GBH 50

Three years ago, on the first day of spring when the cold winds were still fierce, the entrance ceremony for Song Yi-heon’s high school was held in a chilly auditorium where one’s breath was visible. The students, bundled tightly in coats and padded jackets, were unfamiliar with each other, but unanimously agreed that the heater breaking down on the day of the entrance ceremony was likely a ploy by the school to save on heating costs.

Among the new students stomping their feet against the cold, eagerly waiting for the ceremony to begin, Hong Jae-min sat with his legs spread wide, shivering from the cold. Around him, a donut-shaped empty space had formed.

Rumors about Hong Jae-min spread from the very first day. Some said he had been rejected even by vocational high schools and had no choice but to enroll in an academic high school. Others claimed he was a member of a prominent crew, or that he was connected to a gang in Seoul and would secure a position in the organization once he graduated high school. These baseless rumors scared the innocent freshmen, especially when they saw Hong Jae-min arrive on the first day with his hair bleached bright yellow, making them too frightened to even look him in the eye.

In reality, he had bleached his hair himself the night before, crouching in the bathroom in just a tank top, slathering on bleach while giggling at memes on Instagram.

As the ceremony time approached, teachers entered the auditorium and some students were called to the stage. They were summoning students who had been admitted with academic excellence to receive scholarships and those who would take the freshman oath, for a rehearsal. To Hong Jae-min, it looked like a gathering of acne-ridden nerds.

His contemptuous view of these ‘shorties who only know how to study’ was shattered when a male student with smooth skin as if powdered, standing a head taller than the others, appeared.

The boy, bringing in a gust of cold air, was out of breath as if he had been running. While apologizing for being late, he tried to fix his disheveled hair. But as it only became messier, a female student, unable to hold back her laughter, made him bend down and fixed his hair for him.

The atmosphere around them seemed to change, as if a warm heater had been turned on, drawing the attention of the other freshmen.

The late-arriving student was apparently going to give the freshman oath, as he received the oath text from a teacher. Despite being the last to arrive, he became the center of attention among both teachers and students, and his casual smile made it seem natural, which irritated Hong Jae-min.

“That pretty boy looks disgustingly annoying,” was Hong Jae-min’s first impression of Choi Se-kyung. Having been treated as a problem child all his life, Hong Jae-min felt inferior to Choi Se-kyung, who was both a model student and well-liked.

“That bastard must have been born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Never known hardship thanks to his parents, probably thinks the world is all sunshine and roses,” Hong Jae-min criticized Choi Se-kyung without even knowing him.

Just as Hong Jae-min was getting bored of waiting and considering skipping the ceremony, someone sat down two seats away from him. The boy, forced to sit there as all other seats were taken, hunched his body as if afraid to make eye contact with Hong Jae-min.

Either due to lack of money or lack of care, the boy wore a padded jacket too small for his body. Seemingly embarrassed by his small clothes, he kept pulling at the short sleeves that exposed his wrists while curling up his body. Under Hong Jae-min’s blatant stare, the boy crumpled up even more as if wishing to disappear into a dot.

When Hong Jae-min turned his gaze back to the stage, the boy relaxed noticeably. His white neck, visible above the jacket collar, looked cold. Indeed, the boy was blowing on his reddened, frozen fingers to warm them up.

Although his face was partly obscured by limp brown hair falling over half his eyes, features like his delicate philtrum connecting his nose and mouth were intriguing enough. His moving lips were pink like an herbivore’s muzzle and seemed small enough to be swallowed in one bite.

Before he knew it, Hong Jae-min was once again intently observing the boy, Song Yi-heon.

As Hong Jae-min stared so blatantly, Song Yi-heon, unable to bear it any longer, barely managed to meet Hong Jae-min’s gaze. However, the moment his melancholy eyes peeking through his split hair met another’s, he startled and quickly lowered his head.

Huh? What’s this? Hong Jae-min straightened up, amused by the boy’s overly sensitive reaction.

Hong Jae-min didn’t even touch him, but just from making eye contact, he’s already terrified. His cowering figure reminded Hong Jae-min of a small, frightened animal, the kind that would jump at the slightest provocation. Despite being a boy, he was pathetically cute. Wanting to see that reaction once more, Hong Jae-min lightly kicked Song Yi-heon with his foot. This was the beginning of the bullying.

On the day of the entrance ceremony, Hong Jae-min discovered Song Yi-heon and became intrigued by his reactions. He persistently bullied him for two years, and when he heard that Song Yi-heon liked Choi Se-kyung, he used it as a weak point to bully him further. Even when that wasn’t enough to satisfy his anger, he outed him.

The reason Hong Jae-min persistently bullied Song Yi-heon was because he had fallen for him on the day of the entrance ceremony.

* * *

The harsh June sunlight had softened by the time school let out. The third-year faculty office was noisy with teachers wrapping up their day and students coming and going. The loudest commotion, however, was coming from the disciplinary teacher’s desk, where the teacher was slamming a thirty-centimeter ruler on the table. The other teachers, glancing over, quickly lost interest when they saw Hong Jae-min standing in front of the disciplinary teacher.

The disciplinary teacher, who had managed to catch Hong Jae-min in the classroom instead of skipping class as usual, urged him:

“Hong Jae-min! When are you going to dye your hair?”

“Ah, I said I’ll do it soon.”

Hong Jae-min responded insolently. However, since the beginning of the semester, the disciplinary teacher had tried everything from admonishing, persuading, pleading, to scolding… He had even resorted to demerits and writing lines, all just asking Hong Jae-min to dye his hair a more modest color, not even expecting black. Yet, Hong Jae-min maintained his bright yellow bleached hair.

While the disciplinary teacher was losing hair from stress because of Hong Jae-min, Hong Jae-min maintained a full head of hair despite the bleaching. Seeing Hong Jae-min’s thick roots, the disciplinary teacher shouted in exasperation:

“The lines you’ve written are blacker than your hair color, you brat!”

‘Of course the lines are black, that’s why they’re called lines.’ Hong Jae-min swallowed the retort that had risen to the tip of his tongue. He regretted not skipping the last period if this was going to happen. He had stayed because he was concerned about Song Yi-heon’s panicked reaction about not being able to graduate high school, but now he was just getting lectured by the disciplinary teacher.

Hong Jae-min, who hadn’t been listening to the lecture at all, slightly raised his eyes when the disciplinary teacher slammed the desk.

“Go to the counseling room and write lines!”

“Yes, yes…”

The disciplinary teacher’s lecture repertoire always ended with lines. Hong Jae-min picked up the paper the disciplinary teacher had put out for writing lines and sneered.

“Write two pages!”

Annoyed that Hong Jae-min was only thinking about getting through the immediate scolding by writing lines, with no intention of dyeing his hair darker, the disciplinary teacher added to the punishment. However, seeing Hong Jae-min’s raised eyes full of discontent rather than remorse, the disciplinary teacher held his forehead.

“Oh my, oh my, this kid…”

Hong Jae-min entered the counseling room attached to the teacher office, displeased with the increased assignment of two pages. Having written lines so many times before, he didn’t need to think about what to write. He pulled out a pen for lines from his pants pocket and began writing the standard apology letter.

In his three years of high school, the only thing he had memorized was the example apology letter. The only thing he’d memorized in three years of high school was the format of an apology letter. Jae-min shook his leg as he filled the page, not even understanding what he was writing. 

He was rubbing off a blot of ink from the paper when the door to the counseling room opened, and the sound of someone entering caught his attention, making him twitch an eyebrow.

He wasn’t surprised to see the librarian, but when that obnoxious Choi Se-kyung followed, Hong Jae-min wrinkled his nose like a beast baring its fangs. However, while the frail librarian feared Hong Jae-min, Choi Se-kyung smiled brightly, seemingly oblivious.

“Jae-min, keep writing. We’re just going to take out some things.”

The librarian pointed to a stack of new books piled against the counseling room wall. The packages meant for the library had arrived at the teacher office, and a teacher had temporarily put them in the counseling room. As it was impossible for the librarian’s twig-like wrists to move them, she had asked Choi Se-kyung to help.

However, upon bringing Se-kyung and seeing the delivered new books, it was too much for one person to move. The librarian commented on the two large boxes stacked on top of each other. The contents being books, they were quite heavy.

“It’s too much for Se-kyung to move alone.”

Looking for another male student to help, the librarian peered through the counseling room door into the faculty office, but there were no suitable boys. The ones present were either running other errands or talking with teachers, making it awkward to interrupt them.

There was one male student in the counseling room, but…

The librarian discreetly looked around the counseling room. There was a sturdy male student here who could be asked to pause his lines and run an errand.

“…”

However, Hong Jae-min continued writing his lines, pretending not to notice. He didn’t want to volunteer to help, especially not with the insufferable Choi Se-kyung. Hong Jae-min kept his head down, gripping his pen tightly as he continued writing.

Sensing Hong Jae-min’s strong refusal, the librarian didn’t even dare to ask. Instead, she suggested that Se-kyung wait in the counseling room while she fetched a cart.

“Wait here. I’ll go get a cart.”

“It’s okay. It’s troublesome to go down to the first floor for a cart. I’ll move them. I should put them inside the desk, right?”

Choi Se-kyung, who was the head of the library committee last year, was familiar with the library’s situation. As Se-kyung tried to resolve the issue without troubling her, the librarian protested.

“Se-kyung, how can you move all this alone?”

Contrary to the worried librarian, Hong Jae-min lowered his head further to hide his broad grin. ‘That annoying Choi Se-kyung, go ahead and struggle, sweating profusely.’ Hong Jae-min chuckled inwardly with satisfaction. However, he suddenly raised his head at Choi Se-kyung’s next words.

“I can ask Yi-heon to help.”

The thought of seeing them work together harmoniously after becoming seatmates and sticking together made Hong Jae-min’s blood boil. Without thinking, he stood up.

“Teacher, I’ll do it.”

“Oh my, Jae-min. You will?”

Being simple-minded and ignorant, Hong Jae-min didn’t realize that he had ended up volunteering to help Choi Se-kyung of his own accord. He was too busy glaring at the annoying Choi Se-kyung.