F O U R.

SM High School ; L.J

11:12 PM

“Stay quiet, you guys.” 

    A scream resonated through the speakers again, making Jiyeon’s skin crawl.   The voice was shaky and loud.   Contorted sounds followed.  “M-my name is Lee Byunghun-” Another scream.  Jiyeon bit down on her inner cheek, drawing blood.   The metallic taste hit her tongue as she clenched her teeth.  “Save me! Please! I’m sor-” 

    Series of screams filled the hallway.   Luhan could only stand there and think of the endless ways L.Joe could’ve died, right then and there.  The reality was too scary for him.  

    “Again.”  The masked voice.   L.Joe’s pitched screams.

    “M-My name is Lee Byunghun from class 1-3!”  He barely sputtered out the sentence.  

    Myungsoo slapped his forehead with his palm.  “The teacher sent him to get the cells,” he uttered.  Woohyun put a hand on his shoulder, trying to put him at ease.  Although it’d nearly be impossible for anyone to be at ease in this situation.  

    “Say it.”

    “Please don’t kill me!” Sounds of screeching metal and screaming followed.  Luhan found Krystal slamming her hands over her ears, eyes screwed shut.  

    “I-I have done something wrong.  A-a-and I never want to do it again,” L.Joe’s voice dimmed.  

    “Go to the auditorium to find the chinese characters relating to the english equivalent he mentioned.  You don’t have much time.”  

    A dull, high-pitched ding went through the speakers as everyone nodded, rushing to the direction of the school’s auditorium.  

                        ~

“Ms. Choi!” Chen stopped at the entrance.  

    “I heard the announcement.  We have to go in there now.” First the teacher, then the students slipped into the auditorium, only to find the floor littered in pieces of paper, red inked on the front.  

    “Ohmygod.”  Nana looked at the ground, finding her foot on a sheet of paper.  

    “Had this all planned out,” Jiyeon deadpanned.  No way.  Slowly, she turned her head around to eye the teacher.  When could the culprit have laid all this out? Who was the only one not there when we were with Mr. Dae? Ms. Choi.

    But she soon discarded the thought, seeing the equally surprised look on the teacher’s face.  “Come on, you guys.”  Myungsoo was the first to run into the auditorium, heading straight for the stage where frames were stuck on the wall.  Everyone snapped back before looking around for letters.  

    Slowly, Naeun made her way up to the stage, under the spotlight where the frames for the characters were.  Although she didn’t have a study guide for all this, she wanted to contribute.  She stood besides Myungsoo, nervously tapping the point of her white tennis sneakers to the ground.  

    “Could you not do that? I’m thinking.”  His eyes didn’t leave the empty squares as he tried to tune out the noises of frantic students trying to find the answer.  

    “Sorry,” Naeun mumbled meekily, her hand instinctively finding the back of her neck.  

    He looked at her for a second, feeling just the tiniest bit apologetic. Naeun faced the other direction, looking at the characters laid out.  He never wants to do it again? Remorse and regret? Or worse, fear? She crouched down, racking her brain while playing with the sleeve of her black cashmere jumper.  

    “What do you think he meant?”  Myungsoo blurted out, surprising Naeun, as she didn’t expect him to confer with her about the answer.  

    “I have done something wrong.  And I never want to do it again,” she repeated it to herself.  Don’t state the obvious, just analyze the answer.  “He’s made a mistake...”

    “Without meaning to,” Myungsoo cuts in.  “And he isn’t regretting, he’s-”

    “Scared.”  Naeun finished, turning to look at the boy whose eyes were seemingly piercing through hers.  

    “Think of a chinese proverb relating to mistakes made, twice fearful.”  

    “Son Naeun!” Jiyeon threw her legs on top of the ledge of the stage, pushing herself up with her clammy palms.  Her toussled waves tumbled over her shoulders.  Naeun turned around, snapping out of her thoughts.  “You’re in my Mandarin 1 class, right?”  Naeun nodded, feeling oh-so self concious in front of Jiyeon’s tall figure and bright eyes.  

    “Why?”

    “I think I have the answer,” Jiyeon said, a little breathless.  Myungsoo turned his attention torwards her.  “A burnt child dreads the fire.”  She looked at Naeun and Myungsoo, scanning their faces for any signs of approval or recognition.  

    Sighing, Myungsoo shook his head.  “Try to match it up, it makes sense but it won’t work.  It’s ten characters, the saying.”  

    “I have a rebound!” Naeun brought her finger to her chin.  “Once bitten, twice shy.”  

    “Still not it,” Myungsoo mumbled.  

    "Uhm, are any of you Breakfast Club kids going to help?" Nana called out from under, putting a hand to her hip.  

     "Jinah!" Ms. Choi reprimanded her.

    There isn’t much time.  Jiyeon flit through the list of related proverbs to find the english equivalent of the possible back-ups they’ve already listed.  One bitten by a snake for a trap dreads the rope for a decade.   That was it.   She had the answer.  

    Jumping from the stage, she strained her voice to yell out,  “One bitten by a snake for a trap!”  people turned her, listening intently, “dreads the rope for a decade!” She repeated it over and over again, distraught.

    “That’s it!” Woohyun and Sungyeol found the first five characters and handed it off to Myungsoo and Naeun, who put it up on the stage as quick as possible.  Everyone pitched in to help, as the teacher stayed near the back with an overwrought expression.  

    “Come on, we need just one more character!”  Myungsoo cried urgently.  

    Seconds ticked by before the scream hit all of them at once, like an ominous hurricane.   The sound travelled throughout the entire school, freezing everyone.  And as Luhan and Krystal had laid their eyes on the last character of the proverb, a body fell out from the stage, hung on a tight wire.  

    Crude carvings on the back read:  朝被蛇咬

L.JOE ; DEAD

11:32 PM.

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A/N ; 

hey guys sorry for the long wait

I know it's kind of a short chapter, but I've been writing out a bunch of chapters for faster future updates

Chapter 5 will be out soon, I promise! 

I basically wrote out an outline, to plan out the story really cleanly, but tbh, there's just too many things happening in this fic THE STRUGGLE IS REAL

Anyways, I think I have almost half of the story nearly planned out, I'm just thinking of a way to execute it better instead of just imposing word vomit^^

Remember, comments are greatly appreciated

Hope you enjoy the story so far ;)

Thanks.