do or die | yang jungwon

stage one: mysterious disappearances

FATE IS A FICKLE MISTRESS, FAITHFUL TO NO ONE BUT HERSELF. and it was practically fated that this was how everything would come to an end. after fighting against destiny, trying to prove that the underdog could win, kim hyunwoo was still the loser he had been fated to be.

"what? what are you looking at, you filthy mutt," kwak kitae says, cracking his neck. the iron rod that he's holding must be at least five kilograms, if the blood oozing from hyunwoo's head was anything to go by. "don't you know that animals like you shouldn't look people in the eyes? who said you could look me in the eyes?"

hwang cheonsa laughs, taking a drag from her cigarette, the butt of which was barely glowing due to the pouring rain. "aww, kitae don't be too harsh. the poor bitch didn't know that everyone thinks that he's better off dead than alive, don't you, hyunwoo? that's why you still have the naïvety to think it's acceptable to look us in the eye?"

the way she phrases her words give no indication that she has any sympathy at all, kicking an already beat up and bruised hyunwoo as she faces the city. the rooftop they were on was technically private property but they knew the owners of the building. or rather, they knew the owner's son - who had paid for his freedom from their torment by convincing his father to let the group to have free reign over the building's rooftop.

cheonsa wondered where that boy was nowadays. she hadn't been able to mess with him in a while. 

"you guys are sick bastards," hyunwoo whispers, wiping the blood dripping from his nose. "you're all going to hell."

"the fuck? what did you just say little bitch?" kitae says, throwing the cigarette in his hand onto the cement rooftop. hyunwoo looks up, his eyes blazing with rage. he shifts so that he's in a crouching position, a feat that was undoubtedly difficult based on the number of bones he must've broken from kitae's 'stress release'. 

"i said," hyunwoo begins, getting up slowly. "YOU'RE ALL SICK BASTARDS!"

he screams in anger, launching himself at the group of bullies who had been tormenting him for the past three months. he had done everything in his power to get out of the situation but no one believed him, the loser of the school. and everyone who did believe him was much too scared to save him. fine. he would do it himself. 

hyunwoo reaches out to land a punch on the shortest of the group, yohan, but only grazes his cheek before he's pushed so hard, he loses his balance. 

"you think a disgusting little loser like you could ever hurt us? think again," kitae says, his voice dangerously low. both yohan and kitae grab one of hyunwoo's arms before throwing him off of the rooftop, watching as hyunwoo flails, his body hitting one of the signs before collapsing into a heap. the sickening crunch of bones can be heard even three stories up on the rooftop in the pouring rain.

"is he dead?" yohan asks, leaning over to observe. hyunwoo's body is unmoving, although yohan can very vaguely make out ripples of the puddle where he had collapsed, which expanded rhythmically with every breath hyunwoo took.

"shouldn't we call a hospital? warning him not to spread shit is one thing but killing him is another thing entirely," cheonsa says. kitae is silent, which cheonsa takes as a sign to proceed, immediately calling the police.

for some reason, kitae gets chills down his spine as he thinks that maybe, just maybe, it was fated that hyunwoo would die from being down the rooftop that he had met the group on. and maybe it was fate that what happened this night would come back to haunt him.

+++

3 WEEKS LATER

"professor kim?" cheonsa says, knocking on the door to professor kim's office. she opens the door when she hears no response, an immediate eery feeling settling in her lower back. this was office of the father of the boy she had killed.