34 – How Gangsters Deal with School Violence (5)
1.
The father of Harira, the student causing a ruckus, finally calmed down when Harira arrived.
Afterwards, we came to a nearby cafe to settle the situation, and Harira explained to her father why I had rescued her and the reason for ending up in the emergency room.
“So, this guy rescued you, Harira?”
“I’ve told you several times! He caught me when I slipped… No, he caught my foot when I accidentally fell out the window.”
“Hmm… Really? Are you sure?”
“Yes? Oh, well. Yes. That’s what happened.”
Even though there was some falsehood in Harira’s words, I nodded, thinking there must be a reason she chose to conceal it.
“He caught our Lira falling from the third floor. Even though Lira looks slender, she’s quite heavy due to her muscle mass. He caught that?”
“Why are you talking about useless things!”
“Tsk.”
Harira’s father paid no attention to how vigorously Harira reacted; he simply clicked his tongue, still wearing a displeased expression towards me.
Why, though? Why can’t he believe that I caught Harira falling from the third floor? Well, it’s hard to believe catching someone falling without causing any injuries.
Maybe Harira and I were believed to be lying together to match our stories.
In that case, I could understand why Harira’s father was so resentful.
However, except for the part where she said I caught her foot, Harira’s words were true. Since we weren’t close enough for me to share a lie with her, I decided to clarify to dispel any misunderstandings.
“Harira’s father, everything Harira just said is true…”
“Don’t call me ‘father’!”
But he interrupted me.
Then what should I call him? It’s impolite to address the father of a trainee candidate as ‘uncle.’
Fortunately, the difficulty was resolved by the student’s father, Mr. Hari Ra, who was the cause of the difficulty.
“Well, I don’t want to tell my name to someone like you. And I especially don’t like being called Mr. Hari Ra, so don’t bother telling me. My name is Ha Hyeok-su. If you ever need to call me, call me Mr. Ha Hyeok-su.”
“Oh, yes. Mr. Ha Hyeok-su. I’m Kang Jin-hyuk.”
Since I heard his name, it would be courteous to reveal mine. And being addressed as something like “you” or “hey, you” doesn’t feel good.
“And it’s not that I don’t believe what Rira said. I’ve personally experienced your strange physical abilities. You should be able to handle falling from the third floor easily, or at least not be seriously injured.”
Even though I told him my name, the term “you” remained unchanged.
I reluctantly resigned to the enigmatic hostility of Ha Hyeok-su and nodded my head.
“No, I caught you very easily! It was a piece of cake! Why do you keep saying it’s heavy?!”
But at the raw and sharp reaction from Hari Ra, who was nearby, I barely stopped my head from moving up and down.
If I had nodded, I would have been in trouble.
I stood next to the enraged Hari Ra and took her side.
“Well, that’s right. Hari Ra wasn’t heavy at all, not even a bit.”
“See! Even my brother says it wasn’t heavy! Dad keeps saying that to me like he knows everything!”
Actually, she was a bit heavy.
Regardless of Hari Ra’s weight, catching a falling person in mid-air is bound to be heavy. If it weren’t for me, my arm would have broken the moment I caught her.
But there’s no need to bring up that fact, and here, it’s better to tell a well-intentioned lie. So, I kept my mouth shut and nodded my head.
Then, Ha Hyeok-su, who still seemed annoyed, reluctantly nodded his head and spoke.
“Well, that doesn’t matter. Hey, Kang Jin-hyuk, right? Thanks for saving our Rira.”
“Oh, it’s nothing. It’s just something I had to do.”
“But getting involved with our Rira ends here.”
“······Yes?”
The violent appearance I had witnessed until now was completely absent. Instead, Ha Hyuk-soo’s serious voice, without any hint of disorder, penetrated my ears.
In that resolute voice, his fatherly duty was contained, and a determination to protect his child resonated.
“No, Dad! He’s the one who saved me, so it shouldn’t be like this!”
“Keep quiet! It’s because everything is going as it should.”
“What do you mean······.”
So decisive that even Harira, who had shown her rebellious side, couldn’t continue speaking.
But the one who couldn’t speak was only Harira. As the manager who had discovered the gem called Harira, I had to speak up in the face of Ha Hyuk-soo’s firm resolution.
“Mr. Ha Hyuk-soo, I apologize sincerely, but may I explain why I shouldn’t be involved with Harira?”
After speaking, I felt a sense of rebellion against Ha Hyuk-soo’s words, as if I harbored different feelings toward Harira. Fortunately, no one pointed this out.
Instead, I could see Ha Hyuk-soo, who seemed enraged from head to toe after hearing my question.
“Can I explain? Sure, if you hear the explanation, you’ll probably back off. Go ahead, give that explanation.”
I didn’t know why someone I was meeting for the first time hated me so much, but I doubted I could accept the explanation even if I heard it.
So, intending to reject the command not to get involved even after hearing the explanation, I listened carefully to Ha Hyuk-soo’s words.
“It’s because you’re a fighter. A remarkably skilled fighter, to be precise.”
However, the words that came out of Ha Hyuk-soo’s mouth were unexpectedly convincing.
“A guy with the skill to easily stop my foot. Not someone who seems to have learned martial arts. A guy who walks around in broad daylight, wearing a black suit, rescues my daughter at first meeting, doesn’t go back to work, and stays by her side for hours. That’s the guy I’ve seen.”
“······.”
The information Ha Hyuk-soo listed about me was suspicious and unsettling, even for me, the main character.
He was good at fighting, but not trained in martial arts. He wore a black suit and walked the streets in broad daylight, never leaving the side of the woman he had saved, able to stay by her side for hours on end.
“It’s just a guess, but my instincts are usually pretty accurate. Are you a gangster?”
Yes, as Ha Hyuk-soo said, being a gangster was the most plausible occupation that fulfilled all those conditions.
I was good at fighting because I had been trained since I was young, and I wore a suit and walked the streets to do street casting as a manager. But still, I couldn’t refute Ha Hyuk-soo’s words.
Because no matter the reason, I was ultimately a gangster.
There was no way to refute Ha Hyuk-soo’s words, so all I could do was listen.
“And not just any gangster. You’re a gangster who’s incredibly good at fighting. And you’re young. A young gangster who’s incredibly good at fighting… Definitely not someone to be associated with.”
His words were right on the mark.
A young gangster who was incredibly good at fighting was like a razor-sharp knife that was always in demand.
Just the fact that I was treated like the kind of knife that gangsters used to intimidate people gave validity to Ha Hyuk-soo’s words about not being associated with me.
“So, I can’t see my daughter Lira being associated with someone like you. I’ll say thank you again for saving her life, but that’s as far as it goes. Don’t get involved with my daughter anymore.”
With those words, Ha Hyuk-soo grabbed the wrist of the student sitting next to him, Hari, and got up from his seat.
From the way he left without even drinking the ordered drink, I could clearly feel his determination to no longer be involved with me.
But no matter how tongue-tied I was and no matter how much I understood Ha Hyuk-soo’s position, I couldn’t just let those two go.
A daughter who grew up under a father like that couldn’t possibly be a troublemaker. She didn’t seem like the type to pick on weaklings, either.
As someone who had seen all sorts of bad guys in the underworld and in prison, I had an eye that could determine whether a person was an irredeemable troublemaker just by looking at them.
My brother asked what nonsense I was talking about, but I had never missed a bad guy with these eyes, so I took pride in them.
Hari, as reflected in my eyes, resembled Ha Hyuk-soo a little and seemed a bit rough, but he didn’t seem like a bad person at least.
I would have to confirm the details properly, but if I let them go now, I would lose them forever. So I have to catch them first.
I am a gangster, but at the same time, I am a manager. Even though I am essentially a gangster who beats people up, my job is that of a manager.
Therefore, I had a valid reason to hold on to the two people leaving.
“Wait a moment! It seems like Mr. Hahyuksoo may have a slight misunderstanding. I’m not just a thug!”
I quickly ran up, grabbed Hahyuksoo’s shoulder, and took out my business card from the front pocket of my suit that I had prepared.
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“I’m actually the manager! I’m Kang Jinhuk, a manager from Right Path Entertainment! I was street casting, and I’ve been next to Harira student until he woke up because he’s the talent I was looking for!”
Without hesitation, I just pushed forward without any regard.
“Harira student, will you become my idol?”