Kang Hyeona. Your Fist Hurts the Most

"N-Noona… my body…"

"……"

The emotions that had raged like a storm settled into quiet stillness, as if they had never been. Once everything faded, only shame and reason remained. The mortification of having spat out those cringeworthy words set her cheeks burning.

And then—

"Ngh…"

The hard, insistent press of something against Han Seyeon's thigh. Her cooled reason was swallowed whole by feeling once more. Anyone still capable of clear thought would have known exactly what that sensation was.

Han Sein's cock.

Nothing more, nothing less—yet Han Seyeon's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠body locked solid. When her voice finally came, it was thick with shameful moisture.

"P-Please let me go…"

Was it pure embarrassment? Or had the words simply mashed together inside her chest? Whatever the cause, Han Seyeon's heartbeat climbed steadily faster. Desire coiled low in her belly until it tingled. And with it, guilt.

"I-I'm sorry…"

Older sister and younger brother. Bound by the simple fact of being siblings. That moral weight—leaping clean over the law itself—began to torment her. Her body loosened; regret and guilt flooded in together.

"I'm going to the bathroom for a bit."

"Mm…"

Awkward, stiff steps. A gait more uncomfortable than anyone else's. In that instant the stick-like bulge straining against his school uniform pants stabbed straight into Han Seyeon's eyes.

She swallowed hard—and still flinched. Hastily she tore her gaze away. She flung the clothes far across the room and began spreading the blankets. She had to do something. If she didn't do something… she would end up focusing on the feelings themselves.

Han Seyeon fought with everything she had. Because she carried a heart society would never call proper. Because she hated herself all the more for it, and felt endlessly sorry toward everyone else. She had already begun preparing thoroughly for what came next.

"Hoo… that was close."

Was it because I hadn't jerked off in so long? The buildup had left my libido climbing on its own, and the second Seyeon went for my chest I got hard. I didn't touch myself right then. Alone it might have been different, but I had no intention of harvesting anything this early. The situation had to arise naturally.

With that in mind, I opened the shop window for the first time in a while—partly to check the points I'd stacked.

Cash could be bought in bundles. A few months of grinding and I could even clear the debt.

Nah.

I'd decided the moment I first opened the shop. School lunches were decent enough; I had no real craving for food. I could have made the house rich overnight, but why bother?

And more than anything, there was one item I was set on.

The twenty-thousand-point price tag alone guaranteed the effect. The second I saw it, I made my vow. With that, I could heal Han Seyeon's wrist, couldn't I?

Our business partner—Jarvis—answered.

Shut it.

We were partners from the start. No reason for it to lie or turn on me, so I trusted it. Naturally my thoughts drifted to Han Seyeon. A boxing prospect. Then our mother's violence ruined her. A soju bottle shattered; the shards drove into her wrist and ended any chance of continuing as an athlete. Muscle still let her handle daily life without trouble, but on rainy days she still rubbed that wrist. So I wanted to fix it. Points weren't earned only from miserable emotions, after all.

If you don't know, shut up.

That's why the world was ending, right? Because it had failed. Why else would it have dragged someone in from another world?

So what? You saw it yourself.

The conversation ended there. First, I no longer wanted to look at the hologram. Second, Han Seyeon was calling me.

"Sein?"

"Ah—yeah. I'm coming out."

Was she that desperate? Urgency threaded through her voice. Better get out of the way fast.

And so, after Han Sein left the bathroom, Han Seyeon stepped inside. She sat on the toilet and let out a long, deep breath.

"……"

An action driven by pure instinct. Slowly she turned her head and checked the trash can. Only a few tissues, of course. Nothing that carried the thick, lingering scent of before.

"Haa…"

Her sigh grew even heavier. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Post-nut clarity had arrived. The phenomenon that appears the moment you realize you were hoping for exactly that kind of thing.

The next morning, Kang Hyeona's heart was still a knotted mass. Jealousy, and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠longing—those were the words that named her feelings. Han Sein and Jeong Ayeong were still right there in their seats. What was she supposed to do? She felt jealousy toward Ayeong, yet she didn't want to act on it. Reality only tangled her thoughts further.

"Starting today, you know, right?"

"Yeah…"

He'd left early without a word, apparently. At lunch Kim Hyeongmin let out a disbelieving laugh. The result was a clear signal: the bullying, which had been relatively mild, would now grow harsher. No subject was named, but the order was there. Kang Hyeona had to torment Han Sein. At least it wasn't Park Hyorin—that was a small mercy—but thinking of how she felt about Sein, she couldn't exactly celebrate.

Kang Hyeona was no sadist who got off on cruelty. If anything, she was the type who loved pure, straightforward romance—the kind other people called boring and itchy. That preference extended to real relationships as well. Maybe that was why, after meeting Han Sein, she had stopped reading pure-love romance novels. Every time she tried, Sein kept floating up in her mind. And thinking of him made a corner of her chest ache. She already knew it could never happen. Reality was not pure love. This was no academy-background romance novel. Only perpetrator and victim, violence and more violence.

And then the lunch period she had hoped would never come arrived.

Fourth-floor hallway. Jeong Ayeong and Han Sein came up the stairs together. They looked even closer than before. Even on the way to be bullied, a tiny hope seemed to bloom between them. That was the picture forming in Kang Hyeona's head. Watching them climb the stairs, she found herself daydreaming without meaning to. If only… if only she had been the one standing in Ayeong's place. The frustration only deepened.

Kim Hyeongmin, Park Hyorin, and Kang Hyeona gathered. Jeong Ayeong and Han Sein pressed themselves against the far end of the hallway wall. The unspoken rule they had always followed. But the atmosphere was different from usual.

"Ayeong, why don't you come play with unnie?"

"Ugh…"

Ayeong crumpled. Park Hyorin had hooked her foot and sent her sprawling—a clean wasabari, as the pros called it. The mood was uglier than usual. In a way it was only natural. They had failed to show up on the fourth floor at lunch without a word, when they were supposed to. "Distracted" was the right word. Ayeong had been so absorbed in Sein that she had simply ignored them. Reality had felt too happy; she had postponed worrying about the future. Now the future had arrived, and it was time to pay.

"Han Sein."

"Yeah."

Kang Hyeona stepped toward him. Kim Hyeongmin's shadowed smile twisted further. The shadow settled lower and lower. The overwhelming difference in height only sharpened the contrast. Slowly, Kang Hyeona's hand rose.

"You ran off without a word, huh?"

"…Sorry."

Kang Hyeona's eyes sank. For a girl who had always lived behind a fierce gaze rather than a vacant one, it was unusual. They said the eyes were the window to the soul. Right now her soul was weeping. Love? Since nothing was given or received, it was only half a love. She had wanted to give it, yet couldn't; since it could never reach him, it could never return. That was simple fact, an unchanging truth.

Please don't apologize. Fight back.

That was what Kang Hyeona's eyes were saying. Just a little—even the tiniest bit—say something that would lighten this weight.

"I'll… be more careful next time."

Just like he had with Kim Hyeongmin at the beginning. Snap back with some attitude. Climb up, open your mouth with some pride. Kang Hyeona looked down at Han Sein in silence. Slowly his head lifted; their eyes met. As if he had already given up on everything. There was only a powerless male student who could do nothing against whatever she chose to do.

For a very short span of time, Kang Hyeona remembered the past. Under Kim Hyeongmin's orders she had tormented people. Was it a contradiction? Yes—if it was a contradiction, then it was. They hit without guilt, yet she couldn't bring herself to hit Sein because she felt sorry?

Her heart knotted tighter and tighter. Complicated, then more complicated still. The eyes are the mirror that holds the soul's emotions. That transparent window capable of holding everything closed. Kang Hyeona's eyes squeezed shut. Slowly her fist clenched. The window that had once held the person she liked refused to face the light.

In this moment, Kang Hyeona could not look at Han Sein. All that remained was a piece of trash forced to hurt the one she loved.

Fuck. Fucking hell.

"Ghk… hhk, hngh, cough, ghh…"

A boy's broken moans filled the hallway.