October 201

“Today is the first day of student demonstration in this university. Approximately, there are over seven hundred students joining this movement from various faculty and batch.

Wearing red shirts written “불타오르네” (bultaoreune / burning), they are spitting flame through their orations in front of the main office of the university. The purpose of attaching ‘fire’ is to ‘burn’ the obstacle where the rector conceals behind since he cannot be seen in his office for exactly a week and students wonder where would he be.

Should his absence be considered as a coincidence as students file a law suit against him to the district court OR a well planned? Individuals have rights to prejudice.

He allegdely assumed as the main actor in corruption, abuse of power, bribery, and some other law infringement regarding the construction of new library center. This movement is said will not be stopped until the judgement day.

Thus, Mr. Rector, where are you hiding?”

 

He clicked his pen and closed the journal. Standing by the highest place nearby rectorate building, he could see clearly how the crowds surrounding the building. All reds, and riot. He was never keen on this situation, the reason why he refused to directly come down to field and reported the current event up there instead. This should not be his job, but his juniors wanted to experience such demonstration, so he took over the job.

 

Yongsun Noona, where are you?

 

He aimed his camera profesionally as if he would find the latter with zooming it to the crowd. It definitely would be impossible to find her there, cause she was attending national press conference for this event. His university was one of the top five, domestic and international media must have interest to make it as the headline.

 

And his Yongsun Noona, Miss Kim Yongsun, Miss President of Veritas, was a student representative to be the speaker in national press conference in a national TV network. It was broadcasted everywhere, he could just sit in front of his TV to see whether his Noona was fine or not, if he wanted to.

 

Yongsun and her team had been struggling this far to put up the scandal publicly. They were pouring blood, sweat, and tears on the land to grow strong trees, to harvest good things from what they’d been seedling for later. In the future, there would be so many interviews and conferences to attend. Besides, they needed to be present at the court as they filed a lawsuit against the head of the university. These efforts made, not just Yongsun and Byul, but Wheein and Hyejin as well, rarely meet each other, because they worked separately. It was almost a month. There was no time to have fun with each other, even to themselves individually.

 

You’ve made your parents proud, you know?

I’m proud of you as well. You’ve done great. You’ve always been.

Stay well.

 

It was a couple of months ago, he saw Yongsun on her weakest state. The glasses girl cried, her hands were trembling. The pen she was holding hesitated to write her thoughts on paper, afraid that it would only create straggly lines. She was writing a to-do list of the things that should be followed up.

 

Plenty of works, pressure, menstruation were combined into one. But the thing that affected her the most was Yongsun got scolded by her dad because her business in nonacademic activities, her organizational activities were sending her nowhere. That time was the worst.

 

He didn’t get the value and benefit from Yongsun participating in these activities. Of course she got compared to her sister, who’s currently pursuing her master degree in London, in such a young age. Her parents, especially her dad, just wanted her to focus on academics related.

 

Despite being a determined girl, Yongsun felt pain and tiresome as well. She’s a humanbeing as well. And that day was the day she thought of giving up.

 

 

“Ssshh.. You’ve gone this far. This too  shall pass,”

 

She sobbed around his embrace - he whom grabbing his chair to seat next to her - and left tears stain on his shirt. Mean words her father said to her remained fresh as she kept thinking of it. Her father’s tongue might slip, but it already stabbed her to the core it was very hurtful she doubt to continue what she had been struggling this time.

 

“Please keep on going, Noona. You’ve been doing great. Share your pain with me. We will do this together, until the very end.”

 

Tighten her grip on his back, she cried harder, but leaving no sound. His caress contributed to the tears she shed.

 

“Once everything ends, your dad will be proud of you, the most,”

 

 

He lit up the cigarette, blowing smoke to accompany his sole soul. Lately, it became his addiction, since he couldn’t reach for Yongsun’s lips. And craving for hers was a mistake, a biggest mistake. He would never get enough of it. He would be a sinner, cause she was no longer belong to him. The castle they’d built had been devastated in a glance. Sadly, the smoke was not thick enough to cover the sorrow he’d been embraced.

 

But Noona, I need you.

 

He exhaled smokes, in every despair he endured.

 

They start hating on me, again.

 

---

 

Autumn in October. The leaves turned into brown, red, orange. They fell, flawlessly. They remembered to always go back to where they belong: the root, on the ground.

 

Warm beverages; coffee, latte, tea, chocolate, became the best companion for sweaters and scarfs. Both were cooperating to heat the body, inside and outside.

 

The five got them all, in a moderate cafe with autumn theme in another city, Suwon, 1.5 hours from Seoul. Visiting a cafe to have some coffee and finishing tasks had never gone this far by distance. They had to. For the sake of hard to be tracked and detected since their task now involving in hacking and cracking a system.

 

They were seated in a big table for six, on the corner, near the electricity plug. The elder girl sat next to her boyfriend. In front of them, a new comer boy settled in the middle of two young girls. Before their orders came, laptops, notebooks, and several files were spreading on the table already.

 

As a cup of hot caramel machiato, hot cappuccino, hot green tea latte, iced pumpkin spice latte, and caramel brulée créme frappuccino, along with a slice of red velvet, pumpkin pie, ham and cheese sandwich, chocolate brownie, and two cups of chocolate muffin arrived on the table, they began the meeting.

 

“So.. He’s going to help us in computing.. technology.. information.. internet.. system.., ummm.. basically, this issue we are facing right now. Well, Kyungsoo-ssi, please introduce yourself again,” said the dimple girl, smiling. She didn’t understand the detail about the current problem they were facing, but she knew that it was related to aforementioned areas. Wheein was a design student, what would you expect from that.

 

“Hello, everyone, my name is Do Kyungsoo, I’m a computer engineering student. Byul sunbaenim asked me to help him in this project, since he couldn’t come today, I went with Wheein-ssi,” he said. “So.. nice to meet you all. I will try my best to help!”

 

“Nice to meet you to Kyungsoo-ssi. I’m Kim Yongsun, the head of this club. This is Ahn Hyejin, secretary of the club. I’m sure you already know Jung Wheein, our head of production. And this is Eric Nam, president of student board,” Yongsun introduced them by poiting each of them in an open hand. “Shall we get started? What had Byul explained to you?”

 

Kyungsoo then shared them what Byul discussed with him before. The points were exactly the same as what was written on Yongsun’s notes. They were facing huge cyber issues, it was really disturbing and making bad reputation for them. Some of people who were contributing in the case against the rector were being ashamed. There was a hacker – or hackers – who shared private information of them – either bad, embarassing, or even lies – on the internet over their campus. For instance, the leak of Hyejin’s Pink music videos.

 

It was a cover of Robin Thicke’s Blurred Lines, she wrote the lyrics by herself, narrating about her choosing pink as the best color for her to end her hesitation. She made the video just for fun and kept it for herself, and her closest friends as well. She saved it privately on Dropbox, but somebody hacked her account and found out about that “disgrace” and went viral.

 

What ashamed her the most is the hacker uploaded it via hacked university library website and their club’s website. People made fool of this club, especially Hyejin. Unknown people were calling her with bad words, singing the lyrics to mock her, even they danced to it. It was unbelievably embarassing, and distressing. After knowing this, she didn’t attend any class for the whole week, even she went outside her apartment using “Korean celebrity starter pack”, so people wouldn’t recognize her.

 

It was not only Hyejin, but also Byul. The hacker revealed his past as a hooligan. In an article, he was described as a young troublemaker, commited in gang fights, ilegally drinking and smoking, not achieving good marks at school, even he alleged to join a drug-dealer. There were photos of him, from the school – when he got into a fight with his teacher – to the night life, beating the so-called rival gang. The post also speculated that he enrolled in the university not in a fair way. Since his dad was a senior police inspector in Seoul, they assumed that he used his dad power to get him in the top five law school.

 

Byul received harsher treatment than Hyejin. People yelled at him, called him two-faced, hypocrite, bastard, a wolf in disguise, some of them even challenged him in fighting. The girls were afraid of him, eventhough he gave them typical Byul’s smile. He was one, outstanding student, yet some of lecturers and most of colleges and juniors lacked respect for him, blinded by rumour.

 

This matter was out of their expectation, it had been too much. It was not only damaging one’s good reputation, it could fail the plan to protest the rector’s policy. People would disbelieve their action and doubt to support them because apparently some of them had “bad names”. From protesting their bad policies, the rector side, they believed, had declared a war of harming good names. Moreover, their lawsuit against the rector had been accepted by the court and the process was on going. In a condition like this, lies and defamation must be hot issues to throw against the opponent.

 

Clarifications and suggestions not to be affected by this rumour had been published by the club officially. Even Yongsun herself had made a statement and apologized in public. However, some of people still couldn’t accept this and dishonoured them.

 

In this case, Kyungsoo was needed to delete the contents and mantained the good images of those people. If they couldn’t assure people to let go of this, at least they had vanished the contents and spread positive words about the victims.

 

The atmosphere was so silent, each of them were busy with themselves. Kyungsoo was coding and girlfriend-ing his laptop. Yongsun was multitasking, finishing her homework, scheduling her agenda, looking for minor materials for pleading, and chattering with her boyfriend. Eric was finding topics to talk to Yongsun, helping her doing her task, occasionally playing with her hair, and holding his desire to peck her cheek and side forehead. Meanwhile, Wheein and Hyejin deadly staring at their fingers. They occasionally played their phones and humming songs. Since they were seperated by Kyungsoo’s existance, they were chit-chatting on Katalk. Attacked by boredom, the maknaes initiated a conversation with another human being called Kyungsoo.

 

“Eung, Kyungsoo Oppa, you told us that you are Byul Oppa’s junior right? So you were from the same school?” asked Hyejin, randomly.

 

“Ah, yes.. Byul sunbaenim was a year older than me in senior high. We got along really well back then,”

 

“Wow, you are so formal to him. You could’ve called him ‘hyung’, I think,” said the other girl.

 

“Well, it has became a habit. And I.. really respect him you know,” he answered while scratching the back of his neck and grinning. “By the way, Hyejin, I’m really sorry you have to experience this. This must be.. really embarassing. If I were you, I might transfer to another school!”

 

“Thank you, Oppa!” she said excitedly. “I know right! I have been thinking about that honestly. I don’t know what to do anymore, I’m not even brave to face my friends,” she covered her face with both hands. Wheein was patting her back and giving her a comforting smile.

 

“It’s not about the video, I’m okay with it. It’s about people’s attitude towards me and our club, it’s about the one who leaked it. I also feel sorry for the other defamed victim! Those irresponsible people need to be mass-killed!” She said, squinting her eyes. Her right hand was squeezing the left fist as if preparing to throw it to those who mock her.

 

Hyejin was angry, but her fatal expression led Kyungsoo and Eric into laughters. Eric heard they conversation as well, he didn’t need permission to respond since they settled on the same table.

 

“Speaking of defamed victim, about Byul Oppa’s rumour.. is it true, Oppa? It’s not right? They must be photoshoping the picture, right?” asked Wheein curiously.

 

Kyungsoo suddenly stopped typing. His extreme changing of expression was crystal clear, as seen by the other four. He opened his mouth, but failed to deliver a word. In his second attempt, he shocked everyone, except for Yongsun.

 

“Sadly, some of it were true. But, some were not,”

 

Hyejin and Wheein were looking at each other in surprise. Eric left his mouth open wide. Meanwhile, Yongsun just glanced at Kyungsoo and ran back her eyes to her notes.

 

“Which.. one..?” Wheein asked, crossing her finger. She hoped that Kyungsoo would share the stories, completely, since she assumed Kyungsoo had a closed-personality, wouldn’t easily share stories to those who were not close to him.

 

“Hmmm.. Where should I begin?” He asked himself, tapping his chin with index finger and looking up how to start telling the history.

 

Less than a minute, he was ready to begin. “Okay. I know now. Please remember that I’m telling this for you to know the truth, not to gossip. And I’m only telling what I know, okay?” Everyone agreed by nodding. He agreed to himself as well to share the story because he believed that these people were the closest to him, they wouldn’t disgrace him by this fact.

 

“Yes, he was a hooligan. He was a bad boy, a rebel. He did illegal thing, such as smoking, drinking, and fighting. But he was never a part of drug-dealer. Well, I don’t know if he had friends like that, but I, 100% sure, he was not involved.” He sipped his cappuccino.

 

“I actually used to hate him. I used to be afraid of him as well because the stories from my friend. Generally, what they told me was the worst of a student can be. Moreover he was quiet, not kind of a hooligan who speaks too much and brags about things. His eyes were glazed, his hair was as messy as his uniform. He looked like he just killed somebody.. just like what my friends said about him.” It was no joke. As the time goes by, the four of them got more and more surprised and curious about what happened, but Yongsun, as usual, didn’t show it.

 

“I received bullying from my senior, they used me to do their homeworks, stole my lunch, took my money – it – and I thought it was.. counting time to be his victim,”

 

“There was one time, these pigs were after me in a dark alley at school. My friend left me alone, they ran away. Those pigs hit me hard and.. said bad words, I hate it! But I didn’t have the strength to fight back. Suddenly, I smelled cigarette and smoke was covering the alley. It was Byul sunbaenim. It was illegal to smoke at school, he was also not 19 yet, but he did it anyway.”

 

“I told myself that I’d be dead in a second. I thought they were friends. So, yeah, I was ready face my fate. Apparently, I was wrong. And.. that was the first time I heard him talking. He said, ‘Let him go,’, but those pigs didn’t listen to him he had to repeat his words. They let me go and came after him. They argued, but I forget about what. All I remember is they fought, he beat three of them easily. So easy for them to run away. After staring at me for secs, he told me to be careful, and left me coughing with his smoke.”

 

“Ah?! Really?! Why does it seem not real? I’m sorry.. but it’s really different from Byul Oppa I know. He is so stiff and has always been humble to be honest,” Hyejin was the first to respond.

 

“I’m telling the truth! I couldn’t believe myself either at his extreme transformation. I’ll let you know later. Shall I continue?” The rest nodded and Kyungsoo continued his story while coding.

 

“I was confused at first, cause he was different from what the others told me. I wanted to believe the others, but he came again to stand up against bullying, until I never saw those pigs again. After he helped me, he always said, ‘Don’t tell anyone’. I thought.. he liked me, it was weird. But then I found out that there were couples of friends from another class who had been treated the same way as me, both boys and girls, one of them told Byul sunbaenim about what happened to me. And from them, I also understand what ‘Don’t tell anyone’ means.” He formed a small smile. “So that we didn’t have to waste our energy to debate about his rumour. Cause nobody, would listen to us. Nobody would believe.”

 

Hearing his explanation made Hyejin and Wheein declared themselves as the biggest fangirl of Byul.

 

“After that, I changed my perspective towards him. I owe him a lot, I couldn’t only thank him. Without him, I might be bullied for the rest of my life during high school. Sometimes, I brought double lunch so I could share one with him. It was like a reciprocal, I payed him food or doing his homework and he protected me from any possible harm. Surprisingly, he really liked the lunch I bought, he loved it. He said that it tasted just like her mom’s cooking.”

 

They listened to his story seriously, the forgot about their beverages and cakes.

 

“Once, I stupidly asked him about his mom. He said, ‘She’s flowing in my vein,’, pointing at his wrist. Sometimes he would say that she was underground, or flying with the birds, or building a castle in the cloud, which was very childish.. Until I realized that his mom had passed away,”

 

“What?!” The two young girls respond in a high pitch. “His mom passed away? Then who is he seeing everytime he told me that he had an appointment with mom?!” Wheein stated.

 

“Yes, his mom has passed away, so does his dad. As far as I know, he wasn’t adopted by anyone else,”

 

“What? He’s an orphan?”

 

“Yes! I thought you were really close to each other. What kind of friends are you..,” He pointed his index finger in disbelieve at the two.

 

After knowing this, Wheein and Hyejin understood why Yongsun was the one who took care of him everytime he got hospitalized, for example. He had nobody. They guessed, she already comprehended about this earlier.

 

“You saw the picture of him punching a teacher, right? It was in my class. Mr. X, I don’t want to say his real name, was a lewd. Based on rumour, he grabbed some female students by, sorry, their chest, waist, or bottom. He was saved, cause he was the VP of our school and those female students were terrified of him.”

 

“One day, in the alleyway, we were still studying, Byul sunbaenim shout out loud, ‘X-ssi, where are you bastard? What did you do to the girls?’ on repeat. The latter was shocked, I could see he shed cold sweats. Everyone at school knew about him, including our teachers. Our teachers felt the same fear as us student did, I guess."

 

"Then Byul sunbaenim appeared, he pulled our door. He came towards Mr. X and he was cornered. He still had time to blow his smoke right to Mr. X’s face before beating him down. It was a riot, students couldn’t do anything. Some teachers pulled off Byul sunbaenim to I don’t know where. All I know, he was sentenced and transfered to another school. Fortunately, Mr. X was also kicked out of the school.”

 

The rest of them, except for Yongsun, were astonished. They couldn’t believe that Byul was an unexpected person like that.

 

“I stated before that his dad had passed away. They said that he was dead on duty, which was in ...,”

 

His phone was ringing. Apparently, the topic of the story-telling was the one who called. He excused himself to pick up the phone.

 

 

“Hello? B-byul Sunbaenim?”

 

“Kyungsoo? Done your work? Is everything okay?” The caller asked.

 

“Not yet, Sunbaenim. It’s in a half way. Everything’s fine. What’s up?”

 

“Nothing just checking. Watch your mouth, don’t tell unimportant things,”

 

Kyungsoo gulped. He thought he understood what Byul referred to, his past. “Y-yes, Sunbae. I’m just doing my job here he he he,”

 

Knowing that Kyungsoo was calling Byul, Wheein then wrote on a piece of a tissue to ask where Byul is to Kyungsoo.

 

“S-sunbaenim, where are you now?”

 

“None of your business,”

 

Kyungsoo looked at Wheein, signing that Byul didn't give a satisfying answer.

 

“Kyungsoo, I gotta go. Tell me if you’re finished. I need to check your work,”

 

“Aye, S-sunbaenim! By- bye!” He spontanously saluted.

 

 

After that, he continued the story. It was about the dead of Byul’s dad. Rumour said that he was killed on duty. But the truth was, he committed suicide when he was on duty in the southern sea of Korea. He was ashamed of Byul for conducting such action, it was contradicting with his occupation. Byul was a troublemaker, while his father was a peace maker. He was a senior inspector, a quite high position in police institution, he couldn’t handle Byul bad behavior anymore.

 

Not only beating his teacher and got transfered to another school, Byul’s first and second grade had been wasted by involving in gang fightings, smoking underage, drinking sometimes, dropping his scores. He wanted Byul to be as good as his brother, but it didn’t go that well. The thing was, he never really talked to him, he yelled at him. Byul was really close to his mom. Once his mom passed away, he got nobody to cling to, and then bad Byul happened.

 

“In conclusion, he was struggling and trying hard himself to get inside this university. Not getting good marks back then doesn't mean that he was an idiot. He could prove himself to be one outstanding student now. His power and his willingness brought him this far, not his deceased dad.. Maybe.. losing his beloved gained him strength and thought to change his way,”

 

“Yes, I guess so. He really changed, a lot, better, totally. I have no words for that..,” Hyejin commented.

 

“Yes, I hate those people who judged him without knowing the full story. Your past doesn't define you! I was like that, I don’t want them to be the old me!”

 

“However, do you notice that he is back to his bad habit?” Yongsun shook. This point intrigued her since they hadn’t met each other for a long time. She sensed that it was important to be well-informed about his news.

 

“He smokes a lot lately, you’ll be aware by smelling his scent. So cigar-like,”

 

“Heol.. I thought he changed his perfume,” said Wheein, innocently.

 

“No, Wheein-ssi! You’re so.. naive! Hahaha.”

 

“When he asked me for this help, I met him at night, it was a little bit late, I just finished my lecturer. I could say that he was a little drunk, his body smelled like Soju. And when I met him in a daylight, he looked like a mess, pale like sick. His side-parted doesn’t work, honestly, making him look skinnier, or apparently get skinnier for real I don’t know,”

 

 “I think you guys should take care of him very well. I will try my best too. I just realized that the pressure from this club’s work and the society can knock you down. You guys.. really need to take care of each other,”

 

Yongsun, Hyejin, and Wheein were casting down their heads. They were too busy with their works and forgot to notice the closest. The previous stories even made them look worse.

 

“Because.. all of us are vulnerable, we need to help each other to restraint us from falling in pieces, don’t we?” He closed his story-telling session.

 

---

 

It was 9 pm on the bus, on the way home. She leaned her head on his broad shoulder. He cuddled and her to sleep. Her eyes were closed, he thought it worked.

 

But actually it didn’t. Her worry is bigger than sleepy.

 

He walked her home, patiently looking for a perfect topic to break their silence. He had the topic, but he gotta think twice to throw it to her.

 

“Yongsun-ah, why so gloomy?” he smiled, try to transfer happiness to the pouty girl.

 

She was snatched. “What? Gloomy? Ah, no, Oppa, I’m okay,” She left a small smile.

 

“You must be concern about Kyungsoo’s story,”

 

She remained silent. But he was right. She just couldn’t get the story off her mind, especially when she found out that her beloved partner was about to be trapped in his old habits. She hadn’t met him for long, she didn’t know what happed to him, what might happened. She thought he would be okay. She thought he would always be strong.

 

“Pray, Yongsun-ah. Don’t you worry, I believe that Byul will be okay. He’s a gentleman and can treat himself good,”

 

“You.. take a good care of him. You.. seem to really love him,”

 

Yongsun stopped her step and let go of Eric’s hand. She just couldn’t believe today was really surprising. By surprised, she meaned dropping her heart.

 

Realized he made a ‘mistake’, he cleared his statement. “I mean.. as in working partner-relationship,”

 

Yongsun remained silent.

 

“Yongsun-ah, do you have a feeling for him? Or maybe.. he likes you?”

 

She raised her eyebrows. She really felt annoyed now. At a time like that, it was not wise to talk about this thing.

 

“I don’t wanna talk about this now,”

 

She walked pass Eric. Several steps had been taken, but Eric managed to stop her again.

 

“Because it’s just strange if two partners, working together, knowing one another deeply, take care of each other, but not falling for each other,”

 

Eric actually was worried as well, he was more of jealous of Byul. He could see Yongsun anxiety through her eyes after the session with Kyungsoo. She had never showed her worries about Eric. He perceived that Yongsun's amount of love to him was not as much as her to Byul. He really wanted to know what Yongsun feeling about Byul, he assumed, they wouldn’t be just a partner, by observing Yongsun’s behavior, especially today.

 

“I’m tired. Let’s go home.”

 

She didn’t look back. She really was tired, both body and soul. She just wanted to lay her body in bed. Beside the astonishment she gained today, 10 hours of staying outside and doing some works were the factors to her tiresome.

 

Eric felt like losing. He made his move faster to catch Yongsun and grabbed her by the hand. In the journey to her home, he realized that he was rude. He was consumed by jealousy. His statement might be based on it, might not be true, might be just his feeling. He never felt guilty to Yongsun.

 

 

They arrived in front of her apartment. Before she got into her apartment, he surprised her with hugs and kisses on her forehead.

 

“Yongsun baby, I’m sorry. Iwas rude. I’m really sorry,”

 

Yongsun’s eyes were teary. She was sad, anxious, guilty, tired, she couldn't describe how terrible she felt. She was perplexed.

 

He tucked her hair behind her ear. Caressing her cheeks, sliding to her neck, before trapping Yongsun with a passionate kiss on her lips.

 

On a cold fall night like this, they ended up under a warm blanket on her bed.

 

 

 

 

---

 

Hi!! Thank you for waiting!! I'm really sorry for the late update....

I hope you enjoy the story! Please let me know what do you think kekeke

For those who haven't watched Hwasa's Pink -->>>> https://youtu.be/HR1FSYGs6Ps

By the way,

I LOVE MAMAMOO'S COMEBACK!! I LOVE DECALCOMANI!!

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO P E R F E C T : ' )