𝐒𝐔𝐂𝐊𝐄𝐑 𝐏𝐔𝐍𝐂𝐇

#.. FIFTY-SEVEN

"you should talk to jungsu" seungmin said, slowly rolling on his board next to gunil and jiseok as they walked boy.

the addressed boy, jiseok, looked down on the floor. "i should.. i've never seen him so angry before..."

gunil, who was holding his hand, squeezed it gently. "he's probably going through a hard time, i'm sure it wasn't intentional..."

jiseok shrugged. "to be honest, i don't even want it to be such a big deal. i know jungsu never resorts to violence that easily.."

no one said anything after that. there's been plenty occasions where jungsu in fact got violent the last months.

something must be really wrong.

as jungsu lived the closest to the school, jiseok was the first one to part from the two boys, kissing gunil goodbye and waving his hand at seungmin.

standing in front of the door of the big building he stopped in his tracks. what was he even supposed to say?

ringing at the door, he sighed. he decided to just freestyle it. so worried abour what to tell jungsu, he didn't think of the opportunity of his mother opening the door.

shouldn't she be at work? "jiseok?" she just asked, as baffled as him.

but he quickly caught himself. "is jungsu home?" jiseok did not expect for her to try to close the door again.

so he sacrificed his foot to push it between the door step before she could close it fully. "i need to see him."

his voice was firmer than he expected, almost frightening even himself. jungsu's mother seemed surprised, too.

she never saw this side of jiseok; jungsu's timid and shy best friend. her eyes widened in shock, before returning back to her bitchy glare.

"fine. he is very pissed at the moment so if you want to get hit again then go for it."

jiseok squinted his eyes, not wanting to hold back anymore. "how can someone be such a bad parent?"

squeezing himself inside the big house, he ignored the woman's remarks about him having no respect. jiseok only had one goal in mind.

arriving at jungsu's room, jiseok quickly sensed that something was off. jiseok's mom appeared behind him again.

"lord, he's been playing that same album since he got home. it's annoying."

something was massively wrong. jiseok turned around, frowned brows. "what do you mean?"

she shrugged. "he's not talking to me, so i didn't want to tell him to lower the volume."

jiseok froze. "when did you return home?" the woman had to think. "three hours ago?"

if jungsu was there, he would've recognized jiseok's voice and open the door. did he run away?

this reminded him too much of the day his brother killed himself. the "absence", then the hesitation, then the revelation.

jiseok was not ready for everything that would happen the moment he opened the door.

the sunken head and shoulders, the motionless arms, the dangling legs. and then the rope around the neck.

jungsu's mother started screaming, instantly running off to find her husband. jiseok just stood there, his brain needing some moments to realise the unfolded scene in front of him.

then he passed out.