Seriously Yours

Chapter 29 - Chase

2004

"Ri Jeong Hyeok!"

I stopped from my tracks and turned around from the direction of the voice. A Junior student, based on his bar pin, came marching towards me. He swung his arm, striking the book I was reading, and grabbed me by the collar. The book landed on a student who was passing by and the other students stopped curiously.

His eyes were fiery, glaring at me like a madman. I would have understood if he punched me with all the anger he was showing, but instead, he remained standing in front of me, gritting his teeth.

"What do you want?" I asked in my usual stoic manner. His glare didn't scare me, not because I towered over him a few inches, nor because I was strongly built even in my age. But because there's no reason for me to be scared about. I am a peaceful and quiet guy.

"How could you act so righteous even now? My friend is already dead!" he yelled, tears welling up in his eyes, threatening to fall. But his resolve was stronger than his mourning.

I squinted my eyes, not understanding what he meant. But suddenly a thought struck me.

"If it weren't because of you. You righteous Ri of the neighborhood! My friend would still be alive today!"

* * *

PRESENT

The exhibitionist!

I have seen something like this before in the Korean dramas I have watched. Exhibitionist jumping in front of high school girls, scarring their memories with their horrendous nudity. Such a nonsense thing to do. Experiencing it firsthand is no joke, however.

I freeze in my spot in a daze, only to recover when the exhibitionist suddenly jumps and scrambles on his feet to leave the scene quickly. From the opposite side of the street came a tall figure of a man, running towards our direction.

"Se Ri!"

Jeong Hyeok?!

"Th-the exhibitionist!" I manage to scream.

The exhibitionist stumbles away to the alley on my left, where Jeong Hyeok dashes, after stopping briefly to check on me. Instinctively, I follow behind him.

The guy speeds past the alley and disappears around a corner, Jeong Hyeok still hot in his tail. When I reach the end of the alley, wooden boxes come flying towards my direction making me jolt forward in surprise. Things the exhibitionist might have hurled on the way to slow us down. Behind me comes the crash as they slam against the ground.

The distance between me and Jeong Hyeok grows but I continue running behind. In a flash, Jeong Hyeok suddenly ducks and disappears in a corner, the exhibitionist still in my line of sight.

'Where did he go?'

Despite that, I continue my pursuit. We reach a steep hill curve when I am about to close in. His coat flaps against the wind as he climbs, revealing to me once again a view of the full moon, even though there is none in the sky. Prompting me to fall behind and lose the gap.

'What an unsightly sight!' 

"Stop you pervert!" I scream at the top of my lungs.

He overturns a trash can that comes rolling over my direction which almost made me topple over. At that moment I know I am losing him, but my discouragement disappears when a silhouette emerges at the top.

I swear... Jeong Hyeok knows how to make a grand entrance.

The exhibitionist stumbles momentarily from surprise and tries to get away, scurrying back in my direction. But Jeong Hyeok leaps, seizing him right away. They tumble down and ram on the trash can below me.

The exhibitionist struggles to escape but Jeong Hyeok has already pinned him down. Jeong Hyeok rises, dragging the exhibitionist to stand on his feet as well. Twisting and grappling his hand at his back when he tries to break away from him.

"Aaaargh!" he cries.

Catching my breath as I walk closer to them, I stop in front of the exhibitionist. Jeong Hyeok pulls down the exhibitionist's hood, revealing his sweaty face, his breath labored from the chase.

"Yah! If you want to show your body make sure it's great! With abs and toned muscles!" I say, then lowering my eyes to his body, I scoff, " And that's the smallest thing I've ever seen. You just made my eyes unholy, you dirty thing! I-"

I raise my hand to hit him, his eyes scare away from the anticipated whack. But I stop mid-air seeing Jeong Hyeok's disapproving look.

Sighing, I turn my back slowly. However, without a thought, I turn to face them again and let out a smirk before releasing a strong blow that lands on the exhibitionist's most vulnerable part.

"Ugghhh!"

Jeong Hyeok's eyes grow big from surprise, empathizing with the exhibitionist who is wincing with pain. Well-deserved.

"Oh, here he is!"

From the distance, the neighbor patrollers who are near the area run towards the commotion. Jeong Hyeok walks next to me after surrendering the exhibitionist to the village people.

"Are you okay?"

"Okay? You're asking me if I'm okay after disappearing!"

"As you can see, I went to cut him out in front."

"Still! You shouldn't have left me alone with that pervert. What if he did somethi-"

"I wouldn't let anything happen to you."

His statement catches me off-guard. His words are like himself- direct, abrupt, concise, wasting no words. His eyes are steady and earnest, but I will not let them disarm me.

"Tch!" I shift my attention away from his face and cross my arms in front of me, hoping that he didn't see the slight change in my expression. Without a word I start to march back home only to stop abruptly when I notice something.

I turn my back facing him and run my eyes down to his body, making him stop from following me and step back a little nervously. He puts his hand protectively in front of his groin.

"Don't look at me like that," he says.

My eyebrows furrow inquisitively.

"You have the same look in your eyes a while ago when you kicked the exhibitionist!"

Water would have shot out of my nostrils if I were drinking, seeing how serious he looks. Did he just think I'm going to attack him too? I restrain my laugh.

"No, I mean- why are your clothes like that?"

He scans himself too and sighs, shaking some twigs and dirt stuck in his soaked shirt. Like any police and criminal chase, he strategized to beat the exhibitionist by cutting across someone's garden, however, something unexpected happened.

"That pool wasn't there the last time!" he complains.

Unable to hold back anymore, I burst out laughing. For two days in a row, he was H2O knocked out.

Water -2, Jeong Hyeok - 0