splinters 一 weak hero.

0-4

the rumours spread fast about how kim sangchul had had his ass handed to him. it had been such a quick turnover, yet it disrupted the entire system.

all the school's gossip circulated around the student in question. no one had seen this with their very eyes, so they could only listen to stories and pass on their own versions. i knew the person's face but not his name, and had no interest in partaking in this gossip anyway.

i could, however, name one person in particular who was extremely invested in this.

nam kangho. a delinquent who'd gained himself followers through bluff and money. all he had was his loaded pockets and his way of words, but cash was the foundation of society, and so nam kangho was the foundations of his gang at school.

i glanced over my shoulder as footsteps echoed down the corridor. i was alone, having left the classroom during study period in hopes of finding moonsik, who'd revealed by text that he was currently taking a dump.

the door to class 1-1 opened, and the one and only spiky black haired motherfucker named nam kangho sauntered out. a few heartbeats later, i watched four of his goons lumber out from the same room. i didn't know where they were headed - so i brought out my phone and texted moonsik rapidly.

bro shit faster

his reply came soon enough.

i ammmm

upon normal circumstances, had nam kangho been ogled at like i ogled at him now, he'd have thrown a fit and had me beaten up. but these were evidently not normal circumstances because though his eyes burned and his lips pulled back from his teeth in disgust, he simply marched straight past. someone was certainly in a hurry.

moonsik arrived just as kangho entered class 1-4.

'what's up,' he said somewhat breathlessly. 'why'd you disturb me from my time of peace?'

i pulled a face at his manner of mock grandiose. 'kangho's pulling some sort of shit.'

moonsik's eyes gleamed. 'sounds fun.'

we peered through the corridor window into class 1-4.

kangho had settled himself at the front of the classroom, drawing out a chair before the blue haired, and sat.

'you.'

the blue haired looked upwards from his diligent studying. it always shocked me. no matter how many times i'd seen his face, it always caught me off-kilter slightly.

'look at his large doe eyes... he looks barely older than a first year in middle school,' i sighed.

moonsik was too engrossed to reply.

'what?' the blue haired asked. his tone seemed to have a bit more spirit than his companions, and if i were overconfident in my guess, i would claim that he almost sounded innocently bright.

'the rumours say you beat up kim sangchul, na taeong and jang ilseong at the bridge passage yesterday. that true?' a flurry of whispers went round the classroom. of course, not many people had expected the rumours to be true. 'i couldn't care less about that idiot sangchul, but one of the guys you beat up is my cousin, jang ilseong. and so...'

kangho drew in a deep breath and exhaled, crossing one ankle over the other knee. '... i'll accept your apology and leave it at that. you should know who i am anyway, so yeah.'

'no.' the reply came, curt but clear. 'one, there's no reason for me to apologise.'

kangho's brows creased.

'and two, i have no fucking idea who the hell you are.'

'why, you fucker-'

a burst of laughter cut him short - and it came from none other than moonsik himself, who had been stood in the doorway quite some time to watch. for a while, the class sat in silence to gaze at this unexpected spectacle as moonsik guffawed loudly. 'kangho, you dumbass. daewon middle school is the weakest one out there. no one cares about your status there, you dodo.'