How to Fix a Psychopath

Chapter 30

 

How to Fix a Psychopath Episode 30

 

 

Chapter 5 University

 

 

The dreams were always brutal.

 

It was because a large monster was crying alone. The monster as big as a mountain was crying with its whole body curled up. The black, shapeless monster had its back turned to me.

 

I woke up from my dream, looking at the distant back of a monster I had never spoken to before, always staring at it like that.

 

It wasn’t a dream I had often.

 

I had this dream while working hard at my part-time job, while going to school, and sometimes while doing that. I had this dream on days when I was so tired that my whole body ached from the daily grind. I never felt sorry for the monster that was

 

always crying.

 

Perhaps, it was because I thought the monster that had been turning its back on me at the moment I felt sorry for it would turn to look at me.

 

“Sorry?”

 

I blinked and turned to the side. It was a student taking the same class as me.

 

“It’s dangerous. The train will arrive soon.”

 

Ah.

 

“Thank you.”

 

I stepped back slightly from inside the danger zone. This time, the incoming train was not stopping here, but passing by.

 

A blonde schoolgirl whose name I didn’t even know shrugged her shoulders as if it was nothing at all when I muttered a ‘thank you’.

 

Foreign subways are much more dangerous than Korean subways. Unlike Korean subways that have screen doors, the place I live does not have such facilities.

 

 

Thanks to that, the place, which felt more like a cave where stalactites would grow than a subway, had a damp, damp air. When I took a deep breath, all I could smell was the smell of oily dust.

 

I looked at the opposite wall where the tiles were all fallen off, and then backed away a little further as the lights of the train shot out from the right. There was a strange rattling sound of the train running on the tracks, and I looked down at the floor as my steps suddenly stopped.

 

It was because I stepped on an untied shoelace.

 

When I lifted my leg that had been stepping on the shoelaces, the white shoelaces were black and dirty, just like the soles I had stepped on. I had bought the shoes with great determination because they were on sale this time. I bent my knees to re-tie the shoelaces, not hiding my regret.

 

I shook off the dirty shoelaces with my hands.

 

“What is that guy doing?”

 

“Hey! It’s dangerous! The train is coming soon!”

 

Are they talking to me?

 

 

I stopped tying my shoelaces and looked around. Since it was not the time of day when people were leaving work, many people’s eyes were focused on other places than me. I also turned my head to follow the crowd.

 

Not far from me, a man was walking, staggering. He was already beyond the safety line, muttering to himself, and his demeanor was unkempt and unmanaged. He was clearly a homeless person begging on the street.

 

It was a bit more strange than drinking in broad daylight.

 

“Oh my god, that guy must be on drugs.”

 

“Someone needs to call the station attendant!”

 

“I am doing it.”

 

Disgust spread across people’s faces.

 

I also looked at him for a moment and then went back to tying my shoelaces. If people called the station attendant or the police, it would be resolved quickly. This country had easy access to drugs, but drugs were illegal. That was why they became homeless.

 

That was when.

 

puck-!

 

And there was a dull thud. It was the heavy sound that you get when you throw a full soda can against a wall with all your might.

 

At the same time, something hot hit my right face and neck with a thud. It didn’t hurt, but it felt like I’d been hit by a water balloon before.

 

A chill spread across my cheeks. The train was braking with a terrible screech.

 

In an instant, people’s thick cursing and screams filled the air.

 

The wind blew through my hair as the train passed through the stuffy, cave-like space without mercy.

 

What……?

 

I raised my head from where I had been banging on the floor trying to tie my shoelaces. The surroundings were a mess. People were wandering around the subway with a look of loss of composure, and some were crying, covering their mouths and sobbing.

 

What happened?

 

Was there a sudden disaster? It often seemed as if the world had suddenly come to an end. At that moment, a hot liquid flowed down from the back of my neck. With a face that still didn’t know what was going on, I lifted my hand that was trying to tie my shoelaces and caressed the back of my neck.

 

The feeling in my palm felt like touching a jelly without a shape. I grabbed a handful of the sticky, warm thing, but all I could squeeze was a few strands of hair. My uncut nails were sharply scratching the back of my neck.

 

Before I could even feel the stinging pain, I saw the station attendant enter the train with a serious expression on his face. Seeing the station attendant enter with such a displeased expression on his face, it didn’t seem like a world-ending disaster.

 

But still, somehow, I felt like my breathing was getting harder and harder. My heart started pounding without me even knowing what it meant. I held my clenched fists open and my hands in front of my eyes while panting irregularly.

 

It was blood red.

 

Stop, my breathing stopped. The unpleasant scent of blood clung to my nose. If I buried my nose in the blood and sniffed it,

 

it would smell like soap. The afterimage of me collapsing in the fluttering snow seemed to unfold before my eyes… … .

 

I quickly wiped my palms on my pants.

 

“Are you okay?”

 

She stopped wiping his hands on his pants like a guilty person and looked up. It was a police officer.

 

“… … It’s a wet tissue. You must have been very surprised. Please wipe your face and neck with it. Sorry about the dress shirt and jeans.”

 

I accepted the crumpled up wet tissue. The police officer smiled at me as I quietly accepted the wet tissue.

 

“What a bolt from the blue… …. Because of this incident, all trains coming to this station have been suspended. It’s fortunate that there are no passengers on the trains since they are not in operation.”

 

What the hell is going on? Why is half of my face covered in blood? I couldn’t answer, so I mechanically wiped the back of my neck and the side of my face. My cheeks felt a little hot because I rubbed them too hard.

 

 

“So we’re trying to drop some of you off at your home, but where do you live?”

 

“… … Ah, no… … .”

 

The police officer raised his eyebrows in surprise at my hesitant words. I wiped the back of my neck for the last time. It seemed to hurt a little, so I guess I had scratched it with my fingernail earlier.

 

“Then how are you going to go?”

 

The surroundings were mostly cleared up. The police had brought tape to block entry, and there was blood on the floor tiles as well as on me.

 

Was it a murder case? No, the people’s faces looked more shocked and disappointed than desperate.

 

“Taxi or something… … something else… … .”

 

But there was only one person missing.

 

The man who was struggling with drugs.

 

I slowly got up from where I was sitting. The detective next to me shrugged his shoulders and said, “Well, okay. I understand.” He

 

quickly left my side. As soon as the large policeman with a kind face disappeared, a completely stopped train stood before my eyes.

 

I saw myself reflected in the gaping window of the blackened subway car. Then I saw the blood on the back of my neck that hadn’t been completely wiped off, so I picked up the wet tissue soaked in blood again and rubbed my neck.

 

“ouch…….”

 

When I rubbed it, it felt hot and painful, so I thought it was blood coming from the nape of my neck where I had been pricked by my nail. I would have to apply ointment when I got home later. I stopped wiping it with a wet tissue so that the wound wouldn’t open any further.

 

Then, my eyes met with a person reflected in the subway window.

 

It’s been standing tall since a while ago, so I thought it was just a pillar or something. I thought it was an emergency fire extinguisher attached to the wall?

 

I turned around, clutching the wet tissue tightly. Sure enough, I must have seen wrong.

 

There was nothing behind me. I was the only one left. I think I’ve

 

felt this way before. I moved my legs towards the ticket gate, looking at the red fire extinguisher that I mistook for a person.

 

Yes, it’s been two years. There’s no way Eunwoo Lee would be in a place like this.

 

I can’t even imagine how much Korea has changed in two years. Hasn’t smartphones already become widespread and used all over the world? These days, I’m studying and working part-time, so my body and mind are extremely tired.

 

I ducked my head and escaped from the area where the no-trespassing tape was attached. My head had already decided that it was an illusion, but my legs were moving quickly as if they could never be convinced.

 

It seemed as if pure white snow was fluttering before my eyes. Behind me, I could hear the howling of starving wolves in the extreme winter weather.

 

I ran out of the deep underground like someone being chased by a monster. My stomach hurt because I ran so suddenly. I felt sick and vomited. In the end, I covered my mouth tightly and spat out a thin liquid into the flower bed in the corner of the subway entrance.

 

“Ugh… … !”

 

The water I bought and drank a few minutes ago poured out of my mouth while still hot.

 

“Ugh, thud! … … Ugh!”

 

I coughed a few times and threw up the water that had been in my stomach, leaving only dry heaving. My throat was rumbling like a cow chewing its cud, and then it stopped.

 

Sigh… … I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand, and then threw the wet tissue in a nearby trashcan because it was still soaked with blood. Today was a cloudy day and the weather was really bad.

 

I should quickly catch a taxi and go home, then shower and sleep. I knew I would dream on a day like this.

 

I turned around, looking at the wet tissue falling lightly into the trash can.

 

Oh, my body suddenly couldn’t move forward and I fell to the floor. There was a loud thud as my knees hit the floor, and my hair was scattered on both sides of my face.

 

“Augh… … .”

 

 

Today really really… … .

 

Ha, I sighed angrily and frowned. I had forgotten that I hadn’t tied my shoelaces. It was a miracle that I didn’t fall down the stairs. I was already holding wet tissues in my hands, so dirt was sticking to my wet palms.

 

Fortunately, I didn’t fall completely, so my clothes didn’t get dirty. I immediately raised my upper body and shook my hands. The pieces of rock embedded in my palms were quite painful.

 

“……are you okay?”

 

At that moment, a large hand reached out in front of me.

 

I… … . My stiff head slowly rose upward.

 

“It must have hurt.”

 

It was Lee Eun-woo.

 

I blinked.

 

Am I seeing things wrong? I raised my head too high and the sky felt like it was shaking. No, it wasn’t the sky that was shaking, it was my stomach that was shaking. No. No. It was nothing.

 

 

Haha, I suddenly burst out laughing. Eunwoo Lee looked bewildered at my appearance.

 

Did you follow me all the way here? Really? I couldn’t believe it even though I knew clearly that the background was not a lie, and it was clearly different from Korea.

 

I see, two years is enough time to run away abroad.