Chapter 31
“Pitying me for being abandoned by my parents? You naturally thought I’d be dirty and stink, but were surprised I wasn’t—you fucking bastard. What, did you think I wouldn’t know you were looking down on me from your toes?”
“Let, let go… let go and talk.”
“I saw with my own eyes you were trying to run away, so what ‘let go and talk.'”
It felt like his hair was being ripped out from the scalp. His side, where Woo Sihyun had hit him, hurt as if it were burning, and his head felt foggy and rang hollowly.
“…Let go!”
“Why.”
Woo Sihyun grinned crookedly, biting the inside of his cheek.
“Scared you’ll die?”
“……”
Was he scared? Of course he was scared. He was so afraid. Afraid that this life he’d barely obtained, the life he’d regained, would end so futilely like this.
Would he really beat him until he died?
He wouldn’t. He wouldn’t do that… This was the Center. A safe zone for Guides. If people didn’t come out after the Guiding reservation time passed, someone would surely come up to check the Guiding room.
But… what if he died before that?
It hurt. It hurt so much his vision was blurry.
“You need to keep your eyes open.”
“……”
A cruel voice came to his ears.
“Ko Eungyo, this is what you wanted, isn’t it? Right?”
“……”
“You like it when I touch you… don’t you?”
Calling hitting him “touching.”
Smack, smack—sounds rang out. Woo Sihyun was slapping his cheeks with his palm while watching him. He wasn’t hitting with full force, but each time his palm struck his cheek, there was a stinging pain.
“You’re not listening.”
Woo Sihyun muttered. His presence seemed to move slightly away, then he grabbed his shoulder tightly and flung him away.
“Ugh, urk……”
As long as he didn’t die… pain was something that would eventually pass. He was someone more accustomed to pain—sometimes sharp, sometimes dully throbbing—than anyone else. It was the same when Woo Sihyun was beating him. Desperately thinking that if he took the hits well he wouldn’t die, he tried to brace himself for Woo Sihyun’s blows while curled up on the floor. But Woo Sihyun was faster than that. Unexpected pain continued.
His eyelids trembled. It seemed like it had been too long since he’d felt pain. Pain experienced after a long time felt even more agonizing. And maybe because he was an Esper, Woo Sihyun hit too painfully. Keep your eyes open, he said? After being hit in the cheek about three more times, the inside of his mouth split. It felt like his eardrums would burst. At this rate, his eardrums might rupture and he’d live as disabled for life, or he’d get a concussion and die.
He blocked Woo Sihyun’s hand to survive. He felt an impact that seemed like it would break his wrist. Even so, he got the impression that Woo Sihyun had let himself be caught docilely. It seemed like he found him pathetically scrambling to live too amusing. Or maybe to hit him more painfully. Either way, it was chilling.
He said, almost shouting, before getting hit more.
“I didn’t want this.”
“What?”
“That was Ko Eunso’s independent decision, ugh!”
This time his collar was grabbed and he was lifted up.
“Yeah, Ko Eunso. I know her well. You don’t need to make excuses. You’re right. I was abused by my parents, grew up fucked up in an orphanage, then got caught by a person like you and my life became even more shit. But still, hey, I don’t eat leftovers like trash the way you do.”
“…Let, guh, huh……”
“Understand?”
His collar was grabbed so strongly he couldn’t breathe. Strange rattling sounds kept leaking from his throat, and his vision started turning white. When he thought he might die like this, for whatever reason, Woo Sihyun released his collar and dropped him to the floor. He could barely breathe again.
“Hak, ha, haah, haah……”
Of course he was scared of dying. He was scared of being hit, and it was frightening that it was none other than ‘himself’ who had made Woo Sihyun hate him so intensely. The insulting words poured on Woo Sihyun were also the truth, not a misunderstanding, so he couldn’t even dare to make excuses.
“Why… can’t say those things now?”
But with the same magnitude as his fear, anger and hostility raised their heads.
He wasn’t the ‘real’ Ko Eungyo, so he’d never actually said those things to Woo Sihyun. So he felt wronged and angry that he was the one receiving this punishment. And… at the same time, Woo Sihyun was pitiful. What Woo Sihyun had just spat out was a fragment of his life, but that alone was enough to feel that Woo Sihyun’s life had been a quagmire.
Ko Eungyo had contributed to Woo Sihyun’s misfortune. Judging from Woo Sihyun’s words, it seemed he’d worshipped Woo Sihyun’s beauty while thoroughly enjoying trampling and looking down on him.
‘What a despicable bastard… he really was.’
His breathing slowly returned to normal. Woo Sihyun was looking down at him obliquely with a coldly hardened face.
His foot tapped his head.
“For bastards like you who had good parents, don’t know how shitty the world is, and only know how to do disgusting things……”
But there was one fact Woo Sihyun didn’t know.
The ‘real’ Ko Eungyo would have pitied Woo Sihyun too. If not, there would have been no reason to think he should become Woo Sihyun’s Guide. In any case, if the ‘real’ Ko Eungyo had been at least a Guide, he would have instinctively wanted to care for this Esper’s misfortune.
“This kind of treatment suits you.”
Woo Sihyun really was Lee Seungwoo’s friend after all.
Naturally, he found himself comparing what Lee Seungwoo had done to him that rainy evening with Woo Sihyun’s behavior. Lee Seungwoo had also tapped Ko Eungyo’s head. Of course, he’d tapped with his fingers, meaning to ask if his mind had gone strange, but the intention to humiliate Ko Eungyo was the same.
Neither was very good. But if he had to say, Woo Sihyun was more terrible.
At least Lee Seungwoo hadn’t tried to kill him on the spot.
He took a deep breath. Then he spoke to Woo Sihyun, who was looking down at him filled with malice.
“Yeah… you had it rough.”
“……What?”
Woo Sihyun’s face scrunched up sharply. It was an expression doubting whether he’d heard correctly.
“I said you had it rough.”
Woo Sihyun seemed to get even angrier at Ko Eungyo’s clumsy consolation.
His ruthless face tilted slightly to one side. Before long, his thin lips twisted and spilled out harsh words.
“What the fuck is this crazy bastard babbling……”
But he didn’t hit him more. He seemed too dumbfounded to even think of hitting more. That was really fortunate. He didn’t want to be hit anymore.
He swallowed his bloody-tasting saliva. Then he said quietly.
“You endured well all this time.”
“……”
“Nobody helped you but you endured well alone, so you must be a good kid.”
“Has this bastard lost his mind……”
Along with the muttered words, Woo Sihyun moved his leg. With a thud, his vision turned white again. When his already-kicked side was kicked again, his breath was completely cut off.
But even in such pain, he knew how to endure and carry through with his will. Actually, it was because he thought if he really got hit more, at least something would break.
He trembled, gasping for breath. Then he barely opened his mouth.
“I’m sorry. From now on, I… won’t make things hard for you again. So you should stop putting yourself down like that too.”
Honestly, he was scared Woo Sihyun might kick him again in the middle of speaking. So his voice got smaller toward the end, but still, he finished saying what he needed to say.
“…Hey. Did you take some drugs or something? Or is this some new trick?”
Woo Sihyun, who had been glaring at Ko Eungyo full of anger, suddenly let out an empty laugh. His voice was locked very low. This absurd situation seemed overwhelming for Woo Sihyun. Having stopped beating Ko Eungyo, he rubbed his brow bone with his palm as if extremely tired.
Then he stared blankly down at his palm.
His dampened palm.
“What is this……”
Woo Sihyun immediately noticed the abnormality in his body. With an disbelieving face, he wiped his eyes once more. At the same time, he hesitated and stepped back from Ko Eungyo.
“Fuck.”
He tried to look at Ko Eungyo with pure hatred but failed and contorted his face.
Yet the tears still didn’t stop. Woo Sihyun didn’t know he was crying without warning, and even less did he know how to stop it. After wiping his face several times, Woo Sihyun was at a loss for a moment.
Whatever the case, Woo Sihyun clearly didn’t want to keep crying in front of Ko Eungyo. Frozen and flustered, Woo Sihyun suddenly turned his body and left the Guiding room.
The sound of Woo Sihyun walking far away could be heard.
He survived.
Ko Eungyo lay on the floor with his arms and legs stretched out limply.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
