Bully Me ✔️

28. For Himself

"Oh! Look who we have here, the little boy who ran away from home." Wooshik snarls, tilting his head to the side. "Leave my hand before you face the consequences."

"Kihyun!" His mother calls out to him, choking on a sob. "Why are you here? Leave right now!" She pulls at the hem of his shirt. "Go!"

The boy turns to her, gritting his teeth. "Do you even know what he did? He's a murderer! Sehyuk...Eomma, you don't understand what kind of a m—"

A heavy smack across his face has Kihyun tumbling, staggering to keep himself standing.

"How dare you come in here and talk nonsense!" Wooshik roars, grabbing Kihyun by the collar of his top and slapping him again, then twice more.

The burn is too familiar for Kihyun but he doesn't falter, tightens his jaw to lower the impact of the next punch. He falls to the floor, wincing at the hurt gashing his back.

"Wooshik! He's your son!" Hyesuk cries, tears streaming down her face as she comes to wrap her arms around the man's lower legs, trying to stop him from moving towards Kihyun. "You have me, let him go!"

"This relentless bitch," Wooshik mutters under his breath before he hauls his wife like she weights nothing, throwing her on the floor. "I'll be done with you first."

Kihyun gets up and runs to stop his father but the man pushes him and sends him reeling to the floor once again, his head crashing into the front footboard of the bed. He breathes heavily, the cool tiled floor serving as ice over his slapped cheek. For a moment he closes his eyes, bathing in it and when he opens them back, he sees it.

A pistol stashed under the bed.

With a trembling hand, Kihyun reaches for it, head spiraling at the feel of the metal clasped between his fingers now. He hears his mother let out a scream and he tightens his grip around the weapon. He could just scare his father with it a little till he and his mother escape from this hellhole today.

Kihyun stands up slowly, pulling the lever of the gun down. The pistol is heavy in his hands but they have to come out of this alive. So, he puts both of his hands together and holds the gun firmly, straightening out his arms to aim. "Stop...j-just—" his voice is barely a whisper, locked out in his throat. He doesn't know if it's because he feels he's a monster just like his father or if he's a wimp, too scared to execute his plan.

Among the cries of his mother and ferocious attacks of his father, a new pair of jogging footsteps have Kihyun turning his head to the door. His breath hitches at the sight of the figure panting at the foot of the bedroom door.

Min Sehyuk. Still wearing in-patient clothes and band-aids sticking to his face. The boy shakes his head vigorously. "D-don't..." he whispers, bringing a hand to his neck to soothe it, facial features scrunching in slight pain.

After everything that transpired between them, it's beyond Kihyun's comprehension as to why Sehyuk is here. It's the last place or even the last person on earth he should be gracing his presence with. Does his father not scare him? And why would he even worry about Kihyun? He hurt him, so Sehyuk should hurt him back, that's how things work, don't they? He should be as far as possible from here after almost losing his life, not stand between the very people who hurt him.

Sehyuk's addition to the situation right now messes up his plans. He needs the boy to leave before his father sees him and does something worse.

"Y-you're...not...h-him..." Sehyuk murmurs, taking a step into the room.

His father is too absorbed to notice what's happening behind him.

Kihyun almost tears at the prospect of Sehyuk being able to speak again. But it's different, his voice. It's deeper and hoarse. But he can speak, nonetheless. And that's more than enough for now.