Chapter 10

　　After school, Ihyun tried to talk to him. Or rather, the moment he opened his mouth, a brutal hand seized him by the hair.

　　“Let go!”

　　Ignoring his screams, Sujeong dragged him all the way up to his bedroom. Bent over backward and hauled like a ragdoll, Ihyun was finally released only when they reached the room.

　　Ihyun gasped for air.

　　He didn’t dare speak first. Not only was he terrified, but the sheer difference in their physical strength was overwhelming. Fearing a beating was imminent, Ihyun curled in on himself.

　　“I guess I was wrong. There’s just no reasoning with you. I treated you so well.”

　　“What is your problem? Why are you acting like this? Do I need to beat some sense into you?”

　　Ihyun suffocated at the genuine, innocent curiosity in Sujeong’s voice. You’re the one who can’t be reasoned with, not me.

　　“You seriously need to go to a hospital. You’re sick in the head.”

　　“I don’t know how much more of this I’m supposed to take.”

　　“Fuck! Why? What is it that you hate so much?!”

　　“It’s so fucking infuriating. It’s gnawing at my nerves. What am I supposed to do with you?”

　　Sujeong clenched his trembling hands together and gritted his teeth. His eyes were already bloodshot with unadulterated rage. Alarm bells screaming in his head, Ihyun scrambled to his feet to make a run for the door.

　　That movement was the trigger. Sujeong effortlessly swept Ihyun’s legs out from under him, sending him crashing to the floor, and immediately straddled his chest.

　　A vicious smack echoed through the room. Ihyun’s head whipped to the left, his vision flashing blindingly white. Sujeong grabbed fistfuls of his shirt collar, shaking him violently back and forth.

　　Ihyun felt something warm trailing down from his nose. He struggled to focus his eyes. Sujeong’s twisted, furious face blurred into two.

　　Using the momentum of being shaken, Ihyun threw his head forward, viciously headbutting Sujeong right in the forehead. A sickening crack echoed through the room. As Sujeong’s grip momentarily faltered from the impact, Ihyun scrambled out from under him.

　　His school shirt was torn, his cheek busted open, and his nose bled freely. His head felt like it was splitting open from the headbutt. Before Sujeong could pounce again, Ihyun lunged. He threw a clumsy punch, but his wrists were instantly pinned by large hands. The size difference was just too great.

　　They tangled and crashed to the floor, and Ihyun bit down hard on the shoulder pressing into him. His trapped wrists throbbed like they were about to snap.

　　“What are you two doing?! Ahjumma, hurry up and stop them!”

　　Drawn by the commotion, Sujeong’s mother threw the door open and screamed. It was a relief she’d just gotten home. Pinned beneath him, Ihyun was practically being crushed to death by Sujeong’s weight.

　　“Oh my god! What on earth is going on…?”

　　It took both the housekeeper and Sujeong’s mother rushing in to finally pry him off. Ihyun gasped for air, violently coughing out the breath that had been trapped in his lungs.

　　“Ihyun, you…”

　　“Ahjumma. Can’t you… see… what he did to me?” Ihyun gasped. “Send him to a hospital. He’s completely out of his mind.”

　　Faced with a glare that automatically placed the blame on him, Ihyun spat out the truth between heavy pants.

　　“You knew he wasn’t normal either, Ahjumma.”

　　“Mom. Ihyun just won’t listen to me. He keeps pissing me off,” Sujeong muttered, his eyes never leaving Ihyun. “I don’t know why he’s acting like this.”

　　And yet, even after hearing that, his mother didn’t look at her son with an ounce of blame.

　　“Okay, okay. Mom will have a good talk with him. Hm? Let’s calm down, Jeong. What if you end up hurting yourself?”

　　Instead, she ordered the staff to call their family doctor and pulled Sujeong into a tight hug. This entire house is out of its mind. Ihyun blocked his bleeding nose with his sleeve and pushed himself up.

　　“Where are you going?”

　　Ihyun remained silent.

　　“I asked where you’re going!”

　　“My room. No, the room you gave me.”

　　“Jeong, the doctor is on his way. Let’s get you treated first. Look, he scratched your face all up.”

　　Sujeong sharply interrogated him as he tried to leave. Tossing back a sarcastic reply, Ihyun used the moment Sujeong’s mother held her son back to slip out. If he stayed in this house any longer, he was going to lose his mind too. At this rate, Sujeong might actually kill him. Ihyun walked briskly down the hall before breaking into a run, darting into his room.

　　Since the lock had been ripped out, he couldn’t even secure the door. He threw open the closet and shoved spare clothes into the largest bag he owned. Then, he went to his desk and pulled out the cash Sujeong’s mother had given him, hidden inside a workbook. A sauna, a PC cafe—it didn’t matter. He didn’t want to stay here a second longer.

　　He was frantically packing when the door suddenly opened. His heart leaped in his chest. He spun around to find his father standing there, likely having rushed over after getting a call.

　　“Ihyun.”

　　Ihyun stared at him, speechless. His father just stared at him in silence.

　　“Dad. I’m going to die. I’m not exaggerating—I’m literally going to die. Just look at me.”

　　“Do you have any idea how that family’s son looks at me? To him, I’m just an obedient little toy. Did you bring me to this house to be his punching bag? Do you even care about me at all? Do you know if I’m doing okay in school, if I have any friends, or even what grade and class I’m in?!”

　　Ihyun poured out all the resentment he had been holding back. If Dad had just taken my side, just once, it wouldn’t have come to this… Tears welled up and spilled down his cheeks.

　　“…I’m leaving this house. Please, just let me move out. Please.”

　　He knew it was a long shot, but he pleaded in a fading voice.

　　“Okay. I’ll look for a place.”

　　After a brief silence, his father finally offered a sliver of hope to his wounded son.

　　Ihyun took a temporary leave from school. With half his face swollen, he couldn’t go outside anyway. Sujeong also stayed home. The family doctor had recommended psychiatric treatment for Sujeong, but his parents flew into a rage, calling the man a quack. How dare he treat their son like a mental patient?

　　The doctor was practically chased out under a barrage of insults. Everyone in the house knew Sujeong had a serious problem, but his parents refused to admit it. Ihyun was the only one who thought the doctor actually knew what he was talking about.

　　When asked why they had “fought”—it had been a completely one-sided beating, but that was how Sujeong’s parents phrased it—Ihyun simply said things had escalated during an argument. There was no point in telling the truth, nor was it what they wanted to hear, so he lied. He was leaving soon anyway, so it didn’t matter.

　　Ihyun bided his time. His father was out scouting real estate listings, acting as if he would pull Ihyun out of there any day now. They didn’t inform Sujeong’s family. There was no need. Losing one extra mouth to feed wasn’t exactly a major event for them.

　　Five days had passed since he last went to school. Sujeong, pampered with premium nutritional supplements, spent his entire day doing nothing but monitoring Ihyun. Ihyun ignored him. Since their explosive fight, they hadn’t exchanged a single word. He hadn’t expected an apology, but Sujeong’s sheer audacity still left him dumbfounded.

　　That day was just another day of enduring it all. It was pouring rain outside. Worried the rain would blow in, Ihyun shut the small window he’d left open. Once he got out of here, he promised himself he’d live in a room flooded with sunlight. He hated this dark, gloomy space.

　　But more than anything, he hated its original owner, who could barge in at any moment. If he moved, he would probably transfer schools, too. He hadn’t even gotten the chance to apologize to Sumin.

　　Ihyun lay on the floor, soaking in the cold chill of the linoleum. You’re gnawing at my nerves. Sujeong was the one literally cutting off Ihyun’s lifeline, yet he had the nerve to blame him. I’m never going to see him again, he vowed.

　　Suddenly, the door swung open without warning, and Sujeong walked in. Startled, Ihyun shot up from the floor. Sujeong swept his sharp gaze across the room before striding straight toward the desk, as if searching for something.

　　“What are you doing?”

　　Ihyun stepped in to block him. Since Sujeong hadn’t come anywhere near his room lately, Ihyun had started packing up his things one by one, desperate to leave as soon as possible. That had been a mistake. The sharp-witted Sujeong might have already noticed.

　　“Where’s the photo?”

　　“What photo?”

　　“Your mom’s photo.”

　　Ripping open every single desk drawer, Sujeong interrogated him. His mother’s photo. It was the only trace of her he had left. Knowing exactly how precious it was to him, Sujeong demanded to see it.

　　“Why do you want that?”

　　“Show it to me.”

　　“No.”

　　“No?”

　　He couldn’t show it to him. It was the very first thing he had packed, buried deep at the bottom of his bag along with his other belongings. Ihyun shifted his footing, blocking the closet. He couldn’t let him take it. Sujeong stared blankly at Ihyun’s defensive stance, then tilted his head.

　　“So it’s in there.”

　　“Why are you suddenly looking for it? And why do I have to show it to you? I said no. Go look at a photo of your own mom.”

　　“Move.”

　　Sujeong shoved Ihyun’s shoulder as if swatting away a nuisance. Maybe all those premium supplements had actually made him stronger, because Ihyun crumpled to the floor like a paper doll. Without so much as a glance in his direction, Sujeong yanked the closet doors wide open. The space, which should have been filled with winter clothes and Ihyun’s random belongings, was completely empty save for a couple of packed bags.

　　Like a madman, Sujeong tore into the bags. The cheap vinyl ripped with a loud, violent shredding noise. Ihyun watched as Sujeong frantically dug through his belongings. He couldn’t just sit there and let this happen.

　　“Back off!”

　　Ihyun threw his entire body at Sujeong to stop him. He was going to cut ties with him, once and for all. He braced himself for another brutal fistfight, but Sujeong merely shoved him aside again and continued tearing through the bag. He was dead set on finding that photo. Sujeong had probably figured it out—that Ihyun was leaving this house and never coming back.

　　That this time, it was real… Just as Ihyun grabbed Sujeong’s wrist with all his might to stop him, a commotion erupted outside the room.

　　“…Go get Ihyun.”

　　“Oh my god, what do we do…? Those poor people, what a tragedy…”

　　Sujeong’s mother had received an urgent phone call and was looking for Ihyun. The housekeeper, in a state of sheer panic, ran into Ihyun’s room. Trying to break up the scuffle, she cried out to Ihyun.

　　“Stop fighting and get out there right now, Ihyun!”

　　Ihyun froze.

　　Sensing the heavy, abnormal atmosphere, Ihyun let go of Sujeong and stood up. Something felt terribly wrong. The torrential rain that had been pouring since dawn, the grim mood in the house, the eerie silence…

　　“Ihyun, listen to Ahjumma very carefully. We’re going to the hospital right now.”

　　Sujeong’s mother gripped his shoulders, her voice unnervingly low. Hospital. Father. Emergency. Ihyun just stood there in a daze. By the time he regained his senses, he was at the hospital, and his father was covered by a white sheet… Before he knew it, Ihyun was wearing the armband of the chief mourner.

　　It felt so surreal that he couldn’t even cry. None of it felt real. He felt like if he just closed his eyes, he would wake up back in that room, tangled up in a fistfight with Sujeong. The man in the funeral portrait resting among the white chrysanthemums looked like a stranger. Dad, why are you up there?

　　Ihyun slumped against the wall.

　　They told him his father had gotten into a traffic accident on the slippery, rain-slicked roads. It was ruled mutual negligence, meaning there was no point arguing over who was more at fault. Besides, both drivers had died on impact, so there was no one left to take the blame. Because the accident happened on his day off, it didn’t qualify for worker’s compensation, and the life insurance payout would barely cover his father’s existing debts, leaving absolutely nothing behind.