Chapter 10
How to Fix a Psychopath Episode 10
Ah…….
“Soyoung-ah.”
I turned my head, flinching at the voice calling me again.
“Do you care about him now?”
“…No.”
“Now let’s sit down again.”
Eunwoo Lee acted like he was teaching a toddler who had just started walking. Even though she didn’t have any trouble moving, Eunwoo Lee made me sit up properly as if I couldn’t do it without his help. I felt like someone would laugh at me if they saw me like this.
But the music room was still quiet, no one was looking at us, and the child next to me was shaking.
“Good. It’s like going back to those old days.”
I think I finally understand now.
The action of the person sitting next to me, hastily covering his left hand. The broken finger of that child. Eunwoo Lee who told me not to touch him. The warmth of the child who forced me to hold his gym uniform. The scared child next to me.
The reason he broke his finger was because he ‘touched’ my hand.
Then what about the child next to me? Before I was possessed, Kim So-young, who was oblivious, probably didn’t notice even if she touched him… … I felt sorry, but I didn’t show it. In order for that child to be safe, it would be best to treat her like she never existed in the first place.
There was a big problem this morning. I don’t want to cause any more big problems, and I don’t want Eunwoo Lee to harass and blame innocent children any more.
Come to think of it, I think I had a friend who suddenly transferred right before summer vacation in my third year of middle school. The author didn’t think she was necessary for the story, so he ended up giving her only two or three lines. I remember Kim So-young letting her go without thinking about her at all.
I don’t know what Eunwoo Lee would have been like at that time.
Perhaps, if there was a kid who transferred schools in the meantime, it would be this kid.
Eunwoo Lee looked at me with his chin resting on his hand. He seemed satisfied with the fact that she had her back completely turned to the child sitting next to her and that they were at a distance where they could never touch. Was that really so good?
When I read the novel, I thought Lee Eun-woo’s actions and one-sided love were natural. Lee Eun-woo was the male protagonist, and Lee Eun-woo’s abnormal, persistent love created obsession and confinement. Even if she ran away, even if the female protagonist became skinny and ugly, Lee Eun-woo loved Kim So-young. Because he had to love her.
That’s how the novel works.
But now I don’t know. When I see that you like even something like this. Then, my hope suddenly sprouted again. If you do as Lee Eun-woo wants, you can change him. Lee Eun-woo can change. When Soyoung smiled beautifully…. so, if I smile too…
“From now on, it will be just the two of us.”
A future with only two people.
Eunwoo Lee had a face that looked happy just imagining it, and I somehow, somehow… … .
I was only trying to fix Eunwoo Lee,
In the end, I had a terrible thought that I would be kidnapped and imprisoned by Lee Eun-woo. It was a perfect future for Lee Eun-woo, but not for me. It would be a future where a dark curtain is placed over a sprout that has come up to receive sunlight.
My heart was pounding.
The days after that incident passed quickly. Every day, I was nervous about what would happen, but Eunwoo Lee was quiet. We went back to how we were before, and the kids in the class didn’t pay attention to us like they did on the first day I was possessed. I guess they were just pretending it didn’t happen.
After a few days, everyone seemed to have forgotten about the school violence, and it became quiet. It seemed like it was because the perpetrators and the victims didn’t come to school. The perpetrators were suspended while the child was hospitalized. They probably won’t be able to come to school until the final exam.
All that was left in the bag were gym clothes that had not been returned to the owner for a week.
“Soyoung, do you want to go home alone today?”
At Eunwoo Lee’s words, I stopped packing my school bag and turned my head.
He had a friendly smile on his face, but judging from the way his delicate eyebrows were slightly furrowed, it seemed like he had been asked to run an errand by the teacher.
Uh… … . Still, I was surprised. No, I was extremely surprised.
At that moment, I almost asked back, “Will you leave me all alone?” I felt a little bewildered because I’ve never done this before. Does Eunwoo trust me now? Has his obsession subsided? For a few days, I haven’t had any contact with a boy that would dissatisfy Eunwoo. So is that why I feel relieved now?
As I felt that Eunwoo Lee had changed, my face, which had been filled with embarrassment, brightened without me realizing it, and on the contrary, Eunwoo Lee’s face slowly hid its smile.
“……Happy?”
Eunwoo Lee said as he closed my backpack, which I had not
been able to close. His delicate fingers touched the zipper of my backpack and quietly covered my hand, which was nearby. Every joint of his hand was already as big as that of a fully grown adult.
“No, no. It’s just that I’ve never been alone before. I was just going to wait for you. Eunwoo, let’s go together.”
My words poured out in a disorderly manner, as I felt the need to quickly make an excuse.
“……oh is it?”
“Yeah. I have homework anyway. I thought it would be good to do that while waiting. Yeah, I was thinking about that. … … Did I show it?”
Lee Eun-woo tilted his head to listen to my words and looked at me closely. He was trying to distinguish between the lies that Kim So-young didn’t spout well and the ones that she did. Even though I couldn’t tell if they were lies anyway. I looked at Lee Eun-woo and straightened my hair that was messy below my ears so that he could look at me properly.
The black eyes looked down at me without any sincerity and then smiled crookedly.
“I see. That’s right. If you go alone without me, it will definitely be dangerous.”
Eunwoo Lee smiled like a happy child and hugged me. Fortunately, as soon as it was time to leave school, he ran out of the classroom and there were no other students there.
“There’s a kid transferring to another school today, so I’ll just help her with that and come back quickly.”
Transfer?
I absentmindedly thought about Lee Eun-woo’s soap scent. In the end, even if things flow quietly and peacefully, there will be students who leave this school. I was curious about who it was, but I didn’t really have the heart to ask. If I did, Lee Eun-woo would obviously embarrass me by saying, “Why are you curious?”
My curiosity is soon getting on Eunwoo Lee’s nerves. It seems like Eunwoo Lee doesn’t like me being curious about anything other than himself.
“huh.”
After my answer, Eunwoo let me go.
“If there’s anything you don’t know, let’s figure it out together. Don’t go anywhere and wait here.”
What should I do if I need to go to the bathroom?
I nodded my head, thinking to myself in discontent. Eunwoo Lee looked at me with a satisfied face like he was looking at a loyal dog who listened well, and then said, “I’ll be right back,” and left the classroom.
Click. I watched the classroom door close and slowly sat down on my chair. The clock said 5 o’clock, but the classroom was still bright because the days were long in the summer. The air conditioner was turned off immediately after school, but Eunwoo Lee left it on for the day as she was left in the classroom. The playground was so hot that it was hot just to look at it.
At that moment, a black vehicle came across the playground.
As if Eunwoo Lee’s words about a transfer student weren’t a lie, the car quickly entered the school and stopped in front of the school gate.
The expensive-looking car had dark tints, so I couldn’t see inside clearly. If the parents hadn’t come out, I wouldn’t know who they were. Since school was over, the transfer student might already be in the principal’s office.
The moment I slowly turned my gaze, the driver’s seat, passenger seat, and back seat doors opened simultaneously. My mouth slowly opened. Before I knew it, I was standing up from where I was sitting.
It was that kid. He was looking down with a cast on his arm and a scrunched up face full of irritation.
I still don’t know his name and we’re not close.
When I saw the child holding that child’s jersey, my heart started racing.
It was nice to see him. Nice?
Yeah, anyway it was nice to see him alive.
Did he get discharged? Did he decide to transfer schools because of that? What happened to his broken finger? Did school violence become a trauma to that child? Did he know that she carried his gym uniform in her bag all week to return it? Did he know that she tried desperately to keep that fact from Eunwoo Lee?
You wouldn’t know.
Before I knew it, I was standing near the window, looking down
at the child, and then I stepped back again.
“… … I shouldn’t be happy.”
My joy was short-lived. I returned to my seat and stared blankly at the blackboard covered in white chalk marks.
That’s why he told me to go first. Eunwoo Lee probably knew who was going to transfer anyway, and he probably didn’t want me to run into that kid.
I fell on the desk while trying to get my homework out of my backpack. My long hair fell into my face. I slowly closed my eyes, not having anywhere to look at and the cool desk that touched my cheek.
I was lethargic. In the darkness, the only thing I could hear was the low-performance air conditioner humming. I quickly started shivering from the cold, but my sagging body showed no intention of getting up again.
When I was around Lee Eun-woo, I strangely couldn’t think of anything. My mood didn’t fluctuate as much as it did right after my period, so I thought I had adapted well to Lee Eun-woo…
What do I feel about that kid? I don’t know why, but I feel very sad that he’s transferring schools.
Even though that child wasn’t a possessed person like me who knew the format of this novel, did I think that child would stand up to Lee Eun-woo?
It was funny. This kind of useless sense of duty is possible because I know the structure of this novel and Eunwoo Lee the best. There is no way that a child who is just an extra would have such a sense of duty. Especially if he is a child who has been the target of school violence.
If you’ve been bitten by a madman, the best thing to do is run away before he bites you any further.
How long had I been there? There was a scratching sound on the wooden door as Eunwoo came back. I blinked slowly. I felt depressed for no reason, so I closed my eyes for a moment, and it seemed I had fallen asleep.
I had to get up, but my head felt a little heavy, perhaps because the air conditioner was quite cold. I could see my slippers under the desk, probably because I was already close. Sigh… … . I lifted my head and sighed inwardly.
“… … Uh, … … Ah… … Hello.”
I thought it was Lee Eun-woo. The child, who seemed a little
surprised as if he thought I was sleeping, greeted me with a thud.
The scars on his face were still there. His right arm, the one that had forced me to hold the jersey, was on a cast. Other than that, he looked completely fine. Unlike me, who had been suffering from guilt all week, he looked relaxed and comfortable.
Well, what more could there be to be afraid of when you’re about to transfer schools?
“I knew you’d be here.”
When the boy did not accept the greeting he had offered, he shrugged his shoulders and said casually, “That’s why I came.”
“Ah…….”
After a while, when I responded, the child sat down on Eunwoo Lee’s seat. My head, which had been looking up with some difficulty, followed with the child’s movement.
“What are you doing here? Are you waiting for Lee Eun-woo?”
