fifty-four

—

soo ah.

Since I lost my footing, I nearly dropped a tray full of beverages on some of the students.

But luckily, I didn't.

Geez... That was embarrassing. Now the people who were occupying the nearby tables were staring right at me. Great. I really needed the attention. I wrinkled my eyebrows in disapproval and regained my composure as I stood up straight at the aisle between two tables. "I deeply apologize for taking too long." I bowed at a group of three boys who were elatedly eyeing me. I then placed their orders on the table. A cappuccino, a parfait, and a glass of coke.  "N-No! It's fine! Really!" They grinned widely. "Y-Yes." I answered back awkwardly and turned around to face the table beside it. "Water and pineapple juice." A bowed at the two boys who were also smiling as if there's no tomorrow. 

Why is it that the place is full of guys!?

Well, it is a maid café.

I sighed and returned back to the "kitchen" - The place that was separated from the dining area only by a huge black curtain. "You're doing great!" A felt an arm by my shoulder. By the time I looked up, I saw Hak Yeon with a pleasant look on his face, "Don't rest now! There are more people to serve out there." "You serve them!" I got his arm off and raised one eyebrow at him, "What exactly are you doing anyway?"

"Dear, have you forgotten? Today is scheduled for a maid café. And I'm what you call a "supervisor"." He seems cocky today. Hak Yeon then patted my head and was about to go somewhere else when I shouted, "Supervise yourself!" He quickly turned around, "What did you say!?" 

"You need it!"

He was about to rebut when we both heard some shouting by the other end of the curtain. Immediately, we ran out to find the source of the noise. "I demand it now!" We saw a man with a big nose and a messy uniform banging a table near the door like a judge on a trial. "What do you think you're doing!?" Hak Yeon yelled. All eyes were on us now.

"Where's the Martini!? Bring it to me now! I demand alcohol!" Jae Hwan, with his uniform crinkled and collar wide open, was about to flip a table. Hak Yeon was enraged, "This is not a bar Lee Jae Hwan! Go find your Martini somewhere else!" 

"No way! I paid for that drink!"

"Get out now or I'll find you a bar and make you strip right in front of people's impure eyes!!!"

Uhm... Hak Yeon? That was a much different club than what Jae Hwan was talking about. That was way too much...

I was shocked with everything that was going on; even my classmates were surprised as well! Hak Yeon suddenly turned around to everyone inside the classroom. He bowed at 180 degrees, if that was even possible. "I'm sorry. I'll have a private chat with this drunkard. Excuse us." He gritted his teeth at "private chat", as if putting emphasis to the phrase. Are they role-playing or what? Jae Hwan is underaged to drink alcohol! I followed right behind to the two. "Is it okay to ditch our shift?" I asked. "Of course." Hak Yeon sighed. "Now, explain yourself." 

"Heh. At least you're out of that place. Now can we go?"

"Wait." I butted in, "What are you trying to say?"

"Hmm?" Jae Hwan's eyes got big, which made him look cute at that moment. I really envy his natural aegyo. "What I'm saying is that now's the perfect time to visit our haunted house." He smiled. "So you acted like a drunkard on our place and disturb everyone just to get us to visit your scary shack?" Hak Yeon asked and the one who was being questioned nodded. "Are you out of your mind!? Goddamn Jae Hwan you sure are stressing me!" And then they both started bickering.

We couldn't argue with Jae Hwan anymore since we'll end up going in the end anyway and, to be honest, we actually wanted to check it out. And also because Hak Yeon wouldn't want him squabbling into our place. 

"What's with your image anyway?" I scanned him from head-to-toe. 

"Everyone that entered the haunted house were so scared that when it's my turn to scare them, they'd accidentally hurt me since they were so surprised. It's that scary." He grinned ever so widely, showing off his pearly whites.

I heard Hak Yeon gulp right after.

—

ji eun.

I saw everyone I knew of in front of the haunted house's entrance. Except for a few.

I've heard of that Hong Bin guy before from Soo Ah, but I'm not familiar of the person standing next beside him. He looks like a "b-boy" though. 

 
I neared Soo Ah and whispered, "Sorry if that idiot disturbed you guys. We're on a quota." She smiled reassuringly and nodded. Jae Hwan and I entered first. I walked five steps and shouted, "Okay! Listen up everyone! Give the following people the greatest scare you could ever muster, okay!?" 

"Yes!" I heard my other classmates who were on shift as ghosts, monsters, vampires, and the like answer back with a determined tone on their voices. The atmosphere was quite festive compared to a real haunted house.

"They should wet their pants, got it!?" Jae Hwan tried to come up with an encouraging speech. Well, at the very least he did try. I opened a flashlight and scribbled something on the little notebook I was bringing along. It was the supervisor's job anyway - To keep track of everything, whether it is going well or not. When I finished and was about to call Soo Ah and the others, I heard a shriek.

"Good job Won Ju!" I snorted when I noticed that Jae Hwan was on the floor. 

"You scared me you idiot! That was not cool! Not cool at all! You should scare the people who will enter, not me!!!"

"Are your pants drenched yet!?" Everyone clamored and laughed.

—

so hee.

We were all grouped together in two's. Hong Bin and Won Shik were paired up, Soo Ah-ssi and Taek Woon-ssi were together, and lastly, Hak Yeon-ssi and I were both going to enter the abode of the dead.

I was kinda nervous. You could say that it's because I am going to enter into the haunted house. That's one thing. But the point here is that I am going to go in the spooky place with Hak Yeon-ssi. When Ji Eun-ssi signaled us to go in, I tried to look for what was going to welcome me in the little gap the entranceway made with curtains were making. "Are you scared?" Hak Yeon-ssi looked at me.

I stared at him, not knowing what to say. What if I stutter? What if I mess up the words I'm going to say? It'll be embarrassing, especially in front of my sunbae. He smiled gently, "Don't worry. I am scared too." I blinked at him. His words seemed serious. "So if you're scared, you could hold my hand to relax yourself, you know? It would benefit both of us." He walked forward right after. "O-Okay...?" I followed him from behind. When we both entered the place, it was dark - So dark that you couldn't even see anything. There were some lights that were placed on the ground acting like a guide, but the lights were too faint to reveal everything. Good job sunbaes, good job...

And the atmosphere was quite eerie, too! I couldn't move a muscle. "Okay. Let's do this." I heard Hak Yeon-ssi right beside me take a deep breath. I perceived his footsteps, so I assume that he's literally gonna do it. 

He kept on walking, but when some sinister music played, he froze on his spot. He stood there for minutes, and I stared at him wondering if he was alright the whole time. I felt a cold gush of wind behind me, and when I looked back at my sunbae, he was about to cry. Someone - or something - was whispering right by his ear. I couldn't quite make it out since it was dark and the only lights we had were somewhat like dim lights, or even dimmer than dim lights. He then grabbed hold of my hand. It was so tight I could feel it going red. So he was serious about it... I couldn't believe it.

"Let's get out of here." He said faintly. And when it was my turn to get whispered into the ear, I, without a doubt, agreed with what he told me.

—

ravi.

I could hear a lot of screaming in the haunted house, and the receptionist, if you could call it that, was so happy about it. What was her name again? Was it Park Ji Eun?

...Poor Hong Bin wasn't paired up with Soo Ah-ssi. I bet he was bursting with excitement to find out how Soo Ah-ssi would react to stuff like these before he knew he was paired up with me. He was really disappointed he even complained and said that it was my fault! How immature of him! No wonder why the girl he likes keeps on friend-zoning him! When we both entered the place, the first thing we heeded was the sound of a girl crying. 

"It's like the beginning of "Left 4 Dead", right?"

"Witch alert!" 

"You're such a nerd."

"You brought it up, you dork."

"Shut up!"

Someone appeared in front of us and we were both taken aback.

"Gya!!!"

"Agh!!! What the hell!?"

We screamed in unison, "Can't you see we're both talking here!?"