PEN Vol 2 Ch. 13

“Haegyun claims you hit them first. Is that true?”

“….”

Sejin’s dry lips remained tightly shut and didn’t move. He sat there, his eyes downcast, with one side of his cheek turning a purplish bruise. Seo Bohyung had once thought that Sejin’s face was handsome and prettier than most idols, but seeing him like this, tight-lipped and making things difficult for him, all Seo Bohyung saw was a face filled with defiance.

(T/N: Seo Bohyung’s gender wasn’t mentioned. So I will refer Seo Bohyung as “him” for now. I will changed it once specified.)

Swallowing his irritation, Seo Bohyung softened his voice, trying to explain calmly.

“You hit him first, and with a tray no less. Sejin, this isn’t something that can just be brushed off. This is considered aggravated assault, and because you initiated the attack, now Haegyun and Byungjun are threatening to sue you. Do you want to go to juvenile detention? You’re not a kid anymore, so if this doesn’t get resolved, you could end up there.”

In reality, since the tray had been used as a weapon, the odds of going to prison for an incident like this were low, as the level of violence wasn’t high enough for such severe punishment. However, Seo Bohyung kept saying whatever came to mind in an attempt to scare Sejin into revealing his parents’ contact information. It would be enough if he could just get Sejin’s guardian involved.

Seo Bohyung, still feigning a serious expression, continued.

“You don’t want to become a criminal, do you? I remember seeing your mother at the beginning of the semester, she really cares about you. How do you think your mother would sleep at night if she found out her son was going to prison?”

“It was their fault first.”

At the mention of ‘prison’, Sejin finally opened his mouth. His hoarse voice made it clear that he didn’t believe the incident was his fault, but for Seo Bohyung, the content didn’t matter. Just hearing Sejin’s voice was enough to make him want to almost scream with joy.

“Who? Are you talking about Haegyun? Haegyun and Byungjun said you hit them first. Did they hit you first?”

“I was the one who hit them first, but they first…”

Mumbling in a small voice, Sejin suddenly closed his mouth.

First, what?

What did they do first?

Seo Bohyung resisted the urge to pound his chest in frustration and instead forced a smile, lifting the corners of his mouth. He nodded and smiled gently, as if understanding Sejin’s feelings, trying to coax him into continuing.

“Haegyun and Byungjun have been a little rough with you sometimes, haven’t they? But still, between friends—”

“It wasn’t just them messing around. Lee Haegyun…!”

“Yeah, Haegyun?”

“Lee Haegyun…”

“Hm?”

Sejin, who had been shouting in anger, his eyes reddening, suddenly shut his mouth again.

He was like a clam, closing back up. Seo Bohyung, feeling tense from his neck, let out an irritated sigh without realizing it.

Sejin glanced up at Seo Bohyung with fearful eyes and then quickly looked away. His gaze turned toward the window, eyes filled with unshed tears as if they were about to spill over at any moment, and then he asked quietly.

“What will happen if I don’t say anything?”

“What?”

“If I don’t give you my parent’s contact information, what will happen?”

“….”

A disturbing thought crossed Seo Bohyung’s mind.

Had Sejin’s parents passed away without him knowing?

But no, he hadn’t received any such notice, and judging by Sejin’s attitude, it didn’t seem like there was a tragic backstory. It was just that…

“Even if you tell my mom, we won’t be able to settle this. We don’t have money for that, so I can’t give you her number…”

“Is that so…?”

“But if I get taken to the police station, will they look for my mom? Will they contact my mom and tell her I hit someone and I’m going to prison?”

Seo Bohyung narrowed his eyes and watched as Sejin, trembling with his fists clenched, spoke.

It seemed like Kwon Sejin… was afraid of his mother being contacted. It wasn’t that he remained silent because he didn’t know his mother’s contact information.

Seo Bohyung, after thinking quietly for a moment, hesitated before speaking.

“Of course, they’ll contact her. If a minor goes to prison, your mother will naturally need to know about it, right?”

It was a complete lie.

There was no way Sejin would go to prison over something like this, and even if Lee Haegyun did press charges, the police wouldn’t go out of their way to find a missing parent to deliver the news about their child. All of this would simply end up being Sejin’s burden to bear alone.

However, the vice principal’s messages kept coming in, and with Seo Bohyung’s own wedding preparations in mind, he had no time or interest in dealing with a School Violence Committee or any other related matters. Whatever Lee Haegyun had done, the fact remained that Sejin had hit him with a tray, so Sejin wasn’t entirely innocent either.

Seo Bohyung concluded that, regardless, it was a case of mutual violence or, at the very least, Sejin was more at fault for striking first, so he decided to scare him.

“Isn’t it better for your mother to come here to school and help resolve this matter than to suddenly find out later that you’re going to prison? Sejin-ah. Getting scolded is temporary, but you need to think about your future. Don’t you agree?”

Seo Bohyung coaxed Sejin in a gentle tone.

Sejin didn’t answer right away. He chewed on his dry lips until they bled, then buried his face in his hands with a deep sigh. After what felt like a long time, he finally looked up at Seo Bohyung with an anxious expression and spoke.

“It’s not my mom….”

He then recited an 11-digit phone number. Seo Bohyung immediately dialed it, and a young man’s voice answered on the other end.

* * *

Sejin sat nervously in the counseling room. Seo Bohyung had left the room to make a call to Cheon Sejoo and hadn’t returned since.

Sejin considered calling Cheon Sejoo to check if he had received the call from the homeroom teacher, but he didn’t. He was too scared to hear what the man might say.

I must be crazy, really.

Sejin rested his forehead on the desk, overwhelmed with regret. His skin, which was now hotter than it had been in the morning, felt like it was burning. The aftermath of the fight was finally starting to hit him—the dizziness, along with the intense pain in his body.

He sighed and closed his eyes.

I’m not actually going to prison, right? There’s no way….

Even though he had hit Lee Haegyun with a tray, the guy had been standing on his own two feet afterward. Sure, his lip had split a little, but so had Sejin’s. He was certain that if he took off his clothes, the bruises on his body would far outnumber those on Lee Haegyun or Kim Byungjun.

But as the homeroom teacher had said, he was the one who struck first. And it wasn’t even with his fist, but with a tray….

Sejin groaned as he tried to recall something he had once seen on TV about how hitting someone with a weapon instead of a fist could lead to aggravated assault charges.

Even though he knew deep down it wouldn’t come to that point, his growing anxiety wouldn’t let him stay still.

How did he find out about my mom being taken away?

Sejin thought back to the landlord who had watched, expressionless, as Sejin’s mom, pale-faced, was dragged into a van by the loan sharks. That man had a big mouth. Everyone in the neighborhood knew that Sejin and his mom lived in a moldy basement apartment for 350,000 won^[1] a month.

So, it’s probably because the landlord has been spreading the word that his mom was taken away by the loan sharks.

That must be how it eventually reached Lee Haegyun’s ears… That b*stard…

Sejin was at least relieved that his mother hadn’t heard those rumors. His mother worked honorably in the kitchen at Ehwagak, so if she had heard herself being called a prostitute, she would have been truly hurt.

Lying with his forehead pressed against the desk, Sejin spent a long time worrying about his mother. Even though he was the one who might get dragged to the police station, he was more concerned about her, sweating and working hard somewhere in Gyeonggi Province.

Do you ever think about anything at all?

Sejin scowled at the voice that suddenly popped into his mind. He shot up from his seat and pressed his flushed, fevered cheeks against his hand, casting his gaze toward the door.

He couldn’t bear the thought of his hardworking mother receiving a call saying, “Your son beat up his classmate with a tray, so come kneel and apologize.” Thus, Sejin gave his homeroom teacher Cheon Sejoo’s number.

Even though he gave his number, Sejin hadn’t expected Cheon Sejoo to actually show up. He just thought that it would be enough for his homeroom teacher to have contact with one adult who could be reached, no matter who it was.

Although his homeroom teacher had mentioned juvenile detention, Sejin knew, logically, that there was no way he was going to prison over something like this. He had seen people who had done far worse, like the man who had beaten him and his mother mercilessly, and just being let off with a warning at the police station.

As long as that man answered the phone and said, “I don’t care. Handle it yourself,” that would be enough. Although Lee Haegyun’s parents were threatening to bring the case before the School Violence Committee, Sejin kept telling himself that the police wouldn’t take such a trivial fight seriously.

“……”

But then, a wave of anxiety hit him, and Sejin bit his lip. Glancing repeatedly at the door, he nervously bounced his aching leg up and down.

But I hit him with a tray.

What if they actually take me to the police station…?

What if Lee Haegyun’s parents are lawyers?

Or what if they’re just filthy rich?

When Sejin thought about it, Lee Haegyun always wore nice clothes. He didn’t know much about brands, but judging from how Kim Byungjun, whose mom was a doctor, always admired what Lee Haegyun wore, it was clear that those clothes were expensive. If rich families like them really wanted to, getting someone like him thrown in jail wouldn’t be hard at all.

Suddenly terrified, Sejin broke into a cold sweat and let out an anxious sigh.

D*mn it…

Now he was starting to regret hitting them with the tray. Not that he regretted being the one to strike Lee Haegyun first. If he had done nothing when someone said those things about his mother, even in death, he wouldn’t have been able to rest in peace and would have dug himself out of his grave in frustration.

However, at the same time, he couldn’t help but fear that this fight might end up causing even more harm to his mother.

This won’t do. I have to go apologize now.

After wavering for a while, Sejin unable to bear it any longer, finally made up his mind and stood up. Since he had nothing, he couldn’t offer a settlement money. In any case, they had both hit each other, so if they just called it even on the hospital bills, that would be enough.

But since he had thrown the first hit, he thought it would be only right to at least apologize for striking first. If Lee Haegyun demanded that he get down on his knees, he’d do it. Sejin wasn’t the kind of person to get hung up about such things.

As he limped toward the door and opened it, someone stood in front of him, blocking the way. It seemed the other person had been about to come in.

Recognizing the familiar scent, Sejin raised his head.

Standing there, dressed in a suit, was Cheon Sejoo, wearing a cold expression.

“……”

“……”

The two of them remained silent and stared into each other’s eyes. Sejin, not expecting him to show up, was utterly flustered, while Cheon Sejoo appeared angry. It was Cheon Sejoo who broke the silence first.

“Where do you think you’re going?”