"Hey little piggy, why don't you go oink oink"
Upon my return with Ajin, I saw that Hechan and a few boys - and also some girls including Soojin - were gathered around the back of the classroom. Donsu was kneeling on the floor right in the middle of them looking down, his face distorted in horror and shame.
"I asked you to go get me something nice to eat and you brought this rubbish that only pigs would eat. So why don't you eat it yourself you fucking pig?"
Hechan was goading Donsu and was shoving some sort of a lunch package toward Donsu with his foot.
Other boys standing around him - the usual crew that I was all too familiar with - were chuckling.
Donso just knelt there quietly, powerless and completely resigned to being treated this way. I knew this feeling too.
I don't know what came over me, but before I knew it I was walking directly toward them, ignoring Ajin cautiously pulling me back by the sleeve.
It wasn't because I wanted to help Donsu. Actually, I always hated that fat fuck because he used to look down on me although we were both victims of Hechan's bullying. It also wasn't because I was angry at Hechan. In this life, I just wanted to have nothing to do with him. No matter how horrible he was to others, I wouldn't care and just go my way because I really didn't want to get involved again.
Yet there I was, stepping in to put myself between Hechan and Donsu.
"Stop it"
I said firmly looking Hechan directly in the eyes, which I'd never managed to do even once as my previous self. He seemed a bit taken aback initially but that quickly changed into a grin of amusement.
"Ah, I think you are misunderstanding something, Jenn. We are just doing some role-play. Donsu here likes this sort of thing, right Donsu?"
"Ye…yes"
"Say it clearly!"
"I… I like being treated like a pig"
"You heard him right? We are just helping him out that's all"
That brought a round of laughter for the bullies.
'Jenn, what are you doing?!', Ajin was whispering shouting into my ear.
"Is that true? Are you a pig?", I asked Donsu.
It looked like he found it very painful to be called a pig by me unexpectedly and could not answer.
"I will ask again, are you a pig?"
"SAY IT!", Hechan shouted at Donsu.
"I…"
Donsu couldn't answer. I knew he couldn't.
It's one thing to lower yourself in front of your bullies and let them stomp you, but it's another level of humiliation to have this done in front of other people. But you get used to that quickly too. Once all your classmates have seen you being treated like this you are a lost cause and kinda give up trying to save your face in any way. Everyone has seen you getting humiliated already.
But when a new person comes to the scene it changes the dynamics a bit. To Hechan, Donsu was already fully defeated and he would do and say whatever he was told to do, but to say it to a new (and pretty) girl that just joined the class? That was the next-level shit and Donsu simply hadn't been bullied long enough to cross that line easily, yet.
Each second that passed where Donsu could not answer was a moment of defiance of Hechan's order. And of course, he wasn't having any of it.
"Grab him. Looks like this little piggy needs some spanking"
Two boys quickly jumped onto Donsu, one of them head-locking him from behind while another one started to undo Donsu's belt.
"No! No! Not this! Not here! I'm sorry!", Donsu was getting desperate.
"Then say it!"
"I'm a pig! I'm a pig! I'm a pig…".
"Ha! You heard him now, right?", Hechan proclaimed victoriously.
"I see, I guess he is indeed a pig then"
Everyone seemed surprised that I so casually accepted that Donsu was a pig.
"That's a pity because I thought maybe I'd help a fellow human being. But I shouldn't interfere between a pig and its owner. I apologize"
That made Hechan burst out laughing and the two guys holding Donsu let him go, and he immediately dropped to his knees.
"Man, that's cold", I heard one of Hechan's boys remark as I was walking back to my seat.
Then the bell for the next class rang and everyone scuttled.
I was crying and raging in my heart, but that wasn't for Hechan or Donsu.
It was for my old self.