Formless Chapter 13

Heewoon took a sip of coffee, picked up a blue macaron, and took a bite. It was vanilla flavored. Eating something sweet seemed to make him feel a little better. Heewoon had recently developed a habit of frequently putting snacks in his mouth.

Gangwoo rested his chin on his hand as he watched Heewoon, who kept munching even while underlining parts of the materials for Hyukjin.

“Sunbae, you must find that more delicious than your meals.”

“…Huh?”

Green crumbs were smeared on the lips of Heewoon, who had asked with wide eyes. Following Gangwoo, who was tapping his own mouth with his finger, Heewoon wiped his lips.

“You pick at your food, sunbae.”

“Ah…”

He was opening and closing his mouth to say something when Hyukjin, who had been reading the materials, suddenly cut in. Those were the materials Heewoon had sent him last week.

“Right. You bastard, a type like you needs to fucking eat a lot and then do weight training. Do you even work out regularly?”

“No.”

“Let’s see. Oof, you bastard. You’re just plain skinny.”

A toad-like hand kneaded Heewoon’s arm. Heewoon, frowning slightly, said.

“Just finish looking at what you were looking at.”

“Look at this bastard changing the subject.”

Hyukjin snickered and patted Heewoon’s back. Since he had taken off his outerwear and was wearing only a thin sweatshirt, the patting seemed to hurt more. Even after that, Hyukjin went on and on about workout methods, unasked.

It was when Heewoon was half-listening and biting into a macaron.

“Hey, fuck. What is this on you? Isn’t that a hickey?”

Without giving him a chance to dodge, Hyukjin pressed firmly on the nape of Heewoon’s neck. Startled, Heewoon flinched and slapped Hyukjin’s hand away.

“Don’t touch me.”

Seo Gangwoo bit and sucked on the back of his neck whenever he had the chance. He had thought it would be fine since his clothes covered the top of his neck, but it seemed to have slipped down a bit thanks to Lee Hyukjin patting his back so much.

“Crazy. A weak-looking bastard like this has a girlfriend. I fucking don’t get it.”

“Hurry up and finish reading this.”

“Don’t tell me you have them on your body too?”

Hyukjin chuckled as he pulled the collar of Heewoon’s t-shirt forward.

“Are you crazy?”

Heewoon shuddered and fiercely slapped Hyukjin’s hand away. Bastard. I thought he was quiet. Heewoon grimaced as he looked at Hyukjin, who was smiling sleazily.

It was then.

That Gangwoo, who had been sitting still, brought a glass cup crashing down on Hyukjin’s head.

With a thwack, shards of glass scattered in all directions. The glass fragments that fell onto Hyukjin’s shoulders glittered, reflecting the fluorescent lights. It was so sudden that Hyukjin couldn’t even scream and fumbled to touch his own head.

“Are you okay?”

Gangwoo asked gently.

“…Has this bastard gone crazy!”

His face contorted, Hyukjin shot up and glared at Gangwoo. However, Gangwoo’s gaze was fixed on Heewoon.

“No fragments flew onto you, right?”

“…Yeah.”

Heewoon answered, panting slightly. Beep—beep—beep— Red warning lights were blaring loudly in his head.

“Hey. You fucking bastard! Isn’t this a completely crazy bastard.”

The chair that Hyukjin had roughly pushed back tumbled over with a clatter. Hyukjin, who was said to have done judo in middle school, had a large build, so most people didn’t dare to pick a fight with him. The hand that reached out to grab Gangwoo by the collar was overflowing with confidence.

So, he probably never expected to have his hand twisted and get punched in the face without being able to put up a fight. With a thwack, Hyukjin staggered backward and collapsed into a sitting position.

“Uh oh…?”

The large man touched his own nose with a bewildered expression. Drip, drip, drops of blood fell from Hyukjin’s nose.

Tense, Heewoon looked at Gangwoo. He rose leisurely from his chair. There wasn’t the slightest bit of haste in his steps as he walked around the desk to stand in front of Hyukjin.

Seo Gangwoo stopped, looked down at Hyukjin for a moment, then kicked Hyukjin in the chest as if to stomp him down.

“Keoheok…”

As if he couldn’t breathe, Hyukjin was unable to move for a moment. Blood trickled down onto the forehead of the twitching Hyukjin.

Hyukjin felt his face. His hand was soaked wet with the blood from his nose and the blood from his forehead.

“Shit—bal. Why are you suddenly doing this! Are you crazy?”

His bewilderment seemed to be as great as his anger. The blood flowing from above seeped into his lips, which were wide open from shouting. The sight of him, half his face soaked blood-red, eyes wide open and screaming, was ironically scarier than the face of Seo Gangwoo, who had made him that way.

Gangwoo looked down indifferently at Hyukjin, who was struggling to get up, and then casually stepped on Hyukjin’s hand that was planted on the floor.

“Aack—! You fucking bastard. Get off!”

Immediately after, without batting an eye, Seo Gangwoo did a terrible thing. With one foot pinning Lee Hyukjin’s hand, he kicked his arm with the other foot.

Crack—! The sound of a bone breaking rang out, and at the same time, Hyukjin’s scream echoed through the room.

“Aaaaack—! Aack—!”

The thick arm in the dress shirt was bent at a grotesque angle. In extreme pain, Hyukjin slammed the floor with his other hand and rolled around.

Heewoon’s complexion turned deathly pale. His breathing kept coming out in ragged gasps.

The only calm person in this room was Seo Gangwoo. He beat Lee Hyukjin, who couldn’t even move properly.

It was the first time Heewoon knew that such sounds could be made when hitting a human body. The sound of bones breaking, the sound of choking and gasping for breath. Goosebumps rose all over his body. At this rate, it looked like Lee Hyukjin would die. But his body, frozen with fear, could not move.

In truth, he didn’t even for a fleeting moment think of stopping him.

Because in that moment, Heewoon wasn’t in a study filled with books, but in a dark, abandoned factory that smelled of dust.

Heewoon held his breath so that Seo Gangwoo wouldn’t notice him and only thought about getting out of here unscathed.

“He-help me…. Fuck… Wha-what did I do so wrong. Huh? Help me! Is anyone there!”

The door was against the back of Hyukjin, who was stumbling backward to escape. With a terrified face, Hyukjin looked at Gangwoo, then pounded on the door with difficulty and shouted. Watching that, Gangwoo muttered.

“Right. What could he have done so wrong.”

He looked into the empty air and blinked slowly.

Hyukjin was still screaming. Gangwoo, who had let out a sigh, grabbed Hyukjin by the collar and punched him in the face. Hyukjin received the merciless violence without even a chance to scream. After hitting him a few more times, Gangwoo let go of his collar, and the large body slumped sideways, thump, and fell limply.

“Be quiet.”

Seo Gangwoo said belatedly. To Lee Hyukjin, who could no longer even scream.

Heewoon trembled as he examined Hyukjin. His blood-soaked face was so gruesome that he couldn’t properly tell what part of it was broken.

“Uuugh…”

Heewoon let out a moan without realizing it.

“You too.”

Gangwoo’s gaze suddenly turned to Heewoon. Heewoon, who had sucked in a breath with a hik, covered his mouth.

“Why are you groaning, sunbae.”

The way he frowned was so terrifying. It felt like he would come over right away and put Heewoon in that same state.

“Uuugh…I, I was…”

“Don’t make a sound. This bastard can hear you.”

At his annoyed tone, Heewoon nodded with his mouth still covered. Gangwoo, who had kept his gaze on Heewoon for a moment longer, looked down at Hyukjin, who had collapsed in front of the door.

“Ah. He’s going to be half-crippled.”

Gangwoo, who had been scratching his forehead and muttering casually, took out his phone. He seemed to be doing something for a moment, and not long after, a knock was heard.

When Lee Hyukjin had been screaming like that earlier, no one came.

“Come in.”

The person who opened the door was a man who looked to be in his 30s. After bowing his head to Gangwoo, two other men came in behind him and dragged Hyukjin out. The large body went limp and was dragged away.

“Please take care of it properly.”

“Yes. What shall I tell the chairman?”

“To the chairman…”

Gangwoo’s gaze suddenly turned to Heewoon. Heewoon, startled, bowed his head. Because of the slightly stretched-out collar, his white neck was clearly visible. Without taking his eyes off him, Gangwoo said.

“Tell him I did it, because it was fucking annoying.”

“…Yes.”

The man who had bowed just as he had upon entering closed the door and left. A silence fell. It was as frightening as when the only sound was the noise of something, which he didn’t even want to imagine, breaking.

Shuff, shuff. The sound of slippers dragging on the floor got closer. Heewoon was still trembling, his mouth covered. Gangwoo, righting the overturned chair, glanced at Heewoon.

“Were you scared?”

Gangwoo sat in the chair Hyukjin had been sitting in and tilted his head. Heewoon nodded. Gangwoo, who was about to rest his chin on his hand, saw the blood on it and clicked his tongue. He wiped his hand on a napkin with a slight frown.

“Why… why, did you hit him?”

When Heewoon asked, trembling, he lifted his head and stared at Heewoon.

“I didn’t even need to, so why would I have hit that bastard.”

Heewoon had asked, but a question came back in return. Heewoon glanced at Gangwoo’s blood-spattered hand and said.

“Because he wasn’t doing the group project properly…”

“…”

Seo Gangwoo had no reaction to the unconfident answer. So Heewoon hesitated and opened his mouth.

“…Because it was fucking annoying?”

Gangwoo, who had been staring at Heewoon’s frightened face, suddenly burst out laughing. He laughed for a long time, his shoulders shaking, and then said without fully wiping the smile from his face.

“That’s right. Freeloading is so fucking annoying.”

“Uh-huh.”

Heewoon nodded awkwardly. Gangwoo’s gaze fell on the half-eaten macaron. The one Heewoon had been holding and had dropped on the desk was slightly crushed, its filling squeezed out.

Heewoon’s brain, not in its right mind from fear, was only having short thoughts. Seo Gangwoo hates it when people don’t eat their food properly. That macaron Seo Gangwoo is looking at is the one I was eating.

As soon as he thought that far, Heewoon snatched the macaron that had fallen on the desk and put it in his mouth. He swallowed it whole without chewing more than a few times.

“…”

“I-I ate it all.”

Becoming anxious, he showed the inside of his mouth as he spoke, and Gangwoo, with a strange expression, nodded his head. Then he said he would go wash his hands and told Heewoon to go up to his room.

Heewoon tried his best not to look at the blood splatters here and there. Something was glittering on the floor, as if there were fine shards of glass.