Chapter 427 (1/2)

The car was empty. After a man in his fifties, who was lying on the elderly seats at the end, got off, only Maru and Bangjoo were left in the car.

“It’s like we have the whole train to ourselves.”

“You’re right.”

Bangjoo looked around before lying down on the floor and took a photo of himself. Maru chuckled when he saw that.

“When else would I get to do something like this? The train is so quiet.”

“Give it to me. I’ll take a good photo of you.”

Maru took a photo of Bangjoo, who got into a proper pose, from the other end of the car. At his age, events like this would become memorable moments. Bangjoo smiled in satisfaction after looking at the photo.

“Are you going to upload it to your cy[1]?”

“I don’t do that.”

“That’s unexpected. I thought kids these days all did it.”

“I don’t really want to tell others what I’m doing. It’s fine as long as the ones that need to know, know about it.”

Maru nodded once. For a brief moment, Bangjoo had a mature smile on his face. Perhaps it was natural to think about the world differently from those of his age since his sister was a top star.

“But seonbae-nim.”

“Yeah?”

“Didn’t you feel angry back there? If it was up to me, I don’t think I could’ve done that. I mean, you were hit. Quite strongly at that.”

“You get upset about all sorts of things.”

“Eh? You’re not upset about it?”

“If it’s a matter of being angry or not, then yes, I do feel angry. I’m not a pervert, so there’s no way I’d feel pleased when I get hit. But there’s also nothing to gain by becoming angry.”

“Nothing to gain?”

“Bangjoo.”

“Yes.”

“No matter how crappy someone’s personality is, you should really hold back if that someone’s higher than you. Going against him like what you did back there is not that good.”

“I… don’t think I can do that.”

“Well, I guess it’s definitely hard for you if you have the same traits as your sister. Your sister is a ‘right’ person after all.”

“My sister?”

“That’s not all. She’s also amazing. Normally, people can’t do that. If I was in that situation, at least, I wouldn’t be able to do it. People’s gazes, right? Those things definitely don’t have any physical power. No matter how many death glares I give you, you won’t die after all. But for some weird reason, when those powerless gazes combine, they suddenly possess the power to bury a person out of existence without breaking a sweat. Your sister, she fought against the media, didn’t she? Moreover, she also fought against the people that insulted her. She still might be at odds with people who ask bad things of her, you know? Not anyone can just do that.”

“...I’m not sure about her being right, but I agree that she’s amazing.”

“People like you and your sister will end up fighting. You don’t care about the opponent’s weight class. You will enter the ring based on absolute values such as whether something is right or wrong. Those people don’t worry about getting hit. They’re solely focused on solving the injustice in front of their eyes. They are great people worth admiring, and they’re people that should be cheered for. But if I was asked if I want to be like that, I would shake my head.”

Maru looked at Bangjoo with a smile. Bangjoo scratched his head with an awkward smile. He seemed to have understood a little of what he said.

“You know. You’re like… an a.d.u.l.t.”

“An a.d.u.l.t? I’m just a man with a lot of fears. In fact, it’s you who’s more like an a.d.u.l.t since you’ve been living alone since middle school. Wasn’t it hard?”

“It wasn’t that hard when I thought of it as just doing some more bothersome things. Oh, it was a little hard when I had to lie down in bed due to sickness during the winter.”

“There’s nothing harder than being by yourself when you’re sick. But it should be better now that your sister comes home frequently, right?”

“She’s coming home too frequently. I don’t think she has any plans on getting married. She never brought home a boyfr….”

Bangjoo stopped talking and made a bitter smile. Maru didn’t say anything and just looked out the window on the other side. The train was just exiting a tunnel.

“Do you think it’s better to just hold it in when something like that happens?”

“If you can, it’ll be better. In the perspective of good or bad rather than right or wrong, I mean. However, there are times when you must get angry.”

“And when is that?”

“That’s when someone’s trying to take something away from you. That’s when you get angry. You have to flip the table and cause a huge ruckus. Even if you usually submit to one person, you need to get angry when that person wants to take something away from you. In that context, the scariest people in the world are those that always seem to suck up to others.”

“Why?”

“Because no one can be sure of the size of that person’s anger if he or she does erupt. Scammers don’t look like scammers, right? Scary people don’t look scary. They are polite and usually very generous. They look like they’re making losses from what they do. But the more a person acts like that, the better you should act towards them. You never know what such a person is thinking. Of course, there are also people like Daemyung who are gentle down to their bones.”

“Daemyung-seonbae-nim is really kind.”

“He’s worryingly so.”

“Hm, then I guess you’re a dangerous person in a sense.”

“Me?”

“Yes. You held back last time.”

“I just told you, didn't I? I’m just a man with a lot of fears.”

“Is that how it is?”

“That’s how it is, Mr. Ahn Bangjoo.”

Maru straightened his back as he tapped Bangjoo on the cheek with the back of his hand.

* * *

“You should go back first.”

“What about you, hyung-nim?”

“Damn kid, just go when I tell you to. You’re terribly disobedient.”