* * *

The three brothers sat in the living room, faces grim.

“Did you confirm it?”

“Yeah.”

“How bad is it?”

Jungwoo, his face shadowed with worry, looked over at Jungjin, who shut his eyes before giving a subtle nod.

“It’s exactly as we thought.”

“That’s insane! Who would do this?”

“Calm down. We should’ve known sooner if Jungin was holding back from telling us.”

Does he still not trust us?

To think they hadn’t noticed what Jungin had endured until it left marks on his body was unbearable for them.

Recalling the bruises and cuts he’d seen, Jungjin’s heart ached, but he set his feelings aside.

With a steely resolve, he looked at his brothers.

“We need to know exactly what’s happening.”

“Was it at school? Or… here?”

Recalling the first time Jungin had entered their home, Jungwoo spoke hesitantly, fearing that perhaps… their mother was involved.

“We’ll have to look into it—whether it’s happening at school or here at home.”

Jungjin gripped his phone tightly, his knuckles white as he dialed a number.

“Gather all the household staff in the guest house by 8 a.m. tomorrow. I’ll need to ask each of them some questions.”

He issued the order to the family’s head butler with chilling calmness, though his rage was unmistakable.

The butler stammered in response, but Jungjin was hardly composed himself, his mind lingering on his brother’s bruises.

Though he blamed himself for failing to protect Jungin, he also held the staff responsible for any harm that happened while he wasn’t present.

Turning to Jungseo, who looked exhausted, he asked quietly, “Hyung, about the school…”

“We have someone who can look into it. Not my first choice, but he’ll do.”

Thinking of the contact from the Yeonhwa Group, who’d reached out earlier that day, Jungjin sighed deeply.

“I’ll handle the matter with Mother, hyung.”

“Alright.”

“And I… I’ll…”

Jungseo started to say, but Jungjin shook his head firmly, saying he’d do nothing.

“Just wait. But if we do find the ones who hurt our little brother… I’ll make them pay.”

With resolute faces, the brothers concluded their plans.

Only when Jungin came downstairs the next morning did they manage to hide their steely resolve and assume calm expressions, carefully controlling their scents.

---

“You seem to be in a good mood today.”

At the sound of the driver’s voice, Jungin looked up.

Meeting his eyes through the rearview mirror, he smiled awkwardly, nodding slightly.

How could he not be?

Today was finally the long-awaited day.

He had high expectations for how much fun today would bring.

As he stepped out of the car and headed towards the main gate, someone grabbed his hand from behind.

“Ah, you scared me.”

“Why didn’t you answer my calls?”

Jungin tilted his head as he looked at Beomhyeon, who was breathing heavily and frowning.

Had he missed a message?

He tapped on his phone screen, and a series of unread messages from Beomhyeon popped up.

“Oh… I didn’t notice because I had it on silent.”

“What…?”

Jungin felt a bit guilty as he saw Beomhyeon’s exasperated look. He chuckled awkwardly, forcing a smile, but Beomhyeon gritted his teeth and took Jungin’s phone, turning off the silent mode himself.

“You’re the first person who’s ever ignored my messages.”

Wait, was this one of those cliché scenes from dramas?

Like, “You’re the first person to treat me like this.”

“Oh, come on, it happens. Sorry, I’ll make sure to respond properly from now on.”

Rushing to change the subject, Jungin grabbed his arm and started heading towards the school.

As they entered the classroom together, the eyes of their classmates turned towards them.

Last night, while eating with Beomhyeon, he’d learned something new: they were actually in the same class.

Since they’d both recently returned from long stints abroad, it seemed neither of them had realized the other’s presence until now.

Jungin glanced at Beomhyeon as he took the seat next to him.

“Oh, this spot was open—”

“They offered to switch.”

“Oh, really?”

Since there were other empty seats and the teacher usually didn’t mind seat changes, it didn’t seem like an issue.

Jungin hung his bag on the side of his desk and used his phone’s light to thoroughly inspect the desk drawer.

Noticing his behavior, Beomhyeon squinted and asked curiously,

“What are you doing?”

“Just checking if there’s anything inside.”

Thankfully, nothing today.

He’d gotten into the habit of inspecting his desk drawer first thing, as he hated the feeling of getting nicked by a hidden razor blade.

Sensing a strange chill in the air, Jungin looked up to see that the classroom was unusually quiet today.

‘What’s going on?’

Looking around with a wary expression, he noticed the tense atmosphere and whispered to Beomhyeon.

“Tell me what they’ve done to you.”

“Hey…”

Though he’d spoken quietly, the room was so silent someone might have overheard.

Jungin, panicking, poked his thigh and shook his head, but Beomhyeon simply smiled and showed him a scribbled note on his notebook.

[Write it all down here.]

It felt like he was tattling to an older sibling, but since it’d all come out sooner or later, maybe it didn’t matter.

Glancing around cautiously, Jungin began listing the incidents he’d endured at school: being mocked about his personal life, being locked in the restroom with cold water thrown on him, his bag trashed, rotten milk spilled in his locker, his things deliberately broken, razor blades slipped into his desk drawer, and smaller incidents like tripping him, stealing his uniforms, and more.

The list went on so long his wrist started to ache, and he noticed Beomhyeon’s expression growing darker with each item he read.

It wasn’t even the full story.

He debated whether to include the homeroom teacher’s sly harassment just as the teacher walked into the room.

“Why so quiet today, Class 5?”

Despite the teacher’s upbeat tone, the class remained silent as if they had glue sealing their lips.

“Oh, Beomhyeon, it’s been a while. Did you have a good time in the States?”

It was the first time Jungin had heard the teacher speak so warmly.

He hadn’t realized the teacher could smile like that.

Spotting Jungin sitting beside Beomhyeon, the teacher wrinkled his nose and sighed before saying,

“Are you comfortable in that seat? Feel free to move somewhere else if you’d like—”

“I prefer it here.”

“Is that so? Well, as long as you’re comfortable… Anyway, Class 5, today is a big day, as you all know. So please, just for today, keep out of trouble. Especially you, Lee Jungin. Do you understand?”

“Yes.”

‘What did I even do? I’m the one who’s been targeted.’

The teacher’s public comments always put Jungin in a difficult spot.

“By the way, where’s Park Hyuntae? Is he still absent?”

Now that he thought about it, Hyuntae wasn’t there, though his usual sidekicks were.

Maybe he was just running late?

“That kid…”

Shaking his head in mild frustration, the teacher sighed, glanced at the attendance list, and continued,

“I’ll reach out to Hyuntae myself. Alright, let’s wrap up the homeroom session. Make sure you’re prepared for class. See you all later.”

No one spoke as the teacher left.

What on earth was going on?

Could it be… because of Beomhyeon?

Jungin glanced up, suspicious, and saw Beomhyeon shrugging his shoulders, mouthing, “What?”

He had his doubts, but there was no proof.

“First period is music. Let’s go.”

“Sure.”

Just as he’d promised, Beomhyeon grabbed his hand, holding him close as they left the classroom.

Jungin could feel eyes boring into his back, but he tried his best to ignore them as he walked alongside Beomhyeon.

* * *