Maxime High 「 CHAPTER 01 」
Maxime High 「 REMORA 」
CHAPTER 01
Privilege
Principle Cha Seungwon was going to enjoy every moment of the following weeks. He could barely stop himself from smiling as he watched carefully as each student handed in their phone as previously instructed. Blank, confused and perplexed expressions and exchanged glances of bewilderment were dotted around the room as each student parted with their precious possession.
Once all of the phones had been collected and pockets had been checked on the off chance that someone was harbouring a second phone, the remaining students began bumbling towards the door to check their new rooming arrangements. The first thing that everyone noticed was the fact that despite the rooms being able to house up to 6 people during the school term, there were numbers as few as 3 in some of the rooms. Additionally, the principle had not been lying when he stated the rooms would no longer be separated by house or age.
At Maxime, each of the dorm rooms were given a name pertaining to the latin for a specific animal. Each dorm had a particular theme, depending on the house. Each room belonged to the same house, and never changed, so for the students of Maxime where house pride was conditioned into them from day one, this was going to be uncomfortable to say the least. As the students scanned the lists pasted to the doors of the cafeteria there were sighs, objections and very few exclaims of relief. It was custom, for the students, whenever their names were written anywhere for the first letter of their house to follow their name, in fact as the years went by it became strange for them to see their name without the bold little letter beside it. But to see numerous different houses in one dorm room was alien.
THE NEW ROOMING ARRANGEMENTS ARE AS FOLLOWS;
VULPES
AHN, DARIM I
HAN,SUNHWA F
KANG, SEULGI F
TIGRIS
IM, JOOYEON V
JO, HYERA I
PARK, SOJIN F
APIS
HAN, INNA V
HEO, GAYOON V
KWON, HAEYUL F
LEPUS
JUNG, JIHYUN I
JUNG, SOOJUNG V
PARK, SOOYOUNG F
WAKAHISA, CHINATSU I
URSUS
BAE, JOOHYUK F
CHOI, MINHO F
KIM, JONGHYUN S
LEE, MINHYUK I
LEO
KANG, JAEYEOL S
KIM, SUNGGYU F
LEE, HOWON V
YOO, YOUNGJAE I
AQUILA
BYUN, BAEKHYUN I
KIM, KANGHYUN V
PARK, JINYOUNG S
WOO, JIHO S
LUPUS
JANG, DONGWOO V
KWON, JIYONG S
LEE, MINWOO I
PARK, JAEBUM S
WU, YIFAN S
Jung Jihyun let out a small sigh of relief upon finding her name on the list. After all, her best friend name was also listed under her dorm room which was a first for them- being in different houses meant that they’d never been able to room together. They were stuck at school for another few weeks over the summer, but at least they’d have each other. Silver linings.
“Straight to your new rooms!” Seungwon called out after them, almost singing his orders at the miserable crowed of students, all exerting the same kind of unjust and wronged vibes as they trudged towards the hall.
“Did you have any idea about this?” She felt Sooyoung’s hand clasp hers as she appeared at Jihyun’s side. There was a certain expectancy in her voice, because Jihyun tended to know everything about everyone, so surely she could have seen this coming. Jihyun flashed her a somewhat pained expression.
“Short answer, no.” She admitted with a grimace. Acknowledging she hadn’t seen this coming was more uncomfortable than she’d have thought. “I mean, I knew something was going on with the Principle, that he wasn’t happy, and that he was planning punishments, but…” She trailed off and sighed as her and Joy began traipsing up the first staircase towards the girl’s dormitory. “I guess I just assumed it’d be left alone with it being summer vacation and all that.” Sooyoung squeezed her hand.
“It’s not your fault, Jihyun.” She flashed her a smile. “You can’t possibly know everything.” She assured her. Jihyun’s brows furrowed.
“That’s not the point. I should have seen this coming.” She mumbled. Jihyun took pride in the fact she was able to find out pretty much everything about anyone, presented with the right price, of course. Though everyone knew of her, there were few students who Jihyun could actually call her friend- she figured most people were too scared of what she might know about them.
“You know,” Joy beamed, eager to change the subject before her friend started beating herself up about this, “Lepus was actually my dorm room this year so I guess I’m lucky enough to get my old bed.”
By the time they reached their dorm, it was already open. Jihyun and Sooyung weren’t the only pair of best friends that lucked out in getting to room together. Wakahisa Chinatsu, or Chinsoo, as she was known by at school, was already sitting on a bed by the window. Jihyun recognised her, they were in the same house, but she was a couple of years above.
Chinsoo noticed the two girls walk in and made sure to give them a friendly smile. This was already unsettling for everyone, and she wasn’t going to let it be made worse by tension in their new dorms. Jihyun and Sooyoung tentatively made claims to a bunk on the other side of the room and began talking amongst themselves in small voices whilst Soojung continued to pace around the room with slight distress.
“Are you going to sit down or are you enjoying burning holes in the carpet with your incessant pacing?” Chinsoo asked affectionately as Soojung stopped momentarily.
“What does he expect us to do exactly?” She stressed. “We don’t have any of our things, we’re in rooms that aren’t even our house, and no further instructions. We’re basically sitting chickens!” She whined, finally sitting down beside Chinsoo who couldn’t help but smile, even in the stress of it all.
“I believe the phrase is sitting ducks.” She grinned.
“Whatever. You know what I mean.” Krystal rolled her eyes and fell back onto the dark, forest green covers. She wrinkled her nose. “Green is not my colour.”
Chinsoo forced a laugh. She was determined to stay cheerful, even when inside she could feel herself crumbling. The anxiety was already building up inside her and it made her dizzy. She kept replaying the events of that night over and over in her head, fiddling anxiously with her necklace. If she had just stayed put and stayed at the dance, could she be on her way to Japan right now with Soojung? That had been the plan after all. Was it her fault the two of them were stuck here like a convicted criminals?
“Stop doing that.” Krystal grumbled from behind her, still laying down.
“Doing what?” Chinsoo asked, acting oblivious.
“Overthinking. Worrying. You know it’s pointless.” She was right, and she always knew. Soojung opened to say something else but shot upright instead at the sound of the intercom cracking into life in the corridor outside.
There was a distinct sound of a voice being cleared, followed by a pause. During which, a couple of doors opened in the corridor, no doubt everyone else was eager to see what the announcement had to say.
“This is your principle speaking,” It was almost as if everyone knew he was smiling as he spoke. He was clearly enjoying keeping everyone hanging onto his last word. “I’m sure you’ve all settled in to your new rooms, but, silly me,” He laughed, the creepy kind of laugh that left everyone feeling a little on edge. “I’ve forgotten to give you all your luggage!” He chuckled. “I’m sure you’re all looking forward to getting your belongings back but unfortunately, you’ll have to wait a little longer. Until then, everyone is to join me outside for a quick meeting.” And with that, the intercom crackled into silence.
It was quiet at Maxime. Too quiet.
Even the corridors that were usually filled with chatter, the low hum of some music playing in one of the dorms, excitable giggling, doors opening and closing as students went from dorm to dorm, dropping by to see their friends or getting ready for dinner. Maxime High always had life, and today, with all but 30 students out for summer, it felt dead, cold, and very restless.
Slowly, sure enough, on each wing of the dormitories (separated into boys and girls, of course) the students made their way out and onto the landing and down the staircases to the main lobby. Not realising how slowly he was walking in the midst of everyone else, Bae Joohyuk felt himself get shoved a little by somebody more impatient than he behind him.
“Well if it isn’t Principle Cha’s golden boy.” Someone sniggered as the pushed past.
“Who’d have thought he’d be here? Not so perfect after all.” Another added as laughter followed. Joohyuk grit his teeth and paid no attention to whomever it was, after all, he was plenty used to being teased for how highly the Principle thought of him.
“I guess it won’t take long before you can convince your best pal the Principle to let you go home, hey, Joohyuk?” Minho appeared out of nowhere and patted Joohyuk on the shoulder. Perhaps a little too hard. Joohyuk could feel the bitterness in Minho’s voice and chose to ignore as he went on ahead. It was bad enough that they’d roomed together a year or two ago, but to be back in the same dorm as Minho… Joohyuk would be lying if he said it didn’t bother him at least a little bit.
“Stop complaining!” Ahn Darim said for the fourth time, true exasperation in her voice. But, she was ignored of course as Jinyoung continued to whine about his iphone having been smashed to smithereens earlier that day.
“I’m sorry, was your phone taken from you against your will and smashed into a hundred pieces right in front of you? I don’t think so.” Jinyoung snapped with a pout on his lips as Darim exchanged vexed glances with Youngjae as they headed for the door with everyone else. Whilst Jinyoung continued to moan to himself about his phone, Darim couldn’t help but think she’d miss their stupid 3-way group chats on Kakaotalk. It’s not like she could chat with anyone- they were all phoneless now and she felt a little without her trusty smartphone in her blazers top pocket.
“We’re never going to hear the end of this.” Youngjae groaned, pushing Jinyoung out of the double doors with a little more force than necessary, praying he’d shut up eventually.
Gathering outside, everyone realised they didn’t actually have an instruction of where to meet the Principle. They just expected he’d be in the main field, off the side of the building. It was a vast open space, numerous sports fields on a wide area of grass that eventually, if you kept walking would lead to the lake, and to the right, the forest. It wound around the entire school building, with well-kept pebble pathways that always had perfectly preserved foliage running alongside them. And in the summer, the roses were always beautiful.
Out on the main field, however, the principle was nowhere to be seen. But there was… Something. What it was, exactly, wasn’t entirely clear. As they made their way over to it, it appeared to be nothing more than a pile of rocks.
“What the hell is this?” Yifan was the first to reach it, and after kicking a few of the rocks to the side, he noticed an envelope. “Well I’m not reading it.” He scoffed, shrugging off the responsibility as he felt 29 pairs of eyes fall on him with expectation to let them know their fate. “Here,” He pushed the envelope into the hands of the boy next to him, with a dark gleam in his eye.
Kim Kanghyun rolled his eyes. He wasn’t one for public speaking, nor being the centre of attention, but he was just as curious to know what was inside the letter as everyone else. So he opened it, and cleared his throat and began to read what he could of the letter in their Principle’s cursive handwriting.
“Students,
I expect by now you’re wondering what on earth is going on. And so you should.
Today we’re going to learn what it means to take something for granted, like food, shelter, warmth. We provide all these things and more for you, here at Maxime, and through lack of respect and appreciation of such things, comes the consequences.
In order for you to regain the privilege of aforementioned items, like warmth and shelter, you will have to earn them. Make yourselves comfortable, as where you’re standing is where you will be spending the night, whether you like it or not. You needn’t try to get back into the school- though I know some of you will. And you will fail.
If you are to have any hope in making tonight a comfortable one, you may want to begin searching now, before nightfall, for the things you will need. (And for those of you too stupid to realise with what I am implying, there are numerous supplies such as tents, sleeping bags, food and water placed carefully for you, throughout the grounds.)
Enjoy your evening.
Ps. I find working together helps situations such as these, but don’t let me tell you what to do. You kids have fun. “
Kanghyun looked up having read the letter, in equal despair and confusion as everyone around him. He also noted that the Principle had even drawn crooked little hearts after he signed the letter off, and… What looked to be a winky face. Immediately there were cries of outrage as the severity of the letters content began to sink in. Despite it being the middle of the summer, the nights could be cold, and they were all wearing only their school uniforms.
There was some disbelief that he could genuinely expect them to stay outside all night with nothing but the clothes off their backs. Surely this wasn’t what their parents were paying for. Though everyone was talking hurriedly amongst themselves, with a wave of panic settling over the group, nobody did anything.
Kwon Haeyul noticed as such, that despite having instructions, absolutely nobody was doing anything towards achieving what they’d been instructed. She quickly scanned around until she found whom she was looking for.
“Do something!” She pulled on Minho’s sleeve.
“What?” He looked at her, big eyes looking even wider as he stared at her questionably.
“Someone needs to take charge, are you, or are you not, Fortis?” She questioned.
“You’re Fortis too, Haeyul.” He retorted.
“But everyone will listen to you, you’re the baseball vice-captain for pete’s sake!” She whined, resenting the implication from her so called friend that she should be the one to get everybody’s attention and call some order around here. Sure, she had been placed in Fortis and she didn’t doubt the school’s placing system but she was not one to call attention to herself. She was more of a silent leader, letting people come to her, and so on.
Regardless, Minho moved into the centre slightly and glanced down at the rocks and began clapping his hands to get everybody’s attention. Whilst some people hushed, there was still a low hum over other conversation. Feeling frustrated for him, Haeyul brought her fingers to her lips and blew, her shrill whistle bringing all conversation to pretty abrupt stop. Mouthing a “thank you” Minho began to address everyone.
“Standing here and doing nothing is not going the help us,” He began,
“Oh shut up, Choi, who put you in charge.” Minho frowned. He was pretty sure, by the smug look on Woo Jiho’s face that that comment had come from him. He grit his teeth and tried not to think about how fond he wasn’t of those in Superbia.
Jaeyeol was rolling his eyes already. Of all the people that needed to be stuck here with him, it had to be Woo Jiho. If there was one person Jaeyeol would choose to be anywhere but here, it would be him. It was bad enough they were both in the same house but it was people like Jiho, or Zico as he so pathetically liked to be called, that gave Superbia students a really bad name.
“He’s not even Captain, he only made vice, that’s just like giving a special kid a gold star that says you tried.” Jiho continued, clearly making himself laugh more than anyone else. Jaeyeol could barely take it anymore and before he could even process his actions he was mumbling not so quietly in response. “That’s more than you achieved.”
“I don’t understand idiot, speak like a Seoul citizen.” Jiho was quick to fire back, always finding it fun to pick at Jaeyeol’s thick Jeolla-do dialect and watching him squirm. Jaeyeol felt himself getting angry far too quickly and made sure to push his shoulder extra hard into Jiho’s as he stormed past to move as far away from him as possible.
“Anyway,” Minho continued once the tensions had died down a little, “I think it’s clear we need to split up and start looking for our supplies. We need to get the tents up before night fall or we’ll have no hope seeing what we’re doing.” To his relief, most people seemed to calm down and agree with him, “If we all take part we can find the pieces we need in no time.” Trying to remain positive, he glanced at Haeyul who gave him a smile and a big thumbs up.
“I’m pretty sure the rocks are for a fire, you know.” A quiet voice cut Minho off before he could continue. Everyone turned to look at the small red haired girl who looked as if she wished she could take back what she said. Jo Hyera was a “be seen, not heard” kind of girl, that’s the way she liked it. But watching everyone completely ignoring the rocks which were clearly there for a reason was driving her insane. “The rocks,” She glanced at them again, “Are there for a reason.” She stated. “We’ll need a fire before nightfall.” She said it as if she was surprised nobody else had said it first. Minho glanced down at the rocks at his feet and something caught his eye.
“Oh,” He blinked a few times, “She’s right,” He picked up a small, metal fire starter they’d all completely missed amongst the stones.
“Well done.” Minhyuk patted Hyera gingerly on the shoulder, flashing her a genuine smile. Hyera wanted to shrivel into a ball but forced an attempted smile back all the same. His company was nice, there was no doubting that, but, Hyera didn’t now to deal with nice.
“This is stupid.” Jaebum spoke up all of a sudden. “Why should we waste our time building stupid little tents and little fires all because that idiot says we should? I’m out.” He kicked a stone that had been near him and began walking across the field away from the others. Once he realised nobody was following him he turned round, with such a thunderous expression and bore his eyes into one person. “Well?” He barked. Inna flinched, ignoring the looks everyone was giving her as she began walking towards him quickly, already feeling an apology on her lips.
“Inna,” Jooyeon called after her, feeling angry and concerned but she felt Sunggyu’s hand on her wrist.
“Leave her.” He muttered. It pained them both to see their friend at the beck and call of Jay, but they knew they couldn’t do anything about it, at least not right now. Jiyong was close behind Inna’s heel, and as Jay turned back around to continue walking a good few feet ahead of his girlfriend and best friend. As he fell into Inna’s stride, Jiyong touched her arm, almost as if it were a mistake, ever so slightly, and flashed her a half smile that only Inna could find comfort in.
“Fine then!” Jooyeon yelled, albeit half-heartedly, as the three of them took off. “I’ll find a stupid tent by myself.” She mumbled, feeling her emotions get the better of her. She, too, kicked a rock out of frustration and then yelped, recoiling in pain as she realised that she had just kicked a rock and that was in fact, not an intelligent move on her part.
“Calm down.” Sunggyu nagged by her side, feeling too stressed himself to deal with his friend’s touchiness. It was tiring enough in the best of times.
“You calm down.” She snapped back, but with no venom in her voice at all, she didn’t even have the energy to bicker with him. Jooyeon ran a hand through her hair and sighed, glancing around noticing that everyone was beginning to disperse in small groups to begin their search for their supplies and realising that she and Sunggyu should do the same.
It was late afternoon, and tensions were already high, and the race against time to find what they needed before night fell was well under way. It was only day one of what Seungwon had planned for them, and to say everyone had gotten off to a shaky start would be a grave understatement.
Once all of the phones had been collected and pockets had been checked on the off chance that someone was harbouring a second phone, the remaining students began bumbling towards the door to check their new rooming arrangements. The first thing that everyone noticed was the fact that despite the rooms being able to house up to 6 people during the school term, there were numbers as few as 3 in some of the rooms. Additionally, the principle had not been lying when he stated the rooms would no longer be separated by house or age.
At Maxime, each of the dorm rooms were given a name pertaining to the latin for a specific animal. Each dorm had a particular theme, depending on the house. Each room belonged to the same house, and never changed, so for the students of Maxime where house pride was conditioned into them from day one, this was going to be uncomfortable to say the least. As the students scanned the lists pasted to the doors of the cafeteria there were sighs, objections and very few exclaims of relief. It was custom, for the students, whenever their names were written anywhere for the first letter of their house to follow their name, in fact as the years went by it became strange for them to see their name without the bold little letter beside it. But to see numerous different houses in one dorm room was alien.
THE NEW ROOMING ARRANGEMENTS ARE AS FOLLOWS;
VULPES
AHN, DARIM I
HAN,SUNHWA F
KANG, SEULGI F
TIGRIS
IM, JOOYEON V
JO, HYERA I
PARK, SOJIN F
APIS
HAN, INNA V
HEO, GAYOON V
KWON, HAEYUL F
LEPUS
JUNG, JIHYUN I
JUNG, SOOJUNG V
PARK, SOOYOUNG F
WAKAHISA, CHINATSU I
URSUS
BAE, JOOHYUK F
CHOI, MINHO F
KIM, JONGHYUN S
LEE, MINHYUK I
LEO
KANG, JAEYEOL S
KIM, SUNGGYU F
LEE, HOWON V
YOO, YOUNGJAE I
AQUILA
BYUN, BAEKHYUN I
KIM, KANGHYUN V
PARK, JINYOUNG S
WOO, JIHO S
LUPUS
JANG, DONGWOO V
KWON, JIYONG S
LEE, MINWOO I
PARK, JAEBUM S
WU, YIFAN S
Jung Jihyun let out a small sigh of relief upon finding her name on the list. After all, her best friend name was also listed under her dorm room which was a first for them- being in different houses meant that they’d never been able to room together. They were stuck at school for another few weeks over the summer, but at least they’d have each other. Silver linings.
“Straight to your new rooms!” Seungwon called out after them, almost singing his orders at the miserable crowed of students, all exerting the same kind of unjust and wronged vibes as they trudged towards the hall.
“Did you have any idea about this?” She felt Sooyoung’s hand clasp hers as she appeared at Jihyun’s side. There was a certain expectancy in her voice, because Jihyun tended to know everything about everyone, so surely she could have seen this coming. Jihyun flashed her a somewhat pained expression.
“Short answer, no.” She admitted with a grimace. Acknowledging she hadn’t seen this coming was more uncomfortable than she’d have thought. “I mean, I knew something was going on with the Principle, that he wasn’t happy, and that he was planning punishments, but…” She trailed off and sighed as her and Joy began traipsing up the first staircase towards the girl’s dormitory. “I guess I just assumed it’d be left alone with it being summer vacation and all that.” Sooyoung squeezed her hand.
“It’s not your fault, Jihyun.” She flashed her a smile. “You can’t possibly know everything.” She assured her. Jihyun’s brows furrowed.
“That’s not the point. I should have seen this coming.” She mumbled. Jihyun took pride in the fact she was able to find out pretty much everything about anyone, presented with the right price, of course. Though everyone knew of her, there were few students who Jihyun could actually call her friend- she figured most people were too scared of what she might know about them.
“You know,” Joy beamed, eager to change the subject before her friend started beating herself up about this, “Lepus was actually my dorm room this year so I guess I’m lucky enough to get my old bed.”
By the time they reached their dorm, it was already open. Jihyun and Sooyung weren’t the only pair of best friends that lucked out in getting to room together. Wakahisa Chinatsu, or Chinsoo, as she was known by at school, was already sitting on a bed by the window. Jihyun recognised her, they were in the same house, but she was a couple of years above.
Chinsoo noticed the two girls walk in and made sure to give them a friendly smile. This was already unsettling for everyone, and she wasn’t going to let it be made worse by tension in their new dorms. Jihyun and Sooyoung tentatively made claims to a bunk on the other side of the room and began talking amongst themselves in small voices whilst Soojung continued to pace around the room with slight distress.
“Are you going to sit down or are you enjoying burning holes in the carpet with your incessant pacing?” Chinsoo asked affectionately as Soojung stopped momentarily.
“What does he expect us to do exactly?” She stressed. “We don’t have any of our things, we’re in rooms that aren’t even our house, and no further instructions. We’re basically sitting chickens!” She whined, finally sitting down beside Chinsoo who couldn’t help but smile, even in the stress of it all.
“I believe the phrase is sitting ducks.” She grinned.
“Whatever. You know what I mean.” Krystal rolled her eyes and fell back onto the dark, forest green covers. She wrinkled her nose. “Green is not my colour.”
Chinsoo forced a laugh. She was determined to stay cheerful, even when inside she could feel herself crumbling. The anxiety was already building up inside her and it made her dizzy. She kept replaying the events of that night over and over in her head, fiddling anxiously with her necklace. If she had just stayed put and stayed at the dance, could she be on her way to Japan right now with Soojung? That had been the plan after all. Was it her fault the two of them were stuck here like a convicted criminals?
“Stop doing that.” Krystal grumbled from behind her, still laying down.
“Doing what?” Chinsoo asked, acting oblivious.
“Overthinking. Worrying. You know it’s pointless.” She was right, and she always knew. Soojung opened to say something else but shot upright instead at the sound of the intercom cracking into life in the corridor outside.
There was a distinct sound of a voice being cleared, followed by a pause. During which, a couple of doors opened in the corridor, no doubt everyone else was eager to see what the announcement had to say.
“This is your principle speaking,” It was almost as if everyone knew he was smiling as he spoke. He was clearly enjoying keeping everyone hanging onto his last word. “I’m sure you’ve all settled in to your new rooms, but, silly me,” He laughed, the creepy kind of laugh that left everyone feeling a little on edge. “I’ve forgotten to give you all your luggage!” He chuckled. “I’m sure you’re all looking forward to getting your belongings back but unfortunately, you’ll have to wait a little longer. Until then, everyone is to join me outside for a quick meeting.” And with that, the intercom crackled into silence.
It was quiet at Maxime. Too quiet.
Even the corridors that were usually filled with chatter, the low hum of some music playing in one of the dorms, excitable giggling, doors opening and closing as students went from dorm to dorm, dropping by to see their friends or getting ready for dinner. Maxime High always had life, and today, with all but 30 students out for summer, it felt dead, cold, and very restless.
Slowly, sure enough, on each wing of the dormitories (separated into boys and girls, of course) the students made their way out and onto the landing and down the staircases to the main lobby. Not realising how slowly he was walking in the midst of everyone else, Bae Joohyuk felt himself get shoved a little by somebody more impatient than he behind him.
“Well if it isn’t Principle Cha’s golden boy.” Someone sniggered as the pushed past.
“Who’d have thought he’d be here? Not so perfect after all.” Another added as laughter followed. Joohyuk grit his teeth and paid no attention to whomever it was, after all, he was plenty used to being teased for how highly the Principle thought of him.
“I guess it won’t take long before you can convince your best pal the Principle to let you go home, hey, Joohyuk?” Minho appeared out of nowhere and patted Joohyuk on the shoulder. Perhaps a little too hard. Joohyuk could feel the bitterness in Minho’s voice and chose to ignore as he went on ahead. It was bad enough that they’d roomed together a year or two ago, but to be back in the same dorm as Minho… Joohyuk would be lying if he said it didn’t bother him at least a little bit.
“Stop complaining!” Ahn Darim said for the fourth time, true exasperation in her voice. But, she was ignored of course as Jinyoung continued to whine about his iphone having been smashed to smithereens earlier that day.
“I’m sorry, was your phone taken from you against your will and smashed into a hundred pieces right in front of you? I don’t think so.” Jinyoung snapped with a pout on his lips as Darim exchanged vexed glances with Youngjae as they headed for the door with everyone else. Whilst Jinyoung continued to moan to himself about his phone, Darim couldn’t help but think she’d miss their stupid 3-way group chats on Kakaotalk. It’s not like she could chat with anyone- they were all phoneless now and she felt a little without her trusty smartphone in her blazers top pocket.
“We’re never going to hear the end of this.” Youngjae groaned, pushing Jinyoung out of the double doors with a little more force than necessary, praying he’d shut up eventually.
Gathering outside, everyone realised they didn’t actually have an instruction of where to meet the Principle. They just expected he’d be in the main field, off the side of the building. It was a vast open space, numerous sports fields on a wide area of grass that eventually, if you kept walking would lead to the lake, and to the right, the forest. It wound around the entire school building, with well-kept pebble pathways that always had perfectly preserved foliage running alongside them. And in the summer, the roses were always beautiful.
Out on the main field, however, the principle was nowhere to be seen. But there was… Something. What it was, exactly, wasn’t entirely clear. As they made their way over to it, it appeared to be nothing more than a pile of rocks.
“What the hell is this?” Yifan was the first to reach it, and after kicking a few of the rocks to the side, he noticed an envelope. “Well I’m not reading it.” He scoffed, shrugging off the responsibility as he felt 29 pairs of eyes fall on him with expectation to let them know their fate. “Here,” He pushed the envelope into the hands of the boy next to him, with a dark gleam in his eye.
Kim Kanghyun rolled his eyes. He wasn’t one for public speaking, nor being the centre of attention, but he was just as curious to know what was inside the letter as everyone else. So he opened it, and cleared his throat and began to read what he could of the letter in their Principle’s cursive handwriting.
“Students,
I expect by now you’re wondering what on earth is going on. And so you should.
Today we’re going to learn what it means to take something for granted, like food, shelter, warmth. We provide all these things and more for you, here at Maxime, and through lack of respect and appreciation of such things, comes the consequences.
In order for you to regain the privilege of aforementioned items, like warmth and shelter, you will have to earn them. Make yourselves comfortable, as where you’re standing is where you will be spending the night, whether you like it or not. You needn’t try to get back into the school- though I know some of you will. And you will fail.
If you are to have any hope in making tonight a comfortable one, you may want to begin searching now, before nightfall, for the things you will need. (And for those of you too stupid to realise with what I am implying, there are numerous supplies such as tents, sleeping bags, food and water placed carefully for you, throughout the grounds.)
Enjoy your evening.
Ps. I find working together helps situations such as these, but don’t let me tell you what to do. You kids have fun. “
Kanghyun looked up having read the letter, in equal despair and confusion as everyone around him. He also noted that the Principle had even drawn crooked little hearts after he signed the letter off, and… What looked to be a winky face. Immediately there were cries of outrage as the severity of the letters content began to sink in. Despite it being the middle of the summer, the nights could be cold, and they were all wearing only their school uniforms.
There was some disbelief that he could genuinely expect them to stay outside all night with nothing but the clothes off their backs. Surely this wasn’t what their parents were paying for. Though everyone was talking hurriedly amongst themselves, with a wave of panic settling over the group, nobody did anything.
Kwon Haeyul noticed as such, that despite having instructions, absolutely nobody was doing anything towards achieving what they’d been instructed. She quickly scanned around until she found whom she was looking for.
“Do something!” She pulled on Minho’s sleeve.
“What?” He looked at her, big eyes looking even wider as he stared at her questionably.
“Someone needs to take charge, are you, or are you not, Fortis?” She questioned.
“You’re Fortis too, Haeyul.” He retorted.
“But everyone will listen to you, you’re the baseball vice-captain for pete’s sake!” She whined, resenting the implication from her so called friend that she should be the one to get everybody’s attention and call some order around here. Sure, she had been placed in Fortis and she didn’t doubt the school’s placing system but she was not one to call attention to herself. She was more of a silent leader, letting people come to her, and so on.
Regardless, Minho moved into the centre slightly and glanced down at the rocks and began clapping his hands to get everybody’s attention. Whilst some people hushed, there was still a low hum over other conversation. Feeling frustrated for him, Haeyul brought her fingers to her lips and blew, her shrill whistle bringing all conversation to pretty abrupt stop. Mouthing a “thank you” Minho began to address everyone.
“Standing here and doing nothing is not going the help us,” He began,
“Oh shut up, Choi, who put you in charge.” Minho frowned. He was pretty sure, by the smug look on Woo Jiho’s face that that comment had come from him. He grit his teeth and tried not to think about how fond he wasn’t of those in Superbia.
Jaeyeol was rolling his eyes already. Of all the people that needed to be stuck here with him, it had to be Woo Jiho. If there was one person Jaeyeol would choose to be anywhere but here, it would be him. It was bad enough they were both in the same house but it was people like Jiho, or Zico as he so pathetically liked to be called, that gave Superbia students a really bad name.
“He’s not even Captain, he only made vice, that’s just like giving a special kid a gold star that says you tried.” Jiho continued, clearly making himself laugh more than anyone else. Jaeyeol could barely take it anymore and before he could even process his actions he was mumbling not so quietly in response. “That’s more than you achieved.”
“I don’t understand idiot, speak like a Seoul citizen.” Jiho was quick to fire back, always finding it fun to pick at Jaeyeol’s thick Jeolla-do dialect and watching him squirm. Jaeyeol felt himself getting angry far too quickly and made sure to push his shoulder extra hard into Jiho’s as he stormed past to move as far away from him as possible.
“Anyway,” Minho continued once the tensions had died down a little, “I think it’s clear we need to split up and start looking for our supplies. We need to get the tents up before night fall or we’ll have no hope seeing what we’re doing.” To his relief, most people seemed to calm down and agree with him, “If we all take part we can find the pieces we need in no time.” Trying to remain positive, he glanced at Haeyul who gave him a smile and a big thumbs up.
“I’m pretty sure the rocks are for a fire, you know.” A quiet voice cut Minho off before he could continue. Everyone turned to look at the small red haired girl who looked as if she wished she could take back what she said. Jo Hyera was a “be seen, not heard” kind of girl, that’s the way she liked it. But watching everyone completely ignoring the rocks which were clearly there for a reason was driving her insane. “The rocks,” She glanced at them again, “Are there for a reason.” She stated. “We’ll need a fire before nightfall.” She said it as if she was surprised nobody else had said it first. Minho glanced down at the rocks at his feet and something caught his eye.
“Oh,” He blinked a few times, “She’s right,” He picked up a small, metal fire starter they’d all completely missed amongst the stones.
“Well done.” Minhyuk patted Hyera gingerly on the shoulder, flashing her a genuine smile. Hyera wanted to shrivel into a ball but forced an attempted smile back all the same. His company was nice, there was no doubting that, but, Hyera didn’t now to deal with nice.
“This is stupid.” Jaebum spoke up all of a sudden. “Why should we waste our time building stupid little tents and little fires all because that idiot says we should? I’m out.” He kicked a stone that had been near him and began walking across the field away from the others. Once he realised nobody was following him he turned round, with such a thunderous expression and bore his eyes into one person. “Well?” He barked. Inna flinched, ignoring the looks everyone was giving her as she began walking towards him quickly, already feeling an apology on her lips.
“Inna,” Jooyeon called after her, feeling angry and concerned but she felt Sunggyu’s hand on her wrist.
“Leave her.” He muttered. It pained them both to see their friend at the beck and call of Jay, but they knew they couldn’t do anything about it, at least not right now. Jiyong was close behind Inna’s heel, and as Jay turned back around to continue walking a good few feet ahead of his girlfriend and best friend. As he fell into Inna’s stride, Jiyong touched her arm, almost as if it were a mistake, ever so slightly, and flashed her a half smile that only Inna could find comfort in.
“Fine then!” Jooyeon yelled, albeit half-heartedly, as the three of them took off. “I’ll find a stupid tent by myself.” She mumbled, feeling her emotions get the better of her. She, too, kicked a rock out of frustration and then yelped, recoiling in pain as she realised that she had just kicked a rock and that was in fact, not an intelligent move on her part.
“Calm down.” Sunggyu nagged by her side, feeling too stressed himself to deal with his friend’s touchiness. It was tiring enough in the best of times.
“You calm down.” She snapped back, but with no venom in her voice at all, she didn’t even have the energy to bicker with him. Jooyeon ran a hand through her hair and sighed, glancing around noticing that everyone was beginning to disperse in small groups to begin their search for their supplies and realising that she and Sunggyu should do the same.
It was late afternoon, and tensions were already high, and the race against time to find what they needed before night fell was well under way. It was only day one of what Seungwon had planned for them, and to say everyone had gotten off to a shaky start would be a grave understatement.
word count 3567 - to be continued
「 Author's Note 」
[CHOONGJAE] OKAY! After a long wait (for which we are both very sorry for) here is Chapter 1, the story has officially started! This was going to be one long chapter but this is already over 3500+ words so I had to cut the chapter in half! I'm sorry if some characters get more than others, it will of course vary from chapter to chapter but will all work out eventually. Thank you to EVERYONE who applied, we're sorry we couldn't accept you all and we hope you will all continue to love and support the story!
[-KINGG] OMG IT'S FINALLY OUT. I THOUGHT THIS DAY WOULD NEVER COME. No but seriously, thank you all for sticking with us two idiots for such a long span. It really means a lot okay, sob. Also, i never finished my app LMAO. Maybe i'll just post what I have so ya'll can get a better look at my character. LIKE ANY OF YOU CARE AMIRITE LMAO. Okay so here is the first chapter, I hope you all like it! Leave a comment and let us know what you think.
CHAPTEr written by choongjae | theme coded by lynnryan at nefelibata themes © all rights reserved
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MH 「 REMORA 」- chapter one has been posted! the story has officially begun, let us know what you think!
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