black knight and the unexpected

Sejeong has learned to accept that she was born to a life harder than others. Five-star difficulty, expert mode, no cheat codes or Action Replay allowed.

Life runs hard and fast for her, waking up in the morning to prepare breakfasts for her and the useless slab of some-meat-and-mostly-bones that is her brother, sleepy subway ride (though she has Nayoung and Mina to keep herself from toppling over at every speed bump), a blurry rush of school hours, and if it’s Monday or Wednesday or Friday, that means she has to tutor brat just for the sake of some cash and another tomorrow.

Saturdays aren’t any better. Sejeong has always hated the hospital, but her mom is there, too weak to live in their cheap apartment complex, and Saturdays mean trashing every after-school schedule she has to give her mom a much-needed visit.

Must be to be dying and lonely.

Since it’s Friday, she has a brat to tutor and the rest of her evening would be free. Except, Nayoung isn’t around to bother and her evening would be emptier than ever.

Nayoung…

A step away from stepping into the subway’s platform, a thought flashes over her lowkey-functioning brains and she looks down to her empty left hand.

“Miss?”

Sejeong isn’t fully functioning enough to form a coherent sentence. “Wha…?”

“Are you coming or not?”

I must’ve left my umbrella at school. “U-um, no.”

She backtracks to the school, with half a mind than she was some minutes ago. Love makes you stupid like that…

“Get them!”

Nayoung isn’t much of an athlete, but in a fit of desperation, her survival instinct kicks in. After the “START!” gunshot resounded, Nayoung steps away from the lackeys’ charging right at her, grabs the wooden chair nearby by its backrest and bats a first year in the side with it. She watches the guy falling over and looking pained and a girl comes over to his side and Nayoung hears murmured “afterlife talk” as if they’re shooting Platoon.

“There are… three types of people in this world…” says Guy #5, his erratic breath ripping through his sentence. “Sheep… wolves, and sheepdogs…”

“Please, please stop talking…” says Girl #3 with a sob tacked onto the end.

“And that Kim Nayoung… is what happened when technology got out of hand… cause she’s a predator while she’s the prey… target her liver, rip it out and take it back as a trophy…”

This isn’t Platoon, this isn’t even American Sniper! They’re straight-out Hannibal Lecter!

Honestly, at this rate she’s speed-dialing Will Graham.

She lets the object slip out of her hold and quickly dashes for the door, ears picking out raspy-throaty shouts (Juna), curses (Cathy and Chanmi), curses in Danish (the other Nayoung), and sounds of someone choking on a blowout (Somi). Near the door is Suhyun, backed herself up against the wall to avoid the ongoing mishmash.

“Nayoung!”

Not wanting to waste any more time (because it’s her life that’s on a pike here!), she takes a firm hold of Suhyun’s arm. “We gotta go, quick! Let’s leave them here. They’ll manage. They’re uh, really strong. Doyeon is immortal.”

A shout comes from behind her that suspiciously sounds like Doyeon in her death bed. “I ONLY HAVE 8 ING LIVES LEFT, KIM! GET BACK HERE!”

“She’ll manage.”

Suhyun looks convinced. “But of course,”

Before she could rat her way out though, she feels her shoulder being gripped hard and tight enough for her to wince in pain, and considering her record of getting into troubles – situational and physical – whoever it is holding her back right now must be a worthy opponent, so Nayoung spares this worthy opponent of her a look and…

In a way, her cute dongsaeng Kang Mina, is. A worthy opponent. Those cute eye-smiles are all just a front anyway.

This girl is Kim Sejeong, but ten times worse. With an ample amount of Kim Jong Un and Josef Mengele.

“Unnie, where do you think you are going?” There’re traces of cyanide and everything venom in her tone on top of her twitchy smile and twitchier eyes. Just below those murderous near-slits are scratch marks.

“Toilet,”

“You can’t leave me!”

Behind an enraged Mina is a scene worthy of Edvard Munch’s creepy and distorted expressionism. The then-empty classroom is now trashed beyond belief with Chanmi flinging furniture, versing three to five people but still managing to hold her ground, probably because murder is her forte. Heehyun is pulling out mixed martial arts reminiscent of ones developed under U.S penal system with her breadstick-thin arms, whipping out hand blocks and stepping on what must be Dani’s corpse (?!). Somi is doing a biracial rendition of taekwondo (as in, you know, taekwondo, but she’s also shouting out random English phrases like an americanized Dragon Ball cast) while Juna is doing a bad adaptation of Bruce Lee, in contrast to Doyeon who’s ducking under the teacher’s desk while chanting prayers. The Ringleader Guy, on the other hand, is running around the room with Im Nayoung’s creepy snowy owl hot on his tail.

She can see why Mina would want a way out…

“Listen. Listen. Mina, you aren’t even supposed to be here! I didn’t specifically invite you to this human slaughter cultish sausagefest! Dani did!”

“Yeah, but I’m here right now! And I expect, like, you know, that adult thing called responsibility?”

“Nope, wrong person, ask Dani for one—“

Suhyun interjects with a, “You can’t blame the dead.”

“—anyways,”

No matter how strong she tries to exert herself, Mina won’t budge, but the thing is – she couldn’t see those sophomores creeping up behind her. Signaling Mina an obvious, “hey Mina, look behind you” would only lit the fire and Nayoung knows it’s best not to disturb the dingoes.

Lowering her volume to a harsh whisper, she leans into Mina. “Okay. You can scram with me and Suhyun, but we’re leaving them.”

“Okay!”

This sociopath—!

“Sneakily. Then we’ll dash off to… wherever and hope Cathy and co. won’t go after us ‘cause we have to keep our numbers to the minimum.”

“Yeah.”

She feels a poke from Suhyun to her ribs. “Hello, guys? Wanna run?”

“Okay. In three, in two, in one…”

With the newfound strength of combined survival instinct and hate for the whole humanity, Nayoung slams the sliding door open and rushes outside, pulling a confused Suhyun along as Mina keeps up with her speed. Her successful escape doesn’t last long as soon as she hears shouts coming from her “friends”:

“NAYOUNG IS ESCAPING THROUGH THE FRONT DOOR!”

“AFTER HEEEERR!”

“KIM, YOU’RE SO GOING TO PAY FOR THIS!”

“Our Nayoung-sisterhood ends today, Kim!”

“Fall back, es! AFTER KIM NAYOUNG!”

So, in addition to the KKK, her friends are after her now, too…

A step into the school ground, she could already feel something is off, though it might be because she’s sort of wacked up right now and that she might be delirious from extended loneliness. And a lack of Kim Nayoung.

Nayoung…

The field’s crowded with sweaty baseball nuts like always (does these guys ever stop and… you know, study?), but something is amiss.

Must be the crowd convoying around carrying makeshift blunt weapons, sticks, brooms, mops, Pharaoh’s scepter – what in the name of gumball? Anything they could get their hands on. Sejeong’s educated guess is, either she accidentally went back in time where witch-hunt was a thing, or someone did something wrong worthy of the modern day witch-hunt.

People step out of their way and Sejeong understands why, because even though they’re meters apart, Sejeong could hear the pack chanting…

“GOLD! GLORY! GOSPEL! FOR KIM SEJEONG!”

And that’s her cue to fish out her hoodie from her backpack, pulls a clean face mask and scurries to a nearby tree, hiding there as she dons her getup and pulls the hoodie on and prays under her breath that they won’t notice the red hoodie is hers, since she never wore it to school before.

She just wants her umbrella. It was a gift from her brother’s friend! And it’s durable! And is probably costy!

Looking back at the deranged pack, the sight of them hunting for a soul could only mean one thing: Kim Nayoung is having her head with a bounty probably an equivalent of a chocolate mousse from a popular bakery five meters from the school. The girl shouldn’t cost much, but still, what did she do this time—

Sighing, Sejeong walks out of the tree’s shaded area and heads to the school building, praying for both her and Nayoung’s safety.

They seek refuge in the damp sports equipment storage room. “They”, as in, the full squad, huddling together into a cramped semi-circle in the corner to avoid the windowpane, since Sejeong’s fan club could peer inside any minute by now. Nayoung rests the back of her head against the jumping boxes, feeling an incoming migraine while her legs congealed into the dusty floor.

Mochi lands itself on the windowsill, on the lookout for them.

“Um, so, like, what should we do now?” Heehyun asks the obvious, popping the first button of her shirt as respiration shows along her forehead. Along everyone’s foreheads, too, since they just broke the record for 500 meters sprint.

“Told you, we should’ve fought ‘em all. Aim for the head.” Juna helpfully supplies.

Doyeon is there to cancel it, “Are you nuts?? You could whip out taekwondo or jeet kune do or whatever and those guys would still come out alive, why? It’s the power of love! Devotion! The feeli-feelies they have towards Sejeong! It’s the thing keeping them… immortal and .”

All eyes are on her. Nayoung squirms under the pressure.

Heehyun throws her a dirty look. “Can’t you pull a power of love move and end them all once and for all? Aren’t you her girlfriend-slash-lapdog?”

“What girlfriend?”

“What?”

The others’ choruses some ‘what’ with Somi’s voice squeakier than it should be, probably because she accidentally swallowed a plastic party blowout in the middle of her taekwondo showdown.

“Oh. Oh right. I’m dating Sejeong.”

“Jeebus, you’re fishier than Aquaman…” Juna points it out for her.

She isn’t exactly wrong.

The whole fake-dating thing is fishier than Ariel the Mermaid.

Because – even though they’re “dating”, they don’t even do anything more than holding hands and two females entwining fingers falls short of romantic.

“A, anyways,” Nayoung coughs, “I suggest you all put those good brains to use and think up something that can save our asses from getting moped by them. Or. You all could submit to my, leadership.”

Everyone goes quiet. Not because they’re thinking or anything. They’re just… being quiet.

“Okay? Okay. Now, listen up, kids. Don’t underestimate them. You’ve witnessed their strength beforehand, right?”

Dani speaks up from the far end, “Yeah, I died.”

“See? Dani died. Dani! And she’s huge.” Nayoung flails her hands to emphasize the urgency. “This isn’t my first chase scene, actually, and the first one was just as bad. They crucified me.”

Her “friends” let out a unified theatrical gasp, sans Im Nayoung, who scrunches her nose instead, traumatized by the recount.

“The first chase was the deepest. If that incident was a horror movie masterpiece with real blood instead of red paint and ketchup, then this one is its amped up sequel.”

Chanmi slams a fist onto the wall behind her. “Damn? I’m not even Christian!”

Im Nayoung mutters in a low voice, “Well, I am.”

“No, no, listen up, kids. I need to set up some ground rules first because in order to survive this, we need to work as a team. Okay? We’re a team. This isn’t a competition. Any question so far?”

Heehyun raises her hand.

“No, Cathy, you can’t use Dani as a human shield even when things get tough.”

Heehyun slowly lowers her hand. Dani looks too horrified by the thought to react.

Mina raises her hand this time.

“Neither can you sell me out.”

Mina lowers her hand, brows knitted and lips jutted out, bitter.

They’re a lost cause! Some unity!

“Hey,” Suhyun speaks up, “you know how there’s a lot of clubs doing activities outside? The softball club balls their balls twenty-four-seven, but I saw the drama club practicing earlier and the cheers is having a hellish regime for an upcoming competition.”

Somi claps her hands in agreement, not being able to speak without squeaking like… party blowout.

Doyeon claps Suhyun in the back. “Smartass! Nice brains!” She says, eyes on Suhyun’s chest. Suhyun instinctively pushes out her chest more.

“You think we should try to blend in with them so we’ll lose our chasers?”

“Yes, Kim! Nice brains – “

“You can’t even use that one me because I’m not that blessed.”

“Well, yeah.”

Everyone murmurs their agreement and for once, they agreed on something. Nayoung begins to see the light signifying the end of the tunnel.

“Okay.” Nayoung takes the lead once again, gaining everyone’s attention. “We’ll move through the window. That’ll lead us to the school yard. From there on out, we’ll split up to teams and blend in with any club that’s having activities outside. I don’t care if you’re not into cheerleading, or if you’re allergic to script and acting. If you want to live, fight for your life. Prove your worth. Throw out your dignity outta the window. And never forget one thing: solidarity.”

Her comrades respond with a varying level of “got it!”s, the shrill one coming from Somi and the blowout in her larynx.

“Wait,” Im Nayoung holds a hand forward, catching everyone’s attention. “Look at Mochi. She’s trying to tell us something.”

Nayoung graces the owl, who’s staring back at them, a long, hard stare. She isn’t versed in owlogy enough to understand owl-to-human telepathy.

Cathy slaps ‘Buddha’’s thigh. “Can’t you just Google Translate us whatever that owl’s saying?”

“They’re near.”

“We have to mobilize,” Nayoung stands up and the other follow her, moving slowly to the window, taking care not to step too harshly on the creaky wooden floor. They can’t risk having found on such small space; that would be immediate death. Massacre.

At the very least, Somi should make it out alive, since she’s the only cutie-patootie in their circle of sinners.

“In the count of three, I’ll jump first and you all will follow. Then we split up and run off to any club and blend in with them. Am I clear?”

“Crystal!”

“Good. In three, in two, in one…”

Her umbrella is still there, leaning against the steel lockers lined up in the back of the class. Sejeong sighs, relieved, takes it, turns around, and sees her fan club scouring the hallway through her class’ window.

A guy in her class catches her attention by waving at her, halting his after-class cleaning duty. “Sejeong, is that…?”

“No.”

“No, no, that’s definitely your, uh, cult.”

Sejeong shakes her head vehemently. “I don’t do human sacrifices. I don’t even watch movies about human sacrifices! I mean, I love babies, but only when they’re alive and being cute. Nayoung is a huge baby, so I love her. But not sacrificed babies with their eyes staring dead back at you, reminding you of your past wrongdoings. That’s just barbaric, and South Koreans are too K-Pop and EDM Trap for that. Anyways, I watch sitcoms and culinary documentaries.”

His grip on the feather duster tightened and he looks nervous. “They do that?”

“Ye – I, is this a trap question? If I said ‘yes’ you’re going to accuse me with the accusing finger, aren’t you?”

“N-no, but,” he holds up his feather duster defensively, kicking up a cloud of dusts into the air, “one of them asked me when I was taking out the trash. They asked me whether I’ve seen your girlfriend.”

“Just Nay—my honey bunny?”

“And our class’ Nayoung, and Heehyun, and Juna, and…”

Jaw slackened, Sejeong’s just steps away from letting her eyeballs littering the floor. Her classmate might have to sweep those little orbs away. Sejeong leans against the desk beside her for balance. To think Nayoung would drag her friends to this…!

“…and you. They’re also looking for you. Maybe to ask you for forgiveness and ? Either way if it’s you I bet they mean no harm – “

Who is he kidding?! They’re bat insane and bat insane people do bat insane things!

Sejeong holds her breath, unable to see the guy’s eyes. She’s also a goner. There’s nothing sadder than a deity abandoned by its devoted followers. A revolt against Their Creator is a concept so fictitious. This whole episode is like High Fantasy drowned in liquid . She massages her forehead with her thumb and index finger, trying to lessen the blossoming headache.

“Thank you for the information,” she nods to her classmate, legs forcing themselves to take her to the sliding door, “but now I have matters to attend to. Good luck with your cleaning.”

“You sure you don’t wanna ring the NPD?”

Sejeong only smiles politely at him before she slides the door open and turns her head to the left and right, just to make sure. The hallway isn’t crowded since it’s way past the last bell and people wouldn’t lounge around when they knew The Cult is on the loose. Since The Cult passed by to the right direction, she needs to take left and somehow exits the school through the old building, since the floor she’s in, the second floor, is connected to the right wing of the old building and its abandoned classrooms usually used by clubs.

Without much second thought, she fast-walks her way to the bridge.

Nayoung isn’t sure how to summarize this, but here goes: she managed to convince Chaekyung, a friend who’s also in the cheers, to hide her, Mina, Suhyun, and Dani. Unfortunately, Dani was caught and pulled into a time-out (sorry Dani!). Mina took the first year’s blazer as a memento and spent two minutes mourning while sniffing it then used it wipe her leg after she stepped onto a puddle.

Chaekyung gave them the green light and took them to the old school building to “join” the practice and even lent spare cheers uniforms for them to make them look convincing.

Their peace was short-lived. The Cult also split their numbers into platoons and found them even though their getup was ridiculous and un-Nayoung-like enough.

And now, the three of them are running for their lives along the old school building’s hallway in cropped varsity jacket and short shorts and ridiculously yellow (and just as ridiculously cheap) plastic belt. The whole getup managed to make Mina look part blueberry.

In a glance, they look like cheerleaders, but personally, Nayoung thinks their school’s cheers uniform makes them look like frat boys’ fantasy of lesbian softball dream team instead.

She hears a “snrk” from Suhyun and warily asks her what’s up. Suhyun, with her eye-smile, replies her, “You look so cute running for your dear life with your apple hair bobbing up and down like that!”

Why are they friends again?

With Mansons coming after them, they turn around the corner without much braking and nearly collides into another person who happens to be running for their dear life too – Nayoung herself, though, bumps shoulders with the blur of red and topples over to the front from the imbalance.

“Ow – ack!” She lands on her elbows and whips her head around to see the offending runner and…

“Nayoung?” Sejeong calls out her name in a sickly mixture of confusion and disbelief.

What are the odds of bumping into Nayoung?

…and Mina and Suhyun.

…in cheap cheerleaders outfit.

…with her hair done into a disastrous apple hairstyle.

…since when did her “girlfriend” join a cheap dance cover team of early 2010s Girls’ Generation?

Nayoung, on the floor, has her eyes wide as platters. “Sejeong?”

“Nayoung??”

“Sejeong??”

“Nayoung…??”

“Mina.” Mina calls out her name with venomous emphasize. “Either we can stay being all telenovela and Irish drama here or we run for our lives and make it out unscathed. Take a wise pick.”

Suhyun chirps a, “I recommend the latter!”

Nayoung doesn’t spend much more wasted second on the floor. Dusting off the back of shorts, she tells them to move it and somehow Sejeong is the fourth runaway to complete their team.

Until they run into a T-junction, the left will lead them to the stairs and the right will turn them back to the floor. The latter has an access to the (rather dangerous) emergency steel stairs, but… ideally, they should take left, but…

“We should split up and lose them.” Nayoung suggests. “I’ll go with Mina and take the emergency stairs. It should take us to the parking lot where Mina could scram and I could grab Rachmaninoff. You guys, go take the stairway and get out of this building. Suhyun, text me where you guys will be hiding so I could go there.”

Nayoung’s martyr-like mindset presents itself once again, only this time, life it at stake. Sejeong isn’t too happy with the arrangement because the emergency stairs might be a bit dangerous in and itself and it’s Nayoung and her baby kiddo Mina. Not because they aren’t capable of not hurting themselves, but because Mina is satanic enough to throw people under the bus for her safety.

Reluctantly, she nods and forces out a “yes”. Suhyun holds her hand and pulls her to the left, leading their run.

“Don’t worry, Nayoung will be OK. She survived crucifixion once just because she’s… dating the school’s super idol.” Suhyun reminds her and it makes her a tiny bit guilty. Sejeong hides the lurching pain with a nod and her usual eyes-shut-to-a-line smile.

The trip was hellish, with the height and the rusty stairs creaking at every pressure. They managed to touchdown without Mina throwing her off the stairs to minimalize the pressure, thank god.

With Mina safe and sound and is on her way trying to get some help, Nayoung starts Rachmaninoff’s engine, the scrap metal fuming off cloud of pollution upon ignition. Things are looking grimier by each passing second!

Nevertheless, Nayoung pulls Rachmaninoff out of the parking lot, gas it to life and drives off with her phone in hand, anxiously waiting for Suhyun’s text. Please, please, survive…

Once they were out to the school ground, she considered it a bright idea to go to the gym, an entirely separate building to the new and old complex. The gym’s large enough to move around and is divided into two parts: the basketball and volleyball court and the swimming pool.

With her red hoodie donned on, her fans probably haven’t realized that this blur of red they’re chasing after is their Kim Sejeong.

Suddenly, Sejeong relates to those idols with legions of sasaengs.

Suhyun slides the door hurriedly and the two slip into the swimming pool area. They passed through the south entrance, and what they need to do is to come out of it through the north entrance and run off to the school gate. However –

There’s already another platoon waiting for them inside.

Sejeong’s calm disposition crumbles at the sight. They couldn’t possibly turn back. Which means they hit their dead end. She couldn’t possibly reveal that she’s their object of affection all along. Imagine the horror that might ensue, the mental meltdown, the subsequent death that follows.

“This is dead end,”

“Hey, no worries, I sent the text to Nayoungie already.”

Sejeong wonders how in the world Suhyun could beam out her million watts smile even though they’re in the face of death. The kind of smile Nayoung is into?

“She’ll save us.”

As much as Sejeong wants to believe that…

The mobsters-slash-neo-KKK inch closer and they maneuver to the far right, trying to bypass them, but It fails when they quickly spread out and forces both Suhyun and Sejeong to retreat to the wall, backs against the cool surface. With the pool on the center of the gym, they don’t have much room to move.

At times like this, she wants to believe in Nayoung.

Kim Nayoung who’s always there for her.

Kim Nayoung who takes her the bridge with that junk whenever she’s feeling down.

Kim Nayoung… who fills her heart with expletives and things she couldn’t describe. Couldn’t even begin to decipher. Who brings tectonic crumble with every teethy grin.

(Her own white knight in shining armor? Even when she’s no princess? Far from it?)

She closes her eyes as The Cult close in on them. Thinks of the bridge and her brother who used to drive taxi to buy her stuffed animals and books, thinks of…

A horrifying motor roar resounds throughout the gym along with the high-pitched noise of tires skidding against the gym’s floor. Sejeong smells gasoline and everything unearthly and spots dark grey clouds of pollution and carbon monoxide. Among the head of people crowding her, she manages to snatch a look at the monster who just entered the fray.

It’s Nayoung, screaming something obscene on the top of her lung and a string of curse as she struggles with the brake, and Rachmaninoff in its peeling white and exposed machinery and Terribad everything glory.

“Out of the way, mongrels, I can’t stop this thing so if you don’t want to get run over—!”

They begin to file out of Nayoung’s way while Rachmaninoff drives her closer to both her and Suhyun. Sejeong anticipates.

Her white knight in cropped varsity jacket and apple hair and shorts short and dusty vespa is finally here.

Nayoung divides her attention into two: the angry mob and steering the raging beast that is Rachmaninoff. Still, the three seconds sight of Sejeong looking helpless supplied a pungent kick that brought her to perform something so desperate and heroic.

Suhyun… well, she’s a goner. She asked for it anyway.

Her fault for meddling into the mess that is her life.

What’s more important right now is Sejeong, Sejeong, Sejeong.

Her eyes on the mobsters cursing at her and lunging their weapon to the front, Nayoung blindly grabs for Sejeong’s hand and when she feels her fingers gripping tight on a wrist, quickly pulls it and guide it to the passenger seat. Though she hasn’t checked, the additional full weight of a teenage girl is enough for Nayoung to be sure that Sejeong’s already safe behind her.

Rachmaninoff lets out a final roar and marches off to the north entrance, leaving bulks of carbon monoxide for the damned.

Sejeong is pretty sure that Nayoung is her white knight… so why did she leave her and take Suhyun instead?

The green blur of trees calm Nayoung down by a whole lot because that means they’re far from the gym. Hell, they’re already two meters past the school gate.

Everything went according to the plan.

Her eyes are focused on the road, but her voice is easy and far relieved. “Sejeong, sorry I was a bit late but I hope you’re okay—“

“Aww, Nayoungie, don’tcha worry, I’m a hundred percent alright here. Unfortunately, I’m no Sejeong.”

“Oh, haha, cool – WAIT WHAT??! SEJEONG?”

Nayoung quickly takes a good look at the reflection on her rear view mirror and – it’s Suhyun!

She saved Suhyun instead.

Which means.

She left Sejeong in the gym.

“Um, yeah, sorry to break it to you, but you got the wrong gal.”

“SEJEONG??”

“But thanks for saving me, anyway!”

“SEJEONG?????”

Abandoned by her own “white knight”, Sejeong resigns to her fate, sinking further into her red hoodie. She shouldn’t have trusted people who wear ty cheerleading outfit riding ty vespa. In addition to looking like something straight out a crack fanfiction, it’s something Kim Nayoung would totally do and Sejeong should’ve known that Nayoung’s that much of an idiot.

The will to fight and wit her way out have been ripped out of her. Sejeong closes her eyes and begin to pray even though the concept of god is a bit dubious in and of itself.

But whatever. At least she’s praying.

It takes whichever god up there half a minute to answer her prayer – she hears a shrill scream followed by another and immediately snaps her eyes open. A flash of white flies over the people crowding around them, claws threatening lots of The Cult to crouch down. Feathers fall out of the Unidentified Flying White Thing – a bird?

As it flies fast and low, Sejeong spots a figure in black cape and plastic helmet and regal clothing in a deeper shade of grey belonging to either a Shakespeare play or a cheap anime convention cosplayer coming through the southern entrance, flailing a wooden sword around. Another figure comes in, someone in a bear suit charging to The Cult and judo-throwing some of them into the filled pool.

The third figure backs herself up to the wall, phone video cam-ing the whole surreal experience. Sejeong identifies the person as Kim Doyeon.

The Bear Suit Guy lets out a huge curse as its fluffy paw kicks another person into the pool. Sejeong notices how she kind of sounds like a muffled Ki Heehyun.

She turns back to her front and The Black Knight (that is not Batman) is already there, hands on the helmet and takes the offending piece of object off. Sejeong watches the female inside it swinging her freed hair around like she’s in a shampoo commercial, and could even spot sheen sweats glittering around for effects. The white owl that has been bringing terror to her chasers fly around and perches itself on the knight’s shoulder. Sejeong recognizes the snowy owl. It’s Mochi.

“A bit late because we had to take a detour and the drama club is a bit... nosy, but, I hope you’re okay.” The black knight in shining armor says, a hand stretches towards her and pulls her hoodie down. Who would’ve guessed that Im Nayoung look this good in prince-ly outfit?

Must be her long limbs.

“I am. Thank you, Batman.”

“I’m no Batman. Mochi is an owl.” Nayoung stretches her hand for her to take.

“Very funny,” Sejeong laughs humorlessly and takes Nayoung’s hand, “so, what to do now?”

“I say we leave the beating to Heehyun and the documenting to Doyeon. We need to get out. Come on.”

“After you, Batman.”

betadine: my national exam starts next Monday so no update for a while lmao ;___; so nervous for p101 finale. VOTE FOR KIM NAYOUNG AND KANG MINA AND PINKY Y’ALL PLEASE SAVE THEMMMMM THEY NEED YOUR HELP! SAVE THESE WAS TOP 11’S. ESPECIALLY KIM NAYOUNG BECAUSE?? HER 24 HOURS BODY ROLLS ARE LEGEND I TELL YOUUUUU