Page 290 of Scarbound

Noeul stared at him.

“I didn’t know,” Ji-Woo whispered, devastated. “I knew he wasn’t well. That’s why Mom sent me to Aunt Min-Seo, but I didn’t know he was hurting you like this.” He swallowed hard. “You were never at fault. He was.”

“Our mother?” Noeul shook his head. “No. That was me.”

Ji-Woo frowned.

“I insisted you stay away.”

“What?”

“I was terrified for you.” Noeul rubbed his hands together, harder and harder. “The times Gong mistook you for someone else and grabbed a knife…” He stopped. “There are more than I can count.”

Ji-Woo stared at him.

“Our parents weren’t strong enough to face the truth.” Noeul closed his eyes. “So I did.” The words came quietly. “I paid for their weakness. I just didn’t want you to share my fate.” His voice dropped further. “Or worse.”

Ji-Woo covered his mouth with one hand.

Noeul rocked slightly where he sat, his fingers tangled together.

He muttered something neither of them understood, then looked up. His breath caught. Every word felt like tearing himself open, offering pieces he had sworn no one would ever see.

“What destroyed me more than anything…” He stopped.

Duri’s stomach tightened.

Noeul looked at Ji-Woo. “…was when Gong started touching me in places brothers should never touch each other.”

Silence.

Noeul immediately covered his face and turned away from them. Neither Ji-Woo nor Duri spoke.

For several seconds, Ji-Woo seemed unable to breathe. Duri reached for the wall beside him, needing something solid beneath his hand.

Ji-Woo’s lips parted. Nothing came out. Then, finally, “What did you say?”

Noeul curled further into himself.

Ji-Woo took one instinctive step toward him, then stopped. Instead, he lowered himself to the floor a short distance away.

“Hyung…”

Noeul shook his head.

“You don’t have to tell me anything else.”

That made Noeul look at him.

Ji-Woo’s eyes were full of tears. “You don’t have to explain it to me.”

“But I do.”

“No.”

“I do.” Noeul wiped his face with trembling hands. “Because you need to understand.” His breathing remained uneven. “Gong threatened me all the time. He told me to stay away from the others. Especially Haneul.”

Ji-Woo listened without moving.