GBH 27

 A moment of silence passed, and then Hong Jae-min vehemently denied it.

“I don’t know anything about it! I didn’t do that…!”

However, no one was on Hong Jae-min’s side. Although they kept their mouths shut like clams out of fear of retaliation, most people didn’t believe Hong Jae-min’s claims of innocence, thinking ‘Of course, it had to be him.’

His desperate denials seemed convincing, but Hong Jae-min’s past actions made it hard to believe his proclaimed innocence. The claim that Hong Jae-min, who used to hit others and steal money without hesitation, didn’t commit theft sounded as absurd as saying “I drank but didn’t drive drunk.”

“It wasn’t me! Someone else put it in my bag! If I had put it in my bag, would I have let it be searched?!”

The classmates felt the same point Hong Jae-min made. However, they remained silent, unwilling to defend the school bully.

“You guys framed me!”

Despite Hong Jae-min’s frantic appeals, he failed to touch the hearts of his classmates. The students unanimously felt that Hong Jae-min could only come to his senses by experiencing being the victim himself. Some students even found his current situation satisfying.

Kim Deuk-pal, the only adult who hadn’t been directly wronged by Hong Jae-min, found the situation of labeling Jae-min as a thief distasteful. While he didn’t want to defend Hong Jae-min, he also didn’t want to let the real culprit, who framed him while hiding their identity, go unpunished.

Though the class avoided Hong Jae-min like avoiding dirty feces, he likely wouldn’t suddenly find himself in this predicament…. It must have been someone from another class, a thought flickered in Kim Deuk-pal’s mind as he considered who the culprit could be. He recalled the words Choi Se-kyung had spoken while gripping his shoulders with dilated pupils on the walking trail:

“People don’t change. They can be taught. They can act according to what they’ve learned, but their innate nature doesn’t change. When pushed into a corner, their true nature emerges.”

Just as Choi Se-kyung said, when pushed into a corner, Hong Jae-min’s innate nature surfaced. Hong Jae-min threw his bag and shouted. His nature was rough. While he expressively displayed joy or sadness, when angered, his eyes would roll back unnervingly. Hong Jae-min’s innate tendency was towards violence rather than conversation.

“Hick!”

At Hong Jae-min’s roaring outburst, the students retreated like the ebbing tide, and one who was too close got caught by him and yelped in pain. Hong Jae-min attacked with wild punches and kicks.

“Damn it, you! You framed me!”

“Ugh, no I didn’t…!”

“Hey, hey! Stop him! Grab Hong Jae-min!”

The boys rushed in and pulled the kid getting beaten away from Hong Jae-min. Even with his arms restrained and being dragged away, Hong Jae-min thrashed his limbs viciously.

“Damn it, I said it wasn’t me! How many times do I have to tell you! It wasn’t me!”

“Hold his leg!”

The boys swarmed like a hive of bees to subdue the raging Hong Jae-min, while Kim Deuk-pal remained still. Through the tangle of entangled boys, his gaze entwined with Choi Se-kyung guarding the back door, enveloping him like a vise. Se-kyung slightly raised the corners of his mouth, pleased by Kim Deuk-pal’s ardent stare, appearing unsurprised as if he had anticipated this chaos.

It was that bastard’s doing.

Kim Deuk-pal realized it intuitively. And that Choi Se-kyung’s petty trap was actually aimed at him, not Hong Jae-min. A person’s innate nature doesn’t change. Choi Se-kyung had used Hong Jae-min to remind him of that fact. And that he was not Song Yi-heon either.

Using Hong Jae-min, Choi Se-kyung had warned Kim Deuk-pal once again that he was not Song Yi-heon.

Kim Deuk-pal pressed his palms against his eyes. His chest heaved as if he were suppressing a dry cough.

That brat, using people like that.

“It wasn’t Hong Jae-min.”

The boys stopped in shock. Hong Jae-min also ceased his struggle and, restrained, turned to look at Song Yi-heon through the gap.

Sometimes, staying silent is the best course of action. If he had been the real Song Yi-heon, he would have stayed quiet and avoided such an incident. Or maybe he would have been happy. After all, Hong Jae-min was a bad guy who had tormented Song Yi-heon terribly. He would have been the happiest to see Hong Jae-min suffer unjustly and be ostracized by the class.

Intervening now would only arouse Choi Se-kyung’s suspicion and confirm that he wasn’t the real Song Yi-heon.

Kim Deuk-pal wasn’t sure if this was the right thing to do and felt sorry towards Song Yi-heon’s spirit, but he had no intention of being manipulated by Choi Se-kyung.

“I stole it and put it in the bag.”

Song Yi-heon lowered the hand covering his face, looking fierce enough to kill someone.

---

Choi Se-kyung’s phone rang around 11 p.m. He wasn’t surprised, as if expecting the sudden call. He closed his workbook and put on a light jacket. As his slippers approached the threshold, he spotted the baseball cap Kim Deuk-pal had bought for him. After staring at it for a moment, he seemed to ignore it, but he hadn’t taken more than a step outside his room before he returned and grabbed the cap.

All the household staff were Choi Myung-hyun’s eyes and ears. Choi Se-kyung muffled his footsteps to avoid being detected as he went downstairs.

The housekeeper had already locked up and gone to bed, leaving only the ambient lighting on the first floor. Instead of using the front door, Choi Se-kyung descended to the underground garage connected to the living room.

The garage had a shutter door for cars. By raising it from the inside, a narrow gap opened just big enough for a person to crawl through. Choi Se-kyung raised the shutter, bent down, and slipped out of the garage. Brushing his disheveled hair over his forehead, he put on the baseball cap, deepening the shadows around his eyes as he peered into the darkness.

The meeting place was a spring halfway up a mountain road. Under a lone streetlight stood a solitary boy, seated on a bench overlooking the city’s nightscape.Spotting the boy’s back in a hoodie with the collar sticking up, Choi Se-kyung paused before deliberately making noise as he approached.

“You came.”

Song Yi-heon stood up from the bench, turning his back to the nightscape. The faint neon glow from the distant city cast a sheen along the edges of his pale face dimly illuminated. A cool breeze ruffled his short brown hair like blades of grass.

Kim Deuk-pal walked around the bench to face Se-kyung standing under the streetlight. Their two shadows of differing lengths stretched out in parallel lines. From the heavy silence, Song Yi-heon’s low voice flowed out.

“I thought we had become quite close.”

“Did you want to warn me that I’m not Song Yi-hun by using Hong Jae-min?”

“…”

“Ha-.”

From Choi Se-kyung’s impassive gaze, without excuses or denials, Kim Deuk-pal confirmed his intuition had been accurate.

“So, what do you gain from this? Do you think I’ll tell you where Song Yi-heon is just because of this?”

“…”

Kim Deuk-pal clenched and unclenched his fist. As an uneducated and ignorant thug, the only way he knew to discipline was through words or fists. And Choi Se-kyung had gone beyond the reach of words.

“From now on, I’m going to beat you.”

“…”

“You know why you’re getting hit.”

Feeling a faint sense of betrayal for this young boy he’d grown attached to, he swallowed his emotions and gave a warning.

“Brace yourself. This will hurt.”

As Choi Se-kyung’s jaw tightened, Kim Deuk-pal raised his palm and struck. The blow was strong enough to make the tall Choi Se-kyung stagger. Without giving him a chance to regain his balance, he slapped Choi Se-kyung’s cheek again.

Smack, smack, smack! The steady rhythm of the slaps landed on the same spot with consistent force. Both Kim Deuk-pal’s hand and Choi Se-kyung’s cheek reddened, but neither complained of the pain.

Kim Deuk-pal’s hand began to go numb from the continuous slaps, and Choi Se-kyung staggered more with each blow.

“Vile brat.”

Despite the insult, Choi Se-kyung pressed his bleeding lip with the back of his hand, showing no concern. Blood stained his hand from his split lip. The wind from the mountain cooled his burning cheek. Choi Se-kyung’s indifferent gaze transformed into anger for Kim Deuk-pal.

“Is this your idea of helping?”

Choi Se-kyung spat blood, the metallic taste lingering in his mouth.

“I can’t wait any longer.”

Choi Se-kyung feared he might give up finding the real Song Yi-heon. So, he had to act. He didn’t consider the consequences, only that he might lose the real Song Yi-heon forever if he didn’t do something immediately.

When he used Kim Yeon-ji’s locker password to steal the class fund, he had planned to plant the money in Kim Deuk-pal’s bag. However, he couldn’t bring himself to do it. He wanted to find the real Song Yi-heon but didn’t want to be hated by Kim Deuk-pal, a contradictory feeling.

Choi Se-kyung also anticipated Kim Deuk-pal’s disdain for placing the stolen class fund in Hong Jae-min’s bag and timing his removal from the teacher’s office. Yet, it was better than directly putting Kim Deuk-pal in trouble.

Before Kim Deuk-pal could lie again about being Song Yi-heon, Choi Se-kyung preempted him.

“Don’t lie about being Song Yi-heon. You never even tried to act like a normal high school student in front of me.”

Choi Se-kyung recalled the middle-aged mannerisms and fell silent for a moment.

“If you had acted even a little normal…”

I might have believed and trusted you. He swallowed the unspoken words along with the blood. Pushing aside unnecessary sentiments, Choi Se-kyung got to the point.

“Where is Song Yi-heon?”

“After seeing what you’ve done, you think I’ll tell you where he is?”

Kim Deuk-pal scoffed. He admitted he had underestimated Choi Se-kyung. He knew the boy’s charming exterior concealed a cunning nature, but he hadn’t realized he was this persistent.

Definitely not normal.

After provoking him by using Hong Jae-min without finding out Song Yi-heon’s whereabouts, Choi Se-kyung escalated.

“And what about you? You’ve taken Song Yi-heon’s place, stolen what he should have, and deceived the classmates. Ah, is that what you wanted to tell Song Yi-heon? That if he disappeared, no one would look for him? That everyone likes and welcomes the changed Song Yi-heon, to make him feel miserable?”

Determined to stay resolute in his mission to find the real Song Yi-heon, Choi Se-kyung intentionally provoked Kim Deuk-pal’s wrath. As Kim Deuk-pal glared at him with contempt, Choi Se-kyung clenched his fists to hide his trembling fingers.

“I could strangle you right now, or call the police. I’m only holding back because I need to find Song Yi-heon.”

“….”

“Aren’t you ashamed? If you knew how much Hong Jae-min tormented Song Yi-heon, you wouldn’t have taken the blame for him. You’ve been using Song Yi-heon’s identity and hanging out with Hong Jae-min. It’s deceitful. You don’t even care about Song Yi-heon’s wounds.”

The more Se-kyung’s accusations escalated, the more resolved Kim Deuk-pal became. His provoked anger easily subsided as he solidified his determination.

“Are you done talking?”

It was a curt response showing Choi Se-kyung’s fury had no effect whatsoever. Choi Se-kyung glared at him as if throwing a brandished blade.

“If you were so concerned, you should have found him sooner.”

“…What?”

Choi Se-kyung took a step forward, perplexed by the insinuation.

“Maybe you contributed to him wanting to die.”

“Die?”

At this point, there was no use pretending to be Song Yi-heon. Now that he was exposed, Kim Deuk-pal didn’t bother hiding his identity. If he had failed to protect himself, eliminating the threat was the next best option. It was better for Song Yi-heon to come back without Choi Se-kyung around.

Kim Deuk-pal lifted his chin arrogantly.

“Violence, neglect, hatred. You probably had a hand in him jumping off that overpass.”

“He jumped…?”

Choi Se-kyung vacantly echoed the devastating blow. The thought of Song Yi-heon’s death was the worst possible scenario. While a deeper reflection might reveal that Kim Deuk-pal’s words were ambiguous and didn’t confirm the death, the mere suggestion was enough to corner Choi Se-kyung.

His eyes shadowed by the cap’s visor rippled with stark confusion. His gaping mouth wanted to ask so much but floundered blankly, unsure where to begin clearing the chaos.

When his wavering gaze finally fixed on Kim Deuk-pal, a glimmer of hope appeared. He longed for Kim Deuk-pal to deny it or offer another solution, anything to show that Song Yi-heon’s story didn’t end on that rainy day. But Kim Deuk-pal, having resolved to separate Choi Se-kyung from Song Yi-heon, extinguished that hope with a cold sneer.

“It’s too late.”

“….!”

Choi Se-kyung froze. He struggled to breathe, as if the very air pressing against his skin was a punch to the chest. Despite his desperate body language, Kim Deuk-pal remained unmoved.

The leaves in the dark forest rustled. Clouds drifted past, uncovering the moon. The moment the moonlight hit Choi Se-kyung’s shadowed eyes, turning them a yellowish hue, he lunged forward.