TW 10

Chapter 10

Once again, it took the form of an apology, but the blatant sneer hanging around Suhyeon’s lips and the snickering laughter from his group proved that it had never been an accident.

Faced with such an obvious provocation, Hae-il twisted up the corner of his mouth.

“Ah. This is why proper upbringing is important. You just had to cross the line. You don’t even know your own place.”

His low voice dripped with his characteristic arrogance and contempt, as though he were trying to crush the very existence of the person standing before him.

He had tolerated Suhyeon’s first provocation, but it seemed he intended to respond to the second.

“Proper upbringing? I guess that supposedly well-bred young master was taught to lecture other people about how they raise their kids?”

Suhyeon shot back sarcastically.

The moment Hae-il stopped holding himself back, sparks seemed ready to fly between the two.

It was common knowledge that they had always been uncomfortable with each other.

“Oh, I was taught to thoroughly crush people who don’t know their place and dare to crawl up. Do I have to teach you that lesson myself?”

“Fuck, teach me? Go ahead and try. I’m sick of watching you throw your weight around just because you’re riding on your dad’s name!”

The moment those words left his mouth, Suhyeon’s fist flew toward Hae-il’s face.

Thud!

Hae-il’s head turned slightly from the impact.

His lip split almost instantly, and bright red blood seeped out.

But Hae-il didn’t seem to care.

Instead, he smiled as though he were enjoying himself.

That eerie smile was like a signal flare announcing the beginning of the fight.

“You started this?”

Hae-il retaliated without hesitation.

His fist was far faster and heavier than Suhyeon’s.

Suhyeon staggered backward with a painful groan after taking a direct blow to the abdomen, but Hae-il gave him not even the slightest opening, unleashing one attack after another.

The sight of the two of them rolling and grappling across the gymnasium floor looked like two uncontrollable beasts tearing into each other.

Some children screamed in terror.

Others watched with shining eyes, thrilled by the spectacle.

As the fight intensified, their respective friends rushed in to separate them.

But in the process, other students whose emotions had been stirred up became tangled in the chaos as well.

Within moments, it looked as though the fight might turn into a full-blown brawl.

That was when the gymnasium door was thrown open.

The teacher who had disappeared earlier came rushing inside.

“What the hell?!”

Every student’s gaze turned toward the teacher.

Of the two who had been rolling around on the floor, Hae-il was the first to raise his upper body.

It was obvious to everyone who had won.

Just when everyone had confirmed the victor and thought the situation was finally over—

Hae-il placed his foot on Suhyeon’s hand.

Then, just as Suhyeon had done to his glasses moments earlier, he slowly shifted his weight onto it.

A sound like bones being crushed split the silence.

“AAAAAAAGH!”

Suhyeon screamed in agony.

The chatter that had filled the gymnasium froze instantly at that raw scream.

“Han Hae-il!”

The teacher rushed over in shock.

Only then did Hae-il lift his foot from Suhyeon’s hand.

Suhyeon rolled around on the floor clutching his mangled hand.

His face was already horribly twisted with pain, and several fingers that were clearly broken were bent at grotesque angles.

The teacher stared at the gruesome sight in horror and hurriedly examined Suhyeon’s hand.

But Hae-il merely looked down at the entire scene.

There wasn’t the slightest trace of agitation on his face.

Only cold satisfaction flickered in his eyes.

Hae-il slowly shook the fist that had repeatedly struck Suhyeon’s face, casually brushing it off as though he were dusting something from his hand.

Then, as if he had flipped a switch, he immediately put on a worried expression.

“Ah, my glasses broke, so I can’t see very well. Did I happen to step on Suhyeon?”

As he said this, Hae-il crouched down and pretended to feel around Suhyeon’s body.

His gestures were clumsy and exaggerated, as though he genuinely couldn’t see anything.

“Suhyeon, are you okay? I’m really sorry. Your hand……………… it’s okay, right? I can’t see a thing without my glasses.”

His tone was incredibly gentle.

But the unmistakable mockery around his lips betrayed him.

This is his real face.

That was what Danbi thought.

Arrogance.

Cold contempt.

And a merciless violence that encompassed all of it.

The barrier that had protected her from Suhyeon was actually an even bigger psychopath than Suhyeon himself.

She had suspected as much ever since he offered her 500,000 won for finding his pencil case.

But he seemed even crazier than she had expected.

Didn’t he say he hated noise?

I really shouldn’t talk to him too much from now on.

I’ll just keep my head down and stay quiet.

It hadn’t been long since Danbi made that resolution when an ambulance arrived with a loud siren, and Suhyeon was carried out of the school on a stretcher.

Once Suhyeon left, his friends, who had been so full of themselves moments earlier, suddenly became quiet as though nothing had happened.

Only after watching Suhyeon leave in the ambulance did the physical education teacher turn his attention to Hae-il.

Blood was also running from Hae-il’s lip.

“Good grief. You boys are unbelievable……………… Go to the nurse’s office already.”

“Yes.”

Hae-il answered calmly.

He walked a few steps toward the gymnasium door before suddenly stopping with a light sigh.

Apparently, he was a little uneasy because he couldn’t see well.

The moment Hae-il’s friends noticed and were about to approach him—

“Hey, Lee Danbi. Give me a hand.”

At the unexpected call, Danbi’s shoulders jumped.

She had planned to build a wall between herself and him starting today.

He had torn it down in an instant.

“……Me?”

“Yeah. What are you waiting for? Hurry up.”

At his irritated remark, his friends, who had been about to help him, backed away as though they had made a pact.

Afraid that she might end up like Suhyeon herself, Danbi hurried over and took hold of Hae-il’s arm.

Calling it supporting him was a bit of an exaggeration.

All she did was hold his arm and match her pace to his stride.

She could feel the gazes of her classmates on her back, but she didn’t dare turn around.

“Ah, what are you doing? Can’t you hold me properly?”

He became irritated whenever she wobbled even slightly.

In an instant, Danbi had been reduced to the status of a maid attending a young master.

Afraid of irritating him again, she focused intensely and faithfully served as his guide.

“We’re here.”

When Danbi reached the door of the nurse’s office, she released his arm.

At the same time, Hae-il frowned.

“What are you doing? You’re coming in with me.”

“Me too?”

“Seriously? Then what about when I leave? You want me to feel my way back alone?”

“Ah……………… Right.”

“You’re my glasses today. Do your job properly.”

“……Why me, though? You have plenty of friends.”

Danbi complained instinctively, but then she belatedly remembered Suhyeon’s battered state and immediately shut her mouth.

Worried that Hae-il might have gotten angry, she watched his expression carefully.

But he simply answered matter-of-factly with an impassive face.

“You helped break my glasses.”

“Me? I was trying to pick them up for you.”

“Exactly. You should’ve picked them up before Lee Suhyeon stepped on them. You should’ve been more agile.”

Wow.

Danbi let out a hollow laugh at his utterly shameless logic.

The more she got to know him, the more unreasonable he seemed.

Still, he had helped her before, so she decided to help him this once.

Well, honestly, she was also a little scared and didn’t have the courage to refuse.

Danbi opened the door to the nurse’s office and looked around when she saw that the teacher’s seat was empty.

“Teacher?”

She called several more times, but there was no answer.

Maybe she got a stomachache like the PE teacher.

It felt awkward to keep standing in the doorway, so Danbi first led Hae-il to the nearest bed and had him sit down.

“Let’s wait a little. Oh, by the way, is your head okay?”

“My head? It’s my face. Here. It’s swollen, right?”

He tilted his head slightly, as if showing her where he had been hit.

Just as he said, one side of his cheek was slightly red.

It was the spot where Suhyeon’s ball had struck him earlier.

“Yeah. It must hurt.”

“Ah. This is seriously pissing me off. I should’ve stomped on him more.”

You stomped on him enough.

Danbi couldn’t bring herself to say it aloud and kept her mouth shut.

But Hae-il still seemed unsatisfied with the amount of punishment he had inflicted.

“Isn’t it strange? That even people like him are someone’s precious son. When he goes home, his parents probably tell him, ‘Our son is the best.’ His parents are the problem. That’s why he gets carried away without even knowing his place.”

As Danbi quietly listened to Hae-il, the faces of her own parents, who always told her that she was the best, flashed through her mind.

Objectively speaking, she might not have been the best.

But to parents, their own child was bound to be the most special and precious person in the world.

“But…… if they’re literally their precious child, isn’t it unavoidable? Losing objectivity and becoming blind is also a part of love, isn’t it?”

Perhaps the unexpected rebuttal caught him off guard.

Hae-il let out a hollow laugh.

“What? Are you taking his side?”

“Huh? I’m not taking his side…….”

“Forget it. Everything’s pissing me off. That bastard pisses me off, you piss me off, everything does!”

He stomped his foot lightly, apparently unable to contain his frustration.

He must be one of the smartest kids in this school—or maybe even in this country.

Yet watching him ruthlessly beat Suhyeon while swept away by his emotions, and then repeat that he was annoyed like a little child, Danbi thought he seemed rather immature.

Even if he’s the son of some amazing CEO, he’s still just an incompletely grown seventeen-year-old boy.

Danbi decided to soothe Hae-il, who was throwing a tantrum like a four-year-old.

“Of course, both sides were at fault for fighting, but still, Suhyeon was wrong for hitting first…….”

“Lee. Su. Hyeon.”

He corrected her words with razor-sharp precision.

Having received her feedback, Danbi hurriedly corrected herself.

“Right. Lee Suhyeon was wrong. And he threw a ball at your face, too. It must have hurt a lot.”

“Yeah. It hurts.”

His tone was still gruff, but he answered every question she asked.

Judging from the fact that his expression had softened slightly compared to earlier, it seemed that his anger had eased at least a little.

Then Danbi suddenly realized that his gaze was wandering somewhere around her shoulder or chest rather than directly at her face.

He had always looked people straight in the eye.

Is he having trouble focusing because he doesn’t have his glasses?

“Your eyesight must be really bad.”

“Yeah. I can’t see you properly from here either. You’re blurry.”

“Then wouldn’t it be better to get eye surgery? Like LASIK or LASEK. Glasses must be inconvenient when you’re exercising.”

“No. I’m not doing it. I’m going to have to look at monitors up close for the rest of my life, so even if I get surgery, my eyesight will just get worse again.”

“Why are you going to look at monitors for the rest of your life?”

“Because I’m going to be a developer.”

As befitting Han Mu-jae’s son, it seemed that he was interested in computers.

Out of pure curiosity, Danbi lowered herself slightly and brought her face into his blurry field of vision.

“How bad is it? Can’t you even see my face right now? Are you unable to tell where I am?”

“No. I can see your outline, but I can’t see your features.”

He narrowed his eyes as though trying to get a better look at her.

“Ah. This is driving me crazy.”

He muttered irritably before suddenly grabbing Danbi by the wrist.

She had already been leaning forward, so Danbi lost her balance helplessly with a short cry of,

“Ah!”

He pulled her directly in front of his face.

It was an almost dizzyingly close distance, close enough that their noses nearly touched and she could feel his warm breath against her cheek.

Her entire field of vision was filled with his dark, deep eyes.

Her startled heart leaped into her throat and began pounding violently, almost as though it were going into spasm.

Yet Hae-il calmly murmured,

“Yeah. Now I can finally see you.”