Hey guys, back with another chapter of EOTT :-)

“And… There!” I announced triumphantly.

Hinsaek hopped around, pecking at the strips of newspaper decorating the floor of his comfortable cardboard box. He cawed in happiness, wiggling his bird bum almost as if he was dancing.

“I assume you like your new home?” I asked, as Hinsaek cawed loudly, still wiggling his bum.

I had spent almost the entire weekend gathering materials for Hinsaek’s new house, which mainly consisted of a small cardboard box filled with long thin strips of newspaper, a water bowl and a bed made out of a medium sized sponge and covered with a rag I had doused in alcohol then washed thoroughly to clean. Hope Daddy dearest wouldn’t miss his Jack Daniels too much, cos I used almost the entire bottle.

Giggling, I placed my left index finger near him. He hopped on, whistling happily. I brought him over to my shoulder, which he gripped with his claws tightly.

“It’s almost time for school, so we should get ready,” I told him, stuffing my work into my bag. “You can wait in the courtyard for me and I’ll come during lunch.”

I took a glance at myself in the mirror. I looked normal. That was good. Having washed up and brushed my teeth in the second level bathroom, I skipped down the stairs, pulling on my bag straps.

Pulling on my shoes, I left the house.

---

Hoseok groaned in pain as the pillow made full contact with the side of his face.

“Get up, you lazy pig!” his sister screamed, her hair flying around her like snakes as she whacked the pillow onto his perfectly round bottom.

Hoseok jerked up, whining unintelligibly as he attempted to cower under his blankies but his sister was having none of it. As if rehearsed (it was, every morning) she unleashed a 5-move combo that attacked his weak spots accurately, finishing off with the killer and her signature move, the “Roundhouse Pillow to the Stomach”.

“Alright, alright, I’m up!” he shot up from the bed, wincing as he prodded his imaginary bruises.

“Good; breakfast is on the table,” Jung Jiwoo returned back to her normal sisterly self as she left her brother to his wounds.

Hoseok sighed and grabbed his school uniform to change before heading to the bathroom.

A few minutes later, he hopped his way to the kitchen, b with joy for the new day.

“Good morning mummy, daddy and Jiwoo-noona!” he greeted, taking his place at the table.

His father grunted, flipping his newspaper as his mother smiled in return.

“There’s my favourite little brother!” Jiwoo squealed, patting his head excitedly as she scooped up some rice, placing it on his plate, and piling it with ingredients before handing it to him. “Finally awake? You have like five minutes to eat by the way.”

Hoseok choked on his rice.

“ONLY FIVE MINUTES?! WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME EARLIER?” he cried, stuffing as much food as he could before shrugging on his blazer and jumping out of his seat.

“I tried but you wouldn’t wake up,” she shrugged noncommittally as he hurriedly pulled his shoes on. “Don’t fall on the way!”

But that advice went unheard, as Hoseok was already out of the door, running for dear mercy and praying that he wouldn’t be late.

---

My earphones were plugged in, blasting as my classmates bustled around me. I was safely absorbed in my little bubble, while Mirae was sitting next to me, checking out her new manicure. The others were gossiping, shooting glances at me when they thought I wasn’t looking, but a prolonged stare and a raised eyebrow was more than effective at shutting them up.

Unfortunately, it didn’t manage to deter that one annoying brat.

“Hey, Lee Youngmi, do you really think you’re so big now?” Lee Yerim slammed her hands on my table. “Some unknown senior took you down a peg or two, didn’t he?”

A flash of anger bolted through me, but I suppressed it.

Calmly, I removed one earbud and turned my head to look at her as Mirae looked up, clearly more amused in this child thinking she could come against me than her manicure.

“Mirae, the honours?” I invited casually.

“My pleasure,” Mirae grinned like a shark, before producing a cute small black book.

Lee Yerim blanched, her pupils dilating in fear. Oh, she knew that black book alright.

“Lee Yerim… Tried for the entertainment business since young, failed forty seven times; currently placed 486^th out of 500 in the school during the most recent exam; has had seven surgeries, but still isn’t pretty… Oh and I have a recording of you singing,” Mirae giggled, reeling facts off her book before taking out a music player that really didn’t play music at all… Unless you counted harsh, painful caterwauling as music.

I could see the tears gathering in her eyes as Mirae cranked it up to full volume. Her friends stared at her in disbelief, as if they couldn’t understand that her voice sounded like a dying cat. Scratch that, a dying cat would sound better than this.

The entire class was silent, watching with bated breath. Sometimes I wondered if they secretly enjoyed the show.

“Say Yerim,” I started informally, causing her head to jerk up. “Do you really think you could be the next Ailee? With a voice like that? I don’t know how to break it to you, but you don’t have the looks, or the talent, or anything to become, well, anything.”

She was full-out crying now, snot and drool messing up her pretty ugly mug. I went around the table slowly, my hands grasping hers.

“You’re a failure, Yerim,” I whispered as the recording ended. “This is what happens to people who mess with me. Do you like it?”

She shook her head.

“Will you shut your stupid mouth then?”

She nodded. Satisfied, I patted her head, but I wasn’t done yet.

“What should we do Yerim? I’m a bit hurt by your words,” I drawled, fake sadness oozing out of my pores.

Yerim glanced back up at me with redrimmed eyes, still heaving for breath.

I pretended to deliberate for a moment.

“Stand to the right of my desk, and do a 90-degree bow for the whole Homeroom lesson,” I decided.

“You can’t be-” she started, but I shushed her with my index finger, placing it gently onto her flushed lips, swollen from her crying session.

“We have more of those recordings, dear Yerim,” I smiled. “You wouldn’t want the whole school to hear this… would you?”

Flabbergasted, she looked around to see if anyone would help her. Everyone suddenly looked very busy, avoiding her eyes. With defeat, she made her way over to my right and proceeded with her instructions.

Just in time too, as Mr. Chang waddled in, coughing to signal the start of homeroom.

We stood to greet as per usual.

“You may take your seats,” he instructed with an odd glance at Yerim, but obviously, he wouldn’t push the issue.

The last time he did, his car got totalled in a “freak accident”, and the entire school was buzzing with rumours about how he was cheating on his wife with the lunchlady. Not long after, he got a divorce, lost his house and one kid to his wife and had to sleep in the school for three months. It was great having Zico-oppa and pals at my beck and call.

“Today we have a new student,” Mr Chang announced.

The class went into a frenzy of whispers, the girls especially excited. I wouldn’t blame them for their hormonal outburst, as the guys in our class all had terrible haircuts and geeky faces.

“He was unable to make it yesterday due to medical issues, but I hope you will welcome him warmly,” he signalled towards the door. “Your new classmate, Jun Jungkook.”

The cutie I met yesterday edged into the room, hunched into himself.

Our eyes met from across the room. His widened, but mine crinkled as a predatory smile made its way onto my lips.

The rest of the female classmates immediately swarmed him, attracted like bees to his admittedly cute pot of honey. They were welcoming indeed, hugging his arms to their chests, discreetly feeling him up. Poor boy was lost in the crowd, and he looked like he was drowning.

I frowned playfully. My toy belonged to me. No one else.

“Mine,” I spoke out, word laced with authority.

The chatter stopped, all staring at me with trepidation written on their faces.

I realised Jungkookie seemed a bit… breathless.

“Jun Jungkook is mine. No one else is to touch him,” I smiled saccharinely.

The girls backed off slowly, longing evident in their eyes. I smirked. Too bad ladies; I staked my claim first.

“Yerim sweetie, bring him to me,” I ordered my new slave.

She snapped up from her 90-degree bow (which looked more like a 55 degree now but I’ll forgive her insolence) and marched over, dragging him to me before throwing him onto my table. He lay half on top of my table for a second before pushing himself up, standing straight as a rod, his eyes bulging slightly.

Her eyes were black with anger and hatred, boring holes into my poor innocent conscience. Too bad it was long dead by now.

“Don’t break my toy,” I chided, before pointing out the empty chair on my left. Jungkook took his place without a word, fishing through his bag for something.

“As punishment… Do the bow until lunch,” I smiled sweetly. “I don’t want to play with broken things.”

With a look that could murder, she shakily leaned over until she hit the 90 mark.

I turned to Jungkook, intending to welcome him to class, but he was breathing in and out of a paper bag slowly. Frowning, I watched him as the rest of the girls returned to their seats, enthusiasm evaporated as yet another conquest was stolen away from them.

So Jungkookie had a hyperventilation problem. Hm.

I gave Mirae a look and she nodded once, flipping to a new page and scribbling down this detail. One credit to Mirae, she’s a great lackey.

As the chaos settled, Mr. Chang returned to the front of the classroom, brushing off the dirt on his shoulders and started with attendance taking.

The lesson soon faded into background noise, because homeroom was really dumb and I didn’t care at all about Mr. Chang. I yawned widely, leaning back in my seat. I couldn’t wait til lunch; the special was supposed to be veggie kimbap and I like veggies and kimbap, not to mention I’d get to play with Hinsaek again.

Just as my eyelids drooped, a sharp elbow nudged me on my side, forcing me awake.

“What?” I hissed, baring fangs at Jungkook, who still looked visibly shaken.

He handed me a note, hand trembling slightly and face downcast.

With an arched eyebrow I perused the note.

“Thank you.” It read in simple black handwriting.

A wave of heat rushed to my face. I didn’t even do anything and he thanked me? Plus, my motivations were purely selfish; I hadn’t given a hoot about anything he wanted when I demanded he be mine and mine only. I had never encountered a situation where a toy thanked me for making them a toy, as if it was beneficial to them. Clearly I’d have to rethink my strategies.

I crumpled the note in my fingers agitatedly, the fire in my face blazing through the tips of my ears. I shoved the note into my bag forcefully, my mind spinning.

“Y-y-y-you’re welcome,” I muttered curtly, the bridge of my nose tinged a cherry red.

For the rest of the lesson I could do nothing but take the note out of my bag and repeatedly unfold it before folding it and stuffing it back inside the bag, my mind buzzing frantically with what the hell he meant.

---

“And then he said thank you?! Is there anything to thank me about? What, does he not like people or something? Am I the proverbial pot to the fire that he is jumping into? Did I do something he likes? Is he masochistic?” I ranted.

Hinsaek nodded wisely, cawing at appropriate timings as I paced about the garden.

I sat down in a flurry, a huge sigh expelling from my mouth as I agitatedly unwrapped the kimbap, taking a huge bite of it.

The mellow taste of the cucumber and lettuce soothed my insides as I used up my excess energy to chew up the crunchy carrots.

Hinsaek hopped over, his round bird eyes staring into mine beseechingly.

“Ugh, fine,” I rolled my eyes and tossed him a bit, which he gulped happily. “You shouldn’t even be eating this. I’ll make you some breadcrumb later so you don’t get hungry.”

As I chewed on my kimbap methodically, my mind wandered to Superhero-sunbaenim. I hardly knew the guy even existed; he didn’t seem like the type to stand out and have “I AM A TARGET PLEASE HURT ME” written all over his back like Jungkookie. He looked like an average guy who thought a little too much about himself and thought he could challenge me. Something about him though, made me want to smear his face into the mud. He had to be hiding something. I just had to find out what it was.

But anyways, now I had two new toys to play with, and school was about to get a whole lot more interesting.

---

“I expect you to remember all the steps of the Krebs’ Cycle by the end of this week. We will be having our Common Tests in another 2 weeks or so, and this will be one of the topics,” Mr. Yoon pointed at the blackboard with his ridiculously long pointer.

We stood up to greet and sat back down just as the bell rang for the end of school. Praise Mr. Yoon for being one of the only teachers who ever released us on time.

He strode out of the classroom as the class chattered, packing up their belongings. Jungkookie was especially fast, his hands like lightning as he shoved everything in his bag.

I smirked. He looked so cute doing that little frightened glance at everyone who walked past.

My smirk slowly morphed into a frown as I observed him further. The frightened glance wasn’t actually at everyone… He seemed to have a pattern but I wasn’t sure exactly what it was.

“Are you going home?” I remarked as Jungkookie zipped his backpack up.

He turned to me, showing off his signature deer in headlights look as he nodded slowly and unsurely.

“Get home safely,” I smiled before packing my own things and shrugging on my backpack.

I stood up and walked past him, his terrified eyes boring into me like drills.

“Nice voice, by the way,” I whispered into his ear just as I passed him.

“Mirae,” I motioned as his gaze turned horrified. “Let’s go to the club today.”

“Okay!” she bobbed up, grinning.

As I turned back to glance at Jungkookie, his eyes were still wide with shock. He seemed as if he was going to hyperventilate again, the poor thing.

I hid a smirk as Mirae and I walked out of the classroom together silently. Somehow, I knew I was supposed to share this fact with Mirae, but something about Jungkookie made me want to hide this juicy little tidbit to myself.

What an interesting turn of events.

---

“Gentlemen,” Suga announced, bounding into the room with Jin trailing behind him. “I bring news.”

J-Hope glanced up from fitting the mini marshmallows into Jimin’s snoring mouth as Rap Monster stopped the music player and V looked up from his homework.

“I have news,” Suga paused dramatically again. “Our next big break. There’s a competition in my university coming up. The Annual Seoul University Talent Competition. It’s open to students and public. We. Have. To. Join. The grand prize is said to be a pair of tickets to Hong Kong Disneyland and 500 000won! Personally I’m interested in Disneyland since Minhye has been begging since forever to go but-”

“Holy cheese sticks 500 000won could get us a decent studio and we could finally record something worthy of public attention and if we participate in this competition we could actually get noticed by someone and get signed oh my god someone get me a paper and a pen I feel lyrics I FEEL LYRICS COMING OUT-” Rapmon jumped out of his squatting position.

“MMPHMMH???” Jimin woke up with a splutter, mini marshmallows spilling out of his mouth.

“You’re starting to ramble Namjoon-hyung,” V patted Rapmon’s back and Jimin’s back at the same time. “Breathe.”

Rapmon in his breath deeply, his cheeks de-purpling into a colour more humanlike.

“Hey, you didn’t read the fine print,” J-Hope snatched the paper out of Suga’s hands. “There’s categories for single members, groups of 2-4 and groups of 7 and above. We can’t join!”

“… Oh,” Suga’s chirpy grin turned downcast. “Well the competition’s not official yet… We still have time to find one more member… I really want those Disneyland tickets…”

“It’s alright Suga-hyung,” Rapmon nodded his head confidently. “I believe we’ll be able to find that one last member by the end of this week! We are destined for this competition. I have faith!”

“Well what are we waiting for? Let’s get down to practising!” J-Hope cheered, pumping his fist into the air.

The rest nodded and got into position as Rapmon rushed to the radio player, pressing play.

Hope you enjoyed! Please leave comments and subscribe if you'd like! :)