Junhoe cannot give a damn what his morally questionable father is doing. Even if he’s the son of a mafia leader, he just wants to have a normal good life; well, as ‘good’ as a mafia son can get. But his father just cannot stop interfering with Junhoe’s life.

So here he is: Academy for The Mentally Challenging, or so the signage said. To clarify, it’s not ‘mentally challenged’, it’s ‘mentally challenging’, as in challenging person. They train you to be challenging, to be difficult and defiant; in short, to be a villain.

Junhoe sighs as he sees the school building. He won’t be here if his father didn’t insist; he would be in a normal school having normal friends. But now he stands in front of this school, along with the sons and daughters of other villains both well-known and unknown. He even has to carry a gun around since he doesn’t know what can happen here.

Junhoe is just standing near the gate, and stares at the building, unsure of whether conceding to his father’s wish was a good decision. The security guard, a particularly uninterested and unfriendly looking man, sighs as he approaches Junhoe. “Opening ceremony is in the court behind the main building.”, he said while pointing to the court.

However, Junhoe just stares at him, perplexed by the inhospitality that greets him right away.

“What are you waiting for? Shoo!”, the guard said again, this time pushing Junhoe toward the court.

“Aw…”, Junhoe quietly murmured, rubbing his shoulder that was hurt by the guard’s push. He then sighs and starts walking slowly toward the court.

Meanwhile, a particular lad is sitting on the rooftop, watching everything that happened between Junhoe and the guard. This lad then smiles and flies down, landing right next to Junhoe and starts walking beside him.

“You don’t want to be here, do you?”, the lad asked.

Junhoe gives the lad a side-glance, before deciding just to ignore him.

But the lad ignores Junhoe’s aloofness. “I’m Chanwoo. What’s your name?”, he asked, offering his hand for a handshake.

Junhoe rolls his eyes. “Go away!”, he shouted.

Chanwoo ignores Junhoe’s remark and instead points at the insignia on Junhoe’s blazer. “I know this emblem! You’re with the Mafia of The East!”, Chanwoo said.

Mafia of The East. Junhoe snorted when he heard his father’s mafia gang’s name. The gang originally didn’t have an official name, but people starts calling them Mafia of The East because, well, they’re mafia and they’re from the east. And the name sort of sticks.

Their ‘nice little chat’ is interrupted, however, when a lass approaches Chanwoo.

“Ah!”, the lass shouted. “It’s Chanwoo! Chanwoo, I’m your #1 fan!”

Chanwoo sighs. “I’m not talking to you!”, he said. With a quick snap of his fingers, a flock of ravens suddenly appear out of nowhere and start chasing after the lass. Even while being chased away by the ravens, the lass still shouts, “Ah! So cool! So nonchalant! I like you so much, Chanwoo!”.

“Crazy fans.”, Chanwoo said while rolling his eyes.

Then Junhoe realizes something. This Chanwoo guy just flew toward him, right? And he just cast a spell with a flick of his fingers.

“Who… Who are you?”, Junhoe asked.

Chanwoo smiles hearing Junhoe finally addresses him. “Finally, you want to talk! I’m Chanwoo!”

“Yeah, I know! I meant…”, Junhoe stopped mid-sentence. Chanwoo? That sounds familiar; where did he hear that before? “You are the son of the Shadow Witch!”, Junhoe shouted.

Chanwoo nods. “Yup, that’s me. But you still haven’t told me your name.”, he said with a pout.

“Junhoe.”

“What?”

“The name’s Junhoe.”

Chanwoo tilts his head in confusion, “Junhoe? I never heard that name before. Have you never done anything that makes the newspapers cover you? Like, you know, stealing candies or drunk-driving or kidnapping babies or…”

“No, I’m not!”, Junhoe shouted, clearly annoyed. “I’m not a bad guy.”

“Then why are you here?”, Chanwoo continued asking.

“Because my father told me to.”

“And your father is…?”

Junhoe sighs. “Suffice to say that he is the leader of a mafia group.”

Chanwoo’s face quickly brightens. “Whoa! I’m talking with the son of Mafia of The East’s leader! That’s why I can sense some powerful aura coming from you! I should’ve shown some respect!”

Junhoe snorts. “You’re the one to talk. Someone with a power like you can kill me right away if you wish to do so.”

“But I don’t want to kill you! Not right away, anyway; it’s still the first day of school, after all. If I want to kill you, I must slowly torture you first until all that left in your eyes are despair, and you beg for me to kill you.”, Chanwoo explained, and he said all that with a simple smile.

Looking at Chanwoo’s innocent face while saying that horrible comment, Junhoe quietly concluded, “This place is truly for the wicked.”.

Their conversation is cut short when they arrive at the court. The opening ceremony has already begun, although most of the seats are empty. The ‘bad kids’ (which are pretty much all of them) probably can’t be bothered to attend this ceremony; those that do attend are just chattering among themselves.

Junhoe and Chanwoo take seats at the back. The principal is giving a speech, although she seems unbothered by the fact that the students are either not there or not paying attention.

“To conclude, I want you all to know that we are here to support you in your education. It is our responsibility to ensure that you guys become the nastiest, most horrible, cute little things the world has ever known.”

She then pauses, but quickly resumes, “Now. First thing first.”.

As soon as she said that, police sirens can be heard from all over the place. “Let see if you can handle some police.”, she concluded, before going her way.

“What!? Is she serious!?”, Junhoe shouted in disbelief.

The evidence soon appears in front of them, though. A huge amount of police, fully armed and armored, are suddenly approaching the court from all side.

“I think she is serious…”, Chanwoo stated the obvious.

“Tch!”, Junhoe uttered as he takes his gun and starts shooting. He is not a bad guy (yet), but he is still good with a gun; he has to if he wants to survive amongst his father’s allies and enemies.

“What are you trying to achieve with that?”, Chanwoo sarcastically asked. Before Junhoe can reply, the police start shooting back, and they are forced to take cover between the chairs.

“Well, do you have any better plan?”, Junhoe replied as sarcastically, almost shouting as all the gunshots make it hard to hear anything.

“I have.”, Chanwoo shouted back. “It’s called ‘magic’!”, he said, pushing Junhoe down. All of a sudden, Junhoe’s vision becomes black; he cannot see anything. His body becomes as light as a feather, floating around in the darkness. But, for some reason, he can still hear the gunshots. Junhoe looks up and, to his surprise, he sees the real world.

Then he realizes, he is inside his own shadow! Chanwoo’s mom is called the Shadow Witch for a reason.

“Don’t go out yet.”, Chanwoo said.

“How are we getting away from here?”, Junhoe asked, feeling relieved yet somewhat threatened by having someone as powerful as Chanwoo next to him.

Chanwoo responds simply, “We’ll swim through shadow.”.

“Swim… what!?”

Chanwoo nods, “Swim through shadow. It’s the same as swimming through water, just much darker and cognitively harder. Follow me!”

They slowly swim from the court toward the main building. While swimming, Junhoe looks at the endless darkness below him. “Is there anything below us?”, he asked.

“Nope. You can keep going deeper and deeper into the shadow until you get lost.”, Chanwoo replied.

“You can get lost?”

“Of course you can! That’s why I’m here; to make sure you get out of here alive.”, Chanwoo continued. “Or, I can leave you here if you want.”

As soon as Chanwoo said that, Junhoe quickly grabs his arm and refuses to let go. Chanwoo just laughs and says, “You’re a cute one.”.