Heewoon held his breath, hoping Seo Kangwoo wouldn’t notice him, and only thought of escaping unscathed from here.
“Please…save me… Fuck… Wha, what did I do wrong? Huh? Help me! Is anyone there!”
As Hyukjin stumbled backward and ran away, his back reached the door. Hyukjin, with a terrified face, struggled to knock on the door and screamed. Watching this, Kangwoo muttered.
“Exactly. Really, what did you do wrong?”
He blinked lazily, looking at the nowhere.
Hyukjin continued to scream. Kangwoo sighed and grabbed Hyukjin’s neck, punching his face with his fist. He didn’t even have time to scream before he was mercilessly beaten. After hitting him a few more times, Kangwoo released his grip on Hyukjin’s neck, and the big man collapsed powerlessly to the side.
“Just be quiet.”
Seo Kangwoo said belatedly to Hyukjin, who could no longer even scream now.
Heewoon shuddered as he looked at Hyukjin. The bloody face was so disfigured that it was difficult to recognize which parts were broken.
“Ughhh…”
Heewoon unconsciously groaned.
“You too.”
Kangwoo’s gaze suddenly turned to Heewoon. Hicc, Heewoon gasped and covered his mouth.
“Why is Sunbae grunting?”
His frown was so terrifying. He seemed like he could come up to Heewoon and make him look like Hyukjin at any moment.
“Ughhhh… I, I…”
“Don’t make any noise. This bastard can hear you.”
Hearing the annoyed tone, Heewoon nodded, still covering his mouth. Staring at Heewoon for a moment longer, he then looked down at Hyukjin, who had collapsed in front of the door.
“Ah, he became a half-retard now.”
Scratching his forehead and murmuring to himself, Kangwoo pulled out his phone. He seemed to do something for a while, and soon, a knock was heard.
No one came when Hyukjin was screaming so much earlier.
“Come in.”
The person who came in looked like a man in his 30s. After bowing to Kangwoo, he was followed by two other men who took Hyukjin with them as they left. They dragged him out, his bulky frame trailing behind them.
“Please handle him like usual.”
“Yes. What should I tell the chairman?”
“To the chairman… ”
Suddenly, Kangwoo glanced at Heewoon. Heewoon was surprised, and his head dropped abruptly. His fair neck was clearly visible due to his slightly stretched neckline. Without breaking his gaze, Kangwoo spoke.
“Just tell him, because he was being a dick.”
“…Yes.”
The man who came in to greet them closed the door and left, creating silence in the room. It was as frightening as the sound of something breaking that he didn’t even want to honk about.
Slip, slip. The sound of slippers dragging on the floor got closer. Heewoon was still trembling with his mouth covered. Kangwoo straightened the overturned chair and glanced at Heewoon.
“Were you scared?”
Kangwoo sat in the chair that Hyukjin had been sitting in and tilted his head. Heewoon nodded his head. Kangwoo clicked his tongue as he looked at the blood on his hand. He frowned slightly and wiped his hand on a napkin.
“Why… Why did you hit him?”
As Heewoon asked shakily, Kangwoo lifted his head to glare at him.
“I didn’t need to hit that bastard, but why did I do it?”
Heewoon asked that to him, but the question came back to him. Heewoon glanced at Kangwoo’s hands, which still had some blood on them, and hesitantly said.
“It’s because he didn’t do the group assignment properly…”
“….”
Seo Kangwoo didn’t give any reaction to Heewoon’s unconfident answer. So Heewoon hesitated and spoke again.
“… Because he was being a dick?”
Kangwoo, who had been staring at Heewoon’s frightened face, suddenly burst out laughing. He laughed for a while, his shoulders shaking, and then said without stopping his laughter.
“That’s right. He was being so much like a dick, trying to earn free grades through us.”
“Y-yeah.”
Heewoon nodded weakly. Kangwoo’s gaze fell on the macaron that was half-eaten. Heewoon had dropped it on the desk, the filling coming out and was slightly crumpled.
Not in his working mind out of fear, Heewoo had a short thought. Kangwoo disliked him not properly eating his meals. The macaron that Kangwoo was staring at was what he had eaten earlier.
As soon as he had that thought, Heewoon grabbed the macaron that had fallen on the desk and put it in his mouth. Without even chewing it enough times, he swallowed it.
“……”
“I, I finished it.”
Feeling uneasy, Heewoon showed his mouth to Kangwoo, who made a strange expression but nodded his head. Kangwoo then said he would wash his hands and told Heewoon to go to his room.
Heewoon tried his best not to look at the scattered drops of blood everywhere. Something shimmered on the floor, like tiny pieces of glass.
Seo Kangwoo was truly a madman. Although Hyukjin was hateful enough to grant a hit, but he didn’t deserve to be beaten so badly.
Up in Kangwoo’s room, Heewoon tried to calm his breathing. He didn’t even know if he would end up like that for no reason. Should he take a semester leave? However, Heewoon immediately corrected his thoughts. Even if he took a leave of absence, Seo Kangwoo would still contact him. Then, what about going to his brother’s place in the Philippines…
Crack.
Heewoon was startled by the sound of the door opening.
“Why are you so surprised?”
“It’s, it’s nothing…”
Heewoon said timidly and lowered his gaze.
“Take these home and have them.”
“Huh?”
Seo Kangwoo was holding out a pretty box. Upon closer inspection, he could see macarons inside the transparent vinyl. Heewoon looked at Kangwoo in confusion.
“Don’t pick up and eat things that already fell on the ground.”
“…It didn’t fall on the ground.”
When Heewoon denied it in a small voice, Kangwoo smiled.
“I suddenly have something to do, so I think I have to go.”
“Yeah.”
“I’ll email the professor to let him know I’ll be presenting.”
“Yeah.”
Heewoon wondered what happened to Hyukjin, but he didn’t ask. He was scared that the answer to his curiosity might be that he was killed.
Seo Kangwoo, who was silently watching him, suddenly reached out his hand under his chin.
“…What, what are you doing…?”
Heewoon stuttered in confusion. Kangwoo didn’t grab his collar, but he put his finger inside the neckline of his t-shirt and pulled it.
Kangwoo’s lips twisted and his face changed into a serious expression as he looked inside the t-shirt. Though the sound was small, Heewoon could clearly hear the curse.
Kangwoo let go of his shirt and straightened his clothes. He lightly tapped Heewoon’s collarbone with his large hand. It got stretched out. Running his hand down Heewoon’s neck, Kangwoo looked up and muttered.
“Is there another bastard like him around?”
Heewoon tensed up at the sudden question.
“What…?”
“Assholes like that guy.”
Heewoon stared blankly at Kangwoo.
The seemingly nonchalant expression on his face right now was similar to the one he had when he had assaulted Lee Hyuk-jin. The sounds of bones breaking and his face being crushed still lingered in Heewoon’s ears.
Suddenly, a thought occurred to him.
Maybe, he was the reason why Hyukjin got beaten up.
***
Heewoon left Kangwoo’s house in a daze. He wanted to get away from there quickly. But when he thought about it again, he always felt that way.
“I’m back.”
“Yeah.”
Opening the sliding glass door, Heewoon greeted his mother, who was lying down, and then he closed the door again, setting down his backpack. He had planned to study until his tutoring job started. He unfolded a small table in the kitchen, which also served as a hallway that could only accommodate one person. He opened his backpack and saw a light yellow box.
“…”
The underpart of Heewoon’s eyes twitched slightly. He tightly clenched his fist and pulled out the box from his backpack. Then, he raised his voice and asked his mother.
“Mom, do you want to eat macarons?”
“Macarons?”
Heewoon went into the room as he heard his mother getting up and handed her the box. His mother looked at the pretty macarons inside the transparent vinyl and asked a little excitedly.
“Did you buy these?”
“…Yeah. Mom, you like these, right?”
“Mom really only has Heewoon. Let’s have coffee with these.”
Her tired face brightened up. Heewoon stared at his mother’s back as she went to the kitchen. She put water in the kettle and hummed a tune. While the kettle made a noise, and the coffee scent filled the narrow house, the humming continued without stopping.
His mother really loved expensive little desserts.
“You’ll have coffee too, right?”
“Yeah.”
She had no idea what had happened just a little while ago. What he saw, heard, or felt today. She didn’t even know how he got these macarons.
“You didn’t seem to sleep much last night, you were up studying again. You must be very tired, Heewoon.”
Her mother said with a worried look.
“No, I’m not tired at all. I usually don’t sleep much after all.”
Heewoon smiled wryly at his mother.
His mother put the coffee on his table and went into the room. Heewoon stared blankly at the sliding door and wrapped his hands around the steaming coffee cup. It was only then that he realized his hands were still cold from earlier.
***
“Wow, that was great. The content and presentation were excellent. It was excellent.”
“Thank you.”
Next to the screen, Seo Kangwoo flashed a smooth smile.
“This team was composed of two members because a team member got into a traffic accident. I heard it was a severe one. How is that student doing?”
The students sitting in the classroom started to whisper about Lee Hyukjin. They had no doubt he got into a traffic accident. It was so neatly organized that it was scary to ask how that could have happened.
“I heard he’s still recovering.”
The professor nodded his head and applauded them, saying they did a great job. As the other students began to clap along, Heewoon stared blankly at Kangwoo.
Was it really because of him?
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