Devil Returns To School Days - Chapter 65

14. Today is different from the previous life (2)

Kim Hyun-seong went straight to the academy.

The academy director brought out a cup of tea and spoke with a cautious expression.

“Actually, I was worried about whether I should call or not. Even when Hyunjin suddenly stopped showing up, I thought it was because he wanted to quit. It’s a common occurrence at academies, but Hyunjin’s teacher said that. I guess it’s strange. He was a student who was really passionate about his studies, but he couldn’t understand why he quit so suddenly and without saying anything. “Please call me in case something happens.”

An academy is not a school.

Therefore, although the student can quit at any time according to his/her wishes, the teachers at the academy were truly worried about Kim Hyun-jin.

He was a passionate student.

Usually, we don’t accept students during the semester, but because he had such a strong desire to learn, we especially accepted him. I actually followed the class well. The way he chased me after class and asked me various things was so amazing that the teacher even gave me his number and told me to ask him any questions I had.

A student like that.

He suddenly stopped showing up at the academy.

There were usually two reasons.

Either I lost interest in the academy, or there was some reason I couldn’t come out.

As for the academy, I thought it was the latter and called Kim Hyun-seong, who was recorded as the guardian.

“If there is a fact that the guardian did not know, please check it. “It would be a good thing if Hyunjin lost interest and couldn’t tell the house, but if it were for another reason, there’s a chance it could be a problem.”

It’s common.

I fell down a bad path.

Stealing academy fees and spending them on entertainment.

I didn’t really say why.

That’s how Hyunseong Kim left the academy.

My head hurt.

I thought I knew my only younger brother well, but I couldn’t understand his sudden deviation.

‘What is the reason?’

The academy was Hyunjin’s choice.

Since he always sang that he wanted to enter a comprehensive academy, Kim Hyun-seong received Go Chang-beom’s support and cut Hyun-jin off from the academy. The sight of him running around back then was still good. Looking at Hyunjin, whom he likes so much, Kim Hyunseong once again reflected on why he should never fail.

“I will definitely succeed through my studies like my brother. “I will be successful and my family will be able to do everything they want.”

I pressed my temples.

That’s what my younger brother said.

Even though I said that, there was no way I was going to skip school without any reason.

‘I have to meet Hyunjin first.’

I took out my cell phone.

There was only one way.

Take off.

“Bae Seong-ho. “Please find someone right now.”

In times like these, there was no better way than idle gangsters.

* * *

That time.

Hyunjin Kim was in the reading room.

In a quiet space, I concentrated on solving the problem without saying a word.

Crunchy.

School ends at 5 o’clock.

From then until 8 o’clock, I was in the library.

It is a national library created by the city, and the reason why it is so good is because it has a variety of workbooks that can be solved for each grade level. Of course, there were traces that someone had recorded the correct answer. Still, being able to solve problems for free was a significant benefit, and I narrowed my eyes to see the correct answer, then selected only the problems and solved them.

It was a repetitive routine.

Since the academy usually ends around 9 o’clock, Kim Hyun-jin relaxed his stiff body thinking that there was still an hour left.

“Off.”

My body screamed.

It was because I had been concentrating for too long.

Kim Hyun-jin walked outside to get some fresh air.

As I rested my arms on the railing and stared blankly at the sky, I heard a noise nearby that was uncharacteristic of a library.

“The person who plays rock, paper, scissors and loses goes into the library and makes a Tarzan sound. “There’s no such thing as saying you can’t do it or you don’t like it after getting caught.”

“call.”

“Stop talking nonsense.”

“Then rock, paper, scissors!”

“evil!”

“Fuck!”

It was chaos.

Male and female students gathered together in groups of twos and threes to chat, and one male student fell to the floor, covering his head, at the conclusion of the game of rock, paper, scissors. There was a scuffle for a while. The male student suggested a compromise, saying he could never do it, but in the end, it didn’t work, so he trudged into the library with a dark look on his face.

yet.

“Aaaah~ Ahhh~!”

“That idiot.”

“I really did it tsk tsk tsk.”

A loud noise was heard in the library.

When the male student ran out with a red face, his friends told him to go away and pretended not to be in his group. Kim Hyun-jin quietly watched this series of situations. People thought that kids who behaved like that in the library were immature and a nuisance, but Kim Hyun-jin saw a different world beyond that.

“…I’m jealous.”

Being able to play like that.

It meant that there was room.

Either you have enough time to not worry about studying, or you have an immature mentality that has no sense of reality. I was jealous of anything. Kim Hyun-jin could never live like those friends. After accidentally opening Pandora’s box, I realized that I could never go back to my old self again.

I was different from them.

Hyunjin Kim tapped his cheek.

‘It must succeed. Come to your senses.’

3rd year of middle school.

It’s an important time.

The time from now until your third year of high school will determine your life.

I couldn’t waste even a minute or a second.

I took a step back.

I was about to go back to the library, but Hyunjin Kim froze in place like a stone statue.

“…brother.”

“What are you doing here?”

Hyunseong Kim.

My only older brother appeared before my eyes.

* * *

I moved my seat.

Kim Hyun-seong asked calmly in a quiet space.

“I heard you quit the academy. “Can you explain what the situation is?”

I didn’t push myself.

given a choice.

I hoped Hyunjin Kim would explain this situation himself.

There was silence.

Kim Hyun-jin, who kept his head down and said nothing, opened his mouth only after some time had passed.

“Do you remember my brother? “My favorite team was in the finals, so I got tickets for the finals.”

“I remember.”

“I really liked it back then, right? It was the happiest day of my life because I never thought I would be able to make it to the finals. But from then on, something started to feel strange. For saving me that expensive ticket and for letting me go to the academy when I said I wanted to. It’s not that I don’t know about our family’s situation. “So I thought it was strange, but from that day on, my brother’s face was never normal.”

I raised my head.

My eyes became red.

I opened Pandora’s box.

I suddenly looked at Kim Hyun-seong’s hands while he was sleeping, and I noticed the calluses that had stuck to them.

“My face is a mess and my hands are covered in calluses. I don’t know what he does, but I couldn’t help but know that I’m not an idiot and that he does hard work to make money. But why do I have the shame to go to an academy? It’s a comprehensive academy that costs over 300,000 won per month, so how can I afford that? That’s why I quit. “And I was going to study on my own and get good grades on the final exam, so I would return the money I received for tuition and tell him that he could do it on his own.”

“You…”

I was speechless.

Kim Hyun-jin’s prediction was wrong.

The scars and calluses on my face.

It was never caused by work.

Because I spent every day at the gym for revenge, I was bound to get wounds on my body, unlike when I normally went to school. Kim Hyun-jin took it differently. When I thought that my brother was having a hard time, I had to face reality.

“You know very well. That I’m not as smart as my brother. If someone has to sacrifice themselves to focus on their studies, it should be my brother, not me. My older brother ranked first in the entire school this time and received a scholarship from the school. Since things are like this, I’d rather quit school and go to work. “I can do for my brother what he did for me.”

16 years old.

I was still young.

I was at an age where it wasn’t strange at all for me to act foolishly, throw a tantrum, and get angry at people who asked me to buy nice clothes like everyone else. That is the privilege of that age. Things you can say when you are young, things you can do because you are immature. Kim Hyun-seong wanted Kim Hyun-jin to fully enjoy such privileges, but it was impossible if he could not afford even everyday privileges.

I couldn’t say anything.

Did you take that as a positive thing?

Kim Hyun-jin tried to smile.

“Don’t worry about me. I’m really fine. “My brother is a successful person, so there’s absolutely no need to push yourself because of me.”

At that look.

Kim Hyun-seong remembered a memory from the past.

* * *

I still remembered it clearly.

When Kim Hyun-seong had trouble sleeping at night, he had nightmare-like scenes.

“brother. I can’t hold on any longer. The kids who were bullying my brother are also bullying me, and my grandmother hurt her back while working at a restaurant to pay for my brother’s hospital bills. What are you really asking me to do? If it’s going to end up like this, I’d rather die. “If he had just died in peace, we wouldn’t have had this much trouble.”

To myself who can’t even lift a finger.

Kim Hyun-jin poured out his resentment.

It was a well-deserved situation.

The family was originally poor, but the family’s fortunes deteriorated more sharply as they had to pay for Kim Hyun-seong’s hospital expenses. Moreover, Kim Hyun-jin was bullied just because he was Kim Hyun-seong’s younger brother. The reality that he couldn’t handle at such a young age must have been so overwhelming that he cursed at his older brother who couldn’t even move.

Even though.

I didn’t hate my younger brother.

After pouring out all his emotions, Kim Hyun-jin held his hand tightly and cried profusely and said this.

“Please wake up. “It’s okay for me to continue living like this, so please at least wake up.”

My head was spinning.

I wanted to bite my tongue.

I hoped that I would kill myself so that I would not be a burden to my younger brother.

My younger brother came to visit occasionally.

The darkness on his face gradually increased, and Kim Hyun-jin looked at his brother calmly and said this.

“People said that. My older brother was bullied for three years. I can’t survive even a few months and I want to die, but how on earth was my brother able to survive for that long? Even though it was so hard, how could he not show it to me? I really want to succeed. I want to succeed and take revenge on all those who bullied my brother, and lay the foundation for my family to live happily again if my brother wakes up. So, I won’t be able to come visit you often from now on. “I will definitely succeed and come back looking great.”

I stopped walking.

Although he came to visit very occasionally, he just stared at me without saying anything and then turned away.

A few years since then.

Kim Hyun-jin’s footsteps became less frequent.

I heard about the situation only later, and Kim Hyun-seong felt like his mind was falling apart.

Hyunjin Kim prepared for the police exam.

Because he wasn’t as smart as his brother, he couldn’t dare to become a prosecutor, and he vowed to at least join the police and later take revenge on the scum that drove his brother to death. But I failed the test time and time again. It was a complicated issue to say that it was simply due to lack of effort. I had to cover the hospital expenses for my grandmother and Kim Hyun-seong, and in the meantime, I couldn’t pass the test by studying in my spare time.

at last.

His family held on to his ankles.

Although he tried to succeed somehow for his family, Kim Hyun-jin fell off a cliff with his family.

So I couldn’t come.

It’s not because of resentment.

Because I have no shame.

He said he would succeed and come back, but because he didn’t succeed, he said he couldn’t see his brother.

This was said by someone whose name I can’t even remember anymore.

I fell into malice.

Regretting and ruminating about the past, Kim Hyun-seong fell into delusion.

And now.

I got a new opportunity.

I clenched my fists at Kim Hyunjin’s words.

It was different then and now.

Now that today is different from his previous life, Kim Hyun-seong hopes that his only younger brother will not repeat the miserable past.

I got up from my seat.

“Follow me. Let’s go somewhere with me.”