i. lunch in the rain
( 5950 words ).

━━HYOSAN HIGH HAD always been a prestigious school; in terms of behavior, of course. hyosan was a decent school, but lee eunbyul was not the most decent student. sure, she'd done things she wasn't exactly proud of (who hadn't?) and that put her in the awkward, almost friend-less phase of high school, but she wasn't bad at heart.

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━━EUNBYUL AWOKE AT 6:48 am to get ready for school, which was 30 minutes later than she was supposed to wake. tumbling out of her sheets in a panic, she yelped when the studs in her ears caught on the fabric briefly before releasing. rubbing her sore ears, she made her way, half running, half stumbling sleepily to grab her clothes and start the shower.

"maybe i should stay home." eunbyul mumbled to herself, spreading the curtains to look down at her house garage, where only one car was parked. "fuck, dad stayed home from work."

muttering angrily to herself, eunbyul stepped into the bathroom and stripped her clothes off as quick as her morning limbs could register, stepping into the warm water.

5 minutes later and she was out of the bathroom, drying and combing through her hair. she was still wearing her pajamas and there was still 15 minutes before she had to get going to school. she quickly changed into her uniform, which honestly bothered her but at least the skirt had shorts underneath, and went downstairs to get some breakfast.

eunbyul grabbed a glass from her cabinet and poured herself some juice from the fridge, combing through to see if her mother had made her something to eat before departing to work. sadly, she hadn't. eunbyul wasn't too upset though, she knew her mother worked hard to provide for their family, and things slipped her mind from time to time; apparently one of those was remembering to feed her only daughter.

shrugging it off, eunbyul opted for a pop tart instead. she grabbed a packet, her backpack, and house keys before leaving for school. hyosan high was a 10 minute walk away, and usually it was a pain. eunbyul preferred walking it alone, but her annoying neighbor had a knack for guessing when eunbyul was leaving for school, which meant he would follow.

"hey, wait up," yoon gwinam called after eunbyul as he bounded down the sidewalk to catch up, making the girl quicken her pace without turning back to look at the boy.

"fuck off." she said simply, but it had no effect. the boy quickly caught up to her, making her eyes roll.

"i don't listen to losers." gwinam smirked down at her.

"says the errand boy." she scoffed. "leave me alone. you give me a bad reputation and i don't like you."

he grinned his taunting grin at her, as though he knew his presence was hindering others from approaching her, because no one wanted to be associated with anyone that was friends with bullies or even bullies' errand boys.

"it's not my fucking fault people find you hard to look at." he wasn't exactly all that wrong this time.

eunbyul was nothing if not 'delinquent' looking. she had menacing blue eyes, and piercings could be seen all over her ears. if one looked hard enough, they might even notice the small, almost invisible scar on her tongue which had held a metal ball a few month prior.

yet gwinam was nothing if not pitiful, in eunbyul's opinion. she wanted nothing to do with him, but he seemed to find a sort of joy in following her around. eunbyul had half a mind to beat him up, but energy was scarce in the morning and she really needed it to pass through the day.

both teens soon arrived at school, with eunbyul wearing a moody frown and gwinam an annoying grin.

"don't talk to me at school. it's annoying." eunbyul said before breaking into a run to catch up with someone she actually wanted to be around.

looping her arm around gyeong su's neck, she pulled him down and ruffled his hair with a grin.

"hey yeon." she greeted him with her nickname for her best friend.

"hey yul." he replied, laughing.

gwinam watched her scowl change into a smile, clicked his tongue in annoyance, and left up a path that led to an abandoned building with his group of 'friends'.

cheong san was standing right next to gyeong su, and eunbyul ignored him. he was another annoyingly persistent bug who lived for making her life miserable.

"morning, ms. del." cheong san hummed with a teasing grin. 'ms. del' was just short for ms. delinquent, which pissed eunbyul off because as much as she looked like one, eunbyul was not a delinquent. unless you count skipping school and slacking off as 'delinquent' activities, she was just like every other student in hyosan.

"shut the fuck up, chicken." she shot back, flipping him off. before he could say anything, her eye caught on a student from their class walking through the steps that led to a building site.

"weird. isn't that bare su?' she wondered, unlatching herself from gyeong su.

"be back in a bit." she called, dashing away before anyone had the chance to stop her.

"yah, she probably left because you were bothering her." gyeong su slapped cheong san on the back. "she hates being called a delinquent."

"i've been calling her that for months. there's no way she's getting upset about it now." he shot back, rubbing his shoulder.

eunbyul followed suhyeok up the stairs cautiously, wondering what exactly he was doing. he'd left his delinquent days behind, so there must be another reason. she stepped inside the half constructed building, letting her eyes wander. directly in front of her stood the ex-delinquent, blocking her view.

she heard voices, most of which she recognized. myeong hwan, a boy who's name she didn't know but she knew his voice and face, and gwinam.

'fucking errand boy.' she felt anger surging through her body. of course he was here.

she stepped briskly towards the entrance, her footsteps silent even through the rocks that littered the dirt path. she grabbed suhyeok's shoulder.

"move out of the way." she called, her piercing blue eyes glinting dangerously. he obeyed.

gwinam watched as she entered, his gleeful laugh extinguished and the expression like a deer caught in headlights replaced it. in his hands was a phone, and on the ground was another person eunbyul recognized. eunji kneeled on the floor, topless.

eunbyul's furious eyes flickered from the phone in gwinam's hand to the girl on the floor. the pieces had already clicked. myeong hwan was chuckling off to the side, his face written with amusement. it wasn't until his gaze caught eunbyul's that he paled. but she didn't care about him.

with steady hands, she removed her black hoodie and kneeled next to her classmate, handing her the piece of coverage.

"put this on." she muttered to eunji, who shook her head and refused to remove her hands from her chest. eunbyul huffed and put the cloth over her head, enough the cover her chest. eunji quickly slipped her hands into the clothes.

"don't do anything. please." she whispered, her voice shaking.

"i won't. now get going. both of you." she added to the boy who was crying in gwinam's now slackened grip. her tone left no room for argument and both teens scrambled out of the building, taking hesitant glances behind them as they ran.

"phone." she held her hand out.

"don't give anything to her-"

"shut up." she called to myeong hwan. "phones. now."

gwinam and the other lackey which eunbyul did not know the name of handed their phones to eunbyul. they were terrified of the look on her face and the rumors of her incredible fighting skills. she deleted all the videos of eunji, checking social medias as well just in case.

"eunbyul-" gwinam began, but was cut short by a deafening slap from eunbyul.

"you're a terrible person, yoon gwinam. keep your mouth shut." she said, her eyes angry and harsh.

"stop acting like you're so high and mighty, lee eunbyul. you're just like the rest of us, and turning over won't change who you were before. because you're still the same eunbyul who'd fight people on the streets just for money, and nothing will ever change that." myeong hwan called, strutting closer so he was face to face with eunbyul.

a sort of dull pang echoed in her heart at the mention of her past.

"you say you hate delinquents, but you're one yourself. even got the scars to prove it, don't you? both inside and out. say, where's that boss of yours? you still his fuckin' toy?" myeong hwan continued, a leering grin painting his ugly face.

"shut up." eunbyul said through clenched teeth.

"oh i'm sorry." he didn't sound very apologetic, "seeing eunji must have reminded you of yourself, didn't it? eunji, eunbyul, similar names and everything. does it make you sad, seeing people just as pitiful as you? are you gonna cry about it?" that sick smile was still painted on his lips.

eunbyul reeled her fist back and aimed to punch him. but someone beat her to it. suhyeok socked myeong hwan square in the face. she glanced back at the boy, surprise on her face. he didn't say anything, but grabbed eunbyul by the arm and tugged her out of the construction site and back on the path to school.

gwinam watched her go, a million questions floating in his head and a throbbing pain on his left cheek. the lee eunbyul myeong hwan had described sounded nothing like the girl who called him an errand boy, cursed at him every 10 seconds, and even slapped him. who was lee eunbyul, and how much did gwinam actually know about her?

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━━EUNBYUL WRETCHED HER arm away from suhyeok's grip.

"you're strong." she muttered, rubbing her arm.

"so are you." he said, imitating the sound of her slap. "did you follow me?"

"and if i did?" eunbyul had never actually spoken to suhyeok. they'd seen each other in class, but he was an ex-delinquent and she was tired of being pulled into anything that reminded her of the old eunbyul. still, bare su was not exactly how eunbyul imagined he would be like.

"i'm lee suhyeok." he held out his hand for a handshake.

"i know." she mused, raising her eyebrows. "we have the same homeroom."

the boy didn't answer, just motioned his hand closer.

eunbyul sighed and took his hand, giving it a lazy shake. "i'm lee eunbyul."

he smiled at her. a small part of her wanted to believe it was just because he found her cool, and thought she was strong. that he needed a friend who understood him and knew about the things nobody would share even with their closest friends, and she could be that friend. but she knew better.

eunbyul hated being pitied. she didn't want to be viewed as different, or be labeled as the poor girl who was used and then left behind to rot. no, she was past that, and she didnt want anyone to bring it back up. but of course, myeong hwan had to open his big mouth and share secrets about her that eunbyul didn't even know how he'd found out.

"myeong hwan was scared of you. i saw it. when you walked in, i saw his hands shake." suhyeok mentioned.

'not scared enough if he could spill my secrets without batting an eye.' eunbyul thought sourly, but replied with, "we knew each other, that's all."

"you seem to hate gwinam the most, though. why?" eunbyul began to get annoyed. she didnt want to answer any questions, she just wanted to get through the rest of her classes and go home.

"it's not important." eunbyul quickened her pace, wanting to leave the boy behind, but he was fast and caught up easily.

"i think it is." he retorted, watching her.

"it's not." they had entered the school now, and he was still following her.

"if it's not important then you should have no problem telling me about it." he said.

"you're annoying." she replied bluntly, making him laugh.

"that's new. people usually love me."

eunbyul didn't say anything; they had reached the classroom and she gladly slid open the door and walked to her seat as quickly as possible. she didn't notice the boy beside her being tugged back out of the classroom, nor did she care. his constant questions bothered her.

"hey prez." she said to her seat mate, choi namra, before lowering her head into her hands and slumping in her seat tiredly.

at the mention of her name, namra looked to one side, watching her partner. her lips curled into a small, almost unnoticeable smile.

"hello, eunbyul." she replied before going back to studying, allowing the girl a few moments of rest before their homeroom teacher arrived.

"YAH" a loud yell broke through the chatter of conversation, making eunbyul lift her head from her arms. it was nayeon, and she was heading right for gyeong su. "get off of there. you're gross."

gyeong su gave a raise of his eyebrows and slid off the desk he was sitting on. "alright, my bad. what's the big deal? i'll clean it, look-" he began to use his sleeve to wipe the desk, but nayeon pushed him off, grabbing her bag.

"stop that! you're dirty!" she whined. her voice made eunbyul's head pulse, and the words that came out of her mouth made her blood boil.

"what the hell?" gyeong su muttered.

"come on man, let it go." cheong san slung an arm over gyeong su, and woojin looked at nayeon distastefully.

"why are you so grumpy today?" he scoffed, only to be elbowed away by nayeon.

"what is it?" gyeong su asked, "what did i do that was so wrong?"

eunbyul was about to stand up and beat the shit out of miss-i'm-better-than-you-nayeon when the bell rang and their teacher ms. park entered the room.

"you punks, take your seats, move it." everyone rushed to sit down.

"good morning class. hand in your phones." ms. park called, and the class collectively groaned before going up to turn in their phones. eunbyul put on her earbuds and pressed play on her music before walking to the front and depositing her phone in its corresponding slot.

"has anybody heard anything from hyeon ju?" she asked. through the low hum of her music, eunbyul recognized the name with such clarity it was unnerving. hyeon ju had been with myeong hwan's gang. not that eunbyul didn't want her to be found, its just she had a dislike for bullies who couldn't hold their tongues or their fists.

"nobody has tried calling her?' ms. park asked as the class stayed silent.

"we cleaned the science lab together yesterday, but i haven't seen her since then." a boy eunbyul vaguely remembered to be named oh joon yeong spoke up, pushing his glasses farther up the bridge of his nose.

"i see." their teacher sighed, "well, if you hear anything from her, let me know, okay?"

the classroom chorused with 'yes ma'am's, and session began. ms. park pulled out her phone and texted the class group chat, sending a ping of notifications from the desk in front of eunbyul.

woojin nudged daesu and whispered into his ear, "didn't you silence it?"

the whole class erupted into laughter as daesu and isak went up to hand in their actual phones per ms. park's orders.

"hey, onjo isn't this your phone from last year? come get it" ms. park motioned for onjo to come pick up her phone.

"she's dumber than me." laughed daesu, and even eunbyul cracked a grin.

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━━ ❝WHO WANTS TO interpret this?❞.

a sudden movement behind eunbyul indicated that the girl sitting in the next row, heesu, had stood up. odd, eunbyul thought, because heesu would never stand up to volunteer for things in class.

"okay, heesu." ms. park called out.

"i need to use the restroom." the girl behind eunbyul said. her voice sounded heavy and wavered in the slightest. eunbyul turned to look at her, only to find the girl looking sick.

"alright, go ahead." ms. park dismissed her, turning back to continue the lesson, "okay then, who wants to have a crack at it? our classroom president, maybe?"

eunbyul turned back in her seat, forgetting all about the sickness evident on heesu's face when she heard the nickname of her seat mate.

"the truth is, all of us have some sort of prejudice," namra began, capturing all of eunbyul's attention at once. "we all have preconceptions about other people."

"very good." ms. park smiled.

"good job, prez." eunbyul gave the girl beside her a gentle pat on the shoulder and a small smile.

"next, bare su. stand up." the teacher called, making the boy who had followed you around before school started lift up his head in confusion.

everyone else turned to look at the boy as though he had grown three heads. he stood up when ms. park jerked her head upwards in a signal that yes, she had been talking to him. people muttered and snickered as suhyeok clumsily stood up.

"that moron." somebody laughed.

"why are you bare su?" ms. park asked.

when he didnt answer, joon yeong piped up. "its short for barefoot suhyeok. bare su."

"he really hates wearing socks," daesu added, turning to look at said boy while earring a neck pillow, "so he stinks a lot." daesu slowly reached up to pinch his nose with his hands.

at this eunbyul laughed, as well as everyone else in the class. she missed the stare suhyeok shot in her direction, as he was surprised her laughter was so nice. when she and the rest of the class, including ms.park had quieted down, their teacher spoke again.

"okay, bare su. what did namra just say?" she asked.

"this ought to be good." eunbyul snickered under her breath.

slowly, suhyeok turned to stare at eunbyul's table. "well..."

the whole class mimicked him.

"he doesn't know. he knows nothing."

"she was absolutely correct." he replies instead, and eunbyul bursts into a fit of laughter.

"eunbyul, since you find his reaction so funny, what did your seat mate say?" ms. park rounded on eunbyul, making her stop her laughter. from the other side of the classroom, cheong san snickered and pointed at her with a grin. she discreetly flipped him off.

suhyeok watched as eunbyul cleared her throat.

"she doesn't know either. when she's not at school, she's sleeping through her classes." someone laughed.

"ugh, teach,"eunbyul fake gasped and clutched at her stomach, an expression of mock pain on her face, "i have to go to the nurse's office."

"you've never been sick a day in your life !" cheong san calls from his seat, making everyone erupt in giggles.

"how would you know?" eunbyul snarled back at him before forgetting she had to pretend to be sick.

ms. park laughed, shaking her head. before she could say anything, eunbyul caught sight of a figure swaying closer to the door. they looked like they were about to collapse.

"oh shit." eunbyul shot out of her seat, shocking her classmates and opening the door, catching hyeon ju before she fell.

"eunbyul?" she muttered, eyes half lidded. a surge of panic ran through eunbyul at the sight of her face, covered in blood. although she disliked the girl, eunbyul would never wish death upon her greatest enemies.

"yeah, it's me." eunbyul replied as ms. park ran to see what had happened.

"hyeon ju! what's wrong? are you okay?" stupid questions to ask, in eunbyul's opinion, because the girl was obviously not okay nor in a state to say anything more than low mutters, but eunbyul kept her mouth shut.

"is that blood?"

"she's hurt!"

"ms. park", hyeon ju said.

"yes, it's me. do you recognize me?"

"he grabbed me...the science teacher grabbed me and locked me up." she said, making everyone gasp.

"mr. lee byeong chan?" eunbyul asked.

"he tied me up..." hyeon ju continued, and hushed whispers began rising through the class.

"i told you, didn't i?"

"just shut up, okay?"

"let's go to the infirmary," ms. park said, but eunbyul could tell she was shaken. no teacher really expects their students to ever show up to class covered in blood and on the verge of passing out. this must be higher than what she'd trained for.

"namra, have them study for a while." despite the sweat beginning to form on her temple, ms. park issued orders firmly. "stay quiet while i go up and check"

"shouldn't we call the police?"

"she said he tied her up."

"hyeon ju, get up," ms. park tried to lift her, but suhyeok and eunbyul stepped up at the same time."

"i'll carry her."

turning to look at each other, eunbyul gave suhyeok a nod. she figured it would be better for him to carry her, since he's got more stamina than her. but still, it didn't feel right leaving the bloodied girl in someone else's hands.

"i'll go too. just in case something happens." eunbyul said, and ms. park nodded.

"okay." the teacher nodded, standing in a hurry.

"i'll help." onjo spoke up, and isak mimicked. together, the two girls, eunbyul, and ms. park helped secure hyeon ju on suhyeok's back.

"go back to your seats!" ms. park ordered before hurrying the others to take hyeon ju to the nurse's office.

while the 6 ran through the halls, eunbyul occasionally repositioned hyeon ju's head so it wasn't lolling out too far back. she didn't seem to be in her right mind; that, or the science teacher had done something to her, given her some sort of injection or pill or something to make her act like that. she was growling and struggling, and trying to bite suhyeok. the thundering of their combined footsteps was enough to turn the passing class's attention.

they burst into the nurse's office, where heesu had been waiting. eunbyul was far too busy trying to hold hyeon ju back that she didn't even notice the poor girl.

"please take a look at her." urgent voices mingled together as they placed the twitching girl on a bed. immediately, the nurse checked her temperature.

"her temperature is way too low." she grabbed a blanket. "hold this down to she doesn't kick it off."

while the students were trying to wrestle the blanket onto hyeon ju's struggling figure, ms. park pulled eunbyul away for a fraction of a second.

"listen eunbyul. i need you to go back to class and help namra watch over the students. i don't know how long i'll be gone, and i trust you to keep them doing their work."

eunbyul made a movement to protest, but her shoulder was grabbed firmly. "take suhyeok and the girls with you. and don't say anymore than you need to."

reluctantly, eunbyul nodded. though she helped a few minutes after, onjo got hurt and ms. park decided it better they left right away. so, with eunbyul in charge, eunbyul and isak went back to class. suhyeok had stayed behind to help ms. park.

"that was crazy, wasn't it?" isak wasn't smiling, but tried to lessen the tension in seeing such terrible things with a lighthearted tone.

"weirdest school ever." muttered eunbyul under her breath. in reality, she was nervous. not about the amount of blood, but the way hyeon ju's body was contorting, bending in weird angles, hearing what were probably bones crack. it was scary, because it was so inhuman.

when she looked at her hands, they felt oddly cold. her arms were littered in goosebumps, and her jacket did nothing to keep her warm. eunbyul ignored the shivers dancing down her spine and walked, unknowingly being watched by isak's gaze.

opening the door to the classroom, the two students were bombarded by questions. eunbyul kept her mouth shut, but isak began ranting about what had happened. not that eunbyul could blame her; she'd need to tell people if she'd seen something crazy. just now wasn't a good time.

gyeong su pulled her aside, worry creasing a line between his eyebrows. "everything okay?" he asked in a low tone.

eunbyul nodded, but they both knew she didn't mean it. "crazy shit." she sighed, plopping herself onto her seat.

namra glanced to look at eunbyul from her book. in her hand was a pencil; she'd been studying as she had been ordered to. that was the thing with namra, she just followed orders and did what she was told. nothing bad about it, but people always seem to find faults in the actions of others. and since namra was quiet, rich, smart, and pretty, people didn't like her. odd, but that was just the way it was/

while eunbyul ignored the quiet chatter, the obvious subject being hyeon ju, she leaned her head to rest on her desk.

"tired?" hummed namra, her smooth voice a low murmur. eunbyul simply nodded.

"as fuck." she added, giving a hollow laugh. namra didn't respond. eunbyul looked up at her.

"you wouldn't mind if i left to go-" before she could finish, namra nodded. eunbyul grinned, "you're the best, prez."

eunbyul quickly ran of to find where the remainder of students that had left with ms. park were at, and to her surprise, they were talking right on the stairs eunbyul was about to pass by. quickly, the raven haired girl ducked and hid behind a corner.

from where she was standing, eunbyul caught sight of onjo untying her hair.

well, color me intrigued. eunbyul smirked as she leaned farther to listen in. normally she wasn't such a nosy person, but today she was curious as to what the short brunette had to say.

onjo held out her hand silently, but suhyeok being the dumbass he is, stared blankly at her closed fist.

"what?" he asked, but she motioned to her hand. clearly, onjo wanted him to take whatever was hidden there.

finally, suhyeok brought his hand up to take what onjo wanted to give him. sadly, eunbyul couldn't see what suhyeok was staring at from so far away, but she knew it must be something odd judging by the way he looked so laughably confused.

"this means...you want to go out." suhyeok looked down at his hands.

if eunbyul had been drinking water, she would've spit it out. onjo liking suhyeok? never in a million years would she have imagined that outcome. truth be told, eunbyul was sure onjo liked cheong san.

onjo nodded to his question. "yes."

"you're going out with cheong san." he said. he sounded as sure as eunbyul had before onjo had confessed.

"i'm not." onjo replied hastily, "we've lived next door ever since we were kids, so his mom always gave us chicken. i do like chicken, but not him"

ouch. eunbyul laughed mentally, guess he'll always be the chicken boy.

"i see." suhyeok's throat sounded painfully dry, as though he was trying to find the right words to reject the girl in front of him. eunbyul felt a tad bit sorry for him to be put in an akward position like that, but she was having much more fun watching the exchange than caring how he felt. before suhyeok could say anything else, cheong san bounded down the stairs and eunbyul took it as her cue to also show herself.

"onjo!" cheong san stopped right in front of the brunette. "i heard you got hurt. where?"

while cheong san was busy fussing over onjo, eunbyul casually strolled by, walking past the obviously dejected onjo as she stomped back up the stairs.

"well, that was something." eunbyul looked at the two boys. then, motioning to cheong san, she nodded towards the direction onjo had gone. "go after her, you shithead."

once cheong san was out of the way, eunbyul was left alone with suhyeok, who looked more than glad to be out of the situation eunbyul had watched moments ago.

"hell of a way to handle a confession." eunbyul said sarcastically.

"oh no," groaned suhyeok, slapping his hands over his face, "you heard that?"

"every word." with a grin, eunbyul turned on her heel and began walking back up the stairs. "ah i wonder what's for lunch..."

and with that, she made her way to lunch, with suhyeok trailing behind her like a lost dog.

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━━THE CAFETERIA WAS crowded when eunbyul stepped inside. in an automatic response, her brain screamed at her to get the hell out, but then relaxed when she noticed gyeong su waving at her.

beside him was a tray presumably for her, since the boy kept pointing at it. leave it to gyeong su to coax the lunch ladies into giving him two trays.

"hey." eunbyul sat beside the eating boy, taking note of suhyeok on his other side. she assumed he had gotten here first after practically following her halfway to the cafeteria.

gyeong su made a move to reply, but thought better of it as he chewed his mouthful of food. instead, he settled for a happy grin in eunbyul's direction. she replied by digging into her own tray. the food wasn't as good as i would usually be, what with hyeon ju being held hostage by their science teacher.

eunbyul always thought the man had a rather odd way of doing things. not to mention the fact that his son had been bullied and there was nothing he could do to stop it; that would send anyone to anger. hyeon ju had been there when his son was beat up, so it would make the reason pretty obvious.

gyeong su nudged eunbyul gently, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"tough day?" asked gyeong su with a sympathetic smile, handing her a juice.

"you can say that shit again." eunbyul laughed and chugged the drink. she let her eyes wander around the cafeteria, seeing a few familiar faces.

when she saw onjo, a brief flash of her conversation with suhyeok ran through eunbyul's mind, making her snicker loudly. the rest of the people at her table ( mostly friends of gyeong su ) looked at her. she caught suhyeok's eye and tilted her head in onjo's direction.

the tips of his ears went red and he turned away. it seemed that eunbyul's overhearing made him embarrassed.

"what's so funny?" gyeong su asked, rising his eyebrows.

"i just remembered something really awkward." eunbyul answered, making gyeong su smile. she always enjoyed it when that small tooth poked out of his lip when he smiled.

"oh? do tell." he gave a fox like grin and leaned closer.

before eunbyul could tell gyeong su what she'd seen, a loud shout interrupted her. from the table a few seats away, isak had yelled and stood up, capturing the entirety of the cafeteria's attention.

embarrassedly, isak sat back down in her seat with a blush. eunbyul assumed that onjo had told her about the staircase incident and her crush in suhyeok from the way they were both staring in their table's direction.

"yah, eat your food." gyeong su nudged eunbyul, making her turn away from the duo to glance back at her half finished tray.

happily, eunbyul chewed on her food. before she could finish, a shadow interrupted her lunch. gwinam stood in front of her, earning glares from everyone else at the table. he wasn't very popular with eunbyul's friends.

"lee eunbyul," gwinam spoke up, clearing his throat. "i need to talk to you."

at the familiar voice in front of her, eunbyul swallowed her food and clenched her chopsticks until her knuckles went white. when she finally looked up, her blue eyes held nothing but hatred for the boy standing before her.

"i don't want to talk to you right now. leave." she muttered.

"it's important." he reasoned.

eunbyul abruptly stood up. she didn't feel like she had enough self control to look at gwinam for more than five minutes before feeling the need to punch him. her small commotion alerted the other people sitting at her table, putting them on high alert as they glanced at the two.

suhyeok wanted to stand up, but cheong san held him back, his stare at the two so menacing it could've ripped a whole into gwinam.

"fine. you have 5 minutes." eunbyul followed gwinam towards a quiet corner in the cafeteria. "this better be good."

"about earlier..." gwinam began, shuffling his feet together. eunbyul stopped him right then and there.

"if you're here to apologize or some bullshit i don't want to hear it. i know damn well you don't mean shit and you don't feel sorry for doing that at all. save your breath and actually try doing something about your behavior."

truth be told, that was exactly what yoon gwinam had been planning to do, but after hearing eunbyul snap at him he lost the courage to speak up. instead, he opened and closed his mouth aimlessly, looking for the right words.

eunbyul was seething now. gwinam had called her over and had yet to say anything. the very least he could do was apologize the his actual victims, not her. but here he was, trying to get on her good side without actually trying to redeem himself and change as a person.

"when you think of something to say, then come find me." with that, eunbyul left gwinam.

and for the first time, he found his heart aching at the sight of eunbyul walking away from him.

when eunbyul rejoined gyeong su, she was bombarded by the whole group.

"what did that bastard want?" cheong san asked as he pulled eunbyul into their circle.

"nothing important," she replied with a shrug. "he just stood there without saying a thing."

"did he do anything to you?" woojin asked, tilting his head to examine eunbyul.

"as if," she scoffed, "he'd be dead by now if he tried anything funny."

as she was being fussed over, eunbyul caught sight of an odd rumbling coming from the glass doors of the cafeteria.

"hey, guys?" she spoke up, making all heads turn to her.

she pointed to the hoards of bloody students stampeding towards them.

"what the fuck are those?"

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━━EUNBYUL STUMBLED AWAY from the cafeteria doors, going as fast as her legs could carry her. gyeong su was practically dragging her from how fast he was running.

the cafeteria had erupted into a screaming fest, blood spraying in every direction as students began biting each other. smoke from the kitchens wafted up to the sprinklers, making water rain everywhere.

that's when hell became ten times worse. uninjured students began slipping and falling, making them easier targets for the crazed students. eunbyul almost slipped right into the jaws of a writhing student, only evading by a hair.

eunbyul's mind was in a panic, eyes darting every which way. this was crazy, absolutely insane.

wat the hell was going on?

( until dusk ).

hey everyone:)) i'm back with a new series bc i <33 aouad lol. this was a pretty long first chapter so it took a while to complete but i rlly like how things are going so far. lmk what y'all think of eunbyul bc i actually wanna know if i made her an ok character

each chapter goes off of the actual series episodes but i don't know if i'm gonna change some stuff yet 🤷‍♀️ anyways enjoy and pls comment and vote !!

02/26/22. updated the graphics for this book so sorry if y'all got notifs lol

love,

( annie ).