Forgetting all decorum, Kim Young ran down the corridor to the treatment room.
Without hesitation, he flung open the door. Screeeech! The door opened with a harsh sound.
Thud!
The sight before his eyes was not just shocking but downright appalling.
None other than his own student Kim Joo-won was beating the visiting toemasa Gi Jae-eon mercilessly.
‘How can that be called a fight...!’
One side was soaked in blood, clearly a one-sided assault.
“Kim Joo-won—!!”
Kim Young quickly rushed at the two. “You bastard! Let him go!” But Kim Joo-won wouldn’t let go. No matter how much Kim Young grabbed his shoulder and told him to stop, Kim Joo-won shook off the hold and kept punching fiercely, snarling “Say that again, I dare you!”
His eyes were already wild. Even Gi Jae-eon, the victim, was taking the blows without resistance. None of them seemed willing to follow Kim Young’s orders.
There was no other choice. Kim Young took out his prayer beads and began chanting jubeop.
As he uttered each character filled with strong will, a golden chain appeared, wrapping tightly around Kim Joo-won’s body and pulled him down forcefully, subduing him.
“Ugh! ...Damn it, Teacher!”
“In short, stop at a level where your conscience can forgive you.”
After restraining Kim Joo-won and leaving him on the floor, Kim Young didn’t even glance back. Instead, he approached Gi Jae-eon, who was slumped and coughing.
“Be careful and lean on me. Can you stand?”
His hands were extremely gentle as he helped him into a chair.
Cough, ha, cough...
His tangled hair, swollen eyelids, blood-soaked nose and mouth.
His already pale face had grown even more gloomy and pitiful. Gi Jae-eon let out shallow breaths several times and noticed Kim Young staring at him intently. Avoiding the gaze, he lowered his eyes. His bloodshot eyes seemed to want nothing more than to escape the situation.
But Gi Jae-eon had seriously misjudged Kim Young as a person.
Kim Young had no intention whatsoever of glossing over this absurd situation.
Those who make mistakes deserve punishment and must ask for forgiveness. Even if it was his cherished student.
“Excuse me for a moment.”
“Huh— uh.”
Kim Young forced open Gi Jae-eon’s twitching face to check inside his mouth, thoroughly inspecting his inner cheek with his thumb.
‘It’s all burst.’
The condition was quite serious. Kim Young frowned, uncharacteristically. The mess made him sigh deeply. Honestly, if asked “Does Gi Jae-eon have a frail physique that lets Kim Joo-won overpower him?” the answer was no. No matter how thin, Gi Jae-eon was a full-grown adult male, and the two were evenly matched in height and build. This meant if Gi Jae-eon wanted to, he could have fought back easily.
Why he didn’t, well...
Kim Young groaned and released Gi Jae-eon’s jaw.
‘People exposed to long-term violence feel helpless rather than resistant.’
At least to Kim Young, Gi Jae-eon looked exactly like that.
Helpless.
As if strangely accustomed to anger and violence directed at himself.
‘It’s still speculation, but...’
Every time he saw these behaviors, the rumor of ‘Gi family abusing Gi Jae-eon’ naturally gained traction.
‘For now, separating the two is the priority.’
Kim Young gestured to another student nearby to support Gi Jae-eon. The student flinched briefly then approached him. Whispered words could be heard: “Are you, are you okay?” mixed with awe of meeting someone they admired in person. Gi Jae-eon nodded faintly and limped out of the treatment room following the student.
Now then...
How to discipline the wild kid left behind?
Kim Young glared coldly at Kim Joo-won after loosening his restraints.
Kim Joo-won seemed calmer, perhaps having regained reason while tied up, or maybe because the target of his anger was gone. Instead of excuses, he muttered a reluctant apology, “I’m sorry.” But the one who deserved that apology was someone else. Kim Joo-won knew that too.
Kim Young shook his head and asked, “Why did you do that?”
“......”
“Kim Joo-won.”
“He’s not dead.”
Kim Joo-won wiped his face with his big hand. Looking closely, his knuckles were slightly scraped, showing how hard he had hit Gi Jae-eon.
“I said he’s shamelessly alive.”
Clenching his fists, Kim Joo-won recalled the earlier scene.
Having confirmed An Seo-myeong was taken for emergency surgery, Kim Joo-won turned toward the treatment room. His sole purpose was Gi Jae-eon.
‘Why did you let him get hurt?’
Remembering his junior who might die, Kim Joo-won scolded Gi Jae-eon.
The infinite spiritual power that covered the sky.
What followed was not worship but resentment.
‘You could have erased it long ago!’
Veins bulged on Kim Joo-won’s neck. He shouted, grabbing Gi Jae-eon’s collar. His large body swayed weakly, dragged along. That feigned weakness was disgusting. Honestly, Kim Joo-won thought it was intentional.
‘If you have that much power, why let Seo-myeong get hurt...!!’
Gi Jae-eon’s dry lips twitched then.
‘Ahn... ahn...’
Contrary to what was expected to be sharp or unpleasant, his voice stammered.
‘I’m not, not... dead. I’m alive. Still...’
He uttered such words.
‘What?’
Kim Joo-won’s eyes went wild around then.
‘What did you just say?’
Blinded by anger, he failed to see Gi Jae-eon’s pale, gasping figure and misunderstood “not dead” as <What? So he’s dead? No, he’s alive>.
And now, facts Kim Joo-won didn’t know.
Of course, Gi Jae-eon didn’t mean that. Actually, he had no real meaning behind it.
Where would his mind be? Since he found bleeding, collapsed An Seo-myeong, he was already out of his mind.
Memories rising, death, memories, death.
Being crushed by those fears for a long time, finally seeing Seo-myeong enter surgery, he hypnotized himself not to go crazy with “He’s not dead yet. He can still be saved.”
‘I’m not, not... dead... ha, uh...’
Not dead yet. He could live. It was different from when Seo-myeong was torn apart and died.
While mumbling to calm himself, Kim Joo-won’s rage reached him.
‘This bastard’s lost his mind.’
Bam! Thud! Thud!
Despite the pounding punches, Gi Jae-eon didn’t resist.
His own hidden memories were scarier than Kim Joo-won’s violence.
If he could forget that fear with violence, he gladly would.
“A little later and Seo-myeong would have died. That’s what I’m saying. Saying sorry should come first.”
Kim Joo-won clenched his teeth to suppress the rising emotion again.
“Hah, you bastard.”
After hearing everything, Kim Young sighed deeply. It was a troublesome issue since he understood both sides. Although he couldn’t say it to Kim Joo-won yet, Kim Young vaguely guessed why Gi Jae-eon spoke so bitterly.
‘He must have been treated that way himself. That’s probably the only way he could express it.’
So he didn’t want to blame Gi Jae-eon.
Because caring and worrying require some learning too.
‘But he couldn’t talk about his situation recklessly.’
Above all...
‘The Gi family won’t quietly let this pass.’
Those brutal people who abused Gi Jae-eon. It wasn’t a joke that grudges could be repaid twentyfold.
Kim Young decided to first find a way to save his wild student. There was no other way. After all, blood is thicker than water.
“I'm going to take him.”
“...Yes.”
After a short call, Gi Jae-eon fiddled with his cracked lips while calculating the remaining time before the driver arrived. His restless fingers picked at the scab, finally tearing it off. The sting didn’t matter. Such pain wasn’t even pain to him.
‘Did the surgery go well?’
His eyes, staring only at the floor, flickered uncertainly. The hand that bit his lip now neatly rested on his knees, then started picking at his hangnails.
He would have already checked on Seo-myeong’s condition if he dared... but he knew better than anyone he wasn’t entitled to.
Still, it would be okay. Seo-myeong dies in the distant future.
Knowing someone’s end can sometimes be a help.
“Still... okay...”
The restless finger picking finally drew blood. At that moment, the movement stopped and Gi Jae-eon’s world changed once again.
-You could have erased it long ago!
A voice filled with anger.
Kim Joo-won’s voice began overlapping with the voices of many others.
-My husband died.
-Why don’t you save us?
-What if you give up on us?
-We have to hold on. Everyone believes.
-Save us.
-Toemasa, ...can you hear us?
Save us. Save us.
Save us. Save us.
Save us. Save us.
Save us. Save us.
Save us. Save us.
Save us. Save us.
Suppressing the urge to cover his ears, he leaned his head against the wall. His messy hair tickled his forehead. Gi Jae-eon sank into deep loss. The sense of mission and pride once as precious as life, the desire for peace—all were lost. There was nothing left in him.
Absolutely nothing.
Blinking several times with eyes swollen shut, he slowly closed his eyelids. Then he stopped breathing one after another. His slack body looked like a dead man.
The closer he reached his limit, the more his lips curled into a smile.
As death came into view, surprisingly, peace followed.
“Just a little longer here.”
Then...
Bzzzz!
“Huff—!”
The breath he’d held was released by the phone vibrating.
Gi Jae-eon coughed and pulled out his phone. It was the driver. Seeing the message he reluctantly wiped off his place.
And so Gi Jae-eon returned to Incheon.
Leaving a brief apology for leaving without farewell.