Daewon Kim walked through the school hallways,trying to ignore the stares and whispers that followed him everywhere. His head was down, his eyes focused on the ground hoping to get through the day unnoticed or bullied.
"Hey loser! What's the matter? Lost your way? Did you forget where you were heading already?"
Daewon stopped walking and stood still, He didn't even need to turn around to know who it was. He already knew it was Joon Baek, the school's most frightened student. A bully during school hours and a gangster during his free time. Joon's friend group, which always happened to be with him. Were right next to him. Before Daewon could move again and start walking away, Joon took a step in front and reached to shove him hard into a locker.
The loud clang of the metal echoed through the school hallways, making Daewon shake in pain. His classmates laughed at him, their voices were mixing with the noise of the locker doors getting closed.
"Leave him alone," someone muttered, but it didn't matter at all. No one has ever stood up for Daewon. The bell rang, interrupting the laughter, and Daewon hurried to gather his thinghs and disappear into the next class. But the day didn't get any better.
In every hallway,someone was waiting to either trip him, bump into him or even throw a cruel look at him. Each time, Daewon clenched his fists, swallowed his pride and kept walking. He didn't fight back at all because of his lack of skills. He never fought back.
By the time the final bell rang, Daewon's body was in pain, and his heart felt heavier. He practically ran home, desperate to leave the school behind and clear his mind.
When Daewon got home, he quietly opened the door and stepped inside. The familiar warmth of his apartment surrounded him, but it didn't ease heavy feeling in his chest. As he got inside, Daewon took his shoes off, he then dropped his school bag near the door and stood still for a moment. He then took a deep breath.
"Daewon is that you?" his mother called from the kitchen.
"Yeah Mom, I'm home" he replied,trying to keep his voice steady even tho his throat felt tight.
His mom, Haejin, peeked out from the kitchen. Her kind eyes softened as soon as she saw him. "You're late. Is everything okay?"
Daewon hesitated. He knew he should tell her about the awful day he had today, but instead he muttered and lied, "Yeah... I stayed back after school. I went to the library and studied for tomorrow's quiz."
Haejin walked over and she gently placed a hand on his shoulder "You've been so quiet lately. Are you sure everything is alright? You know you can talk to me if something is bothering you, right?"
Daewon then gave her a soft smile. "I know mom, I'm fine. I'm just a little bit tired, that's all."
She noticed something was off, she was concerned he wasn't doing well, but she didn't put more pressure on him. "Alright sweetheart. Go rest now. I'll let you know when dinner's ready!"
"Thanks mom... I love you." he whispered and starded heading towards his room. On the way, he passed by his younger brother Jinwoo, who was on the couch, stretched out, playing video games.
"Hey big bro," Jinwoo said, not looking away from the screen for even a second. "Wanna help me finish this level later? I'm stuck on this boss since yesterday."
"Yeah later, maybe." Daewon replied softly, ruffling Jinwoo's hair as he passed. Jinwoo grinned but he still stayed focus on the game, hoping he would actually beat the boss by himself and surprise Daewon.
Daewon stepped in his room and close the door quietly. He looked around his room, it felt more like a prison tonight. Today's incidents have flashed in his mind. Joon pushing him into the locker and humiliating him, all the whispers and laughter that got spread around, the looks from his classmates who did nothing but just stare at him getting bullied.
"Why can't I just disappear, or even die...."
He then sat on the edge of his bed, staring at the ceiling hopeless. The silence in his room pressed him down, his heart beats were loud and fast. Almost as if his heart was about to explode. His eyes were focused to an old family photo on the wall. In the photo there were his parents, his little brother Jinwoo who was sitting on his dad's lap and held his mom's hand, his older brother Jinseok who was ruffling his hair while they were both standing beside their parents, smiling. He barely recognized the boy in the picture, as if it wasn't even him. Back then life seemed simpler and happier for Daewon, he then started clenching his fists.
Frustration then started to build inside him, it felt like a storm. Before he knew it, he was already up, grabbing books and papers from his desk and he started throwing them across his room. His breathing was unequal, his fists still clenched. He needed to vent it all somehow and calm himself, The anger, the sadness, the helplessness, all of it to just disappear.
As he was about to reach for the family photo and throw it, something caught his attention and made him stop. He noticed that on the back of the picture frame, a shiny metallic object was sticked onto it. Staring at it, he decided to carefully flip it over. He then found out that the small metallic object was a tiny, old key.
"What's this"
His anger slowly faded, and instead of stress, curiosity hit him. Daewon carefully grabbed the key and held it in his hand gently. The key was quite rusty but still in good condition. He started looking around his room, wondering where the key would fit.
After a few good minutes of searching, Daewon noticed a small bump under his carpet in the corner of the room. As he slowly pulled back the carpet, Daewon started shaking in curiosity and sweating due to suspense. He found a hidden safe built inside his floor.
Daewon's hands started shaking as soon as he inserted the key into the safe lock. With a quiet click then, the safe opened slowly. Inside the safe were old scrolls and books with worn and pale covers. The titles caught Daewon's eye.
The titles were simple and straight to the point, they were either written as "Learn How To Fight" "Martial Arts" or even just simply "Fight"
Daewon carefully picked up one of the scrolls from the safe and enrolled it slowly. The pages were filled with instructions about "How to punch" "How to stand" "How to stay balanced" and even "How to defense". Each of those moves were drawn out and explained step by step on how to practice them.
For the first time in a while, Daewon has actually felt something other than fear and insecurity. He finally felt hope...
"Maybe I don't have to be the the quiet kid everyone bullies and picks on. Maybe I don't need to run away anymore, run from my problems, run from people and actually stop being a ghost or just a punching bag. Maybe I can actually learn how to defend myself and fight back"
A soft knock on the door interrrupted Daewon from his thoughts. "Daewon?" Jinwoo softly called him. "Mom told me to tell you that dinner's ready."
"Oh right, I'll be there in a minute, you can go and continue your game until I finish cleaning here." Daewon answered with a sudden tone.
"All right, don't take too long because mom will blame me after hahah."
Daewon then, he looked at the books on the ground and the scroll in his hands, grabbing it tightly, making sure he will never let go of them. Those weren't just old books or scrolls from Daewon's perspective. Those books were his chance, a chance that will completely change his life.
Taking a deep breath, He confidentially tells himself "I am going to learn how to fight, and maybe... just maybe, I'll finally be able to get my courage back."
For the first time in a long while, Daewon finally felt eagerness and determination, he finally had a goal that he knew he will achieve only with hard work and no give ups. He didn't know for certain what would come next, but he surely knew one thing...
And that is that he wouldn't waste his chance and he will face all the obstacles until he achieves his goal.