Fists Are an Excellent Means of Communication
“Ugh! Why are you hitting me, hyung?”
Kang Suho rubbed the spot where he’d been struck and looked up at me. He was so oblivious that he only cared about what he was saying and didn’t even notice Jeong Sua’s troubled expression. On top of that, this guy had probably always badmouthed me to her like this.
I thought about giving him one more smack, but stopped myself. If I did, her troubled face would twist into disgust aimed straight at me.
“Is talking shit about your friend that fun?”
“T-talking shit? Me?”
He didn’t even realize he was doing it. What a pathetic bastard.
“Yeah, dumbass. Everything you just said is talking shit. So knock it off. Look at her. The kid’s face is all sour.”
“Ah…”
“It’s not so bad you can call it sour!”
“But it is awkward, isn’t it?”
“That’s…”
Jeong Sua couldn’t say a word. He had hit the mark perfectly. Kang Suho realized his mistake and apologized in a shrinking voice.
“Sorry, Sua. I really didn’t know. I swear I won’t ever talk behind anyone’s back again. It was really uncomfortable for you, wasn’t it?”
“No, you don’t have to apologize that much… Still, talking behind people’s backs is wrong, so let’s be careful from now on, Suho.”
Jeong Sua stroked Kang Suho’s head with a gentle expression.
What a damn lucky bastard.
“Yeah. I’ll be careful.”
With that, it seemed the mindless slander Kang Suho had been spreading about me would finally die down.
Once the situation was settled and we started walking again, Jeong Sua quickened her steps and came right up beside me.
“Oppa, you should apologize too.”
“Why should I?”
“You hit Suho. Violence is wrong no matter the situation.”
“He was asking for it. Hey, Kang Suho. Do I have to apologize for hitting you too?”
I glared at him as I spoke, and Jeong Sua suddenly raised her voice.
“Oppa! It’s bad to intimidate people like that!”
“Ah, shit, fine. Stop yelling… Did you swallow a damn train whistle? So fucking loud. Sorry for hitting you.”
“Uh… yeah.”
Kang Suho looked bewildered and answered while sneaking glances at me. I had no idea what the point of an apology like that was, but Jeong Sua seemed satisfied.
And with a face far brighter than when she had first seen me, she stood at my side and spoke.
“And, oppa.”
“What now.”
I responded in an exaggerated, fed-up tone. She giggled and said,
“It would be nice if you spoke a little more kindly. Come on, repeat after me: I’m sorry.”
It looked like the earlier incident had made her a lot more comfortable with me. Her tone wasn’t the strict one from before; it carried a hint of laughter.
Realizing that, I deliberately smiled playfully and said, “No way, kid,” while roughly messing up Jeong Sua’s hair.
“Ah… You’re messing up my hair. Stop it. Ugh… Really! I told you it’s hard to fix my hair….”
“Try to get away if you can, kid. How about it? You can’t, right? This is that one-year age difference you keep ignoring.”
Outwardly it looked like I was roughly tormenting her, but I was actually using just enough strength not to upset her. Jeong Sua knew it was all in good fun and quietly played along.
However.
There was one person who couldn’t take the scene as a joke and was watching with deadly seriousness.
Kang Suho stepped between us and shoved me with both hands.
“You can’t treat Sua like that!”
Kang Suho had gotten all serious just because I playfully touched her hair once and pushed me. I deliberately exaggerated my fall backward.
It stung my pride as a man, but still.
“O-oppa! Are you okay?”
“Tsk… That hurts… Hey, Kang Suho, what the hell? Why push me so suddenly?”
Jeong Sua, who had been worried about me after I fell, looked at Kang Suho with wide, startled eyes.
Yes. This was exactly the kind of guy he was. Oblivious, unable to read the room, yet always blurting out whatever he wanted—a truly distasteful bastard.
My palm had scraped against the ground when I fell. Still, it was a satisfying exchange if it gave Jeong Sua even the slightest reason to dislike him.
“Oppa, you’re bleeding. There’s blood on your palm. What do we do…”
“I-I didn’t mean to go this far…”
In my heart I wanted to use this as an excuse to corner him, but I decided to stop here. If Kang Suho turned timid because of this, it would cause bigger problems.
“Why are both of you making such serious faces? If you’re a man, an injury like this is nothing.”
I pushed aside Jeong Sua, who was clinging to me and making it hard to stand, and got up nonchalantly. Then I spoke to Kang Suho, who was sulking out of guilt for accidentally hurting me.
“It’s no big deal. Don’t worry about it. I’m perfectly fine.”
“Hyung… I’m sorry…”
But in Jeong Sua’s eyes, I must have looked like some guy who got knocked over by a pathetic push from this loser. Just thinking about it pissed me off.
“Still, pushing me was wrong, so take a hit.”
Thwack.
I gave him another knuckle to the head. I had resolved the awkward atmosphere in my own way.
This time, even Jeong Sua didn’t complain about me hitting him.
Sua, you see this? Violence is an excellent means of communication that’s been passed down since ancient times.
And then time passed once more.
“Oppa, help me! Suho is…!”
The chance to use that excellent means of communication had come again.
Jeong Sua had a boy she liked.
His name was Kang Suho.
Suho, who lived nearby and had been with her since childhood, was like a shining friend. He was handsome, good at studying, and he helped her fit in when she struggled to adapt to class.
He was the kind of boy it was impossible not to like.
Even though he was oblivious and sometimes showed frustrating sides, Jeong Sua still liked Suho despite those flaws.
But there were kids who didn’t like that Suho.
Delinquent kids who were jealous of him for being handsome and smart.
They bullied him every chance they got.
But the boy she liked never yielded.
Even when they tripped him or stole his things and refused to give them back, he always responded with composure.
To Sua, that sight made Suho look like a hero.
But in the end, a problem arose that even Suho couldn’t handle.
“Is that the guy? The one you don’t like? He’s fucking handsome, I’ll give him that.”
“Yeah, hyung. Teach him a lesson so he never acts up again.”
“As his big brother, I should at least grant my little brother’s request.”
One of the usual bullies had brought his older brother along.
A middle-school thug with fierce, scary eyes.
To elementary school kids, middle and high schoolers were terrifying.
The same went for Kang Suho. He was trembling.
Fear was beginning to fill his face.
“Hehe, hey Kang Suho! If you kneel right now and beg nicely that you won’t act up anymore, I’ll let it slide.”
Even so, Kang Suho stood his ground.
While shaking, he spoke to me—who had nothing to do with the situation.
“Run away. I can’t let you get dragged into this too.”
“But… then what about you…”
“It’s fine, so hurry!”
At her childhood friend’s desperate shout, the frightened Jeong Sua ran out of the classroom in tears.
What do I do? Suho… Suho’s going to get badly hurt.
Feeling guilty for leaving her friend behind out of fear and slowing her steps, that was when one person flashed through her mind.
Suho’s older brother. Kang Ijin.
The oppa she had met the first time she visited Suho’s house to play.
Suho always complained that he had a heavy hand and cursed constantly, but seeing how he came to pick Suho up every single time recently, she thought he might not be such a bad person after all.
Suho did tend to exaggerate when he talked.
If it’s that oppa, he might save Suho.
Sua ran toward the man who would surely be coming today, as always, to pick up Suho.
She didn’t know why the thought of going to that oppa came before telling a teacher.
Just that she had a feeling he would handle this incident better than anyone, and a strong belief that since he cared enough about his brother to always come pick him up from school, he would definitely help.
The moment she spotted that person walking from afar with an annoyed, trudging gait.
He really was coming to pick him up.
A feeling of gladness bloomed on Sua’s face, and she smiled for a brief moment.
“Oppa, help me! Suho is…!”
Jeong Sua with tears brimming in her eyes. Hair fluttering in the wind. The sight of her running without even her bag. The moment I realized she had come sprinting to me in a panic, I knew something had happened to Kang Suho.
There was no time to ask what the situation was.
“Where? Lead the way!”
“Follow me.”
You fucking bastards. Whoever you are, you shouldn’t be touching Kang Suho right now.
You should have waited a year. Why the hell are you being so proactive for no reason?
If Kang Suho turns introverted because of this, I won’t let those guys get away with it.
Except for his mom, aunt, older female cousins, older sister, younger sister, the neighbor noona, and grandma… I’ll fuck every last one of the rest.
That guy is my lab rat. The only test subject I have to observe for a whole year to see whether I can twist the story or not.
“Hek. Heek… Oppa, you go first…”
Right before something happened to that test subject I was in a mad rush, but Jeong Sua’s steps were far too slow.
It seemed she had used up every last bit of stamina running to me.
Jeong Sua collapsed from exhaustion on the playground without even making it inside the school building.
“Hey, try to keep up. I don’t know the school’s interior layout at all.”
Suho and I went to different elementary schools. Unlike me, who simply attended the neighborhood school, his parents had sent him to a prestigious elementary school with good facilities that only gathered kids who studied hard.
“Haa… Haa… I can’t run anymore…”
Even if it might earn me her hatred, this situation was urgent.
“Ah, shit, this is annoying. Since it’s an emergency, I won’t ask for permission. You can curse me out later if you want.”
“Huh?”
I scooped Jeong Sua up into my arms.