BGM: She's A Monster - GOT7

“Don’t get into other people’s affairs. Make friends, but don’t let them know your weaknesses; don’t let anyone know who you really are. You can’t trust anyone. They’ll use you and mistreat you especially with your background.”

Those were the last pieces of advice Mark’s dad told him before he boarded the plane to South Korea five years ago and they still applied to how he lived life even to present day.

Mark knew exactly who to be and how to act through these words. With his looks, he could smile and charm people, but he had to distance himself from them at the same time. He didn’t tell anyone about his problems and his background, staying mysterious and looking as perfect as possible. Those were all easy things to do.

The hard one was interfering with other people’s affairs. Before it was easy for him as well as he just didn’t put too much thought into other people in general, but as time passed a need grew in his heart to do something to help people or at least listen to people’s problems. His heart and his brain were constantly fighting to listen or to leave. He promised his dad and his dad trusted him to move across the world for his passion, so Mark felt obligated to do as he was told.

It was especially hard during days like today.

“ing faggots!”

It has been a week since school started and Mark was walking down the hallway after lunch alone only to hear someone curse and several grunts shortly after in front of him. Once he turned the corner, he realized what it was.

“There are so many hot girls at this school, but you two decide to go for each other. Disgusting,” dissed Namjoon, the basketball captain, spitting at the two.

Him and his posse, so called Bangtan Boys, had pushed Bambam and Yugyeom onto the ground and were beating them up. The two were known throughout the school to being openly gay which caused heavy backlash towards the couple. Once Bangtan noticed Mark, they stopped and looked at him, worried the well regarded swim captain would do something.

Dad told me to not get involved. I can’t, especially since it would be 1 vs. 7 as Bambam and Gyeom don’t look fit to fight.

Mark turned his head the other way and kept a straight face. He continued walking, turning up the volume of the headphones that hung around his neck. He was about to place them over his ears when he heard a voice.

“What are you guys doing?”

Don’t look back, Mark. Don’t get caught up in this mess.

Mark kept walking, listening to the voice in his head, but he walked slowly, trying to pay attention without looking.

“Just messing with these two faggots,” chuckled Jimin as he walked toward the boy, “It doesn’t concern you, new kid, so off.”

Mark stopped walking, trying to listen to the voice walk away but heard no footsteps.

“Yeah it does because that’s not right. They’re people too y’know!” defended the boy.

Oh no. He’s going to get beat up.

Mark turned around and saw Jackson getting up close and personal with the basketball players. He was worried for the kid. The BTS clique was known to be the most violent even compared to the martial arts kids as the martial arts kids never used their sport violently.

“Are you one of them too? A disgusting piece of gay trash?” hissed the captain.

“Does it matter if I am? All I want to do is be a good student and clean up the trash that is right in front of me. You guys,” said Jackson before taking a clean jab at Namjoon. The captain stumbled back and his clique immediately caught him before getting ready to fight Jackson.

Mark clenched his fist wanting to join and help Jackson, but as usual he held back because of his dad.

“I suggest you all leave right now before the teachers come,” smugly said Youngjae as he walked towards the fight, “They’re coming right now because someone tipped them about commotion they heard around here.”

Everyone froze and BTS’s eyes looked toward their captain who slowly nodded. The group darted and Jackson brushed himself off, chuckling. Youngjae slowly approached him, glaring.

“I also suggest you don’t pull a stunt like that again. One incident like this can get you kicked out of here if the school board hears about it,” said the president coldly.

“But I was helping them!” Jackson protested, pointing at the two who were bruised and barely getting up, “They were in danger and someone had to stop those guys!”

“Bangtan’s parents all donate to the school and so do the parents of most of the homophobic groups! If you want to help, you call a teacher! Those people can ruin your life and tarnish your name from having any sort of athletic career!” Youngjae scolded as he was right in Jackson’s face, getting passionate about the matter.

“You better not mess up in South Korea as well. That's not the Wang way!"

“Okay, okay. I won’t do anything again. I’m sorry,” Jackson quietly said, walking away.

Youngjae walked towards the couple, but looked to the side only to see the silhouette of someone familiar.

Mark? But he never gets involved in situations. Why was he there?

Stupid. Stupid me!

Mark ran down the hallway, trying to get away.

I should have just walked away. The me from the past would have walked away and not cared. I need to stay mysterious. I need to show that I don’t care about anyone!

Sports period came along and Mark was able to get ahold of himself. He quickly changed into his trunks and looked at the signup list of swimmer helpers as Peniel needed people by the end of the week as local competitions were starting up.

There was only one name other than his, Jinyoung’s.

Mark harshly threw the clipboard on the floor. Luckily no one was in the room during his outburst. His fingers slid through his hair and he yelled.

“Remember our deal.”

“I shouldn’t have trusted anyone! !” Mark yelled as Peniel’s voice haunted his brain, “Dad was right. People will just use me despite the trust we had for each other.”

The captain looked at the time and realized he was running late. He quickly grabbed the clipboard and ran out to the pool, only to see the members fooling around.

“What the hell is this?” he sternly asked as he threw the clipboard on the floor again, catching the attention of all the members who grew silent, “Are none of you really going to help out the water polo members? Are you all that selfish?!”

Mark placed his hands on his hips and glared at the members who stayed quiet, looking around at one another to see who would say something. One of the underclassmen, Park Jaehyung, slowly walked up.

“Well, aren’t they being the selfish ones? Water polo isn’t our sport and they’re just asking us to serve them and waste our time. I didn’t see them helping us out last season. The only reason why they got help last year was because the seniors were all close and wanted to hang out more.”

The members agreed and Mark felt even more irritated knowing it was true. He didn’t want to yell at the members but he couldn’t afford to break the deal at the same time. Jinyoung stood next to Mark and patted his back.

“How about this?” the vice captain offered, “If all of you beat us at a relay race, you guys don’t have to volunteer. The ten of you will all swim one lap; Mark and I will swim five each.”

Jinyoung smiled at Mark who just looked at him as if he was crazy. It was like Jinyoung was asking to lose.

“Call,” agreed Jaehyung, smirking at the two, “Piece of cake.”

“Okay, let's start practice!” Mark announced, clapping his hands to get the team back on track.

He had a bad feeling about this.

Jackson had been coming to the pool after practice every day to clear his head. The team was just conditioning at the moment so the new kid wasn’t stressed over fencing, but he still felt uneasy.

The boy often sat in the stands and watched as people slowly started leaving until the captain was all alone. Jackson felt curious about the captain, especially seeing how much effort he put into the sport. There was something different about his swimming today; Jackson noticed. It was slower.

Ma