He could still remember that day vividly.
It was lunchtime.
Students who had eaten their fill were chatting away, and Kim Hyunsung was just another student who blended into that scene. Without knowing what would happen next, he chatted with his friends about everyday matters. They were chatting about things like what rank they had in games and whether they had finished their homework for the next subject, when an event occurred that would change Kim Hyunsung’s life forever.
Bang!
“You damn bastard!”
A harsh voice was heard.
While standing and talking with his friend, Kim Hyunsung turned his head towards the direction of the sound without realizing it.
A violent scene was sucked into his eyes.
The one who had shouted the curse just now was a guy named Park Mincheol, a typical bully who sat in the back of the class, half-heartedly listening to lessons, and tormenting his classmates every day. At his feet, a slightly chubby friend was sprawled out on the floor. Having fallen, his glasses were crooked, barely hanging on his nose. And before the chubby guy, Lee Jungmin, could even react, Park Mincheol began to unleash a relentless series of kicks at him.
“What the hell are you saying, you damn bastard? Now you want us to handle it on our own? You fucking piece of trash, if I wanted to handle it by myself, would I have asked you in the first place?”
Smack, smack, smack.
It was a cruel scene.
Park Mincheol, regardless of whether Lee Jungmin screamed or not, relentlessly kicked on his face and body.
Kim Hyunsung had a rough idea of the situation after hearing the two of them.
Park Mincheol was an enthusiastic player of a game called Legend Online, and he had handed over the task of leveling up his character entirely to Lee Jungmin. The problem was that Lee Jungmin was considered one of the top students at school. As he started playing the game, Lee Jungmin’s grades began to drop, and now, Park Mincheol was demanding that he spend money to buy in-game items for him. Hearing this, Lee Jungmin rebelled for the first time. Summoning up some courage, he looked up at Park Mincheol’s face, but contrary to what he had imagined, he was immediately slapped across the cheek and sent tumbling to the ground.
Smack, smack, smack.
“P, please stop! I won’t do that again.”
A scream echoed through the air.
In fact, for Kim Hyunsung, it was the first time he had witnessed such open violence.
Normally, he wouldn’t have wanted to be entangled in troubles, but he couldn’t ignore the fact that the target of the violence was Lee Jungmin.
Because for the past few days.
He had been studying with Lee Jungmin.
He couldn’t just stand by and watch, especially after Lee Jungmin, who had always been the one to teach him various things.
When Kim Hyunsung tried to take a step, his friend, who had been talking to him, suddenly grabbed his wrist.
Clench.
“Hey, don’t go there.”
“But this isn’t right.”
“Damn it. That guy is Park Mincheol. If you mess with him, you’re just gonna get into trouble for no reason.”
He knew what his friend meant.
But he didn’t care.
Kim Hyunsung was that kind of child.
He was usually good at sports and had excellent physical specs, so he wasn’t necessarily afraid of Park Mincheol. It wasn’t like he hadn’t gotten into fights at the beginning of the semester. For Kim Hyunsung, who had proven himself in the typical hierarchy battles among boys, the fear that Park Mincheol’s reputation brought wasn’t that significant.
He shook his friend’s hand away.
To be exact, when his friend relaxed his grip, Kim Hyunsung walked to the back of the classroom and stood next to Park Mincheol.
“Stop it.”
He stood tall.
“…What?”
Park Mincheol’s gaze turned toward Kim Hyunsung.
But.
His expression was strange.
He looked at Kim Hyunsung with a fierce gaze, as if he had found a new prey.
Then he smiled and said.
“This is interesting. Can you handle this situation?”
At that moment, he didn’t understand.
The meaning of that smile.
The situation was roughly settled when the teacher arrived, but after that day, the bullying led by Park Mincheol began. Even Kim Hyunsung, who was good at fighting, couldn’t handle it. A persistent bullying formed by a group that he couldn’t manage.
* * *
Step.
Kim Hyunsung stopped walking.
When he finished recalling everything, the same scene from that time unfolded before Kim Hyunsung’s eyes.
“Stop it.”
“…What?”
Park Mincheol’s gaze turned to Kim Hyunsung.
Then he laughed.
Just like the image in Kim Hyunsung’s memory, Park Mincheol scanned him fiercely and said with a sneer.
“This is interesting. Can you handle this situation?”
Then, Park Mincheol turned his body.
When he straightened his back that had been bent to hit Lee Jungmin, his huge physique of over 180cm loomed over Kim Hyunsung. His rough, unkempt hair and dark skin gave him an imposing presence. Park Mincheol had all the physical traits to overwhelm anyone just by his appearance.
“Hyunsung, do you think just because we don’t bother you, you’re any different from Jungmin? Don’t get cocky. Someone like you…”
Slap!
“Ugh.”
“Whoa.”
His head snapped around.
The students who were watching let out muffled screams, as if swallowing their gasps.
Kim Hyunsung had slapped Park Mincheol hard across the cheek.
At that moment, Park Mincheol, who was momentarily stunned, turned his head back with his face turning red.
“You damn bastard…”
Grab.
Smack!
With a sharp motion, Kim Hyunsung grabbed Park Mincheol by the hair and slammed his head onto the desk.
Everything happened in an instant.
Even without exchanging any words, Kim Hyunsung resorted to violence without adding any further remarks. The sudden attack caused Park Mincheol’s legs to give way. His face hit the desk, and a sticky trail of blood followed as he fell. As if that wasn’t enough, Kim Hyunsung immediately slapped Park Mincheol’s cheeks repeatedly.
Slap!
Slap, slap, slap!
Everyone’s jaws dropped.
It was a scene they had never imagined in their minds.
Kim Hyunsung.
To his friends, he was never someone with this kind of image.
He was the model, a total all-rounder student, attending school diligently, maintaining good relationships with his friends, and excelling in sports. The kind of person people commonly refer to as an “influencer” or “social butterfly.” He was the current Class President, and the kind of person who epitomized the image of being diligent and upright. However, the way he was assaulting Park Mincheol was completely different from the Kim Hyunsung everyone knew.
This moment.
This situation.
Kim Hyunsung couldn’t count how many times he had imagined it.
His friends thought of Park Mincheol as a fearsome object, but in reality, he wasn’t that strong.
‘A typical fighter who relies solely on his physical strength. He’s not used to taking hits, so if you land a blow, he’s bound to crumble.’
From the moment Park Mincheol spoke to Kim Hyunsung.
He envisioned the current situation in his head.
The fact that there was a desk right next to him, Kim Hyunsung had already calculated to grab Park Mincheol’s hair and slam it against the desk the moment he tried to react after getting slapped on the cheek. It was absolutely not an impulsive act. Seeing the blood dripping from Park Mincheol’s face might have been enough to make most people stop the violence, but Kim Hyunsung did not cease his assault.
Thwack.
Bang!
Park Mincheol fell to the ground.
As Park Mincheol began to collapse, Kim Hyunsung immediately stomped on his head.
Bang.
His head slammed into the locker.
Even Park Mincheol could do nothing but curl up and try to block the attack, just like Lee Jungmin.
Does Park Mincheol know?
How long he had been waiting for this moment.
It wasn’t just a day or two.
Living like a vegetative person, with years of frustration building up, Kim Hyunsung replayed the moment of beating Park Mincheol in his mind over and over again like a madman. In Kim Hyunsung’s world, Park Mincheol had already died countless times. Whether he died from this beating or not, Kim Hyunsung couldn’t care less. Whenever Park Mincheol lifted his face, he kicked it down. If he raised his hands to block, Kim Hyunsung stomped on them with the intention of breaking them.
It was at that time.
Baang!
“Stop it, you f*cking punk!”
“Mincheol!”
A chair was slammed into the locker.
Kim Hyunsung didn’t dodge the attack, rather, he looked in the direction of the sound, which came from the attack that barely missed him.
The entrance of the classroom.
Through the hallway crowded with students, three male students with angry expressions made their way to the classroom.
They were Jung Minho, Gang Changsuk, and Joo Eungtuk.
They were the same group as Park Mincheol, and as soon as they saw Park Mincheol being beaten, they threw a chair and intervened. They were an unexpected variable. In a situation where it would be easy to panic as the odds shifted to a group versus one, Kim Hyunsung’s expression remained calm.
After all, he had expected it.
They would show up.
Since the bullying was done by their group in the first place, the situation that unfolded after he touched Park Mincheol was within the expected category.
That was why.
“What if I don’t want to stop?”
Kim Hyunsung looked at them with a cold expression.
* * *
One of the gang members.
Jung Minho swallowed dryly with a bewildered expression on his face.
‘…Is this guy really crazy?’
He was surprised.
Park Mincheol’s gang.
They weren’t the top dogs among the freshmen, but they had still managed to establish a certain level of influence for walking around with their heads held high. That was why this situation was all the more bewildering. Kim Hyunsung knew that if he messed with Park Mincheol, his gang would definitely step in, yet he showed no sign of being shaken in the slightest.
Unlike Jung Minho, who was deep in thought, Gang Changsuk, who had thrown the chair, had a face flushed with anger, looking as if he might jump at Kim Hyunsung at any moment.
“You have gone crazy. Fine then, I’ll kill you today.”
His physique was also impressive.
As Gang Changsuk, who had once practiced judo, strode toward him, Kim Hyunsung also stepped forward.
He let out a hollow laugh.
Despite being outnumbered, Kim Hyunsung’s refusal to back down made Gang Changsuk to harden the resolve to cause trouble, even if it meant getting suspended.
A tense situation flowed.
That was when.
“The teacher is coming!”
“Dismiss! Dismiss!”
A loud noise was heard in the hallway.
As the students suddenly scrambled to find their seats, Gang Changsuk glanced at Park Mincheol, then hurled insults at Kim Hyunsung.
“Hey. You bastard, you’re done for today. I’ll come find you as soon as class is over, so don’t even think about running away.”
“I’m looking forward to it.”
He couldn’t fight now.
Although the teacher’s presence was troublesome, he also needed enough time to properly deal with Kim Hyunsung.
So Park Mincheol’s gang retreated like that.
Park Mincheol, who barely came to his senses, stumbled as he returned to his seat, not showing his face to the teacher throughout the class.
* * *
The series of events.
Park Mincheol couldn’t even remember properly.
He never expected someone to attack him at all, and by the time he came to his senses, he was already crawling on the ground, being beaten indiscriminately. Throughout the entire class. Park Mincheol gritted his teeth. The thought of being beaten by Kim Hyunsung in front of his friends made it unbearable for him to endure such humiliation.
‘I’ll really kill him.’
Grit.
He gritted his teeth.
The truth was, the strongest person in Park Mincheol’s group wasn’t him.
They were called Park Mincheol’s gang because they were mostly punks who harassed others, but in terms of fighting strength, Gang Changsuk was actually stronger. Once the class was over, all of his gang would flock to the classroom. Kim Hyunsung would never be able to handle them alone. No, in fact, if he hadn’t let his guard down, he wouldn’t have been beaten by someone like Kim Hyunsung, a goody-two-shoes.
His stomach was churning with rage.
At the front row.
Kim Hyunsung was seated.
His straight posture, as if he was paying full attention to the class, completely flipped Park Mincheol’s stomach upside down as he watched from behind.
‘That bastard must be out of his mind.’
He couldn’t understand.
He was different from the Kim Hyunsung he usually knew.
As the Class President, he had intervened in various matters, but he still maintained a fine line between them, so there was no real reason for him to harass Park Mincheol. Looking at it now, it seemed that line he had drawn was only in his own mind. Kim Hyunsung was someone who could cross the line at any moment, but because he had never truly paid attention to Park Mincheol, the two never clashed.
What was certain was.
He had crossed the line.
In order to overturn the situation in which he had been trampled by Kim Hyunsung, he had to take revenge that was even more brutal.
‘I’ll kill you as soon as class is over.’
He waited for the right moment.
He couldn’t care less about pain.
The teacher’s explanation, the pain surging through his face, nothing was important to him except for revenge against Kim Hyunsung.
The long class had ended.
The bell rang, and the teacher left the classroom.
Just as he was about to get up from his seat, Park Mincheol found a pair of sneakers filling his field of vision to his dismay.
Bam.
Thwack!
He was kicked in the face.
Park Mincheol’s mind completely scrambled for a moment at the strong hit that sent him straight sprawled over the floor.
It was at that moment.
With his hair yanked violently, Park Mincheol met with Kim Hyunsung’s eyes, who was looking down at him.
“We should continue where we left, right?”
A chill ran down his spine.
He was sure.
Unlike the others, this guy didn’t flinch at all at the fact that he was dealing with a group of violent bullies.
