Chapter 6: Uniform

Si-on did not leave the house on Sunday, and he told himself it was because of his mother.

It was true as far as it went.

The Devil's men had her bank card, her phone number and her old neighbours, and Si-on had nothing but a note under a salt cellar.

He slept in the chain room with the door open and the collar on the pillow.

Nobody touched him, and by morning he wanted to put his fist through the wall.

On Monday Seo-jin stood in the hall in a black coat and watched him come down the stairs in his school uniform.

The tie was knotted for once.

"Du-sik will drive you," Seo-jin said. "He will wait at the gate. He is not to follow you inside."

"Nice of you."

"It is a condition of the contract. School, February. You wrote it."

The grey eyes went down him and back up.

"No marks where a teacher can see them."

"I've got no marks," Si-on said.

"Not yet."

Si-on's ears went hot, and he walked out to the car before the Devil could see it.

School was loud, bright and ordinary, and it felt like a place he had visited in a dream.

He sat through maths without hearing a word.

Every time a teacher wrote on the board, he felt the phantom weight of leather at his throat.

He felt the heat of a finger inside him, and heard the voice saying not tonight.

At lunch he looked for Ji-won.

Ahn Ji-won's desk was empty.

His bag was not there, and his phone went to voicemail on the first ring.

At the end of the day Si-on walked out through the school gate, rubbing the back of his neck.

The black car was waiting at the curb.

The rear door was open.

Seo-jin sat in the back seat in his black coat, one gloved hand on his knee.

"Get in."

Si-on got in.

The door shut.

Du-sik, in the front, rubbed his bruised ribs and did not turn around.

"Where's Ji-won?" Si-on said. "He wasn't in class."

"Du-sik will find out." Seo-jin's eyes moved across his face. "You didn't eat at lunch."

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