|Weak Hero| Such a Violent Life

Such a Violent Life

'Keep it together, Stephen,'

Stephen Ahn smiled as he listened to Gray Yeon and his friends tell him all about what had happened in Yeongdeungpo.

'I don't want to ruin the mood,'

Soon it started getting late so they had to split up. Gray and his friends were staying at a motel. Stephen headed back to his apartment. His mother was working the night shift so Stephen was all alone.

'I don't want Gray to worry about me,'

Stephen's smile fell. He let his mask drop as he trudged into his bedroom and collapsed onto his bed.

'I thought by having them focus all of their attention on me, it'd keep Gray safe...'

He remembered how, prior to falling from the rooftop, all of the physical bullying was only done to him. They only punched, kicked, and beat him up. They did insult both of them behind their backs, but they never once laid a finger on Gray.

From what Gray had told him, after he became comatose, the bullies continued to insult them behind their backs. When Gray returned to school after two months of absence, upon seeing him, Oswald Yang and his gang insulted Gray. That same day, Gray got revenge and defeated all three bullies.

'I never wanted Gray to become someone violent. I never wanted him to take on such a burden. They were all supposed to focus on me, only me. They were supposed to forget about Gray and let him blend back into the background. It's because of me that Gray lost all chances of getting into a science high school. He couldn't get into any high school except Eunjang...'

He remembered all the fights that Gray told him about. There were so many fights in Yeongdeungpo. Gray had been forced to fight in order to survive. Although Gray's friends mentioned that Gray was great at dodging and barely got injured, he remembered them mentioning how Gray was hospitalized for a few days because of a fight on a rooftop.

'Gray became traumatized by rooftops because of me. I caused his mind...his heart...so much anguish. If he hadn't frozen up by that trauma, he wouldn't have gotten hurt so badly during that fight,'

Stephen remembered how Gray and all of his friends all talked so casually about the fights they had to endure. They were all so proud and eager to talk about their wins. One of them, Eugene Gale, showed Stephen something called the Shuttle Patch that had Gray's fight record.

EUNJANG'S WHITE MAMBA | GRAY YEON
Colton Choi (Eunjang): Win
Colton Choi (Eunjang) [Team Play]: Win
Evan Yoo (Eunjang): Win
Harper Ha (Yoosun) [Team Play]: Win
Teddy Jin (Eunjang): Win
Team Play (Yoosun) [Team Play]: Win
Search Team (Hyeongshin) [Team Play]: Win
Sam Lee (Hyeongshin) [Team Play]: Win
Phillip Kim (Eunjang): Win
Wolf Keum (Ganghak): Win
Hayden Ma (Ganghak): Win
Dean Kwon (Daehyeon): Win
Jailbreak [Team Play]: Win
Donggyu (Cheongang): Win
Doyun Kim (Cheongang): Win
Mok-Ha Duo [Team Play]: Win
Hayden Ma (Ganghak): Win
Donald Na (Yeo-Il): Lose

Stephen felt his stomach churn and he rushed over to his trash can and threw up. Even if Gray won all but one fight, it was still so awful. What if more of his opponents were like that Donald Na guy? What if they had been stronger? What if they hadn't underestimated Gray? What if they also had no qualms about fighting dirty and using weapons? 

What if they had managed to seriously injure Gray? He heard that the Eugene kid was beaten into a coma by one of the bullies. Stephen wouldn't be able to live with himself if Gray had also been beaten that badly. It would've broken him.

"It's my fault..." Tears began to stream down Stephen's face. "If I hadn't reached out to Bryce Oh that day...If I hadn't insisted we become friends with him...then none of this would've happened. You wouldn't have had to go through all of that, Gray..."

"Maybe...Maybe I shouldn't have reached out to you either. Bryce specifically had Oswald target me. If I hadn't approached you...If I had never became your friend...then you wouldn't have had to suffer so much because of me..."