SRW | Chapter 04

Smack—!

“You… you thought we didn’t notice you’ve been treating us like idiots?”

The pig squid stammered. He was clearly flustered. The rock that had hit my forehead fell to the ground with a loud clatter. He hadn’t expected me to actually get hit. I rubbed my forehead. Back in the day, a hit like this would’ve split my skin, but my awakened body was tougher than I thought, so it just stung a little.

“Hey, that’s a sucker punch, right?”

“Huh?”

“Come here, you pig bastard.”

Thwack! I dashed toward Park Changjin and threw a punch. I thought I’d held back, but he crumpled to the ground after one hit, writhing. I figured he’d last at least two hits since he used to be an athlete… Too bad. I smirked and glanced at the six squids behind him. After knocking out the guy who had been a former athlete with one punch, the others started whispering, “Is Sun Eunsoo really that strong?” while eyeing me nervously.

“…E-Eunsoo, this was all Park Changjin’s idea. I was against it!”

“Me too!”

“Yeah, sure. You come here too.”

I gave each of the remaining guys a punch. Under blazing sun overhead, the squids groaning on the ground, unable to get up.

“…Are they dried squid?”

They kind of look like it… Park Changjin’s face turned red at my words and started puffing himself up. As he tried to get up, one of the other squids grabbed him and held him back. “Let me go! Let go!” He wasn’t even holding him that tightly, but his voice was loud.

I left them behind and hurried back to the classroom. After being out in the sun for too long, my heart started racing. That creeping sense of unease, like the sun could disappear any second, was crawling up my spine again. I wasted too much time.

At first, I was just walking quickly. Before I knew it, I was running. The gym teacher saw me sprinting down the hallway and shouted, “Sun Eunsoo, detention! Detention! Hey, Sun Eunsoo!” but it didn’t even register in my ears. Right now, the teacher and detention weren’t important…

“Haah… Haah…Hey, Kim Jaeyoung.”

I slammed the classroom door open and called for Kim Jaeyoung. He looked at me as I was drenched in sweat with wide eyes.

“…Eunsoo.”

When he slowly stood up and called my name in his usual calm tone, blood rushed through my body. My legs went weak. No matter how much I told myself to rely on him, what’s with this ridiculous sense of relief? This isn’t… what I wanted…? Maybe I looked weird because Kim Jaeyoung walked over and casually pushed me out into the hallway, closing the classroom door behind us. The hallway was empty. It was just the two of us.

“Why were you running? It’s so hot.”

Kim Jaeyoung held out a handheld fan and pointed it at my face. The yellowish machine, which was probably white in the past, rattled as if it was about to break. Damn, it’s ancient… Is this an antique? Back then, I used to tease him for being poor, but he always acted like it didn’t bother him. Even now, he’s shoving this piece of junk in my face without a hint of embarrassment.

“I don’t know, it’s freaking hot.”

“You’re sweating a lot.”

His eyes crinkle when he smiles. It made him even prettier… Kim Jaeyoung looked at me as I was drenched in sweat, unsure if it was from the heat or nervousness. His gaze stopped on my forehead. He brushed aside the hair covering my forehead and carefully examined the slight swelling from the rock.

“Did Park Changjin hit you?”

“I got sucker-punched with a rock. You know you have to take one hit first to claim self-defense, right?”

“……”

“…You didn’t know that?”

“I know.”

I awkwardly scratched the back of my neck. Kim Jaeyoung smiled as he answered. Then the conversation paused for a moment.

“……”

When you see someone you like get hurt, aren’t you supposed to freak out and ask if they’re okay?  His low-saturation brown eyes never wavered, so it was hard to guess what he was thinking.

“Ah~ I’m gonna die from the heat.”

“If you’re so sensitive to heat, why do you carry around a padded jacket?”

“…When did you see that?”

“I also saw the cigarettes in your locker.”

“Uh, yeah.”

Thank goodness he only found those…? Besides the lightweight padded jacket in my bag and the ten cartons of cigarettes in my locker, I’ve hidden survival supplies all over the school. It seems he hasn’t found those yet. In an unused club room, I’ve stashed military-grade emergency bags, long-shelf-life canned food, and weapons I managed to buy. The food could last me a few months if I ration it… and I sold some stocks to buy the weapons. What’s the point of saving money when it’ll turn to crap soon anyway?

“I’m just… sensitive to cold too… I carry it when it gets cold. Haha.”

“You’re sensitive to both heat and cold?”

“……”

He looks genuinely curious, but why does it sound like an interrogation? Ugh, I can’t even explain that the days of darkness will make the sun disappear and the weather turn cold. I quickly changed the subject.

“The cigarettes…! I brought them to sell to the kids for money!”

“…Money?”

“……”

A mistake. Of all people, I had to mention money. The more I tried to explain, the messier it got. As I panicked, Kim Jaeyoung gently touched my forehead. He pressed hard on the spot where the rock had hit, making it hurt. His eyebrows drooped as if he was disappointed.

“I thought we were getting closer… I’m disappointed.”

This guy, his words and actions don’t match at all! He says one thing but keeps pressing on my wound. I thought he was a decent guy… but he’s still weird. Can I really keep being friends with him…?

“…How could you possibly understand my deep intentions? There’ll come a day when you’ll want to bow to me in gratitude. You’ll see.”

I deliberately smirked and slung my arm over Kim Jaeyoung’s shoulder. Even though I was sticking to him with my sticky, sweaty body in this heat, he didn’t push me away. He just stood there, awkwardly stiff. Enduring this clinginess…yeah, this guy still likes me. Every time I initiate physical contact, Kim Jaeyoung’s body stiffens. His ears and neck turn red. I often confirmed his feelings through these reactions. It always reassured me.

“Hey, let’s go inside. It’s hot.”

“It’s hot inside too because they don’t turn on the AC.”

“What? What the hell is this school doing with all the donation money?”

“I heard the principal bought a new car.”

“Damn it.”

We walked in with arms slung around each other. I could feel the other students’ glances. It’s understandable that they’re curious. I went from bullying him to suddenly being nice, and now we’re hanging out like we’ve always been close. There’s something you guys don’t know, you’re all gonna die anyway… Wait, no. There’s one other person who survives besides us. That class president girl. Her name is… Yoo Yeonha, right? Yoo Yeonha survives for quite a while. Before I started sticking to Kim Jaeyoung, I heard they were pretty close.

‘…What’s with that glare?”

The class president’s glare felt intense. I glanced at Kim Jaeyoung, and our eyes met. He had been watching me. Damn it. I shouldn’t have looked. My face felt hot, and I quickly turned away. I’m not brave enough to face him this closely. I sat Kim Jaeyoung down at his desk then slumped into my own seat.

‘One week left until summer break.’

That image of how sick my grandfather looked in my dream came to mind, so I got a lot of medicine from his doctor and stashed it in the basement. Well, everyone else was fine except for him… They’ll survive on their own without me looking out for them. It’s like in disaster movies. The common folk all die, but the rich survive. Everyone in my family has a personality that rivals any chaebol, so I’m sure they won’t sacrifice themselves for others.

‘I’ll die before my grandfather anyway. As long as I’m okay, that’s all that matters…’

The time of destruction is right around the corner. I had done everything I could. 

*

“How dare… how dare he…!”

Behind the school, a muscular high school student with a physique like a prize hog gripped an empty liquor bottle, breathing heavily. It was Park Changjin, the former judo athlete who had been knocked out cold by a single punch from Sun Eunsoo.

“Sun Eunsoo…!”

Changjin refused to accept it. That he, who had once been a national youth judo contender, had been taken down in one hit. He knew Eunsoo had learned self-defense since childhood, but that half-assed training shouldn’t have been enough to match someone of his caliber. In their group, Eunsoo had been the money, and Changjin the fist. That was how they’d maintained their hierarchy. But now that balance had shattered, and the lackeys who used to grovel at his feet were looking at him differently.

His pride was in tatters.

The urge to kill Eunsoo surged through him like a fever.

“You think… I’ll just let this slide?”