1.  

“Min, wake up! Time for school!”

“Just let me sleep…a…bit…more!”

“Wake up! It’s 6.30!”

“Damn it!”

Min exclaims and jumps out of her bed with speed of light, freaking out the landlord named Soyeon. Quickly doing her routine and changing into the new uniform, Min sits down at the table for breakfast while Soyeon slightly shakes her head:

“You can’t be this messy right on your first schoolday!”

“I” Min replies with a mouthful of kimchi – “Stayed up late for studying!”

“Today is just the first day, mistress!”

“But anyway, I gotta be prepared, shouldn’t I? My Korean is not good and I’d be doomed if being unprepared!”

“Okay. Do you remember how to get there?”

Soyeon diverts the talk. Min had just moved into her house for a few days but Soyeon has to tolerate with this new tenant’s blunt words.

“Already, sweetie.” Min hurriedly pulls back the chair and puts her bag on the shoulders. – “I’m leaving.”

“Yup, see ya! Good luck!”

Min rides her new bicycle out of the house. Today is the first day of her senior year but Min cannot study at her homeland with her close friends who have been with her for the last two years of high school. At this moment, they should also be gathering at the class in their new uniforms but she isn’t sure if they still remember her.

Last summer is a big change for Min. Nope, it should be counted since the last New Year. On the first day of New Year vacation, Min’s dad got a good news that he was promoted to be the director at the newly-opened branch of ShinhaCorp – one of the biggest corporate in Korea. It meant that Min’s family had to move to Korea for dad’s convenience to work as Min’s mom is his subordinate and Min’s brother had not been to school yet. However, regarding Min’s case, mom and dad were absolutely worried. Mom wanted Min to stay in her homeland to finish high school as Min was used to the education method and senior year was crucial which should not been messed up. In contrast, dad wanted Min to move to Korea with the whole family as one side, it would be easier to manage a teenager and on the other side, he wanted Min to experience a more advanced education background. Honestly, at first, since Min didn’t understand why dad underestimated her current school, she was opposed to his idea. And moreover, the branch he was going to direct was based at a small city, if he wanted Min to “experience a more advanced education background”, it should be Seoul which would create more difficulty in management.

Nevertheless, dad succeeded in convincing mom to follow him, letting Min study at a prestigious school in Seoul. When parents were on the same side, Min couldn’t do anything; therefore, she had to hold back her anger to study Korean during summer vacation. Min didn’t want them to be disappointed anyway.

And until Min took flight to Seoul and moved to the house owned by Soyeon did Min know the reason why mom agreed with dad. Simply because Soyeon was the niece of dad’s boss and that boss, in his occasional visits to Min’s family, seemed to be impressed by Min and wanted to introduce Min to his son – a senior guy at the school Min would go to. That was why when dad talked with him about moving Min to Seoul, he, without any hesitation, told dad to let Min stay at Soyeon’s house. And that was it.

Min has to tell such a long story to clarify why she becomes such an alien on the first school day like this.

HwaYang High School.

‘What? Ain’t it funny looking at me? Am I that weird?”

Min murmurs in her mothertongue seeing the schoolgirls at HwaYang – regardless of grades – looks at her with sarcasm. Oh how Min just want to curse, is it necessary to welcome the newcomer like that? Anyway, Min tries to hold back and rides to the parking lot. Right then, a voice rises next to her:

“Wrong uniform. Minus 5 points. Which class, please?”

Min raises her head up. A short hair girl is looking at Min, specifically, the white shirt which is outside the skirt on Min’s uniform. Min takes a glance at the girl’s name tag.

“Gong Minzy – 2B”. Although that girl is clearly one year younger than Min, she looks bold with the red band on her left arm.  “Oh there is even manner supervising in this school? Cool!” Min smiles inside.

Haven’t heard any reply from Min, Minzy repeats her question:

“What’s your name? Which class are you in?”

Min replied:

“Min Nguyen. Class unknown.”

“Nu-uyen…repeat please?”

Minzy asks back, gluing her eyes on the notebook on her hand. Seems like she is having trouble with pronouncing Min’s family name. Min laughs and takes the pencil from Minzy to write on the “-5” section of the notebook neatly.

‘Here it is. Min Nguyen. Ok? I’m the newcomer. Now, please show me to way to teacher’s room.”

Minzy exclaims and she smiles:

‘Oh you are the new student? If so…’

She turns the pencil upside down to erase Min’s name on the notebook.

‘I’m gonna forgive you this time. Follow me.’

Then, Minzy turns back to walk away, making Min hurriedly follow her. Man, even though Minzy is in her second year of high school, she’s already about 20cm taller than Min!

At teacher’s room.

‘What’s your name again?’

The teacher who is in charge of students’ information with the name tag ‘Park Shin Yang’ asks while checking the drawer full of folders. Min sighs, ‘How can people find it hard to say my name?’ and slowly repeats:

‘Sir, my name is Min. Min Nguyen.’

‘Ah, Min. Here it is.’

Teacher Park takes out a folder with Min’s name on it and places it on the table. He opens the folder and reads some information inside. A few seconds later, he looks up and says:

‘You’re in class 3C. Room 4-1.’

Turning to Minzy who is drinking water nearby, he raises his voice:

‘Gong Minzy student, if you don’t have class today, this student to her class.’

‘Yes sir.’

Minzy answers loudly and takes Min’s hand, telling Min to leave. Min hurriedly bows at the teacher and leaves the room.

‘ Oh you’re in class 3C? Cool!’

Minzy smiles and tells Min while the two are walking along the corridor to go to fourth floor. Min looks at the Manner Supervisor with curiosity:

‘Why cool? Is there something special about this class?’

‘ There are two hotboys in this class.’ – Minzy answers dreamily. – One is Son Dongwoon, the son of ShinCorp’s president. The other is Kim Myungsoo, the star of our school 100m-running team. And even though is class is C but they are more famous than class A. If you’re in this class, you gotta be something!’

‘I’m not!’

Min snorts. She is just acting humble as honestly speaking, Min’s record is more than excellent. Everything is B+ onwards but mostly A, except for a B in Literature. Min also wins lots of prizes during her schoolday. There is no way that Min cannot get it into the best class in this school, huh?

Yet, among the two names Minzy mentions… “The son of ShinhaCorp’s president?’. Isn’t it where Min’s dad is working for? So, his name is Dongwoon? Wow, Min did thought that she might need the president’s help to meet him, just couldn’t expect that he was in her class. Min asks Minzy.

‘ Is there anything else?’

Perhaps as a Manner Supervisor, Minzy knows a lot. She lowers her voice:

‘Do you watch American teenager series? That class resembles a lot.’

‘What do you mean by that?’

‘Ah you see, they have hot boys, they study excellently, there is also a weird club worshipping science subjects and inventing freaky things, there are also some es and you gotta be careful with Jiyeon the most.’

‘Why? She’s the best student?’

‘Nope’ Minzy talks carefully. ‘ She’s kinda…how to say… the class’s queen, the cosmos’ center. Something like that!’

‘Oh it’s not a problem.’ – Min shrugs. – ‘I know how to deal with that.’

As soon as Min finishes her words, they both stops in front of room 4-1. Minzy with her brightest smile so far, says:

‘We arrived. Good luck unnie.’

‘Yup’ – Min waves goodbye to Minzy. – ‘Thanks for forgiving me this morning. Will you have lunch at canteen?’

‘Yup. See ya there.’

Minzy quickly runs down the stair, leaving Min standing there. Taking a deep breath, Min slowly exhales to gain motivation. In Min’s mind, she thought that the first was going to be difficult but so far, things have turned out rather positive with Minzy’s help. Hopefully, it is going to be fine in the upcoming five periods.

Min stands in front of the window and takes a glance around the room. It  pops out from nowhere in Min’s mind the comparison with her old class. There would not be groups or individuals sitting separately like what she is witnessing. And there would not be such a scary silence in her old class. She suddenly misses them like crazy.

But how much she is missing them, she has to walk in to class. Min spots the only empty desk at the end of the room and silently walks towards it. Hiding behind a guy scribbing something on his notebook, Min takes out the Math textbook from her bag hearing the classmate talking.

‘I heard that we had newcomer this year. Why hasn’t he come?’

Min snorts. ‘That newcomer is sitting here.’ And continues with the math lesson.

‘Class, stand up!’

‘Good morning teacher!’

Min stands up and follows the students to greet the Math teacher.

‘Good morning students.’

The teacher signs the class to sit down. But Min suddenly remembers that she has something to ask for permission from the teacher before starting the class officially.

‘Sir’ Min still stands there while the rest of the class already sit down.

‘What’s up?’ The teacher looks up.

Min slowly repeats what she has prepared at home.

‘I am the new student from overseas. I can’t listen to Korean quite well so I’m asking for your permissions to use recorder in class.’

All eyes are on Min. The newcomer has appeared but she has been to silent to catch people’s attention. Only when she speaks up her wish do the whole class realizes that Min is the newcomer.

‘No problem. But you should not use in exam.’ – the teacher replies with a smile.

'Pardons?'

Min frowns and asks back. Min has not been able to understand everything. Right then, the person sitting in front of her speaks loudly enough for her to hear:

‘You must not use recorder in exams.’

‘Ah ah… I got it sir. Thank you.’

Min feels a bit relaxed then. She smiles and turns on the recorder after gently knocking on the person-in-front’s shoulder:

‘Hey, thanks!’

He slightly turns back to face Min with a smile:

‘You’re welcomed.’

It seems like the first day at school is not hard as Min prepared the lesson before hand and with the intelligence of an all-A student for the last two year, Min has no difficulty impressing the whole class by solving a complicated logarithm problem. And with such a performance, Min is also able to identify who is Son Dongwoon when a small piece of paper is delivered to her with some words inside.

‘Hey newcomer, you’re Min, huh? My dad did tell me about you. I’m Son Dongwoon!’

The text comes from Son Dongwoon, son of ShinhaCorp’s president. But sitting at the last desk, Min can not see where he is in the classroom. Therefore, she has to ask the person-in-front again:

‘Hey! May I know where is Son Dongwoon?’

The person-in-front replies shortly:

‘Third desk, left row’

Min follows his guide and finds Dongwoon focusing on the teacher as if nothing happens – she means, sending Min that piece of paper a few minutes before.

A super attractive guy – Min has to admit. High nose, white skin, brown hair and deep eyes, looks like an Arabic prince. So now, Min understands why Minzy looked that dreamy when mentioning him. That’s a hot boy. Well, that’s Son Dongwoon. There’s Kim Myungsoo to find.

Unfortunately, as soon as Min navigates the location of Dongwoo, the bell rings. She has to wait til tomorrow to find Kim Myungsoo. Yet once again, Min has to thank the person-in-front who has helped Min a lot during the classes before going to the canteen to meet Minzy.

Min slaps his shoulder and says:

‘Hey, thanks a lot for today. I’m Min, what’s your name by the way?’

He turns to Min and smiles:

‘I’m Myungsoo. Kim Myungsoo.’

Myungsoo? Myungsoo? Is he the Myungsoo that Minzy mentioned? Compared to Son Dongwoon, he looks cool. The definition of “cool” is simple to Min. He’s just rather impressive with that messy hair and cold expression. He must be a fan of rock or relevant stuff to own such a style. Min tries to think of something else to say but she is stuck:

‘Ah Myungsoo. Nice to meet you.’

•  

Then Myungsoo leaves.

But a few minutes later, Min realizes that she was wrong back then. A huge mistake. Regarding that rock-fan thing. She is walking past the music room and catches sight of that back which she has familiarized after the whole morning. Myungsoo is sitting there, playing an acoustic guitar. Those mellow yet complex notes, Min’s sure, is not the usual style of a rocker. Min knows it, as she used to be a rock-fan before dad threw away her collection of rock CDs. But according to Minzy, Myungsoo is in the running team and that tune she has heard cannot be played by an amateur guitarist due to its complexity. So, he’s a double-kill?

HwaYang High – Canteen

‘Hey!’

Min put her tray of food on the table and takes a seat in front of Minzy.

‘Hi unnie, was the first day alright?’

‘Yup, more than fine. Ms. Ye Eun also lent me some books for reference!’

‘Uhm’ Minzy swallows her rice. ‘She is always nice to students. But have you seen those two guys?’

‘I saw Son Dongwoon. He’s kinda ok. But Myungsoo… How many Myungsoo in that class? I guess he can’t be an abnormal double-kill with running and playing guitar?’

‘Huh?’ – Minzy rolls her eyes – ‘Which one did you meet?’

‘So, there is more than one Myungsoo?’ – Min also rolls her eyes, having no idea what is going on. – ‘I don’t know. I saw him playing guitar at music room.’

‘Ah.’ – Minzy replies. –‘There are two Myungsoos in our school. They are twins but are one grade apart. One Myungsoo is in athletic team and the other nicknamed L is in school band. But…’

All of the sudden, Minzy acts hesitantly. It seems like she cannot be clear.

‘I have told lots of people about this but no one believes. The truth is, the Myungsoo in the band – L – died at the beginning of this year. He was lost then was found dead. After that, there were some times I went past music room and saw ghost looking like L playing guitar…’

‘With uniform…messy hair…generally looks like Kim Myungsoo at 3C, right?’ – Min feels chills running up and down her spine.

‘I was too scared to look at him but somehow like that, unnie! But no one believes me because they see nothing. But I saw it. And now you saw it!’

‘But wait’ – Min interrupts Minzy. – ‘Let me clarify. So, there are two Myungsoos, one dead and one alive. And I might have met both of them today?’

‘Must be so.  The athletic Myungsoo never goes to music room. They are opposite with each other.’

‘Oh really?’ – Min pouts. – ‘Sound insane.’

Minzy’s face looks sunk. She seems to be disappointed.

‘You don’t believe me?’

‘Nope.’ – Min denies. – ‘It’s just…today is my first day and if things are really like that, it’s absolutely unbelievable but if I see it on my first day, I can also see it again the other day. Then, I will believe in you!’

‘Yup.’ – Minzy smiles back. –‘So you should save my phone number. We can keep updated!’

Min and Minzy exchanges their phone number when a tall person comes to sit down at their desk.

‘Hey, may I sit here?’

‘Gosh’ – Minzy exclaims. – ‘Dongwoon sunbae?’

‘Yup, Manner Supervisor.’

Dongwoo smiles to greet Minzy, making the second year girl nearly in shock. Min looks at Dongwoon and all she can pull is: 'Hi!'