07; Youth struggles

45 minutes earlier…

Chemistry. Why oh why was he even enrolled for such a subject, Jimin would never understand. Because it was one he failed at dismally all throughout his own years of high school, and just looking at the complex symbols on the white board made his insides cringe with dread. How he’d put up with it a second time, he had no idea.

Not like I need to anyway, he thought, entering the classroom with careful steps. Because we’ll solve this case in no time and then I’m so out of here.

‘Van Choi, is it?’

Jimin nodded humbly at the teacher; his eyes however remaining on the class who all seemingly paid more attention to their phones than what was going on in front.

‘Take a seat wherever you like.’

‘Yes, sir,’ he acknowledged; a smile creeping on his face that made his cheeks look fuller.

‘Alright, everyone. Please use this time to complete the…’

Jimin observed his surroundings as he made his way to an empty desk at the back of the class. It was sandwiched somewhere in the middle towards the wall, and taking in the faces of his classmates – majority of them blatantly uninterested – he swung his bag on the desk, plunking himself into the chair behind it. It was shocking how the teacher proceeded with the lesson but the contents of the classroom had their attention anywhere but him.

The hell is up with the youth today? He thought with mild shock. Recalling his mission however, Jimin glanced to his right where a group of girls stared back at him strangely. He smiled awkwardly before feeling overwhelmed by their looks he couldn’t quite place and looked to his left. It was a boy with light hair who had his eyes directed into his textbook; some sort of fierce concentration radiating off him… and almost immediately, the officer realized it was the rude kid from earlier he encountered in the hallway. He huffed inwardly, however quickly overlooked the irritation he felt, smiling brightly instead. He needed to look as approachable as possible for the sake of the mission.

‘Good morning,’ he chimed softly; a hand in the air, waving slightly. ‘Par—I mean—Van Choi, Jimin. I’m a new student. It’s nice to meet you…?’

The unease he allowed for at the end of his introduction was meant for the boy to complete. However, noting the kid’s failure to respond whatsoever to his polite advance, Jimin felt a vein in his forehead throb irritably. Perhaps he could have overlooked his earlier stunt at clearly ignoring him, but the fact that he was doing the very same thing a second time – even more blatantly than the last – the officer couldn’t help but feel his waving hand curl into a strained fist. Well, there were definitely other students he was certain he could get information from, and reassuring himself with this fact, he sighed in relief.

‘Mister Kim,’ the teacher called suddenly, making Jimin jump in his seat at the sound of his voice. ‘Care to do the following examples on board for the class?’

The kid on his left rose to his surprise and approached the board with his textbook in one hand, and the other straightening his blazer. His eyes were downcast the entire way to the board and Jimin huffed behind his back. At least he got the guy’s last name, somehow. Not that it mattered, considering he didn’t look helpful in the least.

‘Ooh, isn’t Jihye dating Baekhyun? I can’t believe she’s checking out other guys, ugh!’

Whoever issued the comment sounded incredibly disgusted. The topic however was something Jimin found no interest in. He imagined it was just regular teenage gossip... yet the next thing he heard was unexpectedly startling.

‘Disgusting, right?’

‘She should just disappear next. At least we’ll have the prince to ourselves. Gucci—like—I cannot believe we have to go to her stupid slumber party thing—like—who does that anymore?’

‘I know right? I totally have a nose job that day and—like—I heard it’s going to be really sore.’

The conversation; he was certain; was from the small group of girls who earlier stared at him as if he’d just arrived from Mars. And the word disappear was all it took to have Jimin eavesdropping attentively; his eyes fixed to the white board to avoid looking too obvious.

‘Anyway, what was that about her disappearing? That’s so—like—stupid, you know? I mean, they were obviously…’

‘Part of the seven wonders of the school, duh. Vanishing in the bathrooms…,’ the girl’s voice lowered an octave, allowing for Jimin’s ears to strain as he struggled to hear the rest.

‘It’s the ghost.’

Kyungja’s face remained the perfect composition of calm and critical. The last three words out of the man’s mouth were meant to be frightening… however, all the fullmetal RoboCop was capable of doing in response was finishing the last of her bizarre salad combination and patting at her lips coolly with one hand when she was finished.

Jimin frowned expectantly. ‘So? Any thoughts…?’

‘I suppose it’s interesting,’ she commented. ‘However it’s baseless. Completely. Rendering this information useless.’

Jimin groaned at her response, but somehow he expected nothing less of the woman. ‘Better than nothing though, right…?’

When she didn’t so as