Si-yoon's Butler?
Si-yoon's Butler?
Han Seok-hyeon said his piece, and two of them flinched right in front of me.
And the brat who'd given up his seat for me was watching too, a nasty smirk plastered across his face.
Just my damn luck, I thought. Walking into this kind of mess on day one.
When break came, I'd have to check on Da-yeon first.
The moment I started ignoring the brat named Han Seok-hyeon, he began poking me from the side.
Harder and harder. Han Seok-hyeon jabbed at me until it actually started to hurt.
'Would he stop if I bent those fingers backward?' I wondered, then decided he was still young enough to get carried away.
The moment I decided I'd just have Park Ji-hoon deal with him later... Han Seok-hyeon opened his mouth.
"Hey. Your dad sell his body for a living or something? You ignore people like shit."
"Pfft, yeah, her old man was a host bar whore, that's how she got born. No mom around, so who's gonna tell you whose kid you are."
'...Ah... they crossed the line...'
I resolved to send these two to meet their maker within six months at the latest.
Even the girls nearby were snickering and staring at me, which told me plenty about the atmosphere here.
First period began.
As I kept ignoring Han Seok-hyeon, he apparently wanted to test my limits.
The brat named Kim Do-gyun who'd given up his seat on Han Seok-hyeon's orders, and two shamelessly trashy girls named Oh Yeong-ji and Lee Ga-eun who clearly ran in the same pack.
More than Han Seok-hyeon himself, it was Kim Do-gyun, Oh Yeong-ji, and Lee Ga-eun who started getting more aggressively in my face.
Kim Do-gyun began tearing up an eraser and flicking the pieces into my hair.
Hahaha...
Oh Yeong-ji and Lee Ga-eun, sitting beside and in front of Kim Do-gyun, sneered at me.
And the most ridiculous part—the teacher made direct eye contact with me and pretended not to notice a thing.
It hit me that Seoul Jungang High School, corrupt as it was, had been a decent place by comparison...
First period ended and break came. I naturally brushed the eraser bits out of my hair and stepped outside.
Oh Yeong-ji and Lee Ga-eun swaggered after me.
I considered dragging them into the bathroom for a quick lesson, but figured I'd run out of time and wouldn't get to check on Da-yeon, so I headed for her classroom instead.
Everyone I passed in the hallway stared, mouths hanging open, unable to look away.
Except for those two swaggering bitches.
I caught a glimpse of Da-yeon's face from outside, and she seemed to be managing better than I'd expected.
Looked like she'd already made a friend.
This place didn't seem to have a punk like Han Seok-hyeon in her class.
I also spotted Kim Tae-oh and Park Ji-hoon. Kim Tae-oh was surrounded by girls; Park Ji-hoon was surrounded by guys.
Both surrounded, sure... but the vibe was really...
Well, anyway. It looked like the rest was up to me.
Break was ending, so I went back to my seat.
"What's this? Thought you'd run off sniveling to your one and only daddy."
This Kim Do-gyun kid had a real gift for pretty phrasing.
Oh Yeong-ji and Lee Ga-eun sneered at me.
"All she did was walk down the hall looking around. We followed her and she was too scared to even go into the bathroom."
"Ehhh? So you gonna piss yourself soon?"
Kim Do-gyun started tilting his head, trying to get a look at my lower body.
And Han Seok-hyeon sat beside me, watching the whole thing with smug satisfaction.
Class started up again, and Han Seok-hyeon murmured low.
"I'll only bully you just enough so it doesn't show if you report it~ Oughta be grateful, yeah?"
Han Seok-hyeon made a show of winding up to smack me upside the head while I ignored him the entire time.
I briefly considered pulling out the rose-gold knuckles in my pocket but held back—they were just immature little kids, after all.
Maybe it was true that familiarity made you forget how precious something was...
This was the first time I'd ever felt I needed Park Ji-hoon.
An eraser chunk came flying at me with sudden force.
Thwack.
Kim Do-gyun had started launching them with a rubber band. He muttered to the girls in front of him.
"You guys wanna try?"
Oh Yeong-ji and Lee Ga-eun each grabbed a rubber band and started pelting my chest, over and over.
"Ack?"
The two of them really got into it, snickering.
"Her mom was flat as a wall, by the way. Check out the rack on this one."
The word choice was truly peak cheap and trashy...
Now Kim Do-gyun started aiming for my chest too.
I concluded that the level of "corrective education" I'd originally planned wouldn't change these little bastards.
So I made a firm decision and drew up a new plan, fast.
Break came around again. Oh Yeong-ji, Lee Ga-eun, and Kim Do-gyun clustered around me.
They casually stuck a Post-it on my back, then shoved my head with their fingers.
"So stuck up pretending you're pretty. Hey~ you mute or something? Say something~"
"No mom around, so nobody taught you how to talk?"
The brats kept pressing closer...
Curious about the Post-it on my back, I reached back, peeled it off, and checked what it said.
- Slut.
- I am an orphan.
While I was reading the garbage these immature punks had scrawled, Kim Do-gyun leered and moved his hand toward my chest.
Heh-heh... no, that's not happening...
I naturally deflected Kim Do-gyun's wrist to stop him and, with a smile on my face, looked directly at the brat named Han Seok-hyeon.
"If I date you, can you kill them for me?"
"".....""
The classroom turned ice-cold in an instant...
"Ha... you're fucking ridiculous..."
I swept my hair to one side and crossed my legs.
Then, resting my chin on my hand and subtly emphasizing a chest better developed than most, I spoke.
"Why~? Can't do it? This is your chance to date me, you know?"
"".....""
Oh Yeong-ji, Lee Ga-eun, and Kim Do-gyun flinched at my sudden move.
Still smiling, I made a show of dusting off my hands.
"Forget it~ If you don't want to, you don't want to. Guess your chance to date me just flies away, huh~ Ah-ha."
The classroom had gone dead quiet... I gave Oh Yeong-ji and Lee Ga-eun a dark smile, then murmured to Han Seok-hyeon.
"Honestly, I'm better than bug-faced kids like them, aren't I...?"
Break ended, and starting with Han Seok-hyeon, nobody touched me anymore.
I found myself wondering if I should've just done this from the start.
If I had... Han Seok-hyeon and Kim Do-gyun might not have had to die by my hand...
Han Seok-hyeon started writing in his notebook.
- How far do you want me to go.
I smiled brightly and began scribbling playfully.
- Break every finger on those bug-faced Oh Yeong-ji and Lee Ga-eun. For Kim Do-gyun, I think I'd need to see all his teeth pulled out first, then decide.
- Are you serious?
Curious now about what kind of brat this boy Han Seok-hyeon really was, I pushed further.
"Of course~ I've always liked people who act without looking back."
Seeing the little punks squirming nervously, it seemed they genuinely believed Han Seok-hyeon would hurt them.
Or... maybe he'd done it before...
Break came again, and Han Seok-hyeon spoke to me in a low voice.
"I know you're using me. But I'll still play along... Still... I can look forward to seeing what you do after, right?"
Han Seok-hyeon, covered in tattoos.
Any normal person would have been scared, but I was different.
I grabbed Han Seok-hyeon's ear as he tried to intimidate me and pulled him right up to my lips.
And I whispered, sweet and sticky.
"Of course... go ahead and look forward to it."
Kim Si-yoon.
A celebrity my age I'd only ever seen on TV or my phone...
Honestly, at seventeen... no, among all the male students, was there a single one who didn't like Kim Si-yoon?
That uniquely prickly, haughty personality, matched with overwhelming looks and proportions that seemed almost unreal even by Asian standards.
Everyone had a flaw somewhere, but Kim Si-yoon fit the word 'perfect' better than anyone I knew.
And that Kim Si-yoon transferred into my class.
I instinctively told my desk mate Do-gyun to move aside.
And Kim Si-yoon came to the seat next to me, just as I intended...
The classroom fluorescent lights almost seemed like studio LED panels, the way they illuminated Kim Si-yoon.
And Kim Si-yoon sat down in the seat next to me.
I started getting curious—how would the person closest to the word perfection react if I bullied her?
When I touched her hair, she looked at me and laughed awkwardly.
"Haha... why don't you stop?"
"What if I don't want to?"
I was wondering what reaction she'd show when she suddenly raised her hand.
And then Kim Si-yoon told the teacher on me.
Watching her go tattle to a teacher who had zero real authority...
She seemed like she'd lived like a sheltered greenhouse flower, never once having seen anything ugly.
And that made me want to break her even more.
I set the mood as best I could and deadpanned my insult.
After that, Kim Si-yoon ignored me the entire time.
Starting with her hair, I began touching her more and more brazenly until I got a reaction.
When I jabbed her arm, it was soft—incredibly soft.
I jabbed harder and harder, and Kim Si-yoon's expression soured, as if I'd finally gotten under her skin.
That expression made me want to provoke her even more.
"Hey. Your dad sell his body for a living or something? You ignore people like shit."
Do-gyun laughed and backed me up.
"Pfft, yeah, her old man was a host bar whore, that's how she got born. No mom around, so who's gonna tell you whose kid you are."
Kim Si-yoon went cold at the parent insult and locked eyes with Yeong-ji, who made a point of snorting and sneering right back at her.
Even after all that bullying, Kim Si-yoon showed no reaction. The moment break hit, she got right up and headed somewhere.
I jerked my chin at Yeong-ji and Ga-eun to go follow her.
Was she off crying alone?
Or was she really running to tattle to her dad?
Whichever it was, this was going to be really fun.
Kim Si-yoon came back to the classroom.
Seriously, she was so fucking pretty it took my breath away.
We started bullying her even more aggressively.
No—Do-gyun, Yeong-ji, and Ga-eun led the bullying on my orders.
And then the next break...
Yeong-ji came over and shoved Si-yoon's head with her fingers.
"So stuck up pretending you're pretty. Hey~ you mute or something? Say something~"
"No mom around, so nobody taught you how to talk?"
The three of them started cackling...
That was when Kim Si-yoon looked at me and smiled brightly.
When she smiled like that, Kim Si-yoon was so beautiful that for a second my mind went dizzy.
"If I date you, can you kill them for me?"
The whole space turned ice-cold. That face saying those words...
I was caught off guard, but messing those guys up wasn't exactly a hard thing to do.
I could ask some older guys I knew or some of my dad's men, and if it really came down to it, I could take care of it myself.
On top of that, she was saying she'd date me if I did.
I pulled myself together as best I could and spoke.
"Ha... you're fucking ridiculous..."
But then Kim Si-yoon suddenly swept her hair to one side and crossed her legs.
She took a pose that subtly emphasized her chest and spoke.
"Why~? Can't do it? This is your chance to date me, you know?"
Kim Si-yoon knew exactly what her weapons were...
Looking at her like that, I wondered if anyone could actually refuse her.
Yeah, if dating her was the reward, what couldn't I do.
When I stayed silent and still, she looked up at me with that overwhelming face of hers.
"".....""
I couldn't snap out of it for a good while. Only after the next class had gone on for some time did I write something in my notebook and show it to Kim Si-yoon.
- How far do you want me to go.
Kim Si-yoon smiled brightly again... That smile was dangerous.
- Break every finger on those bug-faced Oh Yeong-ji and Lee Ga-eun. For Kim Do-gyun, I think I'd need to see all his teeth pulled out first, then decide.
In contrast to that innocent-looking face, the words were so seriously jarring it threw me off.
- Are you serious?
"Of course~ I've always liked people who act without looking back."
If she really meant that, then she was a genuinely psychotic bitch I shouldn't get involved with.
The three who'd flinched at Kim Si-yoon's words were watching for my reaction, but I needed to get my head straight first.
Was she serious...? Or was she just acting tough and feeling me out...
Probably the latter...
Break approached, and I brought out the line I'd prepared for Kim Si-yoon.
I did my best to strike an intimidating stance and murmured low, aiming to make Kim Si-yoon scared.
"I know you're using me. But I'll still play along... Still... I can look forward to seeing what you do after, right?"
But then... Kim Si-yoon grabbed my ear and spoke in a voice so sweet it gave me chills...
"Of course... go ahead and look forward to it."
Crazy bitch...
A cold feeling ran down my spine...
She felt like someone I shouldn't get tangled up with, like my dad and my older brother...
After class ended, I made Kim Do-gyun, Oh Yeong-ji, and Lee Ga-eun stay behind.
Kim Si-yoon glanced at us, waved her hand, and left.
The three of them were terrified...
"Seok-hyeon..."
I wasn't enough of a dumbass to actually hurt them just because Kim Si-yoon said so.
"Yeong-ji, Ga-eun, come with me... You know I've got someone who can patch our guys up, right?"
"".....""
"You think I got so hypnotized by Kim Si-yoon that I'd actually beat you guys up? Still. Just try not coming to school tomorrow, all three of you."
I laid out the plan I'd thought up for them, step by step, nice and clear.
The next day.
I parted ways with Da-yeon in the first-year hallway and walked into my classroom.
I'd had Kang Jong-hyeon do a background check on those punks, and I'd mostly finished drawing up a plan to erase Han Seok-hyeon and Kim Do-gyun from the world.
Kang Jong-hyeon, who hadn't betrayed a hint of curiosity, let out a slight flash of killing intent when I casually explained what had happened as if it were a joke.
Han Seok-hyeon's father, Han Il-hu.
The boss of the organization that controlled Incheon.
He'd apparently brought his kids up to Seoul to expand his territory, and from the looks of it, his power base was stronger than I'd thought.
Because of what happened yesterday, I figured there was no way Han Seok-hyeon had actually gone and wrecked Oh Yeong-ji, Lee Ga-eun, and Kim Do-gyun.
All I'd hoped was that my comment had triggered Han Seok-hyeon's competitive streak, pushing him to set a plan in motion that would make me regret the words I'd thrown at him.
Of course, it wouldn't have particularly mattered if he actually had wrecked them.
I'd also learned they had a hideout. That was where I planned to carry things out.
Since I now knew Han Seok-hyeon was the kind of kid beyond any kind of education...
The justification to erase these children from the world without a trace was more than sufficient.