A Peaceful Day (3)
A Peaceful Day (3)
We missed about a month of school, and today, after that month had passed, we went back for the first time in a while.
"Nnng."
When I stretched, Park Ji-hoon glanced over at me.
"What are you looking at...?"
I followed his gaze downward—he was staring at my chest.
"They got bigger, huh? Admit it."
"You psycho bitch..."
Kim Tae-oh, who now knew who I was, freaked out at Park Ji-hoon's reaction, far more than usual.
But the day started like any other, and I beat the shit out of Park Ji-hoon like always.
After hitting Ji-hoon, I went back to my seat and sat next to Da-yeon.
And then Joo Do-hyeon came striding confidently through the door.
But the moment he spotted us, he panicked and ran.
""...?""
Park Ji-hoon slowly rose from his seat, then started sprinting after Joo Do-hyeon like a madman.
""...?""
On the school rooftop, Park Ji-hoon stood smirking with Joo Do-hyeon in his grip.
"Guess how many people I killed~?"
"Eeeek!!!"
"Tae-oh and I probably killed about fifty each...? It was pretty fresh. Killing people."
"I'm sorry!!! I'm sorry!!! Please!!!"
Prostrating himself before Park Ji-hoon, Joo Do-hyeon begged desperately.
Park Ji-hoon took off his shirt and showed him the stitched-up scars.
"Twelve places sutured shut..."
"Eek!!!!"
Horrified, Joo Do-hyeon started crawling backward.
"Wouldn't it only be fair if you got torn open in twelve places too...?"
"Please.... please..."
"Ah, okay! I'll cut you some slack. I'll round down and only tear open ten spots."
Joo Do-hyeon began begging with both hands clasped together...
Park Ji-hoon watched him, let out a scoff, then pulled a knife from his pocket.
"If even that's a no, I'll give you two options."
"Anything!!! I'll do anything!!!"
"One, jump off from here."
"....."
"Two, stab yourself twelve times—no, ten times."
"Please..."
Park Ji-hoon smirked coarsely and tossed the knife.
"Hey, I nearly got turned into fish food—thrown straight into the ocean because of you—and you think this is harsh?"
Joo Do-hyeon grabbed Park Ji-hoon's leg and began begging for forgiveness.
Park Ji-hoon nudged Joo Do-hyeon away with his foot—a light thud—nodded, and said,
"Then should I throw in one more thing?"
"Please..."
Park Ji-hoon started playing a video on his phone and tossed over a marker he had ready.
"Take everything off."
And so Park Ji-hoon inscribed onto Joo Do-hyeon's body the greatest method that was all the rage back in the 1970s.
Park Ji-hoon and Joo Do-hyeon walked into class with their arms around each other's shoulders.
The teacher looked like she was about to say something, but the moment she saw Joo Do-hyeon's face, she said nothing.
Park Ji-hoon handed me his phone, and the instant Joo Do-hyeon saw that, he started trembling.
Da-yeon, next to me, was quietly curious, so I couldn't bring myself to play it in front of her. I smirked coarsely and downloaded it onto my phone.
Watching Joo Do-hyeon violently shake after confirming my smile,
I only grew more curious about what kind of video Park Ji-hoon had passed along.
I really wanted to go on the school trip at Seoul Jungang High School—an institution that boasts exorbitant tuition—but we missed it because we were out of school due to this incident.
Then, at lunchtime, someone walked into our classroom.
"Oh!? Ji-yeong!"
"Si-yoon!!!"
Ji-yeong, whom I'd been close with back in elementary school.
As expected of a Swordmaster's family, it seemed she'd gotten in here too.
Da-yeon looked at me with an expression asking who she was.
"Hi~ I'm Ji-yeong~ Oh? Long time no see, Ji-hoon~"
Park Ji-hoon just raised an open palm from behind by way of greeting.
"Wow... you ate like crazy and you really shot up."
"Yeah?"
Seemingly glad to see her too, Ji-hoon chatted with Ji-yeong for a long while, and I explained to Da-yeon.
"Her name's Lee Ji-yeong. A friend I got close to in elementary school. She's really nice."
"Ah-ha~"
As expected, Ji-yeong was so devoted to her studies she didn't bother with her appearance.
And it looked like she'd given up on the piano by now.
Ji-yeong must have finished talking with Park Ji-hoon, because she came back over to me.
"I'm seriously so happy to see you~"
"Right?"
"But... haven't you gotten ridiculously pretty...?"
"Me? I've always been pretty."
"True. And you're Da-yeon, right?! I know about you! Wow... to think someone could look this pretty even standing next to Si-yoon..."
"Uh... uh? Th... thanks."
Da-yeon's face flushed with embarrassment.
In contrast, Ji-yeong was as forward as she'd been back in the day.
For a moment, while I was talking with Ji-yeong, Joo Do-hyeon walked in, and Ji-yeong immediately became wary.
She was probably worried he'd start causing trouble the second he stepped into the classroom.
"I really don't like him. Does he think being directly tied to S Company makes him untouchable?"
Ji-yeong whispered into my ear, but Joo Do-hyeon just took his seat quietly alongside his bodyguards.
"Huh...? He can't have matured... what's up with him?"
I chuckled at Ji-yeong's question.
"Guess something bad happened to him."
"You think...?"
Lunchtime ended, and Ji-yeong smiled and said goodbye to us, then headed back to her own class.
Our class president, the short Shin Na-ri, stepped up to the blackboard.
"Everyone, listen up!"
But now that everyone was actually paying attention, she seemed embarrassed—she hesitated, then slowly began to speak.
"We've got a sports festival coming up, and we need to decide who'll compete in each event, okay?"
I popped up with a beaming smile and raised my hand, but Park Ji-hoon grabbed my uniform and yanked me back down.
"Don't do it."
"Na-ri!!! Tae-oh and Ji-hoon are freaking insane at sprinting!!!"
"Hey!!"
Shin Na-ri flinched at Park Ji-hoon's yell.
Watching that, I spoke up.
"Hey, if you don't want to do it, just say so. Why are you shouting? Seriously, embarrassing the class president... how upset do you think she is...?"
"...Wow."
Shin Na-ri kept glancing nervously at Ji-hoon. The instant she wrote Tae-oh's and Ji-hoon's names on the blackboard for the boys' relay, Ji-hoon muttered loud enough for everyone to hear,
"Go ahead. Just try it."
Na-ri had started writing 'Park Ji-' on the board, but her hand froze at 'Park J' at the sound of Ji-hoon's voice.
"Why are you threatening her? Are you Joo Do-hyeon? Isn't that right, Do-hyeon? Un-fucking-believable. Na-ri, just write it!!"
In the chilled atmosphere, Joo Do-hyeon flinched. Na-ri's expression was practically on the verge of tears, and she kept glancing behind her nervously.
"It's okay. Write it."
In the end, Park Ji-hoon and Kim Tae-oh were put down for the relay.
I looked back and said to Tae-oh,
"Not fighting it this time?"
"...Yes... I mean, yeah..."
"Ah... really?"
I faced forward and secretly shot off a quick text to Tae-oh.
- Can't you react normally like you usually do...?
After checking my text, Kim Tae-oh said,
"Well... this time, I... I'll win."
That was our Park Gi, all right.
Never disappoints me.
He'd always been fucking terrible at lying and acting, and it had screwed things up before,
which had even led Park Gi to bow his head and apologize to me.
Park Ji-hoon looked at Tae-oh and said,
"What are you even saying... as if."
At that, Da-yeon bristled.
"Hey! Why are you talking to our Tae-oh like that!?"
"Oh, look at this? Since when did he become 'our Tae-oh'?"
Da-yeon's face turned red as she sank into her seat, and she flipped a book over and started reading it.
Turning a book upside down when flustered—exactly like Lee Jin-seok.
Is it the power of blood...?
I turned around with a straight face.
"Why are you giving Da-yeon shit?"
"When did I?"
"When...? You crazy little shrimp bastard."
I turned back around, and a pissed-off Park Ji-hoon yanked my hair.
Kim Tae-oh freaked out at the sight, but Park Ji-hoon didn't give a damn.
I said, dead serious.
"Let go, or I break your fingers."
"Led bo, or I bleab your finbers. Bleh bleh bleh."
"You fucking shithead..."
I tried to stand, but Park Ji-hoon shoved my head down, forcing me right back into my seat.
The classroom went quiet at the usual scene.
But Kim Tae-oh, who still thought of me as Kang Han-seong, was the only one losing his mind.
"".....""
After the sprint, when they were picking people for other events, I pointed at Joo Do-hyeon's bodyguards.
"Make those guys do it too. They practically fly around the place."
"Uh...? Okay..."
Na-ri shot me a look that said, 'Why the hell are you doing this to me,' but who could she blame? She'd volunteered to be class president.
It was the unavoidable fate of a class president.
Retaliation from Joo Do-hyeon? There was absolutely none of that.
Word had surely spread by now that a Taebaek Tiger had gone down at the hands of Kim Tae-oh and Park Ji-hoon.
So even if Taebaek itself made a move, Joo Do-hyeon wouldn't.
He'd be convinced that the people he could mobilize could no longer catch Kim Tae-oh and Park Ji-hoon.
And if I knew the Tigers as I remembered them, they should've come for revenge long ago, back when Tae-oh and Ji-hoon were in the hospital.
But from what Tae-oh had told me, among the Tigers these days, there was only rank—loyalty was dead, with a few exceptions.
Especially since there were no Tigers close to Oh Tae-hyeon, with his perverted hobbies.
At Seoul Jungang High School, the clubs weren't as active as they'd been in middle school.
They existed, of course, but they were all broadcasting or music-related.
For everything else, there were separate specialty classes, and they weren't run in club format.
In the end, the rosters for most of the boys' events filled up with Kim Tae-oh, Park Ji-hoon, and Joo Do-hyeon's bodyguards.
Having achieved my goal, I was doodling with Da-yeon.
"How about this? It's Kamino, the one Da-yeon used to love ages ago."
"Wow."
"Remember? What you said to Antonio. Kamino is... the light of the Siren... mmph!"
"Eek! Stop it!!"
Her face scarlet, Da-yeon looked around frantically and clapped her hand over my mouth.
"Mmph mmph mmph... mmph mmph."
I shot her an urgent look, indicating I was about to say something serious.
With round eyes, Da-yeon lifted her hand slightly from my mouth.
"Si-yoon, what?"
"The light of the Siren."
"Si-yoon!!!"
During free time, the classroom got noisy. Da-yeon opened her locker for the next class and flinched.
Then, her face reddening, she went to get her bag and stuffed something inside.
When I glanced over, it looked like letters and chocolates.
I leaned close to Da-yeon's ear and said,
"Ooh... Da-yeon is so popular..."
"Si-yoon... stop it..."
Face blushing, unable to even look me in the eye, Da-yeon pushed against my shoulder—she was pretty adorable.
I felt like I finally understood why my dad made that face whenever he found chocolates in my bag.
"Want to go home and share them?"
"Yeah."
Before we knew it, dismissal time arrived. After listening to the announcements, we headed home.
For the past month, Da-yeon and I had been sleeping together.
Thanks to that, Da-yeon had quickly returned to her usual self.
Tonight, we decided to sleep at my place. Da-yeon, lounging on my bed, pulled Antonio out of her bag and set him among the dolls.
"Oh... long time no see, Antonio~"
"Yeah."
I watched Da-yeon, embarrassed as she peered into her bag, and spoke.
"Hey, Da-yeon, open that drawer under my desk over there."
"Why? What's in here?"
Da-yeon had been sitting on the floor. At my words, she shuffled over on her knees and opened the drawer.
Even though it was a pretty large drawer, it was stuffed full of envelopes.
Discovering them, Da-yeon was greatly surprised.
"Every drawer in there—all letters."
"Huh...?"
All three drawers of my desk were filled to the brim with letters.
"This is a secret from my dad, okay?"
"Wow... got it."
Only then did Da-yeon and I start munching on chocolates and reading the letters.
- It's Park Hwi-sun from Class 1-4. Let's be friends.
Most of the letters were people wanting to be friends. Only a handful were actual confessions.
"Si-yoon, do you know who Park Hwi-sun is?"
"Ah, that kid—the one who looks all round and soft. Her dad owns a famous architecture firm."
It seemed Da-yeon was more curious about the letters I had received than her own.
Pulling out a stack from the drawer and reading through them one by one, Da-yeon's face flushed.
"Wow... people say stuff like this to you."
I glanced at the letter Da-yeon was holding.
- This is my 42nd confession to you alone. I want to devote everything I have to you. Could you give me just one chance? I'll wait in front of the main gate until 6 o'clock...
I even remembered the name of the person who'd written the letter Da-yeon was reading now.
That little runt from 2nd year of middle school, who'd been in my class.
Just then, my dad's voice sounded from outside.
"Si-yoon! Da-yeon! Time to eat!"
Da-yeon looked down at the chocolate in her hand and panicked.
"Ah! We should've eaten first..."
"We can just keep it a secret and eat it when we come back."
"Yeah, I guess so."
After eating, Da-yeon and I talked for a while, then crawled under the blankets.
Staring at the ceiling, Da-yeon called my name.
"Si-yoon."
"Yeah?"
"How... are you so okay? I'm still scared..."
"Hmm... you seem pretty okay now yourself, Da-yeon."
"Do I..."
"It's only happened once in the whole seventeen years we've been running around together, right? We just got unlucky this time."
"Yeah."
"And if Tae-oh and Ji-hoon had been next to us the whole time, it wouldn't have happened anyway~"
"That's true."
And... if the same thing as last time ever unfolded right before my eyes again, I'd crush them myself before Ji-hoon's and Tae-oh's hands could even reach.