Chapter 3: The Bruise Beneath the White

It was the June mock exam.

The classes were shuffled as the seating was rearranged into the testing formation. Of course, to my annoyance, I was assigned to a different classroom.

I didn’t understand why they kept changing things when they could just have us sit in numerical order. It wasn’t like this would make the kids who cheat suddenly disappear.

A faint irritation rose within me. It was a lingering slump that had continued ever since my exchange with that woman last night. As I sat alone among the students packing their bags to move, the homeroom teacher pointed directly at me.

“Cha Hyun Uk, what are you doing? Why aren’t you moving, fast?”

“…Yes, I’m going.”

“Move it, quickly!”

I roughly brushed back my bangs and stepped out into the hallway. Fortunately, the room I had to go to was right next door. I entered through the front door and looked for the fourth row. One, two, three, four… As I was counting the seats, he came into view. Song Yun Jae was sitting right in front of the seat where I was supposed to be.

I thought the result of enduring that annoyance was actually quite interesting.

“Hey.”

“…….”

The greeting I managed to offer was ignored. He seemed to glance at me with downcast eyes for a moment, but then immediately turned his head away. Before I could say anything, the bell rang to announce preparations for the first period exam.

The way he was hunched over slightly more than usual, staring at his workbook, felt strangely off—but then again, he was a strange kid to begin with.

The ivory cardigan worn by that strange guy was thick with the scent of his usual fabric softener today as well.

The OMR answer sheets were distributed first. There was time left after I finished checking what I needed to before receiving the test paper. My gaze naturally fixed on the guy sitting in the front.

Looking at Song Yun Jae from behind, his back was narrower than I expected.

Among the boys who were in the midst of exercising and becoming interested in their physiques, this was a sentiment that might have wounded one’s pride.

Still, fortunately, perhaps because he had a habit of sitting with quite good posture, his frame—though thin and small—was straight without a single slouch. He had a certain form to him. It was exactly the kind of vibe that suited his image as a teacher’s pet.

“Once you receive the test paper, don’t solve it. Hands on your head.”

Following the proctor’s instructions, his hands went up above his head.

His thin wrists were revealed. His pale arms were visible through the sleeves of the cardigan that had slid down slightly. Reddish patches of skin caught my eye here and there.

The bell rang.

It was right after coming back up from lunch that I thought something was definitely wrong.

Song Yun Jae was nowhere to be seen in the cafeteria. Usually, a frustrating brat wearing a long-sleeved cardigan alone among the short-sleeved summer uniforms should have been visible. But his silhouette was nowhere to be found.

After roughly clearing my tray and heading up to the classroom, I saw Song Yun Jae slumped over at his desk. It was an unfamiliar sight.

“Aren’t you hungry?”

“…….”

Is he sleeping? Since I had never seen him slumped over before, my curiosity about his condition came before the embarrassment of being ignored.

It was just as I stepped a couple of paces closer. Beads of sweat were forming on his white nape.

Ah, I’m seeing many rare sights today.

“So you’re someone who gets affected by the heat too. But why the hell do you wear a cardigan three hundred and sixty-five days—”

It was when I took one more step closer, suppressing a smirk that was about to leak out.

“…….”

The skin visible inside his uniform shirt collar was stained a dark purple-red.

It was a bruise.

The thin wrists I saw before the start of the first period and the reddish skin beneath them flashed through my mind.

“Hey. Song Yun Jae.”

The moment I grabbed his shoulder to wake him up from his lack of response, I felt heat. It wasn’t a normal body temperature. He couldn’t have this kind of temperature even if he had been running around the playground for an entire hour.

Without hesitation, I reached out to his forehead, the back of his neck, and his ears. Even though a stranger’s hand was touching him, he only let out a groan, “Ugh.”

Everywhere I touched was boiling with fever. The nape of his neck, which fit in one hand, was damp. It seemed to be cold sweat rather than sweat from the heat.

For a moment, the conversation at the breakfast table flashed through my mind, but I soon pulled him onto my back. When I called out to one of the buzzing kids, I saw him approaching with a flustered look.

“Hey. Song Yun Jae is sick and can’t take the test.”

“Uh? Why? Did he faint? What’s wrong with him?”

“F*ck, how should I know?”

The infirmary was only a short distance away.

The annoying, hollow brat—it didn’t please me that he was so light, as if he hadn’t eaten anything.

Every time I widened my stride to go down the stairs, the scent of his fabric softener spread with every step.

I found myself taking a deep breath at the scent that felt sweet.

Man, I was acting like a b*tch, so unlike myself.

To show that she was angry at my words from the night before, the woman put seaweed soup on the table starting from the morning. Only the lady who looked after the housework watched my reaction, while the woman was smiling as if everything was lovely, as usual.

The woman also knew that I only sat at the table with them, but never touched the food she prepared. It was my routine to either eat cereal or finish a glass of water and get up while my father and the woman had a cozy breakfast.

Actually, that’s why the breakfast menu didn’t matter to me regardless of what it was, but today was different. The bowl of seaweed soup placed in front of me was filled to the brim, as if emphasizing it was my portion.

‘Have at least a spoonful before you go.’

The woman smiled affectionately. The fatigue rushed in from early morning at the fact that I had to face that face in the same house. After swallowing a sip of water, I pulled back my chair and stood up.

A sneer broke out involuntarily.

‘At this rate, it looks like I’ll end up drinking lye on the day of the college entrance exam.’

‘Cha Hyun Uk.’

My father slammed his chopsticks down on the table with a thud. Then, the woman placed her slender fingers on my father’s arm. It was a very light and soft pat, tap-tap.

‘Let him be. Hyun Uk seems a bit sensitive today because of the mock exam. Do your best, son.’

That last word, “son,” made my stomach churn. It was the woman’s weapon that stabbed me more cruelly than any other words.

Thanks to that, I quenched my lingering thirst in the classroom where I arrived earlier than usual.

A day that started like that, and this exam, was never going to be smooth anyway.

I had already taken the first and second period exams, so that was enough; missing one English exam wasn’t going to ruin my grades for the remaining year. It was easy to let go of my worries, since I could just not put the report card in my room.

So, for now, I felt like I would be more at ease watching the hollow brat who was struggling in front of me a little longer.

Of course, the school nurse happened to be away. Once I laid Song Yun Jae on the bed, there wasn’t much I could do myself. Since his temperature was high, I felt like I should give him medicine to bring the fever down, but it was highly unlikely that a kid who couldn’t even regain consciousness would be able to swallow a pill.

I pulled out a few wet wipes and placed them on his forehead. I just thought he needed to bring the fever down to come to his senses.

I took a step back and carefully scanned him as he lay helplessly on the bed.

Looking at his thin wrists and ankles, he seemed to have been born with a small and delicate frame.

It was after I had scanned his shoulders, chest, and pelvis that the thought occurred to me to take off the cardigan that kept bothering my eyes.

As I put my arm behind his neck to support his upper body and stripped off the cardigan, he frowned deeply, perhaps because the bruised areas were pressed and painful. The wet wipe that slid off brushed against his neck. He opened his eyes narrowly as if regaining some consciousness. But the cardigan had already been completely removed. During the brief moment Song Yun Jae was assessing the situation, I examined his body which had been hidden by the cardigan.

Various bruises remained on his moderately thin arms. Yellow, blue, red, and black.

Ha. Interesting. A hollow laugh came out.

There were several bruises at different stages of healing. It was evidence that he had been hit frequently and severely.

Whether he felt a chill, the guy who had been pulling at whatever he could grab nearby only then realized the cardigan was gone.

Did he think he could cover it with just his hands? He covered the bruises by crossing his arms.

Impressive, f*ck. Wearing this kind of thing in summer to hide this….

I felt like I knew the reason why he went around wearing a cardigan even in June, which he called the start of summer. My fading irritation soared. His eyes, glaring at me, were still consumed by the fever.

“…You, what are you doing?”

“You have a fever.”

“What does it have to do with you?”

Ha, look at this.

My mood soured. The hollow brat actually knew how to glare at someone. His sharpened gaze was directed at me.

“Don’t you feel pain?”

“There’s… no need for you to care.”

“Usually, in times like this, you say thank you for the help. Why are you ignorant of even that?”

His eyelids trembled at my words, which were spat out in a clipped, lecturing tone. He seemed to be mashing the flesh inside his lips. With his pale face, he held onto his pride like a fool.

“…Why do you strip someone’s clothes off as you please? Who asked for help?”

“Anyone listening would think I did something foul. That I’m some kind of b*stard.”

“…….”

“You looked like you were in pain. It looked like it would f*cking hurt. Isn’t that right?”

At the end of my twisted mood, an unknown sharpness was directed at him.

Suddenly, Song Yun Jae’s emotions poured out. Water, not heat, gathered in his eyes.

Biting his lip as if forcibly blocking what was trying to burst out, he glared at me again. He couldn’t actually shoot back words, but he set his gaze sharp like thorns.

It was ridiculous that he was holding onto his pride when he was in pain and couldn’t even immediately say that he was okay.

“Song Yun Jae.”

“…….”

“Do you live your life getting beaten up?”

The blood drained from the face of the guy who was glaring at me with teary eyes. His instantly frozen face called out to me.

“Go away, you son of a b*tch.”

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