ASD 7

“…What’s there to laugh about at school.”

He said it in a deliberately brusque manner because he was clumsy at hiding his feelings. He didn’t want to get caught having all sorts of useless thoughts just from their eyes meeting for a mere second or two.

However, Gawon soon regretted his harsh response. It must have sounded like the petty lashing out of a perpetual outcast. It would be a relief if this kid didn’t hit him for being in a bad mood, as other kids often did.

“True. That’s a good point, huh?”

And yet, Gijun just grinned and replied like that. Unconsciously, Gawon turned his head to look up at him walking beside him. A simple answer, with no added comments, questions, pity, or blame—it wasn’t bad, he thought, secretly to himself.

Like that, Gawon walked side by side with Gijun, matching his pace through the school gate and across the field. They were heading up the stairs toward their classroom on the third floor. Just as they had almost reached the top, Gawon, after a little hesitation, stopped in his tracks.

“…Hey, you go in first.”

“Why?”

Gijun asked, looking puzzled.

“With me…”

It was embarrassing to have to explain such an obvious fact with his own mouth. His voice trembled slightly, but he managed to finish his sentence with difficulty.

“…If you go in with me… it won’t be good for you.”

Since middle school, there had always been kids who tried to help Gawon, who was bullied in various ways. One or two in every class, usually the class president or kids who were known to be nice.

But that never lasted long. One or two weeks were enough for the kids who had approached him out of sympathy to get scared and pull away from the vicious bullying inflicted on Gawon. Still, he had no mind to resent them. Becoming the target of low-life thugs would be a frightening thing for anyone.

Gijun’s gaze softened. His frank expression, devoid of its usual playfulness, felt unfamiliar.

“Like I give a shit? Tell them to go fuck themselves.”

Seeing his face as he scoffed made him feel a little choked up. I’m saying this because I’m worried about you… Thinking that far, Gawon then felt that he himself was being unfamiliar. Who was he to be worrying about whom, getting ahead of himself like this.

Right, this kid wouldn’t know. This kid, with a charm in both his looks and personality that drew people in like a magnet, would probably never understand, not even on his deathbed. Thinking that, Gawon felt a little empty.

However, Gijun didn’t let Gawon linger in his idle thoughts for long. A thick arm came to rest on his shoulder. Gawon, whose head only reached Gijun’s shoulder, was pulled close to him by the playful yet firm arm slung around his shoulders. He was practically in his arms.

“L-let go of me.”

Too surprised to move, Gawon stammered and tried to push him away, but Gijun naturally quickened his pace. Helplessly swept along, he had no choice but to go up the stairs together with him. The hand that pushed open the back door of the classroom was unhesitating.

“Oh? Gijun’s here. Hey!”

“Oh… What a strange combination.”

“Huh? Yoon Gawon?”

The expressions of the classmates who had been greeting Gijun in a crowd changed in real time. From pleased to see him, to immediately bewildered.

Gawon, red to the tips of his ears, pushed Gijun away and quickly slipped out from his side. The kids stared blankly, alternating between Gawon and Gijun. Regardless, Gijun replied with a leisurely smile.

“Hey.”

“What’s this? Why did you two come together?”

“We ran into each other on the way.”

At the concise and unadorned reply, the classmates were at a loss for words. But that, too, was brief, and the kids naturally started to surround Gijun, chattering about this and that. There were many other topics of conversation besides him coming to school with the perpetual outcast.

“Hey, Jun. Do you go to K-One Multi Gym at the intersection? Seongjun hyung said he’s close with you.”

Kim Wonjae asked Gijun with an excited face. He was the type who had been trailing after the thuggish upperclassmen since his first year, admiring their world, and unlike Heo Yeonggyu, he wasn’t particularly interested in bullying kids like Gawon.

“Who. Ahn Seongjun hyung?”

“Yeah, yeah! Are you two really close?”

“We just go to the same gym.”

“The hyung said you two were close, though? He said you guys always spar and eat together!”

“It’s because we see each other there every day.”

Despite Gijun’s indifferent, almost bored, responses, Kim Wonjae and the kids surrounding him let out excited exclamations of “Ooooh!”

Even Gawon had heard the name Ahn Seongjun; he was that famous a thug in this neighborhood. There were even rumors, surely exaggerated, that he had won a fight against seven or eight people by himself. On top of that, he had a reasonably handsome face, so it was said that his girlfriends changed on a weekly basis. These were all elements that hot-blooded guys couldn’t help but go wild for.

“Holy shit, that’s killer. Should I start going there too?”

“Yeah, right. Your mom would be so thrilled to send you there. Especially since your allowance got cut off.”

“Ah, shut up. Anyway, I was on the phone with Seongjun hyung yesterday, and that hyung really, really likes Gijun. When I told him we were in the same class, he was really happy and said he’s a brother he cherishes.”

“Really? That’s awesome.”

“He said Gijun is seriously f—ing good. That he beats all the older guys there, and that he kept winning even when he went to national MMA competitions.”

“Crazy, so badass.”

Even with the constant bursts of admiration and gazes full of awe, Gijun showed little reaction. His expressionless face even looked annoyed. It seemed he wasn’t too fond of his connection to Ahn Seongjun, whom the kids looked up to like an idol. At least, that’s how it looked to Gawon.

“But, I heard some gangsters already scouted Ahn Seongjun hyung.”

“Whoa, for real?”

“I mean, didn’t you guys think that was bound to happen with him? Wow, shit, but an actual gangster… damn.”

“Hey.”

The excited, talkative chatter of the kids came to an abrupt halt at a single, heavy voice. A strange tension pressed down heavily on the surroundings. Everyone’s bewildered gaze turned toward Gijun, who was sitting with his hands casually stuck in his pockets.

“Teacher’s here.”

As if he had never lowered his voice, Gijun smiled faintly and gestured toward the front of the classroom with his chin. Right on cue, the first-period Korean teacher pushed open the front door and came in, and the kids scattered in a rush to find their seats.

“Open your books. Guy in the second row with his head down, get up. You sleeping before first period even starts?”

The classmates snickered at the Korean teacher’s scolding voice. The kid who had his head down sat up with a rustle, and as he listened to the sound of everyone taking out their books and placing them on their desks, Gawon felt an indistinct sense of déjà vu.

Heo Yeonggyu had definitely said something similar last time.

‘What are you, shooting a movie? In this day and age, what gangsters…’

The afterimage surfaced again. This time, the memory was a bit clearer and more certain. Gijun’s expression, which had changed in an instant as soon as Heo Yeonggyu grumbled that, and the murderous aura that had been laced in his voice as he bit out the words, “Shut up.”

He wasn’t sure, but… why was it? Gijun seemed to become sensitive to a certain word. And it was about the kind of people Gawon also hated to death.

‘…I don’t know.’

After wondering for a moment, Gawon soon shook his head to clear his thoughts. Kids like Gijun were people who existed in a completely different world from him. Therefore, there was no reason for him to be curious about Gijun.

The acrid smell of cigarette smoke stung his nose. Because his mother was a smoker, he was sick and tired of being accustomed to cigarette smoke, but he couldn’t help the way his chest tightened and his nose stung every time he smelled it.

Heo Yeonggyu repeatedly blew smoke toward Gawon’s face. The smell was extremely nauseating, but Gawon kept his face expressionless, staring somewhere around Heo Yeonggyu’s chest. Because if he frowned or turned his head, the guy would deliberately press his face even closer and blow smoke.

I want to be memorizing one more English word in this time. Gawon nervously gnawed on his lip. The situation of being dragged here after running right into Heo Yeonggyu’s group on his way back from the restroom was, no matter how he thought about it, just bad luck.

Heo Yeonggyu’s group had been consistently smoking near the shady recycling area behind the building. It was impressive, if you could call it that, how they had never been caught, even though the teachers occasionally did their rounds. Or maybe the school was deliberately turning a blind eye, considering Heo Yeonggyu’s connections. The latter seemed more likely.

“Shit, I really don’t like that bastard Gijun.”

Heo Yeonggyu, who had been blowing out harsh smoke, suddenly spat out.

“He’s a transfer student, so he should just stay quiet and know his place, but isn’t he running his mouth off? He needs to be put in his place once to get his act together.”

“Hey, but how are we gonna do that?”

Another guy standing next to him asked in a timid voice, flicking his cigarette ash. Gawon frowned and slightly turned his body to avoid the scattering ashes.

“You heard the kids talking their heads off yesterday morning. He goes to some gym. They said he’s really good at fighting, too. What if we get our asses kicked?”

“Hey, you fucker. Who’s gonna get their ass kicked? Are you crazy?”

Heo Yeonggyu’s face turned red and blue as he got angry.

“Shit, guys who go to gyms are always full of shit. And besides, I did Hapkido for six years, you know? Kim Minwoong from Class 1 last year, remember him? The bastard who went around bragging about doing boxing. I kicked his ass, you know?”

This is so childish I can’t listen to it anymore. Gawon thought with a blank expression. Heo Yeonggyu, puffing out his chest while rattling on with information he didn’t know what to do with, seemed even more pathetic today.

“But what if Ahn Seongjun hyung shows up after we mess with him? They said they were close.”

“Close my ass. It’s obvious that bastard Kim Wonjae is exaggerating. If they were really close, would that bastard Gijun keep his mouth shut like that?”

Heo Yeonggyu scoffed confidently, but the rest still had worried expressions. Annoyed that his gang wasn’t reacting the way he wanted, Heo Yeonggyu yelled.

“Ah, shit! Are you guys scared? What’s so great about that bastard Gijun? Does he have connections like me? So what if his dad’s a gangster? We can just send all those bottom-feeders to jail, and that’s that, shit.”

Gawon’s eyes, which had been like a dead fish’s the whole time, widened slightly.

His father is a gangster, he said…

A wave of physiological revulsion surged up, blocking his throat.