Chapter 23 — the rumor that burn
The whispers grew louder.
It wasn't just in the hallways anymore. Ji-Woo could hear them in the library, at the bus stop, even walking home.
Some were curious.
Some were cruel.
Most were neither — just noise that pressed in on him from all sides.
But Min-Ho… Min-Ho never flinched.
He stood close without touching, spoke to Ji-Woo in his usual, steady voice, and acted as though the whole world wasn't watching them.
Ji-Woo wanted to ask how he did it. How he could walk through all that without letting it show.
Instead, one afternoon, when they were walking back from school, Ji-Woo finally said,
"Don't you ever… feel tired of it?"
"Tired of what?"
"The stares. The whispers."
Min-Ho glanced at him, a faint smile tugging at his mouth.
"They don't matter."
"They do to me."
They stopped at a crosswalk. The red light reflected in Min-Ho's eyes.
"I know," he said quietly. "That's why I try to stand where you can hear me louder than them."
Ji-Woo didn't reply. But when the light turned green, he stepped forward — this time matching Min-Ho's pace, shoulder to shoulder.
---
That evening, alone in his room, Ji-Woo replayed the moment over and over.
Maybe that's what Min-Ho meant.
Not that the whispers didn't exist…
But that together, they could make them sound smaller.