𝗢𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗯𝘆 𝗰𝗼𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗻𝘁
Yoon Jaehyuk, filled with all the regrets that accompanied his despair, is over with rekindling hope. Now, it's Jihoon's turn to fight for the justification of the day before today, which has also lost its meanin...
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-[The Influence of Trust] - 2nd Regret, Kim Junkyu
"I heard you're the closest to Jaehyuk."
That sentence was captured by my conscience with full emotional torment. I sat facing the police today, clearly making me even more stressed. The warm cup of tea in front of me remained untouched. Earlier this morning, shocking news about Jaehyuk spread throughout the school. I ran towards the direction in question. My body was drenched in sweat, and my legs felt empty. My feelings were overwhelmingly abnormal and suffocating. When I arrived at the scene, yellow lines had been drawn to cordon it off. All I could see was emptiness.
"I am close to him. But I am not his friend."
The police officer frowned upon hearing my response. That's because I couldn't say more than that. My mind wasn't clear, and I couldn't respond to much for now. If I forced it, I would cry. Finally, I got up and ran outside, ignoring the shouts of the police and the teachers trying to make me return.
I brutally washed my face in the school bathroom sink. Then I looked at my reflection in the wide mirror. I directed all my curses at the figure in that mirror.
"Kim Junkyu, you're not Jaehyuk's friend." I monologued to my own shadow. "If you were his friend, you should have trusted him."
Yoon Jaehyuk and all his kindness had been with me for years. Honestly, I owed a lot to Jaehyuk. From small things to big things. I spent almost every second of my teenage years with Jaehyuk. Yoon, the young man, even chose the same class as me, even though he could have joined the school's advanced class because of his intelligence.
But I couldn't say that I was a good friend of his. I felt unworthy.
Jaehyuk always trusted me because he considered me valuable. He put a lot of trust in me every time I felt doubtful. He made me confident. Without Jaehyuk, I wouldn't laugh freely every day. If I didn't meet him, maybe I wouldn't be the bright and enthusiastic Kim Junkyu.
But what did I do to him? My lack of trust became a blow to him. After what he did, I retaliated by inflicting wounds upon his existing scars.
I walked sluggishly out of the restroom and sat beneath the gloomy shade of a lush tree. I didn't know where to go anymore because every corner of this school was filled with memories of Jaehyuk.
I could picture myself running along the corridors with Jaehyuk or sharing a snack on the benches by the field. The memories of how frustrated Jaehyuk was trying to teach me math in front of the classroom building still lingered.
"When are you going to stop being so bad at this subject?!" Jaehyuk had said, tapping my head with a pen.
