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The classroom was dead silent. Only the sound of scribbling and page turns could be heard over my anxious heart beats. It was too soon. I hadn't studied enough! Did I even catch up on my work?233Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFy9rB1OhQm
I looked around the room at the other students. Each one held an eerie energy. As though none of them were real. Only empty shells. Yet they were doing just fine on their tests. The white board at the front of the classroom noted strict scoring expectations. Ones I somehow knew I wouldn't meet. A digital timer I'd never seen before was mounted on the wall like the ones at sports events. Adding to the suspense of my unpreparedness.
When I returned my eyes to the page, I was only on question two. The words and letters on the paper were scrambled. I slammed my fist on my desk in frustration, but the sound of the impact was muted. No one around me even shifted at my little outburst.
I opened my mouth to speak.
But no sound came out then either.
The air around me thickened with feelings of loneliness and isolation. I tried again to get someone's attention, to get some kind of feeling of normalcy. But no one reacted. It was like I wasn't there.
I threw my pencil at the white board, which predictably hadn't made a peep. No response. A mixture of fear and anger bubbled within me. No? Then maybe this! I picked up my desk and flew it across the room at the window. The object moved through the glass without puncturing it.
I screamed a non-existent scream so hard, my eyes shut tight.
Then my eyes opened and the room was empty.
The desks were clean, the chairs empty and pushed in neatly. The white aboard was void of writing and the lights were out.
Faint voices came from outside. I walked to the window to see what was going on. Down in a courtyard outside were a group of students lined up neatly with their uniforms. It was a ceremony. My eyes widened as I realized that it was our graduation. Already?
In the middle of the formation of students was an empty spot.
"I'm supposed to be there." I breathed. I then gasped, hearing my own voice. "I can speak now!"
Quickly, I move to unlatch the lock on the window.
It wouldn't budge.
"No!" I cried and I pounded on the window. "Hey! Everyone, wait for me! I'm supposed to be there too!"
However, the principle had just concluded the ceremony. Everyone clapped and shared their happiness with one another. The empty space vanishing as everyone began to disperse with their families. Tears flowed down my cheeks and off my chin.
"Why are you all being like this?" My voice shook as I watched everyone walk away, leaving me in the closed building alone. Strength left my legs and I slid to the floor. Fears about failing and repeating my last year ravaged my mind. Everyone moving on with their futures without me. Disappointing my family. I was alone.
After what seemed like hours, I felt someone watching me so I lifted my head. Like I thought, there were another pair of eyes that met mine. Only it wasn't a person but an animal. A wolf. It's fur was gray except for the fur on its under side which was white.
It sat quietly in front of me. Much to my surprise it's presence instilled calm, stopping my tears instantly. The peaceful creature walked toward me and began to clean the streaks of salt off of my face. When it was done, he walked out of the door into the hall. Worried I'd lose the peace it gave, I followed immediately after it.
When I met it outside of the class, we appeared to be outside the building. The school was still empty but at least I was outside of that room. I looked at the wolf again. This time he had a little gift bag in its mouth. He raised his nose to the air, insisting I take the bag.
When I reached out to grab it, I noticed that my hand looked smaller. I was a little shorter. And instead of my high school uniform, I seemed to be wearing a different uniform. One I hadn't seen in a few years. When I raised my eyes again, I had transported somewhere else and the wolf was gone.
I was still in a school but this one wasn't empty. Other students had gifts in their hands as well. Some were taking photos in their friend groups. I smiled at the many happy faces around me.
At that point I felt a sudden eagerness to do something. To find someone. I walked and wandered from building to building. My grasp on the gift bag tightened. I was going to deliver it no matter what. I turned toward another building. A strong pull to it tugged me toward it. They had to be there.
The building seemed to come closer to me as I didn't even recall walking toward it. I was just there, strolling around a corner.
There!
A boy sat alone on a bench. His eyes distantly staring out into the world ahead of him, yet not seeing it. I wondered why he was alone here and not with his family. Though at the same time I didn't feel at all surprised.
"Why are you here?" My younger self asked him boldly.
The boy had a natural frown but I was used to it. "Because I wanna be."
"But why are here alone?" I emphasized.
"Because I wanna be."
I rolled my eyes. "In that case you shouldn't have told me this was your favorite spot," I sat next to him.
"We're done with this place now. So it doesn't really matter now does it?" He shrugged. His body seemed to stiffen a bit just now.
"Ah, I see. This your last time here." I looked around at the nearby hedges sprouting with pretty purple and pink flowers. A smile broke out on my face. He appreciated nature. "This must be special for you. Do you want me to leave?"
Seconds passed before his hands retreated into his pockets. "Do you what you want. Doesn't matter." He then nodded at the gift I was holding. "Who was that from? I don't remember you having any friends."
I chuckled nervously. "For your information, I do have a friend. And this isn't from them, it's for them."
"What are you doing here then? The ceremony is long over. Everyone will be heading home about now." He eyed the decorative bag again his face looking much too focused. "Who's is it?"
I smiled and stood up in front of him then held out the bag to him with both hands. "Congratulations!"
The boys eyes widened ever so slightly. Never one to be very emotional, but it wasn't difficult to guess that he was surprised. He stared at the gift for a good while, like it was a foreign object. "Y-you..."
"Yup!" I nudged the gift bag in his hand, predicting that he'd figure out some excuse as to why he shouldn't take it.
But in a blink of an eye, his face suddenly harbored horror. I wondered what was wrong but before I could reach a conclusion, he shot up from his seat and shoved me to the ground.
My body hadn't even touched the concrete when I felt something within me shatter. When I fell, a sharp pain panged in my wrist when I tried to catch myself. I was frozen in disbelief. Tears poured from my eyes without warning.
With each tear I recalled that he'd told me many times to go away -- to not bother him, but I had always sensed he didn't mean it. Only now was it hitting me, that I was completely wrong. Completely and utterly. Wrong.
I thought I'd been stunned beyond hope of movement but I still jumped when he yelled at me.
"What kind of idiot gives such a stupid present?! This isn't even worth taking!" I didn't dare meet his eyes, but he threw the pretty gift bag to the ground. As it crashed in front of me I was certain I heard a crack from within it. My body quaked with anger, betrayal, heartbreak -- it was too much!
The situation worsened when I heard the voices of those fiends he called friends. They were eager to know what the excitement was all about. I wasn't going to stay and be humiliated more than I already was.
Without another thought, I pushed myself off the ground and ran away. The heartless cackles and howling insults echoed behind me.
How could I have thought I'd finally found a friend? I thought regretfully.
I kept running. As I did, everything around me stretched and blurred past me. I didn't know where I was going. I just wanted to go far away and never see him again. The cold speedy air gradually froze the tears pouring out of me. For days, I ran. And eventually, I had completely frozen over. No longer running but stuck in an icy casing, containing a young girl's grief.
Finally stopped by the ice and no longer blinded by the blur of movement, I could now see my surroundings clearly. When I realized where I had ended up, one more tear shed between my skin and the constricting ice. As a sculpture I stood helpless in an empty, dark classroom; in a school building of no people.
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HOSEOK
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Warm steam wisped into the air as I peeled back the ramyeon seal. The first whiff of the savory soup made my mouth water. After a good stir I slurped up a good mouthful of noodles.
I sat at a bar-like table just inside a shop window. Giving me a perfect view of an adjacent alley outside. The only activity I'd spotted so far were passersby looking to covertly dispense of their trash on the side of the road. That and stray cats.
Today, like other days since being arrested, I left school as soon as Heejae dropped me off. These days, I didn't feel all that interested in school. For too many reasons. One of them being: I got fired. Sure I didn't want to do it in the first place, but it still stung, you know?
When word got to Mr. Kim that the boy who had a hand in surveilling his son was once affiliated with a gang, he wasn't happy. The hot head of a man was too paranoid for his good. It was no wonder Jin was so touchy about his personal space. His father would have him surgically attached to their security team if he could. Jin wasn't all that happy with me either. Not so much about the gang part, but definitely the watching him like a hawk part.
Another reason the thought of school put me off these days was: Yurim.
Yurim hadn't contacted me since the day of the fire. I expected as much. It was best to let her be for the time being. The thing is, I wasn't sure if I was giving her space or if I was just being a coward about facing her.
In any case, there was something I had to do out here anyway. Something I couldn't put on hold.
When those officers said they'd been getting more and more calls about suspicious characters in our district, I got worried. One the descriptions the officer gave kept me up all night that night. They said a man had been seen with a tattoo on his arm of a snake. It's head and forked tongue lined up perfectly at the man's wrist.
It could've just been a regular guy with a tattoo. It's possible. But I wasn't going to attempt a normal day without trying to find out.
Footsteps approached my left in the middle of my thoughts. I looked to the side where someone had been standing next to me. After slurping up a mouthful of noodles, I looked up at the guy.
Seokjin stood there, a look of skepticism plastered to his face. I wiped the soup that dripped down my chin. "Ran away from your security detail again?" I checked the alley again but it was empty.
"They'll catch up eventually." Seokjin's voice dragged, no longer the youthful energy he once spent on me as someone he liked. "Been trying to pin you down at school."
"That's new."
"I needed to make sure that whatever you're a part of doesn't involve Yurim."
I felt my eye twitch with annoyance. Nice of someone she just met to keep watch over her, I thought bitterly. At the same time I remembered my recent determination to investigate the gang presence mentioned in reports. It had nothing to do with her of course, but these kind of guys had a knack for finding people's loved ones. Realistically, if I was caught being nosy, it was likely I could cause problems for more than just myself.
I checked the alley again, watching a man wandering inside. But eventually turned into one of the homes there.
"That was all the past. It's got nothing to do with me anymore, much less Yurim." I drank the soup in my bowl.
"It has nothing to do with her?"
I belched. "Nope."
"Absolutely nothing?"
"How many rounds of this were you aiming for?"
The boy standing held a look of suspicion. "I'm just doing the math. If you didn't get close to her for some outside reason, then...naturally it must mean- or at least it could mean..."
"You're right." I nodded. Jin's eyes squinted toward me. "I have great social skills." The muscles in his face relaxed but he wasn't amused. Again, I looked down the alley which was empty. Maybe this wasn't the place. "So, did I pass the test?"
"Well I figured you can't be that bad if you kept her safe from Namjoon that night. And I'm guessing you didn't sit quietly at lunch that day Jungkook pushed Yurim down the stairs?" He raised an inquisitive brow.
I sat impressed. "How'd you figure that out?"
"Your best friend gets knocked out and you chose that time to collect her homework? I don't think so. Not only did you not come back that day or saw to it that she got home safe, but you showed up to school the next day with a cut lip."
"Not just a pretty face, that's a relief." I said with sarcastic awe before laughing to myself. "Well...I can't take all the credit. I had help."
Silence lingered in the air for brief second before Jin replied with a wary tone. "Yoongi."
Jin seemed to be deep in thought, his eyes contemplating something troublesome. The sudden seriousness made me chuckle. "No need to fume. He's not that bad."
"That's not what I've seen."
"Yet you couldn't figure out that I was keeping tabs on you. You also didn't think I could take on Namjoon and Jungkook and survive. All because I smiled too much and acted like a clumsy idiot." I gathered my trash and threw it in a nearby bin. "What we see isn't always the whole story." I pat his shoulder and headed out. "Now, if you'll excuse me I got another area to stake out. This one's a dud." I nodded toward the alley.
"Wait...who are you looking for?"
I stopped by the door and turned to him. "Hopefully no one."
"And if it's someone?"
"Then let's hope no one bumps into them." I turned back to the door but stopped as I remembered something. "Yurim...do you know if she's back in school yet?"
Seokjin arched a brow but kept whatever thoughts he had to himself. "She starts back tomorrow."
I nodded my thanks. "I guess I'll see you in school."
With that I stepped out of the store and headed down the street. A few doors down I found one of my uncle's men searching every nook and cranny of the street. Luckily he was anxious enough not to notice his boss' nephew out of school. I shook my head as I passed. What a mess. I bet they miss me right about now.
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SEOKJIN
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It was the early evening by the time I returned home. Or in other words, I was caught and brought home. I'd lost count of how many times I've had to escape my father's hired security just to feel like a sovereign human being. I've never associated myself with being rebellious. I'm well known among my teachers and peers to be a level headed and respectable student.
However, when it came to my father, he had a way of bringing out a stubbornness that surprised even me.
The men in suits escorted me through the small garden in front. Once I reached the door, they retreated back to the perimeter of the house. As always their parting didn't change the feeling of suffocation when I entered the spacious foyer. Regal and sophisticated were common words to describe the gold and dark wood toned interior. Walking through the house was like walking through a museum of modern art pieces and sculptures. To me, it would always be empty of life and personality. Not one family picture sat in view in any room except for mine and the family portrait in dad's home office.
It was a cold place. Absent of any essence of a home.
"Seokjin-ah." Not long after I returned to my room and set my jacket down, mom entered. "Your dad wants to see you in his office."
I kept my look of irritation away toward the window. "Are you working as his assistant now that he's keeping you prisoner in your own home?" I inquired resentfully.
"Seokjin-ah." She whispered a gentle tone of disappointment.
I sighed at the wave of guilt hit me immediately. I couldn't remain bitter toward her. After all she wasn't the warden of this prison. "Sorry. I'll be right down."
Rather than leaving, she hesitated by the door. "You always leave the house when you don't go to school."
"You mean when dad keeps me from school." I corrected facing her. "When he thinks I'll get sucked into another dimension on a random day when he's feeling especially paranoid. Yes, I leave the house. I need to re-familiarize myself with sanity once in a while."
"I'm just wondering..." She looked away, her fingers fidgeting with the doorknob. "When you distance yourself from him...are you also trying to distance yourself from me?"
The question took me by surprise. It was the last thing I had expected from her only because everything she's tried to tell me was to be patient with my father, to be more understanding toward him, to be more accommodating for him. This was the first time she's raised concerns involving herself.
My hardened face softened. "I don't mean to. And I don't want to. But..." This time I couldn't look her in the eyes. "You're a faithful and obedient wife. You side with every decision he makes. So when I run away from him, I can't help that I'm running from you too." Before anything else could be said, before even a descent of silence, I stalked passed her and out of my room.
With every step down the marble staircase, I pushed the conversation further and further back into my mind. Refusing to think about the hurt on her face as I walked out. The last thing I needed was to feel guilty and vulnerable as my father lectured me. I couldn't let him misunderstand it as a submissive regard toward his rule.
When I entered his office, he sat at his desk while Mr. Jung, his head of security sat in one of the two little couches in the forefront of my dad's desk. The frowning man at the desk motioned me to sit down before returning to his bookkeeping. I took a seat on the couch opposite of Mr. Jung. Ever since finding out that he was Hoseok's uncle, I made it a habit to look for a family resemblance. It was more out of necessity to concentrate on something other than the situation.
"You left without permission again." Father said without looking up, his voice no doubt perturbed.
"I did."
"And the reason this time?"
"The same one."
The man looked up at last. "Escaping your safety for a little freedom is petty. This just proves you're incapable of making your own decisions."
My hands squeezed into fists on my lap.
"My 'safety'. You've been saying that a lot while never explaining the danger. Just admit there isn't one. At least you won't have to pretend to care about my safety as an excuse to control my decisions."
My father had his hands set neatly on either side of the books in front of him. His stone cold gaze went from me to Mr. Jung then back to me. "I've been against telling you since it's not a child's job to be concerned with such things. However, I've been convinced that telling you would help the effectiveness of our security team." The serious man nodded to Mr. Jung who nodded in turn before turning to me.
"Roughly a month ago," he started, "your father received a threat through the mail from a vengeful ex-employee. As a precaution, he sought to hire us to protect his family. It was the right thing to do to act quickly. Since then, we've discovered someone had been following your mother. We planned to catch him in the act so we could turn him in, however he caught on to us and went into hiding. It's unlikely he'd make an appearance after we'd seen his face. It's more likely another'd be sent in his place. Because of this we've concluded it was best for your mother stay home for a while.
As for you, we hadn't seen any clear evidence of the same interference so far. That is until we received a second envelope we believe indicates that you're being watched."
"What did it say?" I asked skeptically.
"It wasn't a letter." Mr. Jung said gravely. "It was filled with what appeared to be ashes and burnt debris."
My brows dipped down. "I don't understand. How is that an indication that I'm being watched?"
"The spa you spent the night in recently burned to the ground didn't it?"
"Well...yes but who's to say it's the same ash or that they're even connected?"
"Among the bits of debris was a partially melted pin. It was a little deformed but the name of the spa was clear." The security head explained. I vaguely remember the workers, including Yurim's dad, wearing a pin on their collared shirts.
The hair on my arms raised as I realized someone who meant my family harm went through the trouble to collect burnt ruins from the Lee's place of business. They were there, where Yurim could've been at any given time. "But why would they...it doesn't make sense. That fire was set by high school kids, not hired men."
"No matter who had done it, the person sending these threats knows where you've been. He's aware of at least some aspects of your life."
Anxiety grew more and more with every word the man said. Sending the ashes from the spa was so indirect. It barely had anything to do with me other than the fact that I'd been there once. And of course that it was the business establishment of my...well, of the family of the girl I like. But they couldn't know that part of my life, could they? Worry began to burrow a hole in my chest.
So this is what Hoseok was forbidden to tell me. He was probably irked with all my talk of keeping her away from possible dangers connected to his baggage.
Annoyed, I shot up to my feet. "So why not just report the man behind it all and be done with it?"233Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvr2oeionYC
Mr. Jung calmly began to answer but my father interjected.
"And all will be well, will it?" He clicked his teeth. "That's your problem, son. You think the solution to everything must be simple. If there's a bad guy, 'just' throw him in jail and all will be well. If something's bothering you, 'just' talk about it and you'll feel better. If you care about your company you've built for eighteen years to leave to your ungrateful son, 'just' leave it to someone else."
I rolled my eyes not surprised he brought this all back to my refusal to inherit his company. My tongue wound up behind my teeth, eager to retort but the security head cleared his throat loudly.
"To answer your question," Mr. Jung continued. "We can't turn him in without undeniable evidence and so far he's kept his hands clean. Even the envelopes he sent were clean of fingerprints. If we could catch whoever he's hired, maybe they'd admit he's behind it."
"And that guy following mom around is gone now. So we have nothing?"
"Well it's important to remember that we're a security team, not detectives. Our first priority is to guard you all. However, we did notice that the man who had followed your mother had interesting tattoos that we believe may indicate gang affiliation. Furthermore the police have received increasing reports of suspected gang-"
"That's enough for today." My father interrupted. "Now that you understand our situation better, I expect you'll be less troublesome to our security team."
"Yeah, right." I grumbled sarcastically.
The man slammed his fist down onto his desk, eyes hard. I steeled myself from buckling under his gaze as I stared defiantly at him. The burning seconds passed too slowly. This was pointless.
"Mr. Jung, please escort my son back to his room and see to it he stays there. You'll have your dinner in your room tonight." He said to me lastly as if eating away from him could be considered a punishment.
The head of security stood and ushered me out of my father's office. The two of us walked upstairs in silence. Once in my room he notified me that he'd send for a century. Before he left I stopped him with a question.
"How do you know him, Mr. Jung? He clearly hired you, but it seems as though you've known each other before."
It seemed irregular to ask the man in charge of keeping me prisoner personal questions, but the man was noticeably different than my parents. Though strong in presence, there was something about him that made one feel eager to spill their concerns.
After considering his answer, "your father and I went to school together. We were friends. But that was a long time ago."
I looked at him as though he'd just told me that he saw a flying monkey. It was odd thinking about the two being friends as kids. I'm not even sure I could imagine my father as an adolescent. "Did he blackmail you into being friends with him?"
The man let out a reminiscent laugh. "He was definitely a rascal who knew how to get what he wanted, that's for sure. But no. In fact as I remember it, his parents didn't like the fact that we'd been friends."
"Why was that?"
"They'd been working hard to get him in with the more sophisticated families and mine didn't reach their standards." He explained simply. I couldn't help but remember the kids in school who had pushed their way into my company. No doubt to fulfill the demands of their parents. Apparently my grandparents were no different. "Being Joosuk, he did everything they forbade him from. Never took kindly to being told what to do, your dad."
For a moment I only stared at the man puzzled. Not being the one to take orders definitely sounded like him, but never would I have guessed him to be defiant against his parents. The air between them had always been cordial for as long as I could remember.
And then I was curious about something else. "What happened after school? I've never heard about you at all. Surely if you two had been close friends, I would've heard about you."
"Ah," the man chuckled weakly, eyes fell to the floor. Something shifted in his manner but he maintained himself. "I'm afraid we lived separate college lives. It's natural for friends to experience some distance during their different pursuits." Mr. Jung gave a light grin before giving his watch a gander. "I should go now. Have a pleasant evening, Seokjin-shi."
I nodded, still trying to piece my father's past with his present self.
"Also," he added before closing the door. "If I may say so, I very much admire your ambitions."
The statement took me by surprise. "Thanks. If only my father thought so too. Being a psychiatrist must seem ridiculous to him."
The man at the door gave a patient look. "I think he could surprise you. Just be sure you know it's really what you want and why."
With a polite nod Mr. Jung closed the door leaving me and my astonishment alone in the quiet bedroom. Did he just approve of my contrary plans? A brief second passed in which I felt envious of Hoseok. I wondered what it must've been like being raised by his uncle who seemed too well tempered to have ever been friends with my dad.
Hoseok.
Mr. Jung was in the process of telling me about possible increasing gang appearances in dad's office before being interrupted. I wondered if that could've had anything to do with what Hoseok was doing today. Was he looking for this gang his uncle mentioned?
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