A/N: youre not hallucinating there are fewer chapters but ill explain why below!!

The universe loves screwing me over.

First my parents were killed. Then I ended up killing an entire gang to get revenge on them. My best friend is a ing psychopath who hates my guts- but also tried to protect said guts. The first man I killed was my friend’s older brother.

So I guess the universe decided to cut me a break when I landed on the roof of the opposite building, miraculously unscathed.

And then when I was sprinting back to the Galmegi, I literally bumped into Zelo and Himchan, who were desperately searching for me.

Sora’s gone.

I still haven’t really processed what just happened.

I don’t go to school the next day- how could I? I shut myself up in a spare room at the Galmegi and sit with my head between my arms. Zelo and Himchan don’t come to check up on me; they must be as shaken as I am.

I killed Sora’s older brother. Her father belongs to a gang. She has disappeared.

How am I ever going to make amends for ZE:A?

And Joonmyeon.

Joonmyeon.

If I let myself fully digest everything Joonmyeon did- all the betrayal and grief and desolation I feel- I will lose myself. I will sink into a state that I will never be able to emerge from.

Get angry, Hyo.

Get angry.

I need to keep fighting. I have to find out the truth.  If ZE:A didn’t kill my parents, then who did? Something Joonmyeon said has struck a chord within me.

“To my surprise, we already had ties to each other.”

There’s something strange about that sentence which leads me to believe that there may be more to the story.

And Joonmyeon’s company is working with Sora’s father to run a monopoly over the gang world. They drove out all the old gangs just for the purpose of gaining profits.

Rage slowly begins to fill the pit of my stomach.

Gangs are comprised of people who have no other options. They’re people fighting for their lives so that they can feed themselves, take care of their families. Everything we do is illegal, yes, but it’s because we have to live.

But this billion-won company is working with a politician of our nation- someone who’s supposed to be a good guy- to exploit the gang world just for profit?

And at the head of it all is Kim Joonmyeon.

No. I can’t let this happen.

They’re ing going down.

After I obtain justice, I will allow myself to fully comprehend the destruction I have caused.

But for now-

I have other things to take care of.

That is how I will myself to go back to school the next day.

And joy, oh joy, I have Joonmyeon in my first class.

I’ll show him that he didn’t scare me. He didn’t affect me in any way.

I am walking through the hallways, my eyes scanning the area for Joonmyeon or any BTS members, when someone grabs the back of my shirt and violently yanks me into a side hallway.

“Where the is Sora?” Taehyung hisses, his forearm pressed up against my throat.

How wonderful. I get to deal with this first thing in the morning.

I ram my knee up into Taehyung’s stomach and kick him away from me. The two of us stand at a tense standoff, glaring at each other with murderous eyes.

“How the am I supposed to know?” I snap.

“This is your fault.” Taehyung looks absolutely furious as he stares daggers at me. “You shot her brother, you psycho-,”

“You lied to her for years about being in a gang! And don’t even act like you haven’t killed people- you killed one of my friends-,”

“You annihilated an entire gang for no reason, who were practically Suho’s family.” A smug smirk slides onto Taehyung’s lips. “Speaking of Suho, have you seen him yet? It must’ve been so sad to find out that he hated you this entire time.”

My fists clench by my side, but I hurriedly stifle the emotion rising up inside of me and counter, “Yeah. Almost as bad as how Sora must’ve felt when she discovered you were a deranged murderer.”

Taehyung’s smile wanes a little, but he continues to sneer down at me. “Oh, please. We all saw you two last night. It couldn’t be more obvious that you were sleeping together when Suho called us and told us to bring in Sora and her little friends.”

    “We didn’t sleep together, you piece of ,” I growl, my face flushing.

    “Really? I kind of assumed, based on the fact that he was topless and you weren’t wearing anything but his shirt.” Taehyung glances at something past my shoulder and his face brightens. “In fact, why don’t we ask him right now? He’s right there!”

    Dread fills my stomach. I steel my nerves before swiveling around.

    Joonmyeon is walking down the hall, laughing as- I narrow my eyes- gaggle of beautiful girls giggle around him. I recognize Park Yuri, Lee Danbi, and Oh Nayoung, three of Sora’s friends. He looks great- tweed coat over a polo and fitted jeans, cocky smile, no dark circles.

    “Looks like he moves on fast,” Taehyung snickers.

    He spots Taehyung and I standing in the hallway and his eyebrows quirk up just the slightest. When we make eye contact, my lip curls in disgust as he gives me a contemptful sneer.

    “Well, my work here is done. See you around, Hyo.”

    And then Taehyung pivots on his heel and leisurely strolls away.

    Okay. Maybe I’m not ready to come back to school.

I sit next to Nayoung in Art History, not even bothering to spare Joonmyeon a single glance. She stares at me with wide eyes as I throw down my bag in the seat next to her and take a seat.

“Hey,” she says carefully. “You’re, uh, Hyejung, right? Sora’s friend? You came to the LUXE with us that one time?”

“Hyolin,” I correct. “And yeah. Uh, I was wondering if you knew where Sora was?”

Nayoung bites her lip. “That’s what I was going to ask you. She hasn’t answered my texts for, like, a day.”

Crap. It was worth a shot.

“Uh, are you not going to sit next to Joonmyeon?” Nayoung curiously asks. “I mean, you can sit here. But you two always sit together.”

An involuntary tsk! leaves my lips. “I don’t like associating myself with people like him.”

“Aww, but you two are such a perfect couple. You guys have been together longer than anyone else!”

If I had water in my mouth, I would’ve spit it out everywhere.

“We’re not dating,” I say a little too loudly. Everyone in the classroom turns to stare at me- , I can feel his stupid eyes on my back, too. My face reddens and I duck my head.

“We were never together,” I whisper.

Nayoung’s eyes light up. “Wait, really? Because Yuri’s had a crush on him for, like, forever, but she thought that you two were going out!”

Disgusting. Who would like a piece of like him? My distaste must have been pretty apparent, because Nayoung asks, “What’s wrong? Are you going for him too?”

I vigorously shake my head. “No. God, no. Yuri can take him.”

“So you don’t care if she asks him out?”

“Of course not! Joonmyeon can do whatever he wants. So can Yuri. I have no involvement with Joonmyeon.”

“Sweet!” Nayoung pulls out her phone and begins sending a rapid-fire stream of texts- presumably to Yuri. “Thank you so much, Hyo! They’re going to be so cute together!”

I try and ignore the nauseous feeling in my stomach as I pull out my Art History notebook. Whatever. Joonmyeon’s love life is the least of my concerns. It’s taking him down that matters. And hopefully getting the chance to bash his face in.

The door to our classroom opens, and a boy enters. He hands a note to Professor Choi, who scans over it and announces, “Kim Joonmyeon and Park Hyolin, Dean Choi wants to see both of you in his office.”

.

I brace myself as I slide out of my seat and head to the door. What the does Dean Choi want? Is this student council business-

Oh, . Wait. This must be about how massively I ed up Kim Sangyoon’s Alumni Achievement Award speech.

I am not in the mood to deal with this. Especially not with Kim Joonmyeon. I hear his footsteps echo behind me, and I have to resist the urge to turn back and make sure he isn’t pointing a gun at me.

Show no fear.

A rattling noise echoes through the halls and I whip my head around in alarm.

Joonmyeon has deliberately dropped his keys to the ground. He smirks at my agitated expression.

“Why do you look so scared, Hyo?” he asks innocently.

“You bastard,” I growl. “That does it.”

I launch myself at him, aiming a right cross straight for his face. I’m going to kick his weak into tomorrow-

But Joonmyeon swiftly blocks me and steps in with a left hook to my chin, which I have to quickly duck to avoid. Before I can recover, his leg flies through the air and slams into my side. The breath is knocked out of my chest; I easily dodge Joonmyeon’s punch and uppercut his jaw, causing his head to snap up-

And then his other fist slams into my stomach with the speed of lightening- , that was a feint- and I double up in agony. Joonmyeon roughly slams me against the wall, my arms above my head and his body mere centimeters from mine. Our chests are heaving as we viciously glower at each other.

“I’m guessing your lack of fighting skills was another part of your facade,” I bite.

Joonmyeon’s lips curl up into a sneer. “ZE:A taught me how to fight. Now I spar with BTS every day. My record against V is 367 wins and 238 losses. We keep track.”

My chest tightens despite my own will.

“I’m sorry about ZE:A,” I say quietly.

“As you should be.” Joonmyeon’s voice could cut glass.

“But you’re still ing crazy. You didn’t have to conduct this elaborate scheme. You could’ve just come out and confronted me.”

Joonmyeon tilts his head. “But where would be the fun in that? It’s so entertaining to watch you get pissed when I’m with other girls... and the look in your eyes when you see me? Priceless.”

Humiliation, fury, pain; they all well up in my heart and create an agonizing combination that makes me want to curl up in a ball and never come out. But I still retaliate.

“So when I was with Jimin and you got jealous, that was an act, too, right? And when you blocked me from Sora yesterday?” I say in a sugary sweet voice, reveling in the way his expression darkens. “And- oh, while we’re on the topic of last night-,”

Joonmyeon presses me harder against the wall. To my satisfaction, I have succeeded in striking a nerve in him.

“Don’t misunderstand,” he hisses. “I despise you.”

“I hate you even more,” I mutter between gritted teeth.

“Really?” he whispers. “Because as I recall, you said you love-,”

There is a small cough from behind him. Joonmyeon turns.

Yoongi is staring at us with a confused expression.  

Joonmyeon and I hastily spring away from each other in a matter of milliseconds.

“What are you looking at?” I snap, my face the color of a stop sign.

Yoongi slowly shakes his head at both of us.

“Nothing,” he snorts, and then walks away.  

Joonmyeon and I are left standing there alone.

After a few moments of silence, he clears his throat.

“Dean Choi’s waiting for us,” he utters.

And he strides away.

“Never in my life have I been so humiliated! What were you thinking?”

It’s funny. I am a notorious criminal, wanted by every gang across Seoul, notorious for being able to take down a mob of fighters in five minutes with nothing but my two knives. Joonmyeon is a billionaire at the head of a powerful company with influence in political, criminal, and social spheres. Both of us are deadly. Formidable. Terrible.

Yet both of us still have to sit quietly and hang our heads in shame as Dean Choi screams at us about how we have disgraced the school.

“You botched the presentation of our school’s most distinguished alumni award, Miss Park!” Dean Choi shouts. “How embarrassed must Kim Sangyoon have been?”

“Sorry, Dean Choi,” I mumble.

“And Joonmyeon.” Dean Choi turns to him with a less severe yet still disappointed look. “You were supposed to present that speech. Why did you hand it over to Miss Park?”

Joonmyeon stares at Dean Choi with wide, innocent eyes. “I’m so sorry, Dean Choi,” he says in his fake voice- the high-pitched one he used on me for an entire year. “But Hyo wanted to do it so badly... because she wanted everyone to see her dress on stage. She begged me, and- and I felt so bad- so I said- I said she could.”

I whip my head around to face him in furious indignation. Liar! What kind of bull story is that? The corners of his lips twitch upwards and he has to stifle his smug look.

“Oh, dear.” Dean Choi is gazing at him sympathetically. “Women. So temperamental and vain. I’m so sorry, Joonmyeon. That was very kind of you.”

“That’s not what happened,” I angrily protest, my frustration torn between the manipulative piece of next to me and the ist prick sitting in front of me. The ist prick himself, Dean Choi, turns back to me with raised eyebrows.

“Really, Miss Park? So what did happen?”

I glare at Joonmyeon, who can’t keep the smirk off his face now. This bastard pretty much blackmailed me into delivering that speech so I could have a grand epiphany about my friend’s gangster father and humiliate myself on purpose.

“I... well... I was just worried about Joonmyeon.” I bite my lip. “He hates public speaking, you know? He’s actually quite shy.”

Joonmyeon lets out a tinkling laugh. “Hyo, it’s okay. I’m not mad at you for wanting to give the speech. You don’t have to make up excuses.”

Dean Choi tsks! “First you coerce Joonmyeon into letting you give the speech, now you try and lie your way out of accepting the blame?”

I internally groan. Forget it. This is a lost cause.

“Okay, sorry, Dean Choi,” I mutter. “I’ll take responsibility for this.”

“Good.” Dean Choi folds his arms. “I expect you to personally go to Kim Sangyoon’s estate and give him a heartfelt apology. Oh, and reread his acceptance speech to him for good measure.”

Wait. I’m being given the opportunity to confront Kim Sangyoon in a private place? Without having to commit several misdemeanors?

I jump up, my eyes bright. “Yes! Of course! I would be honored to do that!”

I throw a triumphant look to Joonmyeon, who- judging by the way he visibly stiffens- has realized the potential in this visit as well.

    “Dean Choi, I really don’t think Hyo should be punished this severely,” Joonmyeon drawls. “In her own twisted way, I suppose she thought she was helping me-,”

    “You’re too nice, Joonmyeon,” Dean Choi says. “No, Miss Park should be prepared to face the consequences of her actions.”

    “Yes!” I exclaim, vigorously pumping Dean Choi’s hand up and down. “You got it, sir! Just send me his address- oh, send his schedule, too! I want to surprise him!”

    Dean Choi blinks up at me. He is obviously bemused by my overzealous enthusiasm. “Er, yes, Miss Park. I’ll get those for you.”

“Okay, well, I’m going to go get ready!” I give Dean Choi a hasty bow. “Thanks, Dean! I’m super sorry again!”

And then I race out the door. There is an enormous grin on my face as I hurry down the hallway. Yes. Time to call Zelo and Himchan. We’ll figure out the truth in no time- and we’ll be able to find Sora, and-

Someone grabs my arm and whirls me around.

“Don’t think you’ll be able to do anything,” Joonmyeon snarls down at me. “We’ll be ready for you.”

I close the gap between our bodies, so that I am mere inches from him. My lips are curled up into a smirk.

“Bring it on.”