There was peace and quiet in the empty hallways of the school. The students were all in their classes and there were hardly any sounds heard outside the classrooms. This silence and seclusion made Jimin relieved as he finally had the chance to be alone and safe from being caught.

He started walking along the hallway of the second floor as noiselessly as he could. He had not decided where he exactly wanted to go, but as long as he was not seen, he barely cared.

He continued his currently endless way. His steps were slow and wide, and at the same time he was glancing at everything around him with insecurity. Looking at the whole place, he understood that what he was attempting to do was extremely dangerous. He knew that if he was seen, he would not be able to get away with it so easily.

Nonetheless, he was left with no choice. Someday, he would return there as a student anyway. What he was truly indecisive about, however, was when that day would come, and if it would be anytime soon.

At a point, he stopped to have a look at the place. The first thing he saw was a long row of classroom doors surrounding him everywhere, out of which one was apparently his.

For a moment, the sight of his class, where he had not turned up for what seemed like ages, triggered Jimin’s curiosity about the happenings within the school. What was the atmosphere of the lessons like now that he was still missing? Was the students’ attitude the same as before?

Jimin tried to have a look from the door window, but from the distance he was standing at, he could hardly see a thing. At that moment, he wondered if he should procceed to the classroom, but eventually, he got over his interest fast and decided to ignore everything and carry on walking.

With a second look around the place, the first thing that interested him was a set of stairs next to the classroom doors. It lead to the third floor – to the principal’s office and the teachers’ offices.

With his eyes glued on the stairway, Jimin carefully made his way to the other side of the corridor. All of a sudden, he felt a new sense of curiosity about what the teachers and the principal were all doing. He had to prepare himself for the great moment of his final return by simply catching a glimpse of everything about his school.

Putting on his hood so he would not be recognized, he toed out and went up the stairs with swift steps. He had to arrive at the third floor quickly in order to avoid being caught within the staircase.

However, he felt extremely bothered to realize how long the stairway was. In fact, it would take him longer than he thought to reach the third floor, and the large amount of teachers and students ascending and descending – the school building was far more enormous than it seemed on the outside – only made matters worse.

Being hasty once again, he continued going up the stairs speedily but carefully at the same time for he had better avoid any possible accidents. Although he was fully aware of how wrong his actions were, he had no other choice; he was not ready to show up in front of anybody just yet as it would only lead to needless confrontations.

After minutes that seemed endless, Jimin finally found his way out of the staircase. At first, he was thrilled as if he had just won a race, but a second later, he continued his way.

His target was now another door he could make out, which was no other than the door of the principal’s office.

Slowly and soundlessly, he walked towards the principal’s office. This time, he had ensured he was making no noise at all, as he wanted to hear every little thing said, even from the distance.

For a moment after he had reached the door, he pressed his ear against its surface to eavesdrop, but he eventually backed out. Instead, he stood still right outside the office, still trying to work out what was happening inside.

The first noise that was made was the creak of the principal’s chair. Then, his voice was heard, indicating the start of a conversation.

“Teacher Han, you have claimed to have problems with your relationships with our students. Are you sure you wish to request your withdrawal?”

Jimin nodded to himself, confirming it was another plain meeting between the principal and a teacher. However, he did need a minute to realize that something was odd.

Teacher Han?

The name sounded unfamiliar to Jimin. He clearly remembered all of the teachers’ full names, but could not remember anyone by the surname of Han. Was she a new teacher? Had she been appointed to the school after the news of his disappearance?

The young miss explained, “Well, I honestly believe this was not the right time for me to come here as a student teacher. The students seem to have been strongly affected by the issue regarding Park Jimin. I myself have never met him in person, but I still understand how everyone feels.”

Hearing all these words, Jimin backed away in shock. He could not believe his absence had caused such a mess to the school and its students. He never expected it to affect his fellow students so much it resulted in a complete change in their behaviour. He had always thought of the situation very differently; he never thought the students’ concern would go this far.

The next thing he heard was another chair being pulled backwards before the conversation continued.

“You carry no responsibility for what has happened to Park Jimin. The whole issue mainly concerns his family. Our students’ image has changed indeed, but you haven’t done anything to cause that by yourself.”

Jimin burst out laughing at the irony. He was barely standing a few steps away from the principal, who had not perceived a thing. He even felt like shouting, “Hello?! I’m right here!”

By then, he had completely made sure that lots of new things had occured while he was not there. Of everything he had witnessed and heard, nothing made sense to him. First, the girl from he class whom he surprisingly came across everywhere; then, that junior of his who had no idea about him though they were in the same school; and lastly, the new teacher in his school. The overall situation was starting to confuse him.

The silence was suddenly broken by loud footsteps and voices. Just when his thoughts were interrupted, Jimin bent forwards discreetly to look at what was going on. He then saw a couple of students running after one another, with the male shouting so loudly he was nearly being heard in the entire storey.

Panicked, Jimin ran away from the point where he was standing. With a quick and careless look, the first hiding place he could spot was the walls leading to another hallway. He did not want the first people to find him to be a lovely couple at the unfortunate moment of a quarrel.

Once more, he bent forwards to eye the two students, and as soon as he made out their features, he was shocked. They were the most adored couple in his class, two students who loved each other more than anyone else although they were polar opposites.

It was no other than Choi Hyejin and Kim Taehyung.

What puzzled him the most, however, was what he was watching right then. Why were the two fighting? What was it that made Hyejin so mad at Taehyung that he was going after her, begging her to stop? Stepping back, he tried to eavesdrop on their interesting conversation.

“Hyejin, stop!”

For minutes, these words of Taehyung’s were the only thing heard, yet they were making enough noise to stir up the whole school. Hyejin’s steps were ear-splitting; not to mention her desperate screams asking Taehyung to leave her alone.

Already bored, Jimin bowed his head to continue watching the sight. This time, Taehyung grabbed Hyejin’s shoulder, making her finally stop. She turned around and glared at Taehyung, indirectly demanding a response.

Taehyung’s next words were, “Why are you blaming me for this?”

“And what do you want me to do? To accept the fact that you’re accusing your own girlfriend of being a bully?”

Jimin’s face twisted in confusion hearing the female’s words. Hyejin was a popular girl with a tiny selfish side, but other than that, she was quite a friendly and nice girl who was not expected to commit such an awful thing as bullying. He also knew that although Taehyung was the most stupid guy in the class, being well-liked only because of his girlfriend, he was not entirely stupid, and he would never blame accuse anyone of doing something for no reason at all.

“Look, Hyejin…” Taehyung’s voice was now soft in an apparent attempt to calm Hyejin down too. He continued, “I can’t just play stupid. I saw you pulling her hair.”

Jimin instantly inhaled in surprise. Why would Hyejin pull any girl’s hair? More importantly, who was the mysterious girl the couple were arguing over?

Utterly interested, he hushed himself to listen to Hyejin’s reply, though she would be heard clearly anyway for she was still screaming.

“You don’t have to play stupid, Taehyung, because in simple words, you are stupid. I wasn’t pulling anyone’s hair; you are the one who likes putting the blame on me.”

“Look, I see your point. She’s so obsessed with him it’s getting annoying! But that doesn’t mean you have the right to treat her like that!”

Jimin was frustrated at how confusing everything was becoming. He had absolutely no clue as to whom those two were talking about, and now a new guy had joined the game. Who on Earth is “she”? And who is that girl referring to as “him”?

Hyejin did not speak, and Taehyung was therefore the one to continue instead. “Hyejin… Please admit that you did it. Our relationship can’t be based on lies, you know.”

Hyejin gritted her teeth, ready to go away. “Our relationship is over, Kim Taehyung. I don’t deserve a guy who doesn’t trust me.”

Jimin panicked again when he saw Hyejin walk away, totally unaffected by Taehyung’s loud calls. She was making her way towards the place where he was hiding, which meant that he had to leave straight away.

Unfortunately, his only choice was to follow the other way. He ran along the unknown corridor, which was full of other classroom doors. To his surprise, however, one of those classrooms were unlocked, open, and completely empty inside.

He immediately sprinted into the classroom. Before the crying Hyejin could pass by and see him, he ran towards the lockers at the back of the class, opened one of the lower ones, and quickly hid inside without closing the locker door.

Nervously, he secretly watched every move of hers. As soon as she was out of sight, he breathed a sigh of relief. He was extremely lucky not to have been seen.

However, that barely lasted until he could hear a new set of footsteps just as he was about to get out of the tiny locker and rush out of the classroom. Annoyed, he held the crevice of the locker tight, hoping the person would leave as soon as possible.

But instead, his relief was replaced with a new sense of panic. The next thing he could hear was the sound of a nearby chair being pulled. This meant that apparently, it was a student who actually wanted to sit in the classroom.

With a peek through the narrow opening of the locker door, he saw a guy with light brown hair sitting on a chair and studying, with his feet on the chair next to his. Looking at the sight, he could see that the boy had already immersed himself in studying.

Great! How am I going to get out of here now?

Jimin was tired of the fear of being given away. The day before, he had run away from Jungkook without telling him his name. He could not ensure that Jungkook was reliable enough for him to reveal his identity. On the other hand, it was not certain that this was the case for the other boy, too. Perhaps that boy remembered his facial features clearly enough to know he was the missing student.

The boy was no other than Min Yoongi, the senior guy who dedicated almost all his time to studying. He thought of his empty class as the perfect room for him to study for his quarterly test thanks to its tranquility. Besides, he had plenty of time there before all the classrooms had to be locked – for it was nearly the end of the day.

However, his hopes for a chance to concentrate on his studying peacefully faded before long.

“So you’re studying again?”

Yoongi looked up to see a tall brunet guy with a permanent glare. Irritated, he sighed and fixed his lazy position by sitting up straight on his chair.

“Kim Seokjin,” he responded with a question, “don’t you have more important things to do than disturbing my privacy?”

Being the one who hated Yoongi the most of all the students in his class, Seokjin’s everyday duty was to irritate him.

“No,” he shook his head, “I can’t, because I’m sick of your stupid face.”

Yoongi shrugged, not offended by Seokjin’s comments, and turned back to his textbook. “Fine! It’s your problem if you are.”

A third voice then joined their boring conversation: “Hey Jin, I won’t be waiting here for too long, or will I?”

It was no other than Hoseok’s voice. He hated Yoongi almost as much as Seokjin, but he was too bored to join the pair and throw rude comments at Yoongi too. Instead, all he could do was wait for Seokjin outside.

“Farewell,” Seokjin told Yoongi with a smirk, having Yoongi titter at him.

“Yeah, whatever.”

Surprisingly, the two boys had not even realized that Jimin was still hiding in a locker. Jimin was extremely impatient for both of them to leave straight away. He wished he could yell at them, “Hey, will you just stop talking nonsense and get out of here?!”

At that moment, he felt relieved for he could slightly hear the voice of a teacher calling Seokjin and Yoongi. With another peek from the slight opening, he saw Seokjin walking to the door and Yoongi finally getting up from that chair.

Jimin felt at ease with the thought that he would not have to hide from anyone else. As soon as he made sure the field had emptied, he got out of the locker, closed the locker door, and rushed to the door of the classroom to leave. However, when he turned the doorknob to open the door, he was so shocked his heartbeat quickened when he came across a major obstacle.

The door was locked.