Surely She Wouldn't...
The next morning,
I leisurely made my way to school and was climbing the stairs to the floor with our classroom when I spotted a crowd of kids gathered in the middle of the hallway, buzzing with murmurs.
"Whoa, insane. Who did this?"
"This is crazy... What the hell is Baek Haeun gonna do now?"
I squeezed through the whispering crowd, and the horrific sight on the wall hit me square in the eyes.
The election posters that Haeun and I had put up side by side after school the day before yesterday.
Haeun's beaming smile had been shredded beyond recognition,
and scrawled over it in glaring red marker were vicious graffiti marks slashing through it.
[Fatherless bitch]
[Whore who shakes her ass at guys]
[Know your place, you fox slut]
The raw, disgusting words were written as if meant specifically for Haeun to see.
And at the front of the crowd, Choi Jia stood with her arms crossed, coldly scanning the mess.
Just like with the figurine incident, she wasn't raging to find the culprit or defending Haeun.
She just gave the poster one icy stare, then jerked her chin at the group.
"Let's go."
Jia's gang slipped into the classroom without a backward glance, and as I watched, my brow furrowed deeply.
Choi Jia... Did that bitch do this? Doesn't matter who, though.
My eyelashes trembled faintly.
This was clearly beyond my control—a variable I hadn't planned for.
What I wanted was to spread rumors, slowly isolate Haeun, and make her dependent on me.
Not this blatant, violent lynching that shoved her mental state right off the cliff. Way too fast, against my expectations.
What if... Baek Haeun... sees this... and reacts how...?
That's when it happened.
From the opposite central staircase, Haeun climbed up with heavy, listless steps and spotted her mutilated poster—and the kids mocking it with their whispers.
"……!"
She froze on the spot like a statue.
The color drained from her face in an instant, and from my position, I could clearly see her huge eyes shaking with terror and shame like aspen leaves.
Taat!
The next moment, she gasped in a breath and bolted—not toward the classroom, but the emergency stairs on the opposite side.
...Huh? Where's she going...?
The bell for first period was about to ring, but she wasn't heading to the first-floor school gate.
Upward.
To the highest point in the school.
No way... the rooftop?
Bam!
In that instant, the cold rationality calculating and controlling the situation in my head short-circuited.
"Hey, Kang Minjae! Hold my bag for me!"
I roughly shoved my bag into Minjae's chest, who was standing blankly beside me.
"Huh? Ugh! Hey, where you going?! The bell's about to—"
"Later!!"
I sprinted like mad toward the emergency stairs where Haeun had vanished, ignoring Minjae's panicked shout.
One step,
two steps,
three steps at a time.
My lungs burned like they were tearing apart, but I couldn't stop.
My mind was drowned in pure white panic.
No way, right? Fuck, no...! This isn't what I wanted!
I just... wanted you... by my side... I didn't want you to shatter completely and vanish from my sight forever!
"Baek Haeun... please, for real, don't do it. If you pull some stupid stunt, I'll kill you myself...."
My heart hammered against my ribs like it would burst out of my chest.
I endured the agony of my legs feeling like they might explode, climbing floor after floor like a maniac, until I finally reached the rusty iron door to the rooftop.
Bam!!
I shoved the handle so hard it nearly broke and burst onto the rooftop.
"……."
Through the gusting morning wind, Haeun's precarious silhouette teetered at the railing, burned into my vision.
She stared blankly into the dizzying void beyond the railing, hands covering her face, tears streaming endlessly.
Just one more step, and it would all be over.
She hadn't jumped yet, but her posture looked ready to topple in the wind any second.
Seeing that scene with my own eyes, the insane heartbeat surging to my throat slowly subsided, and cold reason slapped my head hard.
...Whew.
I halted my rush to the railing, roughly wiped the cold sweat from my forehead with the back of my hand, and caught my ragged breath.
You nearly gave me a heart attack. Don't scare me like that, Baek Haeun.
Looking at her fragile, lovable back trembling and just sobbing without even the guts to jump, my familiar sneer slowly crept back onto my lips.
Yeah. Perfect timing—thoroughly trampled, torn apart, feeling like she's the only one left in the world... in so much agony she wants to die right now.
Time for... a carrot here.
Muffling my indoor shoes, I slowly, oh-so-gently and reliably stepped toward Haeun, who was shuddering and sobbing at the railing.
Her trembling slender back.
Those fragile shoulders about to crumble.
From behind, I wrapped my arms around her tightly, without a gap.
"What... are you doing here."
My voice, low and infinitely tender, cut through the fierce wind into her ear.
Haeun jolted in my arms and stiffened.
I pressed closer, sharing my warmth.
"Baek Haeun. You're not... thinking something weird, right?"
"L... Lee Woojin...?"
Haeun flinched and struggled to escape my hold.
She twisted to look back at me, her face a mess of tears and snot.
Those horrific scribbles had clearly shredded even her last shred of sanity.
"L-let go... sob, let me go right now! I don't need any of it... it's all over, nothing left... sob sob!"
Desperate, Haeun shoved me roughly with sniffling sobs.
As she stumbled back in blind rebellion, her upper body tilting toward the void—
Swish—
I released my arms around her waist cleanly, coldly, without a hint of hesitation.
"Huh...?"
Haeun, braced for my firm resistance, lost her balance when the support vanished suddenly.
Her body pitched helplessly into the air.
In that split second, even her short scream caught in her throat.
I roughly grabbed her slender wrist as she flailed in terror, eyes squeezed shut, and yanked her hard toward my chest.
Thud!
"Ah... aaah!"
Crashing into my solid chest, Haeun gasped ragged breaths, her face drained pale.
Just a second ago, she'd tasted the vivid terror of real death—her pupils wildly dilating.
Her lips quivered in fear as she looked up at me, dazed.
"Th... thank you, Woojin..."
Smack!!
Before the gratitude finished, my palm cracked sharply across her pale cheek.
"Ah...."
Haeun's head snapped to the side; she clutched her reddening cheek in a stupor.
A suffocating silence descended on the rooftop, as if even the howling wind had stopped.
I glared down at her with icy eyes, growling in a voice like a frozen blade.
"You didn't even have the resolve to fall just now."
"……."
"Stop it... this stupid bullshit... throwing your life away over some trash rumors and scribbles?"
Her shoulders twitched at my sharp daggers of words.
"Don't you have to think of your dad in heaven and grit your teeth, hold on, and get back up? You're the one who thrashed around saying you'd live perfectly for him too!"
The deepest wound she hid, the one she never wanted touched.
Father.
The moment that word tore ruthlessly from my mouth, cracks spiderwebbed uncontrollably through Haeun's stunned eyes.
"Wha...?"
Thick tears plopped from her wide eyes again.
Grief, shame, injustice from my slap, and bitter betrayal twisted her face.
Her lips trembled violently, then she burst into sobs, pummeling my chest with her tiny fists like mad.
"Sob... hic! What do you know, spouting off like that?!"
"……."
"You think you know my pain?! How hard it's been alone all this time—do you?! Don't you dare say my dad's name with your filthy mouth... sob, waaah!"
Thump, thump.
Her small fists pounding my chest overflowed with all the resentment she'd bottled up.
"Why now... why pretend to help only after I'm all broken!!"
Her wailing voice echoed across the rooftop.
"From the start... hic, if you'd just stayed by my side from the beginning! Just... kept being there all along...!! Why... now... do this...?"
Her legs gave out, and as she started to collapse, I grabbed her collar tight and yanked her back into my arms.
Haeun buried her face in my chest and wailed like a child.
"……."
I clenched my fists and hugged her small, quivering back fiercely—tight enough to choke, as if I'd never let go.