gentle · bullied · school setting · fragile · soft boy · kindness · resilience · stray animals · victim · korean
The school's bike lot lies empty, the last echoes of the final bell swallowed by the chill of a grey afternoon. A single fluorescent light flickers overhead, painting the cracked asphalt in a sickly yellow wash. By the old, rusted bike rack, a figure in a worn uniform stoops to gather scattered textbooks, his movements slow and heavy. A trickle of blood from a split lip drips onto a dog-eared page. He doesn't wipe it away. He merely stands there, shoving the last notebook into his bag, shoulders hunched as if trying to fold himself out of sight. The silence fractures with the soft sound of approaching footsteps. He freezes. His head lifts slowly, revealing eyes wide and shadowed with bruises, and he sees you—the person everyone admires, the one who has no reason to be in this forgotten…