순정 깡패

After his grandmother, his only family, passed away, Ji-woo was trying hard to live each day on his own when he received a request from his homeroom teacher. The request was to persuade the troublemaker Lee Hyun-joon to come to school. The teacher’s request was surprising, suggesting they might understand each other due to their shared middle school background, same club, and both being orphans. But Ji-woo accepted the request out of gratitude for the teacher who had treated him well without discrimination throughout the year.

Thinking he could at least talk if they met somehow, Ji-woo tries to meet Hyun-joon, who is rumored to be such a serious delinquent that he’s been scouted by gangsters. But…

“Hey, get lost. If you do this again, you’ll get hit, okay?”

Hyun-joon acts threateningly and openly shows annoyance towards Ji-woo. This sparks a strange determination in Ji-woo, who starts following Hyun-joon everywhere, trying to persuade him to come to school. Hyun-joon finds Ji-woo’s persistence annoying and ridiculous.

“You’re a stalker, aren’t you? Always looking for me. Aren’t you tired of telling me to come to school?”

“If you’re not completely avoiding school, why don’t you come to the classroom? Don’t you have friends in class?”

“No.”

“Then come to see me.”

“…What?”

“I’ll wait for you. So come.”

However, as Hyun-joon spends more time with the persistent Ji-woo, he begins to be moved by Ji-woo’s kind and warm demeanor, and helplessly starts to like him.

After realizing his feelings, Hyun-joon notices that Ji-woo also thinks of him as special, and hoping for Ji-woo to quickly realize his feelings, he boldly moves forward.

“Do you… like me?”

“Ah, shit. You think I’d feel this alive just by you acknowledging it?”

“…Really?”

“Yeah, f*cking really.”

“……”

“Don’t forget it since you figured it out with difficulty.”

Ji-woo also finds himself drawn to Hyun-joon, who, contrary to rumors, is kind and always by his side. The two begin a sweet love, filling the ‘loneliness’ they’ve always felt.

“I’ll make sure you have nothing to worry about. I really don’t want to embarrass myself in front of you anymore. I’ll make sure you don’t regret liking me…. Keep liking me.”

“Okay. You don’t have to worry about that. I really like you.”

After graduation, as Hyun-joon tries to live an upright life solely for Ji-woo’s sake, gangsters appear before him, trying to persuade him to work with them. Hyun-joon, no longer wanting to be involved, firmly rejects their offer.

“You already know the taste of easy money. Just live like you used to.”

“I won’t live embarrassingly anymore.”

When persuasion fails, the gangsters start threatening Hyun-joon, but he stands firm, unwavering to the end with the single-minded desire to no longer show a shameful side to his beloved Ji-woo.

Then one day, an irreversible incident occurs, and Hyun-joon finds himself at a crossroads, having to make a choice to protect Ji-woo…