Chapter 51

#51 <Two Fools>

***

Jin-hyeok was sitting alone in the principal’s office.

He didn’t know how to handle such disgraceful incidents at school, and with no experience, he had no choice but to follow orders.

‘I wasn’t taught what to do in situations like this.’

No one had taught him. School violence was something he’d only seen on the news. He never dreamed he’d become the perpetrator. Jin-hyeok was just an ordinary person.

He couldn’t go to the police station to turn himself in, and Tae-yang County didn’t even have a police station. He remembered there were only two police substations in town. There was a maritime police station, but that wasn’t their jurisdiction.

The war on crime was a city thing.

With a lack of law enforcement, the neighborhood watch had to take over night patrols. If it weren’t for the roads connecting to nearby cities, this place would be like an island. Taking advantage of this, murderers and violent criminals disguised as fishermen would sneak in, causing unrest in some fishing villages. At the same time, fleeing gang members would temporarily increase the workforce in these villages.

Anyway, Jin-hyeok felt extremely uneasy.

‘Should I have held back?’

Was it hormones, or did coming back to the past mess up his personality?

He remembered Yoon Seong-dong, who couldn’t breathe and spat out teeth, barely gasping for air. His nose was smashed, and his teeth were gone. He mumbled something incomprehensible, but it sounded like he said, “Dad.” Seeing him look for his dad, even a seventeen-year-old is still a kid.

‘What’s going to happen to me?’

Honestly, worrying about what would happen to him wasn’t important. He caused trouble, and since he caused trouble, he thought he should take responsibility. That’s what he learned about the difference between adults and kids. He was only a minor in body.

‘But I won’t forgive anyone who insults my family.’

Jin-hyeok clenched his fist.

Despite all the chaos, there wasn’t a single scratch on his fist.

Chae Kyu-ho must be worried. Are Shin Woo-sung and Lee Seung-hoon skipping class to study?

Even in the midst of this, he thought about his friends, which made him realize how much he’d changed.

‘Will I get expelled?’

He’d never taken the high school equivalency exam, but maybe this was a good chance to try it. Despite the slight discomfort, a bit of curiosity sparked in him. Surprisingly, his heart was beating slowly.

However, the thought of his parents darkened his mood.

‘How am I supposed to face Mom and Dad?’

He was about to pull his hair out when—

Creak—.

The principal’s office door opened, and the vice principal walked in.

Jin-hyeok, who had been sitting on the sofa, awkwardly stood up and bowed his head.

“Oh, sit down. Sit down.”

The vice principal sat across from him.

He had a serious expression, but it wasn’t dark or angry.

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

“No. I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s the school’s responsibility for not stopping it when we knew. So, how much did they take from you to make you explode like that?”

The vice principal seemed to have misunderstood.

It wasn’t about money.

When Jin-hyeok hesitated, the vice principal nodded as if he understood.

“Those guys are really good at keeping their mouths shut. We didn’t even get any reports. I only found out about it by chance, and we don’t have enough staff.”

It sounded like he was defending the school’s position, but Jin-hyeok just nodded in response. It was somewhat understandable.

There were over a thousand students, but the number of teachers was ridiculously low.

The middle school didn’t even have a disciplinary committee. Even if they did, it would be hard to expect any guidance. It was a miracle if they didn’t just go around showing off their strength.

“It’s also important who threw the first punch. I don’t think you provoked them first, given the numbers. We need to clearly understand why the fight happened. It would be good if you could tell me.”

That bastard is going to kill Woo-sung in 20 years! Jin-hyeok wanted to shout but held back. It wasn’t like he was in *Minority Report*; he couldn’t say that.

Since the investigation would reveal everything anyway, he decided to tell the truth.

“The fight started because they tried to extort money from Chae Kyu-ho. He’s the vice class president and my desk mate. I went to stop them, but the seniors—”

Jin-hyeok paused to lick his lips.

Calling them “seniors” made him feel sick to his stomach.

“I went to stop them, but they grabbed my clothes and dragged me along.”

“Hmm… where did these kids learn such bad behavior?”

The vice principal looked grim.

His face showed that this wasn’t unexpected.

“Yoon Seong-dong tapped my forehead first, but he insulted my mom, so I lost control.”

“Insulted your mom?”

Jin-hyeok clenched his teeth, thinking about that moment. His jaw and cheekbones stood out.

The vice principal sighed. It seemed like he understood.

“Do you know anyone in the police?”

Jin-hyeok shook his head while observing the vice principal’s expression.

The vice principal nodded, but there was a hint of disbelief in his eyes.

Jin-hyeok found the question itself strange. It didn’t sound like a simple question about whether he knew someone working in the police.

‘How would the police know and come here?’

***

The rumor had spread to the high school classrooms too.

The same was true for Class 7 of the third year, where Choi Tae-yang was.

“Hey! Did you hear? There was a gang fight at the middle school!”

“A gang fight? How many against how many?”

“Oh my—, it’s a good time. The young guys are full of energy!”

“Ah—, I should’ve gone to watch. Too bad I missed it. Past perfect tense!”

“Speak English, you idiot!”

No matter the era, even the smart kids aren’t exactly mentally stable.

Choi Tae-yang and Park Man-su, who had been sleeping side by side on their desks, frowned in annoyance. The classroom had suddenly become noisy, so it was a natural reaction.

Nineteen-year-old athletes lacked rest compared to their training load. They had to wake up early, run around the field, do hard training, and attend classes.

Regardless, the chatter of the nineteen-year-old boys continued.

“Was it seven against one, or eight against one?”

“One guy? Oh no, he must’ve been badly hurt.”

“What a mess. One ambulance wasn’t enough. I heard detectives came too?”

“One guy? Why would one ambulance not be enough?”

One guy? That’s not a gang fight.

Feeling a sharp pain in his temples, Choi Tae-yang lifted his head.

His brow was furrowed.

He called out to his friend in a friendly, subtle tone.

“Hey, you over there.”

“Huh? Oh—. Tae-yang, sorry. Were we too loud?”

The classmate flinched as he saw Choi Tae-yang’s bulging biceps, even under his school uniform.

While Choi Tae-yang was thinking of what to say, Park Man-su spoke up. His head was heavy, and he still had his face resting on his arm, only turning to the side.

“What’s the name of that one guy?”

“I don’t know his name, but he’s a first-year in middle school…”

Then, another friend shouted as if he’d made a great discovery.

“Son something!”

Park Man-su patted Choi Tae-yang’s shoulder to comfort him.

It was a gesture to ignore it and just sleep.

Choi Tae-yang nodded and growled affectionately.

“Hey, stop playing Seo Taiji’s songs. Isn’t there any Shin Seung-hun?”

Ballads are better for sleeping.

The two giants lay down to sleep again.

“No wonder one ambulance wasn’t enough,” Choi Tae-yang muttered in his sleep.

“Even if Park Man-su had seven guys, they couldn’t beat Jin-hyeok.”

“What about seven Choi Tae-yangs?”

“Hmm, first… wrestling wouldn’t work.”

He’d probably catch up in height, but he could win by age. Heh heh— Choi Tae-yang laughed like a fool.

The two giants’ shoulders shook as they chuckled.

***

Lee Byeong-se couldn’t go to the hospital.

Ignoring Lee Byeong-se’s wishes, detectives from the police station had come. Not from the substation, but from the Gyeonggi Provincial Police Agency’s Criminal Investigation Unit. But they weren’t there to investigate the victim or the perpetrator; they were there to see a student who had been at the scene and questioned Park Yong-seok.

“Are you Park Yong-seok?”

“Huh? Yes, yes.”

Park Yong-seok answered, trembling.

In the student counseling room, Detective Kang Jun-seong sat across from Park Yong-seok.

As the student’s temporary guardian, Lee Byeong-se was also present.

“Can you tell me what you know?”

Park Yong-seok, who had been rolling his eyes nervously, eagerly spilled the information as if he’d been waiting for the question.

“Those guys are part of a circle. They gather the underclassmen two or three times a week to beat them up to toughen them up. That’s why my eardrum burst once. We have to give them a carton of cigarettes and ten bottles of soju every week. The circle’s name is Sixteen, and Sixteen means the number sixteen, like the sixteen strokes of a soldier’s gun salute. But there are seven of them. The class president of Class 1 is really rich, so they’re targeting him. They’re doing some kind of pre-work? They told me to extort money from his desk mate, so they made me do it. They said they’d give me 20,000 won, but I haven’t gotten the money yet. Seong-dong is a guy who’s been kneeling for a year, so he’s three years older than me. He said his dad is a gangster and has killed people, and if I don’t listen, he’ll have his dad kill me. Ugh—.”

Park Yong-seok was like a creature that didn’t need to breathe. He poured out words without pause.

Detective Kang Jun-seong gritted his teeth and held back a laugh.

“No one’s going to kill you. Don’t cry. But how did the fight start?”

“We went to collect money from the Class 1 president’s desk mate— eek! Eek! Seong-dong insulted the Class 1 president’s mom and got beaten up— eek! Eek! He deserved it! Ugh! Eek! Eek! Am I going to jail? Eek! Eek!”

Park Yong-seok lost his composure and mixed crying with his words.

“Hahaha—! Why would you go to jail, man?”

“I have to go to jail! Ugh—.”

“Why?”

“The Grim Reaper— he’s going to kill me— ugh—.”

He didn’t look too good.

Lee Byeong-se stepped in.

“Detective, I’m sorry, but the student seems to be in shock. Maybe we should let him rest and continue the interview later—”

“Yes. I’ve heard everything I need. Can I see the records of the other students?”

“Yes, follow me.”

Lee Byeong-se had another teacher take care of Park Yong-seok and then led the way to the administrative office.

But something was strange.

Why did the Criminal Investigation Unit come? Tae-yang County was quiet even during the war on crime.

As someone who once aspired to be a police officer, Lee Byeong-se couldn’t understand it, but he didn’t press further.

He just hoped Kang Jun-seong wouldn’t report this to the education office.

‘But how did they know and come in less than two hours?’

In educated terms, is this what they call the “daily life zone”?

No one at the school reported it, so isn’t this too fast?

***

At Jin-hyeok’s house, Hong Ki-jun was struggling.

As the saying goes, kids’ fights often escalate into adults’ fights, and juvenile problems are more troublesome than adult issues that can be resolved by law.

‘I’m about to become a CEO, and here I am playing errand boy in the countryside.’

He wasn’t some neighborhood pushover. He sighed again.

But he couldn’t ignore his friend’s trouble. I’ll help.

If Son Jin-hyeok was involved, he was determined to teach those troublemakers a lesson, no matter what it took.

“Sister-in-law, have some water first.”

After trembling like a leaf and downing two cups of cold water, Han Yu-young finally spoke.

“Our Jin-hyeok got beaten up by some kids. The homeroom teacher called crying—. Ugh—.”

Tears like chicken droppings fell again.

“Sister-in-law, calm down. What exactly did they say—. Hey! Son Kwang-yeon! What are you doing with that knife!”

“If I don’t put it in their eyes, my kid is in pain! These damn brats, I’ll—!”

What the hell is he saying! Hong Ki-jun had to calm down Son Kwang-yeon, who was crying and looking for a knife in the kitchen. Next, he called the school to confirm the details.

Then he made a few more calls.

‘Son Jin-hyeok, what are you trying to achieve?’

He thought Han Yu-young was breaking down because Jin-hyeok had been assaulted, but it was the opposite.

Hong Ki-jun even checked Son Kwang-yeon’s pockets to make sure he wasn’t carrying any weapons.

“Why do you have pebbles in your pocket, man!”

“I carry them to skip stones when I’m bored—.”

“You’re hilarious!”

What kind of man carries pebbles the size of fists in his pants pocket?

After throwing the pebbles into the pond, Hong Ki-jun calmed Han Yu-young and put her in the car. Han Yu-young seemed to calm down a bit when she hugged her daughter.

Hong Ki-jun focused on driving and said, “Sister-in-law, Jin-hyeok isn’t hurt and is in the principal’s office. Let’s go to the school first.”

“Yes. Thank you.”

“These damn brats hurt our son—. Ugh—.”

“Jin-hyeok isn’t hurt, man!”

Even though it’s understandable to some extent when it involves your own child, this friend is too emotional. He’s more sensitive than his wife. The ones actually hurt were other students.

After stopping the car for a moment, Hong Ki-jun looked back at his friend, his friend’s wife, and their daughter sitting in the back seat. Son Yoo-jin was sitting on her mom’s lap, smiling brightly, and Son Kwang-yeon had turned his head slightly. Avoiding Hong Ki-jun’s gaze, it seemed like he had come to his senses. He must’ve been embarrassed to show such a pathetic side in front of his friend.

Before starting the car again, Hong Ki-jun, sitting in the passenger seat, gritted his teeth.

‘Ah, annoying.’

When did the dog even get in?

Jang Gun-i was sitting in Yoo Se-ra’s seat.

Hong Ki-jun, who had gotten a chicken, was going through all sorts of trouble.

Heh heh—.

Jang Gun-i smiled brightly, oblivious to human emotions.

A Mercedes is still the best.

Even more clueless than the dog, Son Yoo-jin pointed forward and shouted energetically.

“Let’s go—!”