•How long till you start falling apart?•
Min Sehyuk, a new transfer student from the U.S. joins Hanhwa university and entangles himself with the resident bully after defending a student. He becomes the new target, taking each punch with a smile, ask...
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"Ching-Chong!"
That's what they called Sehyuk the first day he went to school. An eleven-year-old, lanky Asian kid that didn't know English well. It didn't take much for the American students in his class to approach him.
"Do my homework," a guy with natural blond hair had ordered. That's how it all started. Sehyuk wasn't scared, so he stood up from his chair and walked away. His actions enraged the other boy and that's how Sehyuk found himself with bruises littering his body with each passing day. He fought back for some time but he could take on only some of the guys that bullied him in a group.
"Sehyuk, are you okay?" His parents asked one day but he brushed it off saying he got hurt during his P.E. classes. His parents spent almost the whole day at their jobs as they were trying to fit in and didn't have much time to spend with their son. They didn't ask further questions since he wasn't ready but four months into him being bullied, Sehyuk's parents forced him to join self-defense and karate classes.
And a year later, Sehyuk was the one beating up his bullies. He should've stopped at that. It was just them at the start but gradually, there were others. People who weren't involved in bullying him previously, students who were his new targets to climb up the hierarchy to keep himself safe.
The thrill of throwing punches and kicks blinded him, addicted to the adrenaline rush pulsating through his body, eating away his guilt like a poisoned drink numbing his insides.
Sehyuk's bullying went on for years, until his high school graduation. "This is a parting gift for you." He had grinned, kicking the boy on the rooftop floor. To highlight his gift, Sehyuk went too far with his bullying. He didn't know the consequences of his actions until the next day, two policemen stood on his doorstep, arresting him.
"A student committed suicide last night." The officer informed as Sehyuk sat with his head bowed, his parents on either side of him. "Sehyuk Min and a few other students were seen with him last. The victim was badly beaten up and it is evident from the note he left and the bruises, he's been bullied before he committed suicide." The man pushed the note towards them and Sehyuk's body shook with impending fear.
"Matthew is not dead but in a coma. But he's as good as dead. There are fewer chances of him surviving this so you should pray for him to save your son's neck."
'I wish all the bullies disappear, be it my father or this school —Matthew Waller'
The words were a slap to his face, a harsh wake-up call that cracked something in Sehyuk. The guilt he thought he didn't feel, gushed like a broken dam. But he was let go, with no punishment or whatsoever because his parents paid the officers to dust the case under the rug.
But no punishment was his worst punishment.
"You're escaping the law only because your parents are stuffing bills in everyone's mouths!"
