Global Awakening: Only I Can Respawn

Chapter 22: The Truth

Unfortunately for him, YuWon was much faster. He grabbed the bat mid-swing before hitting Jaehwan and disarmed him.

With a loud clatter, the bat fell to the ground. Ignoring the pain in his hand, Jaehwan lunged toward the bat. However, YuWon snatched the bat from his hands and slammed it into Jaehwan's back.

The sickening crack of broken ribs echoed through the corridor, and Jaehwan cried out in pain before collapsing to the ground. His reaction made YuWon realize how weak the others were.

Since he had respawned countless times now, information about anyone but himself was a mess in his head. Yet, he expected the rest to be stronger than Jaehwan was. If not, they'd be screwed against the monsters.

Meanwhile, Jaehwan squirmed on the floor staring daggers at YuWon as he was the one in the wrong. YuWon couldn't help but smile at his reaction. But a moment later, he did something unexpected.

YuWon tossed the bat toward Jaehwan. Considering how weak he was, YuWon felt it wouldn't be fun if he used a weapon against him. However, Jaehwan was surprised.

"W-What?" he mumbled.

"Pick it up," YuWon ordered, looking down at him.

It wasn't the first time Jaehwan had seen that look. Back in middle school, the star YuWon always looked down on him. It wasn't the truth, but Jaehwan's mind had twisted the facts to enable him to bully YuWon feeling no guilt.

Fueled by anger, he reached for the bat even though he was struggling to breathe after YuWon's hit. But just as his fingers brushed against the handle, YuWon's knee connected with Jaehwan's face.

The same knee that Jaehwan and Hoon had shattered months ago in an attack rammed into his nose with brutal force. Blood poured from Jaehwan's nose as he clutched his face, squirming in pain.

However, YuWon wasn't done yet. He stepped on Jaehwan's foot at an odd angle. Jaehwan screamed in pain as YuWon slowly increased his weight on the leg, which eventually snapped like a twig.

Last time he had left Jaehwan alive because he wanted to send a statement to Hoon. But he no longer needed to do that. After all, he knew where the bastard was hiding and could deal with him himself.

"YOU BASTARD!" Jaehwan screamed, only for YuWon to kick him in the face.

"It doesn't feel good, does it?" YuWon mumbled, pulling Jaehwan up by his hair. "For someone to break you?"

Jaehwan could only stare in horror as YuWon's gaze intensified. Never in his life had he thought someone like YuWon would have a murderous expression.

But now that he did, Jaehwan couldn't think of anything but the things he had Hoon had done to YuWon.

"I-I'm sorry!" Jaehwan yelled, holding out his hands pleading YuWon. "I'll come clean to everyone!"

YuWon was about to step on his other leg, but stopped. "Come clean about what?"

Upon realizing YuWon didn't know the truth about Yeji's pics and wasn't beating him because of it, Jaehwan tried backtracking his statement. But it was too late.

YuWon lifted the bat, hovering it over Jaehwan's head. "Speak or I will kill you, consequences be damned!"

"NO! Please, I'll tell you everything!"

Unlike what YuWon thought, Yeji didn't make false claims. Someone had taken images of her while she was in the changing room. The phone used was YuWon's, but the one who took those photos and shared them was Hoon.

Jaehwan caught him in the act, but instead of telling the truth, he sided with Hoon. In his twisted logic, he was getting back at YuWon for their middle school years.

"How did you get access to my phone—?"

"Suhyun helped us!" Jaehwan yelled.

Suhyun... only then things clicked into place. Last year YuWon was busy with the soccer season coming up. One day as he was leaving for the field, Suhyun stopped him by asking to borrow his phone to call her parents, as her phone was dead.

Back then, YuWon was a free spirit, helping others with no thought. He unlocked his phone and let her make the call. She must have seen his passcode and told Hoon about it.

"The lockers back then were easy to break and fix," Jaehwan continued. "So while you were practicing, Hoon stole your phone to take Yeji's photos and got to her good side by framing you. If you let me live, I can testify against him—"

Jaehwan expected YuWon to get mad and hit him. But his laugh interrupted him. YuWon stood over him with his hand covering his face as he kept laughing like a maniac.

Jaehwan went from scared to absolutely terrified of YuWon. Not wasting time, he tried running away, but as he did, YuWon grabbed his leg and looked at him with rage.

"Who said you could leave?" he snarled.

Scared shitless, Jaehwan turned to yell for help from his underlings, but when he saw the scene behind him, his blood ran cold. His lackeys—both of them—were dead, swimming in the pool of their blood.

"W-What the hell…?" Jaehwan stammered. He looked up at YuWon, his eyes wide with terror. "You killed them! You… you're not supposed to kill other humans!"

YuWon smiled coldly, which soon turned into a cruel smile.

"How could I kill them, Jaehwan? We're not allowed to kill each other, remember?"

Jaehwan got even more scared. It was true. YuWon was standing before him this entire time. Then who could have killed them?

As he tried to make sense of what was happening, he noticed a shadow looming over him. It was a tall shadow—too tall to be a goblin.

Feeling some hope of survival, Jaehwan slowly turned his head, hoping to see a fellow student who could help him. But when he looked up, he knew his worst fears had come true.

Standing above him was a green-skinned woman, her hands drenched in blood. Before Jaehwan could even scream, she lunged at him, and her claws tore through his chest with ease.

Jaehwan gasped as blood spilled from his mouth. He looked down at the gaping wound in his chest. He tried to speak, to curse YuWon one last time, but all that came out was a gurgling sound.

A moment later, Gina tore his heart from his chest. Jaehwan's vision went dark, and he collapsed to the ground, dead.

YuWon watched in silence as Jaehwan's body hit the floor. Gina turned to face him, holding the bloody heart in her hand.

"Is this what you wanted, beloved?" she asked in her sweet voice.

YuWon nodded slowly, not trusting himself to speak. There was a part of him that felt relief—but the anger inside him didn't subside. Especially after hearing Jaehwan's admission.

For a moment YuWon wondered if he should've left him alive. But didn't care about clearing his name. Besides, even if he cleared his name, it wouldn't undo the pain he had suffered through the last year.

I yelled about my innocence, but none of them listened to me and now I don't care if they do.

After suffering through the last year, YuWon realized the true nature of humans. The more he thought about it, the more he hated them. Every single one who didn't believe him. Including his family.

Then there was also a part of him that knew he had crossed a line by having Jaehwan killed. He had let Gina do the dirty work, but he was the one who had set everything in motion. But he quickly pushed that thought out of his head.

"Let's go," YuWon said finally, turning away from the gruesome scene. "We have more work to do."

Gina smiled, tossing Jaehwan's heart aside like it was nothing.

"As you wish," she said, following YuWon as they left the corridor behind, leaving the bodies to rot.