Chapter 4: A Peculiar Debt

Just as I was about to retreat another step from the strange standoff, he abruptly seized my wrist, gripping it tightly as if snatching it. The surprising heat radiating from his palm left me no time to react. Without warning, he pulled me along.

“Let’s go to the infirmary.”

“…I’m not hurt enough to go to the infirmary.”

However, Yoon Heesung possessed immense strength.

“Hey. Let go of me.”

I was unceremoniously dragged into the building. Even after hearing my protests, Yoon Heesung continued to forge ahead like a bulldozer.

“Alright, I get it. Let’s go to the infirmary. I’ll go, just let go of my hand first.”

Despite my assurance that I could walk on my own, Yoon Heesung refused to release me.

Eventually, by the time we started ascending the stairs, I gave up and quietly followed Yoon Heesung. Perhaps sensing my resignation, Yoon Heesung slightly loosened his grip. Yet, he still held my wrist firmly captive.

****

The infirmary teacher was nowhere in sight, having apparently stepped out for a moment.

“They’re not here.”

Yoon Heesung mumbled this, then strode purposefully inside. In a swift motion, he seated me on the infirmary bed and knelt before me.

As if to prove his earlier words were entirely true, he grasped my calf and spoke with resolve.

“Let me see the injury.”

“I told you, I’m really fine. It’s not a serious injury.”

“Roll up your pant leg.”

“…”

Confronted by his persistent demand, I ran a hand over my face. All the while, Yoon Heesung maintained his grip on my calf. He was as tenacious as someone convinced my knee was shattered. It seemed he wouldn’t let go until I showed him.

“Alright, I get it, just let go.”

With a small sigh, I lightly slapped Yoon Heesung’s hand away. Then, I grabbed the hem of my gym uniform.

‘What on earth was happening?’ Kim Youngseok, who had been quiet, suddenly causing a ruckus, and then this unknown student appearing to help me—it was all utterly bewildering. And now, to have someone insist on seeing my knee… It truly felt like one strange thing after another.

As I started to roll up my pant leg, I paused.

Showing my knee was hardly a big deal. I wasn’t taking off my pants, after all.

I had certainly thought so…

“…”

A brief silence settled between us. Faint voices seemed to drift in from outside, or perhaps not.

Suddenly, the infirmary felt stifling.

The season was already at summer’s threshold. Soon, tropical nights would begin, and the midday sun would blaze down as if to scorch one’s scalp. Even now, with the windows closed, the room was quite muggy. Consequently, my back felt uncomfortably warm. I even had the cool delusion of sweat trickling down the back of my calves.

To shake off the unsettling sensation, I deliberately yanked up my gym uniform.

“There. See?”

As expected, my knee was perfectly fine, merely a little red. I pulled my pant leg down even faster than I had rolled it up.

Yoon Heesung, who had been so insistent on checking my injury, now showed no particular reaction. Perhaps he was satisfied that I wasn’t hurt, or perhaps he found my fussing pointless, but he simply looked down calmly, saying nothing at all. I, who had expected some conventional remark like “Glad you’re not hurt,” felt thoroughly awkward.

In the end, it was I who awkwardly offered a word of thanks first.

“…Thank you.”

It wasn’t purely an attempt to dispel the awkwardness. I genuinely was grateful. It was the first time I’d ever frozen, unsure how to react. I wasn’t sure what would have happened if Yoon Heesung hadn’t helped me.

Instead of replying, Yoon Heesung rose to his feet.

‘He’s really tall.’

He merely straightened his bent body and unbent his knees, yet it felt as though a large, solid wall had appeared before me. Compounded by the fact that I was seated on the bed while he stood tall, the difference in our physiques was even more striking.

“Thank you?”

As I inexplicably became aware of this, he suddenly asked me.

“Only with words?”

“…”

His expressionless face and this materialistic question didn’t align. I was speechless. My gaze darted around, unable to settle on one spot.

Then, Yoon Heesung’s sneakers caught my eye.

“…”

Yoon Heesung was currently wearing sneakers. Though I had taken off my shoes before being dragged in, Yoon Heesung remained in his black sneakers even within the infirmary.

While I was still at a loss for words, Yoon Heesung drew his own conclusion.

“Come visit, if you’re grateful.”

Slowly, I lifted my head. Through his slightly curved eyes, his pupils were stark black. They were a darker shade than anything I had ever seen.

This color, a perfect, unadulterated black, transformed under the sunlight streaming through the infirmary window, shifting like quiet ripples on water. Earlier, they had seemed like jewels; now, they resembled the depths of the ocean.

Forgetting my previous thoughts, I asked, somewhat dazed.

“…Where?”

His subsequent answer was equally absurd.

“My room?”

“…”

I mulled over Yoon Heesung’s question and answer once more. I looked up at him, conveying whether I had heard correctly, but there was not a trace of humor on his face.

‘Is he a bit strange?’

He might appear normal on the outside but be odd within.

“Hm?”

Unaware of my thoughts, Yoon Heesung prompted me, his face glowing smoothly as if he only ate healthy things. A sudden doubt crept into my mind.

‘Is this really the person Mom mentioned…?’

Yoon Heesung was completely different from the image I had conjured based solely on my mother’s words. I had imagined a timid, quiet, small-statured child whom I would need to protect. Not a guy as big as a door. Therefore, checking right away was an irresistible impulse.

“You… you’re the one who moved into the villa, right?”

“A villa?”

Yoon Heesung repeated the question, as if I had uttered something preposterous. His voice even carried a hint of incredulity.

“Isn’t it a villa? The house at the end of the beach over there.”

“It’s not a villa. But if it’s the one at the end, then yes.”

‘Not a villa?’

I wanted to ask what he called it then, but he seemed a bit strange, and I didn’t want to prolong the conversation. Instead, I asked something else.

“What class are you in?”

Yoon Heesung’s reply was surprising once again.

“The same class as you.”

“The same class…? But I’ve never seen you before?”

“I transferred, when you weren’t here.”

At his words, I recalled the day I had been absent due to a cold. It was the first and only day I had missed since transferring. If he had transferred precisely on that day, it made sense that I wouldn’t have known. It made sense, yes… but it didn’t explain why I hadn’t seen a single strand of his hair in the days that followed.

“But I didn’t see you yesterday, or even today?”

“That’s because I haven’t been coming to school.”

Yoon Heesung’s answer was simple once again. A “no way” thought crossed my mind, and only then did I truly notice Yoon Heesung’s attire.

“…”

Third period today had suddenly changed to P.E. Yet, Yoon Heesung was wearing his school uniform, not a gym uniform. Come to think of it, he had appeared on the field earlier as if popping out of nowhere.

The more we talked, the deeper I seemed to sink into a labyrinth of confusion. The more I heard, the less I understood. Dumbfounded, I asked yet another question.

“Why have you kept skipping school?”

A flurry of thoughts flashed through my mind in an instant. His mother was supposedly ill, so had something happened to her? Or had something happened to him? Had he caught a cold like me? But Yoon Heesung’s answer was just as concise.

“Just because.”

“…”

It seemed clear that despite his normal appearance, there was something undeniably strange about him. Continuing the conversation proved difficult.

I decided, first, to guide this delinquent student.

“But… why did you come in here with your shoes on? Look at the floor right now.”

“Shoes? Oh.”

Thanks to Yoon Heesung, the infirmary floor was practically a sand dune. Yet, Yoon Heesung merely blinked slowly, as if only just realizing it after I spoke. His long eyelashes fluttered up and down with an unhurried grace. Then, his finely sculpted lips parted attractively, and a smooth answer flowed out.

“I forgot.”

This answer, too, was preposterous. However, Yoon Heesung, as if truly having forgotten and only now remembering, slowly took off his shoes in front of me and held them in his hand. He even stared intently at me afterward, as if asking, ‘Is this good enough now?’

It felt like I was looking at a particularly disobedient child. Fearing that a lecture was about to erupt from me, I rubbed my throbbing temples and extended my other hand.

“Alright, enough of that. My mom works at your villa. Let’s try to get along.”

I wondered if offering a handshake was an over-the-top gesture, but I desperately wanted to conclude this strange conversation. It needed an ending.

However, Yoon Heesung merely gazed down at my hand.

“…”

Just as I was considering retracting my hand, feeling awkward, Yoon Heesung firmly grasped it. His palm, warmer than mine, was large and firm. He held my hand, shook it once or twice, then abruptly let go. I stared blankly at my hand, left suspended in the air.

‘Did I do something wrong?’

He was utterly inscrutable. Yet, I felt unintentionally indebted to him, and my mother’s persistent words kept echoing in my mind, preventing me from openly giving him a cold shoulder. I was about to wrap up the conversation and say, “Shall we head back up now?”

“So, you’re not going to visit?”

“…”

I was about to ask what he meant, but then I remembered the question I had pretended not to hear earlier, and my lips sealed shut.

‘Come visit, if you’re grateful.’

Yoon Heesung was still waiting for my answer.

Was that why he seemed reluctant to converse earlier? But wasn’t that topic already closed? He couldn’t have been unaware that I had deliberately changed the subject, yet he brought it up again?…

It was truly stubbornness of the highest order.

I hesitated for a moment. Should I pretend not to hear him again, or this time, deliver a proper refusal?

However, the moment our black eyes met, I nodded without the slightest benefit of my deliberation.

“…Well, fine. I’ll visit.”

I didn’t know why. I had agreed as if under a spell. And then, belatedly, I added a condition.

“Not today, but some other time.”

“When is some other time?”

“I’ll tell you that some other time too.”

Yoon Heesung, who had been persistently questioning me, surprisingly nodded simply.

“Alright.”

And then, just as I had done, he quickly added.

“You have to.”

Saying that, Yoon Heesung subtly curled the corners of his lips. It was a smile that looked as if it had been perfectly drawn.