Chapter 12

Medical Student Im Seong-bin (2)

The thought that had been forming over the past few days while observing Im Seong-bin was whether that bastard Park Min-jae had spouted nonsense just to get out of that position.

From the surrounding reputation to the appearance I had actually watched, he was truly a very ‘exemplary’ person.

And now.

[Continuous physical contact with a villain has been detected.]

[Unique skill ‘Resonance of Sin’ is activating.]

“Got you.”

A truth that could never be known through mere observation of a person unfolded before my eyes.

_____________

A damp smell stinging the tip of the nose. And the fierce sound of rain striking the ears.

That place was the hallway in front of the bathroom on the third floor of some old commercial building in Bupyeong.

“Min-ju, this is something Oppa is saying because he really cares about you. There’s nothing good that comes from hanging out with those low-level trash. Just leave the trash to roll around in the trash can. You live at a level that matches me, with me. Okay?”

Im Seong-bin.

A fat, pale-white face from which it was hard to easily infer the perfectly managed handsome appearance of now. Sincerity was contained in his voice. It was the belief that the girl in front of him was a person who suited him more than those trash.

“Oppa, how many times do I have to tell you? My friends are sufficiently good kids, and they’re not the kind of kids Oppa can speak so carelessly about.”

“Good kids? Are good kids the ones who skip school, forge IDs, and drink alcohol? Min-ju, you know my dad is the police chief, right? If I contact Dad, all of you will get caught.”

“Ah, fuck. Really, Oppa. Why the hell are you doing this to me?”

“Min-ju, it’s not that. I’m really worried about your life······.”

Min-ju looked at Seong-bin with her arms crossed and snickered.

An all-too-obvious sneer.

“Worry? Oppa, I think you’re seriously mistaken right now. Sure, Oppa’s good at studying a bit, right. And Oppa’s dad is also an impressive person, that’s true. But so what? At best he’s a civil servant, and at best you’re a nerd who only knows studying. Isn’t that right?”

“Ne, nerd?”

In that moment, the people-pleasing smile that had been hanging on Seong-bin’s lips hardened rigidly.

“Just because I played along a bit and smiled, you thought you were something?”

“Min-ju, why are you like this. You’re not this kind of girl. Okay?”

“Not this kind of girl. I was originally this kind of girl. Just because I treated you a bit better since your dad is the police chief, you cling like you’ve met some thousand-year love, it’s seriously completely disgusting. A fat pig who’s only gained weight acting all nice is also completely disgusting. Don’t act like you know me from now on. And know your place a bit. You white pig bastard.”

Like Seong Chun-hyang looking at Yi Mong-ryong, like Cinderella looking at the prince. The words that she, who should have been looking at Seong-bin as a savior pulling her out of the gutter, spat out completely shattered Seong-bin’s pride.

And Min-ju, who had so mercilessly shattered Seong-bin’s pride, turned around without a single second of hesitation.

That was why she could not see.

The moment when the heart of a human who had believed himself superior his entire life was shattered to pieces.

And the moment when that shattered heart transformed into rage.

─Thwack!!!

Im Seong-bin’s fist struck the back of Min-ju’s head.

“Aaaagh!”

It did not end there.

Seong-bin climbed on top of Min-ju’s body as she collapsed onto the cold hallway floor screaming.

─Slap!!!

The release of true rage rising from deep in the lungs.

“Fuck. This beggar bitch. What? White pig? Disgusting? I tried to play along a bit because this bottom-rung beggar bitch’s face was somewhat decent. How dare, how dare!! How dare a bitch like you to me!!”

Pain and shock.

Those dazed eyes looking at him because of it.

Yes, those eyes right there.

The moment he looked down at Min-ju’s expression as she lay collapsed on the floor, terrified, Seong-bin could feel a spine-chilling ecstasy rising up his spine.

“Fuck, as expected of a bug-like beggar bitch. You couldn’t understand when I spoke nicely.”

“O, Oppa······.”

“Who’s your Oppa.”

─Slap!!!

The relentless violence that followed.

The more the light in Min-ju’s eyes faded, the more fiercely Seong-bin’s heart burned. Yes, this was it. At last, the positions between them had finally been properly sorted out.

Seong-bin grabbed the hair of the fading Min-ju and dragged her a few steps into the commercial building’s bathroom.

The dirty, humid bathroom floor.

What he committed at this moment was not a simple pursuit of pleasure stemming from sexual desire. It was a procedure of confirmation to once again verify that he was superior to the other.

“Ugh······ eugh!! S, save me.”

Had quite some time passed? Min-ju, who had fainted from the strange foreign sensation, suddenly opened her eyes wide and began to struggle. The moment a tearing scream loudly echoed through the bathroom. Seong-bin’s two hands strongly pressed down on her mouth and throat.

“Shut up!! Shut up!!! Shut the fuck up!!!!”

The more intense the act became, the more madly strength entered Seong-bin’s grip. And Min-ju’s struggling body gradually lost strength until at some point, with a violent convulsion, it went limp like a lie.

Pupils that had lost focus and fixed on the ceiling.

“······Huh?”

Her breath had stopped.

Min-ju’s cold corpse sprawled on the floor.

In that moment the adrenaline disappeared. And what remained in its place was only one white pig who didn’t even know his place, just as the already dead she had said.

His entire body trembling like an aspen tree.

I killed a person. My perfect life is over. Entering medical school, the future of becoming a professor at a university hospital. All of it has been completely shattered because of just one trash bitch like this.

Seong-bin’s hands trembled as he took out his smartphone from his pocket. It wouldn’t turn on properly because of the blood on his hands. Wiping the bloodstains with his sleeve, he pressed the name of one person filling the recent call list.

─Ring ring click.

“Oh, son. What’s up at this hour? Feeling a bit hungry? Want some late-night snack?”

The reliable voice coming through the smartphone.

It was Im Seong-bin’s father, Bucheon Police Chief Im Gi-man.

“Ah, Dad······ Dad, what do I do. What do I do.”

“Son. What’s going on. Calm down and tell Dad carefully.”

“I, I think I just killed a person.”

“······.”

A brief silence.

Then Im Gi-man’s composed voice flowed from beyond the smartphone.

“Seong-bin. First take a deep breath and breathe.”

“Dad, what do I do? Am I going to prison now?”

“Im Seong-bin!!! Take a deep breath and breathe first. And answer Dad’s questions properly.”

“Uh, uh.”

“Is there anyone who witnessed you killing her?”

“No. There isn’t.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, this Daewoo City commercial building third floor, all the shops are empty and at this hour there are no shops open so there really was no one. Plus it happened inside the bathroom······. No one came in.”

“Then first calmly avoid people’s eyes and get out of there. If there’s blood or anything, wipe it off well. Dad will take care of the rest. You just quietly come home, get a good sleep, and go to school. Just think of it as having had a nightmare once.”

_______________

The vision of the past that had filled the field of view shattered, and once again the dark sloping path of the damp hillside village came into view. Im Seong-bin’s face looking up at me from beyond the mask was pale with terror.

“You, who are you. Money? Is money the goal? If it’s that, there’s a card behind the phone in my pocket. You can withdraw up to 3 million won without a problem so take that and go. I promise. I absolutely won’t report it.”

“You won’t tell that fine father of yours?”

!?

The guy’s pupils shook violently.

But still some composure remained on that face.

“You, what the hell are you really. You’re doing this kind of thing even knowing who my dad is?”

“I know well. Bucheon Police Chief, Superintendent Im Gi-man.”

“Why the hell are you doing this to me! Could it be you have a grudge against my dad?”

“Grudge? Yeah, it’s a grudge. But it’s not against your dad. Remember? The bathroom on the third floor of the commercial building.”

And at last that remaining composure vanished in an instant.

“Th, what is that······.”

“Even if you’re unpopular, still. You kill a person just because a girl dumped you? Min-ju’s words were exactly right. A nerd acting nice. What’s changed is that the fat that was all puffed up has disappeared? The face must have undergone major construction so of course it improved.”

“Bullshit, don’t talk bullshit!! Bottom-rung bastards like you, what the hell do bastards like you know to spout off. I studied sitting in my seat twelve hours a day every day. O, of course I had no choice but to gain weight. As soon as I passed I exercised right away. This appearance now. This perfect appearance is my original true self that I was born with!!”

─Thud!!

With a dull bursting sound the guy’s head snapped around.

“Aaaagh!!! My nose!! My nose!!”

The guy who collapsed onto the cement floor with a double nosebleed clutched his face and screamed.

“Ah, sorry. You seemed to like perfection so I thought refining just the tip of the nose a bit would make it more perfect, but my hand went a bit strong.”

Damn Resonance of Sin.

Without realizing it I got emotional again.

“You, what the hell do you really want. If not money then what, a sense of justice? Could it really be because of that beggar-like bitch Min-ju?”

With a face soaked in blood Im Seong-bin continued speaking as if wailing.

“That was just an accident!! I didn’t do it on purpose. Yeah, of course even if it wasn’t on purpose I’m sorry about it. I reflect. So I’m repenting and trying to live as a completely different good person!!”

“A different person?”

“Yeah, every weekend I came up to this fucking hillside village and did volunteer work wiping old people’s shit and piss. I vowed to become an excellent doctor and spend my life saving others. Let’s become a doctor who is the light and salt of the world. Although I accidentally killed one person, in exchange I’m going to save hundreds, no, thousands of lives from now on. This is true reflection and this is true reform. Isn’t it?”

An astonishing way of thinking.

But at least the guy spouting these words had an expression of believing it to be the truth. Disgusting. But it’s fine. Anyway I didn’t come today to persuade the guy.

─Thud!!

“Ah, sorry again. Looking at the way you talk it seemed your teeth were a bit crooked too so my hand went a bit strong this time as well.”

A bit of fear could be seen on the face of the guy who spat out his broken molar along with blood and was horrified.

“Cr, crazy bastard.”

“Yeah, well reflection is good. But what about Jin-hwan?”

“Jin-hwan?”

A reaction as if hearing the name for the first time.

And a brief silence.

As I raised my fist again the guy urgently shouted.

“No, I know!! That guy who went into prison. I’m thinking about that sufficiently too. I was planning to repay it all. Really.”

“How were you going to repay it?”

“Anyway he’s trash who’ll live and die moderately doing delivery or something at the bottom. When he gets out of society I was planning to find him a job and let him live like a human. For the price of just a few years in prison that’s excellent. Th, yeah!! Think of it as similar to gangsters getting stars. Anyway that bastard is similar trash too.”

I nodded.

“Yeah, that’s some deep thinking.”

“Th, yeah!!”

Hope.

─Crunch

“Kuaaaaaagh!!!”

And despair.

My foot stepped on and broke the guy’s right shin.

“How should I repay you now to make it sufficient compensation? If from today whenever I see disabled people with leg pain I push their wheelchairs a bit, wouldn’t that be sufficient compensation to you?”

“My leg!! My leggg!!”

I rummaged through the guy’s jumper pocket and took out the smartphone.

“Yeah, there’s a card behind there. Withdraw money with that. No, just keep charging with that, it’s fine. I really absolutely won’t report it. Really!!”

“Pattern.”

The guy’s fingers trembled as he unlocked the smartphone.

Battery 60%.

Enough.

I ran the smartphone’s camera app.

“You said you wanted to become the light and salt of this world, right? Yeah, I’ll help you. The world may not know but at least let’s remain as someone’s light and salt once.”

© Myoyeop#12ipk

Author’s Note

Thank you!!