“Look at this, look at this. Seems like they really lied to the school. Where were you hiding before showing up? Baek Kyung-wook’s been looking for you like crazy. You know that?”
The moment Kyung-wook was mentioned, Kang-woo’s heart dropped to the pit of his stomach again.
His father had thrown out the smokescreen about language study abroad, but Kyung-wook probably knew. That none of it was true.
In the first place, it wasn’t a story that was easy to believe. On top of that, Kyung-wook must have grown suspicious when he couldn’t get in touch with him.
Was that why he had been searching for him?
Fear instinctively welled up.
If he ran into Kyung-wook here, what kind of reaction would he show?
“Hey, guys. Come here and take a look at who this bastard is. It’s Kim Kang-woo.”
“What? Seriously?”
“Oh, shit. It really is Kim Kang-woo.”
The group that had been watching the situation from a distance showed interest and approached Kang-woo. Kang-woo’s eyes darted anxiously back and forth. His mind spun rapidly.
“Ugh…!”
He hurriedly turned around to flee—but suddenly a rough hand grabbed a fistful of his hair.
***
The moment Seok-ho opened his eyes to the sound of the alarm, he sensed something strange.
The surroundings were unusually quiet.
Whenever he woke up at his usual time, he would always hear busy footsteps moving around outside. But today there wasn’t even the slightest sign of anyone.
Slowly sitting up, he opened the bedroom door.
A dark living room came into view. It wasn’t the usual scene where the curtains were wide open and bright sunlight streamed in.
His dark eyes naturally searched for one person.
As expected, the high schooler who had been living with him recently was nowhere to be seen.
“Kim Kang-woo.”
It was the first time he had called his name.
The unfamiliar feeling lingered as his feet unconsciously headed toward the room across the hall.
He looked carefully around the empty room.
The suitcase and the large backpack were still occupying one corner of the room. Which meant Kang-woo’s absence didn’t signify a complete farewell.
Did he go out somewhere?
The thought crossed his mind briefly in surprise. Ever since coming here, he had never seen the kid go out anywhere.
In fact, he didn’t even seem inclined to leave. He had even asked Seok-ho to buy groceries for ingredients whenever he needed to cook.
Maybe he had made plans, or had some personal errand.
Seok-ho himself had told Kim Kang-woo a few days ago that he should try going out sometimes.
Let’s not overthink it.
Even as he reached that conclusion, his gaze swept around the room one more time.
Since Kang-woo hadn’t left any kind of note, it really seemed like a light outing.
Taking it as nothing important, Seok-ho soon began preparing to go jogging.
***
“Ugh…!”
A sharp pain tugged at his scalp, and Kang-woo groaned.
“Where do you think you’re going, Kim Kang-woo? I can see all that thinking going on in your head. Huh?”
“Let go!”
Kang-woo struggled.
Seong-cheol, however, simply pushed Kang-woo’s head down while still gripping his hair, snickering.
“Hey, hey. Stay still, you little shit.”
“I said let go, Lee Seong-cheol…!”
“Tsk. You really don’t listen. Guess you won’t come to your senses until you get hit again.”
Thud. Thud.
Merciless blows landed on the back of his head.
“Hey, Seong-cheol, Kyung-wook said not to hit Kim Kang-woo.”
“I don’t give a shit. Baek Kyung-wook isn’t standing next to me right now, so what does it matter?”
Ignoring the boy trying to stop him, Seong-cheol tightened his grip on Kang-woo’s hair.
It felt like all his hair might be ripped out.
Kang-woo writhed in pain and grabbed Seong-cheol’s forearm. His short-trimmed nails dug into the skin of the wrist.
“Ah! Fuck! That hurts!”
“Ugh…!”
The strong yank on his hair forced Kang-woo’s head backward.
Their eyes met.
Panting roughly, Kang-woo glared at him.
“What’s with those eyes, you rat-faced bitch?”
“Ugh…”
“Ha, now I get why that son of a bitch Baek Kyung-wook was so obsessed with tearing you apart. There’s a certain satisfaction in overpowering you.”
A nauseating gaze crawled over his face. Still held by Seong-cheol, Kang-woo was dragged along.
“Hey, someone call Baek Kyung-wook. Let him hear a familiar voice for the first time in a while.”
As he was being dragged along, Kang-woo spotted an opening and shoved Seong-cheol away with all his strength.
“You little—!”
Seizing the moment while the careless body lost its balance and fell, Kang-woo ran with every ounce of strength he had.
“Fuck! That bastard—catch him!”
Chaos erupted behind him, accompanied by vicious curses.
Kang-woo sprinted at full speed, scattering ragged breaths.
Several sets of footsteps chased after him.
He darted through alleyways, changing directions again and again. His breath rose to his throat, but he never stopped.
If he were caught and dragged back by them like this, he had no idea what they might do to him.
But one thing was certain. He would end up face to face with the one person he most wanted to avoid—Baek Kyung-wook.
According to Lee Seong-cheol, Kyung-wook had been searching for him. He was surely furious. And this time, it wouldn’t end with simple violence.
After running for a long time, Kang-woo quickly hid behind a pile of filthy stacked boxes.
Darkness wrapped around him.
Mud water had pooled on the ground, and a foul, fishy smell emanated from the boxes—but he didn’t care. Pulling his knees up and hugging them tightly, he buried his head down.
“Fuck. Where did that bastard go?”
Hearing the nearby voice, he held his breath. His heart pounded violently, and both of his hands trembled.
“Doesn’t seem like he’s here. Let’s check over there.”
Fortunately, they showed no interest in the dirty pile of boxes. The sounds of them searching for him gradually faded away.
“Haah… ha…”
Kang-woo released the breath he had been holding.
His crouched body collapsed to the side as he barely leaned against the wall. But the trembling wouldn’t stop. He couldn’t relax yet. There was no telling when they might come back here.
Kang-woo curled himself into an even tighter ball.
The footsteps and voices that had chased him echoed in his head like tinnitus.
***
When the bell rang for break time, Kyung-wook pulled out his phone first.
It had been vibrating nonstop during class, to the point where he eventually had to switch it to silent mode. When he turned on the screen, dozens of missed calls appeared. They were all from the same person.
Lee Seong-cheol.
After scanning the call list with a dry gaze, he tossed the phone onto the desk as if annoyed.
As if the man himself couldn’t behave with any decency, at that exact moment the very person responsible for that enormous list of missed calls called again.
Kyung-wook stared at the name on the screen with a conflicted expression.
His fingertips tapped lightly on the desk. After making a steady rhythm of tapping sounds, his hand finally picked up the phone.
“Hello.”
—Hey, Kyung-wook. Why aren’t you answering your phone? Do you know how many times I called?
Kyung-wook replied in an indifferent tone to the familiar voice calling his name.
“I didn’t answer because I’m in class. Maybe you forgot, but unlike you, I actually follow those kinds of rules.”
—Ah, right, right. You’re at school right now, huh. Sorry. Totally forgot.
A sneer slipped out toward the man laughing casually on the other end.
Pathetic.
Kyung-wook’s expression grew colder, though the person on the other side had no way of noticing.
“Why did you call?”
—Well, you see…
Kyung-wook wanted to confirm the reason quickly and end the call.
But the oblivious caller dragged it out endlessly, seemingly unaware of the impatience in Kyung-wook’s tone. If anything, it sounded like he was deliberately stretching it out to pique Kyung-wook’s curiosity.
—Well… I suddenly thought of you.
As Lee Seong-cheol dawdled, the break time steadily ticked away.
“Stop dragging it out and just say it already. The bell’s about to ring.”
Just as his patience was wearing thin and boredom began creeping in, Seong-cheol finally started speaking in a meaningful tone.
—Kyung-wook, do you know who I just ran into?
Now irritation was creeping in.
Instead of getting to the point, he had dragged it out this long. If he annoyed someone like this only to reveal something completely useless in the end, how exactly should he compensate for the wasted time?
Kyung-wook’s mind calculated coldly.
—Hey, man. I asked if you know who I just ran into.
When there was no response, Seong-cheol urged him again.
“Well, how would I know? I’m not psychic. How would I know who you run into while you’re wandering around everywhere?”
Kyung-wook answered sarcastically, his patience at its limit. But Seong-cheol simply laughed as if he had heard a funny joke. Then he lowered his voice, like someone sharing a secret.
—You said it last time, didn’t you? That Kim Kang-woo didn’t go on language study abroad. I half believed it and half didn’t, but turns out you were right.
Something unexpected had just been said.
Until then, Kyung-wook had been only half-listening to Seong-cheol, but his attitude changed instantly.
Why bring up Kim Kang-woo all of a sudden?
Kyung-wook straightened up from the chair he had been leaning back in.
“What are you talking about?”
—I just ran into that bastard Kim Kang-woo. That guy really was in Korea. He never went to Australia.
Kyung-wook’s eyes widened. At the same time, both of his hands curled into fists, tightening hard.
“…You saw Kim Kang-woo?”
The three syllables of the name ground out between his teeth.
Kim Kang-woo.
Just hearing the name made his heart begin racing violently, excitement surging through him. From deep inside his chest, a thrill began to rise.
“I’m telling you. I’m not lying. It was really him. The moment he saw me, he turned pale and nearly lost his mind. You should’ve seen the look on his face—it was hilarious.”
Seong-cheol cackled crudely. But Kyung-wook didn’t laugh along.
To be honest, Kyung-wook felt deeply irritated that the one who had run into Kim Kang-woo by chance wasn’t him.
It had been weeks since he had last seen that face himself. Yet the first person to encounter him wasn’t Kyung-wook—but Lee Seong-cheol of all people.
The thought alone irritated him. But now wasn’t the time to dwell on that.
Impatience surged through him.
Kyung-wook abruptly stood up and left the classroom. His steps down the hallway were fast.
“Where are you?”
—I’m near the XX intersection. I called you the moment I saw him. But that rat bastard is fast as hell—looked away for one second and he bolted. Fuck, we’ve been searching for him, but I can’t see where he ran off to.
