Just A Friend

#45

“What exactly are you trying to do now?”

It wasn’t contempt, anger, or any reaction typical of his age. Nam Seonwoo’s face remained expressionless, not even uttering a common curse.

“You might as well ask for money. If you want to win someone’s heart rather than money, this certainly isn’t the way.”

His voice, neither fast nor slow, was as calm as water, yet suffocatingly cold in its weight. Kim Jaewoo’s smirking mouth corners began to shrink.

“You should be ashamed of just following people around and trying to find their weaknesses. How dare you make such absurd demands.”

“W-what-“

“Don’t interrupt. It’s basic manners.”

Kim Jaewoo closed his mouth at the firm voice.

“Logically, why should I comply with your demands? I have someone I like, and it’s not you. Is that hard to understand?”

“…”

“And what meaning does that behavior even have for you?”

Kim Jaewoo couldn’t even muster a hasty retort and hung his head low. His hands, clasped in front of his stomach, couldn’t stay still due to shame and kept picking at his own flesh.

“Stop doing things you’ll regret later and end it here. Then I’ll let it slide.”

After observing all these reactions, Nam Seonwoo turned his back when Kim Jaewoo couldn’t continue speaking. Even as he left the recycling area, Kim Jaewoo didn’t follow.

Honestly, he just wanted to beat the crap out of him. But he knew that for guys like that, all of it would be taken as attention. So he held back, but if he continued to be a nuisance later, he thought about really reporting him as he entered the classroom.

‘Huh?’

Kang Jihan’s seat was still empty. Thinking he might not have arrived yet, he waited a bit, but Jihan didn’t return even until the self-study bell rang. What made him feel uneasy was that there was one more empty seat.

‘…Kim Jaewoo.’

Kim Jaewoo and Kang Jihan. The possibility of these two, who had no intersection, being absent at the same time didn’t occur to him no matter how he thought about it. As soon as he had an ominous feeling, his body reacted quickly. Nam Seonwoo gritted his teeth and ran to the recycling area.

Kang Jihan had been sticking to him like glue ever since he collapsed after being hit by the ball. Whenever he had to leave his seat on teacher’s errands, he would somehow follow, and even tried to tag along to the bathroom.

Why didn’t he think of that? Jihan’s reaction to his prolonged absence was predictable. It wouldn’t have taken long for him to circle the school with those long legs, and if he had found Kim Jaewoo then… No, what if he had been listening to everything from the beginning?

‘Please, Kang Jihan…’

He hoped Kim Jaewoo was alright. For Kang Jihan’s sake.

The back gate, usually quiet, felt even more desolate as the day darkened. He hoped it was just his imagination, but as he got closer to the recycling area, he began to hear a sound.

It was the sound of dull impacts.

That familiar sound reminded him of Kang Jihan punching the thug here at the back gate. Between the thudding sounds, there were no words to be heard.

“Kang Jihan!”

Nam Seonwoo held his breath at the sight that greeted him as he turned the corner. Kang Jihan looked up. Beneath him, Kim Jaewoo lay collapsed, his collar grabbed, his neck limp. Seeing his face, battered beyond recognition, made Seonwoo’s heart sink. Kang Jihan, his eyes half-crazed, lowered his head again and raised his fist.

First, he had to stop this. He couldn’t let the guy become a murderer. Kang Jihan was supposed to become a doctor.

Nam Seonwoo used his whole body to pull Kang Jihan away. Then he immediately checked on Kim Jaewoo. His hand trembled slightly as he examined Kim Jaewoo, who was sprawled like a puppet with cut strings. Just moments ago, he had wanted to half-kill this guy, but now he desperately hoped he was alive.

When he felt a faint breath under the collapsed nose, Nam Seonwoo let out the breath he had been holding. Upon closer inspection, Kim Jaewoo’s shoulders were trembling slightly. His eyes, filled with terror, were tightly shut as if pretending to be dead.

They had avoided the worst, but there was still another problem. Nam Seonwoo looked alternately at Kim Jaewoo, who had been beaten to a pulp, and Kang Jihan, whose shirt and skin were stained with blood.

…This went beyond school violence. If Kim Jaewoo reported this to the police, it could escalate. Stay calm. Stay calm. He took a deep breath and turned to Kang Jihan.

His hands were a mess. It was the second time those hands, meant to save people, had beaten someone. Both times, it happened because of his involvement.

“Jihan.”

Kang Jihan still couldn’t unclench his fist. As Seonwoo wrapped his hand around the fist, as dark red as Kim Jaewoo’s face, he could see Jihan’s heaving chest gradually calming down. The phone lying on the ground had a cracked screen as if someone had stomped on it.

So he heard everything after all.

As he quietly gazed at him, Kang Jihan’s expression changed slightly. Reading a hint of concern there, Nam Seonwoo quietly spoke.

“You go home for now.”

He couldn’t send him back to the classroom looking like this. His uniform, splattered with blood, looked as if he had half-dipped someone in it. This incident had to be quietly covered up.

“I’m not going.”

But this hot-blooded guy couldn’t take a hint.

“I can’t leave in case this bastard spouts more nonsense to you. I won’t go.”

At that moment, Nam Seonwoo noticed Kim Jaewoo, who had been holding his breath, slowly extending his arm. His hand, feeling along the ground, was getting closer to the phone. Without a moment’s hesitation, Nam Seonwoo smashed his fist onto the phone.

“Go.”

Beneath it, smoke began to rise from the completely shattered phone. It wasn’t just Kim Jaewoo who froze. Kang Jihan, who was about to say something, looked at the hand with a shocked expression.

“Whether he spouts nonsense or tries to blackmail, I’ll handle it.”

Blood was beading on his knuckles, probably from the embedded screen fragments. Kang Jihan, biting his lip hard, carefully examined the hand stuck to the ground. Nam Seonwoo asked,

“Are you worried?”

“How can I not be?”

“That’s what I’m saying now. Look at your hands.”

His stubborn stance suggested he wasn’t likely to listen. So Nam Seonwoo spoke as if coaxing him.

“If you’re worried, go quickly and get treatment. What if you can’t even hold a pencil for a while? Are you not going to university?”

“You’re talking about university in this situation?”

But Kang Jihan knew. That he wasn’t just worrying about ‘mere’ university now. For Kang Jihan, university was like a future he could share with Nam Seonwoo. Finally closing his mouth, Kang Jihan was urged again by Nam Seonwoo.

“I have something to say to this bastard.”

And those words were not for Kang Jihan to hear.

“Don’t grab your bag, just go straight out the back gate. I’ll write in the log. You can leave without being caught, right? If you’re caught in that state, things will get bigger.”

Kang Jihan stubbornly resisted. He knew it wasn’t just out of concern, but also out of a sense of responsibility for what he had done. Someone like Kang Jihan would think he should clean up his own mess. But that wasn’t helpful right now.

‘You fool. Why did you have to beat him up?’

Even if your frontal lobe isn’t fully developed, you should have some self-control. A guy who usually restrains himself well, why are you acting like this? And not for the first time. Nam Seonwoo laughed helplessly and whispered, holding his hand.

“Do you trust hyung?”

“…”

“I’ll contact you.”

He wasn’t completely clueless after all. Reluctantly, Kang Jihan moved with heavy steps, telling Seonwoo to contact him immediately if anything happened.

To cover up an incident, there needed to be a ‘smooth’ agreement with the parties involved. Nam Seonwoo now approached Kim Jaewoo. With Kang Jihan gone, the tension seemed to have eased, and his bloodshot eyes were darting around busily.

‘He really messed him up.’

Honestly, it felt a bit satisfying. If the agreement could be reached smoothly now, it would be perfect. Nam Seonwoo sat down with a thud by Kim Jaewoo’s head and said,

“You go home too. Are your parents at home?”

His swollen lips trembled. The guy just shook his head as if saying no.

“Then are you going to go to the classroom looking like that? Give me your parents’ number. I’ll contact them.”

“…Don’t have any.”

“What?”

“I said I don’t have anything like that…”

Kim Jaewoo, who had been sniffling, started crying out loud. Whether it was sorrow from being beaten or sorrow from not having parents, the crying sound was miserable, like a child who didn’t know how to cry properly.

Nam Seonwoo scratched his head vigorously. It wasn’t that he suddenly became soft-hearted or anything, but he couldn’t help feeling pity. This damned occupational disease was the problem.

“I’m going, going to report… Like this, hic, I’ll, I’ll go to the police station and tell them everything. I’ll…”

“I’m sorry.”

The unpleasant crying sound stopped abruptly. Kim Jaewoo hiccupped with a look of incomprehension.

“Actually, you haven’t done anything right either. The filming, the blackmail. Right?”

“Th-that…”

“I’ll let all that slide as if it never happened.”

Nam Seonwoo paused for a moment. The next words were not for Kang Jihan to hear. He briefly turned his head to check for any presence around them before speaking again.

“Let it go just this once.”

Kim Jaewoo looked up at Nam Seonwoo with round eyes. It wasn’t an attitude of trying to brush it off casually. Nam Seonwoo, who had been unresponsive until now, was coming out with a completely submissive attitude. After being dumbfounded for a moment, Kim Jaewoo cried out as if struggling.

“N-no…! Why, why, what did I do wrong…”

Instead of explaining each point, Nam Seonwoo silently cast his gaze. In that gaze, Kim Jaewoo felt an inexplicable sorrow and shame welling up. With his eyes turning even redder, he spoke as if cursing.

“Th-then, if-!”

To Nam Seonwoo’s eyes, it looked more like throwing a tantrum than cursing. But the following ‘tantrum’ once again exceeded his expectations.