Knowing Brother-Chapter 49

The 2016 World Junior Athletics Championships were held in Bydigoszcz, Poland. Training to adapt to the unfamiliar stadium began early in the morning.

All the youth athletes came out of the track after a long-distance jog with their coaches. After a short rest, they had to start intensive training again. Won Dae-young suddenly stood up among the athletes who were sitting down and resting, drenched in sweat.

Dae-young’s preliminary competition was two days later. It was not yet time to be nervous, and even though he was not the type to be sensitive before a big competition, Won Dae-young’s face was stiff the whole time.

Won Dae-young wiped the sweat off his face with his top and finally took it off. His chest felt like it was going to burst.

Dae-young started doing push-ups while leaning on the hurdles piled up. The coach who was watching Dae-young shouted fiercely.

“Breathing! Dae-young. If you’re going to lose your breath, don’t do it! Rest or do it right, you brat!”

After briefly catching my breath while holding the hurdle, I started going up and down again, putting all my strength into my body. I thought it would be better to run like crazy or do pushups to blow everything out in order to relieve my fever.

“Whew..., whoosh....”

My breathing was heavy and I was sweating profusely.

Do you need me after all? Let’s say so. You can just ignore me and cut me off, but why are you doing this, Won Dae-young? Is it because I have nowhere to talk about my family issues, like he said?

The more I thought about it, the more it felt like a maze, so I increased the speed of my pushups. Sweat poured down. The radius of my body going up and down became larger, and my face became hot.

It was because of my eyes. My eyes that were shaking wetly when my breath was entangled nearby. Those eyes that were slippery and moist, as if they would soon wet my cheeks and mouth.

I felt like a tingling coagulation point was forming on my genitals.

It was probably because I had pushed my body explosively to the climax. I tried to blow away the stuffy and anxious feelings by speeding up. I moved like crazy, breathing and everything. I pushed my body to the limit where I couldn’t think of anything and then raised my head.

The dawn sky of a foreign country that I looked at while exhaling heavily was bleak.

... ... But my words were harsh, damn it. What was it that made you so angry, Won Dae-young?

I felt belated regret.

I got up and looked at my phone. There were a lot of alarms piled up on messenger and SNS, but there was no contact from the guy who was bothering me.

“Whew......! F*ck.”

Dae-young kicked the hurdle hard and turned around.

* * *

“F*ck....”

The dart tip missed. Choi Seol-woo swallowed the curse and regained his composure. The names of the competing players from each country were written on the dartboard. Since it was a world championship, there were many opponents to curse.

He held the next tip, aimed it far away, and glanced at his phone. As expected, there were no calls or messages from Won Dae-young.

Choi Seol-woo hit the mark with a sharp blow. And he continued practicing.

“Hyung, I’m sorry. I spoke harshly. I’m really sorry.”

He was practicing what he was going to say to apologize on the phone.

“Hyung Dae-young. My mouth is the root of all evil. Keep this mouth shut until I calm down.”

Thinking about it carefully, Won Dae-young would really put chopsticks in and close his mouth, so he decided not to say this.

“Hyung Dae-young. I was wrong a few days ago. If you let me off this one time, I’ll....”

From now on...? He’s been stuck here since a while ago. Given Choi Seol-woo’s personality, a proper apology would require him to suggest improvements or solutions. However, he couldn’t make the call because he couldn’t come up with another solution.

Will you still be by his side as a close friend who no one can get in on? Choi Seol-woo?

“Ha... What should I do, really?”

He couldn’t think of anything to say, so he just kept throwing darts for an hour. Whoosh! Whoosh! The names of the world’s top 18-20 year old players were full of holes. Choi Seol-woo eventually lost his mind at a point where he couldn’t figure it out.

“Hyung, go out with me. I’ll treat you well!”

Kick... . He burst out laughing. It wasn’t mockery or ridicule, it was a hearty roar. He thought about what he could say to appeal to her, and this was what he chose.

“Dae-young. If you go out with me, you won’t have to worry about your sexual desire. I often imagine having sex with you, which is so pathetic. Ah....”

Is it possible with a body that needs to rest even if it’s just a little too much? He asked himself, and the answer was no. He thought more about what Won Dae-young would gain by dating Choi Seol-woo.

“야, 나 최 여사한테서 제일 큰 재산인 얼굴 물려받았잖아. 나랑 사귀면 너 이 얼굴 집에서도 볼 수 있고 밖에서도 볼 수 있어. 침대에서도, 욕실에서도, 차에서도....”

하지만 얼굴이 그의 취향이었으면 진작에 묘한 기류가 흘렀어야 하지 않을까? 얼굴도 어필 요소는 아닌 듯했다.

“나랑 사귀면 너희 가족들 친척들 하나하나 다 망가뜨려 줄게. 왜냐하면... 난 어쩌면... 널 괴롭히는 사람들을 너보다 더 싫어하거든. 그러니까... 나랑 붙어먹자. 그럼 다 해결돼.”

혼자 숨넘어가라 웃다가 기침까지 했다. 고개를 절레절레 흔든 끝에 본심이 툭 튀어나왔다.

“...개새끼야. 나랑 사귀면 안 되냐.”

혼잣말을 뱉고 눈을 비비는데 주머니에서 진동이 울렸다. 확인해 보니 최 여사였다. 한창 분식집 매상이 피크일 시간에 울린 전화. 매서운 직감이 등골을 스쳤다.

- 애기야. I was holding him back because I intentionally gave him food late, but these guys... these guys were planning to cause a traffic accident with Daeyoung on a motorcycle! Oh my god!

“What?”

- They’re going to dig up all of his friends’ and families’ personal information, right? Aren’t these guys criminals, even though they’re wearing only school uniforms?

There was actually a reason why Won Daeyoung completely expelled Kang Jonghyuk from Hyungil High School with such cruel and definite political maneuvering that was like a sentencing. Kang Jonghyuk was a vicious guy, and Won Daeyoung had to be even more vicious than him. If he had been a little lenient, he might have considered Won Daeyoung as someone he could beat.

However, Won Daeyoung was a 400m athlete who couldn’t survive with just venom and viciousness, and Choi Seolwoo was the same way.

“Just buy me a little more time. I’ll gather my friends and go right away.”

Choi Seolwoo covered his face with a mask, sneaked into the back door of the store, and sat in front of the CCTV screen.

Mrs. Choi barely managed to keep them in check by giving them a service. There were four guys gathered at the snack bar, talking nonsense, and I didn’t recognize them except for one third-year student from Hyungil High School.

I listened outside the door, but their conversation had shifted from the motorcycle accident to praising Kang Jong-hyuk.

“Did you hear that Kang Jong-hyuk went to the club room a few days ago? The guys who work there also bow down and get women for him if he gives them money. Kang Jong-hyuk’s employees are also protected by the staff. They say that because their parents give them money, they want them to act more violently. That’s why they’re on good terms with gangsters. There are those trashy tattooed guys who will do anything for money. Anyway, damn it, they like money.”

They were praising Kang Jong-hyuk’s misconduct and violence, while clearly boasting. How did a child who thought everyone should bow down to him no matter where he was, meet an enemy named Won Dae-young, get excluded from the group, and even seek revenge in such a pathetic way... .

If Choi Seol-woo became close to Ha Yeong-seo, was that the cause?

However, there were too many uncontrollable and unpredictable variables to blame for that. As expected, things in this world don’t go as planned. Just like Choi Seol-woo’s birth and his love for Won Dae-young.

“Let’s go! That guy and Kang Jong-hyuk are meeting today.”

“Where?”

“They said it was a club in Sinchon?”

The guys pretended to be regular customers and played a serious prank on them before paying the bill and leaving. Mrs. Choi, barely holding back her anger, brought out her cell phone. She had been recording their conversation since earlier, but it wasn’t at a level where she could properly understand it.

“Ha...! What did they say!”

Mrs. Choi, who was frustrated, got angry and recited what they said as she remembered it. Based on Mrs. «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» Choi's words, Choi Seol-woo reconstructed their conversation.

- That guy said he would cause the accident. If there's no evidence of instigation, it's a jackpot. He was hit by a motorcycle on the street, so how would he know and sue?

- Kang Jong-hyuk is also paying all the settlement money and compensation?

- Hey. But damn, it's like insurance fraud. If the police investigate, won't all the KakaoTalk history be restored?

- Don't you think Kang Jong-hyuk is that stupid? We're all talking on Telegram right now. It won't get caught. It won't get caught.

So that guy is trying to take away the race from Won Dae-young even if it means sacrificing his humanity to the devil.

That's his most beautiful honor.

Choi Seol-woo's eyes, filled with anger, sharply flew to the guys caught on CCTV.

Choi Seol-woo respected Won Dae-young running on the track more than anything else. The fire stronger than the will and determination he had on the track when he crossed the finish line in first place the day after his father's funeral. No one can take that away. No one.

"What should I do? Mom, report me? Call them all and make them kneel and hold them?"

"Mrs. Choi. Don't act tough."

"Even if they all gather around and act like idiots, they'll be intimidated in front of the police."

However, if Mrs. Choi reports that she heard something suspicious, she might get in trouble. Besides, would it be a criminal charge just for overhearing a crime? There was no way the police could confiscate their cell phones for a crime that hadn't even happened.

Seol-woo searched like crazy with Mrs. Choi. The conclusion was that, unless there was a special provision in the law, a criminal conspiracy alone would not be punishable.

However, even if they weren't punished, they had to report it. If you shake up the police with a report, they won't be able to hurt Won Dae-young in the same way. It will definitely have a preventive effect.

The problem is the evidence. The claim that they overheard the conversation was too weak evidence to proceed with the investigation. If Kang Jong-hyeok's parents mobilized their connections to block the initial investigation, and the guys erased all the evidence of the conversation during that time, the result could have been worse than not reporting it.