In conclusion, lunch went better than I had expected.

---

Key's POV:

The rest of the day sort of sped by all in a huge blur.

I was continuously either neglected coldly or harshly made fun of. Either way, it was all becoming a sort of cruel routine that I had more or less gotten used to. The usual harassment continued in my two remaining classes, but I had quickly learned that the easiest solution to the issue at hand was to simply ignore those who jeered at me and not give in to their crude and obnoxious antics.

The constant taunting and teasing continued for another day or two, but as the week progressed, I took great notice that all the harassment was gradually decreasing. I had advanced from the new student that nobody cared about, to number one death target, to biggest victim of harassment, to cruelly and harshly teased, to a mere heavily neglected social outcast — all in a matter of three days! I had to give these guys credit. They did seem to have some intellect of their own when it came to social status.

Of course, I was more than okay to be labeled as an outcast, just as long as people left me alone. On the third day since I first stepped foot onto the campus of SM Institute, nobody, and I mean not a single person, no airhead jocks or snobby plastics, spoke a word to me or spared me a glance. Not one petty insult or "threatening" death glare. They hardly acknowledged my existence at all.

When I realized what was happening, I felt myself become overcome with relief. The overwhelming stress and mild depression I had been feeling since my first day vanished without a trace. A heavy weight seemed to have lifted off my shoulders. I felt so much more lively lately. It was good to be free.

I ate lunch with Taemin everyday. I had begun to grow more and more attached to the boy. He had become my one and only most valued companion, all in a matter of a short period of time. I guess that's just how compatible we were, as different as our personalities appeared to be.

Like me, he too was neglected by his peers. I was shocked to hear this at first, since he was such a sweet kid and all. I didn't see how anyone in their right mind would even think of treating poor little Taemin so coldly. Although, it didn't seem like anyone at this hellhole of a school were in their right mind.

"What could you have possibly done to make everyone hate you?" I asked. He could only shrug helplessly in response. "You're so cute and nice! You give me energy just by smiling," I sincerely remarked. Taemin grinned cutely. "See? Just like that. Aigo, you're so cute," I cooed, softly pinching his velvety smooth cheek. However, Taemin's smile soon faltered and he wore a serious expression.

"Honestly, I don't know why they treat me like that, hyung," he concluded, sighing. He looked so solemn at that moment that I didn't feel driven to ask any further questions. I figured Taemin would open up to me when he felt that he was ready to. So that was the end of that conversation.

I was simply grateful to finally have someone I could sincerely call a friend, a companion, my own amigo. I didn't show it too much on the surface, but inside I couldn't be more thankful that Taemin was so eager to spend time with me. It was such a huge relief to have someone pay legitimate attention to me.

Of course, I never had to openly thank Taemin. I'd always let him chow down on my bento box lunches. He'd return the favor with a much unintended supply of his own aegyo. Omo~ he was too precious. I honest to God valued Taemin as a friend. He had even grown on to somewhat of a sibling of mine. The younger brother I never had.

However, I was regrettable to admit that his eating habits were sort of taking its toll on me.

Everyday, Taemin would purchase his own meal from the school. But instead of eating even a single bite of that food, he would simply cast it aside and grab at my own lunch. I didn't mind it too terribly much, but I did find it irritating at times when I was especially hungry on certain days. I didn't want to hurt Taemin's feelings by telling him to stop eating my lunch, nor did I want to take some of the food he purchased. Both actions seemed incredibly rude to me, so I usually kept shut.

That day, my mother had prepared me one of my absolute most favorite dishes — tteokbokki (sliced rice cake, meat, eggs, vegetables, and seasoning) with noodles. Taemin could eat anything else that was prepared in my bento. Anything at all. But there was no way was I going to let the little dongsaeng polish off my noodle tteokbokki.

"Yah, Taeminnie. I don't mind sharing my lunch with you. But don't you think buying your own food, not touching it once, and just eating all of my food is a bit too much?" I stated through gritted teeth, trying to hold back my irritation from the young dongaeng. Taemin's eyes widened in shocked as he stopped mid-chew. A chapchae noodle dribbled from his mouth. Shock was strewn all over the porcelain features of his face.

"Hyung..." Taemin started quietly at first. "W-why didn't you tell me!" he exclaimed suddenly, his voice cracking in the process. I flinched at his sudden outburst. But when I looked back at him, I saw tears beginning to form in the corners of his soft, dark eyes.

Uh oh. No, no, no! I hadn't meant at all to make Taemin feel dejected, let alone start bawling in the middle of the lunchroom! I could see that Taemin was trying his best to hold back from crying, but he looked just about ready to shed tears at any given moment. I began to panic. Not knowing what else to do, I awkwardly wrapped my arms around the younger and started patting his back, attempting to soothe the boy.

"Don't worry, Taemin. I'm not angry with you. Please don't let your hyung see you cry, or hyung will have to cry too, araso?" I whispered softly. Taemin sniffled a couple of times, but slowly nodded his head. "Aigo~ my little Taeminnie is so cute!" I gushed, ruffling his hair. Taemin immediately broke out into an adorable toothy grin.

"Hyung! I have an idea," the little dongsaeng said suddenly. I gave him a curious look, urging him to go on. "Since I eat all of your food, just eat my lunch, instead!" he chirruped excitedly. I chuckled at his enthusiasm and patted him lightly on the head.

"Aniyo, " I stated simply. Taemin gave me a quizzical look, so I pursued further. "The meals here are too befitting for me," I concluded with a sigh. I mean, for Pete's sake. The lunch itself was ₩45,000 (A/N: 40 U.S. dollars)! And to think pretty much all the students here purchased lunch everyday. Aish, seriously.

"But hyung, that's ridiculous! The food is definitely not too befitting. You're such a good hyung to me. Hyung takes care of me well. You deserve to eat fancy food!" Taemin interjected. I laughed at his confidence and determination.

"Araso, araso. Hyung will eat the food well," I agreed, reaching for a bite. I had only planned to taste just a bit of everything, but I ended up eating the entire tray of food. It was so damn good. My taste buds were singing to the heavens. I leaned back in my chair and belched loudly in satisfaction. Those sitting near shot me dirty looks of disgust, but Taemin burst into an uncontrollable giggle fit.

"You are so gross, Key-hyung!" Taemin chided playfully while lightly punching me in the arm. I flashed a smile that feigned innocence and shrugged.

"Yah, Taemin-ah. How would you like to get bubble tea with me after school? My treat," I suggested. Taemin nodded eagerly in agreement.

"Hey, hyung. I don't know if you know this or not, but they actually have vendors all over campus. There's a little bubble tea store. I can show you if you want," Taemin said. I looked at him with a surprised expression. Vendors? On campus? What didn't this school have? 

Thankfully, the remaining school hours ticked by quickly. Although I was treating, I agreed to let Taemin lead me towards the little bubble tea shop. It was decent, not at all what I had expected. It held that actual "commoner" feel to it, nothing too painfully fancy. I liked it. I expected that I'd come here with Taemin often in the future.

We purchased our bubble teas — me getting a plain milk tea, Taemin getting taro — and decided to take a stroll around the campus of SM Institute. After all, it was such a lovely day. The sun was shining, the sky was a fresh clear blue, and it was slightly warm out. Perfect weather to enjoy bubble tea with my little dongsaeng.

"Watch this, hyung!" Taemin called out suddenly, rushing to a low-rise ledge on the side of one of the school buildings. With one swift movement, he climbed onto the ledge and began scaling it.

"Yah! Get down from there!" I scolded, but I was already beginning to climb the ledge myself. We laughed uncontrollably as we playfully pretended to push each other off the ledge. Without thinking, I nudged Taemin's body forward, a little harder than I had meant to. Taemin lost his footing and, with an expression of utter shock, plummeted downwards to the hard concrete.

"TAEMIN!" I yelled, frantically outstretching my hand. But it was too late. In all the split-second that this had occurred, I hadn't even noticed three figures walking along the side of the building, very near to us. I hadn't anticipated that Taemin would crash into an innocent unexpecting bystander, having the lid of his bubble tea bursting open, spraying cold, thick purple liquid everywhere.

"Oh, God. Taemin!" I cried out. Not wasting another second, I jumped down from the ledge. and sprinted the short distance to where Taemin had landed. I hoisted Taemin up and quickly brushed off his uniform. Then I turned to the victim.

"I'm incredibly sor-" My sentence was cut short as I met the eyes of none other than the school bad boy himself — Kim Jonghyun. "Taemin," I said softly.

"Yes, hyung?"

"On the count of three, I want you to run." Taemin nodded his head subtly and slowly began turning around. "One, two-"

"Yah! Who said you could run anywhere?" Jonghyun snapped. I tightly grabbed onto Taemin's arm and he froze in his tracks. "Just look at this," Jonghyun said, observing the damage done to his uniform. "Who do you think is going to pay for this, huh?"

"Sunbaenim, it was an accident. I'm really sorry," Taemin apologized softly so his voice was barely audible.

"Shut up!" Jonghyun barked sharply at the younger. Taemin winced and took a deliberate step back. "Did anyone ask you to speak?" the older continued to scold. "If sorry could fix everything, would there be any laws or policemen? Are you really that stupid? Do you think apologizing will repair this? Do you think you can pay for a new one?" Jonghyun continued to snap at the innocent maknae. The poor boy was already burning red with humiliation, and he looked near tears.

Onew stepped up. "Hey, Jjong, don't you think you should go easy on the kid? It was only an accident," he said, trying to be reasonable. Jonghyun gave Onew a reproachful look, but Onew didn't even flinch. Jonghyun's piercing glare turned into an amused look to a malicious smile. I didn't like that smile one bit. Suddenly, Jonghyun began ing his soiled blazer, exposing his well-toned and muscular arms. They distracted me, but only for a moment.

"Y-yah, what do you think you're d-doing? Don't just suddenly s-s-strip down like that!" I stuttered nervously, turning away from Jonghyun. My cheeks were beginning to heat up in embarrassment. Jonghyun ignored me, and carelessly tossed the blazer to Taemin. Taemin caught it clumsily, but thankfully before it hit the ground. That would have just stirred up more trouble. Taemin held out the blazer in his arms and gave Jonghyun a quizzical look.

" it off," Jonghyun asserted sternly.

"B-bwoh?" Taemin stuttered, clearly not understanding.

". It. Off."

"Sunbaenim, I don't-"

"I said it off. off all that disgusting purple filth 'til it's all gone." Taemin shot Jonghyun an "are you crazy?" look, but Jonghyun continued to stare hard at Taemin.

"Jonghyun, let's not do this. We'll get you a new one," Onew pleaded. Jonghyun ignored Onew once more.

"Well? I'm waiting," he continued. Taemin gave me an apologetic look then helplessly began lifting the blazer to his mouth. I clenched my fists and began shaking with anger. On a whim, I snatched the blazer out of Taemin's hands. Both Taemin and Jonghyun looked at me with surprise.

"I'm afraid I can't let Taemin do that," I said curtly. Anger blazed in Jonghyun's eyes, but that soon wore off as a malicious smile reappeared across his lips.

"Araso. I'm a reasonable guy. You it off, instead."

"Bwoh?! Are you mental or something?" I screeched in disgust.

"Do it, or I'll smack your friend." Panic settled in and I quickly glanced at Taemin. Taemin gave me a pleading look. I sighed. I knew what I had to do. I slowly began lifting Jonghyun's soiled blazer to my mouth. The moment it touched my lips, I quickly thwacked the blazer into Jonghyun's face, uncapped my cup of bubble tea, then poured the rest of its contents all over that flaming head of his. Jonghyun cried shrilly in disgust as his shoulders tensed. Onew and Taemin looked at me with utter shock. Even Minho, who had been quiet the entire time, gave me an amused expression.

"Yah!" I exclaimed. All eyes turned towards me, including Jonghyun's. "Who do you think you are? Didn't he already say he was sorry? Who suddenly made you king of this place, anyway, huh? Just because you may be the wealthiest son-of-a- here, it doesn't mean you can go around controlling people and treating them like ! You think you have so much power over everyone else because you have a lot of money. Well is that your money, or is it your mother's and father's? Do you make the money? Do you provide for yourself? No. You're a little helpless scumbag who'd be nothing without his parent's fortune. I doubt you're even thankful. You really are just spoiled trash. Let's go, Taemin." I grabbed firmly onto Taemin's arm and began pulling him away.

"B-but...hyung...wait!" Taemin stuttered. We were only a few yards away before I heard someone call out.

"YAH! YOU NASTY LITTLE ! WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?" Jonghyun hollered foolishly, his veins popping out. I took a deep breathe then quickly spun around and met him in the eyes once again.

"My name is Kim Kibum. I am currently a junior here attending this pathetic excuse of a school. I was dragged into this hellhole by scholarship, not because I'm wealthy. I am a simple commoner. I may seem like a worthless pile of crap to you. But keep in mind that from this day on, I am no longer threatened by you, Kim Jonghyun." And with that, I turned around and strutted away, dragging a stuttering Taemin by the arm while leaving a fuming and much befuddled Jonghyun, a shocked Onew, and an amused Minho behind.

Heed my warning, Kim Jonghyun. I will never bring myself to forgive you for how bitter and coldly you treated my best friend. From this day forth, this is war.

A/N: 30 subscribers and almost 500 views in just two days? Holy smokes! You guys are truly amazing :'D Though, a few more views and subscribers wouldn't hurt, right? Keke. And don't forget to comment! I love receiving all your wonderful feedback ^^

Lo and behold, tteokbokki and bubble tea! And this is an image that shows the height of the ledge Key and Taemin were walking on. See, it wasn't too high, now was it?