FBF chapter 4 part 2

“What’s with the sudden trouble? Just go about your business, you idiot.”

Lee Jihoon pushed me out of the alley. His urgent gestures were so intense that I could even smell the cigarette smoke coming from him. As I caught that scent, I braced myself. I had a feeling that if I didn’t hold my ground in this moment, I would never be able to pull Jihoon out of this alley. I stood firm and pushed against Jihoon’s arm, responding firmly to his surprised gaze.

“I know.”

“…….”

“I know you. We’re in the same class.”

Jihoon’s trembling eyes fixed on me. Without hesitation, I grabbed his arm.

“Let’s go. You can’t stay here.”

It wasn’t hard to pull Jihoon’s arm, who couldn’t even glance inside the alley like before. One more step and we could leave the alley.

“…Oh.”

The reason I released Jihoon without escaping the alley was external interference. I looked down at the object that had just hit my hand and fallen to the ground. It was a black lighter with the words ‘᭿᭿ Coffee Shop’ engraved on it. As I stared at the lighter, I cast my gaze back toward where it came from.

“What is that?”

Someone inside the deep alley stood up. A couple of similarly built men who had been standing nearby stepped back. The moment I made eye contact with a woman leaning against the wall next to them, she burst into laughter.

“Oh? Isn’t that the transfer student?”

I looked at the woman pointing at me, as if she knew me. She looked familiar all of a sudden. After a moment of thought, I finally recalled the face of a girl who had spat on the floor in the hallway sometime ago.

“Transfer student?”

“Why? The one who said Yumi was ugly.”

“Really.”

“He still looks good no matter how many times I see him. You’re still acting all high-and-mighty these days, aren’t you?”

The voice conveying information to the guy next to her sounded particularly gleeful. I soon realized why the laughter was so loud. Everyone else inside the alley had their mouths shut, looking around for someone’s gaze. The closest guy to the large man finally rushed over to the girl and guy who had just been laughing.

“Hey, how can you guys be so clueless? Shut your mouths.”

It was a moment when the two, as if they had made a pact, tightly closed their mouths. I locked eyes with the large man looking this way from the alley.

“Come here.”

The arrogant gesture of him signaling me without explanation was presumptuous, as if he believed I would just walk over to him. I stood frozen, watching the rings on his fingers move. In truth, I was a bit frozen in fear. I never imagined I would end up in a situation where I might have to fight someone outside of school. I doubted it would even qualify as a fight against such a brute. Wouldn’t it be more akin to being battered? Regardless, I couldn’t bring myself to leave Jihoon alone in the alley. I was left wondering what to do.

“No, Cheol-seung hyung, it’s nothing.”

Jihoon stepping forward was unexpected. Suddenly blocking my way, all eyes in the alley turned toward him.

“Hey, it’s really nothing. He’s just a nerd who studies all the time. He doesn’t know anything, really. He just spoke up without knowing.”

Jihoon was smiling awkwardly. It seemed sudden, but upon seeing the hand of the guy pushing me, I realized he was trying to lighten the atmosphere somehow. Jihoon pushed me from behind once more. “Hurry up and go.” His voice was quiet, barely audible only to me.

“Are you covering for him now?”

I was sure the brute could sense the tension that was palpable. Even as Park Cheol-seung forced a laugh, Jihoon did not back down. The hand that was trying to push me out of the alley remained firm. It looked oddly desperate.

“Hyung, bothering someone like him is just going to make things more troublesome. Just keep smoking your cigarette; I’ll take care of it. It won’t take long, really, just a moment….”

Despite Jihoon’s continued pleas, Park Cheol-seung continued to advance. As he got closer, his mischievous and rough features became more apparent. It was easy to understand why there were bad rumors about him. I could see why he ruled like a king among these street thugs.

“So, I should just smoke and stay out of it?”

“… Hyung, that’s not it.”

“What’s not it, idiot? You’ve been getting attention from Joonhee lately, and now you’ve completely lost your sense of caution?”

Each time he spoke, his thick hands swung around casually as though he was joking with me. But due to Park Cheol-seung’s increasing force, the impact took a more serious turn. It wasn’t just the loud noise; Jihoon was being pushed back and his head jerked from side to side. Jihoon’s expression hardened in an instant. For a moment, I thought I saw a flicker of rebellion light up in his eyes, like the defiant expression of a kid being punished on the playground. However, Jihoon quickly relaxed his expression and even forced a laugh.

“Hyung is acting up again. Hitting me won’t make you tougher. I know because I’ve been hit before.”

Even while taking hits, Jihoon added a sarcastic comment. His cheeks were red, but he stubbornly blocked my view, unwilling to evade. Thanks to his effort, I found myself standing at the end of the alley.

“…Ah!”

In an instant, Jihoon spat out an expletive and held his cheek. For just a moment, he froze, hurriedly turning to check on me, his expression demanding to know what I was doing. I could see the brute’s hand rising behind Jihoon.

Even amid the chaos, I let go of the book bag I had been clutching. I raised my phone from my coat pocket for everyone to see. I pressed three numbers on the phone’s keypad. It was a number I had never thought of dialing, living what some might call a calm life. I clenched my shaking hands tightly to avoid giving myself away and turned the phone’s volume up to the maximum.

“Is this the police station?”

At last, the sounds of violence stopped. Park Cheol-seung was looking my way. Jihoon’s gaze also turned to me, his expression seeming to question my sanity. I ignored him and continued speaking.

“It’s in front of the Namyeon Intersection bus stop.”

“…Ha, look at this ridiculous kid. What a complete show—”

“I’m calling to report school bullying.”

“…….”

“I witnessed a high school student assaulting a middle school student. I want to report it right now.”

The alley fell silent, as if a mouse had died. Thanks to the phone volume cranked up, I could hear the muffled voice of a police officer answering me from across the line. I dutifully responded.

“The perpetrator?”

I turned my gaze away from Jihoon’s now crimson cheek and spoke without breaking eye contact with the brutish face that had hardened with fear.

“It’s Park Cheol-seung from Taean Technical High School.”

One could say it was a gamble. I’d picked the name of a technical high school near here that I had heard about in passing, and that was associated with Park Cheol-seung. However, I decided to trust some instinct gnawing at me. Even if I couldn’t be certain, it was worth betting on.

“Is this guy out of his mind?”

In the blink of an eye, the alley became lively. Park Cheol-seung was the one to hold back his buddies, who were about to snatch my phone away. Even as he gestured for them to stay back, he wouldn’t take his eyes off me.

“You’re amusing, huh?”

His voice was calm even as he tried to suppress his rising nerves. It was as if he was suddenly aware of the fact that I was halfway through a call with a police officer. However, there was no trace of humor left on his face.

Finally, it seemed Park Cheol-seung realized I was serious. Should I be grateful that he had enough intelligence to grasp that? A rational person wouldn’t prank call the police. I took the opportunity to bear in mind what I had heard in a school bullying seminar:

For victims to receive immediate protection, reports must be quick and information must be precise.

“I’ve hit the victim approximately fifteen times since 4 PM, and we’ve been threatened to keep from leaving the alley. We are third-year students from Jaehang Middle School, and we are still in the alley with the perpetrators, so it’s urgent you come.”

I remembered that victims of bullying hesitate to report out of fear of retaliation from their aggressors. Because violence isn’t solely confined to the school environment, preventive measures must be taken by society as a whole, I recalled the instructor explaining.

“Please also contact the offices of Taean Technical High School and Jaehang Middle School.”

Seeing the shock on their faces, I realized I had successfully gambled. That meant I wouldn’t have to just sit and watch Jihoon take hits anymore.

“Cheol-seung, let’s go. You said you’d be in real danger if you got caught again, last time.”

The group around him grew more afraid than the aggressors themselves. Upon hearing the officers say they would be dispatched, I lowered my phone, and the alley was already empty.

“…….”

“…….”

Despite the situation being resolved faster than anyone might expect, I still found it hard to believe what had just happened.

“A student made a report?”

The police officer who arrived late asked me, suspicious of whether I was pulling a prank. I shared the recorded file I had just made. I identified both Jihoon and myself. Once I told him about several individuals who had been standing with Park Cheol-seung in the alley, he nodded sagely and closed his notebook. He then instructed us to quickly return home and said he’d follow up later. It couldn’t have been more than five minutes before he disappeared out of the alley. Poor Jihoon, who had been hit, had gone through much longer than that.

Is this society truly proposing that the solution to school bullying is to report to the police? If it had been me, I wouldn’t have left two victims like this behind. Who knows where those who fled are now hiding?

Even so, it was imperative that we escape the alley and head home as quickly as possible. Considering the chances of the delinquents returning to this alley made it even more pressing. Having made my decision, I turned my head towards Jihoon, who had been retreating while I spoke with the officer.

“Hey. Let’s go. They might come back.”

Jihoon didn’t move, seemingly not hearing me. He looked just like how he had before. I paced, looking at the marks left on his face from the hit by Park Cheol-seung.

“Let’s go….”

The words caught in my throat. I was staring at the open air where Jihoon’s shove had left me suspended.

“What… the hell are you doing?”

Jihoon was glaring at me. It was only then that I could see anger in his eyes, bloodshot and fierce. Even as he had previously been smiling through the hits, now his expression was hardened against me.

“Do you know who those guys were?”

Even with the earlier question, his tone was strikingly different. The same guy who had been trying to push me out of the alley now seemed to have me backed against a wall as he yelled. His expression was as if he were bursting from a pent-up frustration.

“Damn it. Who the hell do you think you are, butting into someone else’s business! Did I ever ask you for help?”

“…….”

“If you had just turned a blind eye and walked on, none of this would have happened, you idiot! Who do you think you are, suddenly appearing and causing a fuss about calling the police!”

He wasn’t wrong. I couldn’t even comprehend my own reasons behind my actions. To begin with, it had been strange for me to bring up Jihoon’s name to Kang Youngsoo, and then hint at detentions to Jihoon. To have butted in someone else’s affairs like this was foolish.

Unable to even understand my own behavior, I found myself standing silent. Seeing me silent only seemed to fan the flames of Jihoon’s rage. His eyes darkened further, and his flushed face now appeared red with anger instead of the result of being hit.

“Do you know what kind of person these guys are? You crazy bastard. Once you’re marked…”

“…Do you know?”

“What?”

Jihoon paused mid-sentence, and I pressed on without hesitation.

“Do you want to become like those guys just now?”

Only then did I realize why I had been getting under Jihoon’s skin so much. Moreover, how recklessly I had inserted myself into the lives of others without any fear.

I didn’t want Jihoon to become like them. Even though all I knew about him was that we lived in the same neighborhood and took the same bus, the thought of him living like those people made me uncomfortable. I couldn’t shake the feeling, and I wanted to dissuade him from that path.

“Don’t do that. You don’t fit in with that crowd.”

Perhaps it was inevitable. I suddenly realized that I had jumped into this narrow and deep alley between the two buildings behind the bus station just to share these words with Jihoon.

“Don’t spoil the atmosphere with your friends, scaring those younger than you, hanging around with older guys who have nothing to do but spread weird rumors, or smoking openly where students shouldn’t be seen doing such things.”

“…….”

“Nothing about that is helpful for you.”

Jihoon stayed silent. Unlike before, he neither exploded with anger nor left; he simply listened to me attentively. The look on his face was paradoxically stubborn; it seemed he wanted to argue that my words wouldn’t have any impact on him.

As I looked at his face, I was reminded of a conversation I had overheard last night while going to the bathroom. The warm yellow light slipped from the door of my grandfather’s room. The silhouette of a man kneeling with his head down flickered in the living room.

“I… I don’t know what to do, Yijangnim. It feels like it’s all my fault. Sending Jihoon’s mom off like that, not being able to take care of his heart….”

“Stop whining like that.”

“…….”

“It’s only been three months. How can a kid already be alright? Look at you; you’re no different.”

Did Jihoon have the same expression when his father had said similar things?

“In any case, giving up baseball must make things complicated. But it won’t take long. Your dad will help. If you give it a bit of time, he will come back soon.”

The last bastion Kang Youngsoo had believed in seemed poised to crumble at any moment, merely because he was at the point of exhaustion where he couldn’t even look back. Jihoon wasn’t the only one who had lost a mother. Jihoon’s father had lost a wife as well.

I read the surrounding expressions visible beyond Jihoon’s stubbornness. Someone had to tell Jihoon this truth, even if it were a person like me who hadn’t seen him for long.

“Even if your mother has passed away, you still have your father….”

Before I could finish my sentence, Jihoon’s fist struck my cheek hard. Honestly, I had expected some sort of reaction; however, I hadn’t anticipated this primal method. Since I had no chance to defend myself, my face jerked and I felt myself falling over. I braced myself against the ground with my arm and lifted my head. The moment I realized I had been hit, the tightly clenched fist I had been holding relaxed lifelessly when my eyes met Jihoon’s.

Jihoon, still grasping my collar, had tears forming around his eyes.

“How could you… how could you talk about my mom?”

“…….”

“Have you seen my mom? Have you even spoken with her? You, who don’t know anything, how dare you say that!”

I held my breath, unsure if he would hit me again with that fist he had held in the air for so long. I kept my eyes locked onto Jihoon’s face instead of that raised hand.

“I’m saying this because I don’t know. I’ve never met your mother or even shared a conversation with her.”

“…….”

“If I had, I wouldn’t have been able to say anything at all, just like everyone around you.”

Just like Kang Youngsoo, and Jihoon’s father.

Jihoon stared blankly at my face as if he had never heard such words before. I wasn’t surprised. In the wake of Jihoon’s mother’s death, people had probably misinterpreted Jihoon’s behavior as an extension of grief. Even avoiding conversations on the topic of his deceased mother might have been a show of mutural consideration.

Only when I witnessed him rushing towards me, letting all the pent-up frustration explode from within, did I realize that this was a new unbearable hurt for Jihoon. This was the very thing that would remind him of the pain of having lost someone entirely.

However, pain eventually passes, especially if you have someone by your side like Jihoon who is shedding tears for you. I wanted to convey to him that it could pass quicker than he could imagine; he seemed oblivious to this reality.

“Still, I’ve met your father… twice.”

“…….”

“Once, he asked about you and told me to be good to you, and another time… he cried in front of your grandfather while talking about you. All through the night.”

Jihoon flinched for the first time. I turned my gaze away from him to spit on the ground. Catching a glimpse of blood mixed in with my saliva, I inferred my mouth must have split open. Yet, it wasn’t to the point where it was gushing. If anything, I grew more certain that the rumors about Jihoon were just complete nonsense. Bringing a guy with this sort of punching skill to a fight would prove utterly pointless. I had taken worse hits during kendo training. I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and, as if confirming what I had said, I asked,

“You did hit him, right?”

Jihoon remained silent.

As I placed my hand on top of Jihoon’s hand still clutching my collar and applied a little force, his relaxed hand fell easily, as if he had no idea it was happening. I seemed to observe closely that he had no intention of hitting me again. Nonchalantly, I shook off my bottom and stood up.

Jihoon’s gaze followed me as I rose. Not wanting to lose that moment, I spoke, feeling the urge to share my weaknesses with him due to having touched on a sensitive subject.

“Do you know why I came down here to live with my grandfather instead of with my parents who are still alive?”

“…….”

“It’s because I don’t have parents who care to wonder what I’m up to, what time I come home, or whether I’m doing alright.”

Ever since I arrived, this was a thought I had often entertained, but this was the first time I had voiced it aloud. It had already been three months since I moved to my grandfather’s house. During that time, my mom and dad had never once attempted to contact me. It wasn’t surprising. But it didn’t mean it didn’t sting.

“Take care of yourself while you still have someone who cries for you.”

“…….”

“You’re not the type to try and fit into a crowd that doesn’t suit you. It feels like you know that without realizing it, so I just wanted to tell you.”

With my silence arriving, the alley fell into stillness. I chose not to say anything further as I quietly exited the alley. The expression of Jihoon on the verge of tears lingered in my mind. Because of that, for the entire bus ride home, I couldn’t stop reflecting on what I had told Jihoon. I wondered what it might have meant to him.

When I got home and looked in the mirror, I saw a nasty bruise swelling on my cheek where Jihoon had hit me. My grandfather, who had pretended not to notice, finally asked just as he was scooping up some doenjang jjigae.

“What on earth happened to your face?”