Chapter 12: No Way Out

Kangeun, who was holding the grimacing Siheon in her arms as he endured the pain, quickly moved when she saw the man shifting his grip on the steel pipe.

“No! Not Siheon!”

Kangeun, who had stepped in front of Siheon as he turned, holding his shoulder and arm, spread her arms wide, her hands trembling.

Her large eyes, holding back tears, wavered aimlessly.

Kangeun, who was trying to protect Siheon no matter what while enduring her fear, looked up at the man in front of her as if begging.

“Ha… who the hell is this brat.”

“He’s my little brother. My, little brother… You, you were the one who was wrong first.
I’ll let it go, so, since Siheon was just trying to protect me, so put that down…”

“He’s just a kid?”

“…”

“Ah, f*ck. This has all become a hassle. Ha, how long have I waited.”

“Shit.”

The man, who had been looking at Kangeun’s nape exposed under the streetlight as if licking his lips, threw down the steel pipe he was holding.

He spat at the feet of Siheon, who was glaring at him as if to kill him, and turned around.

Kangeun, who had been glaring at the retreating man, turned around.

She was about to check on Siheon, who was still holding the area below his shoulder.

Siheon, with a glint in his eyes, moved and stood with his back to Kangeun.

“Apologize.”

“What…?”

At Siheon’s anger-filled voice, the man who had moved away turned around.

“Apologize to my noona.”

“Ha…?”

“Siheon-ah, I’m okay, so let’s hurry to the hospital, let’s go to the hospital first. Huh?”

Kangeun held Siheon’s uninjured arm and tried to stop him, but Siheon, with his jaw clenched, took a step closer to the man.

He had completely blocked Kangeun from the man’s view.

“But this bastard, he’s so f*cking rude, huh?”

“Apologize. Then I’ll hold back too.”

“Hold back? Hold what back. What could you possibly hold back.”

The man, who had come closer and started poking at Siheon’s injured shoulder, tilted his head to glance at Kangeun, who was trembling behind Siheon, and smirked.

“I’ll apologize, why not.”

“…”

“Hayoon’s seonsaengnim, I’m sorry.”

The man, with a delinquent face, unexpectedly offered an apology.

Just as Kangeun was about to reply that it was okay, that he should just go, the man’s words continued.

“Sorry if you were expecting to lose your virginity. So shall we meet again?
Instead of those black jeans you always wear, next time wear a skirt that’s easy to f*ck and sway your hips… f*ck.”

The man’s jaw twisted as he spouted his bullshit.

Siheon, who couldn’t listen anymore, had raised his left arm and thrown a punch.

“Keep rambling, you son of a b*tch.”

“…Shit.”

The man, who spat out bloody saliva, rushed at Siheon.

Siheon also fought back, and they became entangled.

Kangeun, who was stamping her feet as she watched the two men rolling on the cold ground with sickening thuds, looked around with teary eyes.

Despite the commotion, the alley was quiet.

“Help, help me! Help me!”

Kangeun, crying, knocked on the door of a nearby house.

Then she found her phone on the ground, but the already old second-hand phone wouldn’t turn on.

“Sob, anyone, is anyone there? Help me! Help me!”

Kangeun, who was running down the alley looking for someone to help, finally found a familiar gate and pressed the doorbell.

– Who… seonsaengnim?

“Ahjumoni, help me. Police, please call the police!”

Kangeun’s desperate cry echoed through the alley.

****

“No, what do you mean Siheon is the assailant.
We’re the victims!”

Kangeun shouted in a voice filled with resentment, but the police just smacked their lips and continued to write up the report.

Inside the police substation, Kangeun tried to remain calm next to Siheon, who had a cut on his lip and eyebrow with a scab forming, and his mouth firmly shut.

The man who had caused this whole mess had been taken to the hospital and was not present.

Instead, a man who claimed to be his lawyer was sitting with an arrogant posture, watching the police.

“Can’t you see that our Siheon was hit too? He needs to go to the hospital.
We shouldn’t be here.”

“Siheon-ah, hurry up and show them your arm. Why on earth won’t you show them!”

“Student, be quiet. The current situation is close to a one-sided assault by the assailant.
He’s past the age of being a juvenile offender, so criminal punishment is possible, but the victim’s side has said they will be lenient considering their past relationship with the teacher, so the student just needs to pay the settlement money.”

“A settlement? We’re the victims! It was self-defense when Siheon hit that man!”

“Siheon did it to protect me!”

“There must be CCTV nearby!”

“You can check that!
That man followed me and…!”

The lawyer, who had ignored Kangeun as she explained the details of the incident to the police again, expressing her frustration, picked up his phone.

After finishing a call with someone, the lawyer calmly sat down, opened his briefcase, and began to write something.

“This is the settlement agreement.”

“…”

“Please review it and contact me here. Then.”

Kangeun’s gaze, which had been staring blankly at the lawyer who had left without any lingering attachment, as if the case was closed, turned to the single piece of paper and business card in her hand.

“Student, I’m saying this because you’re like a daughter to me, but that lawyer is a scary person.
It’s unfair, but there’s nothing someone like you can do.”

“Ahjussi, you’re a police officer. The police are supposed to help people like us who have been wronged.”

“Why wouldn’t I want to help. But right now, there’s no way out for the student.”

“Why did you have to get into a fight with a rich kid of all people… Just pay the settlement money and be done with it.”

“Huh?
Usually, a settlement of about two million would…”

“Thirty… thirty million won?”

“What…?”

The police officer who was trying to persuade Kangeun was surprised and snatched the settlement agreement she was holding.

“Heo…!”

The police officer let out a gasp as he scanned the contents of the settlement agreement, which had an unusually large settlement amount.

It was a document stating that the assailant had inflicted injuries requiring two weeks of treatment on the victim, and would pay two million won for medical expenses and compensation, and twenty-eight million won for property damage, and settle the matter amicably.

“Did you by any chance smash the car the victim was driving?”

“No!”

“Then let’s see… Was the victim wearing an expensive watch?”

Kangeun, who was quietly trying to remember, bit her lip.

She remembered the coldness of the metal watch that had brushed against the nape of her neck.

Siheon laughed as if it were absurd, then seemed to feel a pang of pain and pressed down on the arm he was holding.

“Right? He was wearing a watch, right?”

“…”

“It must have broken during the fight. Aigo, what to do. Talk about bad luck… Tsk.”

The police officer clicked his tongue with a face full of pity and turned around in his seat.

What came to Kangeun’s dazed mind was the envelope of money that had been on the cafe table two years ago.

It was the money Miryeong had given her.

****

“I’m not going to that woman.”

“Siheon-ah.”

“I’d rather go to jail.
I’d rather die than go to that woman.”

Kangeun’s face, looking at Siheon who had spoken firmly and turned away, was wet with tears.

It bothered her that Siheon’s broad back and waist, with his t-shirt only half on because of the cast on his arm and shoulder, were exposed to the cold air.

Worried that he might be cold, Kangeun pulled up the blanket to cover him and whimpered.

“How does that make sense? Why would you go to jail!
Because of me… because of me…!”

“Then should I just stand by and watch in that situation?
You didn’t do anything wrong, Noona.
That bastard is the son of a b*tch.”

Kangeun, who had been sniffling but couldn’t take her eyes off Siheon’s back, lowered her head.

She pressed the wad of tissues she was holding and, at the end of a sigh, revealed her true feelings in a small whisper.

“I don’t want to send you away either.”

“…Then why are you telling me to go.”

“…She’s your mother. Siheon-ah.”

“She was never my mother.”

“Siheon-ah…”

“If that’s a mother, I don’t need one.”

For the past three days, she had tried everything.

She had contacted everyone who had been even slightly kind to her.

She had swallowed her pride and tried to borrow money, but to no avail.

The money she had saved in her bank account was only about five million won.

She had thought about asking the parents of the students she tutored for an advance on her tutoring fees and had called them, but what came back was a notice of termination.

– That’s just our situation. Seonsaengnim, you understand, right?

“…Yes.”

– I’m sorry too. I really liked you as a teacher…

There were three tutoring sessions that she had started through the introduction of the mother of the man who was insisting he was the victim.

The parents of all three of those students had fired Kangeun.

It was obvious whose influence was at play.

No matter how much they had said they were grateful and had thought well of her, they probably didn’t want their son, even if he was a good-for-nothing, to have a red mark on his record.

So they must have hired a top-notch lawyer to turn the assailant into the victim.

Kangeun had to admit it.

No matter what she did, there was nowhere she could get thirty million won.
Except for one place.