“Aaaaaaaaaaaaagh!”
“Uh, my arm isn’t moving.”
“My leg! My leleleleleleg!!!”
Bee-beep bee-beep!
It’s the hospital.
Outside, the sound of the emergency-room ambulances is loud.
All the 119 emergency vehicles that were on standby have rushed in.
It’s like the whole place has been turned upside down.
The kids who had clung to me screamed loudly once their fear faded.
The emergency room is a complete mess.
A perfect chance to watch chicks flapping.
“Student, is there anywhere that hurts?”
“M-my chest hurts. I got hit in the stomach too, and it feels tight and bad. My head is dizzy as well. Uwek……”
The show had begun for real.
The moment 112 and 119 arrived, I lay down flat on the floor.
My friends stood there speechless, looking at me, and then got swept up in the moment.
A true masterpiece.
First, making lots of symptoms made it easier to expand the diagnosis.
“Really? You got hit a lot.”
“Those bastards…… they took my money and attacked me as a group…… hhk.”
Tears and snot ran down in streams.
“Huuu. Alright. We’ll take an MRI and X-ray for now.”
“Y-yes…… teacher.”
The doctor wiped the blood on my lips with gauze and let out a sigh.
And I didn’t forget to give those punks one solid performance.
Anyone could tell immediately which side was the good guy and which side was the villain.
My acting had reached the realm of perfection.
By noon, the emergency room was crawling with students wearing Jangju High School uniforms.
The school’s reputation had crashed to the ground in a single day.
“So who hit you?”
“T-that second-year senior over there……”
“That kid hit you?”
The beaten underclassmen pointed at me.
Hmph. I shot a whole movie at school today.
No, the scene still wasn’t over yet.
It had to finish with a long, long tracking shot.
Exactly five minutes after I called 112, three police cars and ambulances flooded in from the local station.
The school was turned upside down.
Teachers who had been peacefully eating lunch or watching the internet all rushed outside.
And they froze on the spot.
The kids boarded the police cars in a line.
Those who couldn’t walk or had broken arms used the ambulance.
Neighborhood residents all came out and gawked. In a rural town like this, it was such a rare spectacle that everyone was busy filming with their phones.
The teachers rushed in, but there was nothing they could actually do.
The official 112 report had already gone in.
It was obviously a major assault case, so the police couldn’t just wrap it up easily.
I had told the kids:
Just tell them exactly what happened.
But they only needed to admit that I and Hong Seong-hyun, along with the other delinquents, fought as a group—just state that part truthfully.
My friends swallowed their fear.
Their sense for reading the room was impeccable.
“Your name is…… Jang Tae-san. Jangju High School, second-year, Class 4, right?”
A rough-looking violent-crimes detective walked up to me and began questioning me.
His voice had that scratchy growl, and as soon as he arrived, he jabbed at me.
“Yes.”
“Why did you do it?”
“Yes?”
“Why did you beat those kids!”
Huh, this guy is really overdoing it?
He kept asking endlessly why I beat them.
My breathing cooled sharply.
I had been waiting for this moment anyway.
“I’m the victim. The attackers are the school’s delinquent circle kids who always hang around that alley.”
“They’re the ones who got hit!”
“I’m also a patient.”
“Your lip’s just a little busted! What are you, their leader? What exactly happened? Spill it. Once we investigate, everything comes out, so hurry and say it.”
This cop waving a cotton swab around and talking nervously is, unmistakably…… a low-tier detective.
Sir, I’m sorry.
I’ll pull that thread for you myself.
The detective didn’t know that my phone’s recording function was on.
“Detective, you’re being too much. Anyone can see I’m the victim here. They took my money and attacked me fir—…… why are you only accusing me! Hrk.”
This time, even tears welled up, my voice trembling like I was about to cry.
At this rate, I might end up winning a Best Actor award this year.
“Hey! Cut the crap and finish this quickly. Why did you beat those kids? Did you plan it? And you beat juniors you didn’t even like, right?”
“What nonsense are you talking about! They took money from kids at school! They also beat up weaker kids and extorted them! Those bastards are habitual bullies!”
“What do you mean that’s normal! Friends might borrow money from each other, sure. But you can’t say they snatched it away like some thugs. Back in my day, even if friends fought, we finished it nicely over a glass of soju.”
The detective uncle was spouting nonsense that didn’t even deserve a response.
“But who are you, detective?”
“Violent Crimes Unit 2, Detective Park Dong-seok.”
“……Detective, did you receive money?”
“What, wh-what, you brat!”
Detective Park Dong-seok’s face flushed red as he panicked at my question stabbing straight into his gut.
He definitely took money!
“Then why are you interrogating me like this? My legal guardian hasn’t even arrived yet. And I’m a minor. Shouldn’t you not be questioning me as if I were a criminal?”
“…….”
As soon as I spoke again without hesitation, Detective Park Dong-seok’s face hardened.
And his expression twisted even further.
“You little brat, how dare you talk back and show your teeth! You think I haven’t seen punks like you before? You snot-nosed little gang punk!”
Detective Park Dong-seok lifted the hand holding the cotton swab and took a stance as if about to hit me.
Wow. This guy is an amen-amitabowl-level idiot.
If he knew he was being recorded, he would never be running his mouth like this.
And that violent behavior!
I made sure to burn it into my memory.
“Detective, you’re bad. Please call another detective. Doctor! Doctor! Doctor!”
I cried out pitifully and urgently called the doctor.
“What? What’s going on?”
The emergency-room doctor rushed over.
I made a startled, tearful expression, and maybe because I had thrown myself into the acting, real tears started to come out.
“H- he called me a gang punk and treated me like a criminal…… My heart hurts…… my head is… dizzy and light…… ow……”
“This is outrageous!”
My acting made the doctor snap.
My inner energy stirred slightly.
Then my complexion suddenly drained pale.
A natural physical reaction caused by the surge of blood.
“What do you think you’re doing! What gives you the right to treat a patient like that without permission! If something happens, will you take responsibility, detective!”
The young doctor shouted.
His supporting role fit him perfectly.
“N-no, that’s not……”
Detective Dong-seok’s face turned stiff as stone.
Goodbye, sir. You’ll probably become famous soon without even realizing it.
“Aaargh!”
I let out a firm scream.
Then I grabbed my head with both hands and shook.
“Nurse! Prepare the blood-pressure stabilizer! Hurry, X-ray this patient and take an MRI! Move! Treat him immediately! It looks like early signs of brain shock so be careful with the head!”
“Yes, doctor.”
My bed was moved right away.
The detective stared blankly as I was taken away.
Sir. You shouldn’t live life like that.
If there’s a fire in the kitchen, is that still a detective? He’s just some ignorant gang-punk uncle.
I lay back comfortably as they wheeled my bed.
My face was pale, and sweat poured down like rain.
A physical reaction only inner energy can produce.
‘Alright! Burn. Blaze.’
When a fire breaks out in a small storage shack, there is only one thing to do.
That shack was going to burn down awkwardly anyway.
There was only one choice.
Abandon the shack and make the fire burn hotter so a new house can be built.
“It looks like about a total of 16 weeks. The right-hand fingers and joint are in a finely shattered state. The surgery went well, but for the rest of his life……, he will probably live with a disability.”
“Keugh.”
Hong Seong-hyun had not regained consciousness and was lying in the special ward.
His right hand was wrapped thickly in bandages and strapped into a safety device.
Beside him, his father Hong Jang-hyuk, wearing gold-framed glasses on his round face and protruding belly, clenched his teeth as he held back his rage.
Hearing the attending doctor’s explanation, his anger shot to the top of his head.
His precious youngest son, whom he loved dearly, the one who looked so much like himself and was adorable.
School life was sometimes difficult, but he assumed it was all things that just passed by.
And he had taught him at home repeatedly.
Never associate closely with those low-born gutter-dwelling types.
“That brat…… where is he now! Where’s the punk who did this to my son! He crippled my boy, that gang-punk bastard! Where is he!”
“H-he’s currently hospitalized.”
The aide answered while trembling.
Hong Jang-hyuk was a cruel man beneath his polite appearance.
From his lawyer days onward, he had sold his soul for anything that brought money.
Even after becoming a city council member, he intertwined power and cash without hesitation.
“Arrest him!”
“……Detective Park says he can’t move for now. The student’s total recovery period is estimated at 8 weeks.”
“Student? What student? How is that gang punk a student!”
“I’m sorry, councilman.”
“And why not? What do you mean why not! My precious boy has to live the rest of his life disabled, so why shouldn’t that bastard be arrested! Contact the district office. Tell them I said to watch the case!”
“Yes, understood.”
Hong Jang-hyuk was truly enraged.
Violence against his son was, to him, violence against himself.
That was his weak spot.
The reason he had crawled and lived like a dog until now was just one—
he wanted to live like a king in the world of those who were born better off.
A crack formed in that lofty pride of Hong Jang-hyuk.
“I’ll crush that bastard. I’ll ruin everything he has down to his family!”
Hong Jang-hyuk made up his mind.
He didn’t even realize he had just stepped into a deadly spiderweb.