Promise; Lee Su-hyeok

012. Scratch or Bite?

1044 words

"I can't fսcking believe you," I groan. This girl is so annoying.

"I got this trying to save all of you." Gyeong-su turns away, annoyed.

Cheong-san grabs Gyeong-su's hand to check for himself. "It's not a bite. It's a scratch," he determines. "Whoever wants to check, come look."

Most of the group goes to check. "It's a scratch?" Dae-su says as more of a question than a statement.

"Yeah, definitely. Just a scratch," Su-hyeok confirms.

I shove his side. "Why didn't you just take my word for it? You don't trust me?" I frown, "It's bad enough that you don't trust Gyeong-su. He's the responsible one."

He blinks, "..."

Wow. Alrighty then.

Cheong-san calls Ms. Park over. "Hm. Well, it doesn't really look like a bite. Thank god, it's a scratch. He's okay."

Gyeong-su glares at Na-yeon. "Done yet? I said, are you done with me now?" She stays silent.

"She stayed silent? My ears have been blessed." Honestly, my head is killing me. Every little sound is painful, as if everything is louder.

"Wait," Joon-yeong starts. "This means the computer's gone."

"No internet," Dae-su mumbles. "Couldn't you have thrown something else instead of the computer?"

I glare at him. Not intentionally, but it was a glare nonetheless.

"What was I supposed to do? It was trying to get in," Gyeong-su defends.

"No, you did good." He glances quickly at me then back at Gyeong-su. "Thank you. Don't be mad."

He walks up to Na-yeon. "Oi, Na-yeon. Look, say sorry. End this." And of course she replies with, "Why should I?"

"Are you for real, Na-yeon? Your behavior is so- ughh." I groan. "No amount of words is enough for me to find a good enough insult."

I let go of my hand, which I was previously covering due to Jennie bullying me. "He did it to save us all."

"Yeah," Dae-su backs me up. "Why can't you just say that you're sorry?"

"Because I'm not sorry. I saw everything. I saw the creature grab you. I'm right, he could be infected."

"Na-yeon enough," Ms.Park scolds.

"He would've turned by now," I say. "I'm sure he wouldn't still be human if he got infected. And he wouldn't have stayed in here, putting us all in danger. He's not like that."

"It really did. That thing grabbed his hand," she projects.

"Wait, can touching his hand infect him?" Cheong-san slowly asks.

I smack his side, "Cheong-san don't give them ideas. He wasn't bitten. If he was he wouldn't stay here."

Na-yeon answers Cheong-san's previous question, "I have no idea but maybe."

"I held I-sak's hand when she fell. Why isn't anything happening to me?" On-jo interrupts, also taking Gyeong-su's side.

"Because he has a cut on his hand," she tries to reason. "And since there's an open wound, it's probably going to be different."

Gyeong-su scoffs, "That's fucking-"

Su-hyeok holds him back, "Don't."

"Stop blaming me." Na-yeon starts yelling, "Why don't you just think for yourselves?"

I groan again because of my ears. "I am thinking for myself and I think that you're giving a headache. So, please, shut the fuck up." I cover them with the palms of my hands, turning away and walking to the window.

Su-hyeok approaches me. "You okay?" He questions softly. I close my eyes and rest my forehead on his shoulder, still covering my ears. "Yeah. My ears and head kinda hurt, that's all."

In return, he places a hand on top of my head. He lowers his voice even more. "Oh, okay. You think it's because of...?"

I shrug, trying to relax by taking slow breaths. "I hope not. And if it is, then I'll just have to leave right away." He hums, letting the small talk die out, leaving his hand where it is.

"Na-yeon," Cheong-san calls out. "I know you always hated Gyeong-su, but I think you're really crossing the line here. This is about life and death."

"She always like this," Ji-min mutters angrily, scoffing.

"If it weren't for him, we would definitely all be dead now." Su-hyeok says loud enough for Na-yeon to hear.

"And now, he might be the one killing all of us," she retaliates.

"Now you're the one who's killing me," Woo-jin is quick to fire back. "Just shut up, Na-yeon."

"Look at my hand, I'm totally fine. Don't you see that?"

They finally stand up for themselves? I could cry tears of joy.

"I've never been so proud of all of you," I mumble quietly.

"Hey, that's enough, all of you. Okay? We're ending this," Ms. Park yells.

I flinch and press my hands to my head harder. My injured hand was probably spreading blood all over my face right now. But do I care? Mm, not really.

Su-hyeok taps my head with his finger to gain my attention, "Is that still too loud?" I don't answer and he doesn't pry any further, sighing and leaving it at that.

Na-yeon whines, "Ms. Park-"

"Enough."

Gyeong-su speaks up, too. "But she-"

"No," she sighs. "...Let's do this. Gyeong-su, you're going to wait in the recording room for ten minutes."

"That's bullshit-"

Bare-su quietly interrupts, "Shush, Gummi."

"I know it'll be hard. But at least it's better than people thinking you're infected," Ms. Park tries to reason with Gyeong-su.

"No one else thinks that I'm infected. It's only her."

"Gyeong-su. Would you please do it?"

"Fuck ten. I'll do half- I'll just do a full hour."

"There is really no point in doing an hour since it takes less than five minutes," Cheong-san argues. "Stop overreacting."

"It's just to be sure."

"Is that enough?" Ms. Park asks, I'm assuming, Na-yeon. "And if nothing happens, you'll apologize, right?"

"Yeah," she agrees. It was hesitant, but I'll let it go.

"And everyone else is okay with that, right?" Ms. Park asks to make sure. Although, there's really no reason to do so. Everyone loves Gyeong-su and they trust him.

They definitely wouldn't want to purposely harm him.

Right?