Murmurs bustled around the room with several of them groaning and grumbling while telling to those next to them how tiring this day was. Amongst those people sat Jung Ilwoo, Moon Chaewon and Song Joongki, silently watching and offering their smiles of symphaty to their co-teachers.

"... I had to stop these two blokes from causing a fist fight, yeah? Thank goodness that nothing happened," told one teacher, those close to earshot shaking their heads and chuckling. "I think it'll take us weeks for these kids to feel comfortable with each other."

One female laughed softly, "Oh, not to me, no." She turned towards her class' co-teacher from Hwangjun— a young male who's smiling timidly— and said, "Our kids got along well today. Some of them even shared a table during lunch."

"Dear," Hwangjun's infamous P.E. teacher, Lee Kwangsoo, called attention to the female, "they're freshmens; of course, they'll get along well. The juniors and seniors, though— they're harder to deal with, I say."

Nods were the answer to his statement, causing the group of grown-ups to share their experiences this morning. However, it stopped at the Headmistress' arrival, the stooges inside the room standing up in respect and bowing towards the lady.

With keen eyes and a soft smile on, she ordered them to take a seat again before taking her own, her hand shooting up to unverbally request her files from her assistant's hands. "I'm guessing that all went well, hm?"

The fourth year's key teacher, Moon Sori, piped up, "As I've heard, it did, Headmistress. There were no casualties except for short-term arguments from both sides. We made sure that nothing went wrong as you've requested."

Headmistress Jung nodded in response, flicking through the pages of the file her assistant handed, before glancing up at everyone around the table. "What casualties was it? Nothing violent, I assume."

"Yes, Headmistress," one male teacher from Changji answered with a nod, "but we did get a few earful of verbal fights from both sides." He cleared his throat. "My class with Ms. Go's students didn't start off well since there was a feud between two of my students with hers. They were even close to doing a brawl inside the classroom!" He shook his head, then, with a tired sigh. "Thanks to their classmates, it didn't turn horrendous when they called for our attention."

The woman's lips turned into a thin line, watching her teachers and the Hwangjun's staffs', as well, change of expression. Taking off her reading glasses and placing it atop the closed folder in front of her, she laced her fingers together and leaned close to the table. "I see; this calls for the small project my granddaughter shared to me, then."

"You mean Krystal, Headmistress?"

"Oh, no," the woman replied with a chuckle, catching Kwangsoo off-guard, "the kid has too much in her head to even trouble herself with my job." She earned a couple of agreements on that, the few of her teachers laughing while those from the other school looking at her with curiosity; she cleared . "It's Jessica's," she continued, "and I do think that the idea she suggested would do good for this rusty adjoinment that Changji and Hwangjun are having."

&iii&

B L O O D Y  H E L L

&iii&

"Did you get her message, too?" Krystal asked to the girl beside her, tone of boredom evident on her voice.

Looking up from the book she was skimming, Jiyeon fished her phone that vibrated on her jeans' back pocket and unlocked it, reading the text that Taeyeon sent mere minutes ago. "Mhm," she replied to her friend, "I did."

Tilting her head to take a peek at the older girl's face, Krystal  furrowed her brows and sat up. "And...?" she trailed off with impatience. "Are you not coming?"

Jiyeon sighed. "You know I can't, right?" She straightened her back and gestured her hands over the books that were piled up in front of her. "I have notes to write, homeworks to deal with, lessons to catch up and remember. My hands are full."

"You know, it really to be you," the redhead commented with a frown, concern etched on her face while staring at her bestfriend's pale face. "I don't even know how you do it and still survive in the end like it's nothing. I'm starting to think that being an idol would never work for me if I'm still in school."

"Plus, your grandmother won't allow you to."

Krystal mirrored Jiyeon's tired grin with her own playful one. "Yeah; and that." Standing up, she grabbed her notebook that's lying beside Jiyeon's book and kissed the girl on the cheek. "I guess I'll be going, then. Just remember to not fall asleep. We wouldn't want to deal with waking Madam Lee up just so we could save you from getting locked up in her library again in the middle of the night." With a wink (and getting a nod from Jiyeon as a response), Krystal exited Changji's school library and left a now frowning Jiyeon on her wake.

"Don't you ever feel suffocated from being protected and pampered? It's seriously sickening by the looks of it," a voice interrupted, slicing through the silence of the room, but not startling Jiyeon for even a little bit.

"Did you ever think that it's creepy to stalk a girl when he thinks that no one is watching? It's much more sickening if you ask me."

Chuckling, the newcomer sat beside the seething girl with an arrogant smirk, closing the books in front of her and pushing them away from her reach. "I wasn't stalking, per se; just... intrigued."

Jiyeon rolled her eyes and turned to the male, her brows raised. "Intrigued of what? My life outside the spotlight? That's really unprofessional of you, Myungsoo."

"A