Festival (3): Cracks in the Facade
Passing through the bustling main building, they reached the secluded area behind the auditorium, where not even a soul ventured. Amid the cracked floor strewn with broken brick fragments and cigarette butts secretly lit and tossed away by someone, the low echoes of two pairs of footsteps rang out.
Nam Siu glanced back once more at the entrance to the main building he'd emerged from. The distant hum of the festival's clamor faded bit by bit, giving way to encroaching silence. Part of him ached to smash that bastard's glasses right then and there, but he recalled the promise he'd made to his friends. 'No violence.' Fist clenched tight, Nam Siu held back any retort and followed Yoo Eunho wordlessly into the dim shadows.
"This should be far enough that no one's gonna show up, right?"
Yoo Eunho stopped leisurely and turned, leaning crookedly against the weathered auditorium wall. A smirk tugged at both corners of his mouth, as if he found the whole situation amusing.
"Nam Siu. I like how you're basically invisible. You come scampering after me the second I call."
Yoo Eunho chuckled, shoving his hands into his pockets.
"Now I get why Isul keeps a loser like you around. Easy to handle 'cause you're such a dimwit."
"Get to the point."
Nam Siu's voice dropped low, flat against the ground. Ignoring the taunt, he fixed Yoo Eunho with sunken, unyielding eyes instead of balling his fists tighter.
"The point? Nothing much. Just came to check out what kind of school Isul's at now, see how you two have been getting by since that day."
As he answered, Yoo Eunho swept his gaze over the rundown walls around them and snorted.
"Though I didn't expect it'd be such a shithole."
"So, what now? You've seen it all—now fuck off nicely."
At Nam Siu's sharp retort, Yoo Eunho peeled away from the wall and took a step closer.
"You sure you're okay with that? If I leave without seeing Isul, she'll keep holding onto this flimsy little thread of connection. You know she's not the type to cut ties cold turkey without even showing her face."
"..."
He was right. Outwardly colder and more ruthless than anyone, but Baek Isul was endlessly soft toward anyone she'd once let into her heart.
'No. You guys stay out of it—especially you, Nam Siu.'
Baek Isul's words flashed through Nam Siu's mind in that instant. But he squeezed his eyes shut inwardly. It was her request, but he couldn't just stand by with his mouth shut here. To protect her, he had to sever it first.
"Then you cut it off first."
"Pfft...! How? How the hell do you plan to stop me?"
Yoo Eunho barked a hollow laugh at Nam Siu's firm words, mocking him. But his laughter cut off abruptly at the name that slipped from Nam Siu's lips.
"Kang Minji."
"...!"
For the first time, the eyes behind Yoo Eunho's glasses—always feigning composure—wavered.
"Familiar name, huh? Wonder how she's been doing, left to take the full blame after you slithered away."
"...How the fuck do you know about her."
Yoo Eunho ruffled his hair irritably. He'd moved to a far-off neighborhood to bury his past, even wiped all his SNS accounts clean right after running into Isul. For someone who'd severed every tie so perfectly, Kang Minji was his one remaining stain.
"Ha...! Seo Juwon, that fucker, right?"
"Doesn't matter how I know. She's out there grinding her teeth, plotting revenge on you."
Nam Siu took a step toward Yoo Eunho. Overpowered by the intensity, Yoo Eunho instinctively stepped back without realizing it.
"S-so what? She doesn't even know my school or where I live now."
Forcing nonchalance, Yoo Eunho pushed up his glasses.
"What, you gonna post about my shit online? You think I can't handle that? You think I'd show up here without thinking that far ahead?"
"..."
Cold sweat trickled down Yoo Eunho's back as Nam Siu advanced step by step, staring him down.
"You think I don't know?"
"...!"
Yoo Eunho's shoulders stiffened.
"Pretty nice prestige high school, huh? Student council exec, good rep..."
Yoo Eunho's eyes began to shake wildly. Nam Siu's icy voice tightened around his throat like a vise.
"You still think I'm some retard? Should I call her up right now and send her to your school? Heard she just got herself a motorcycle."
Yoo Eunho's hands started trembling. It terrified him more that she'd show up at his school and act like she knew him than whatever bullshit she'd spew.
"W-wait a sec, Nam Siu. Let's talk this out nice..."
Thud—!
The cold wall met Yoo Eunho's back as he retreated. Nam Siu was smaller than him, but an unfamiliar pressure emanated from him now.
"Talk? What the hell do I wanna talk to you about?"
Nam Siu sliced through Yoo Eunho's slimy excuse with frigid precision.
"Oh, should I just message Kang Minji right here and tell her to head to your school?"
Cornered, Yoo Eunho's pent-up true nature erupted in a scream.
"Fuck! Fine, talk! I'll run to Baek Isul and spill everything I did back in middle school! She'd love that, huh? Finding out the one girl who reached out to her back then had filthy ulterior motives?"
"You little shit...!"
"Hit me! Go on, hit me! Y'know, now that I think about it—if I tell her everything right now, you think she'll keep looking at you two all pure and innocent like she has?"
Yoo Eunho's veins bulged as he hurled mocking venom at Nam Siu, using Isul's potential hurt as his shield, strutting arrogantly to the end. Nam Siu ground his teeth at the sight—
"Keep talking."
"...!"
A chilling voice sliced in from beyond the auditorium corner. Nam Siu whipped his head around reflexively, and Yoo Eunho's eyes widened in shock.
Crunch—
A familiar silhouette emerged from around the corner, stepping over a scattered brick shard on the ground.
"Keep talking. What exactly did you do?"
Baek Isul had closed in unnoticed, arms crossed, staring Yoo Eunho down with frozen eyes.
'...This is more fun than I thought. Maybe next time I'll suggest going to a local festival together.'
Washing her hands in the bathroom, Baek Isul had completely forgotten about Yoo Eunho's impending arrival, lost in pleasant thoughts of what to do next. Drying her hands, she stepped into the hallway and glanced absently out the window—then froze.
Amid the lively school grounds teeming with festival crowds, two backsides stood out sharply in her view.
'Nam Siu...?'
She'd only told him to wait a moment, but in that short time, he'd impatiently trailed after someone. Looking closer, she realized the one leading him away was someone all too familiar to her.
'Why's Yoo Eunho...'
The two, who should never cross paths, were pushing against the crowd toward the deserted spot behind the auditorium. Baek Isul's heart plummeted.
The area behind the auditorium had a notorious rep as a hangout for the worst troublemakers—even teachers had given up patrolling it.
'No way that idiot's about to swing his fists again...!'
She recalled how Nam Siu had lunged with a punch out of nowhere at the café last time. Heart racing, she bolted down the stairs after them.
'If a fight breaks out at the festival with some kid from another school, that moron's in deep shit...!'
Rushing ahead with thoughts of reining Nam Siu in, she reached the rundown brick corner behind the auditorium—then her steps halted abruptly.
"You sure you're okay with that? If I leave without seeing Isul, she'll keep holding onto this flimsy little thread of connection."
Yoo Eunho's voice drifted from around the corner. Surprised by Nam Siu's unexpectedly calm demeanor, Baek Isul pressed flat against the wall, holding her breath to eavesdrop. She'd planned to jump out if things turned ugly, but the conversation that followed froze her solid.
'Nam Siu... how does he know about Kang Minji...?'
She'd never breathed a word about her middle school days to anyone, yet here was Nam Siu dropping that name. And Yoo Eunho's reaction—clearly thrown off, deeply rattled.
To her, Yoo Eunho had always been a friend she was grateful for, no matter what. The one who'd approached first when she couldn't open up to others, prying open her door.
Her thoughts stuttered, struggling to keep up with their exchange.
"Baek Isul would love that, huh? Finding out the one girl who reached out to her back in middle school had filthy ulterior motives?"
'...! What the...'
The words bursting from his mouth clicked long-misaligned puzzle pieces of unease into place in her mind.
Unlike how she'd instantly warmed to Park Geon's crew, Yoo Eunho had always been hard to fully trust. She'd chalked it up to him being her first real friend to open that door. But his uncanny timing, appearing whenever she was cornered...
What if it had all been staged from the start?
Hard to believe, sure—but if every time he'd "helped" her in her lows had been an act...
Baek Isul's eyes chilled over. The so-called first friend she'd trusted implicitly, the one whose flimsy sense of debt had kept her from cutting ties decisively, leaving her to stew in self-recrimination...
The clashes with Nam Siu sparked by her friction with Yoo Eunho, the harsh words she'd flung emotionally and the wounds they'd caused.
All of it felt pointless, hollow now.
No tears of betrayal, no sadness. Instead, her mind cleared, like a massive stone crushing her solar plexus had finally lifted.
"Keep talking."
"I-Isul. H-how long... how long have you been there..."
Yoo Eunho paled at the sight of her face, stammering. Cold sweat beaded and streamed down his forehead.
"What did you do? You're not leaving here till I hear the answer to that."
Under her relentless pressure, Yoo Eunho's eyes darted wildly, scrambling for an escape.
"Th-that's not what I meant! Nam Siu kept provoking me, so I just exaggerated some old shit in the heat of the moment..."
"Don't bother with excuses. I heard everything."
Her voice rang out icily. His mouth snapped shut at her declaration. The face that always wore a leisurely smile crumpled pathetically.
Breathing ragged now that his mask was shattered, Yoo Eunho slowly opened his mouth.
"Fine. Yeah, I messed with you a bit. But let's be real—was that so bad?"
Veins bulging in his neck, he devolved into a rant.
"Who was there when you were at your lowest, when everyone else avoided you? If it weren't for me, you'd have been a total loner the whole middle school! And now you're pulling this shit over some punk?!"
Yoo Eunho lunged a step toward her, hand outstretched as if to grab.
"After everything I did for you...! If you do this to me..."
Slap—!