"I'm home."
"Welcome back, Woojin."
When I returned, Mom came out to the front door to greet me.
This was the only place where I could truly relax.
And the only person with whom I could let my guard down.
Just having a place to return to and someone who welcomed me, wasn't that enough to make me happy?
"Nothing unusual happened at school?"
"Nope."
Well, there had been things, but if I started talking about every little incident, it would never end.
As I answered, I hugged her.
"Oh my."
Mom was startled by my sudden affection but gladly stroked my head.
The stress I'd built up over the day melted away.
"Nothing happened."
A day where nothing happened, or so it seemed.
****
Behind the scenes…
The university Woojin attended had a few peculiar clubs.
Some made you wonder how they'd ever gotten approval, while others made you question whether people actually engaged in those activities.
One such club was the Bird Watching Club.
Bird Watching.
Literally, observing birds.
But their activities were simple:
Watching (observing) their Bird (Woojin).
It started as a small department club.
Six like-minded students from the same major came together to form it.
They quietly spread the word about their activities, recruiting allies.
By the end of the first semester, half the department had joined.
A year later, it had upgraded to a central club, accepting members from the entire school.
Unofficially, their numbers reached around 500.
Officially, the roster still listed only six members, but more and more women sympathized with their cause.
The most important rule of Bird Watching was observing the bird in its natural state.
Never invade the bird's privacy.
That was the first principle of Bird Watching.
Looking was fine. Imagining was fine.
Hell, they could even write fiction in their journals.
But approaching or speaking to him was strictly forbidden.
Even if they observed him, they were never to make eye contact.
The mere realization that someone was watching could be threatening to the bird.
And above all, touching or feeding him was absolutely taboo.
Simply admiring from afar...
That was the essence of the Bird Watching Club.
"But these freshmen these days…!"
The club president slammed her fist on the desk in frustration.
On it were several bottles of the same mineral water Woojin had been drinking earlier.
"President. What should we do?"
"…First, we'll try to enlighten them our way. If that doesn't work…"
The other girls around her nodded solemnly.
*****
Soon after, the offending freshman was dragged into the clubroom.
The girl who had tried talking to Woojin before being silenced and hauled away by the others.
"Why'd you bring me here? I've got plans."
Fiddling with her bright red nails, the underclassman spoke dismissively.
Heavy makeup, earrings, a short skirt...
The epitome of a modern, party-loving girl.
They weren't about to criticize her for how she dressed.
But approaching their bluebird in that state?
Unforgivable.
"Promise us one thing, and we'll let you go right away. Don't approach Woojin, the second-year."
"Huh? Since when do you get to interfere, sunbae-nim?"
The underclassman scoffed in disbelief.
But the president remained unfazed by her audacity.
If she were the type to waver over something like this, she wouldn't have started this in the first place.
"Hey. Lights off."
At her command, the other girls moved swiftly.
Lights off. Curtains drawn. One of them locked the door.
"Wh-what are you doing? I'll report you if you lay a finger on me!"
Sensing danger, the underclassman shot up from her chair, defensive.
Instead of answering, the president pulled up an edited video on her laptop and pushed it toward the girl.
"This is a documentary filmed by Woojin's mother, actress Shin Dahee, back when he was in middle school."
"Actress Shin Dahee? The Shin Dahee? Woojin sunbae-nim is her son?"
Ignoring her shock, the president motioned for her to watch.
On screen, a younger version of Woojin's mother was being interviewed.
["The first time I saw him was on the news."]
["A little boy who'd been abused by his birth parents."]
The footage cut to a news broadcast from that time.
["Police have urgently arrested a couple in their 20s on charges of child abuse."]
["The victim's body has cigarette burns alongside severe bruising."]
["Kindergarten teacher (Face blurred): That day, the child was urinating blood. Since he was already in pain, I called his mother. But she just said it was fine, that she'd take him to the hospital later. But I was worried, so I decided to take him myself..."]
["Doctor: Two ribs were fractured, along with both the radius and ulna in his right wrist. The ribs broke when his father kicked him in the stomach. The wrist likely snapped when he tried blocking a hard object, maybe a rod, that was swung at him. How could no one have noticed his wrist was this swollen?"]
["Criticism has been raised against the police for failing to recognize the severity of the abuse reports and responding inadequately. Neighbor B, who had reported it long ago, expressed fury that it had been dismissed as 'disciplinary parenting.'"]
Images flashed across the screen...
A child's bruised body. A swollen, broken wrist. X-rays of shattered bones.
Some club members were already crying as they watched.
The president silently wiped her own tears.
It was a story that hurt to revisit.
The footage returned to Shin Dahee's interview.
["How could birth parents do that to their own child? I was so furious, so heartbroken, as a mother myself..."]
["I kept thinking, Is there any way I can help? Then I heard he'd been taken into protective custody. That's when I wondered if I could adopt him..."]
The president paused the video there.
The underclassman, who had been engrossed, glared.
"Hey, why'd you stop? I was watching."
"Non-members only get to see this much."
She closed the laptop. The lights came back on.
Then she pulled out a few sheets of paper and slid them forward.
"These are copies of Woojin's psychiatric results submitted to the professors."
"…Psychiatric?"
Skeptical, the underclassman scanned the documents.
***
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