Chapter 189 – The Phone That Woke Up

Chapter 189: Chapter 189 – The Phone That Woke Up

Central School N.4

The end of the first class.

The classroom slowly filled with chatter.

The students got up from their seats; some were already reaching for their phones, while others were just stretching their legs.

- (Me). "..."

Sohen sat at his desk by the window and took out the device he’d found again.

The screen remained black.

He pressed the power button a few times...

- (Me). "Shit..."

Nothing happened.

He held it down longer.

- (Me). "..."

Silence.

- (Me). "What the hell..."

Sakura, who was sitting in front of her and slightly to the side, turned around in her chair.

- (Sakura). "Still won’t turn on?"

- (Me). "Yeah."

Neburo leaned over the aisle between the desks.

- (Neburo). "Maybe it’s dead? Or is there something wrong with the power button?"

Sakura shrugged.

- (Sakura). "The smartest thing to do is give it to the homeroom teacher. Let him take it to the police. Maybe the owner has already reported it."

Neburo snorted immediately.

- (Neburo). "Come on. We should take it to a real expert. Let them take a look inside. If no one comes forward, we’ll keep it for ourselves. A new phone wouldn’t hurt anyone."

Sakura frowned.

- (Sakura). "It belongs to someone else. We can’t just take it."

- (Neburo). "And is your idea any better? Hand it over to the police so they can keep it in a drawer for half a year?"

They began arguing quietly, cutting each other off.

Sohen raised his hand, stopping them both.

- (Me). "Stop. Calm down. I have my own opinion."

- (Sakura). "???"

- (Neburo). "???"

Both fell silent and looked at him.

- (Me). "First, let’s just charge it. Most likely, the battery just died. If I can’t figure out whose it is on my own, I’ll ask my mom or grandma for help. I found it in my yard. We haven’t had any guests lately. There’s almost no fence between us and the neighbors, so someone might have accidentally wandered onto our property while doing something and left it behind."

Neburo was about to object, and Sakura opened her mouth too, but just then the bell rang sharply, signaling the next class.

The argument stopped instantly.

Everyone quickly returned to their seats.

...

Lunch break.

- (Me). "That damn history teacher. Did he deliberately pick a topic we hadn’t covered yet with our old teacher? What a jerk..."

Sohen was almost the last to finish his history test.

By the time he finally stepped out into the hallway, most of the students had long since dispersed.

Neburo and Sakura walked ahead, saying they’d wait for him in the cafeteria.

Sohen walked calmly down the empty hallway, carrying his backpack on one shoulder.

A turn, another hallway and four high school seniors came straight toward him.

He recognized them immediately.

- (Me). "Shit. Not them..."

His relationship with these guys had long since ceased to be friendly.

- (Me). "..."

The four high schoolers stood in a tight group by the window, blocking the passage to the stairs leading down to the cafeteria.

They spotted him right away.

The first to notice was the one standing slightly ahead of the others.

Lee Beck Chan.

- (Lee Beck Chan). "Hehehe... Look who’s here..."

He was the tallest of the trio that usually hung around the school, and the most heavily built.

His shoulders were broad, his arms thick, and his neck short and sturdy.

Even in his school uniform, it was clear that his body was accustomed to physical exertion.

His face was square, with a heavy lower jaw; his black hair was cut short; his gaze was intense and always slightly narrowed, as if he were constantly assessing something.

At school, he was known as someone you’d be better off not crossing paths with.

His family was dysfunctional: his father was a drug addict, and his mother an alcoholic.

Lee Beck himself had been a member of a local criminal gang since the age of fourteen; the gang was notorious for racketeering and armed robberies.

- (Me). "..."

His relationship with Sohen had soured quite some time ago.

Back then, Sohen saw Lee Beck and two of his friends dragging a younger student by the collar and preparing to "explain" something to him with their fists down the stairs.

The protagonist intervened and, you could say, saved the innocent boy, but from that day on, he himself ended up on the list of those worth "checking out."

Now Lee Beck smiled slightly.

- (Lee Beck Chan). "Look, guys. Our ’new friend’ has shown up... Hey, shorty."

- (Me). "..."

The other three guys spread out a little wider, blocking the path even more securely.

One was skinny, with a long face, and was constantly chewing gum, flipping it from one side of his mouth to the other.

The second was stocky but shorter than Lee Beck, with a noticeable scar above his right eyebrow, which he sometimes touched nervously with his finger.

The third one stood a little behind the others, his hands in his pockets, watching silently as if he didn’t care, but his eyes were alert.

Sohen gripped the straps of his backpack with his fingers. His heart pounded harder, but he tried to keep his face calm.

- (Me). "I... need to go to the cafeteria."

- (Lee Beck Chan). "To the cafeteria?"

Lee Beck took a step closer.

The floor creaked slightly under his weight.

- (Lee Beck Chan). "Aren’t you going to treat me and my crew?"

The skinny guy laughed briefly, almost squeakily.

- (Skinny Guy). "Yeah, treat us. We’re hungry, too."

The stocky guy with the scar snorted and nudged Lee Beck in the side with his elbow.

- (Stocky Guy). "Maybe he’s got a whole cafeteria’s worth in his backpack."

Sohen gripped the straps tighter.

- (Me). "I don’t have anything... I’ll buy something at the school cafeteria."

Lee Beck took another step.

The shadow from his shoulders fell across Sohen.

- (Lee Beck Chan). "Nothing? Fine. Then what’s in your pockets?"

- (Me). "..."

- (Lee Beck Chan). "I can’t hear you. Show me."

Sohen tried to go around them on the left.

Lee Bek quickly reached out and grabbed him firmly by the shoulder.

His fingers dug in deep.

- (Me). "Ouch!..."

- (Lee Beck Chan). "I said — show me. Don’t make me repeat myself."

- (Me). "I..."

- (Lee Beck Chan). "Then do I have to rip your ears off? Quickly show me everything you’ve got in your pockets!"

- (Me). "..."

Sohen was silent for a few seconds.

Lee Beck’s gaze never left him.

The other three were silent too, waiting.

The hallway was empty, and most of the students had gone downstairs long ago.

There was no one to see.

There was no one to call for help.

(Damn...)

Finally, Sohen slowly reached into the inside pocket of his jacket.

He pulled out everything he had: a few crumpled small bills and a handful of small coins that jingled in his palm.

Lee Beck took the money with one hand, without even counting it, and tossed it to the other guy.

The guy quickly stuffed it all into his pants pocket.

- (Lee Beck Chan). "Not much... but it’ll do for today. Next time, bring more, or... it’ll hurt, hehehe."

He squeezed Sohen’s shoulder even harder once more, as if checking to see if he’d flinch again, and then shoved him sharply to the side.

- (Me). "Ahh?!..."

Not with all his strength, just enough to make the twelve-year-old boy lose his balance.

Sohen stumbled, hit his elbow against the cold wall, and sat down on the floor.

His backpack slid off his shoulder and hit the floor with a thud.

His elbow was on fire.

Lee Beck was already walking away, laughing low and short.

- (Lee Beck Chan). "Loser. Stay there until we leave. Next time, don’t forget to say hello more politely."

The skinny one laughed again.

— (Skinny Guy). "See you later, shorty."

The stocky one just snorted, and the third one turned away without a word.

All four walked down the hallway, laughing.

A few seconds later, silence fell.

- (Me). "..."

At that moment, Sohen sat there, staring at the floor.

Anger churned in his chest... heavy, powerless, a feeling he’d known for months now.

He clenched his fists so tightly that his fingernails dug into his palms, leaving white crescents.

He wanted to stand up, shout after them, rush after them, but... he did nothing.

He didn’t shout.

He didn’t stand up right away.

He was just waiting for his breathing to steady and his hands to stop shaking.

He’d already tried to resist at the beginning... the result was disappointing.

- (Me). "Phew..."

Sohen stood up, picked up his backpack, brushed the dust off his sleeve, and slowly walked toward the dining hall.

His elbow kept aching.

...

Sakura and Neburo were already sitting at a table in the back by the window, away from the entrance and the crowd.

In front of them were several small bowls of food.

Neburo was munching on a frozen tangerine, while Sakura was poking at her rice with chopsticks, occasionally glancing up at the door.

When Sohen approached and sat down across from them, they both looked up immediately.

- (Neburo). "What took you so long? We’ve already eaten almost half of it. We thought you weren’t coming at all."

Sakura set down her chopsticks and looked at him intently.

- (Sakura). "You turned in your test late, didn’t you? Or was it something else?"

Sohen set his backpack on the floor next to the chair leg, took out his lunchbox, which Karin had lovingly prepared and spent a moment silently opening the lid.

His hands were still trembling slightly as he took out his chopsticks.

- (Me). "No... It wasn’t just the test."

- (Neburo). "Then what?"

Neburo leaned in closer.

- (Neburo). "You seem... strange."

Sohen looked up.

His gaze was calm, but the tension hadn’t completely faded from the corners of his mouth and around his eyes

- (Me). "I ran into ’Pulgasari’ Lee Beck Chan and his crew. By the stairs leading up here."

Neburo slowly chewed and swallowed.

His face immediately grew more serious.

- (Neburo). "Again? How many times has this happened this month?"

- (Me). "I didn’t count it. They asked where I was going. Even though they already knew. Then Lee Beck grabbed me by the shoulder... right here."

Sohen briefly touched the spot where he could still feel a dull ache.

- (Me). "He told me to show him what was in my pockets. He took everything I had. Money for lunch and for the ride home. Then he shoved me. I fell. They left. They called me... a loser."

- (Neburo). "..."

- (Sakura). "..."

Sakura frowned.

Her fingers gripped the chopsticks tighter.

- (Sakura). "How much did you give up this time?"

- (Me). "Everything. Not much. A few bills and some change."

Neburo clenched his fist on the table so tightly that his knuckles turned white.

- (Neburo). "That bastard... We have to tell someone. The homeroom teacher. Or the principal. Or just call the police."

- (Me). "And then what?"

Sohen replied, poking at his rice, which he had barely touched.

- (Me). "He’ll say I fell on my own. Or that we were just talking. He always has three witnesses who’ll back up anything he says. And I’m alone. And younger. Plus, it seems like he has some connections with the police."

Sakura sighed heavily.

- (Sakura). "What if we tell Mom? Or Grandma?"

- (Me). "Then they’ll go to school. They’ll talk to the principal. Lee Beck will keep quiet for a few days, act all nice, and then start up again. I’ve tried that before... it only made things worse."

- (Neburo). "..."

- (Sakura). "..."

They were silent for what felt like a long minute.

Neburo crossed his arms angrily and looked down.

Sakura’s gaze was fixed off to the side, and her face showed nothing but pity and worry.

- (Neburo). "He’ll get his comeuppance eventually. Either someone stronger will come along, or he’ll get himself into trouble with those ’grown-up’ friends of his."

Sohen just nodded and forced himself to start eating.

The food tasted bland, and his throat felt tight.

Eventually, they changed the subject, focusing on their own interests.

When lunch was over, the three friends walked back to class together.

The afternoon classes proceeded at their usual pace.

Sohen sat at his desk, took notes, answered when called on, opened his textbooks, and so on.

The day ended.

The bell rang.

The schoolchildren dispersed.

...

Evening.

In his room, Sohen sat at the table under a desk lamp, going over his notebooks.

He had a lot of homework assigned for tomorrow.

- (Me). "I’d rather have gone home earlier than practiced football moves with Neburo until almost evening..."

He got started late.

At first, he sat there for a long time staring at the wall, going over events from the past.

Then he forced himself to open his first biology notebook.

Time slipped by unnoticed.

By the time he got to the third problem, his eyes were already starting to close on their own.

The letters were blurring.

- (Me). "Don’t fall asleep... They’ll eat me alive if I don’t write these science papers..." ℯ

He shook his head several times, rubbed his face with his palms, stood up, paced the room, and drank water from a bottle.

- (Me). "..."

Nothing really helped.

His eyelids grew heavier with every passing minute.

Finally, he rested his head on his folded arms, his face right on the open page with the examples.

His cheek touched the paper.

His breathing evened out.

He fell asleep just like that... in the middle of an unfinished assignment, under the white light of the lamp.

(~sound of a bell)

On the same desk, slightly to the side of the notebooks and textbooks, sat a charger.

Plugged into it was the phone that Sohen had found near his house that morning.

Suddenly, the screen, which had shown no signs of life all day, lit up and...

- (Me). "Where am I?..."

Young boy, who had just opened his eyes, looked around in confusion at the world around him, which... was hard to call real.