“I dread the start of school. Too many new people. Too much work. I like lying around at home doing nothing.”

“Well, better stop dreading school. It’s starting in approximately nine more hours.”

“Jongin, shut up and let me enjoy the last nine hours of my life.”

“That’s what you said last year. At least you’re not in a new school, and completely friendless.”

“I have one friend, and that’s you. Still pretty friendless, if you ask me.”

Chapter 13

Jimin’s appearance at Hanseong picked up the remaining hope of somewhat enjoying school and dumped it into the gutters.

Kai had stared at the lock in slight surprise when it was open, apologizing to the janitor and bowing. When the man had disappeared, he turned and picked up my lock from where it was hanging.

There was a moment of silence.

“What happened?” he finally asked, “Did you open it?”

I stared at him dumbly for a moment, unsure of what to say, and he stared at me quizzically. “Jimin,” I finally managed out. “Park Jimin.”

“Jimin…? What does he have to do with your lock?”

I glanced at Kai’s hands, but the blue of Jimin’s aura against my lock was gone already. He was frowning upon it. “Did you finally remember your combination? Hit it hard enough when you thought of Park Jimin?”

I couldn’t help but snort at the last suggestion, but it died the moment I thought of Jimin again. Kai pretty much eclipsed the rest of the school from my sight, so if Jimin were still in sight, I couldn’t see him over Kai’s shoulders. The familiar blur of his orange hair was gone, but he was still in the school, and that made me feel uncomfortable. “Jimin’s here,” I repeated, finally getting back my ability to speak in full sentences, “I just saw him. He opened my lock.”

Kai looked so nonplussed that he had me doubting whether or not I was able to speak properly. “Park Jimin is in Seoul,” he echoed, “and he just opened your lock for you? Forget the Medusa snake Kyungsoo and I fought yesterday. That’s the weirdest thing that I’ve heard the past week or so.”

My mind didn’t really register to Medusa snake, because Jimin seemed scarrier. The rest of the story came rushing out, and by the time I finished, he looked more annoyed than confused, lips pressed together and eyebrows furrowed. He couldn’t really be blamed for it -- Jimin didn’t exactly seem like a pleasant person to be around, and Kai had mentioned having an argument with him before. “Jimin and the rest of his friends are here,” he summarized, finally, “and Jin somehow thought it’d be a good idea to send Jimin to school to watch you? There’s not going to be another golem incident this time, God!”

“Jin?”

Kai’s scowl didn’t disappear or soften. “The oldest of them. He’s in charge of the other six of them like Suho’s mostly in charge of us, so I guess he’s kind of a leader in a way. Not all of them are like Jimin, actually -- Baekhyun’s pretty much best friends with Taehyung -- but Jimin’s just being a whiny brat and these couple months. Well, not that he wasn’t before, but he got worse.”

Eunhae had mentioned Jin’s name when she spoke with Kai and I at the arena, though I didn’t put enough thought on it to ask. But if he were like Suho -- who was probably one of the most responsible person I had met in Ignis -- well… Jimin. Every single one of Kai’s friends, from Sehun to Suho were considerably kind. Sure, Jimin might’ve had his reasons, but that still didn’t excuse the fact that his greeting gift to me was lobbing a knife at my face and telling me that I was weak.

“There’s twelve of you, though. Why would they need seven more people in Seoul?”

Kai was silent for a second or two. “There’s three Seoul safehouses,” he finally said, but his voice was wary, “and Jin’s parents used to watch over the second one. Mrs. Lee has put Suho and Kris in charge of one, but Jin’s probably in charge of the other. And Jimin, however rude he is to everyone, is still on our side, and he’s powerful too. Seoul’s been quite overrun with monsters, so she’s probably sending more people to keep a closer watch.”

So get it straight -- we’ve been all forced here because of you, Jimin had said, I wouldn’t have even come to Seoul if it I weren’t obligated to, much less go to the same school as you.

It wasn’t to keep a tighter watch on the monsters, like Kai claimed. But his eyes were unreadable, and I couldn’t tell if he were lying to me or just saying what he believed was the truth.

Could it really be needed for nineteen people with powers to guard me? I’d seen Kai take down Mr. Lim, and he claimed that he still wasn’t sure whether or not if he were a Spellcaster, Summoner, or Healer. And he’d taken down the golem with only his fighting skills and a dagger -- fully armed, how powerful were the rest of them?

“Seoul’s been overrun by monsters?” I asked instead.

“The Darkling.” His tone of voice indicated that it was the end of the discussion. “Get your books, we’ll be late for class.”

I snatched up the textbook, then, a couple minutes too late, the thought hit me. “Medusa snake? Isn’t Medusa’s hair made of snakes? What would a Medusa snake be?”

His lips twitched upwards ever so slightly. “Let’s go.”

***

Jimin didn’t share any of my classes, and I couldn’t help but wonder if it were deliberate on his side to avoid me completely. It was a good thing either way, though. Kai, on the other hand, shared five same classes with me, and I couldn’t help but hope that it was deliberate, on orders or not. Preferably not.

A couple of our old classmates were there too, a girl called Jaeyeon and a boy named Jaemin, a twin brother and sister. Jaeyeon sat in the corner, alone, head buried in a book, and Jaemin laughed openly with a couple boys of Hanseong school, apparently fitting in a lot faster than his sister. Kai allowed himself a wave back at Jaemin rather stiffly (it was a shock to me that he actually remembered Jaemin was in the same school as him), though in the end, he ended up sitting beside me. There was a murmur when he walked past a group of girls, and one of them had the guts to raise a finger and point at him. Kai walked past them like they didn’t exist.

“You’re going to pay attention in class now, right?” he asked, setting his books on the desk next to mine, ignoring a wave from someone, “I’m not going to have time to help you with your homework anymore--”

“You never helped me with homework, Ka-- Jongin, just criticized how bad I was at it.”

“--and you’re not going to be sick everyday now, so you won’t have to--”

Please Subscribe to read the full chapter