Chapter 58
Jincheol stared blankly down at his plastered limbs in response to my question. The fall from the second-floor hallway at school had kept him cut off from the world for two whole months. With his arms and legs broken, he couldn't even walk or eat on his own without someone else's help. The scars on his body would heal soon enough, but the ones on his mind would linger.
I had no way of knowing what raced through his head during that brief plunge. But if I could uncover why the accident happened, maybe I could help him shake those thoughts off a little faster.
"Lee Hyeokmin, that bastard…."
Did he push him? I watched him so intently I could practically recite the shape of his lips.
"He hung my indoor shoes on a long pole."
"What does that mean?" I asked, genuinely baffled.
Jincheol explained in more detail. It was like they'd tied the shoes to a long pole and hung it from the window, the way you'd hoist a flag on a balcony.
"And he told me to go get them. …Honestly, I could've lived without those damn slippers, but that bastard and his crew kept egging me on. 'Can't even grab that? Go on, try. Can't do that either? Figures, you're such a loser.'"
[Truth]
"The whole class was staring at me. Even ignoring it, it started feeling like I really was a loser. They were all looking at me, smirking like, 'That loser punk can't even get his own shoes.'"
[Truth]
"I couldn't stand it. I just couldn't. So I climbed up on the windowsill. If I crouched low and stretched my arm, I figured I could reach it. I was squatting there on the sill when—bam—my uniform pants ripped right open."
[Truth]
"Fuck, it was so humiliating… I wanted to die right there. But I wasn't trying to fall or anything. Then my pants tore, my underwear was showing, and Hyeokmin—that bastard—started poking at it with his pencil, laughing his ass off."
[Truth]
"I was yelling at them to stop, twisting away, but his crew kept yanking at my torn pants, commenting on my underwear color, poking and prodding. I kept begging them to quit, flailing around like an idiot, and then… I lost my balance and fell."
[Truth]
Once Jincheol finished speaking, he hung his head and sobbed quietly.
"How pathetic must I have looked… Crawling like a dog to grab those shoes—that image probably looked like the ultimate loser to those assholes. It keeps replaying in my head, it's so humiliating, I feel like I'm going insane…."
No sooner had he trailed off than Kang Minjae shot to his feet. Hands on his hips, he stared into space and let out a heavy sigh, like he couldn't contain his rage.
"Ha, I got nothing. Lawyer Cha, how can kids be that cruel?"
I was at a loss for words myself. I'd been using my ability the whole time he explained the fall, and not once did a single [Lie] appear.
"…Kids will be kids, I guess."
Sometimes, kids can be the cruelest of all. I forced the words out and looked at Jincheol. His face flushed red with tears, he buried it and wept for a long while. We waited until the sobs subsided.
"…But, sir."
Only after a long pause did Jincheol look up at me, his crying finally over.
"Hyeokmin told me to fetch the shoes—he didn't push me, right? So… will that even count as a crime?"
He sniffled as he asked. I nodded once.
"There's a legal term for it: dolus eventualis. Even if that Lee Hyeokmin kid didn't hang those shoes up specifically to make you fall, he must've known there was a real chance you could. And he went ahead anyway, figuring if you did fall, oh well. In cases like that, he gets punished the same as if he'd pushed you on purpose."
"What if he was thinking, 'No way he'll actually fall'?"
"Then it drops to negligent injury, lighter sentence. But proving that is incredibly tough."
Considering how cunning and sharp Hyeokmin seemed, I doubted that was the case.
"First, though, we have to prove it was dolus eventualis. That's our job."
The best evidence for definitively proving dolus eventualis would be testimony from Hyeokmin and the ringleaders of that incident. But zeroing in solely on that wouldn't be smart. Securing statements that Hyeokmin bullied Jincheol would naturally follow.
"First, we'll ask about this incident. Then we'll get to some more fundamental questions."
"…Okay."
From the day you transferred in, up to now. Tell us how things got so bad with Hyeokmin. Can you do that? Be honest—everything, no holding back.
Jincheol nodded reluctantly, his face twisted in pain as he began recounting the past.
"It's kinda embarrassing, but… y'know how schools have the cool kids, the normal ones, and the losers?"
It was an ancient hierarchy, dividing students into rigid castes since time immemorial.
"Back at my old school, I was pretty normal, I think. There was this one cool kid from my hagwon I'd hang with after school sometimes, but… I was kinda scared of him? Looking back now, it's funny, but back then it seemed cool."
That's why, when transferring to the new school, Jincheol wanted to join the "cool kids" crowd. He'd bought flashier clothes, practiced a tough-guy scowl, even snuck his dad's cigarettes to practice smoking—though he couldn't actually inhale.
His act must've worked, because Hyeokmin's gang approached him. One thing Jincheol noticed right away about this area: a lot of the "top dogs" were actually good at school too. Hyeokmin was the prime example.
Jincheol admitted he'd been intimidated by him but was still thrilled to run with his crew. The trouble started when Hyeokmin ran into one of Jincheol's old classmates at a local hagwon. Naturally, Hyeokmin dropped Jincheol's name to see if the guy knew him.
The response? "That loser was my punching bag."
Of all people, it was that very kid Jincheol had been scared of but hung around anyway. Hyeokmin learned Jincheol had hidden his old-school life, and from then on, he started subtly sidelining and mocking him. Things escalated from there, right up to now.
"That's why I couldn't tell anyone. Not even my mom. I was already the kid who'd got caught faking being cool, so I looked even lamer. Worse than the actual losers…."
Later in life, out in society, he'd realize labels like "cool kid," "normie," or "loser" were meaningless bullshit. But to kids this age, it must've felt like life or death. I could imagine how it felt to be seen as pathetic by those immature minds.
But even if I understood, nothing changed. Lying might've been wrong, but the price Jincheol paid was way too steep. In a way no one should ever have to.
"I heard from your mom that this Hyeokmin kid is top of the school and vice class president."
"…Yeah."
"Must get a lot of respect from the teachers too, huh?"
"Pretty much…."
"Did you ever ask any of them for help?"
Jincheol nodded faintly.
"Didn't really help. I didn't go into details anyway—just told him in a one-on-one that things were rough with Hyeokmin, that I felt bullied. But the teacher just said Hyeokmin was a mature kid and to talk it out."
It's unreasonable for a teacher who's worked six years at a boys' high school to conclude there's no problem despite clear signals from a student like that. He hadn't outright defended Hyeokmin, but he'd patted Jincheol on the head and looked the other way. Same attitude he'd shown Jincheol's parents in the ER—hiding his favoritism behind slick, face-saving bullshit.
"Jincheol, anything else we need to know?"
He let out a long sigh at my question. Having finally opened up once, he seemed relieved, lighter somehow. Getting statements from a client like this wouldn't be hard moving forward.
"It was while he was threatening me… He said don't even think about calling the cops or getting the school bullying committee involved. He only hits where there's no CCTV."
Kang Minjae gaped in shock. We'd pegged Hyeokmin as calculating, but not this level.
"I checked the spots where they'd hit me—sure enough, no cameras. That's why I never told Mom. Figured there'd be no proof anyway."
Jincheol gave a bitter smile.
"And he bragged that last year, he'd gotten some kid he hated transferred out."
"Transferred out?"
"Told me not to bother with the bullying committee over stabbing rumors at school… Said there was this kid he couldn't stand, and the committee got opened but fizzled out, the kid broke down crying alone during art contests and festivals while everyone else partied, and ended up transferring."
There'd already been a failed bullying committee attempt against Hyeokmin by another victim. Smart call—it wasn't the right path. Hyeokmin knew his parents or the school had his back. But if enough kids reported his behavior, even the school couldn't ignore it forever. That would convince his classmates not to testify against him either.
By now, that school was Hyeokmin's kingdom.