Something was not right with this place. The road was unusually quiet despite today was the first day of initiation. It was actually pretty noisy inside the school with the pranks and all there, but the road in front of it was just the opposite. And those faint sobs echoing all the way to where he stood right now could not help either.

‘Definitely not right.’ He thought eerily while looking around for the source of that sound. He stopped in the mid of his track when he spotted a tiny figure behind a tree, just a few steps away from him. Oh. It’s a she.

“Hey... Are you okay?” He decided to ask carefully.

“…. Hiks… Hiks…Why they—why were they so mean to me??”

“Huh? Mean? Who?”

The little girl pointed at the big building across the road.

“Chungdam Middle School? Oh, you’re a new student ther—”

“Huwaaa…!!!” More louder wailing escaped from that tiny girl’s lips.

“Wha—wait! Stop blubbering, will you!” The guy said while looking around frantically, afraid that someone might think he was the one who made her cry.

“I hate initiation!” She groaned in the middle of her now ceased crying.

He sighed audibly and decided to lean on the fence behind her. “You can say that again.”

“Huh?”

“You see that building back there?” He pointed over his shoulder with his thumb without looking back.

Her misty eyes trailed the way his finger pointed and indeed there was a huge building, much bigger than her school, behind the fence they were leaning on right now. She gawked at it absentmindedly. Why did she not notice that giant thing before? Had her eyes really gotten that bad?

“Cheong…sam High…,” she trailed off, trying really hard to read what was written on top of the massive main door leading to the inside of the school.

“Uh huh. An all-boys Cheongsam High School.”

“……… You’re ga—”

“I’M NOT!!! Going to an all-boys school doesn’t make you one!”       

“……… Touche.”

“Wha—” He looked at her incredulously. What exactly was this thing?? He initially felt pity for her but barely spoke and she already ticked him off.

“I’m a new student too,” he said through gritted teeth. “So I know exactly what you feel about initiation right now.”

“Then what are you doing here?”

“What are you doing here?” He looked down at her.

“……….”

“Exactly.”

“I’m not going back there!” She growled with a sullen glare at the innocent road. Poor thing.

“If I could, I would just do the same. It’s a shame we have to go through that horrible thing.” He shuddered at the thought of whatever had happened to him during the initiation just before he escaped from the school.

“Huh?” She looked at him questioningly.

All of a sudden he stood straight and dusted his pants, making her startle.

“Time’s up. Now go back to your ‘home sweet home’, thing! They’ll probably call the SAR team when they find out one of their supposed-to-be juniors missing.”

‘Thing? Thing??’

She tried to burn him into ashes with her cold stare but then scoffed in disgust when she failed. “As if.”

He looked down at her and stared long enough to make her feel uneasy.

“What?” She couldn’t take it anymore.

Instead of answering right away, he fished out for something in his pocket and, after a couple of seconds, brought out a marker in his hand. “Give me your hand,” he said.

“What for?” She immediately hid her hands behind her back and eyed him suspiciously.

“Don’t push me, thing. Just give me your hand,” he growled and reached for her right hand. At that time, she was already intimidated by the sudden change in his voice. That made it easier for him to do what he wanted to without any further fight.

“There!” He suddenly announced and flung her lifeless hand after a minute.

“What exactly is that?!” The girl gasped in horror while looking at the drawing at the back of her hand.

“A future idol’s sign,” he exclaimed in satisfaction. “Be grateful for that cause in two or three years later, it’ll be priceless.”

“Aish... More like a five year old’s scrawl,” she grunted while trying to erase it with her other hand in annoyance. “Conceited much?”

“Yah! What are yo—yah! Stop it before you regret it!”

“You’re much worse than those people.” She ignored him and kept erasing the drawing. Stupid idol and his permanent ink marker.

“You don’t even know me! Why would you say something like that? You barely graduated from elementary school! Aish.. Kids nowadays.”

“What??”

“Kid, you kiddo! No girls with a flat chest and that makes you A KID, you hear that!”

With that said, she kicked his shin with all her might, much to his dismay.

“Arghhh..!! What did yo—you little brat!” He cursed under his breath while jumping with only one foot. A broken shin was all he could think of right now.

Now it was her turn to dust her skirt and bowed 90 degree as elegant as she could to him.

“Annyeong.”

“Yah! Kiddo! Where are you going?!” He shouted full of irritation when she stalked away and left him in pain.

“Stupid ert.”