Tsunami Advisory
Chapter 8
In this neighborhood, everything seemed to come down to money. The hierarchy among the kids was determined by the thickness of their parents' wallets, and even the teachers couldn't bring themselves to utter empty platitudes like, "Money isn't everything." Perhaps they, too, were part of this rigid pyramid, or simply souls who had resigned themselves to living beneath its shadow.
Here, children learned from an early age that money equated to status, and their resulting arrogance was an inevitable conclusion. After all, it truly was a world where money solved everything.
Naturally, Danbi was alienated in a school like this. She knew nothing about luxury brands, couldn't play an instrument, and had never traveled abroad. There was not a single shred of common ground between her and her peers.
Painfully aware of the sacrifices her parents were making for her, Danbi lived with her nose buried solely in her desk. Then came her first midterm exams. At her previous school, she had never once lost the top rank in the entire grade, but here, she had to settle for 7th in her class and 21st overall. Yet in this school, which boasted cutthroat competition and an exceptional rate of admission into elite universities, those grades were still an impressive achievement.
Right around the time those first exams wrapped up, unable to bear the loneliness any longer, Danbi made various attempts to make friends. She took the initiative to approach others, struck up conversations, and gave warm smiles. But they wouldn't even spare her a glance. Her heart ached, yet she couldn't bring herself to blame them. Everyone naturally gravitated toward people they found appealing. She simply wasn't someone like that to them.
After hovering around groups of girls, she eventually gave up. Making friends here seemed out of the question. Her nose stung with prickling tears, but she forced her emotions down. She wasn't a little kid anymore; she refused to cry over something like this.
The "good friends" her mom had hoped for seemed out of reach, but her university entrance was a far more important goal.
Let's get used to it. All I have to do is study hard. Just hold out for three years.
Right around the time she resolved to become an invisible ghost, crude, delinquent boys began lingering around her isolated corner.
It started when Lee Suhyun and his crowd sat down at Danbi's table while she was eating alone. Slipping naturally into the seats in front of and beside her, they spoke to her in overly familiar tones.
"Hey, Danbi. Do you have a boyfriend? If not, wanna go out with me?"
"Whoa, but your boobs are seriously huge."
"What cup size are they, anyway?"
"I bet those girls are ostracizing you 'cause they're all flat boards. Women's jealousy is terrifying, totally terrifying."
"Girls never like someone prettier than them."
"Wanna hang out with us after school today? We'll show you something fun."
Their snickering, sinister laughter and slimy gazes felt visceral on her skin. Danbi instantly sensed that they didn't view her as an equal human being, but merely as cheap entertainment. This was unwanted attention.
"Huh? No, it's fine. I have cram school, so……."
"Ooh, model student. But damn, your skin is insanely nice."
Lee Suhyun abruptly reached out, brushing the back of his hand—faintly smelling of cigarette smoke—across Danbi's cheek. The cold, repulsive sensation made her entire body stiffen. It was obvious they were the type she must never get involved with, but their demeanor was subtly coercive, making it impossible to brush them away carelessly. She was terrified that a clumsy rejection would immediately escalate into violence.
She looked around as if pleading for help, but the other girls merely clicked their tongues or furrowed their brows in disgust at Lee Suhyun's group. Not a single person stepped forward to help her.
From that day on, Danbi was plagued by sexual harassment and mockery. And there was nothing she could do about it.
They say if the monk doesn't like the temple, the monk should leave, but…….
Should I bring it up with Mom and Dad? Tell them I want to transfer schools……?
Transfer. Transfer. Transfer…….
The words that had swirled in her head the entire walk home were swallowed back down her throat the moment she saw her parents' exhausted faces. Her mother, completely worn out from another long day of working as a visiting workbook tutor, forced a bright smile upon seeing Danbi and set the dinner table. Her father patted her on the back as he looked over her report card, saying, "Our daughter, keep this up and there'll be no problem at all."
In the face of such warm encouragement, she couldn't muster the courage to say, Going to school feels like hell. Having come this far, her life was no longer entirely her own. That weight crushed down on her young shoulders.
That night, Danbi pulled the blanket over her head and wept in silence.
✶ ✶ ✶
She had to find a way out on her own.
The next day during lunch, Danbi summoned the last dregs of her courage and wandered near the tables where the girls were gathered. But their world was so impenetrable that there wasn't the slightest opening for Danbi to squeeze through. If anything, the kids who had previously ignored her now scanned her with openly displeased gazes. Ever since Lee Suhyun started showing interest in her, it seemed she had become an object of distaste as well.
Ultimately, Danbi found an empty seat and sat down alone. How did it come to this? Where did it all go wrong? Repeated efforts and crushing disappointments had ground her rock-bottom self-esteem into fine dust, and now she began to believe that all the blame lay with herself.
"No one's sitting here, right?"
At the low voice, Danbi raised her head to find Hae-il standing right in front of her with his lunch tray. Horn-rimmed glasses, a neat uniform. Yet he didn't look like an ordinary model student. Danbi stared at him with wide, startled eyes. Why on earth was he talking to her? She couldn't fathom it at all.
When she let out a dazed "Uh……" at his unexpected appearance, Hae-il took it as permission and slid naturally into the seat opposite her. Then, as if he had been doing this forever, he casually began eating.
To Danbi, who was still staring blankly, he asked again.
"What? Is this seat taken?"
Only then did Danbi snap to her senses. If she had to eat with someone, Hae-il was a hundred, a thousand times better than Lee Suhyun's crowd.
"No…… it's not."
"Then eat."
It was a short, dry exchange. Danbi instinctively kept her head low and stole a glance toward Lee Suhyun's group, who had just received their food. They gave Hae-il a puzzled look before turning their bodies elsewhere. Danbi let out a silent sigh of relief.
Though an outsider at school, Danbi instinctively knew that Hae-il stood at the very pinnacle of this class—perhaps the entire school. The first reason was his formidable family background; the second, his distinctively arrogant, cold demeanor that warned anyone would suffer harshly if they dared cross him. And lastly, his towering height and sturdy physique, broader than most adults. With all of these combined, Hae-il was someone no one dared to touch.
And now, that very person was sitting in front of her, almost like a massive shield. Even while feeling an indescribable gratitude toward him, Danbi couldn't shake the question behind his actions.
"Um…… but why, why here……?"
As Danbi stammered out the question, Hae-il replied with an indifferent expression.
"Just because it's noisy."
"Huh?"
"Ever since those bastards started sitting with you, it's been fucking loud. It hurts my ears, and it's annoying."
Danbi recalled the snickering laughter of Lee Suhyun's group and the grimacing faces of the other kids watching them. Both the other students' expressions and Hae-il's irritation felt somehow like reprimands directed at her, making her shrink back.
So in the end, it means I'm the cause. It seemed his reason for wanting to separate her from Lee Suhyun's crowd was simply that it annoyed him.
Still, as a result, he had effectively rescued Danbi from that hellish situation. Eating in silence, Danbi couldn't help but repeatedly steal glances at Hae-il. His presence was far more commanding than she had imagined. It wasn't merely about his large frame. The energy radiating from him, the overwhelming atmosphere around him—all of it was unfamiliar, yet strangely dependable.
For the first time in a long while, the loneliness seemed to recede a little. The taste of every single grain of rice felt vivid. Until now, lunch had been nothing more than a rush to eat quickly and leave, so much so that she hadn't even known whether the food was going into her mouth or her nose. Whether thanks to his presence or the unexpected tranquility he had carved out, she finally felt as if she could breathe again.
Suddenly, Hae-il's friends sitting gathered at the adjacent table caught her eye. Word had it that they, too, were scions of prominent families in this school. When Danbi peeked over in their direction, Hae-il spoke in the same nonchalant tone.
"I didn't bring them over because I thought you'd be uncomfortable. Seemed like you're scared of guys."
"Huh?"
"You were trembling like a leaf eating here. With Lee Suhyun."
Was I? Danbi briefly reflected on herself. It was true that Lee Suhyun's group had terrified her. The hands subtly wrapping around her shoulders, the overt leers—every bit of it was revolting and gave her chills.
"It's not guys in general, I just hate them……."
"Look at that, you can speak properly. You were stammering the whole time earlier, so I guess you're not scared of me?"
Hae-il grinned slightly and looked at Danbi. Danbi also stared straight back at him for a moment. The school's famous figure, top of the grade, rumored to be the only son of the IT company LD, handsome face, immaculate uniform, and an arrogant aura radiating from somewhere within.
That gaze, which seemed to look down on everyone, had felt uncomfortable at first, but now it offered a strange comfort. Unlike the other kids who singled out Danbi to look down on her, Hae-il seemed to look down on everyone equally. Because in his eyes, everyone was beneath his feet anyway. She liked that fairness. He didn't single Danbi out for discrimination.
"Yeah."
At Danbi's straightforward answer, Hae-il raised an eyebrow slightly in surprise.
"Really? Then want to join us? Looked like you've been hovering around since earlier because you didn't want to eat alone."
He gestured with his eyes toward the table where his friends sat. Though pretending otherwise, they were still stealing glances in this direction. Danbi asked in horror,
"Your friends? Guys?"
"Yeah."
"No! It's okay! Really, it's fine!"
When Danbi shook her head vigorously in horror, Hae-il let out a soft chuckle.
"Guess I'm the only one you're not scared of. Wonder why?"
Who knew? Unlike Lee Suhyun's crowd, who stared at her chest or hips while tossing out vulgar jokes, was it because he looked straight into her eyes when speaking? Though he had a somewhat self-centered streak, he wasn't scary. At the very least, he treated Danbi like an actual human being, which gave her a strange faith that he wouldn't pull anything indecent.
Instead of answering, Danbi met his gaze and offered a faint smile. Hae-il looked at her face for a moment before turning his eyes back down to his lunch tray. The way he neatly scooped his food with his spoon, the way he chewed noiselessly, and the way he kept quiet during the meal—all of it brought her comfort.
Chewing and swallowing her food thoroughly, Danbi unknowingly wiggled her toes. It was a small pocket of peace she hadn't felt in a very long time.
