episode_0008

I feel frustrated too.

Why can’t I express my feelings properly and act timidly like this?

Despite being criticized for it since long ago,

Is it because of that?

Everyone points fingers at me, blaming me.

But even in this situation, tears won’t come out.

Sigh… I’m really stubborn and tough.

I thought this kind of situation would continue until graduation,

But soon, the atmosphere is completely overturned by just one person whom I know very well.

Thump thump, thump thump, thump thump, thump!

Bang!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

“?!”

“Surpri…”

“What’s up with him?”

Even I, lying down, am surprised and turn my head towards the door.

“Huh…?”

The face that appeared was very familiar.

It was Taeyang, who showed inflated muscles as if about to burst, veins popping on his forehead, eyes reddened from anger, displaying his fury with his whole body.

Always showing a foolish appearance,

Seeing that face for the first time was somewhat scary.

Without stopping after breaking the door, Taeyang moves forward without hesitation towards me.

Eventually, he arrives in front of me.

“Se-hee, let’s go.”

“What?”

Why did he suddenly come here and say that?

“Let’s go.”

The kids murmuring restlessly.

At that moment, one of the bullies harassing us speaks to Taeyang.

“Hey! Kim Taeyang!! Coming here out of the blue like this, what’s going on? I’ll tell the teacher everything!”

The crowd reacts to those words.

“Why did that punk suddenly come here and cause a ruckus?”

“Does he like Se-hee?”

“Ooh la la~”

“Haha, a punk and a nerd together? Quite a sight.”

“They’re playing together.”

“Shut your mouth before I rip it apart.”

“…………”

The noisy half suddenly falls silent for a moment.

Taeyang’s curse words, unfamiliar to them.

Trembling…

“Uh uh….”

“Ugh..!”

Even the aggressive ones seem intimidated when they see Taeyang’s face.

“Just some insignificant kids…”

“Let’s go.”

During the brief moment of confusion, Taeyang grabs my arm and leads me outside the classroom without hesitation.

“Just a moment..! Kim Taeyang, it hurts! Let go!”

No matter how much I say it hurts, he seems determined not to let go.

“……”

“I’ll be back in a moment; I’m going to hang out with students from another class.”

“Hey, are you cozying up there? You keep looking for trouble.”

“That’s just an old friend I’ve known since childhood.”

“Oh…? Is it that girl we saw last time? The one with short hair, pretty.”

“Her name is Se-hee..? Right?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Do you really not know, Taeyang? Or are you pretending not to know on purpose?”

“She’s the famous outcast in that class, right? Seems like they’ve been openly bullying her this year…”

“Taeyang..? Hey! Where did Kim Taeyang suddenly go!!”

Damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it, damn bastard.

What the hell is he doing?

What kind of childhood friend freezes like this? Childhood friends should stick together.

Even if the classes are different, does it make sense not to know?

Even though I’m already timid, I should have noticed.

Why didn’t he tell me, acting like a fool all by himself…

“…ㅑ”

“Hey…!”

“Hey, Kim Taeyang!!!”

Se-hee’s scream snaps Taeyang out of his thoughts about what happened earlier.

It seems like he held Se-hee’s arm too tightly in his excitement.

Red marks on her skin.

He realizes in an instant what he has done.

“…Sorry.”

“I don’t know what you want to say, but let go for now; I can walk on my own.”

“Okay.”

He releases her arm roughly and they walk side by side awkwardly.

An uncomfortable atmosphere lingers between them.

They leave the school and arrive at a quiet park.

As soon as they arrive, Se-hee speaks.

“Why are you doing this?”

“Why are you asking that?”

Taeyang questions her as if he can’t believe it.

“Hey, Choi Se-hee.”

“..What?”

“Are you a pushover? Why are you silently enduring bullying from those ugly jerks when you have nothing to lose?”

“Or you could seek help from your parents or teachers.”

“At least you could have told me…”

“..If you tell the teacher, it will reach your parents, and I don’t want that.”

“Why don’t you want that?”

“I don

My meticulous nature might be the problem.

“Considering how mean you’ve been to me so far, that might be a possibility.”

“The reason I didn’t tell you… is because it had nothing to do with you, and I thought you might find it annoying…”

Interrupting, Taeyang immediately responds,

“What am I supposed to say?”

“This is frustrating, seriously.”

“Why does it not matter? You’re my only childhood friend.”

“Do you think I’m just blabbering about being friends?”

“Friends are supposed to help each other.”

“Even if someone insults you,”

“Even if you’re wrong, I’ll support you.”

“If you’re not wrong, we should raise our voices together even more.”

“Isn’t that obvious?”

“Sehee, you have to make sure it’s obvious.”

Taeyang, who seemed unlikely to care about my affairs, took my side.

No matter how harshly I speak or push him away, Taeyang always approaches me.

With such a friend by my side, I keep babbling nonsense alone.

…It’s embarrassing.

“So what should I do then..?”

Trembling, I barely manage to ask,

“How can I act like you do?”

“It’s simple.”

“Don’t hold back. If there’s someone bothering you, just retaliate three times as hard or simply eliminate them.”

“Even if you can’t do it, it doesn’t matter. I’ll help you.”

Upon returning to normal, Sehee

“Hey, Choi Sehee! What did Kim Taeyang say to you earlier?”

As soon as she returns to normal, she interrogates Sehee as if she had been waiting.

Thump thump thump!

Despite her determination, Sehee, who has always acted timidly, is covered in cold sweat all over her body.

Taking advantage of the situation, the group intensifies their pressure.

“Looks like the prince on a white horse has arrived to save the outcast.”

“What?”

“Hey.. hey!”

“What the hell?”

“Haha, whether that jerk was trying to approach you, they seem to be chummy with each other.”

Crack!

“Hey.”

“Retract that statement.”

“I don’t want to. What are you going to do? Haha”

Scratch

“You know, even worms wriggle when stepped on, but I never expected you to take the side of that jerk.”

Scuffle

“What were you two doing? No way…”

Thud

Sehee can’t stand anyone insulting Taeyang.

“…Shut up.”

“What did you say?”

“Shut up!! You bastard!”

Bang bang

“Aaah!!”

Seizing her hair as if she’s about to tear it out, Sehee rushes over, turning the place into chaos in an instant.

The children, who are perplexed by Sehee’s sudden change in behavior, call the teacher to intervene.

“Stop it, stop it!!”

“What are you all doing!!”

Thus, a meeting with the parents of both parties is convened.

“If you dare to ruin our lovely daughter’s face like this, what will happen?”

“You said she has a personality problem… and now she’s causing trouble.”

“Do you see her hair falling out? I won’t let this slide, you know?”

“We plan to send her to another school, along with medical expenses and compensation.”

I did it.. I messed up.

Just as Taeyang said, it feels refreshing to act as I please.

But

Will my parents understand me? Will they end up blaming me for my usual behavior instead?

Heart pounding,

No, let’s trust Taeyang’s words.

Even if he doesn’t take my side, I just need to act uprightly.

Me…

Just as I was preparing for the worst-case scenario,

Bam!

My dad slams the desk.

With a face on the verge of exploding,

“Listen here! What did you say about this and that? That your daughter is the instigator against Sehee?”

“Instead of making her apologize sincerely, what?? Compensation??”

“You people are insane!!!!!!!”

He shouts to leave the room.

Even my mom, who was standing by, adds a word,

“After seeing parents behaving like this, there’s nothing left to say about the kids.”

“If the water above is clear, the water below will be clear too!”

“What?”

“What did you just say?”

“Did we say something wrong, huh?!”

Contrary to Sehee’s expectations,

Her parents are fiercely arguing with the other parents.

Watching that scene, Sehee’s heart aches.

The teacher trying to stop the escalating fight was only sweating profusely.

Outside, a family boarded a car.

My mom hugged me.

“Sehee, I’m sorry… Even though you’ve been through such difficult times, your mother didn’t even know about it, and I’m really… really sorry, Sehee.”

Her trembling hands shook as she held me.

“I’m sorry, Sehee… I never tried to understand you since you were young, just scolded you without reason.”

“The fault lies entirely with us, your flawed parents. You’re not at fault at all.”

“I’m truly… truly sorry.”

“Even if you resent us for life, don’t understand us. We are nothing but trash who don’t deserve that.”

Dad said, tears streaming down his face.

It was the first time I had seen my dad cry.

His usually stern and gruff demeanor seemed smaller today.

I remembered what Taeyang had said then.

“I can see that your parents like Sehee.”

Ah…

To be able to open up and have a conversation so easily.

To be able to reconcile.

How foolish, truly foolish.

But… right now, it feels really good, happy.

It’s nice to be loved.

A sense of fulfillment as a family that I had never felt before.

Was it because the tension had eased?

Tears that I had endured while being tormented flowed freely.

After that day, the main instigator of the torment

was forced to transfer schools based on the testimonies of witnesses up to that point,

and the classmates who sided with him were made to write letters of reflection and faced punishment, including being scolded by their own parents.

This part is not known later,

Taeyang also took proactive measures to ensure that such incidents never happened again in the future, laying down strict rules for all students in the grade.

From start to finish, I only received help from Taeyang.

And was this about it?

Since then, I stopped belittling myself with self-deprecating thoughts

and became the kind of person who speaks up when they want to, saying no when necessary.

…Perhaps my demeanor has become a bit rougher too.

“I was going to step in if you stayed quiet, but it seems there was no need.”

“How does it feel? It’s easy, right? Not as big a deal as you thought.”

“I knew, right? Your true nature that seems like you’ll sass back.”

“I’m kind because~”

“Valuing friendship is essential for a man!

With this, you’re one step closer to being a true Geum Taeyang, right?”

The face that was angry then is so forgettable,

this blond tanned guy who keeps saying silly things.

But still, he doesn’t seem annoying, and somehow looks cute.

“Thank you.”

“I’m too cool… What was it?

“Thank you.”

For saving me.

“……..”

“Sehee.”

“You say thank you with snot running down your nose, it’s annoying.”

“Even saying thank you like this is irritating!”

“Oh? Where did the kind Sehee go? No cursing allowed!”

“Jerk!”

Even though we spoke like this, laughter didn’t leave our faces.

…

…

…

…

…

“Sigh… I was so cool back then,

now I’ve become a real troublemaker roaming around hitting on girls…”

Sehee lying on the bed sighs.

I should have asked you out back then…

If I had, I wouldn’t be so nervous now.

In that moment of thought,

“Sis~~ Let’s eat~”

Her younger sibling calling from downstairs to eat.

Time has passed so quickly.

“Just wait a bit, I’ll be down soon.”

Saying that, she carefully puts the photo back in the drawer.

“Sis~”

“Sigh… Alright, let’s go.”

Looking at the photos in the space where she kept her precious treasures,

Instead of Sehee looking displeased at Taeyang,

It seems like she’s faintly smiling, gazing affectionately at Taeyang.