After the Brainwashed Masochist Comes the Exhibitionist Invisible Girl
Setting aside the whole business of Harin bolting upright for reasons I still couldn't pin down, we took a short break and then headed into class.
Teacher Hye-yeon had gone back to school with a vacant look on her face, while I sat through a major lecture I'd never actually studied for. Past the point of mere disinterest, I was only there because I had no choice if I wanted to fill out my attendance.
"You don't know how to do your major?"
"I got in through early admissions, but by the time I actually showed up, they'd downsized the department and it was gone. The department didn't do anything about it either—just dumped us over here all of a sudden…"
"Insane."
"What the hell is this school even trying to become?"
I'd aimed for that reaction.
I'd only said exactly what Harin had told me to say, but whoever had fed her that information, the sheer weirdness of her intel made my skin crawl.
Thanks to that, nobody bothers sticking their nose into me and Harin. Who's going to pick a fight with some guy who can't paint oils and has bad eyes to boot? Still, the pitying looks turning into something closer to genuine sympathy is a little hard to take—
At least it gave me time to think, and that was good.
With an easel I'd never once touched sitting in front of me, Harin beside me, and my girlfriend sketching away with a surprisingly deft hand while I left her to it, I sank into a foul mood that felt like a thorn lodged in my throat.
I feel like I'm forgetting something incredibly important right now. Why can't I remember it?
That particular brand of discomfort—the kind you get when you open Google or Naver to look something up and realize you've forgotten what you were even supposed to search for.
I was forgetting something important.
It was stuck in my throat and wouldn't come loose.
Normally I'd write this off as some middle-school edgelord delusion, but I've already got disabilities in my eyes and my arm, so I can't exactly claim my head is free of symptoms either. And if it's something like dementia, that would be a real problem…
Eyes, arm, and now dementia on top of it—at this rate I'd go past feeling sorry for Harin and straight into having my conscience ripped in half.
So I kept trying to remember what I'd forgotten.
Besides, this class was perfect for thinking. The visiting professor had just abandoned us with the easels and left us alone for about four hours…
"…?! Where are you going?"
"Bathroom."
"Wait, just let me finish this and I'll come with you."
"I'm just going alone. If you're stuck to my side the whole time, I'll never memorize the route."
"Even so…!"
I held out my cane and slipped out of the room that reeked of old wooden boards. I didn't actually need the bathroom that badly. After what had happened that morning, Harin's attitude had been so off that I needed time alone. She always stared at me openly enough as it was, but today she was really overdoing it—past burden and into pure stress.
Somehow it felt like Harin could read every thought in my head, so having her right next to me made me feel guilty…
…The way she was always one step ahead of me, too—could she actually read minds?
"If it weren't for my parents, I wouldn't even be stuck going to a place like this… Still, they're the ones covering tuition, so somehow I've got to talk them into letting me switch over to the disabled special hire track and start thinking about my future… Ah, but if Harin's hanging around, she'll tell me not to do that… Before any of that, shouldn't I be figuring out a way to get out of Harin's place first… Why the hell did I enroll in a department with no future just so I could sit around thinking about how to leave my girlfriend's house… Ah, fuck……"
With Harin gone, I muttered and grumbled to myself for the first time in a while as I walked ahead.
Blurry as it was, as long as I had my cane, I wasn't so far gone that I couldn't walk alone.
"I came in all fired up about enjoying college life while I was here, but I barely slept, my crotch hurts… Come to think of it, I can't even join a club… because I'm always next to Harin… And if I try to make friends at college, Harin cuts it off at the source… Even today, the classmates who came over to talk got hit with her full-on aegyo offensive and all backed off… I figured if I got close with the seniors, they'd be adults compared to me and I could ask them all kinds of things, but Harin already picked a fight with the Class President, so that's out too……"
……My thoughts were turning negative.
As if I could blame Harin for any of it.
After everything she'd done for me, that was a rude way to think.
I gave my head a quick shake and pulled out a pamphlet. It was a university pamphlet nobody ever used, but for someone with bad eyes, it was a ray of hope. I locked the layout into my head and headed around behind the department building. Sorry to Harin, but I had zero intention of going anywhere near a bathroom. I lit up in a spot already thick with the smell of someone else's cigarettes.
"Fwaaah… Aah… For real……"
I exhaled my worries with one drag of the cigarette and sucked the next breath full of questions.
I wanted to shake free of this foul feeling that had clung to me ever since I'd parted ways with Teacher Hye-yeon.
"Am I actually getting dementia… I can't even get a sense of where or what I forgot…"
First, the reason I'd come to college.
"My parents are from that generation, so that's how I ended up here. They're university-or-bust people—they said no matter what, you have to go to college—so I told them if I switched to the disabled special hire track I could earn more in the time I'd spend in school… We clashed over that, I left home, and then I ended up in Harin's hands… The only reason I'm still going to college now is so I don't fight with my parents any more than I already have. I'm just reading the room……"
I remembered that.
I remembered it clearly.
But…
"…I remember starting to live with Harin at the end of last year, but how the hell did that happen? She was locked in for med school, and I remember her parents were against it, yet she boldly got a one-room apartment, had money from god knows where… and on top of catering to her own tastes, she was dragging a whole pack of other girls around…"
That part—I had no memory of it.
It felt like Teacher Hye-yeon had said something about it that morning, but I couldn't remember a thing.
"…? ………Huh? ………Wait? Living with Harin wasn't a coincidence? Hold on, why did I leave home again? Sure, I didn't see eye to eye with my parents, but I didn't actually need to leave. I could've just gone back and forth to college from home and secretly prepped for the disabled special hire track… More than that, there's no way my parents would let a kid who'd barely become an adult move in with a girl. So how the hell did that part even…"
A sharp twinge.
"Tch…"
My head hurt.
…What was this.
Something felt tight and stifling inside my chest.
If I just thought a little harder, it felt like I could drag something out…
"Hey. You there."
"?"
Someone spoke up right then.
An interrupter.
Thanks to that, I only belatedly noticed the cigarette ash dripping down my thigh.
…Shit, that was hot.
"Yes?"
"What the hell do you mean, 'yes'? Who even are you?"
I brushed off my thigh and looked around the black-and-white world. A woman I felt like I'd seen before but couldn't quite place was standing there, radiating irritation.
Dyed hair, roughly done. A butterfly tattoo in the gap between her navel and her crotch—probably one on her ass crack too. The look was pure delinquent cosplay straight off the internet, and her makeup was heavy. At her age she probably wasn't out shaking people down for lunch money, so at least I didn't have to worry about that. An aggressive thug exterior like hers should've been hard to forget, yet she shoved a wallet straight against my forehead and spoke with zero manners.
"You're that bitch's boyfriend from yesterday, right? What's this? I heard your eyes don't work, but you can see just fine, huh?"
"That bitch? And who exactly are you?"
"I'm the Class President. You don't even know your Class President's face? What a fucking joke. Yesterday I gathered all the freshmen, handed out numbers, and told them to get in the group chat right away—and these little shits just don't show up? Is that for real?"
Ah.
So this is the bitch who stuck a vibrator in Harin's pussy.
All of a sudden the fear vanished and only amusement was left.
"Hey, what the hell were you two doing yesterday that you wouldn't pick up a single call or message? I had something to say so I called the shit out of you, and you ignored every single text. Were you two having that much fun?"
"What were you calling about?"
"Oh? And what do you think it was about?"
"From what I saw, you two had a massive fight yesterday."
"I heard your eyes were bad, but you saw everything, huh? Your girlfriend—Harin, Harim Chicken, whatever the fuck her name is—showed up dressed like absolute garbage, so I gave her shit for it, and that crazy bitch turned around and gave me shit right back. You know that? Hey, fuck, the world's gotten soft, huh? First time I've ever seen a freshman look at a senior and, forget about saying hello, straight-up pick a fight over wearing whatever the hell she wants. So I called her a million times to talk it out privately, and she ignored every single one."
"And what were you going to do when you met her?"
"What was I going to do? What do you think—make her put on proper clothes, say a proper hello, and spell it out so she doesn't pull that shit again? Hell, after the way that crazy bitch talked yesterday, and then she shows up today in the exact same outfit—looks to me like she's picking a fight with me on purpose."
"That's just paranoia. We finished the entrance ceremony yesterday and partied straight through until this morning, so she couldn't change. Stop thinking weird things."
"Oh my god, I'm getting a stress ulcer… So that's why you didn't pick up? You crazy bastards. You ignore a senior's calls, go on a date, and then just admit it to my face? Is this a conversation or a fart?"
What was the problem.
"Then what am I supposed to say if not that we were on a date? You're a grown adult—you're not going to start throwing punches at a kid. And if she were the type to just quietly listen, she wouldn't be walking around dressed like that in the first place. Isn't this a massive waste of time? You're a full-grown adult and you're hassling people over their clothes. Exhausting."
"What? Are you insane? Hey, you fucking—when a senior calls, you jump up and say 'I'll correct it right away,' got it?!"
"Insane? I just said what I had to say… If you ask whether a senior's call comes before a date, obviously private life comes first. And what authority do you even have over someone's clothes?"
"Watch your fucking mouth. You think just because your eyes don't work you can run your mouth like this?"
"What are you talking about? Ah~! You're the one who shoved a wallet in someone's forehead out of nowhere—you're the funny one here~! If you'd spoken nicely, I would've said, 'I'll talk to Harin about it, sunbae.' And just because my eyes are bad, am I supposed to bow and scrape and go 'please go easy on me, my eyes don't work'? Fuck that. I will never, ever live like that."
I flicked the wallet still pressed against my forehead and knocked it away.
I put some spring into my palm when I did it, so she could tell exactly where I stood.
"Are you out of your fucking mind?"
In response, she slapped me across the face and sent my sunglasses flying.
"Oh. She actually hits people. Not as crazy as I thought—wait, no, she is."
"Crazy bitch? I thought that girl was the only psycho, but I guess birds of a feather flock together."
"And you're the Class President who goes straight for the hands? What exactly are you trying to pull with this shit?"
"What do you mean, what shit—you want your entire college life torched on day one?"
"With what authority? How exactly are you going to torch it? I need to know the method before I can get scared."
"Ah, fuck, this blind disabled bastard is really driving me up the wall."
Another slap came flying.
She seemed to think she was putting the fear of god into me, but I didn't give a damn about this college, so it all just felt light.
"You gonna hit me one more time?"
"What?"
"The mark on my cheek isn't dark enough yet. If I call the cops, they'll just brush it off."
"Ah, and you think that'll get you somewhere? I'll just say you hit me first. Don't you know how the world works these days? I reverse-report that you assaulted me and it's over, you retard."
"You're living a pretty gutter life yourself, huh."
This was the Class President?
Sure enough—she fit a fringe department that had been downsized and would blow away if you breathed on it too hard.
With my personality, I was ready to take this all the way… but like she said, this didn't look like a place with CCTV. If she rolled around somewhere and claimed I'd hit her, the world would unfairly dump all the shit on me. I could see it clear as day.
"Fucking half-cocked bastard just running his mouth. You're done. I'll spread the word everywhere, report you to the professors, and trash you on the campus community board too. Where does a disabled piece of shit get off talking shit to a senior who's like the fucking sky above him."
I debated whether to raise my own hand, call the cops even if it put me at a disadvantage, or just summon the final weapon—Harin.
In the middle of that debate, her hand went up again—
Huh?
My heart dropped.
It wasn't because of this woman.
It was like my whole body had been caught in a storm of intense wrongness…
And then…
"What are you looking at me like that for? Aren't you going to apologize? Ah, for real, you crazy son of a b—"
THWACK—!
"——GAAAAAAAH!!!!! AAH, AH, AUGH, AH, AAAAH, AAH!!!"
?
As if answering that thought, a baseball bat came flying out of nowhere and smashed into the Class President, sending her rolling sideways.
"Aaaagh, aaaah, fuck, what the, aaaargh, fuck what the hell is thisssssssss!!!"
CLANG CLANG CLANG! CLANG CLANG CLANG!
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!! FUUUUUUUUUCK!!!!!!"
I doubted my ears at the cheerful, ringing sound.
While I still couldn't process the sudden turn of events, the baseball bat floating in midair kept swinging.
"Fuck, fu, AAAAAAAAAAH!!!!! What the fuck, fuck, what the hell is thisssssssss!!!!!!"
It beat the idiot who'd picked a fight with me over and over—thud, thud, thud, thud—chasing her off, and I heard the clear crack of her right arm breaking. Faced with this incomprehensible situation, the Class President fled the spot and sprinted toward the park where people were. She must have figured that if there were enough people around, something would work out.
"AIIIYAAAH?! AAH! Somebody help me! Help meeeeeee!!!"
Even over there, the sound of her getting hit kept coming, mixed with her screams, until people finally crowded in and chaos broke out.
Even so, the violence didn't seem to stop.
What, is she putting on a one-woman show?
I didn't follow. I just sat there and listened. The thud-thud-thud of something being beaten kept going. People were screaming, trying to figure out what the hell was happening, and the Class President's voice gradually went quiet. When the thudding finally stopped, I finally grasped the situation.
I'd thought it was an act—but from the distant commotion, I realized it had been real.
Whether she'd really been beaten or not, someone was yelling to call 119, that her arms and legs were broken, that the kid was going to die—total pandemonium.
If it wasn't an act… then am I the only one who can see the bat flying around? Wait, for real?
And yet, as the weapon strode straight toward me, nobody was looking at it. Not only was it floating in midair—it walked right out through the crowd in plain sight, and still no one reacted. As if only I could see it, it came back this way, and from that point on an even more bewildering spectacle unfolded.
"That slut… that fucking bitch…! Who the hell does she think she is… who the hell gave her permission to dare… Hoo…! Hnngh…!"
It was a voice that felt familiar and yet completely absent from my memory.
Beneath the baseball bat, a faint female silhouette emerged—like a naked invisible person.
What the hell is that. Nobody else can see it? Only I can see it?
No matter how much I ran around with a pervert like Harin, if a naked woman suddenly appeared in the middle of campus in broad daylight, of course I'd be thrown off…
I instinctively tried to step back, and failed.
"Who said she could hit him… that clueless fucking bitch… for real… eugh… ugh…!! ——Hweh?!"
Our eyes met.
They met, and that was that.
"Euhiiiiiii, iiiiiik, iit?! HWEHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!"
What the actual hell!!!
The instant our eyes locked, she let out a sudden scream.
A beauty with a face that was clearly furious beyond all reason charged at me, baseball bat in hand.