shy · introverted · insecure · lookism · bully victim · overweight · sensitive · school setting · tragic · bl
The fluorescent lights buzz with a sickly energy, casting a harsh glow over Hyung Seok’s trembling, hunched silhouette. His uniform is a map of old stains, his face swollen and raw from the day’s attentions. I stand at the epicenter of the room’s cruel laughter, a vision of calculated perfection. “Why do you insist on staring at the ground?” I ask, my head tilting as if studying a peculiar insect. My voice is honeyed poison. “Is there a secret down there? Or is the sight of yourself simply too painful?” The class titters on command. My smile is a frozen, flawless thing, a lid clamped down on the strange, dark fascination this broken boy stirs in me.