Chapter 2

A great idea popped into Lay’s mind. Maybe, if they could get revenge from these ‘Nightwolves’ or the three badass boys in the campus who are Kris, Suho, and Tao, by using Minseok as their bait. “I see what you mean there, Lay. Yet I think it is too much if we use this new kid in school and knowing that these guys are nothing but insane a—holes.” Baekhyun says as he clenches his fists.

“We can at least get more information.” Lay commented as he rests his chin on his knuckles.

“I do get information like about Tao.” Chen says in a loud voice and Chanyeol recklessly covers Chen’s mouth with his huge hand.

“Yes, we know.” Chanyeol moves his face closer to Chen speaking in a low volume. “But it is not enough. We need to get revenge for what they have done when we were in junior high school.”

“You mean you?” Baekhyun rolls his eyes. Chanyeol looks at him furiously.

The ‘Nightwolves’, they are the most popular boys in town and to the exclusive girls school next to them. They are nothing but trouble. Kris is the leader of the group. He is tall handsome, Chinese decent – his parents are both from China and they have connections with the Chinese government. Rumor has it that Kris’ dad is the master of the ‘great firewall in China’. He also made deals with the Chinese media to star him as one of the main child star in a big movie production in the country when he was in elementary.  Apparently, people say that he was sent to Korea to model in TV commercials. That is why he is currently studying here in Korea in his senior year.

Suho is the next boy in the group. He is a charming prince-looking young man and quite tall. He loves to play around with the ladies and he is the richest student in school. He is always up to date with his fashion from top local brands to imported brands like Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, etc. Some say that he is a relative of the owner of the school. No matter how many times he and his friends fail in class, they always get to have high grades by the end of the semester. No doubt he may have connections in the admin. Recently rumors spread that he broke up with a girl and gave her a Tiffany & Co.’s pendant just to keep her away from him and move on. He keeps a credit card in case of emergencies to add.

Lastly, Tao – he is the strongest member in the group yet the most girlish one. He is also Chinese decent like Kris, maybe that is why they have a close connection with each other, and he takes taekwondo classes every weekends. He recently just became a black belter. He has round dark panda eyes, which makes the girls fall in love with him but he does not realize that. Girls kept on giving him gifts and he really likes it. He never did reciprocate any of them and he just completely ignored these girls. This is because he is secretly dating a young teacher in the school next to them. He is constantly quiet all the time but he rants like a girl if things happen in school.

Minseok finished his food but he was not satisfied. He stands up and slowly walks towards the trash can and throws his leftovers. He thinks that what if he would always be the dead kid in school. He slowly stands up from the floor with his head looking down. He then walks away from that area and passes by Chanyeol and his friends’ table.

Baekhyun caught him and calls at him, “Hey monolid boy!” Minseok stops for a moment.

“It’s Minseok, you idiot.” Chanyeol whispered and reprimands Baekhyun.

“I mean, Minseok!” he calls out once again.

Minseok turns around and points his finger on his chest, “Are you calling me?”

“Of course, you are Minseok, right?” Chanyeol replied sarcastically.

Minseok walks towards their table having a skeptic look, “What’s up?”

“So you are Minseok, the monolid dude.” Lay looks at him and carefully observes his look.

Chen observes while munching his sandwich and said, “Hi. I am Kim Jongdae a.k.a. Chen. Nice to meet you, Minseok.” He extends his hand and Minseok shakes hand with him.

“Nice meeting you too.” Minseok replies with a smile.

“This is Lay by the way, and I know these other two are your classmates, Chanyeol and Baekhyun.” Chen introduces his friends one by one.

Minseok grins at the other boys and said, “You can just call me, Xiumin, if you guys want.”

“Oh, are you Chinese?” Lay asked.

“Not really. Just went to a Chinese school back in elementary and middle school. That’s what my friends used to call me back then.”

“Interesting.” Lay nods and adds, “You can join us later at six in the evening before our last class.”

“You’ll get to do things that you haven’t done before.” Chanyeol commented and looks at Baekhyun with a you-know-what-I-mean look.

“It’s just a get together after our afternoon classes. Meet us at the soccer field.” Baekhyun adds.

“You mean like this that you are guys doing right now?” Minseok wonders and points his finger at them. He sort of doubts what is it going to be like though – who knows they might do something illegal.

“Just go, you’ll like it.” Lay says with a smile.

Six o’ clock in the evening came. It is pretty dark outside the campus. The sun has already set and it is break time apparently for the students. In Korea, they go to school until eight in the evening. No wonder why, students are still out late at night in the streets of Myeongdong.

Since the students had an hour break before their last class, Minseok proceeds to the soccer field to meet his new set of friends after finishing his Biology class. He sees Chanyeol and Baekhyun on the benchwarmer, sitting next to each other and in front of them are Lay and Chen. Chen was holding a green plastic bag that looks like it has two bottles inside it and a pack of chips. He slowly puts out the soju bottles and pours each of his friends a shot.

“Hey.” Minseok greets them as soon as he approaches the group. “What is that you are drinking?”

Chen gets a paper cup and pours soju in it, “This is what you call soju, Xiumin.” He then gives it to Minseok. Minseok gets it from him and places the tip of the cup near his nose. It has a strong smell like it smelled like rubbing alcohol. “Is this some poison?” he asks and chuckles, “It smells so strong.”

“It isn’t.” Baekhyun laughed. “It’s what makes you smart for the last class. You see, we are so brain drained with all our classes in the morning and in the afternoon. This helps us concentrate more. We just take two shots and off we go back to class.”

Minseok shrugged, “I hope this is legal.”

“Of course, it is.” The four boys said in unison. “They just say it is not, when it is actually permitted especially at night.” Chanyeol adds.

Minseok then slowly drinks the content of the cup. It did not taste that good for him. It was so strong and bitter that it even burns inside his throat. “What the heck?” he spits out.

“That’s what you call vodka, kid.” Chen chuckles. “Want some more?”

Minseok declined. “That shot was already alright with me.” He suddenly felt dizzy and a bit sleepy. His eyes involuntarily slowly close in half and he opens it again within a second controlling his motion.

“We are going to have more fun after class, Xiumin. We are going to welcome you later in our group. So you better go.” Lay says as he finishes his shot of soju and taps Minseok on his shoulder.

“Geez. Thanks. But I don’t really drink.” Minseok just has to decline their offer. He is surely dead meat to his parents if he gets home late. He is also not used to partying hard like drinking and doing something illegal for the sake of getting popularity in school. He never had friends like that back in junior high school. They would often study together a week before an exam and play video games after class. That is having fun for him back then and not partying.

“Oh come on, we have to introduce you to everyone in school. And since it is the first day of class, we always have an opening party for everyone.” Chanyeol explains and munches some chips into his mouth.

Minseok is still unsure. Were his parents like this before back when they were in high school? Do they also have opening parties during the first day of classes? He doubts. He thinks that he should not go – or maybe he will just go home first and then proceed to the party later. “I’ll think about it.” he says.

“That is seventy-five percent yes to me then.” Chen takes another shot.

Soon after, the boys proceed to their respective classrooms for their last class.

It is just in time that Minseok got home. His parents were watching television – it is the evening drama for sure, his mum loves to watch these kinds of dramas. Back in Manila, they would always watch these shows in their very own national TV channel. When he was young, he really loved watching “You Are My Destiny” where Im Yoona was the female lead character. Perhaps, once in his life he wanted a girl who was like Yoona – she became his ideal woman for a moment because of that.

“How was school, son?” his dad asks while he was still focused on the TV.

“I think it was great. I thought I wouldn’t make any friends.” Minseok sighs and puts his bag on the couch. Then, he removes his school coat and necktie. “May I please go out for a while, mum, dad? Our school is having a welcoming party and I was not aware of that until one student told me that they had this.” He sits down on the couch rests his feet on the coffee table.

“What did I tell you, young man, not to put your feet on the table? Off limits.” His mum reprimands him.

“What party? I did not know that high schools have party these days. Is it going to be in your campus?” his dad asked – kind of skeptic about it.

“Well, and so do I never knew that. And I guess it is going to be in the campus” Minseok says putting up his most innocent face.

“I think you are old enough, my child, to have parties. Be home after two hours.” his mum said still focused on the TV.

“Dear, do not spoil our child.” his dad negated and looks at his mum with an ugly manner.

“Come on, it is just his first time here in Korea. He has to get to know people.”

His dad exhales loudly and said, “Okay be home in two hours or you are dead meat.”

Minseok grins and he hurries upstairs to his room to change his outfit. He is thinking what should he wear for the night? Should it be casual or something formal? He picks out from his cabinet his favourite long sleeve white shirt that says a brand name. Its fabric is quite thick and comfy for the cold weather. He also decides to put on his faded grey jeans and white rubber shoes. Now, he is off to go to the party.