NETIZEN

RIP

Then the buzzing started as the sneers and the insults the group of girls pronounced multiplied. Hye Mi could hear it, the buzz and snapping of her sanity evicted by her brain, leaving broken bits of what we call nonsense in its ultimate brutal form.

biZzZ!;;:;((é!'("-!"(é

"Your father is a pimp; I bet you sold your body like the others."

ZZé'(:;-:;è;-!(;è

"Whore."

Biz'-_è-"(éà_ào;d

"Your father is a piece of shit."

"걸레같은 년."

ZzZz&é"'(_àç)="*ù,;:!

"My father is innocent," Hye Mi murmured, gripping the sides of her uniform skirt with palms drenched with sweat.

"What did you say?" In-Soo asked.

"He is innocent," Hye Mi yelled, making a 360° turn to capture every single face in the screenshot of her mind before setting her gaze on In-Soo, who appeared to be the Alpha of the pack. The two girls glared at each other, eyes roaring with repulsion.

In Soo was the first to give her blow, face twisted she spat at a Hye Mi, who would have never in a million years imagined something as surreal as what was occurring play before her eyes.

The lump of saliva hit her cheek like a slap, warm and prickling. How long had In-Soo prepared her attack for it to be this hot, this sticky and viscid?

ZZzZZWTF*!:*; ùù:<<*<=)àéççç~~~##**

The girl known as shy Hye Mi forged her hands into fists as In Soo's friends spat at her shoes. The buzzing stopped, overwhelming Hye Mi with what she thought was the silence of serenity. But it was anything except that; a death-threatening gloom filled the atmosphere.

Everybody's stare locked on Hye Mi, who noticed a few students were stepping back as if she had mutated and taken up more space.

The seal shattered. Hye Mi had nothing left to protect. No more honor stamped personae non-ingrate; the only valid instruction was survival by all means. Hye Mi unleashed the rage which stagnated inside her since the arrest of Seo Kwan Gi. She wanted to hurt, and a wish of inflicting a torturous death to her bullies grew as the seconds passed. The girl heaved as her eyes stalked and targeted her prey, who was a meter away.

In-Soo, you won't see daybreak again, Hye Mi thought.

The panther leaped on In-Soo, making the girl fall to the ground and punching her new Namsan Tower peaking nose before strangling her.

In-Soo struggled, but Hye Mi's grasp tightened as other students pulled her back. In Soo's, minions fought to push the fury of a girl to the ground.

The confrontation confused the eye as one could not distinguish the bully from the victim. But this only lasted a minute for In-Soo got up, wiped her bleeding nose, and came to stamp on her hunter's stomach.

The other girls of In Soo's pack joined in on the stepping. A few went in with kicks pushing the dust on the defenseless girl's face while singing in chorus a song full of bitches, whores, and witches.

Hye Mi covered her face trying to protect it from the blows, and the dust-filled her mouth as she gasped for air. Wasn't there anyone to save her? Anyone, 살려 주세요 [salryeo juseyo=save me].

Where were the teachers?

The living-sand-bag-girl thought as she parted her hands to look around at the upside-down herd of people. Sheep and goats gathered smiling in enjoyment at the corrida, which satisfied their thirst for blood. The whole school was there, from what Hye Mi saw.

Among the shoes that surrounded the crime scene, a few pairs were not those of students.

Three to count: A pair of heels, a pair of mocassin, and sneakers. They weren't moving; they too were spectators; the teachers stood to watch.

Someone pushed the kids aside.

Who was Hye Mi's savior?

The school janitor, Mr. Nim, hurried to free the girl from her aggressors. The teachers finally approached, taking Hye Mi alone to the principal's office.

"Seo Hye Mi Ssi, I know you are going through a lot, but our school is suffering too from the bad publicity," the principal said while looking at the school's gate swamped by TV channel vehicles.

"But it wasn't meㅡ."

"Stop it."

Principal Choi turned away from the window to face the girl, ignoring Hye Mi's bleeding nose and swollen lips, which did not affect the lecture, he pursued.

"Our school has a reputation to maintain; we have rules; we don't educate savages."

"Sir, Iㅡ."

"Hye Mi, your father has done something terrible andㅡ."

"My father is not guilty; the trial date isn't set. You'll see he is innocent, he-he is," the words fled and hid from Hye Mi's mouth as her eyes noticed the frown which was forming on the principal's forehead.

The man's eyes said it all; he had already judged Seo Kwan Gi. And all Hye Mi could read from his expression was shame and disgust.

A knock on the door came interrupting the silence which invaded the office.

"What is it, Kyung 비서 ?" [biseo=secretary]

"Sir, I think you should let her go. For now, it's all over the news."

"What is?"

Hye Mi turned to look at Miss Kyung, who lowered her head under the pressure of the teenager's threatening gaze.

"Sir-sir," stammered the secretary.

"Go on, we haven't got all day," Principal Choi yelled.

Miss Kyung lifted her head, face distorted as if someone else had taken possession of her while she said.

"He is dead; he hung himself in prison. Seo Kwan Gi is dead."

The secretary's words seemed to come out in slow motion. Hye Mi became deaf to all that followed. Even the two weeks suspension, the principal announced, remained blocked out of her ears, which refused to hear the dreadful news which flowed through its doors. Every voice, every face seemed deformed as the zombie as Hye Mi walked down the halls, where all the students poked their heads out of their classes to see Hye Mi.

Hye Mi reached the gates, seized by the reporters who shot her with questions, and the angry fans of the wronged insulted her.

Cameras zoomed to grasp the uncomely appearance. No one wondered why the child was in such a state the messy hair, the dirty uniform, and swollen face from the scuffle.

Seo Kwan Gi became the coward who killed himself instead of facing judgment. And the remaining Seos would pay in his stead for his unpunished crimes.

At that instant, Hye Mi felt something hit her head. The object was hard; maybe it was a shoe or a rock, the dazed girl couldn't tell.

She touched her forehead to stop the trickling blood and brought her hands down to look at the red drying on her palms, her lips curved into a devilish smile.

A horror scene worthy of Carrie's prom night of Hye Mi's face covered in red and captured on camera for all of Korea to see before fainting amid the swamp of journalists.

That day two people died, an innocent, loving father and his daughter, a girl named Seo Hye Mi.

RIP

Revenge Is Patient