Chapter 8
How to Fix a Psychopath Episode 8
My eyes shot open. Something hot ran down my temple with a gurgle.
Thank goodness. It was a dream. I wiped my tears with my palm and raised my upper body to turn off the ringing alarm on my phone. I must have fallen asleep before lunchtime yesterday. It seemed like I slept until morning. I opened the phone folder on my nightstand.
I thought it was an alarm, but it was a phone call.
Lee Eun-woo.
An uncomfortable dream came to mind at those three letters. I bit my dry lips. It’s just a dream. It’s just a dream. You’re trying to fix Eunwoo Lee so that it doesn’t happen. You can do it. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
I pressed the call button.
“……hello.”
-Woke up?
I heard Lee Eun-woo’s light and soft voice.
“……huh.”
-I called because you was sick. Can you come to school?
That’s right. I glanced at the small alarm clock on the desk. It was 6:48. Then I saw the boy’s gym uniform hanging next to the desk. I had to return it, and protect him from Eunwoo Lee.
“Yeah, I think today I am okay.”
-……okay?
I swallowed.
“huh.”
-Okay, Soyoung. I’ll come at the time I always do.
“……Yes.”
I looked down at my phone, which had suddenly disconnected, and closed the folder. Then I quickly lifted the blanket. The place where I had slept was clean, without a single trace of blood.
Yeah. There was no way that those dreams could be real.
The upper body that was forcibly erected in the dream. The scenes that were hit hard in that short period where the blood was stained on the bed sheets, Eunwoo Lee’s face who was happy about my period, and the lower abdomen that was wriggling.
I unconsciously held my lower abdomen and headed to the bathroom. Let’s get ready quickly.
After I finished washing up, I went out and changed my clothes. Luckily, the school uniform skirt and gym clothes I had washed yesterday were dry.
I don’t know what will happen today. Even if I try to predict it, Lee Eun-woo always does unexpected things, and I’m not the type of person who can respond to Lee Eun-woo like that every single time.
Still, I will try my best to change Eunwoo Lee as much as I can. For my sake.
If Lee Eun-woo doesn’t change despite my ridiculous efforts… … I guess I’ll have to run away then.
I put on my school uniform and put the textbooks for the subjects
I had to take today in my bag. I also packed the child’s gym clothes and put them in my bag. It would be polite to put them in a shopping bag, but…
If Lee Eun-woo sees the child’s gym clothes in the shopping bag, he might cause some trouble. There is no need to increase the contact between Lee Eun-woo and the child for no reason.
Done. I zipped up my bag, locked it, and slung it over my shoulder. It was almost time for Lee Eun-woo to arrive. I waited earlier than when he said he would arrive on time, so even if I leave now, Lee Eun-woo will probably be there.
I put on my shoes in the small hallway and opened the door.
“Hello, Soyoung.”
Lee Eun-woo, smiling beautifully as if nothing had happened, was dazzling.
“… … Hello. Eunwoo.”
Should I blame your parents for making you like that? You, who hate them much but eventually become like your biological father? I felt creepy when Hyunwoo Lee, who smiled and greeted his son in the morning as if nothing happened the day after he abused him.
They look exactly alike.
I clenched and unclenched my fists and walked towards school with Eunwoo Lee.
School came quickly. I was out of breath quickly. However, I pretended not to care and quietly changed my shoes into indoor slippers next to Eunwoo Lee. The school was quiet. Or was it? The only thing I could hear was the sound of my heartbeat, which was particularly tense.
First, Eunwoo Lee, who had changed into indoor slippers, was waiting on the stairs. It was a contrast to yesterday when he was waiting with a blank expression after buying sanitary pads.
“Soyoung-ah.”
As I was going up the stairs, when Lee Eun-woo called me. I felt uneasy. I looked at Lee Eun-woo while holding onto the strap of my bag until my palms hurt. As I climbed the stairs to the third floor, one by one, the students’ voices grew louder.
“Huh?”
“Do you have anyone you’re close with these days?”
I shook my head quickly. My heart felt like it was going to burst
out of my ribs.
Eunwoo Lee smiled faintly at my reaction. It seemed like he was laughing, but it also seemed like he was dreamily happy.
Eunwoo Lee stopped on the stairs halfway up to the third floor and asked, “Really?”
There was a noise upstairs. It was boys screaming. No. It was one person who was screaming.
“I’m only close with you, Eunwoo.”
I became impatient. Even though there was no reason to be impatient, I felt like I had to hurry up and get to the third floor.
“Me too, Soyoung. In the future too… … .”
“You little shits!!”
Before Lee Eun-woo could finish speaking, a loud noise was heard from the third floor hallway. I quickly raised my head. Then I looked at Lee Eun-woo again. Lee Eun-woo was also looking at the third floor, following my gaze. With his eyebrows narrowed.
I Have to go up.
I grabbed Eunwoo Lee’s hand. Eunwoo Lee looked at me with a slightly surprised expression.
“Let’s go up.”
“What the fuck. Why are you doing this!”
Eunwoo Lee took my hand as I spoke.
Pretending not to be impatient, pretending to go up slowly.
I turned the corner after climbing all the way up the stairs to the third floor.
“It’s a bit noisy today.”
Eunwoo Lee said nonchalantly, looking into the hallway. On the contrary, the hand I was holding with Eunwoo Lee was sweating.
The hallway was a mess. There had been a big fight, blood on the marble floor. No. This wasn’t a fight. This was a one-sided assault. The boys were groaning and looking down at the boy who was already lying in the hallway.
“What the fuck did I do wrong! What!!”
The scene that caught my eye was the blood flowing out of the
mouth. The boy was crying and screaming.
His face, which had already been bruised the day before, was seriously swollen. Her lips, which seemed to have healed, were torn even further and were horribly open.
That’s the kid.
That kid from the playground who was just doing me a favor.
“Soyoung, don’t look at things like this.”
As I stared at the sight without moving, Eunwoo Lee blocked my path.
“Hey, let go. Let go! Where the hell are you taking me!!”
Because of me.
His face was distorted with guilt. The boy’s screams mixed with tears, like a dog being dragged to a slaughterhouse, were heartbreaking.
Until yesterday, the boy was just a normal classmate who got along well with his friends. He couldn’t participate in physical education class because of an injury, but I remember his friends joking around during the class. He was just a normal schoolboy.
He was just a good kid who couldn’t pass me up when I was walking around with blood on my school uniform skirt.
I put down my backpack and quickly turned towards the stairs. I need to help him. He’s going to die! But then I felt a force grab my wrist and turned around again.
It was Lee Eun-woo.
“… … Where are you going? Class will start soon.”
A face that looks indifferent as you watch your classmate get beaten to the point of death. And the other kids in the class who didn’t care. Did you do all this too?
But there was no one to answer her monologue.
It’s creepy. Even if he hurts anyone but Kim So-young, or even if he kills someone, Lee Eun-woo’s thoughts are completely nonchalant, and I’m scared all over again. And he’s a middle school student. He’s so smart. He made other kids do this to avoid being the perpetrator, as if it wasn’t his fault.
It is knowing how sweet the words of those in power are to children. It is also knowing how great Lee Eun-woo’s influence is. It is realizing that it is easier to listen to Lee Eun-woo than to be disliked by him.
But he pretended he didn’t do it. He pretended he wasn’t behind those kids. Lee Eun-woo was meticulous. If things got serious, he just had to take a clean step back and that was it.
Because I know too know well what will happen to Lee Hyun-woo if things get worse and he gets caught for being involved in violence, and how his image will be reflected in front of Kim So-young.
Can I change this Eunwoo Lee? Can I do it? There may already be nothing normal in Eunwoo Lee’s world.
Abnormal things are already firmly established in his world, so normal things might not fit in when inserted. It would be like a two-eyed human suddenly being born in a world inhabited by three-eyed humans.
Still, I have to do it.
“To the principal’s office. I’m going to tell the teacher that there was school violence.”
I tried to speak clearly, but my voice was shaking. In front of me, who was trying to act calm, Eunwoo Lee, who was really calm, lowered his gaze to the floor, turned around, looked back at the hallway, and then looked down at me.
As soon as Lee Eun-woo appeared, the group that had been making a fuss in the hallway disappeared. I don’t know where they were taken. However, I know that they ran away after getting a signal that Lee Eun-woo sent to keep their mouths shut.
So, it is right to ask for help from a teacher who has a higher rank than the students at school.
But Eunwoo Lee smiled lowly and deeply and held my hand tighter.
“Why?”
“……What?”
“Why… do you care about that kid?”
what…….
Lee Eun-woo’s eyes turned black with jealousy.
“Why? What exactly caught your eye? Or do you like him?”
I felt like I got hit. What? Why do I get such results when I was trying to help the weak? What on earth do you think?
Eunwoo Lee, who was boiling with anger as he spoke each word, asked as if he wanted to chew that male student to pieces. As if it was her fault for giving the male student any attention or even a glance.
When Soyoung showed a bewildered expression at his words, Lee Eun-woo made a very fierce expression.
“……No.”
“But why? Why are you trying to help him?”
Isn’t that obvious?
It was such a simple principle, like calling the police or an ambulance when you see someone dying on the street. However, Eunwoo Lee did not understand that part.
Why should she step forward and help when other kids in the class ignored it?
I calmly and quickly gathered my thoughts. Calmly, calmly… … . I can do it.
“… … There is no specific reason.”
Eunwoo Lee tilted his head and looked down at me with a cold
expression.
“Whether it’s at school, on the street, or anywhere else, if someone is being hit or needs help, I’m going to help them.… … must there be any reason to do what’s right?”
The strength with which Lee Eun-woo held my hand slowly released. The hand that Lee Eun-woo was holding felt numb, as if the blood in the clogged blood vessels was flowing again.
Eunwoo Lee rubbed the back of my hand with his thumb as he watched my hand turn white and then red as if it were a corpse.
Without any Reason….
He looks at my hand as if he is testing me, and then he quietly raises his eyes and meets my eyes.
Do yo think he will change just because you said this? Do you think he will try to understand just because you say it?
I grabbed Eunwoo Lee’s hand with strength.
