By Zephyria 
“You still don’t have a phone?”
“You said you were getting a new one. Aren’t you?”
Oh Seung-pyo’s friends were now moving past curiosity and starting to get annoyed.
Several days had passed since Seung-pyo’s phone disappeared. Even to play a game together, they needed to be able to contact him, and the inconvenience for the friends was significant now that they had no way to reach the guy who was always the center of the group.
The most puzzling thing was Oh Seung-pyo’s attitude, which was strangely relaxed for someone who had lost their phone. He didn’t seem to have any intention of finding it; he hadn’t even tried calling it once, and he claimed he would wait because the person who found it might come to return it. He said he could just buy a new one if he couldn’t find it, but he didn’t seem to have any intention of buying one.
Despite Seung-pyo’s insistence not to call, one boy tried anyway, but only the mechanical voice saying the phone was turned off returned. No matter how they thought about it, it was time for everyone, including the party involved, to admit that Oh Seung-pyo’s phone was gone for good.
While they couldn’t tell someone to buy or not buy an expensive phone when they weren’t contributing a cent, the kids he hung out with all hoped, one and all, that Oh Seung-pyo would get a new phone quickly. But Seung-pyo remained nonchalant.
“I’m studying hard these days. You know, like a digital detox? I think living without a phone is actually okay in its own way.”
“So you’re just not going to buy one? You’ll buy one eventually anyway.”
“I heard a new model is coming out next month. Since I’m going to buy one anyway, I’ll wait a bit and get that one.”
“Then you’ll have to wait about two weeks?”
As the topic naturally shifted to the specifications of the upcoming phone model, Seung-pyo was temporarily freed from the nagging to get a phone quickly.
While he was leaning back in his chair, rocking it slightly back and forth and messing around, the classroom door opened and the Class 2 students entered. Since English was a moving class, students from various classes gathered in one place for the lesson.
Ryu Jae-min, who entered mixed in with the Class 2 students, looked around the classroom and, together with the friends he came with, habitually sat in an empty seat and prepared for class. During this time, Jae-min didn’t look toward Seung-pyo even once.
Seung-pyo, who had been quiet while the kids chatted about the new phone, suddenly raised his voice and said something else.
“I have a spare phone I don’t use.”
“Huh? A spare? Then just activate that and use it.”
Even as they said that, Ryu Jae-min still didn’t turn his head once. Seung-pyo lowered his eyelids and glared with a dissatisfied gaze at the back of the head with thick black hair.
Ryu Jae-min had been completely ignoring Oh Seung-pyo since the day their phones were swapped. He didn’t return Seung-pyo’s belongings, nor did he ask for his own back.
The day after the phones were swapped, he had locked eyes with him at the snack bar and stared intently as if resentful, but since then, he hadn’t even tried to look at his face properly. Although they were in different classes, they were in adjacent classrooms, and they were bound to cross paths in the hallways or the cafeteria.
There had been plenty of opportunities to speak over the past few days, but Ryu Jae-min ignored Seung-pyo even more than he had last year. As if he didn’t want to be entangled. It was absurd.
‘Is he sulking just because I talked a bit of shit in front of him? For someone who does perverted things behind people’s backs, he’s acting awfully high and mighty.’
It was completely different from the behavior Oh Seung-pyo had expected from Ryu Jae-min. Normally, Jae-min should have turned pale upon realizing the phones were swapped and rushed to find Seung-pyo the next day to beg him to keep the secret.
Of course, Seung-pyo had no intention of spreading rumors, but he thought it would be fun to see the flustered side of Ryu Jae-min, who always seemed so detached and noble. That’s why he had thrown out several signals for him to come find him quickly, but Ryu Jae-min’s attitude was one of total disregard.
‘Is he thinking there’s no evidence?’
The SNS account had been deleted long ago, and there were no photos left on the phone. But how could Ryu Jae-min know whether Seung-pyo had captured screenshots or left evidence in some other way?
It had taken a few hours from the time the phones were swapped until the account was blocked, and during that time, Seung-pyo had not hesitated to appreciate every single photo Ryu Jae-min had posted for others to see. The most recent photo, which looked like it was taken and uploaded on the spot in an abandoned building, with his shirt open and his nipples primly exposed, was just the beginning.
Photos taken wearing only erotic underwear, photos taken from behind with his buttocks fully exposed, photos taken with only a school tie around his bare body, pulled tight like a dog collar… As he scrolled down, when a photo with his dick out appeared like a final boss, he was so stunned that he let out an unintentional hollow laugh.
Despite posting such lewd photos, the account’s profile picture was unexpectedly a scene of a cozily decorated room with a night view in the background. A sofa with a few cushions and books placed in front of a table. He had heard that Jae-min lived in a very expensive luxury apartment, so at first, he thought it was Ryu Jae-min’s room, but he didn’t think someone would post a real photo of their room on an account like this. Moreover, looking closely, the view beyond the window looked like the night view of some foreign city, not Seoul.
The self-introduction written like a notice was even more ridiculous. To a stranger, the tone of the writing would be hard to believe was written by the owner of an SNS account posting obscene selfies.
[I do not respond to offers for offline meetings.]
[I cannot take all the photos you request.]
[Since this is an anonymous account, please refrain from overly personal questions. I apologize.]
The people visiting the account only left trashy comments, yet Ryu Jae-min’s self-introduction was unnecessarily polite. He was a fool who was only good at studying. If he truly wanted to hide himself completely, he should have written such posts like trash, just like the perverts he associated with. Like the comments Seung-pyo wrote when dealing with those trashy people.
Right, those damn comments. While reading the conversations he exchanged with people, Seung-pyo naturally learned where a guy who supposedly only studied quietly had picked up the knowledge to take such a variety of those photos.
You rude little whore, why aren’t you wearing open crotch underwear? I keep requesting it. Do you discriminate with your requests?
* * *
└ Since I am a student, it is difficult to purchase underwear that is too erotic. I apologize.
Can’t you upload a video of you jerking off? It’s okay even if it’s muted.
* * *
└ It takes some time to film a video. I’ll try if I have time.
Aren’t you interested in anal masturbation?? Just pretend to do it ㅠㅠㅠ Your ass is so pretty, I bet it would be incredibly erotic. This isn’t a request, it’s a wish.
* * *
└ I’m still a bit scared of that… I’ll think about it later.
The sight of him responding in polite honorifics while perverts ordered him to do perverted things mixed with profanity could only be described as bizarre. The dirty things the commenters competitively babbled weren’t even that shocking to Seung-pyo. Because, in any case, the craziest person there seemed to be Ryu Jae-min.
The sight of him politely answering all sorts of nonsense looked unbalanced somehow, and as he kept watching, Oh Seung-pyo felt a surge of anger, so on the day he picked up the phone, he carefully wrote comments to the perverts on Ryu Jae-min’s behalf.
He only told the perverts they were perverts, but they got so worked up and angry that the taste of teasing them was so sweet he lost track of time and became too absorbed in writing comments. If he hadn’t been suddenly kicked out with a message saying he had been logged out, he might have stayed up all night doing it.
Even just looking at the neatly groomed back of the head now, Oh Seung-pyo felt like scoffing in disbelief. Pretending to be a model student and top achiever—the kind of person you’d only find twice in the world—at school, while behind the scenes, of all things, he’s doing perverted stuff…
He had seen people who pretended to be losers at school but acted like gangsters outside in movies or comics, but this was the first time he’d seen a case like this. As the saying goes, reality was even more extreme.
Even with the face covered, Ryu Jae-min’s aura faintly emanated from the photos. If one saw the Ilyang Boys’ High School uniform and the neat notices that looked like a model student’s notebook notes, he could bet money that more people would react with “That sounds plausible” than “That’s nonsense” if told the protagonist in the photos was Ryu Jae-min.
‘Not that I’m actually going to tell on him.’
The life of Oh Seung-pyo, who was talented in many ways, hadn’t always been smooth. Nang-jung-ji-chu. It’s an idiom meaning that just as a sharp awl pierces through a pocket even if it stays still, a talented person inevitably stands out. In Oh Seung-pyo’s opinion, he was exactly that kind of awl.
Since excellent people tend to invite jealousy and inferiority from those around them, he had suffered unfair treatment due to the slanders or misunderstandings of other children, but he had never done something petty like tattling to a teacher or his father.
That didn’t mean he always overlooked unpleasant things generously… he couldn’t do that. Seung-pyo was more inclined to make the people who pissed him off suffer as much as possible within limits to vent his frustration. He would intentionally flirt and play more closely with a girl that the guy who ruined his mood liked, enjoying the sight of the guy seething, or depending on the situation, he would ignore them like a transparent human until they apologized first.
In any case, because Oh Seung-pyo was popular with both boys and girls, it often ended with the other children, terrified of being alienated from the group if Seung-pyo continued to ignore them with a cold breeze, reading the room and bowing down first.
Oh Seung-pyo had no intention of doing something as petty as exposing Ryu Jae-min’s shame to others this time around. However, no matter how he thought about it, it didn’t make sense for Ryu Jae-min to ignore him first. While Jae-min hadn’t technically done anything wrong to him, it was only right that Jae-min should be the one to strike up a conversation and approach him to resolve the situation. Seung-pyo grumbled belatedly.
“If you don’t return something you picked up, can’t I report that to the police too?”
“You’re reporting it now? You said your contract ended and you were buying a new one.”
Before the children’s disjointed banter could end, the front door of the classroom opened. “Quiet, quiet!” the teacher shouted as he entered and stood before the podium.
Until the lesson began, Ryu Jae-min didn’t look back once toward the seat behind him where Seung-pyo sat. He was a brazen bastard, fitting for a total pervert.
Once the hour-long class, which felt exceptionally stifling and boring, ended, Oh Seung-pyo stood up, pushing his chair back with a dissatisfied clatter. The teacher, who had not yet left the podium, saw Seung-pyo and hurriedly gestured to him with a look that said this was perfect timing.
“Oh Seung-pyo! Come here.”
“Huh? Why?”
As he strolled over and stood before the podium, the teacher smiled and pointed to two resource boxes that looked quite heavy.
“Help me move these to the resource room at the end of the hallway.”
“Ah, Teacher. It’s break time.”
“I have to go straight to the faculty office today, so I’m asking a favor. Ah, right. Jae-min, Ryu Jae-min!”
“Yes?”
Jae-min, who was just about to leave the classroom, widened his eyes and looked back.
“I think it’ll be too heavy for one person to carry, so I’ll pair you up. From what I can see, you two are the tallest. Just put these on the empty shelf space and close the door—no need to lock it.”
At the teacher’s benevolent words, Jae-min couldn’t hide his momentary bewilderment as he looked at Seung-pyo. It was the first time their eyes had met since they had been in the same room.
Seung-pyo stacked the two boxes and lifted them up in one go, then stepped right up to Ryu Jae-min’s face. He gave a satisfied smirk and even greeted the teacher, who was rushing to leave.
“Got it. We’ll put them away properly.”
“Sorry, I’m counting on you!”
Adults were funny; they would nag students not to run in the hallways, yet when they were in a hurry, they didn’t care about speed at all. As the teacher practically ran down the hallway and headed down the stairs, Oh Seung-pyo looked back at Jae-min, who was still standing beside him, and jerked his chin.
“What are you doing? Hurry up.”
“…I’ll just take them myself. You go back to your class.”
“You’re going to carry both of these by yourself?”
Oh Seung-pyo let out a scoff and added dismissively,
“Stop bragging about your strength with words and just grab one already.”
As if he had no choice, Jae-min took the box on top. His brow furrowed slightly and then relaxed, as if it were heavier than expected. Oh Seung-pyo tilted his head again, pointing toward the resource room.
“Just get over here.”
His tone was closer to a command. Oh Seung-pyo walked a few steps ahead, and when Jae-min didn’t follow, he stopped abruptly and looked back.
Jae-min eventually let out a barely audible sigh and approached Oh Seung-pyo with a cowed expression, hesitating. Even as he walked, the way he stole glances showed his anxiety. Seung-pyo felt he needed to adjust his assumptions about Jae-min.
‘Did he just avoid me because he’s scared?’
Even with the adjusted thought, it was still ridiculous. He had the guts to take erotic photos and post them on the internet where anyone could see, yet he was too scared to even speak to him?
…Well, he probably cropped out his face and posted anonymously because he knew it was something to be ashamed of. He’d heard that people who do sleazy things online act like they’d rather die than live when they’re called out in reality; to Seung-pyo, they were a breed he couldn’t understand at all.
If they knew they’d be screwed if caught, they just shouldn’t do it in the first place. He figured the reason they did it anyway was that their brains weren’t working properly. But seeing that even the top student in the school, like Ryu Jae-min, made similar mistakes, it seemed humans weren’t such simple creatures after all.
While he was thinking, they soon reached the resource room. Seung-pyo opened the door and looked down at Jae-min. At an implicit gesture to enter first, Jae-min obediently stepped inside. Seung-pyo switched the boxes to one arm and—click—locked the door. The sound of the lock was clearly loud, but Jae-min didn’t ask why he was locking the door.
“I can just put them here.”
The errand ended quickly as he pushed the boxes into the empty shelf space. Normally, they would have left the resource room and returned to their respective classrooms, but since Seung-pyo didn’t move, Jae-min became as silent as a mute and couldn’t take the first step.
“Hey.”
Seung-pyo’s low, single word broke the silence. Ryu Jae-min, who had been looking down at his feet, raised his head. Their eyes met again, and Seung-pyo looked at Jae-min with the same faint smirk he had in the classroom.
“Why haven’t you said a word for days?”
Seung-pyo didn’t beat around the bush and asked directly. If he had intended to wait longer for Ryu Jae-min’s confession, he would have returned to the classroom quickly instead of locking the door so blatantly.
“…About what.”
However, in Jae-min’s quiet response, Seung-pyo could still feel a brazenness, as if he were trying to play innocent. That sight naturally brought back the strange conversation patterns he had seen on social media.
Whether people left insults or sexual harassment after seeing the photos, Ryu Jae-min responded politely without getting excited. However, not every post had a reply. There were many comments that didn’t have a response from Ryu Jae-min; it seemed his way was to simply ignore and not engage with people he didn’t like.
Thinking of that made Seung-pyo’s mood worsen.
“I have plenty to say. First, my phone. If you pick up someone else’s stuff, you should think about returning it. How long are you planning to keep it?”
“I’m sorry. I intended to give it back. I just kept forgetting it.”
“And your phone.”
Seung-pyo frowned slightly and took a step closer. Being taller and larger than most kids his age, the way Seung-pyo approached while putting strength into his words made it look like a threat.
Jae-min didn’t back away and continued to look at Seung-pyo. He tried to remain expressionless, but his unstable gaze revealed that he was quite anxious inside.
“Why aren’t you looking for your phone? You don’t need it?”
“My phone?”
Even then, Jae-min widened his eyes, fumbled through his pockets, and pulled out a phone. He wore an innocent expression, as if he truly had no idea what was going on.
“I didn’t lose my phone.”
“Hmm? You didn’t lose it?”
“Yeah, this is my phone. I’ve used it for over a year.”
“Ah—I guess the phone I found wasn’t Ryu Jae-min’s, but someone else’s. I must have been mistaken.”
“I think so. I haven’t lost anything.”
Pfft. Seung-pyo scoffed for the third time today. He had wondered what he was thinking while avoiding him for days, but if he had simply decided to insist on this lie…
“If it’s not yours, then I guess it’s fine to show the photos and posts I saw on that phone to your homeroom teacher?”
“Photos?”
“Ah, I shouldn’t show the teacher. You’re the top student, so the teachers will obviously take your side. It’d be better to just post them in the students’ group chat. It would be fun to post them, tell everyone they’re photos of Ryu Jae-min, and see what they say. Right?”
Despite the heavy sarcasm, Ryu Jae-min didn’t seem particularly flustered. He just blinked, looking even more puzzled than before.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about… what photos?”
“What an actor. Hey, do you think the photos disappear just because you pretend not to know? I captured everything. Even if you cover your face, anyone who knows you will recognize you.”
“I was also wondering why you’ve seemed angry whenever you see me for the past few days. I think you’re confusing me with someone else.”
“This is unbelievable.”
A genuine laugh of disbelief escaped him. Jae-min lowered his head slightly, looking surprised.
“You’re damn good at acting. Why are you pretending to be scared? You’re not scared at all on the inside, are you?”
“It’s because you’re angry right now…”
“I’m not angry. I’m just letting you know what I’m going to do to you.”
“I don’t even know what you’re talking about.”
“Oh, really? Then I should have just leaked it immediately without saying anything. Do you agree?”
“I don’t know what it is, but do whatever you want. I just hope you clear up the misunderstanding and stop being angry.”
His nonchalance was worthy of a Best Actor award. Oh Seung-pyo, who had been told a hundred times why he didn’t aim to be a celebrity despite not being able to sing or act, wondered why this bastard had a decent face, was the top student, and was even good at acting. Suddenly, Ryu Jae-min felt even more obnoxious.
“Then get ready. It’ll be too late to regret it later, okay? I was going to pretend I didn’t see it if you explained first. You took someone else’s property first, and then you ignored me first.”
“I’m telling you, you’ve confused me with someone else. Why do you keep getting angry even though I told you to do as you please…”
“Hey, Ryu Jae-min.”
“No matter how much I think about it, I haven’t done anything wrong to you, so I don’t know why you’re doing this to me.”
Ryu Jae-min’s question, asked with a slightly tearful, complaining face, was valid. As he said, Ryu Jae-min had done nothing wrong to Seung-pyo. Whether he took perverted photos and posted them on his own SNS or denied the fact, there was no reason for the unrelated Oh Seung-pyo to be angry.
At first, Seung-pyo just found the situation amusing. The thought of Ryu Jae-min, who had given him a chronic sense of inferiority all year, coming to him first and being flustered and hesitant was thrilling in itself.
In other words, if Jae-min had acted as expected, a situation where Seung-pyo got angry or acted threateningly wouldn’t have even occurred. He had intended to tease him moderately, like the perverts who commented on Jae-min’s SNS, and once the top student let his guard down a bit, he was more than willing to exchange phones and bury the embarrassing perverted hobby under a lock.
The fact that the top student in the school operated a masturbation account using his own photos in secret was too big of an event for a peaceful school. At a time when he was about to enter the second year, there was nothing for Oh Seung-pyo to gain by taking the lead in exposing such a secret.
“But fuck, you’re making me pissed off.”
“What did I even do to you? Today is the first time I’ve even talked to you like this…”
Ryu Jae-min muttered in a truly troubled tone, then widened his eyes in surprise as he looked at the clock.
“Break time is almost over. We have to go out now.”
“Quite composed, aren’t you.”
“Oh Seung-pyo.”
There was a newfound sharp and taut tension in the way Ryu Jae-min called his name.
Perhaps it was because the remaining time was short. His gaze, which had been innocent and pretending to know nothing, changed, and his voice dropped, like someone proposing a black-market deal.
“What do you want?”
“…What?”
“You must want something to be this angry. Stop just being angry and tell me what you want.”
What he wanted?
Seung-pyo frowned. Wanting something from Ryu Jae-min—there was no way such a thing existed. Oh Seung-pyo just found the surprising situation brought by chance amusing. He just wanted to see the great Ryu Jae-min grovel a little in front of him.
While it wasn’t Ryu Jae-min’s fault for being better than Oh Seung-pyo, he didn’t think it was wrong to want to win over that great guy just once, now that he had an excuse.
“I know you feel bad because you keep falling behind me in rankings. Should I lend you my notes? Or some tutoring materials?”
“What the hell is this guy saying.”
Seung-pyo’s expression became even more menacing at Jae-min’s presumptuous offer. Far from groveling, Ryu Jae-min was acting the most obnoxious he had been so far, pretending to be troubled and distressed.
“Who said they were interested in your damn notes?”
“Then should I share my performance assessment materials? Performance tasks are more annoying than studying for exams, but they count toward the GPA.”
Although he was always a few points behind Ryu Jae-min, Oh Seung-pyo was also the second-ranked student in the school. He had absolutely no interest in Ryu Jae-min’s notes or performance assessments. Seung-pyo was truly angry this time at the tone that treated him like a lagging, underperforming student.
“Are you crazy? Shut your mouth.”
“Or I can let you win a mock exam once.”
Oh Seung-pyo, whose voice had momentarily risen, slowly closed his mouth. The resource room, which had almost become noisy, became eerily quiet.
Seung-pyo let out a small sigh and suddenly reached out. His large hand roughly grabbed the collar of Jae-min’s stiff shirt.
When Seung-pyo spoke again, the trace of excitement had vanished from his voice, and it had instead sunk coldly.
“Say one more word. If you want to die.”
While Jae-min, held by the collar, didn’t answer immediately and only stared back, someone knocked on the door from outside.
“Is anyone in there? Class has started, come out quickly!”
It was the math teacher’s voice. Seung-pyo glanced irritably toward the door, clicked his tongue, and released his grip on the collar. Jae-min, with a gloomy face, smoothed out his wrinkled collar and brushed off his clothes as if dusting them. Seung-pyo clicked his tongue and called the model student.
“Hey.”
“Yeah?”
“We’re not done talking. Don’t you dare disappear after this class.”
There was still a lot to say, but they were both just high school students. The school’s figureheads, who held the first and second ranks, intended to attend their vacation supplementary classes diligently and fill the class hours.
With his face still stiff from lingering anger, Oh Seung-pyo opened the door. The teacher, who had been standing there unable to hide his suspicion that students might be hiding in the resource room to play some malicious prank, relaxed his expression and smiled as soon as he saw Seung-pyo and Jae-min.
“What, it was you two? What brings you both to the resource room together?”
“We were running an errand for the English teacher.”
“Right, get inside quickly. The teachers are coming up.”
“Yes.”
The self-proclaimed honor students were released immediately without further suspicion. Even after returning to his own classroom, Oh Seung-pyo gnashed his teeth, appalled by Ryu Jae-min’s brazenness. He couldn’t let go of his anger. He felt as if lava had pooled in his solar plexus, making his chest seethe.
Notes? Tutoring? Letting him win a mock exam? Ryu Jae-min had thrown out those insane suggestions in a tone as if he were pitying Seung-pyo, like he was helping the underprivileged.
If Seung-pyo wanted, he could get as much tutoring as he liked. He could do fine on his own, and he just hadn’t mentioned it to his father because spending that much money on entrance exam prep felt like a waste.
…And since he had gotten good grades while slacking off on his own until now, it felt a bit embarrassing to suddenly mobilize academies and tutors like other kids.
Regardless, if Ryu Jae-min thought Oh Seung-pyo couldn’t attend an academy or get tutoring because he was poor, it was a massive misconception.
“This is so fucking ridiculous, that son of a bitch…”
“What is?”
The guy sitting next to him reacted quickly to the mutter that had escaped his lips. He had a look of curiosity, wondering if something interesting was happening.
“I fought with my Hyung.”
Everyone who was friends with Seung-pyo knew that he fought with his older brother frequently. The boy next to him soon looked back toward the blackboard with a face that had lost interest.
* * *
Before the bell had even finished ringing, Seung-pyo was the first to stand up.
He exited the classroom through the back door faster than the teacher, and his sight of almost running through the hallway with his long legs drew everyone’s attention. Regardless of who saw him, Seung-pyo flung open the door to Class 2 and strode toward Jae-min, who was sitting around the middle row. There was a sign on the back door that said ‘No Entry for Students of Other Classes,’ but Seung-pyo didn’t even glance at it.
“Ryu Jae-min, come out.”
Jae-min looked up at Seung-pyo with a bewildered face, but he didn’t argue. He simply let out a small sigh as if giving up, stood up, and followed Seung-pyo.
As the two disappeared from sight, the other students exchanged questions like, “Is something going on with them?” or “Were they close?”, but without any information, their speculation had limits. They soon turned their attention elsewhere.
Pushing through the crowded hallway during the break, the two walked straight without a word, heading for the resource room again. Since the resource room was a place teachers frequented, most students didn’t linger there without a reason. Just as he had an hour ago, Seung-pyo locked the door and pushed Jae-min inside.
Perhaps dissatisfied with the rough shoving when he would have entered anyway, Ryu Jae-min frowned slightly, but again, he said nothing.
A moment of silence passed. Seung-pyo, blocking the door, took a deep breath, crossed his arms, and leaned back.
“If I tell you what I want, can you grant it all?”
“I’ll do it if possible. I don’t want to keep creating situations like this with you. It’s scary…”
“Scary, my ass.”
Seung-pyo uncrossed his arms and slid his hands into his school uniform pockets. A sneer, like a deliberately crookedly placed sculpture, hung on his handsome lips. Jae-min looked at him with a gaze that seemed genuinely terrified.
Seung-pyo didn’t state his demands immediately; instead, he stared intently at Jae-min. From head to toe, he scanned Jae-min’s entire body slowly and blatantly, as if someone in a position of power were appraising an object.
Though Jae-min had never directly met the gaze from beyond the screen, he had long surrendered himself to the act of collective voyeurism. The moment he instinctively sensed the nature of the gaze and slightly recoiled, Seung-pyo spoke again.
“Then, if I told you to strip in front of me, would you?”
“…Huh?”
Jae-min’s eyes widened in genuine shock. His lips trembled minutely, suggesting that this particular bewilderment was not an act.
Throughout the class, Oh Seung-pyo had agonized over what he should demand from Ryu Jae-min to let him off the hook. He would have been truly pissed if Jae-min had continued to act arrogant here, but Jae-min’s reaction was reasonably satisfying. Seung-pyo felt a growing desire to humiliate Ryu Jae-min further.
“Try acting like a whore in front of me. I thought about it during class, and I got curious. I wonder what it would be like to see the top student in the school acting like a slut in person.”
“…….”
“I think it would be even more fun to see it at school. Honestly, didn’t you post those kinds of photos because you wanted to try something like this?”
“No, Oh Seung-pyo….”
Jae-min’s Adam’s apple bobbed briefly beneath the collar of his school shirt, which was still wrinkled from being crumpled in Seung-pyo’s hand.
“What are you talking about? How could you say such things….”
“You said you’d do anything, so why change your tune now? You don’t want to?”
The photos of Ryu Jae-min that he had spent hours admiring on the day he picked up the phone flashed through his mind one by one.
Oh Seung-pyo was intelligent, and therefore had an excellent memory. Among the various photos still vivid in his mind, the one that had surprised him most was a short, few-second video recorded without sound.
“If you jerk off in front of me exactly like you did then, I’ll let it slide. Without the mute button.”
It became silent, as if the world itself had been muted. It was a stillness so profound it felt as though the flow of time had stopped.
Thanks to that, Seung-pyo could observe the changes in Jae-min’s expression more delicately. As if he hadn’t expected such a demand, Jae-min tried to endure it, but the overflow of embarrassment, which he couldn’t quite refine, leaked through various parts of his expressionless face.
The way Jae-min kept his mouth tightly shut in fear, his troubled expression, his slightly furrowed brows, and the tension in his jawline gradually began to amuse Seung-pyo.
To be honest, the sight of a male classmate masturbating wasn’t a turn-on; he wouldn’t want to see it even if someone paid him to. The reason he had looked at Ryu Jae-min’s photos on social media was, of course, not because they were truly erotic, but because they were absurd and fascinating.
Still, if it meant he could properly put Ryu Jae-min in a bind, he could tolerate seeing it live once.
“Why are you silent?”
At Seung-pyo’s urging, Jae-min dropped his gaze weakly. Seung-pyo let out a quiet, scoffing laugh. It was simply pathetic how he had been subtly provoking people just an hour ago, only to act fragile and lost now.
Jae-min kept his head bowed for a long time, as if suppressing a surge of indignation, before finally speaking. His voice was trembling.
“Oh Seung-pyo, why are you really doing this to me? I was willing to comply to a certain extent, but this is too much….”
“So, you’re not going to do it?”
“I can’t. No, I won’t. Please, just stop bullying me. You’ve got the wrong person, so why are you doing this to me?”
Jae-min looked as if he were about to burst into tears. He had voluntarily taken and posted all sorts of photos on the internet where dozens or hundreds of people might see them, yet now he was pretending to struggle.
Seeing him suddenly try to grovel after acting so brazenly, as if he were standing above everyone, it seemed that operating a pervert account actually weighed on his conscience quite a bit, despite his attempts to act tough.
“This is getting more and more ridiculous. What did I even do for you to start acting weak already?”
“What?”
“If you hadn’t lied, I was planning to just let it go. But you’re the one who provoked me first.”
“What did I even do….”
“Tutoring materials? You only say that bullshit because you think everyone is a loser like you who stakes their life on test scores. I don’t do that. You might have to spend money, time, and everything you have to get the grades you have now, but I don’t. Whether I fall behind you in grades or not is none of my business.”
Ryu Jae-min swallowed hard. His eyes wavered as if he had belatedly realized he had made a slip of the tongue.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you.”
“Forget it. Stop being annoying and just do what I told you. Then I’ll hold off on circulating the photos.”
“…….”
“The break is almost over. Start already. I’m counting down. 5, 4, 3, 2….”
Hic.
Seung-pyo, who had been counting down while folding his fingers, suddenly stopped with his mouth agape. Just before he hit ‘1’, Ryu Jae-min’s shoulders suddenly shook.
From beneath his bowed head, the sound of someone struggling to swallow their sobs reached him. Seung-pyo stood there with a bewildered expression, his pinky finger still raised, unable to find words.
“Stop it…. Really, it’s really not me. You saw it wrong….”
Indeed, Ryu Jae-min was literally crying. Pressing his eyes with the back of his hand, his shoulders shaking and his voice trembling.
Throughout the past year, Seung-pyo had been conscious of Ryu Jae-min as they passed each other several times, but he had always been a similar, somewhat bland boy. His reputation at school was the same. The top student who wasn’t arrogant, quiet and kind. A polite and unremarkable model student who didn’t get angry or excited, didn’t laugh boisterously or play loud pranks, and didn’t use rough language or swear.
Because that was the Ryu Jae-min he knew, the fact that he was secretly engaging in perverted acts was all the more shocking. And now, he was even crying in front of Seung-pyo.
While Seung-pyo remained frozen like ice, Jae-min’s sobbing continued for a while. However, as time passed, Seung-pyo’s reason gradually returned. The momentary panic of forgetting the countdown vanished, and seeing Jae-min stubbornly insist on something that was useless to deny made Seung-pyo feel nothing but contempt for his childish behavior.
“You’re fucking disgusting.”
Hic, sob. Ryu Jae-min sobbed louder, as if in response. What’s the point of having good grades? You’re just a loser. Seung-pyo swallowed a curse.
For some reason, it suddenly became incredibly irritating that he had been beaten in exams for a whole year by a guy like this. Seung-pyo, who had been leaning crookedly against a desk in the archives, sprang up and approached the sobbing Jae-min.
“Stop it. What do you have to cry about?”
Seung-pyo reached out his large hand to pull away Jae-min’s hand from his eyelids and forced his bowed face upward.
“Ah, fuck.”
That was when Seung-pyo became truly flustered.
The area around Ryu Jae-min’s eyes, where he should have been crying, was as white as usual, dry and fluffy without a single trace of a tear. Seeing Ryu Jae-min’s face return to its usual expressionless state in an instant gave Seung-pyo the chills.
“Why the hell are you pretending to cry, you psycho?”
He frowned deeply as if he had seen something repulsive and let go of Ryu Jae-min’s chin as if shaking it off. The force of the push made Jae-min stagger slightly and step back a couple of paces.
Model student, my ass. Ryu Jae-min was truly insane. Come to think of it, he had to be out of his mind to take and post those kinds of photos. Seung-pyo’s heart pounded. While Seung-pyo took deep breaths to calm his shock, Jae-min calmly looked down at his phone and touched the screen without saying a word.
He didn’t know why he was suddenly using his phone in this situation. As his behavior seemed increasingly mysterious, Seung-pyo glared at Jae-min in a defensive stance, unsure of what to do. Soon, a familiar voice echoed through the silent archives.
[Can you really do everything I want if I tell you?]
[I’ll try if possible. I don’t want to keep creating situations like this with you. I’m scared….]
[Scared, my ass.]
Following a silence and some rustling sounds, Oh Seung-pyo’s sarcasm followed.
[Then, if I told you to strip in front of me, would you?]
[…Huh?]
[Try acting like a whore in front of me. I thought about it during class, and I got curious. I wonder what it would be like to see the top student in the school acting like a slut in person.]
As Jae-min pressed the stop button on the phone he had been holding up for all to see, the playing voice cut off abruptly.
Seung-pyo stared at Jae-min, his eyes wide enough to pop out. His open mouth let out a few short gasps but couldn’t form any meaningful words. Jae-min gazed back at him for a moment as if waiting for a reaction, and then he spoke first. His tone and voice remained consistently calm.
“You blackmailed me. It sounds even more menacing when I listen to it recorded like this. It makes me seem even more pitiful.”
“You… recorded that?”
While Jae-min’s sobbing voice had become calm, it was now Seung-pyo’s voice that was rattling.
“Since you’re using my weakness to blackmail me, I have to hold onto something too. Just like you said, you do get triggered when poked.”
Seung-pyo stood blankly for a moment before suddenly reaching out toward Jae-min. As he grabbed Jae-min’s wrist to snatch the phone, Ryu Jae-min continued speaking quietly without much resistance.
“Don’t waste your energy. It’s useless to delete it from the phone. I’ve synced it so it’s saved to another cloud as well.”
“Ha….”
It wasn’t a sigh, but a hollow laugh of sheer absurdity.
Since the day he picked up Ryu Jae-min’s phone, Oh Seung-pyo had felt stunned and bewildered at least once a day, and naturally, this moment was the absolute peak.
“Ryu Jae-min. Are you actually insane? You crazy piece of shit…. Who are you going to play this for? Your parents? Teachers? The kids? Then I’ll have to explain why this situation happened, and then I’ll bring up your photos.”
“There’s no proof those photos are of me, but there’s no denying this is your voice. I called your name several times during the conversation.”
“Wow.”
“And even if I really took those photos… Oh Seung-pyo, do you think it’s justifiable to use someone’s privacy as a weakness to blackmail them and even sexually harass them?”
Seung-pyo had long since let go of Jae-min’s wrist. More accurately, it would be correct to say the strength had left his hand. Jae-min put the phone in his pocket and looked at Seung-pyo with cold eyes, devoid of tears or any emotion.
“If you think so, I’m disappointed. You didn’t seem like such a stupid guy.”
Seung-pyo shut his mouth tight.
Jae-min was right. Oh Seung-pyo wasn’t stupid enough to deny that this situation was unfair.
Even if Ryu Jae-min had posted perverted selfies with his face fully visible on the internet, using that as a pretext to threaten to distribute photos that had already been deleted, and further demanding he reenact the act in front of him, was simply…
“If you want to be called before the School Violence Committee, go ahead and circulate the photos. Since there’s no proof those photos are of me, I’ll deny it until the end no matter what others think. Even if you insist I did it, far more people won’t believe you. But the fact that you blackmailed me is recorded.”
“What’s your point? Let’s just go down together?”
“Isn’t that obvious? Did you think I’d go down alone?”
Now, a faint sneer played on Ryu Jae-min’s expression. The stunned Seung-pyo had no room to fire back. Jae-min checked his watch and said the same thing as before.
“The break is almost over. We have to go out now.”
“Get lost on your own. I don’t even want to walk out the door with you. You crazy bastard.”
“Suit yourself. I’m leaving.”
Jae-min opened the archive door and walked out without looking back. Only after the door closed did Seung-pyo let out a long sigh and grit his teeth.
“What the hell is with that guy? Creepy, seriously….”
He lost again.
Far from succeeding in the venting he had been planning, he had instead been dealt a blow. Oh Seung-pyo, who had become a perpetual second-place since entering high school, had to admit that he had been miserably defeated by Ryu Jae-min once again.
A total psycho. A fucking weirdo. Oh Seung-pyo bit his lip. His father, who had spent a long time at sea rubbing shoulders with all kinds of people, would occasionally share life experiences with his children, and among them was something his father said often: it’s okay to fight a bad person, but avoid a crazy person as much as possible.
‘Who would have known Ryu Jae-min was such a nutcase?’
As Jae-min said, the reality was that even if he told someone, no one would believe him. That Ryu Jae-min secretly took erotic photos and posted them on the internet, responded nonchalantly to sexual harassment and dirty talk, acted like he was being bullied and cried when caught, and recorded the conversation to blackmail Oh Seung-pyo in return….
If he exposed that the guy was actually such a psycho, most people in this school would probably just laugh it off, saying ‘that couldn’t be true.’
“Ah, right. The phone.”
In the midst of the absurd conversation, he hadn’t even properly asked for his phone back.
He had told the other kids he didn’t care and would just buy a new one, but of course, Seung-pyo intended to get his phone back from Jae-min. After all, there were photos he’d taken, memos he’d written whenever something came to mind, and various other data on the phone that hadn’t all been backed up.
Nothing is going right. Oh Seung-pyo vented his displaced anger by kicking the leg of a desk. Crash! The innocent desk couldn’t even cry as it collapsed under Seung-pyo’s kick.
Grumbling, Seung-pyo set the desk upright and left the archives, grinding his teeth. It was a shitty day.