Page 169 of Scarbound

“And after Haneul?”

“I went there once.”

“What happened?”

“Nothing.” Dr. Kim tilted her head slightly. “That was the problem. I stood at the edge of the court with my hands in my pockets and watched them play. They were all there. Laughing. Playing. Like nothing had changed.”

“But something had.”

“Everything had.” He fell silent for a moment. “It had only been a few days since Haneul died. I kept thinking about what happened at the park.”

“The day Gong pushed him?”

Noeul nodded. “I could still hear Haneul hitting the ground. Especially his head.” His fingers curled slightly against his thigh. “There was this sound when it hit the concrete. I still remember it.”

Dr. Kim said nothing.

“Gong hadn’t wanted to hurt him. Everything went wrong in a few seconds.”

“You still feel that’s important.”

Noeul looked at her. “Of course it’s important.”

“Tell me why.”

“Because he wasn’t trying to kill him. He wasn’t even trying to seriously hurt him. Gong was having one of his bad days. His eyes were wide and unfocused. He was convinced something terrible was going to happen to me.” Noeul paused. “No matter what I said, I couldn’t convince him otherwise. He saw the guys as a threat. To him, they were enemies.”

“And to everyone else?”

Noeul hesitated. “He probably looked dangerous.”

“Was he?”

The question made Noeul look at her. “That day?”

“Yes.”

“I suppose.”

Dr. Kim waited.

Noeul exhaled. “Yes. He was.”

“What happened next?”

“I should have stopped it.”

“That wasn’t my question.”

Noeul looked away. “Gong shoved Haneul. I froze. Haneul fell backwards and hit his head. His eyes opened really wide for a second, and then…” He swallowed. “Nothing. He was just lying there. Everything after that was chaos. People shouting. Someone called an ambulance. A few of the guys ran to Haneul. Gong just stood there shaking.”

“Were you frightened?”

“Terrified.”

“For Haneul?”

Noeul didn’t answer immediately. “For both of them.”