"Aaa... Leave my hand, you scoundrel! Leave my hand!"
At the same time, Dane grabs the boy's hand, lifts him onto his back, and slams him directly to the ground.
The forest floor is hard, and the impact is so severe that the boy's bones seem to crack. Seeing this, the other three boys rush toward Dane.
"Where did this bastard suddenly get so much strength? A moment ago, he was taking a beating like a wet cat," one of the boys says, looking at his friends while still holding a cigarette in his hand.
Dane raises his gaze toward the boy and starts walking toward him.
"Bastard? That's me. But don't forget my name—Jeren, you pups," Dane says, blood dripping from his mouth. He spits the blood onto the boy's face.
The blood gets into the boy's eyes, and before he can react, two of his friends grab Dane by each arm.
"You filthy scum, how dare you touch me? How dare you lay a hand on Jeren?" Jeren slams the two boys' heads together with force. Both of them feel dizzy, and soon all four boys are unconscious.
But even then, Jeren shows no mercy and continues to beat them. When he finally feels satisfied, he returns to the hospital and sits beside Liya.
"You've grown so much, little bird... but I never thought the next time we met, my sister would be lying in a hospital bed," Jeren says, clenching his fist tightly.
"This is all because of that coward Dane. He couldn't even protect you. But don't worry, I'm still here. I will avenge you against your enemies," Jeren vows.
---
The next day, when Dane opens his eyes, he finds himself in Liya's hospital ward, lying on the couch. He sits up immediately and looks at Liya, who is still sleeping just as she was last night.
Memories of the previous night rush through his mind like a whirlwind—how those boys beat him until he was half-dead. But he can't recall what happened after that.
"How did I get back to the hospital? And my wounds?" Dane notices that all his injuries have been treated and bandaged, but he has no idea who did it.
For now, he simply tells the nurse to take care of his sister and decides to head home.
His phone shows 100 missed calls from his colleagues since last night, and calls are still coming in.
However, Dane keeps his phone on silent, unwilling to answer. He doesn't want to leave his sister alone in this condition.
As Dane walks back home from the hospital, he observes his surroundings. Children are heading to school, their mothers carrying their bags.
A thought crosses Dane's mind—what if someone bullied Liya at school? What if those people were the ones who beat her so badly that she ended up in a coma?
The possibility troubles Dane deeply, but even if it were true, what could he do about it?
Lost in thought, he reaches his home and sees his neighbor aunt outside. He thinks she might know something.
"Aunty!" Dane calls out to her.
Hearing his voice, the aunt looks at him but immediately runs into her house and locks the door from inside.
Dane is stunned. What was that about? Why did she run away as if she had seen a ghost?
Scratching his head in confusion, Dane looks around and then heads toward his house.
His house is located by the roadside. The door is locked, but there's a small compartment above it where they always keep a spare key.
Dane uses the key to unlock the door but feels as though someone is watching him. He turns around to look, but no one is there, so he enters the house and locks the door behind him.
What he sees inside leaves him in shock. All the clothes from the cupboard are scattered on the floor, and the entire house is in disarray, as if someone had been searching for something.
At first glance, Dane thinks it's a robbery, but upon checking, he finds that the money Liya had saved is still safely stored in the locker.
"What is this? If it's not a robbery, then who made this mess? Could it have been Liya?" Dane wonders.
Over the next hour, Dane cleans up the entire house. The thought of calling the police crosses his mind, but since nothing was stolen, what would he tell them?
Instead, he takes a bath, makes instant noodles, eats them, locks the house, and heads back to the hospital.
Even on his way, Dane feels like someone is following him. But every time he turns around, there's no one there.
He heads straight to the hospital, and just as he's about to approach Liya, he notices a boy already standing by her side. Seeing him, Dane immediately assumes that the thugs from last night have returned. Without wasting a second, he rushes over and pushes the boy away from his sister.
"Stay away from Liya!" he shouts.
But when he looks at the boy, he realizes he's just a kid, around Liya's age—seventeen years old.
"Dane bro, you're back!" The boy's eyes fill with tears upon seeing Dane, and he hugs him tightly.
However, Dane can't recall ever meeting this boy before.
"Who are you? Do I even know you?" Dane asks, pushing the boy away.
"Did you forget? I'm Coco, Liya's friend," the boy says.
As Dane thinks more deeply, he finally remembers who Coco is—the studious bookworm kid who was always buried in his books.
"Ah, now I remember—bookworm Coco," Dane says, nodding in satisfaction as the memory comes back to him.
Later, Dane steps outside the ward to talk to Coco. He questions him about how Liya ended up in a coma. That's when he learns the truth—Liya was being bullied at school.
Some girls, jealous of Liya, would stop her after school every day. They would beat her, force her to do their work, and torment her endlessly.