed at me first…!”

“Friends in the same class can laugh a bit, can’t they? You’re causing trouble because you can’t handle that?”

“Can’t you see he’s still laughing now?”

As Kim Deuk-pal looked down, Se-kyung changed his expression. In an instant, he withdrew his mocking smile and put on a kind face. Only Jae-min, who had witnessed the entire seamless change of expression from across, was left fuming. Yi-heon bluntly took Se-kyung’s side.

“This is just how he laughs.”

“Oh dear, it seems Jae-min doesn’t like my laugh. He even threw a book at me yesterday.”

When Se-kyung tattled to Yi-heon about yesterday’s library incident, conveniently omitting his own threats, Jae-min was infuriated. All along, Jae-min had been the victim, but as Se-kyung smiled bitterly, he shouted in indignation.

“You deserved it, you sly fox!”

“Are you bullying people again?”

Hearing that Jae-min, with his history of school violence, had thrown a book, Yi-heon’s knuckles began to protrude, but Se-kyung stopped him.

“It’s okay, Yi-heon. Let it go. Jae-min must have had a reason for throwing the book.”

Speaking self-deprecatingly as if hurt, Se-kyung rested his forehead on Yi-heon’s wrist. Seeing his leaning weakly, looking quite pitiful, Yi-heon even allowed Se-kyung to wrap his arms around his waist. After the massages, the two had become more comfortable with physical contact.

While resting his head on Yi-heon’s waist, Se-kyung maintained eye contact with Jae-min. It was both a display of his close relationship with Yi-heon and an expression of superiority towards Jae-min, implying that he could never be this close to Yi-heon.

Se-kyung raised the corners of his mouth and provocatively nuzzled his forehead against Yi-heon’s waist. It was an action Jae-min, entangled in school violence, could never do with Yi-heon. It was so blatant that even the unrefined Jae-min shuddered.

“Y-you…!”

Jae-min, heating up like a boiling kettle, couldn’t control his temper and left the classroom, kicking wildly. Among those remaining, Kim Deuk-pal circled his index finger at his temple in disbelief.

“That crazy bastard.”

“I know. Jae-min’s acting strange, Yi-heon.”

As if he had nothing to do with the situation, Se-kyung spoke with feigned innocence, extending his words while hugging Yi-heon’s waist tighter. It was only after Jae-min had left the classroom that Kim Deuk-pal told his to let go, saying it was disgusting.

* * *

Kim Deuk-pal’s favorite subject in social studies was ‘Politics and Law’. True to its name, ‘Politics and Law’ was a subject that taught the basic ideologies and concepts of politics, as well as the fundamentals of law. It was the only subject where Kim Deuk-pal could achieve excellent grades without much studying.

Of course, it wasn’t because he had an exceptional talent for politics and law. Kim Deuk-pal didn’t know that the knowledge he had acquired unofficially – from countless political gossip sheets he read as a gangster, civil law he looked into after being scammed out of a deposit as a young gangster, and criminal law he picked up from frequent visits to the police station after fights – would shine in the ‘Politics and Law’ subject.

Because he had experienced these things firsthand, they were easy to understand and remember without separate memorization, making studying easier.

So normally, he would have focused with hawk-like eyes during Politics and Law class, but today his gaze was unfocused and he wasn’t in good shape at all. Kim Deuk-pal forcibly widened his eyelids as they kept closing from drowsiness. It was tiring enough studying late into the night, but after the men sent by Lee Mi-kyung invaded his home, he had been on edge and couldn’t sleep properly. Even the great Kim Deuk-pal was finding it hard to endure.

As he was trying his best to stay awake, a soft cloth covered his nose and mouth. The large, warm hand cupping the back of his neck and covering his philtrum made Kim Deuk-pal unconsciously lean into it. Smelling the fresh floral scent from the handkerchief, he realized it was Se-kyung’s.

“Teacher, I think Yi-heon needs to go to the infirmary.”

Kim Deuk-pal felt the handkerchief covering his mouth becoming damp. Looking down, he saw spots of nosebleed staining the textbook spread out below.

The teacher, who had been reading the parts to be underlined in the textbook, lowered it with a surprised look.

“Oh my, Song Yi-heon. Why the nosebleed? Go quickly.”

“Yes, uh…”

Kim Deuk-pal, surprised by the nosebleed he was experiencing for the first time in his life, answered in a nasal voice.

Song Yi-heon’s body was on the weaker side, so Kim Deuk-pal had been enduring through willpower. The nosebleed that burst after enduring to his limit quickly stained the handkerchief red. Seeing that it wasn’t something that could be dealt with by just bleeding a bit in the bathroom and wiping it off, the teacher gestured for him to go quickly, wearing a pitying expression.

“That’s a lot of blood. Se-kyung, you take him to the infirmary.”

“Yes.”

Se-kyung supported Yi-heon, making sure he didn’t tilt his head back. As the two left the classroom matching Yi-heon’s pace, the Politics and Law teacher, who had been looking at them pitifully, continued reading the textbook.

Although the teacher had clearly told Se-kyung to take him to the infirmary and come back, Se-kyung didn’t return to the classroom even after the Politics and Law period ended.

Hong Jae-min, sitting at the very end of the fourth row, nervously shook his crossed leg while glaring at the empty seats of Song Yi-heon and Choi Se-kyung side by side. He shouldn’t have cared whether that sly fox Se-kyung came back or not, but Jae-min grew restless when he left with Yi-heon and didn’t return. Finally, unable to bear it any longer, he went down to the infirmary during break time.

In the infirmary, a student in gym clothes was showing a scraped knee, and the school nurse was applying medicine to it. When Jae-min burst in without knocking, the nurse, holding a cotton swab, asked:

“Who is it? Are you hurt somewhere?”

“…I came to find a friend.”

Jae-min gave an awkward half-bow, neither quite a greeting nor not, and went to the opposite side of the partition. He searched for Yi-heon among the beds placed at regular intervals. Each time he peered between the partitions like an intruder, the sick students lying down were startled, but Jae-min resolutely checked all the beds without apologizing.

At the last bed, next to the window in the innermost part, Jae-min’s eyes widened.

Under the white curtains billowing in the wind, Choi Se-kyung was kissing Song Yi-heon.