## Chapter 42 – Carrot and Stick
People with strong pride tend not to accept help from others.
They try to solve things on their own and move forward alone.
But when they do receive help, they tend to want to repay it, which is exactly how Jung Seo-hee was acting now.
Simply put, she hated being indebted to anyone.
“I’ll believe you when you say you’ll definitely repay me, Jung Seo-hee.”
As the subtle tension between Jung Seo-hee and me seemed to resolve, I could see our homeroom teacher and Kim Yeon-joo looking relieved from the side.
Thanks to that, the atmosphere quickly became amicable.
‘But it’s too early to celebrate.’
To win Jung Seo-hee over, I had to overcome many obstacles.
Having high pride meant that the barrier to entry and resistance were equally high.
If I approached her carelessly, all that would come back was violence. Or I’d cross a point of no return.
‘The problem isn’t just that, though.’
Jung Seo-hee’s appearance put a stop to the twins’ education.
I had to find a way to deal with her if I wanted to do anything lewd with them as usual.
‘First, I need to break down that confident demeanor of hers.’
Perhaps it was because Jung Seo-hee’s presence was so strong, but even though she had just joined our group, she was already dominating the entire group.
Actually, it was understandable.
She had a strong backing, charisma, and was even good at fighting.
‘If I do anything lewd with the twins in this situation, I might get stabbed by Jung Seo-hee.’
I always knew she carried a knife on her hip. And it wasn’t just for show.
Even if I was lucky enough not to get stabbed, I might get beaten to a pulp.
It was already well-proven that she acted faster than she spoke.
‘So, first I need to break down her spirit, and then make her get swept up in our atmosphere.’
That was the task that had to come first.
‘I’ve fed her enough carrots, so shall I try using the stick now?’
Of course, I had no intention of wielding the stick myself. I knew my life was precious too.
I was just going to act naturally. Just stop holding back on what I’d been suppressing all this time.
“Ugh.”
I groaned and curled up.
“What’s wrong, Woo-jin?”
Our homeroom teacher was startled and rushed over to me, and Kim Yeon-joo, who was about to go do the dishes, put the pot down on the floor and ran to me.
“Are you hurt somewhere?”
“Haha, it’s nothing.”
“Nothing my foot! Woo-jin, you… you have blood all over your clothes!”
Our homeroom teacher’s eyes widened as she looked at my back. She immediately tried to take off my clothes, but I shook her off, saying I was really okay, and stepped back.
Kim Yeon-joo blocked my path behind me.
“What is it! Show me right now!”
“Ah, I just tumbled around a bit earlier.”
“Woo-jin. If you keep hiding it, I’m going to get angry.”
At those words, spoken with a stern look, I had no choice but to give up resisting.
When I stood still, our homeroom teacher came over and took off my top.
“Oh, my god.”
And she covered her mouth with her hand.
Her reaction was so extreme that I also looked down at my body.
There was a huge, dark bruise on my stomach.
It was the area where Jung Seo-hee had punched me earlier.
Thanks to tensing my stomach as much as possible, my internal organs weren’t damaged, but because I was tensing my stomach, it was hard to breathe, and I thought I was going to pass out.
‘She really hit me mercilessly, Jung Seo-hee.’
This only reinforced my conviction. How much Jung Seo-hee cared for and looked after the twins.
But the part that surprised our homeroom teacher wasn’t my stomach.
“Woo-jin, you have bruises on your back… there’s blood… there’s so much blood. What should we do?”
There was only one reason I was injured on my back.
It was when Jung Seo-hee grabbed me and threw me to the ground.
First damage from falling on the stone floor.
Second damage from being scratched while being beaten by Jung Seo-hee while sprawled on the stone floor.
Actually, other than the difficulty breathing, it didn’t hurt at all compared to when Kang Hye-rin hit me.
After all, Jung Seo-hee’s punches had almost no force behind them since she was exhausted.
But no matter how much it didn’t hurt, if there was a lot of blood, it couldn’t help but look very painful to a third party.
It was easy to be misunderstood as being in a serious condition.
In reality, only the surface of my skin was scratched.
“Yeon-joo, lay Woo-jin down over there!”
“Master, come over here right now!”
As if she couldn’t let things continue like this, our homeroom teacher quickly went somewhere and came back with something in her hand. It was a medical kit.
“Where on earth did you get hurt doing what!”
“Ouch, ouch. Could you please be a little gentler.”
“Are you going to tell me or not?!”
The amicable atmosphere had already been doused with cold water.
The atmosphere was quite tense as our homeroom teacher raised her voice sharply and Kim Yeon-joo’s expression hardened.
“Umm… I did it, teacher.”
Everyone’s attention focused on Jung Seo-hee.
Unfavorable gazes.
Especially our homeroom teacher, who was glaring at her.
Glaring.
To think that our homeroom teacher would get so angry.
It was a first.
In any case, it seemed that Jung Seo-hee was showing regret and her spirit was somewhat broken.
But this was just the beginning. I had only just picked up the stick.
Our homeroom teacher muttered as she disinfected the wounds on my back with red medicine.
“Seo-hee. I really didn’t see you like this… I thought you were quiet but kind and knew how to tell right from wrong, but I’m really disappointed.”
“…….”
Our homeroom teacher’s angry emotions were conveyed to her fingertips.
It was being conveyed directly to my back.
Poke! Poke!
“I thought you were a really good kid on the inside, even if you were aloof on the outside, and I really trusted you when I couldn’t trust anyone else. But to commit such a terrible act.”
She pressed down on the wounds and recited barbed words in a rapid-fire manner without any modulation, it was really no joke.
It was frightening. It was a moment when I couldn’t have imagined that our homeroom teacher would have this side to her.
‘This doesn’t seem like acting?’
I was moving according to the manual, but there were real emotions in our homeroom teacher’s actions right now.
Thanks to that, a precarious atmosphere settled over the entire area.
Of course, there were some kids who didn’t care about any of that.
Poke, poke.
The twins were poking my armpits, neck, ears, and even my butt with their fingers, teasing me.
I whispered in their ears, only loud enough for the twins to hear, telling them to read the room.
“Yuri. Ye-jin. I won’t be able to play with you for a while.”
“!!”
The twins looked at me, asking what that meant.
With wide eyes.
“I’m too sore to play with you.”
In other words, I wouldn’t be able to give them strawberries as a snack outside of meal times.
Only then did the twins start to make a fuss.
They started worrying about me in a fluster. Massaging my shoulders, massaging my legs, not knowing what to do.
Eventually, the twins looked up at Jung Seo-hee with resentful eyes.
It was a natural reaction, since their strawberry snacks were about to disappear starting from lunch today.
“Ugh.”
A troubled face.
It was clear that Jung Seo-hee was in trouble.
The Korean International High School’s reclusive tiger, who always went around alone and seemed to have no weaknesses.
But for her, who had come all the way here at the risk of danger to find the twins, the resentful looks from the twins would be quite a blow.
In the end, Jung Seo-hee also didn’t know what to do, just like the twins.
And I smiled inwardly as I watched that scene.
‘Just as planned.’
I had gotten beaten up for this moment.
The reason I silently took all the hits without resisting once was precisely for this moment.
Actually, I could have avoided getting hit. When Jung Seo-hee grabbed me by the collar and asked me questions, I could have responded nicely so that Jung Seo-hee wouldn’t hit me.
Having rolled around with the other kids in the class for three years, I could do that with my eyes closed.
But I deliberately didn’t do that.
I deliberately spoke slowly and didn’t give Jung Seo-hee the answers she wanted.
I kept insisting that I had never taken the twins away.
I deliberately provoked her.
So how could Jung Seo-hee, who acted faster than she spoke, have stood it? She got angry and beat me up.
‘Honestly, I didn’t think she would throw me to the ground.’
I recalled what had happened earlier as I looked at Jung Seo-hee, who didn’t know what to do.
‘You must have thought you had me then. You must have been sure that I wouldn’t be able to escape from you until you heard the answers you wanted.’
Far from it. I was the one who grabbed you then.
Although I was pinned under Jung Seo-hee, I was also holding on tight.
I was definitely grabbing Jung Seo-hee’s collar with one hand.
And I silently endured the pain. Because I knew that the more my body was wrecked, the more it would all come back to her.
‘You can’t escape from my snare now. Ever. I’ll make you lie beneath me, panting, and make you bear my children with that strong body.’
Jung Seo-hee’s spirit had already been broken.
She had earned the twins’ hatred because of what she had done.
It was even revealed that I hadn’t taken the twins away.
As a result, I had given them meat and fruit and treated them lavishly, while Jung Seo-hee herself had indiscriminately assaulted such a person.
The mistake she had made.
The shame, embarrassment, and regret that came from it.
‘Those emotions are the most powerful weapons for shaking people and breaking down walls.’
Of course, a cold-hearted person would thoroughly defend their walls even in the midst of that, but with everyone criticizing her mistake and sending her stinging gazes right now, there was no way Jung Seo-hee would have the余裕 to do that.
From this point on, what I had to do was set.
Since I couldn’t go anywhere anyway because of my injuries, I groaned whenever I entered Jung Seo-hee’s field of vision.
“Ah, does it still hurt a lot?”
“No. It’s okay. Don’t worry about it.”
“…….”
Until my wounds healed, even Jung Seo-hee had no choice but to be mindful of me.
The twins’ dissatisfaction at the disappearance of their snacks was reaching its peak.
“Yuri. Ye-jin.”
“…….”
They didn’t even pretend to hear me when I spoke to them.
They ran away to another place when Jung Seo-hee approached. They clearly had faces that said, ‘We’re sulking! Don’t talk to us!’
“…….”
Thanks to that, Jung Seo-hee became isolated, and her spirit waned accordingly.
And I continued to groan as I passed through her field of vision whenever I had the chance.
If the twins approached me and whispered in my ear-
“Is it all healed now?”
“Let’s play.”
“Sorry. It’s still a long way from being healed.”
I would tell them this. Then the twins would glare fiercely at Jung Seo-hee as expected.
Stare.
“Ugh.”
Had it finally reached its limit?
When I went to our homeroom teacher to disinfect my back, which was stinging from the sweat, Jung Seo-hee suddenly cut in between us.
“Teacher.”
Our homeroom teacher, still with a fierce look in her eyes. She looked at Jung Seo-hee with her arms crossed, as if asking what was going on.
“Um… I feel bad for Woo-jin, so I’d like to apply the medicine myself.”
“You, Jung Seo-hee?”
“Yes. Please. Please let me do it.”
Our homeroom teacher had a surprised expression.
She must have never imagined that a kid who skipped classes, didn’t do what she was told, and didn’t hang out with the other kids in the class would voluntarily step forward like this for someone else.
Our homeroom teacher nodded with a slightly touched face and handed the disinfectant to Jung Seo-hee before stepping back.
I took off all my clothes and lay face down on the floor.
“Wait. Why did you take off all your clothes…”
“I had no choice because I was injured down there too.”
I wasn’t kidding, I was injured in the butt area too. I’m telling you, I definitely didn’t do it on purpose.
“…….”
Jung Seo-hee, after checking my wounds, trembled slightly and then let out a deep sigh.
“I understand. But… I’d appreciate it if you could put that thing sticking out between your legs back inside.”
“This?”
“Yes, that eyesore.”
Ah, I did this on purpose.
With a regretful heart, I lifted my butt slightly and quickly hid the dick sticking out between my thighs.
Jung Seo-hee picked up the disinfectant and started applying it.
“Ouch, ouch.”
“Ah, does it hurt?”
“Please be a little gentler.”
“S-sorry. It’s my first time applying disinfectant to someone else’s body since I was a kid.”
And she disinfected the wounds on my back.
Carefully and meticulously, from the shoulder area to the butt area.
I smiled at her gentle and subdued appearance.
‘It’s still a long way to go. I’ll thoroughly reform you into a talent worthy of our group.’
Because the carrot and stick I just picked up.
