The Cop Is Too Strong [EN]: Chapter 222

< #222. Courage to Accept Help >

Thud!

Jung Nam-soo tumbled awkwardly on the floor.

“Ugh, augh!”

As other students began to stare, Nam-soo bit his lip, enduring the throbbing pain in his calf as he stood up.

At the end of his gaze stood a menacing-looking man in a black suit.

“What the hell… Who are you, mister?”

In response to his question, Hwang Jang-soo put his arm around Hwang Ji-gu’s shoulder and answered.

“Me? I’m his uncle.”

“…Huh?”

*

A few days prior.

Hwang Ji-gu received a strange message via KakaoTalk [a popular South Korean messaging app].

-(Unknown): Is this Hwang Ji-gu, a second-year student in class 2 of Kyungil High School, who has had 2 school violence committee referrals, 3 police interventions, and used his parents’ appeal [referring to using their influence to lessen consequences] once?

“What, what is this? Is this some crazy person?”

Hwang Ji-gu ignored the message, but he couldn’t shake off the feeling that it bothered him.

‘That’s how many times I’ve struggled to escape this hell. How did they know…?’

-(Unknown): I am contacting you to offer ‘help.’ Contact me if you find the ‘courage’ to accept help.

Hwang Ji-gu kept staring at the chat room. After school, even at home, until he went to bed, he lingered there for a long time before replying after 1 AM.

-Hwang Ji-gu: Who are you?

Hwang Ji-gu was worried that someone from Jung Nam-soo’s gang might be playing a prank, so he contacted them as cautiously as possible.

Even though it was late at night, the ‘1’ [indicating the message was read] disappeared immediately, and he received a reply.

-(Unknown): You have successfully requested ‘help.’ Our operative will be in contact soon. They have a fierce and dirty look, and their build is reminiscent of a bull.

-Hwang Ji-gu: What does that mean… Are you Nam-soo?

He received that message just yesterday.

Hwang Ji-gu was now certain that the fierce, dirty-looking man with a bull-like physique in front of him was the ‘operative’ mentioned in that conversation.

Step, step, step, step.

Hwang Ji-gu was heading home with Hwang Jang-soo. Ji-gu carefully watched him and asked.

“Who are you, mister? Why are you helping me?”

“I don’t know how much I should tell you, but think of it as a righteous person with a lot of money who doesn’t have enough hands, so they sent me. Why, do you not like it?”

“Th, that’s not it, but… How far are you going to follow me?”

“Me? All the way to your house.”

“Huh? Th, that’s a bit…”

“Pungseong Apartment, Building A, Unit 403, isn’t that your house?”

Ji-gu’s eyes widened as he looked at Hwang Jang-soo, who knew his home address perfectly.

Since he already knew, there was no need to try to keep him from knowing where he lived.

“If you help me… Shouldn’t I pay you back somehow? I don’t have any money…”

Jang-soo waved his hand.

“No, no, it’s okay. I told you, a righteous person with a lot of money is running this. I won’t take any snot-nosed kid’s money.”

“Snot-nosed…”

“This uncle has a lot to talk about with you today. Your parents… They come home late at night, right?”

“Yes?! Yes, yes…”

Ji-gu’s father was hospitalized due to a back injury sustained at work, and his mother worked at a restaurant. She usually got off work at 8 PM but usually came home after 9 PM.

Ji-gu looked at Hwang Jang-soo with fearful eyes. He still couldn’t trust whether he was a thorough ally or an enemy.

Jang-soo looked at his trembling eyes and continued.

“Yeah, yeah, I’d be scared too if I met someone like me. Let’s go to a cafe near your house instead of your place and talk.”

“…Yes.”

Hwang Jang-soo went to a cafe with Hwang Ji-gu and explained the plan they had devised at the hideout.

“…Got it?”

Hwang Ji-gu looked at Hwang Jang-soo with a dumbfounded expression and opened his mouth.

“So… You’re saying I should just stay still? Like usual?”

“Yeah, you don’t have to do anything.”

“…What is that supposed to…”

Slap, slap!

Jang-soo patted Ji-gu’s back with his palm and said.

“Just trust this uncle. Oh, and starting today, for two weeks, I’ll be commuting to and from school with you, Uncle will.”

“Ah… Okay.”

Ji-gu really liked that. From what he had seen so far, he didn’t seem like a bad person, and sometimes Jung Nam-soo’s gang would come and harass him on the way home from school.

It was really the worst when they came to his house. It felt like his last stronghold had been invaded.

But he was happy that if he was with this scary man, even if it was only for two weeks, he would be free from such things during that time.

*

The next day.

Smack!

As soon as Hwang Ji-gu entered the classroom, he was hit in the back of the head by one of Jung Nam-soo’s gang members.

“Ugh.”

Smack! Thwack!

He was hit by other guys in succession, and finally, Jung Nam-soo hit him with a full swing.

Nam-soo pushed Ji-gu to the end of the classroom, brought his face close, and asked.

“Hwang Ji-gu, what are you?”

“Wh, what…”

“What was that yesterday? Is that your real uncle?”

Ji-gu nodded slightly.

“Y, yes…”

Nam-soo frowned at Ji-gu’s answer. He had never seen Ji-gu lie, so he believed him.

“Damn it… Where did an uncle suddenly come from? Did you tell your uncle? That I was bullying you?”

Ji-gu nodded again.

“…Yes.”

Ji-gu recalled the conversation he had with Hwang Jang-soo yesterday. Besides the order to stay still and act normal, there was one more thing.

-Tell them you’ll tell your uncle about everything, then you’ll get hit less.

Ji-gu thought he would get hit more, but when the situation came, he had no choice but to answer that way.

Nam-soo’s eyes widened at the unexpected answer. He let out a dumbfounded laugh and said.

“Wow, I’m going crazy. You told him? What are you going to do, have him beat me up like yesterday? Huh?”

Nam-soo became agitated and roughly rolled up one side of his school uniform pants, showing his bruised calf.

“Can you see this? See it? It hurt like hell. What, revenge by telling your uncle? Screw that, tell your uncle to get ready to go to jail.”

Ji-gu was worried about Hwang Jang-soo at Nam-soo’s threat, but he couldn’t say anything.

Lunchtime came, and it was time for coin flipping again.

“Hey, hey, let’s flip coins, let’s flip coins! Gather around!”

As a matter of course, they gathered at Hwang Ji-gu’s seat, and Ji-gu gritted his teeth and stayed still, then opened his mouth slightly.

“I, I’m not going to flip coins…”

“What? Why, let’s do it together. You don’t have any money? I’ll lend you some.”

“No, I just… I don’t want to flip coins…”

Slide-

Jung Nam-soo pushed his chair aside, approached Ji-gu, and stroked Ji-gu’s hair.

“Our Ji-gu has become quite talkative.”

Nam-soo suddenly grabbed Ji-gu’s hair, pulled it back hard, and said.

“Why don’t you want to, you son of a bitch? You’ve become so brave in just one day, Hwang Ji-gu? Why, why don’t you tell your uncle about this too?”

Ji-gu’s pupils trembled like crazy. He squeezed his eyes shut and nodded.

“…Yes.”

At that moment, Jung Nam-soo’s eyes rolled over. He raised his hand and struck Hwang Ji-gu’s face.

Slap, slap! Thwack!

“Tell him! Tell him, you son of a bitch!!”

Nam-soo beat Ji-gu until the lunchtime bell rang. The students in the same class just watched with worried expressions, and even students from other classes gathered to watch.

On the way home from school.

Hwang Jang-soo greeted Hwang Ji-gu at the school gate.

“Oh, you got hit pretty badly, did you get a nosebleed? You did, you did.”

“You’re talking as if you knew I was going to get hit.”

Hwang Jang-soo crossed his arms and nodded.

“Well, that’s typical of those guys. They think they’re the smartest. They thought they had tamed you by bullying you smartly, but they’re pissed off because you’re wriggling.”

“…I’m not going to tell my uncle anymore.”

“What? Why, you have to keep doing it.”

Ji-gu glared at Hwang Jang-soo with a contemptuous expression and answered.

“Have you ever been beaten up, mister? In front of the whole school? Crying in front of the girl I like? It’s like hell. The pain from getting hit is nothing. Really…”

“Should I kill them for you?”

“…Huh?”

Ji-gu was so angry that he didn’t realize what kind of person Hwang Jang-soo was, but when he said those words with that face, he suddenly came to his senses as if he had been splashed with cold water.

Jang-soo came a little closer to him and whispered like a devil.

“It’s nothing to get rid of one or two people without a trace. Should I kill them for you? I’ll do it if you want.”

“N, no, that’s…”

In his heart, he wanted to tell him to kill them a hundred times, but he was suddenly scared and couldn’t answer right away.

Then Jang-soo tapped him on the shoulder and said with a playful expression.

“Just kidding, just kidding. I’m a herbivore who can’t even wring a chicken’s neck. I can never kill anyone.”

“…Really?”

“Ahem, still, it’s good that you won’t run into those guys after school like this, right?”

“…Yes.”

Ji-gu lowered his head. He was afraid of tomorrow, which would be back soon.

As Ji-gu expected, the price for wriggling once was high. They were bullying him more openly than before.

Ji-gu couldn’t bring himself to say that he would tell his uncle anymore.

Gym class.

“Hey, hey, here it comes, here it comes! Soccer kick!”

Thwack!!

“Ugh!”

Hwang Ji-gu was standing in front of the goalpost. Jung Nam-soo and his gang were standing opposite him and kicking a soccer ball.

They kicked the soccer ball hard from a distance of less than half a penalty kick and hit Jung Nam-soo’s body.

“Jung Nam-soo, block it, you have to block it! Don’t dodge it! You son of a bitch!”

“O, okay, I got it.”

Just as he was hit by the soccer ball more than twenty times, a large man in a school gym uniform appeared there. The gym uniform was so small that his wrists and ankles were clearly visible.

“Me too, me too, I want to kick it too!”

Bang-! Thwack!

Hwang Jang-soo, a giant wearing a gym uniform that didn’t fit, ran up and kicked the soccer ball at Jung Nam-soo’s gang.

One person was hit and bounced back, and Jang-soo took the ball again and kicked it at Jung Nam-soo’s gang.

“Hey, damn it! Who are you, mister!”

“Huh? Why, weren’t you guys playing like this? Let me play with you too!”

“Seriously, is this guy crazy?”

At those words, Jang-soo suddenly became serious and approached Jung Nam-soo. Nam-soo flinched instinctively and took a step back.

“You said you were going to report me, but you didn’t?”

“Wh, I’m going to do it today.”

Jang-soo raised his index finger and shook it.

“It’s a waste of time, there are no CCTVs [closed-circuit television cameras, i.e., security cameras], and the witnesses all saw you kicking my nephew first. If you want to report me, you’ll have to be reported first. Do you have the guts to do that?”

Nam-soo bit his lower lip and stayed still, then glared at Jang-soo and said.

“You’re just a neighborhood thug, mister.”

“What?”

“That’s why you’re doing chores for that loser.”

“Heh heh, yeah, I’m a thug. Why?”

“You messed with the wrong person, let’s go.”

Nam-soo glared at Jang-soo one more time and turned around. His gang members glanced at Jang-soo and followed Nam-soo.

“Wow, damn, Jung Nam-soo is so cool.”

“Who is that guy? His physique is crazy. I feel like I’d piss my pants just getting close to him, Nam-soo is insane.”

“Jung Nam-soo’s class doesn’t flinch even in front of a muscle pig!”

Nam-soo shrugged his shoulders and moved his feet.

Ji-gu looked at the backs of Nam-soo’s gang with worried eyes, grabbed Hwang Jang-soo’s sleeve, and dragged him to a corner.

“What are you doing suddenly showing up like this during class, mister…”

“Is this a class? Where did the teacher go?”

“He said he was going to the bathroom… He’s not coming back.”

“Geez, this is going well, this is going well. I’m leaving. See you later, oh right, this.”

Jang-soo took off his gym uniform on the spot and handed it to Ji-gu. The training suit he had crumpled up inside the gym uniform was revealed.

“Give this to Han-sung or Han-chin in your class, I’m leaving.”

“Hoo…”

Ji-gu sighed deeply as he watched him leave.

On the way home from school.

As usual, he met Jung Nam-soo on the way home with Jang-soo.

“Hwang Ji-gu, mister…”

Nam-soo looked at them with a dejected expression that he had never shown before.

“What?”

“O, Nam, Nam-soo…”

Nam-soo scratched his head and continued.

“Th, I want to apologize a little, and my guys? They said they want to apologize too… They’re waiting near the GM intersection over there?”

“…Suddenly?”

Ji-gu was flustered and asked back, but Nam-soo still grabbed Ji-gu’s wrist with an unfamiliar expression.

“Let’s go together, it’s really nothing weird, you can go with your uncle too.”

“Huh?”

Ji-gu looked at Hwang Jang-soo, and Jang-soo nodded with a benevolent expression.

“Let’s go, let’s go quickly.”

As he followed Nam-soo, he entered a dark alleyway. And, he encountered a group holding wooden sticks or baseball bats. They were behind him too. At least fifteen people or more.

Nam-soo’s expression changes completely.

“Welcome, to the grave where you and your thug uncle will be buried together.”

At that sudden change, the corners of Jang-soo’s lips curled up slightly.