Give and Take
The eyes that had flown up wild and feral bore down on Jiwoo, unblinking.
The 'Seol Jihyo' standing before him felt markedly different from usual.
Come to think of it, it had been that way since her first day of school. The blue-black hair falling to her waist. Water-blue eyes as transparent as lake water. A slight girl whose expression was oddly, unsettlingly calm for her age.
...Nothing had changed. Not in appearance, at least.
But something is undeniably different.
He couldn't put it into words, but Gu Minjae had privately wondered whether 'that incident' had knocked something loose in Seol Jihyo's head. The way she had strode boldly at his heels, following him all the way here without a flicker of fear, was proof enough.
The Seol Jihyo of the past would have been terrified mute. This one spoke first.
"Since it's come to this, I might as well ask you something."
Would you look at that. Head held high, asking her question like she owned the place.
The sheer nerve.
"Besides you—who else was there?"
Jiwoo asked.
"...What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"The ones who bullied me. There were more than just you, weren't there?"
"Why the hell are you asking me? Figure it out with your own head."
Gu Minjae found the entire situation infuriating. A nobody not only meeting his gaze head-on, but addressing him in that crisp, unhurried tone.
"Doesn't make sense. Why would you ask something like that now? Planning to write names in a Death Note? Or what, gonna run tattling to the Chairman's office?"
He snickered and took a step toward Jiwoo.
"You idiot. If it were actually a problem, discipline would've come down already."
Tap.
Gu Minjae prodded Jiwoo's forehead, as if telling her to think a little. That alone was enough to send her slender neck bobbing like a reed. Finding it amusing, he pressed down harder on that white forehead.
"Didn't you know? This school doesn't give a damn what we do here. Graduate on your own, go contribute to society later—that's the deal."
"...You're right."
Jiwoo agreed.
"Even if something happened here, the school wouldn't step in anyway."
"Right, obvious—urk!"
CRACK—!!
Gu Minjae's head whipped around as though his neck would snap.
It happened in an instant. Before he could even register what was going on, his body lurched violently and his rear hit the ground with a thud. He looked up, dazed.
Water-blue eyes stared down at him, perfectly still. 'Seol Jihyo' smiled, cool and composed.
"What? You thought you'd never be the one getting hit?"
"Have you lost your mind—!"
A fist corded with tendons sliced through the air with a whoosh.
Jiwoo didn't dodge.
SMACK!
This time it was Jiwoo's head that snapped to the side. The blow was brutal—her lip split, and blood traced a thin red line down over her chin. Jiwoo pressed her thumb against it and wiped the blood away.
"...Huh. That's all? A watered-down punch."
"What did you say?"
"Someone wielding a fist this pathetic has no business playing at being a power player."
Gu Minjae's punch had been all bluster, nothing behind it. Look at him now—flushing and changing color at every one of Jiwoo's provocations.
...A simple brute.
How had the others let a guy like this play boss of the class, anyway? Why—why had Jihyo had no choice but to simply take this from someone like him?
...Not that he was alone in it.
What had shoved Jihyo into that hellish agony was never Gu Minjae's doing alone. Accomplices she hadn't yet found. She had to find them. And when she did, she would return every ounce of that pain.
"Fucking bitch. Hey. What did you just say? Huh?"
His eyes transformed, and Gu Minjae raised his fist again.
But there would be no second time.
Crack.
Jiwoo caught his wrist.
"Hey."
She called to him with a face devoid of any expression.
"I still haven't gotten my answer."
"Fuck, what answer!"
"Who else was there. The ones who bullied me."
Wrist trapped in Jiwoo's grip, Gu Minjae's brow furrowed sharply. For a moment he was still trying to work out what nonsense this was. Then he bared his canines in a grin.
"Fuck off."
...Ah.
So talking was pointless after all.
The instant Jiwoo's lips parted, Gu Minjae yanked his hand free. But Jiwoo was faster.
WHAM—!
Her fist drove squarely into his flank.
"Ughhk......?!"
Gu Minjae crumpled where he stood, then violently spat.
"Hrk—kuh!"
It was an inconceivable pain. As if this weren't a fist but—
A beast? No, something even more savage. It was maddening, as if he'd been attacked by a monster—an Infected.
'Seol Jihyo has strength like THIS?'
Against his own will, his body trembled.
Jiwoo stared, expressionless, at the figure writhing on the ground.
—What do you mean, pain is 'useful'?
Yesterday, Lim Lisa had asked her that.
This was the answer.
──The final Core that Seol Jiwoo possessed was the ability to transfer her own 'wounds' into another person's body.
So-called Give and Take.
She couldn't move viruses or cells—a cold, a cancer, a contagious disease were beyond her. But bleeding injuries, external trauma—even the pain felt at the moment of injury—could be stored away intact and then inflicted upon another.
Jiwoo had 'deliberately' not healed the pain from the Infected's charge yesterday.
So she could return it in full.
To him.
Of course, Gu Minjae would never imagine any of that. He'd simply marvel at 'Seol Jihyo's' punching power, thinking nothing more of it.
Idiot.
"Haah, haah......"
A disgusting mixture of saliva and blood dripped from his mouth.Unable to even hold himself upright, he curled into a hunched ball. Jiwoo approached him in measured steps, eyes locked on.
"How filthy."
Gu Minjae's shoulders flinched. Unable even to wipe the vomit from his mouth, he raised pain-twisted eyes.
"What. Gonna run to the Chairman's office and tattle?"
Jiwoo twisted her lips into a smirk, crouched down, and whispered at his ear.
"Go ahead and try. Idiot."
"......!"
His body wouldn't move. It felt as if an invisible rope had bound him from head to toe, constricting even his breath. His hands were shaking. Was it the lingering pain in his flank? No. Absolutely not.
...Could it be. Am I... afraid?
Of her? Of Seol Jihyo? The girl who wouldn't even meet his eyes, who pressed herself flat against the wall in the hallways just to let him pass?
...Ha.
The unbelievable reality felt like a dream. He despised himself—pathetic, loathsome—for having been afraid, even for a moment.
While Gu Minjae stood frozen, Jiwoo quietly picked up a single shoe that had fallen to the ground. Then, as if nothing had happened, she stepped cleanly past him.
Tap.
She tossed the shoe lightly into the incinerator, where embers crackled and spat. Watching it vanish beyond the flames, Jiwoo turned back with a face wiped clean.
"Clean that up. It's yours."
She flicked a glance at the disgusting pool of vomit, then walked out of the incinerator area. Only when the retreating footsteps had faded entirely did—
"FUCK......!"
Gu Minjae slam his fist into the dirt.
Out of the incinerator area, Jiwoo braced herself against a nearby tree and stopped.
My head hurts.
Her third Core was, as could be seen, a formidable ability—but using it always brought on this violent headache. A rebound effect, so to speak. It wasn't an invincible power, either. To inflict intense pain on an opponent, Jiwoo first had to 'possess' that pain herself.
Good thing I took that hit from the Infected yesterday.
Of course, this wasn't the end of her revenge. Compared to the agony Jihyo must have felt, a few punches meant nothing. It was equally uncertain whether he'd stay quiet after this.
Let me rest a moment before heading back.
Jiwoo leaned against the tree at an angle and steadied her breathing. Fortunately, there was still time before class started—she planned to return to the classroom once the headache eased.
But then.
Hm?
From the tree across the way, leaves suddenly came rattling down. The branches trembled violently, as if an earthquake had struck. She looked up naturally, and there—someone was perched in the tree.