PAID

Parents who blatantly ignore their son?

Now, that’s a story just waiting to spread like wildfire.

What if I blabbed about this to my parents?

Rumors might start circulating—like how the second son of this house might be an illegitimate child or something.

As I let my imagination run wild, one side of my lips curled up.

The one who finally stepped up to break this suffocating atmosphere was Go Yohan’s father. He was the only one who actually responded to Go Yohan’s words.

"Alright. Speak."

He forced a kind smile as he said it.

To an outsider, he might look like a doting father patiently waiting for his son to speak. But to me—someone who knew the dynamics of this family—it was nothing more than an act.

At that expression, Go Yohan’s face crumbled.

His fingers dug into his palms before he brought them to his mouth. Crack. Crack. He started biting his nails. His broad shoulders sank lower and lower.

"I’ll eat later. By myself."

"…Huh? Why?"

I couldn’t understand his choice.

So I blurted out my thoughts without hiding my confusion.

Hearing that, Go Yohan turned his head toward me, his pale face stiff. His arms, previously hidden beneath the table, were now visible. His white fingers, clearly outlined against his uniform pants, were trembling.

Go Yohan twisted his expression into something resembling a smile. It was an act—for his parents.

And seeing that expression filled me with nothing but bitterness.

"I’m not really hungry."

The same Go Yohan who ruled over the school.

The Go Yohan who crushed Han Junwoo under his heel.

The Go Yohan who enjoyed breaking friendships apart.

The one who bounced rubber balls in the classroom without a care, who threw bugs at students he didn’t like, who acted up in front of teachers just because he could—that Go Yohan.

Yet, here at home, he was at the very bottom of the pyramid. Struggling.

Four people. Just four people.

One of whom was even younger than him.

And yet, they were more powerful than a thousand others combined.

A surge of unidentifiable emotion rushed up inside me.

Go Yohan looked at me. Then, he lowered his head.

His nearly 190 cm frame turned away toward the dark hallway.

Watching him confine himself like that pissed me off.

Why?

Why did he have to live like this?

The version of him I knew—the one who thrived in the wild, in a world with no restraints—that was the real Go Yohan. The most captivating high schooler I had ever known.

And I wasn’t ready to see a castrated version of him.

Maybe—just maybe—I came to this school to help him.

Maybe I grew up like this just to protect him.

Even my cruelty had its reasons.

Perhaps God loved him. Loved him enough to create me for his sake.

As that ridiculous thought crossed my mind, I silently counted down the days to Go Yohan’s birthday.

He was younger than me.

Yeah. Maybe that’s exactly why I was born first.@@novelbin@@

I exhaled quietly.

And I lied.

"You said you were hungry earlier."

The moment I spoke, Go Yohan whipped his head around like he’d been struck by lightning.

His pale face looked at me in shock.

"H-Hey, when did I—?!"

"Just eat with us. Okay?"

Without waiting for an answer, I took long strides forward.

I grabbed Go Yohan’s wrist before he could slink back into the dark hallway. His large hand flinched.

I smiled at him as if nothing was wrong.