Chapter 55 : Chapter 55
Chapter 55: Education Project (2)
The last match.
The atmosphere in the Taewoon High gymnasium changed.
As soon as Jin-ho and Kang Tae-wook's names and photos went up on the electronic display board, the entire spectator stands held their breath.
"What is this, I thought the finals would be more exciting."
"I know, right. Earlier they were cheering well even when people were collapsing."
Ye-na and Seong-hyeon spoke quietly looking at the quiet spectator stands.
"They must have been overwhelmed."
Yoo jin, who approached from behind, stroked Ye-na and Seong-hyeon's heads.
After meeting the children's eyes and smiling slightly, he quickly moved his gaze towards the stadium.
There, two contrasting figures were standing.
One side was D-Rank.
The other side was the Special Management Student who stood at the peak of Taewoon High by defeating the Student Council President in one shot just a moment ago.
"......."
"......."
There was no expression whatsoever on the faces of them facing each other in the center of the stadium.
"To those two."
At Yoo jin's voice, Seong-hyeon and Ye-na swallowed dry saliva and captured the stadium in their eyes.
Kang Tae-wook who was revealing even less emotion than before.
It was an expression colder than absolute zero.
The appearance of Jin-ho dropping the corners of his mouth that were always smiling unlike until now.
Gulp.
Although they didn't understand all of Teacher's words, still.
Nod nod.
Heads moving unbeknownst to themselves.
Even just watching from afar like this, breath was choking up.
They thought the spectators were also unable to shout easily because of that pressure.
Seong-hyeon and Ye-na, who had been looking at them with sharp eyes for a while, opened their mouths.
"By the way, can he win? Jin-ho?"
"He prepared for a long time......."
Yoo jin also knew well why the children were spitting out such words.
Jin-ho's training had no lack.
Rather, thanks to Jin-ho's active performance in the first half games of the Athletic Meet, they mostly won.
Furthermore, Jin-ho's appearance shown in the quarterfinals and semifinals held before showed tremendous strength to the point where one couldn't guess the rank.
Therefore.
He came to recall once more.
"Well. We will know once it starts."
Around the bodies of Jin-ho and Kang Tae-wook facing each other, orange Demonic Energy visible only to Yoo jin was colliding as if exploding.
Although Jin-ho had only lived for 18 years yet, he could say this for sure more than anyone else.
The moment death becomes lighter than life.
That it is a hellish life people commonly talk about.
Although young in age, he could tell those two things in more detail than anyone else.
Because he experienced it.
Because of the guy in front of his eyes.
And because of that guy's older brother.
Kang Tae-wook's face filled the view of Jin-ho standing in the stadium.
Although the referee's face was visible in the corner of his view, nerves did not reach him as if he was air.
Although he was saying something and moving his lips ceaselessly, even that was not heard.
Because all of Jin-ho's senses were focused on Kang Tae-wook right now.
Kang Tae-wook's face filling the view.
Over that, memories of past days floated up.
The moment they first met at the entrance ceremony.
And the moment they became classmates and he was able to approach him.
Since this guy wouldn't know his existence, the foolish self of those days who tried to dig up information about his brother by approaching while hiding murderous intent.
The first gaze looking as if seeing something not human.
And even that strange expression he made when he spat out the name Kang Si-wook.
Over Kang Tae-wook's face, the things that happened meanwhile passed by one by one. Like a movie.
A panorama visible only to Jin-ho.
In that movie, the protagonist was always Kang Tae-wook.
And Jin-ho himself was the villain.
Although he did nothing wrong, a villain who always gets beaten by the protagonist.
Bullying, school violence.
Although the victim was himself, for some reason in that movie, Kang Tae-wook who exercised school violence received applause, and he himself who suffered school violence received finger-pointing.
As if the world was turning wrongly.
Adults.
And teachers.
The supporting actors appearing in the movie were all on Kang Tae-wook's side.
Naturally, the students too.
Come to think of it, from the first month of enrolling in Taewoon High, he had no friends.
Unless it was a situation where he was dragged by Kang Tae-wook and his lackeys Chan-sol and Min-jun and beaten.
Jin-ho was always alone.
The movie where hellish school life was coming out in a row slowed down.
It began to shine gradually.
Like a climax.
And there, Jin-ho was able to discover.
The reason he was able to stand here.
The reason he became able to look at Kang Tae-wook, whom he feared so much, calmly like this.
'Run, stop whining.'
'I promised. That I would watch over you.'
'Cry a lot, kid. Since there won't be things to cry about from now on.'
Right.
From here.
From this point, the title of the movie began to change.
From hell.
To hope.
The cliff located on Mt. Hwangnyong.
The moment he first met Yoo jin there.
From then on, he began to change.
And he came to meet for the first time.
An adult he wanted to believe in.
A Teacher.
The panorama unfolded in front of Kang Tae-wook's face began to be erased.
It's okay.
I don't need to look back.
Because I know well from after this.
Himself who escaped from hell.
The daily life where he always laughed.
That the child who dreamed of suicide wants to live.
That he wants to win.
Because it is a story of moving forward while laughing.
Right.
This is, now.
"Fight!"
It was Jin-ho's story.
Behind the referee's voice.
Jin-ho threw a punch towards Kang Tae-wook.
Ba-bang!!
Along with a tremendous explosion sound, blue flames wrapped the stadium as if exploding.
Since when was it.
That I cared about this guy.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Jin-ho throwing punches with tremendous momentum.
Tremendous flames followed each and every punch.
And that became killing intent and was aiming exactly for Kang Tae-wook's abdomen and face.
Dodging those punches narrowly with tremendous physical ability, he froze the empty air with his fingers at the same time.
Whenever he did that, Jin-ho who was throwing punches dodged back or kept distance.
But, not even a few seconds passed before he burned fighting spirit again and threw punches continuously.
A bug that doesn't give up.
Right.
It is the same as now.
This guy.
Was like this from the beginning.
Like a buzzing annoying bug, he approached and talked every day without getting tired.
That too, the words Tae-wook himself hated the most.
Probably it was from then.
That I tried to detach this guy.
That I exercised power.
That I came to bully.
Because I only knew how to run away like that.
"It is only until today. You are coming together only today."
At that one word from father.
The corners of the mouth that had been going up continuously since morning fell.
Taewoon High entrance ceremony.
Kang Tae-wook's expression, who was about to get off the black vehicle first, darkened.
"Because I was also invited as a guest today so I came unavoidably."
When father, who didn't even come to the graduation ceremony, said let's go to school together, it felt like his heart would burst.
A feeling like flying in the sky.
But that one word from father immediately created an emotion of crashing from the sky.
'Why.'
Top admission.
Even though I followed the exact same steps brother took.
Father didn't look at me.
Like back then.
With that voice that shoved the self who was only five years old into a black solitary room.
"You can't even become a toy like your brother yet."
Leaving only those words, I looked at father's back, who moved his steps to the entrance ceremony hall first, for a long time.
'Why can't it be me.'
How I used death-like strength to come here.
How much I trained to become the top student.
Probably I clenched my fist so hard back then, it seems my hand bled.
Due to that, as soon as I went up to the podium as the freshman representative, people must have buzzed.
And at that time.
I came to meet for the first time.
One child who kept making me think of the child trapped in the room.
"Are you okay? This is disinfectant."
A classmate who approached with the world's kindest face and talked to me.
Because of the fact that I was the top student and my father was a Hunter Association executive, no one approached me.
But as soon as this guy saw the wound on my hand, he ran to me.
However.
Would this guy have known?
How strong a killing intent I was emitting behind that innocent expression.
"I am Jin-ho, Jin-ho."
As soon as I heard that name, I could know the guy's identity at once.
Because I heard a similar name a few times.
'Eun-ho.'
A classmate's brother bullied during school days.
And the person who threw his body from school and committed suicide on the day the new semester started, unable to endure that bullying.
This guy seemed to be that person's younger brother.
"Forget it. It's a wound that will heal even if I stay still."
Although I have no grudge against this guy, it keeps coming to mind.
The memory of being beaten by brother.
The memory of back then when I was called trash.
I think it was when I just entered elementary school.
Brother was scolded by father because of that guy who committed suicide because of him, and he took that stress out on me.
'Why is it my fault that a weak guy died!'
'If you can't even endure, then don't be annoying!'
'Are you going to be like that too?'
'You are also weak trash. You will also become like that, right?'
A younger brother with a ten-year age gap.
For the reason that he is stressed.
For the reason that he is weak.
He made me a target of venting anger every day.
Even though I was beaten every day, father pretended not to see it.
Even though our eyes clearly met, he just turned away.
'Look. Father is also just going. This is the principle. That the weak can be done in by the strong.'
Why is my house like this.
Why don't they look at me if I'm not strong?
I'm the same child, why do they just pass by me being beaten.
Is it because mom died?
Why on earth.
Am I.
Never receiving love.
It seems my mind was sucked into the abyss like that.
Grab.
At that time.
The hand holding my arm was clearly trembling.
Much agony was transmitted riding that trembling.
This guy also seemed to be suffering from many emotions.
Even so.
The guy called Jin-ho.
"Are you okay? Your tears......."
Was genuinely worried about me.
It was the first time.
Even family didn't worry about me.
Syncs (peers), school, the world.
Everyone didn't worry about me.
He was worrying about me for the first time.
Genuinely.
Brother's enemy.
Me, the younger brother of that enemy.
"Foolish guy. Get lost."
That was the first meeting.
The first meeting of a long, long ill-fated relationship.
After that, I had no choice but to keep meeting the guy unavoidably.
Same class.
Right next seat.
The guy approached me without getting tired.
'Did you eat?'
'How is your mood today?'
'They say it's P.E. class.'
He talked to me persistently.
For a whole week even though I didn't answer once.
Even the names of the students in the class were not known yet.
Not even proper friends yet.
In that period when groups were not even formed.
Jin-ho talked to me continuously.
'Let's go together.'
'Next is Building B.'
'They say pizza is coming out for lunch.'
'They say one class tomorrow is changed.'
Even though I didn't answer.
The guy continued to talk about things I didn't ask.
And he was always by my side.
Then little by little, he asked about brother.
Also talking about his brother little by little.
Every time he did that, I flinched, but I endured well.
Because I shouldn't show it.
Because I shouldn't be caught that I know.
However.
Little by little, little by little.
The questions deepened.
Every time that happened.
I had to listen to the story of brother.
At the same time as feeling guilt about this guy's brother, trauma swallowed me up.
'If only you didn't throw a tantrum.'
'I think it might be better for you to die quickly too.'
'A-Rank? You are still trash anyway.'
'Ah, how long has passed since he died, why does he keep holding my ankle.'
'Annoying. Come here. You get hit instead.'
The violence suffered by my brother keeps coming to mind.
"Stop......."
Even so, the guy called Jin-ho doesn't stop talking.
"Please...... Stop......."
A story unrelated to me.
He keeps asking about that story.
And tells it.
"I said stop!"
Jin-ho collapsed at the arm that flew out unable to endure.
And that day was the beginning.
"Serves him right."
"I was also about to mess him up once because this bastard was noisy."
"Keueu, as expected, school No. 1 is different. The initiative was stolen."
Strange things started to stick.
And.
"As expected, you were the same too."
In the eyes of the guy collapsed on the floor, the killing intent he hadn't shown meanwhile was revealed as is.
It was from then.
That things started to go awry.
That I wielded violence to make the guy shut his mouth.
That I hit the guy to erase the afterimage of brother.
That I came to relieve the stress from the contempt I received at home in a wrong way.
That I am not trash, but a person standing above.
At the flattery of the lackeys that makes me masturbate (self-satisfy).
That I started to bully the guy unbeknownst to myself.
That is.
Probably it was from then.
That I started to bully the first friend in my life who approached me for the first time.