Chapter 8

I've said it many times, but I hate complicated things. This situation of souls going back and forth is giving me a headache, but I also have to relieve the high school student's feelings and make the unlucky classmate laugh. In this situation, the reason I ignored other problems was simply because it was annoying. Because it's over capacity for me. As always, I crouched down at the school gate and entered the classroom with a sore shoulder, only to find Taek-in's locker wide open. And instead of the books and notes that should have been inside, there was a large rock inside. There were no textbooks for class starting from the first period. What do we do? What should I do? It’s okay because I don’t normally read books. Anyway, today was the only day that Hakju didn't have classes. There was no one who would touch me except Hakju. I closed the locker door, returned to my seat, and laid down comfortably on the empty desk.

“I knew that idiot would do that.”

I heard someone's voice. Probably a class president. And I felt eyes focused on me. No matter how insensitive I was to other people's opinions and how simple-minded I was, I could not become insensitive to the continued hostility. Still, I resisted raising my head. What the guy who was harassing me wanted was for me to react, and it was a waste to hold back so much to get so angry. And until then, I took it lightly, thinking it was just a childish prank like elementary school kids.

“Do you want to borrow a textbook?”

“Yes. No, yes.”

I asked Woo Min-jae, whom I met at lunch, a favor.

“I’ll give you the money when it’s mine, so it would be better if I could save it at all.”

“Where did the book go?”

I don't know. I shook my head lightly.

“Instead of books, there were only rocks in the locker.”

"rock?"

“Yes, stone. It’s funny, isn’t it?”

There was no answer, so I glanced and saw that he was just looking at me. A teacher-like expression.

"why?"

“Did you lose the book, or did someone throw it away?”

“Of course, someone abandoned it. Yo. There’s a guy in class who bullies Taek-in. Yo. Didn’t you hear that I’m being bullied? Yo?”

“I heard. Are you not taking this seriously? Couldn’t this be the reason Taekin committed suicide?”

1. I shook my head again. And he told me about Taekin’s body’s reaction.

“I told you before, the heart doesn’t really respond to bullying.”

“That’s your opinion, and if bullying is the cause, shouldn’t you just solve it?”

“It’s useless for me to solve it now. There’s no guarantee that Taek-in won’t come back and get bullied again.”

“So you’re not going to do anything?”

“It’s not about doing nothing. It’s about holding on. Ignoring it is also a way. No, in my life, it’s the best way.”

“I don’t think you would attack me with a crowbar when you’re angry.”

"That's right. That's true. Actually, I'm worried about that. This isn't my life, right? What if I get angry and cause an accident and ruin my high school life? He'll wake up someday, but he's the one who will have to deal with the life I ruined. This makes me cautious and scared. So, I forced myself to endure it. And bullies tend to get more aggressive when you give them attention. Of course, being bullied is annoying, lonely, and a little sad, but from my experience, it's not to the point where I can't bear it. It's not even to the point where I'd commit suicide. What if I did? “If Taekin was distressed because he thought he was an idiot who couldn’t do anything, I also want to let him know that this is the only way.”

"..."

“Yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo.”

I quickly added any honorifics I might have missed. He looked at me with somewhat serious eyes and suddenly asked.

“How much did the pork rice bowl cost for breakfast?”

“5,500 won. And we ate pork cutlet.”

“What is the Chinese character that means not moving even if shaken?”

“Yoibudong.”

This time he took out paper and a ballpoint pen. Then, he wrote down the number up to 30 on a piece of paper and handed it out.

“Look from 1.”

“Me alone? yo?”

"okay."

The guy's voice was so serious that I couldn't even say anything, so I started looking at the numbers written on the paper with a ballpoint pen, starting from 1.

“1, 2, 3, 4, 5...29,30.”

This time I found it to the end without any problems. how is it? I'm really good at this, right? I raised my proud eyes, but the guy had a really serious face.

"What's wrong?"

“Fuck.”

what? This kid swears out of nowhere....

“Are you really Kwon Hee-chan?”

“I told you so! I’m Kwon Hee-chan! What, are you finally believing me? You’ve been hanging around with me like that?”

“Why are you taking out the bed?”

"yo. this."

“I just thought you two got along well.”

“So why am I kissing a high school student whose face I don’t even know and doing this shit?”

“You might try to use my days as a teacher to solve the bullying problem.”

What kind of nonsense...is this possible?

“No! That’s nonsense. Why am I using such complicated methods to help a high school student I don’t know solve a bullying problem? I’m not that smart!”

“That’s right.”

I was finally recognized. But why do I feel dirty?

“I will get you a textbook. But if the same thing happens, keeping getting a new textbook is not the answer.”

I know. I answered and was heading towards the door to go back to the classroom when I heard a voice calling me.

“Kwon Hee-chan.”

"uh?"

I looked back and thought, Oops.

"Yes, teacher."

I corrected it right away. why? When I asked him back, he just looked at me quietly and motioned for me to leave.

“It’s okay. Go.”

Has it already taken the heat? I left the physical education classroom grumbling and stopped. Did that guy just call my name?

  There wasn't much left until afternoon classes, and there were no weekly classes, so I was planning to spend the afternoon without textbooks like I did in the morning. I've long since forgotten about the rocks in my locker and the class leader's sneer. It was like that until I saw the teacher who came into the 5th period class. It was a class that only happened once a week, and the teacher wasn't around when I was in high school, so the face was unfamiliar to me. Of course, I didn't know much about him or his personality. All that mattered was that I was one of the teachers who let me sleep.

When the teacher came in, I stood up to say hello, but when the teacher started class, I noticed him and fell down. But while she was not yet asleep, she felt that the atmosphere was strange. It was so quiet. There was no sound of notes being taken or children turning the pages of their books. I slowly raised my head and made eye contact with the teacher who was looking at me. The teacher, a short man in his mid-40s, asked me as if he had been waiting.

“Are you a student?”

Are you embarrassed? I answered and straightened my posture. I could tell he was angry just by looking at his expression. Why do you do that?

“Are you a student who just sleeps in class? Huh?”

I was trying to explain that I had a sleep disorder and stopped. The teacher's expression became more grim and he was looking in one direction.

“Where are your books?”

"...doesn't exist."

“No? The student doesn’t have any books? Huh? Are you saying that?!”

He walked towards me with long strides, stood next to me, and gave an order.

“Open your bag. Open it quickly!”

I opened the bag hanging on the chair and placed it on the desk. The teacher used the stick he was holding to poke around inside the bag and pull out the items inside. However, all I had in my bag were the exercise books and problem books that were in the first viewer.

“Where are the textbooks?”

he asked again. When I stopped and couldn't answer, his hand suddenly flew out and hit me hard on the head. Pak.

“The teacher is talking, but are you looking somewhere else?! You’re asking where the textbook is!”

"I do not know."

“Don’t you know? No, this guy…”

He suddenly grabbed me by the collar. I couldn't resist his strength and dragged myself to the locker at the back of the classroom.

“Which locker is yours? Huh?”

he asked, shaking my body. I pointed to Taekin’s locker. I saw the teacher open his locker. And then I realized something and looked at the class president. The guy was looking at me with an expression that asked me to do something. Oh, was it this? The teacher's voice rose in excitement.

“What is this? Fuck, what is this rock?!! Fuck, you bastard, you’re the one who wrecked my car? Huh?!”

I found out later that someone threw a rock on top of the teacher's car from upstairs, denting the top of the car. It seems that the teacher was already in a state of fever because of that. And he was originally a person famous for having a major accident once a year. An accident meant beating a student like a dog. They say that he is usually funny and good in class, but he suddenly changes and won't stop once he hits him. It has been 8 years since I attended this school and I have caused trouble several times, but I have never been disciplined. There was even talk that he was a relative of the chairman.

So far, perhaps luckily, there have been no major issues raised by students. It is said that even though he hits students with rolling eyes, he never touches students who are good at studying or who live well-off. Perhaps they deliberately chose students like Taek-in who had problems at school and for whom the perpetrator could give reasons. In short, just an easy guy. This time, he probably didn't know that the student was different from what he thought.

Sigh!

His prone body collapsed when he hit his club on his buttocks.

“Don’t get up straight!”

When I heard his cry, I strengthened his trembling arms and lifted his prone body.

Sigh!

dump. As I lay down again, I heard swearing from above. However, his whole body was shaking and the area where he had been hit was so painful that he could not raise his head. I placed my forehead on the dirty floor and exhaled loudly. I didn't realize that this was a classroom, that dozens of students were watching me, and that there was someone waiting to hit me from above. He just exhaled and tried to suppress the anger that was rising above the pain in his body. I never thought the concerns I expressed to Woo Min-jae just a while ago would become reality.

“This bastard won’t wake up soon?!”

The teacher couldn't stand it any longer and grabbed my clothes to help me stand up. As soon as I woke up from the force, my palm flew out.

match!

I was hit in the face and stumbled from the force.

“Stand up straight!”

At his command, I bowed my head and stood back in place.

“This guy, can’t he raise his head straight?”

He couldn't lift. It's not because of embarrassment. There was no such thing in the first place. When I raised my eyes and saw the other person, I felt like I couldn't hold back and would rush at them. But what if Kim Taek-in's life is ruined after he confronts the teacher? I barely suppressed my anger with this one question, but I hated being treated like this rather than dying. I feel sorry for Kim Taek-in, but there was only one way. I slowly raised my head. Soon the hand came flying again along with an expletive. Rather than resisting that force, I added my strength and threw myself as hard as I could.

Craddangtang!

The side of my face hit the steel locker squarely. I saw stars in front of me. It really hurt. I held back the cursing rising up inside me and deliberately put my shaky legs forward. My weak legs broke, unable to stand properly, and my body leaned forward again.

Uddangtangtang!

There was an extremely loud noise and the empty desk behind me rolled over with me. This time the shock was a bit big. I stayed face down for a while.

“Stand up, you bastard!”

Even though there was an order from the teacher, I couldn't get up easily. The impact of hitting my face sent a roar through my brain. The pain came on gradually and I felt dizzy. Thanks to you, I got what I wanted. Squeak. I pushed off the cross leg resting on my arm and slowly raised my upper body. When I looked up, something fell to the floor.

Drop, drop, drop...

Blood flowed from both noses, down the chin, and onto the floor. As I stood up, I heard a surprised intake of breath from the class. I deliberately rubbed under my nose with the back of my hand. Blood must have been smeared and painted on his face. Fortunately, the bleeding continued. My chin was throbbing, and my eyes, which had hit the edge when rolling against the desk, were so painful that it was difficult to open them. It will swell significantly in a little while. I turned around and stood in front of the teacher. I guess the kids finally saw me. Several people gasped in surprise, and small whispers were heard. The teacher’s expression also hardened. Seeing the blood, I guess I've finally come to my senses and my hand didn't fly again. Instead, I swallowed.

"you..."

As I took a step in front of him as he spoke, he flinched. It won't work. Give me one more hit here. I looked at him with a breath of air and wiped away the nosebleed that was flowing again with my hand. As I wiped off his hand, drops of blood fell on the floor. This small sound was heard clearly as if it were an empty room. The teacher’s expression distorted. Even at a glance, it was a face that said he was screwed. Fuck, you can't be fucked like this. You'll be screwed if you kill me halfway and then you go to jail. If I wasn't going to hit him, I was going to force him to hit me and make me roll over again. Just one more hit. I took a step back towards the other person with the lid almost open. The teacher's eyes widened.

"Hey you...."

“Kim Taek-in.”

Someone called me, or rather a high school student's name. It was a familiar voice, but I didn't even raise my head and just looked straight at the teacher. Just hit it?

“Kim Taek-in!”

A loud, low cry was heard, as if warning. Only then did I turn my eyes and see Woo Min-jae walking between the desks.

“Teacher Wu, why are you here…”

When the teacher asked in a puzzled voice, Woo Min-jae glanced at me.

“That student lost his textbook, so I was asked to help him get it, so I brought it back.”

“Gyo, textbook?”

“Yes. But did Kim Taek-in do something wrong?”

“Oh, that’s…”

While the teacher was embarrassed and unable to speak, he just looked at me. There were no questions about why or concerns about whether I was okay. As I was just watching, the teacher next to me became restless.

“Woah, why did you bring this student’s textbook just now? You should have done that before class...”

The reason the teacher couldn't continue speaking was because Woo Min-jae suddenly ran towards the students. He walked over to a child sitting in the middle and looked down at his face. For some reason, the student's face turned pale and he avoided eye contact. Woo Min-jae asked him.

“Do you want to do it? Do you want to do it with my hands?”

“Yes, yes?”

As soon as the student asked, Woo Min-jae lifted the student's arm. And then I snatched the smart phone he was holding tightly in his hand.

​

 

“Ah! Teacher, I didn’t...”

“Good shot.”

Did you take a good picture? what? Unlike me, who couldn't understand, the teacher seemed to understand right away. He muttered with a face that suddenly turned pale.

“Oh, video?”

video? Are you sure they were filming this situation? Although confirmation was still needed, something sounded from the cell phone in Woo Min-jae's hand. It's small, but it's the sound of a teacher yelling. It was true that I recorded the situation a while ago. The teacher could not say anything with her eyes wide open and just watched Woo Min-jae come back frozen as a statue.

“That, that…”

“Teacher, I will take care of the rest of the class, so please go to the teacher’s office first.”

“No, I… delete that video quickly. Right now.”

“I guess so. I’ll check the others too.”

what? Anything else? The surprised teacher jerked her head and glared at her classmates.

“Hey, you all have your phones in front of you…”

"teacher."

Woo Min-jae held the teacher's arm tightly and muttered lowly.

“Calm down and go first. Who knows, maybe we’ll film this situation again?”

The teacher looked at Woo Min-jae with anxious eyes for a moment and then glanced at her classmates again. And finally, his eyes met mine, still covered in blood. Startle. He asked Woo Min-jae softly.

“Well, that student should go to the nurse’s office first...”

“I will take care of it.”

After a while, the teacher ran away. Thump, thump, thump, the sound of people running down the hallway could be heard even in the classroom. Before leaving the classroom, everyone thought that Woo Min-jae was going to check everyone's cell phones because he had made Woo Min-jae promise that he would find all the videos and destroy them all. But it was the opposite. He suddenly took out his cell phone and started taking pictures of the kids in his class. Slowly, from the left, children in the distance stretched out their hands and took video of their faces. The confused guys started whispering as Woo Min-jae kept pointing his cell phone camera towards them. what? Why are you filming us? We didn't do anything wrong, right?

“Smile. If you enjoyed it enough to take a video, you should smile.”

“I didn’t film it because it was fun.”

Someone responded. Woo Min-jae turned his eyes toward the answer.

“What if it’s not fun?”

"Because the teacher punishes the student too severely. That's not right. Students have human rights, too, but they don't even listen to proper excuses and just hit the student unconditionally, so I think this is wrong..."

“When did you realize something was wrong?”

"yes?"

“When did you realize something was wrong?”

That's because the teacher suddenly hit him... When the student hesitated to answer, Woo Min-jae coldly cut off the conversation.

“But why was the video taken before the teacher hit him?”

"..."

“According to what you said, it was filmed even though it wasn’t wrong. Why?”

"..."

“You’re not answering?”

Although he didn't make a loud noise or an angry voice, the atmosphere froze like thin ice.

“Kim Taek-in.”

​

 

he called me I froze without realizing it and then looked up in surprise. Automatically yes? A sound came out.

“Why did you get hit by the teacher today?”

“There are no textbooks, and there are stones in the locker instead of books.”

“Where are the textbooks?”

"I do not know."

“What about stones?”

I don't know that either. I shook my head, but I didn't see it that day. I kept my eyes focused on the kids in my class.

“Is there anyone among you who doesn’t know that Kim Taek-in has sleeping and memory problems due to an accident?”

No one had an answer. Woo Min-jae stretched out his arm and held out his cell phone towards the children. When the phone's lens was pointed at him, he turned his face and lowered his eyes.

“When the teacher asked Kim Taek-in where his textbook was, did anyone tell him that Kim Taek-in was sick?”

"..."

“Nothing. So you knew there was a problem even before the teacher hit Taek-in Kim, but you kept your mouth shut, and you even filmed a video like this, anticipating that a bigger problem would arise soon. But this wasn’t all done for fun? Circus. “Aren’t you just watching?”

Woo Min-jae took pictures of the children who were not responding and only then did he put down his cell phone.

“Among you, there may be people who really enjoyed this job, there may be people who think it’s not the right thing to do, and there may be people who are not interested at all and wish they would just go to class quickly. People act based on learning and experience. What you did now is A few years later, you will go out into society and do the same thing. Someone has been wronged and you can prevent the damage by informing them of the injustice in advance, but then you will still do the same thing. Even if an old man is robbed in front of you, a young woman will cry out for help. Even if you are hit and raped, or if someone bleeds to death in a sudden accident, you do not change. You will either laugh because it is funny, watch with pity, or be indifferent. Because you have become accustomed to it. It is a cowardly and betrayal of conscience. "That's all you can do. You're a helpless adult who knows something is wrong but doesn't want to change it. And in the end, you end up living in a world where you just sit back and watch as corrupt politicians destroy your future."

The low, emotionless voice was as cold as ice. He paused for a moment and looked around at his children again.

"Do you know what's good about being a student? It's that there's someone to tell you when you're wrong. As adults, no one points out your mistakes and tries to correct them. It's annoying and useless. But not you now. I'm paying attention to you. "There are people who are willing to point out mistakes and tell you not to do them. School is a great opportunity for you to correct your mistakes."

He finished his long speech and added expressionlessly.

“What you did to Kim Taek-in today was trash.”

He looked back at me. thud. Strangely enough, my heart was beating louder than ever.

“Let’s go to the nurse’s office.”

He said and approached. Now? Why take me away when I bleed more and collapse? I wanted to ask again, but the nosebleed had already stopped.

"wait a minute."

I told him and took out a heavy rock from my locker. He held the stone, which was difficult to lift with both hands, as if he were holding it to his chest, and walked up to the class president and placed it on the desk.

bang!

The class leader flinched at the sound and then looked at him with a frown. What is this? I answered while looking into his eyes.

“Please take this away.”

“Mr... why me?”

“You’re the class president. Help me.”

“I don’t want it…”

The guy who was about to say no noticed Woo Min-jae behind him and bit her lip.

“Okay, so hurry up... Huh?! Hey!”

He screamed loudly, but I didn't get up from the body that collapsed on the class president's shoulder. Instead, he held the guy's clothes tightly with his hands.

“Fuck, get out of the way! What are you doing… ugh!”

I stubbornly grabbed the guy who was trying to push me and fell down with him. Cradangtang~ The desk fell over and the chair was pushed. There was a commotion above my head as I saw the class leader trying to get away from me and me collapsing, but I just closed my eyes and pretended to faint. As I applied my blood to the struggling body of the class leader.

It was an endless white sand beach. A wave crashed on one side, but no crashing sound was heard. The wind blew enough to blow my hair, but I couldn't even hear the wind. Although it was my first time here, I could tell that it had an exotic feel. Like the blue beach shown in TV commercials. Well, what about where? I liked the feeling of the sand crunching under my feet. The wind was cool and the smell of the sea was nice. It had been a long time since I had been to the beach, so seeing the wide, blue sea made me feel at ease. Whoa~ I took a deep breath. The waves came and I approached the wet sand.

As I stood on the sand, sea water rushed in and wet my ankles. It was cold. But even with my feet buried in the sand, I wanted to stay. Even though there was nothing special about the waves moving, just watching them made me feel peaceful. But it stood out. There was someone sitting on the beach far away. It was too far away to see who it was, but I felt like I knew who it was. Hey, you’re Taekin, right? Right? Are you Kim Taek-in? I opened my mouth, but my sounds were drowned out by the sound of the waves and could not be heard at all. Why is he here? You should go home, man. Hey, Kim Taek-in. Kim Taek-in!

Tuk. Someone tapped my shoulder. Startle.

“Everyone is gone, so open your eyes.”

Woo Min-jae’s voice was heard.

“I know you didn’t faint, so open your eyes, Kwon Hee-chan.”

Sheesh. How did know? I opened my eyes on the bed in the nurse's office and raised my upper body. I didn't faint, but I fell asleep. And I had a dream...

“Are you sleeping?”

"Yep."

Pathetic eyes looked down at me.

“Do you know how tiring it is to stay up all night and have to work another day?”

“About this.”

"...yo. this."

That guy's polite words. ‘Hey’, is there a ghost?

“The teacher who hit you is currently having a meeting with the principal, and after the meeting is over, the principal will call you in. What do you want me to do?”

“Of course you should be disciplined.”

​

 

He looked away without saying a word. It felt strange.

“What? You turned a person into a blood clot like this and are just getting over it? Huh? Yo?”

“You caused the blood. I know you hit me in the face on purpose at the end.”

uh? How did know?

“Have you noticed it?”

“It didn’t cost that much.”

Well then, that's a relief. I was relieved, but suddenly a question arose.

“Did you see me get hit?”

"huh."

“Since when? yo?”

“From the beginning.”

“...What? I saw it, I saw it. Why didn’t you stop me from the beginning? Yo!”

“I want to see what you would do if you were the real Kwon Hee-chan.”

Holy shit... I felt like the curse words would come out like rap.

“My heart is pounding because you helped me without even knowing it... Mr. Oh.”

“Did your heart pound?”

“That makes my heart pound all the time! Yo. I told you. Kim Taek-in’s heart starts racing whenever he sees you. Yo.”

“I guess I jumped particularly loudly this time?”

I stopped and looked. It's a ghost. However, he hid his true feelings and answered as if nothing had happened.

“I didn’t know you would show up and help me.”

“Then it was you who made my heart beat, not Taekin.”

“No!! Yo!”

I jumped up from my seat.

“Why does my heart beat when I see you?! Yo! Does that make sense?! Yo?!”

“Or else.”

“Of course not! Yo! No. Yo. Absolutely not! Yo!”

After repeating this several times, I sat down with a sigh. But for some reason, we couldn't see each other face to face. Perhaps because I was excited, my heart started pounding again. I felt like I was used to seeing my face every day these days, but I guess I wasn't. Taekin, who was pounding hard, cursed in his heart and changed the topic.

“That teacher is going to be disciplined, right?”

"well."

What do you mean? When I looked at him in surprise, he explained in a calm tone.

“He is related to the chairman. If he should be disciplined, it would be a letter of apology.”

“That’s not possible. I don’t want to get fired, but there should be at least a suspension or a 10-year pay cut! You strongly suggest this.”

“I’m just a temporary teacher. I’m not the one to get involved in this.”

“Then just...”

“But I also don’t want it to end with an apology. So I called someone who would strongly protest.”

"who?"

“Victim’s family.”

As for the victim's family...

“No. You can’t be Taek-in’s mother. I can’t make someone who is already worried about her son worry about this again.”

“Don’t worry. I called my cousin-in-law. You know him too.”

Second cousin-in-law?

​

 

30 minutes later. Chungyeon Jeong, holding a reishi mushroom drink in both hands, burst through the principal's office door. As soon as he came back and saw the mess I had made, the color drained from his face and he took a deep breath.

“Huh!”

Actually, if you see a bruised and swollen snowball like this, you might be surprised and worried...

"sorry!!!"

what?!

"I'm sorry!!! I will compensate the victim somehow!! If you forgive me just once, I will guide you so that something like this never happens again!!"

Mr. Chungyeon shouted loudly and bowed his waist. I, Woo Min-jae, and the principal who were inside were embarrassed. What, why is it like that? Woo Min-jae, who was at least rational, stopped him.

“Taekin is your brother-in-law, right? Please sit down first. You should hear the situation first...”

Startle. Chungyeon was surprised, his shoulders shaking. What on earth is so surprising about Woo Min-jae’s words?

“What do you mean?”

Only then did he look around the room and ask again.

“Where is the other person? Wow! You were so hit that you couldn’t even sit up? Then an ambulance?!! You got hit in the head?! Oops... Brain, brain dead?! I’m sorry!!!”

He fell down on the floor.

“Please don’t send Kambangman away!! Even if he looks like that, he’s a good kid!!”

I looked at Woo Min-jae and asked with my eyes. Why did you call me? Woo Min-jae, who had been expressionless, also froze in embarrassment.

“No. No one was hurt or taken to the hospital. Wake up.”

“Yes? Why?”

Why? I almost jumped up without realizing it. However, because I had to cosplay as a victim, I spoke with anger in the weakest voice possible.

“I am the only one injured. My sixth cousin.”

Chungyeon then looked at Woo Minjae as if asking about the situation, and he briefly explained the situation. Then his bent back and shoulders spread out. Why did you call someone who can't help you? As I was dissatisfied, I heard the low, strong voice of a former manager of a large company.

“I will file a complaint with the Ministry of Education and file a complaint against the school and the perpetrator to the court.”