2
On the day of middle school winter break closing ceremony, Taein turned around again after someone tapped him on the back. A girl he didn’t recognize, who seemed to be running an errand, appeared to be saying “You’re supposed to come out… to the playground….” He couldn’t ignore those words. If he just sat there quietly, the girl would get in trouble. After several such incidents, Taein had no choice but to leave the auditorium and head to the playground. The place where those bastards always were was between the gymnasium and the large dumpster. As soon as he got close, he heard someone telling him to fucking hurry up and come over. When Taein continued walking at the same pace despite those words, one of them approached with an angry face, grabbed Taein by the collar, and dragged him to the back of the gymnasium.
“Shibal, you bastard. Are your ear holes clogged?”
“No.”
“Where the fuck do you get off talking back, you bastard?”
It was the usual pattern. The delinquents got excited by every single word that Taein uttered indifferently. Even the day before yesterday, there was a bruise behind Taein’s ear from getting caught up in a fight. In that state, he had rubbed them the wrong way. It was only natural that a punch would come flying. Just as Taein raised his fist after getting hit once, one of the gathered bastards said “Huh?” and turned his head.
Taein naturally didn’t look over. He was just gripping tightly onto the collar of the bastard who had hit him. Just as he was about to throw another punch, the guy pushed Taein aside as if he was a nuisance, twisting his arm.
“Let go, you bastard. Shit.”
There was also a guy gripping Taein’s shoulder from the side. And guys standing in front, ready to gang up on him at any moment. Only after all eyes turned to the side did Taein grab his own arm. It seemed like a ligament had been stretched from being twisted wrong.
“Wanjae, what brings you here?”
“Oh, Wanjae.”
There was no sensation in the arm that was gripped tightly like a pinch. Taein just stared at the low stone wall. It was something that happened every time between the gymnasium and the stone wall. He kept hearing an unfamiliar name, and he could see all the delinquent bastards moving aside, but he wasn’t particularly interested. He just wanted to finish this quickly. It was more embarrassing than painful, and more annoying than embarrassing.
“Hey, Wanjae.”
“Wanjae-ya.”
These were guys who would pick fights with him but leave if something more interesting came up. He planned to leave too when he couldn’t hear any sound at all. There was nothing good about staying here anyway. While he was thinking that and cooling his anger, he heard the bastards’ voices getting closer and closer.
“Oh, that bastard. Our underling.”
Sometimes they would introduce him to delinquents from other schools like that. Then those delinquents would also come up to him, snicker, and disappear. It was the most disgusting thing those bastards did. Taein raised his gaze toward the shadow that was getting closer and closer.
“……”
A guy was approaching him, slightly hunched over with his eyebrows raised as high as possible. It was someone he’d never seen before.
“……”
Whichever school this delinquent was from, his build was ridiculously huge. Looking at his appearance, it was immediately understandable why the delinquent bastards following him around were acting so pleased and fawning over him. He had the tall height and broad shoulders of an athlete, with carelessly grown hair naturally covering his forehead, but his expression looked bad because his eyebrows were raised so high. His hands were in his pants pockets, making his posture crooked, and a subtle smile hung on his lips.
“Really?”
It was a question with no context. The guy asked once more, just changing the ending.
“For real?”
Taein didn’t say anything. Usually they would snicker in front of him and leave, but this bastard seemed to want to hear something from him, going even further. Was there any reason to answer such a guy? Taein kept his mouth shut and stared straight at him.
“Hey, looking like this, what do you guys make him do?”
After saying that to himself, he suddenly laughed. Taein just furrowed his eyebrows and looked at the guy’s back. The guy had already turned around and was making a circle toward the delinquent bastards.
“Just looking at his appearance, he’s the one who should be the lower class.”
“Ah, Wanjae.”
He could see a delinquent bastard nearby calling out his name for no reason and clinging to him. Far from getting angry, he was acting as if he found it funny too. Taein felt unpleasant at this delinquent bastard’s attitude that he was seeing for the first time. So he’s the type who laughs at those kinds of words. When that thought occurred to him, the face of the guy who would get angry like fire whenever he didn’t say anything overlapped in his mind.
“Hey, don’t stick to me. You smell like sweat.”
“Oh, oh. Sorry.”
“…Wow, he looks fucking ugly in person.”
It was what Gu Wanjae said after telling him not to stick to him and turning his head to the side, when he made eye contact with one of the delinquent bastards.
He didn’t know what “looks fucking ugly in person” meant, but it didn’t seem like a good thing to say.
Starting with saying he looks fucking ugly.
Such thoughts also crept into the mind of Taein, who was standing expressionlessly. Gu Wanjae, who had turned around, also said this:
“Hey, really, just looking at your faces, you guys should be sucking his toes.”
He said that lightly, pointing at him with his thumb. The face that glanced back had laughter pooled in it. It was laughter of disbelief.
Taein turned his eyes elsewhere at these words he’d never heard before, and at this unusual situation. Usually only delinquent bastards who were friendly with those guys came, but this was the first time for someone like this. Having only experienced delinquent bastards from other schools who would giggle in front of him, he didn’t know what kind of reaction to show in this situation. When he saw the guy who had walked a couple of steps and approached right in front of him, that feeling grew even stronger.
“…The uniform….”
He could see the guy’s eyes moving up and down. They were eyes checking whether he really attended this school.
“He does seem to go here….”
“……”
“Is he a second-year….”
The guy’s words were full of questions. Yet he didn’t ask any direct questions. Taein repeatedly looked at the wall, then at the guy for a moment, then looked at the guy and turned his eyes elsewhere.
“He’s a third-year….”
Whether he saw the color of the name tag, the guy tilted his head around chest level.
“I really… don’t fucking get it?”
His way of speaking was strange. It seemed like a question but wasn’t a question, and even though he was looking at him, he was speaking as if talking about someone else. Then, as if he really didn’t understand, he turned around with his head tilted crookedly. Whether the guy originally enjoyed messing with the delinquent bastards, when there was no proper place to sit, he used one of them as his chair. He beckoned with his finger and made one of them lie down on the ground. The guy lying flat like a flounder was someone who habitually strangled him whenever he looked at him.
Seeing that bastard’s face turn red from being pressed down by another guy’s body, he felt secretly satisfied.
Still, given the situation, he needed to pretend not to notice.
Taein stood for 10 minutes, gripping his arm that he couldn’t feel, as if pinching it.
The guy called ‘Wanjae’ seemed to have the surname Gu. When one of the delinquent bastards came over saying “Wanjae” to lighten the mood, the guy immediately told him to add his surname when speaking. With the honorific -nim at the end. Because he could hear someone immediately saying “Gu Wanjae-nim” in response. Taein massaged his arm while watching Gu Wanjae and the bastards play around.
His build was much bigger than the delinquent bastards, and his height was a whole head taller.
That guy had ordered the delinquent bastards to make a human pyramid.
The guy against the gymnasium wall and the guys lined up making stakes. Only Gu Wanjae climbed on top of them. He made them take turns occupying the front position, and also switched out the guy standing with his legs spread. The bastards made groaning sounds every time Gu Wanjae deliberately climbed on hard. Especially the scene of the standing guy getting hit properly in the vital spot and suffering in pain was repeated several times.
Looking at the guy who had bumped his head against the wall and gotten a lump, Taein couldn’t help but laugh.
With one side of his face red from being hit, he laughed secretly from the bastards.
Then it seemed like he made eye contact with Gu Wanjae, but he couldn’t be sure. Did about 30 minutes pass like that? The situation ended when Gu Wanjae took all the delinquent bastards away with him. Taein was able to return to the auditorium near the end of the closing ceremony, safely retrieve his bag left in the classroom, and return to the facility.
Gu Wanjae.
It couldn’t be that bastard.
Every time he heard the name, he thought of the guy he saw that day.
“You saw Gu Wanjae?”
“Yeah, he came to Gaepan yesterday.”
“Bullshit. I was hanging around Gaepan yesterday.”
Gaepan. It was a playground near the school, but it was a place where local thugs often gathered. Taein found it pathetic that the guys were arguing over whether they had or hadn’t seen Gu Wanjae at Gaepan. Whether it was the same guy he had seen, or just someone with a similar name, it seemed strange that they were talking about someone who wasn’t even present throughout the entire lunch period. Even if they were quiet guys at school, once they started getting fired up like this, it wouldn’t be long before a fight broke out.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
