School Cleanup - Part 1
It was a nice café, but the atmosphere was crushing.
Eunsol's rarely seen piercing glare and Lee Naye's even colder, frostier stare than usual were both locked on Hwang Hyeonuk.
"Haha... mind dialing down the death stares a little..? I'm actually happy to see you guys.."
"You've been saying you're happy since earlier. Who exactly are you?"
"Yeah! Who are you!"
"Wow... you really don't remember, huh... well.. back then just scraping by day to day was hard enough.."
The chair scraped back as Hwang Hyeonuk stood.
Then he bent at the waist until his face nearly touched the table.
"I'm sorry. I know an apology now doesn't mean a damn thing, but I'm still truly sorry. I should've been the one to find the courage... no, especially me. I should've stood up, and instead I looked the other way. I was scared it'd come back on me.. scared that once it was over, things would go right back to how they were.. so I pretended not to know you and just watched. It's late, but I mean this from the bottom of my heart. I'm sorry."
At Hwang Hyeonuk's sudden apology, Lee Naye and Eunsol didn't know what to do with themselves.
This needed an explanation.
Back then, Hwang Hyeonuk had been the oldest among the kids at the orphanage, along with two high schoolers.
That garbage director couple never laid a hand on the ones who'd already grown up.
Hwang Hyeonuk and the high schoolers lived like ghosts—as if they didn't even exist.
A director couple too much of a hassle once the kids got big, and high schoolers with nowhere else to go if they left the orphanage.
They'd reached an unspoken agreement.
Don't trespass on each other's territory.
That was what Hwang Hyeonuk was apologizing for now.
For the cowardly, gutless version of himself back then.
He could have just let it slide.
He could have decided it wasn't his fault.
He could have never apologized at all.
And yet Hwang Hyeonuk had deliberately dragged out his past self and bowed his head.
He'd grown up well.
Turned into a damn fine adult.
"You guys really don't remember? It's Hyeonuk hyung."
"Hyeonuk...?"
"Uuung..?"
"The beanpole who was all height and no meat, skulking around looking gloomy."
"Ah..!!!"
"Kyaak!!"
Looks like it finally clicked.
Lee Naye and Eunsol covered their mouths in perfect sync, eyes blown wide as they stared at Hwang Hyeonuk.
Honestly, I was pretty shocked myself.
That scrawny hyung had transformed into something out of a gym bro's wet dream.
Of course, our looks had changed too.
"Haha... I was gloomy on top of everything else..?"
"You didn't know?"
"Had no idea.."
Once Hwang Hyeonuk scratched his head and sat back down, the heavy atmosphere lightened considerably.
They didn't exactly warm up to him like old friends, but the wariness was definitely gone.
"Oh, but what's this about? Unauthorized phone number change?"
"You're the one who changed your number, you bastard! If you're gonna change it, at least send a text!"
Three years after I'd handed him five million won, I'd changed my number.
I'd had no choice—switching carriers—but for those three years, Hwang Hyeonuk never once contacted me.
So I changed it.
He never asked me for help, and that meant he was handling things fine on his own without me needing to worry.
"So a cop came all the way out here during busy work hours just to hit on high school girls for their numbers?"
"Not that. I had business at the school and happened to hear your name. I was in the teachers' office when some female teacher said she had to go check if Cha Sunwoo was cleaning."
"....That's my homeroom teacher."
"Figured. But hey, you... mind standing up for a second?"
"Right now?"
"Yeah. Stand up."
He told me to stand, so I stood.
But this was getting seriously uncomfortable.
"You shopping at Majang-dong? You don't need to inspect me that carefully—I'm fresh."
He'd come around to my side and was examining my body with the careful thoroughness of a man picking out good meat.
Eyes alone weren't enough, apparently—he started kneading my arms and thighs, palpating me like a doctor.
"What the hell are you actually doing?"
"Hmm... solid. You been working out?"
"Yeah. Still am."
"What kind?"
"These days just light stuff—cycling, swimming. People say if you go hard on weight training during a growth spurt, you stop getting taller."
"Before that?"
"Boxing, Muay Thai, taekwondo, MMA, judo, jiu-jitsu... what else did I do?"
"You did climbing and golf too."
"And soccer and basketball every day!"
"Well, there you go."
"You on a sports team?"
"No. Just a regular student."
In my last life, the school thugs had put me through hell.
So I'd trained since I was little.
To protect myself, and to protect Eunsol and Lee Naye.
Growing up in an orphanage made you prime prey for stupid kids looking for an easy target.
"Anyway, you're not some punk screwing around, right?"
"Right. Did you come to the school because of school violence?"
"Bingo. An anonymous tip came in, so I went out to investigate. But the teachers are all jumping up and down swearing nothing like that ever happened—like they rehearsed it."
Of course they were.
School violence trashed a school's image and eroded parents' trust.
From the school's perspective, school violence was something you buried at all costs.
"What about the victim?"
"No idea who. Just an anonymous letter. Everyone's telling me to drop it, but... I just couldn't. Felt too much like looking the other way and standing by the way I did back then. Anyway, here's my card. If anything happens to any of you, call me. I'll come running. And if you change your number again without telling me, you're dead!"
"Got it."
"Ah! And that money—I'll pay you back within a few years. Things are a little tight right now with wedding prep.. haha..."
"Hyung, you're getting married?"
"This fall~ I'll set something up soon and introduce you to your noona-in-law. She's gorgeous, so try not to faint~~ hahahaha."
So he was getting married..
He was twenty-eight this year—about time.
Then what should I get him for a wedding gift?
"Nothing beats results, right?"
"What are you plotting now?"
"Sunwoo.. your eyes just got scary again..."
"It's nothing. Just thought I'd help with a little cleanup."
It wasn't hard work.
If anything, I might handle this better than the cops.
At this age, fists were closer than the law.
Though I'd leave the actual judgment to the courts, of course.
I'd gone a little off the rails in middle school, but I never messed with kids who were just trying to live normal lives.
I only fixed the ones strutting around with their shoulders puffed up, calling themselves delinquents.
And kids who remembered me from back then were at this school too.
"Hey. Come here."
"M-me..?"
"Who else is there?"
"Haha.. what's up, Sunwoo..?"
Lee Youngsu, aka Fur Rat.
The nickname stuck because facial hair had started growing on him in first year of middle school.
The buck teeth and the general rat-like face didn't hurt either.
"Youngsu."
"Y-yeah..?"
"Who've you been hanging with lately? You know what I mean."
"Well.. I've been pretty tight with Youngbeom from Class 4..."
"Choi Youngbeom?"
"Yeah... why do you ask..?"
"Nothing major. By next break, I want a list. Your crew, the kids you mess with, and the seniors covering for you. All of it."
"Huh??"
The panic was written all over his face.
I could practically hear the gears grinding from here.
Times like this, you had to get a little nasty if you wanted them to listen.
"Ah..... Youngsu."
"......"
"Just because I've been keeping my head down at school, you think I'm some piece of shit you can walk on?"
"N-no! No!! Absolutely not!!"
"Then what should you be saying right now?"
"I'll write down every single one of them, no one left out! Don't worry—just trust me!"
"Good. I'm counting on you. Go."
"Thanks!"
He didn't shove off the arm draped over his shoulder—just bowed at the waist and slipped away smooth as silk.
Nobody beat Fur Rat at that particular skill.
Not that I trusted the bastard.
Fur Rat wasn't just a rat—he was a bat.
By the time that list hit my hands, every first-year delinquent would already know about it.
"H-here.. I wrote down everyone, even the third-year seniors.."
"Good work."
"Then I'll just be go—"
"Hold up."
"Huh??"
"Let me cross-check this against the other list I asked for."
"Uh...?"
"You didn't actually think I only asked you, did you?"
"......"
"Why so nervous? Don't tell me you left someone out? Aww~ that would hurt my feelings."
An earthquake hit Fur Rat's pupils.
A separate list? There was no such thing.
I'd just floated the idea to see what happened—and he'd taken the bait perfectly.
"S-Sunwoo.. that's...!"
"Speak freely."
"Th-the pen suddenly stopped working, so there are a few people I couldn't write down..."
"Then write them. My pen works fine."
"Uh.. thanks..."
New names went on the list.
Nothing added on the victim side, but the perpetrator list—specifically, second-year seniors—got a few more entries.
"So it's not the third-years running things. It's the second-years."
Names deliberately left off the list.
That meant they were the real power.
Which left me with two options.
Hand the list straight to Hwang Hyeonuk.
Or wrap it up nice and pretty before I handed it over.
"Hmm... yeah. Let's live a normal life."
I could package it perfectly and pass it along, but that would put me a long way from the ordinary life I was after.
I wasn't a cop, wasn't a prosecutor, and had zero interest in going that direction.
This kind of thing was the police's job.
"Hyung, it's me. Got a minute to talk? I just got my hands on something really good."
I handed Fur Rat's list over to Hwang Hyeonuk.
I figured that alone would settle everything.
I was wrong.
"Hyung..."
The next time I saw Hwang Hyeonuk, it was at a hospital.
He was lying in a ward bed with injuries anyone could tell were serious.
The gash running from his left forehead down past the corner of his eye had taken over forty stitches, they said.
"Sunwoo.."
"Hyung, are you okay..?"
"I'm.. sleepy... haah.. haah.."
His face strained with effort as his eyes slowly closed.
Then his face dropped onto the soft pillow.
"Hyung.. hyung..! Hyeonuk hyung!!! Open your eyes!!!!! Open them!!!! Doctor!!! There's a patient here who— whoa! Shit!!! Why are you staring at me like that?! You scared the hell out of me!!"
"You're the one who told me to open my eyes."
"Who are you..?"
Before I could even get my startled heart under control, a soft woman's voice floated up from behind me.
"Honey~! This is Sunwoo—Cha Sunwoo!"
"....He looks way too fine."
"Oh my! Hello~ I've heard so much about you~"
"Hello, noona. I'm Cha Sunwoo."
"Oh my? Noona already~ You're embarrassing me, hohoho~"
"But what happened??"
"Don't even get me started! Like he's Superman or something..! Why would you jump in front of a moving car!!"
"If I hadn't jumped, that kid would've died."
"You could've died..! Ah, sorry. You could have died!"
"Protecting citizens' lives and safety is a cop's job. Cut me some slack, honey."
"Haa... seriously..!"
I'd heard he was hurt and assumed the delinquents had jumped him.
Turns out he'd thrown himself into the road to save a little kid and gotten hit by a car.
"So listen.. until I get discharged, can you look after the victim kids for me?"
"What about the other detectives?"
"Things got complicated. Those second-year kingpins you mentioned—a lot of stuff sticks to them."
"Like what?"
"Huu... one of them is a senior prosecutor's son, one's the son of a mid-sized company president who could pass for a conglomerate, and another is a district assemblyman's kid."
"Damn.. their backing is brutal."
"So nobody else will touch this case. I'm digging into it while ignoring every order coming down from above. So watch the kids until I'm out of here. You said you work out, right?"
And that was how it went.
Or rather—even without all that, it would have gone this way anyway.
"Hey, Cha Sunwoo. You snitched to the cops?"
"Yeah."
"Yeah?"
"I snitched."
"You little shit..! How are you saying that so casually!!"
"No reason not to."
"Even in this situation?"
"Whew~ you dragged a whole crowd."
Behind that guy stood about a dozen first-years.
The ringleader was obviously Choi Youngbeom from Class 4.
"Hey. I heard you ran around swinging in middle school?"
"I beat up a few punks like you. Couldn't stand the sight of them."
"This bastard's got balls. But I'm Choi Youngbeom. Those small fry you used to— ghhhk!!!"
"Idiot. Later~"
I planted a clean shot right in his face and bolted immediately.
This wasn't a movie—this was reality.
Take on that many alone and I'd be smelling incense from behind a funeral screen.
"Aaaah..!! Augh..!!"
"Youngbeom!!"
"What are you doing!! Catch that bastard!!!!"
"Hey!! You gonna stop or what?!!"
"Cha Sunwoo! Stop right there!!!"
"Would you stop if you were me?"
"Ah..."
"No, you wouldn't."
"Then quit yelling. You're giving me a headache."
"Just stop a little!!"
"Hey! Please just stop!!"
"Why is he so fast!!"
"You want to catch me? Quit smoking first, you bastards."