“Hyung, that kid… There’s something I don’t like about him,” Dongwoon whined to Kikwang as they walked home. “And he didn’t give us his name! Something’s up, hyung.”

“Or you’re just thinking too much, Dongwoon.” Kikwang discreetly hit the maknae on the arm.

“Ouch, hyung, don’t forget that you have muscles!”

Kikwang laughed and apologized. Sometimes Dongwoon could be such a child. “I don’t know why you’d think that way, Woonie, but I’m sure the kid is treating Haneul well. We can ask her about it when she gets home.”

“Not in front of Doojoon though, he’d freak out.”

Kikwang laughed again. He couldn’t help but agree.

***

Daehyun led Haneul all the way to her classroom, holding her hand. Everywhere around them, as they walked, looks and whispers were exchanged and it was not unlike her walk to school with Kikwang and Dongwoon. Haneul was on the edge of tears. She disliked the attention; half the school and all the Beast fangirls had been giving her terribly mean looks that morning. Especially the Beast fangirls in the school.

“What did she do to deserve all this?”

“She’s just a nobody!”

“How did she get involved with the Elite?”

“Why is Wolf King holding her hand?”

Theories and conspiracies formed. Haneul wondered if this was what Daehyun felt like every day. Story after story, lies shrouding the truth, lies invented to make every girl in the school hate her, like the lies invented to make the school fear him.

***

The best friends Jinhwa and Hyunwoo listened as the rumours spread like wildfire. Yongsoo had better heard about this.