20: EVERYTHING IS NOT ALRIGHT

"Parachute," by Code Kunst (feat. Oh Hyuk and Dok2)

                Jae-Dong High didn’t seem like a school to Naeil anymore. It was a battlefield. In her mind, she mentally marked each student who walked by as an enemy, ally, or bystander, and the enemies sure seemed to be piling up.

                Juyoung and his friends didn’t leave her alone after their confrontation in Monday. That was only the beginning. At first, they reverted to rather juvenile forms of bullying, wrecking her desk, hiding her books, stealing her lunch, and similar irritating but bearable persecution.

                As time went on and Naeil continued to ignore them, Bul-ui Agma became more aggressive. It was nothing she couldn't deal with, but she would be lying if she said it didn’t affect her. On top of that, she still had about a month before graduating. Would it just continue to get worse? At this rate, she was scared to see what that would look like. It felt like at any moment Juyoung could give the order and they would jump her.

                Lunch was the most dangerous time of day. Naeil ate it in the hallways with Hoseok. Today, she rushed out of class as soon as lunchtime arrived, lugging her lunch and backpack along. She had learned (the hard way) never to leave her backpack behind anywhere.

                A boy stood in the doorway to her classroom—the same one who had been staring a hole into her back ever since the day Juyoung threatened her.

                Naeil started to push past him, but he refused to move. Seriously? Naeil pursed her lips together and turned away, supremely irritated.

                “Yah,” she said, frowning.

                “What?” he replied. A barely perceptible smirk was twitching at his lips.

                Her self-control steadily waning, Naeil somehow managed to keep shut and just push forward again. He reached out to grab her. She caught his hand and twisted it behind his back, pushing him against the door frame and giving him a shove before walking away.

                Her anger was starting to show. That was never a safe position to be in.

                “How’s it going today?” asked Hoseok when she met him in the hallway.

                Naeil plopped down the floor with a grunt. “These idiots are going to make me go seriously insane. I feel like crap and now I’m acting like it too.”
                “Oh...sorry.”

                Naeil whipped her lunch out and began stuffing things in with barely a breath in between. Hoseok was honestly too scared to say anything.

                “Naeil-ah,” a quiet voice said from above them. The two looked up to see her friend, Hwang Soomin, looking down at them, a concerned expression etched into her brow.

                Naeil stopped eating. “Oh....um....hi, Soomin-ah.”

                Soomin smiled and sat down next to Naeil, taking a protein bar out to nibble on.

                “We’ve all been really worried about you, Naeil-ah. Is everything—”

                Naeil had stopped listening to Soomin halfway through her first sentence. A boy passing by slowed down to stare at the three of them, and, upon catching Naeil’s eye, stopped and stared outright.

                “Naeil-ah? Are you—?”

                “Soomin-ah.” Naeil turned and looked at her friend. “It’s not a good idea to sit with me right now. I’m really sorry. I can’t tell you why, but it’s not your fault. You just really need to go. I’m sorry.”

                Soomin’s face fell. Then quietly, eyes focused on the floor, she got up and left.

                Hoseok watched the girl leave with sad eyes, glancing at Naeil anxiously. She had returned to her meal with a silent vengeance. Something about it made Hoseok feel sick.
                “Naeil-ah...”

                “Don’t try to comfort me,” she snapped. “I’m already hiding this from my mom. There's no way I’m getting Soomin involved in this either.”

                There wasn’t really anything he could say, so he finished his lunch without another word.
 

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                “You’re late!”

                Naeil’s teacher was poking her head out of the classroom at the end of the hallway, beckoning for her to hurry. Naeil smiled ruefully and sped up her pace.

                That image, her teacher’s neat bun poking out of the door, arm extending in her direction, stuck in Naeil’s mind clearly. It was the last clear picture she saw before two pairs of arms reached out of an empty classroom to her right and dragged her inside. Then, everything was chaos.

                Naeil felt her body crash to the floor, gasping at the impact of her hip bone slamming against the hard ground. She struggled up to her knees, trying to breathe again because the breath had been knocked out of her lungs. The only thing she had registered so far, besides the pain, was the sound of boys’ chatter. Naeil looked up.

                She was in a classroom filled with about twenty or so boys. She caught sight of Jungkook and was confused for a moment—until her eyes settled on Shin Juyoung.

                Naeil scoffed and looked away. “Aigoo, what is it now?”

                Juyoung didn’t say anything. He just glared at her, and then, thundering up to her with a speed that surprised Naeil, he kicked her back to the ground, pinning her shoulder down by the rubber sole of his shoe. The pain made Naeil cringe hard, even though she willed herself not to. It hated showing weakness in front of people like them.

                Juyoung cursed loudly in Naeil’s ear. The sound echoed through her ear drum and made her head throb. He wasn’t giving her a chance to orient herself at all. He grabbed her by the gap above her jaw, fingers digging in between her clenched teeth.

                “You think it’s funny? Huh?” he spat. “You think you can just mess with us like that? Sa Hyeo Pa won’t look past that!”

                Naeil wasn’t sure whether she was more angry or scared. Whatever the case, she couldn't manage to speak any coherent words. Juyoung raised a hand and Naeil closed her eyes to brace herself for the impact she sensed coming. But before anyone could do anything else, the door to the room slid open and Naeil’s teacher poked her neat little head in.

                “You crazy child, making me come ov—”

                The teacher froze at the sight her eyes were met with. All the boys turned to look at her, watching her expression go from irritation, to confusion, to shock, and finally settle into nervous discomfort. Her eyes glanced down at the place where Naeil lay on the floor, flitting over to Juyoung but avoiding his eyes. The boy still had his fingers clenched around Naeil’s face, and he was halfway on top of her.

                “Oh...ah....Juyoung-ssi.”

                The tall boy let go of Naeil slowly and stood up straight. He smiled an easy, syrupy grin, bowing a little. “Hello, seosang-nim. Do you need something?”

                The teacher hesitated. “Well…I…” She looked at all the other boys, most of whom were showing minimum concern despite the fact that they had been caught red-handed. The teacher her lips, blinking rapidly. “Ah...no. Everything is alright. Just...ah...okay.”

                Everything is alright?

                When the door slid closed, Naeil felt the thud drum deep in her belly. She wanted to throw up.

                Everything is alright?!?

                Juyoung motioned to two of the boys and they caught her by the under arms, dragging her up into a half-sitting position. Naeil realized, with considerable discomfort, that the grip on her right arm belonged to none other than Yoongi’s brother, Jungkook. He was avoiding her eyes. His hands were trembling.

                Someone pulled a piece of cloth around , gagging her before she could even think of calling for help.

                It was at that moment that Naeil realized how utterly terrified she was. No one knew she was here, except her teacher. Clearly, she didn't care. There was no way Hoseok could find out, he was in the middle of a class.

                If it was just Juyoung, or even if it was just him and a friend, or even two, maybe she had a chance but—there were at least twenty of them. A room full of iljin, her arms pulled back to immobilize her, her body already limp...how was escape possible now?

Author’s Note

Desperate times call for desperate measures. I’ve decided to go rogue and just update whenever I can. Mostly because my schedule is up in the air and will continue to be…indefinitely….

ALSO THERE ARE LITERALLY 17-20 PEOPLE SLEEPING AT MY HOUSE RIGHT NOW FOR ??? DAYS AND POOR INTROVERTED ME IS A HAIR’S BREADTH FROM GOING COMPLETELY INSANE.

I have instructed my brother to make sure I don’t shoot anyone before this long, long, period of my life comes to an end.

On the bright side, my cousin asked me today, “Do you know…’keem-ta-hyoong?’”

“Kim Tae Hyung?”

“Keem…yeah I think so.”

“He’s from BTS.”

“Oh, really? Oh I see, it says singer/dancer.”

“Why?”

“He was named most handsome face of 2017.”

“Really??”

Important note: I added one last scene at the end of Chapter 1, take a look at it if you're curious!