Side Story 7, Swamp (7-1)

#Side Story, Swamp

He didn't remember much about his childhood.

All that remained intensely in the boy's memories until now was the impression that he had been alone in a world like a very quiet swamp, and that he had very much enjoyed being in it. The first thing that caught his interest in that quiet world was number cards, and then numbers themselves, and later he would write numbers with a pen whenever there was paper anywhere.

It was such a pleasant thing that he only wanted to keep doing that, but external elements wouldn't leave him alone to do so.

From some point on, he gradually had to learn how to communicate with the world forcefully, and found himself in a position where he needed to understand what was happening around him. Though he disliked connecting with the outside because it felt very sticky and unpleasant, it was unavoidable.

Like all living beings in the world, the boy had a father and mother. However, around the time the boy grew old enough to become somewhat aware of others, his mother packed their belongings and left the house holding his hand.

At that time, a boy much bigger than him seemed to have grabbed his mother's clothes and shouted something loudly, but his mother shook off that hand and escaped while continuously wiping away tears.

At the new house, they were welcomed rather warmly. Two elderly people appeared and told him to call them maternal grandfather and grandmother, and taught him that he would have to live there from now on. Though confused at first, when he realized that the new house neither forced him to stop writing numbers and look elsewhere, nor made noise around him, the boy quickly came to like that house very much.

Perhaps thanks to such a stable environment, according to others, the boy began to develop more like a normal person from then on, and simultaneously became able to better understand his surroundings.

His parents were divorced, and since his father and mother had decided to each take one of their two sons, his mother had brought him here. Only then did the boy learn that the boy who had shouted trying not to let go that day when his mother left the house holding his hand had actually been his older brother.

After the divorce, when his mother returned to her parents' home, she began calling him by a different name than what he had been called until then. To him, who couldn't easily adapt to having different names used outside and at home, his mother repeatedly said 'this is your real name.'

As time passed, the boy was able to get used to both different names. One was his original registered name used at school and officially, but the other was used only privately within the house to call him.

His maternal grandfather was a wealthy businessman who energetically ran his company even at that age, so he was not at all stingy about taking care of his daughter, who had been bedridden and ailing continuously since a few years after the divorce, and his grandson who was unlike other children.

Rather, he never spared showing satisfaction when looking at the boy, and would openly tell those around him who worried that the boy was different from other normal children that this child would become his successor.

As he grew older and continued to develop, the boy began showing remarkable talent in subjects related to his beloved numbers. Though adults showed great interest in his extraordinary mathematical ability that no ordinary young child could possess, mathematics came to the boy as a natural part of life, so it didn't feel particularly surprising. Though adults seemed to want the boy to focus more just on mathematics, from around middle school, he began shifting his interests to other fields.

The first new interest he developed was in methods of strengthening the body. It's natural for boys to establish hierarchies secretly through various fistfights from childhood. However, strangely, they very much disliked the boy and would always call him out separately to beat him while shouting like monkeys.

"You creepy bastard! Always sitting in the back, not studying but just writing weird numbers!"

"What good is being tall as a pole? Stop being so gloomy!"

"Feel good getting favored by teachers, you retard? I heard you're mentally ill?"

At first, the boy just endured silently, but at some point he realized that violence doesn't necessarily end someday just because you endure it. He came to understand this after seeing another child who was always beaten by others like himself ultimately choose to fall from the rooftop.

The moment he realized that violence might not end until life ends, and that even if cut short by death, no one shows concern for the deceased, the boy decided to stop enduring violence.

From then on, when he observed the children who used violence against him with interest, he could see that those at the bottom of the fighting hierarchy were mainly the ones who raised their fists against him.

Those high in the hierarchy showed no interest in the boy at all, as they were only concerned with hierarchy disputes among themselves. Then why did those of low rank keep using violence against the boy who walked alone without showing interest in such things? There was nothing to gain from such behavior.

When the boy, unable to understand this situation, went to his grandfather, a smile bloomed on his face as he was working.

"What brings you here? It's been so long since you've made eye contact, Yu-wan."

When the boy told his grandfather about what had happened at school and asked what would be the best way to live peacefully without interference, his grandfather responded with a somewhat bewildered expression.

"You've been getting beaten up all this time? Weren't you angry at those children? Didn't you ever want to hit them back?"

"No."

"Then, have you thought about the possibility that you might die if something goes wrong while being beaten?"

The boy searched his memories for a moment before slowly shaking his head.

"Not yet..."