Chapter 44: Unexpected Protector

“Look at these two, acting all cute,” the man sneered. “Who, are you friends?”

“What if we are?” Yoon Heesung retorted nonchalantly.

He didn’t spare the man a single glance; instead, his eyes busily swept over my body, as if meticulously checking for any injuries.

“What are you going to do about it?”

“Look at the way this brat talks,” the man growled lowly.

I immediately regretted it. I shouldn’t have contacted Yoon Heesung. He was just a high schooler, the same age as me. What could he possibly do?

But at that moment, truly, no one else came to mind but him.

Suddenly, something slammed into me. It was Yoon Heesung.

“Ah…!”

He abruptly pushed me into a corner and stood in front of me. I was bewildered, as his posture seemed to be protecting me from the man.

Then, Yoon Heesung asked, “Is this the man who spat in your house?”

“What?”

“You said someone came in with their shoes on and spat in your house last time.”

His gaze remained fixed on the man.

My thought process tangled at the unexpected question. Soon, however, I realized what Yoon Heesung was referring to.

‘I’m so upset. Mom, Mom only cares about Lee Sunwoo… Why is he like that… He’s not helpful at all, he’s someone who ran away with debt, and our house is in chaos because of him… Scary people keep coming. Coming in and spitting…’

I was aghast, not only because I hadn’t expected him to remember such a trivial remark, but also because it was hardly the right situation to bring it up. Moreover, this man wasn’t the one.

Perhaps irritated by the mention of a story he knew nothing about, the man clicked his tongue and then, as if to prove a point, spat defiantly onto the floor.

“Are these brats messing with me? Coming all the way to this backwater is already a pain in the ass.”

“A pain in the ass?”

Yoon Heesung retorted curtly, just as before. It was almost a low mumble.

“It’s a pain in the ass for me too. Why barge into someone else’s house so carelessly?”

“Has this young punk already gone crazy?”

“And if you’re going to come in, you should take off your shoes first.”

“This kid’s truly lost his mind, I swear.”

The man, utterly dumbfounded, even mixed in some dialect as he worried about Yoon Heesung’s sanity. Suddenly, the sound of hurried footsteps drew closer.

“Boss! Are you alright?”

The one who cried out with such alarm was the bald man who had gone outside earlier. The other man, perhaps thinking he didn’t need two people to intimidate me, had sent him away.

However, when the conversation dragged on longer than expected, the bald man seemed to have come back up to check if something was amiss.

It was then, when the man’s attention was diverted, that Yoon Heesung swiftly pulled his hand back and snatched the phone from my grasp.

“…!”

His movement was so incredibly fast that I only registered what Yoon Heesung had done after my hand was already empty.

*Thwack!*

Similarly, it was only after he swung his arm, striking the man’s eye with the corner of the phone, and only after the man clutched his eye and stumbled backward, that I understood what had just happened.

The man staggered and then collapsed backward.

“Th-this… you son of a b*tch.”

“Boss! Are you alright?”

Just as the bald man, startled, was about to rush over, Yoon Heesung grabbed him by the collar and flung him aside. The bald man toppled over the already fallen man like a domino.

They thrashed about for a while, unable to regain their senses. Yoon Heesung then slammed the phone he held in his hand onto them. The solid piece of metal struck the man’s nasal bone and clattered to the floor, creating a heavy, grinding sound.

“…You tiny piece of shit!”

The bald man, who had taken less of a hit, sprang to his feet, panting as he stomped toward us. As Yoon Heesung stepped back, I instinctively retreated with him.

“You young brats, I’m going easy on you, and you don’t know how to respect your elders…!”

His face flushed crimson and purple as he pulled something from his pocket.

Even in the shadowed house, it gleamed with a chilling light.

It was sharp.

“…”

My entire body stiffened. I was utterly paralyzed, as if my ankle had been caught in a trap.

Just then, a voice of dissuasion sounded.

“Stop it. You’ll get into serious trouble.”

“…”

I watched the man struggle to his feet, his legs trembling. When he removed the hand covering his face, a thick, crimson red dominated my vision.

The blood obscured his wound, yet it did nothing to improve the man’s unsettling appearance. If anything, it made him even more repulsive.

“Ugh… that was a solid hit.”

The man, who had been swaying, eventually steadied his steps. His nose was swollen and reddish, and blood seeped from his nostrils, but he grinned, his teeth, stained crimson with blood, looking grotesque.

He blinked repeatedly with one eye, as if he couldn’t see clearly, yet his other eye remained fiercely fixed on Yoon Heesung.

“Hold on, hold on.”

He patted the bald man’s chest and then pushed him behind him.

“No need to make a big deal out of this. Still…”

…as if he intended to handle it himself.

“It does feel bad to get beaten by a young punk at my age, doesn’t it?”

Pushing the bald man back wasn’t all. He snatched what the thick fingers were holding.

“What are you trying to do, acting like this at such a young age? If you act so recklessly, you won’t live a long life.”

The man said, menacingly swinging the object in his hand a couple of times.

“An adult is giving you advice. Take it to heart.”

“Stop blabbering. You’re loud,” Yoon Heesung said, frowning.

He kept acting recklessly when he should have been trying to appease the man. I watched his back, feeling utterly restless. He looked steadfast, yet infinitely precarious. The man’s hand approached. His large, open hand drew closer to Yoon Heesung’s shoulder. Imagining the horrific scene that would unfold, I squeezed my eyes shut.

“…Ah!”

Suddenly, my body was yanked to one side. It happened so instantaneously that by the time both Yoon Heesung and I turned our gazes, everything was already over. The man’s target hadn’t been Yoon Heesung; it had been me.

My arm was grabbed, and then my neck was choked. This all occurred before I could even properly assess the situation. A hoarse voice, thick with phlegm, slithered into my left ear.

“It’ll be troublesome for us too if we touch someone who has nothing to do with this. Do you think gangsters can escape the law?”

“…”

My eyes met the sharply honed blade. The man’s pupils swiveled downward, looking at me.

There was no time to dodge, no time to scream. I stared blankly at the approaching blade. The world seemed to slow down, as if someone had lowered its speed. Everything felt like a dream.

They say a person’s life flashes before their eyes before death, that even the scent of bubblegum from childhood comes back. And indeed, in this truly surreal situation, all sorts of memories flooded my mind.

They rushed past too quickly to be savored one by one, yet one face appeared with striking frequency.

A pale, clear face, one I always wanted to talk to, to ask anything, to know everything about. A face that had been kind and good to me.

In that moment, my true feelings burst forth. The thought that if Yoon Heesung had only hidden himself well, we wouldn’t have ended up like this, surfaced. That if Yoon Heesung had just concealed his true nature, I would have lived well without any anguish.

It was only at the brink of death that I realized what anguish was tormenting me. Perhaps it was resignation.

I squeezed my eyes shut and then opened them.

I saw blood dripping to the floor.

“…”

Now that I thought about it, Yoon Heesung had been hurt that time too. While cleaning up broken dishes in my place. I thought his clumsy hands might get cut, and indeed, they had. That day, too, red blood had flowed and fallen to the floor.

Just like now.

“…”

There was no pain. Because I wasn’t hurt.

“…Heesung!”

*Drip, drip*, I heard the sound of blood falling. It was a horrifying sound that pierced my ears and lodged itself in my head. Blood was flowing from Yoon Heesung’s palm, just like that time. Thanks to him, the tip of the knife stopped right in front of me.

If it had come any closer, I would have had the same scar as the man.

“Damn it,” the man muttered a small curse. Perhaps surprised by this turn of events, he dropped the knife in confusion. I grabbed Yoon Heesung’s hand.

“Heesung, blood, your blood…”

I needed to stop the bleeding. Just as I gripped his hand tightly, his bloody hand suddenly clasped mine firmly. Our two hands intertwined, looking almost as one. The slippery blood felt hot and unsettling.

Then, my body was sharply pulled forward. It was because his hand had grabbed and led me.

“Let’s run.”

“Huh, huh…?”

“Run.”

With those words, Yoon Heesung began to run. His hand, gripping mine, was utterly desperate. It felt strangely fervent, like a drowning person desperately clutching at a straw.

Stumbling yet managing to stay upright, we safely reached the first floor. We didn’t stop there but ran on for a considerable distance. Whenever I was about to fall, Yoon Heesung would steady me. Thanks to his firm grip, I could run without faltering.

“Hah, hah…”

The path became familiar. It was the way to the villa. I checked that no one was chasing us from behind and then stopped him.

“Hey, *hah*, st-stop. *Hah*… stop for a second…”

Just before reaching the uphill slope, the asphalt road ended, giving way to soft sand. There, we caught our breath.

“…”

Yoon Heesung pushed his hair back with his free hand. His exposed forehead was incredibly pale. Blood was still dripping steadily.

My face, too, had lost all color. I held his hand with both of mine, applying pressure. I debated whether to take off some clothing to wrap it, but then decided this wasn’t the time for that; I needed to call 911.

As I released his hand to fumble in my pocket, Yoon Heesung gripped my hand tightly and wouldn’t let go.

“It’s just a small cut. This much is fine.”

“How do you know? Are you a doctor?”

“It’s nothing serious.”

His words, dismissing his injury as trivial, made me well up. Strangely, I felt a pang of sadness.