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Chapter : 16
“Shit…! Who the hell was that? Which crazy bastard dared to—?”
Kim Hee-rok, clutching his head and looking around wildly, suddenly froze, his face turning icy.
Taesin stood up from his seat.
The screech of a chair sliding backward and the sound of students holding their breath echoed through the classroom.
All eyes turned toward Taesin as he rose with one hand shoved into his pocket.
With his tall frame and solid, perfectly built physique, he was overwhelming just to look at.
One of his slippers was missing.
“Well, looks like my slipper slipped off my foot. It really hates people with no manners.”
He walked toward Kim Hee-rok’s desk.
Everyone watched Taesin and Hee-rok with tense expressions.
Hee-rok pressed his lips tightly together and turned his head away, avoiding Taesin’s gaze.
“Just because your mouth is open doesn’t mean you can say whatever you want. If you can’t tell what should and shouldn’t be said, what’s the point of education? Don’t you think?”
Taesin slipped his foot back into the slipper and lightly grabbed Kim Hee-rok’s right shoulder.
It was only a light grip, but Hee-rok’s face twisted in pain.
“There’s an old saying: don’t even step on your teacher’s shadow. Haven’t you heard that before?”
In the classroom, now so quiet you could hear breathing, only Taesin’s calm yet powerful voice rang out.
The students watched in shock, as if hearing his voice for the first time.
“No answer.”
Taesin applied just a bit more pressure with his hand.
Hee-rok’s shoulder jerked, and a low groan escaped him.
“I—I’ve heard it.”
“Then you must know what it means.”
“I—I know. It means to show respe—ugh…!”
“At least you’re not completely deaf to reason.”
Only then did Taesin remove his hand.
Freed from the pain, Hee-rok clutched his shoulder, breathing raggedly.
“So,” Taesin asked, “what should you do now?”
Hee-rok muttered reluctantly,
“…I’m sorry.”
“You don’t need to apologize to me.”
Hee-rok glanced up at Taesin, then jumped to his feet and bowed deeply to Lee Seol.
“Teacher, I’m sorry. Please forgive me just this once. I promise this will never happen again. I’m truly sorry.”
It didn’t feel sincere, and it felt more like being forced into an apology, but she decided to let it go.
Her heart was still pounding uncomfortably, but class had to continue.
Just from a light grip, his face had turned pale—clearly, it had been extremely painful.
“…Fine. You apologized, so I’ll let it slide this time. But if it happens again, I’ll refer you to the disciplinary committee.”
“Yes. It won’t happen again.”
Only then did Taesin return to his seat as if nothing had happened.
Students lowered their heads, covering their mouths with their hands as they stifled laughter.
From then on, the class flowed smoothly.
No one dozed off. No one disrupted the lesson.
Even Kim Hee-rok sat through the class, his face filled with resentment.
***
Behind the incinerator, Hee-rok spat on the ground and groaned, clutching his throbbing shoulder every time he moved.
The more he thought about it, the angrier he became.
When he checked in the bathroom earlier, his left shoulder was covered in deep purple bruises, aching as if the bone were cracked.
He’d only been grabbed lightly, yet it felt like his bones were being crushed.
He had clenched his teeth so hard to suppress a scream that his jaw still hurt.
He knew it.
That man had used just enough strength not to break the bone.
If he wanted to, wrecking Hee-rok’s shoulder completely would’ve been nothing.
It was the first time in his life he’d felt such fear and helplessness.
“Ha, fuck… that fucking bastard. I’ll kill him. Just because he’s older, he thinks he’s something? How dare he lecture me about manners? Humiliate me in front of everyone? I’ll get my revenge. Aaagh!”
Unable to contain his rage, he kicked an empty plastic bottle nearby.
“Ugh.”
“You idiot. What the hell are you muttering to yourself for?”
Bae Young-seop approached, tapping Hee-rok’s shoulder.
For a moment, tears nearly welled up. Hee-rok clutched his shoulder tighter and glared at Young-seop’s smirking face.
“Hey, I heard you got totally owned by that returning student. What, your shoulder hurt? He only grabbed you lightly—did it break or something?”
So the rumor had already spread.
Fuck. How humiliating.
“That’s why you should know who you’re dealing with before running your mouth. Anyone could tell you were outmatched. Why’d you have to act up like that?”
Young-seop tapped Hee-rok’s head with his phone.
“I knew you’d get into trouble with that mouth someday. All talk, no substance. And you dared to say that crazy shit to Teacher Lee Seol. You had it coming.”
A lot of students had crushes on Teacher Lee Seol.
Young-seop was one of them.
She was fucking pretty, after all.
“Fuck off.”
Hee-rok slapped Young-seop’s hand away. The phone fell to the ground.
“Are you insane?”
Young-seop’s eyes flared as he grabbed Hee-rok by the collar.
“Enough.”
Hwang In-woo, who had followed behind, spoke in a deep voice while sitting down on a nearby rock.
“Don’t push it. There’s a limit to how much I’ll tolerate.”
Young-seop shoved Hee-rok aside, picked up his phone, and brushed off the dirt.
Hee-rok sized In-woo up and down.
Could this guy beat Lee Taesin?
Nearly 180 centimeters tall, naturally muscular, backed by his uncle—In-woo feared nothing.
Strong enough to hold his own even against gangsters, he was highly regarded by the future credit company.
Maybe… just maybe, there was a chance.
“So what’s wrong with your shoulder?” In-woo asked with a slight nod.
Hee-rok pulled his shirt aside, revealing the deep bruises.
“Whoa.”
Young-seop frowned.
“That’s from just grabbing you? No way. Didn’t you get beaten up somewhere else?”
“His strength was unreal. That was light. It felt like my bones were shattering.”
“Quit exaggerating.”
Hee-rok pulled his shirt back up, deliberately provoking In-woo.
“You wouldn’t be able to move either.”
In-woo, who hated losing more than anyone, stared at him while exhaling smoke.
“Don’t try to play games. I can see right through you.”
“Still, it looks like our little bet caught their attention. You really think it’s okay to leave it? He could snitch to the school.”
“So what if he does? There’s no evidence.”
“So we just drop it? What about the semifinals and finals? It’s been fun for once. We’re ending it like this?”
“That’s not happening. He’s irritating. And that younger brother of his too—Lee Yoo-shin.”
In-woo’s brow furrowed.
Young-seop cut in.
“I heard that kid’s smart too. Supposedly ranked first in his class even in Seoul. Why come crawling all the way out to some backwater island like this?”
“There’s probably a reason. Both the transfer and the return.”
At In-woo’s ominous tone, Hee-rok and Young-seop exchanged glances.
“Look into them. What they were doing before, and why they came all the way out here.”
“Okay.”
“You even know how to search properly? All you do is mash game keyboards and sleep.”
At Young-seop’s jab, Hee-rok spat onto the ground.
“I’ll handle it myself.”
His shoulder throbbed violently—he couldn’t take it anymore.
***
It’s already this late.
Lee Seol wrapped up what she was doing, tidied her desk, and stood up.
“You’re finally leaving?”
Jun-pil, who had been waiting, stood as well, slipping his phone into his pocket.
“I told you, you didn’t have to walk me home.”
“I’ve been waiting all this time.”
She had texted Taesin to leave first, so he should’ve gone home by now.
“What the hell—what’s he doing here?”
But Taesin was standing at the building entrance.
She didn’t know whether to be glad he was still waiting, or uncomfortable being caught between the two men.
