“Get out of my class right now.”

Jongdae barely registers the stern voice of Mrs. Yun before the elderly lady is right in front of him, her furious expression emphasized by the lines on her face.

“This is the last time you sleep in my class, Kim,” she threatens, her thin lip curling up. After eyeing Jongdae judgmentally, she straightens up, crossing her arms over her neat blouse. “I will see you in detention after school. Go report it to the office yourself.”

“Sorry,” Jongdae mutters, only to be ignored. He doesn’t take it to heart. Mrs. Yun probably knows he didn’t mean it anyway. After wiping the drool off his notebook and messily shoving his supplies into his bag, Jongdae scrambles out of the classroom under the disapproving looks of his classmates.

This is obviously not the first time Jongdae has fallen asleep in class. The earliest class of the day is always a drag no matter how exciting the material is. When he shares a class with his friends, staying up is a little easier, but when it comes to the boring formulas that keeps sprouting from Mrs. Yun’s mouth, he finds it hard to keep his eyes open.

Jongdae drags his feet through the cold hall, wiping his dry eyes. To be fair, Jongdae has several reasons for staying up late.

First off: it’s in his blood. Now that may seem like a dumb excuse – but it’s not. Jongdae is a half-blood. His father was a demon, a servant of Satan, someone who took the dead to hell. Jongdae has never really thought much about it since he was too distracted by his father’s goat legs and horns. They looked cool. His mother was a lot of things. Sometimes she was a woman, other times a man, and on the rare occasion an animal or an inanimate object. To sum it up, a shapeshifter. Jongdae also thought this was cool, but the result of two separate magic forces fusing together hasn’t given Jongdae a lot. He can shapeshift, but only into a goat. He has demonic powers, but only when charged. The night-owl habits, however, is the only thing that stayed together since both of his parents are mostly active by night.

Second: his part-time job at the nearby 24/7 store. The school has actually forbidden students from part-time jobs, but the security is slack so no one notices it when he sneaks out. Since the lessons take up a lot of the day, Jongdae has to resort to evening shifts. Refilling shelves and operating the register isn’t a tough job per se, but the long hours from school plus the late work hours are draining. Jongdae really needs the extra coin, though.

If Jeolban high school wasn’t such a mess, Jongdae might have been content with what he has. The school is a grand castle in the middle of the woods with only a few towns close by. The castle itself looks medieval from the outside, ivy grown all over the outside walls and roof tiles dipped in different colors. Unfortunately, the inside is very medieval as well. It is always draughty, some parts of the castle are in complete ruins, the rooms against the outer wall are moist, and the electricity flickers off nearly every day. The dormitories, which are located in two separate buildings, are no better, but at least the electricity works most of the time. Since the school isn’t funded by the government, their budget comes from the students’ enrollment and class fees, most of which goes to the teachers’ salary. Rarely is there ever any work done to improve the living and teaching spaces, but it’s fine. After all, this is the only school in the entire world that offers specialized education for half-bloods.

Meanwhile, Jongdae has arrived at the office, waiting for Mr. Yang to notice him. The young man glances up at his sigh, and his face falls at the sight of Jongdae.

“Fell asleep again, Kim?” he asks in a bored voice, whipping up Jongdae’s file on the old computer.

“Yeah,” Jongdae answers bitterly. Being known by the office is not a good thing at all.

“Well,” Mr. Yang says, hitting the keys. “At least you’re in it together. Why don’t you join your friend over there?”

Jongdae looks over where Mr. Yang his head, his gaze falling on the sofa. A rather familiar figure is lying on the ragged thing.

“Baekhyun!” Jongdae calls, shocking his friend into a state of consciousness.

Baekhyun blinks, his elliptical pupils adjusting to the light. The vivid yellow color of Baekhyun’s eyes makes for a strong gaze, even when he’s tired. Baekhyun is half Lamia. A lamia is a snake with the upper body of a man, but since Baekhyun is half of that and half human, he only has a few snake features. A pair of fangs is underneath his lips, long and thin, ready to shoot venom at any time. His jaw isn’t as flexible as a real snake, but he can push his entire fist in his mouth and still have some room left. Lurid green scales run down his neck, eventually fading into pale skin. Though there are downsides to being one-fourth snake, Jongdae is envious of Baekhyun being cold-blooded – the latter could stay in Antarctica wearing nothing but shorts and not feel a thing. He’s one of the few that doesn’t have to deal with the school’s never-ending chill.

Baekhyun gets up wearing a naughty smile. Jongdae suddenly remembers his third reason for staying up late: Baekhyun.

His friend is also his roommate, which is already a red flag. Despite being against stereotypes, Jongdae finds Baekhyun to be one of the sneakiest, trickiest people he’s ever met. Baekhyun regularly plays pranks on uptight teachers and students, ones that will make them red with fury as they curse Baekhyun’s existence. Mrs. Yun has never recovered from the flour bucket atop the door and refuses to educate Baekhyun. While these pranks are practically harmless, Jongdae is somehow always dragged into the mess, being forced to keep watch while Baekhyun prepares whoopee cushions or duct-tapes the teacher’s chair to the ceiling. There’s no denying Jongdae enjoys taking part in these pranks, but they take up a lot of time and are usually done at night. Besides that, Baekhyun enjoys sneaking out as well and never fails to wake Jongdae up in the process.

“Did you get caught too?” Baekhyun asks, laughing.

“I got caught sleeping,” Jongdae answers with a grin. “Seeing as you’re here, I guess your airhorn prank succeeded, then?”

Baekhyun nods, “If you could only hear Mrs. Song scream. Her face was priceless, I swear.”

“She’s going to kick you out of that class sooner or later, you know.”

Baekhyun waves him off. “That won’t happen.”

The two of them exit the office, immediately heading to their dorm.

While passing several classrooms, bright lights emit from the gaps along the old wooden doors. These are the magic practice rooms. Since nearly all students have magical powers, an entire wing is dedicated to those practices. The classes mostly include coverage of offensive and defensive magic, though there are some lessons in magical energy manipulation available. Jongdae wanted to take one of those classes, but he was rejected because his demonic powers are considered evil and could possibly overtake him if they were to grow. For now, he is focused on trying to broaden his shapeshifting, even though progressing further than a goat seems impossible after countless failed attempts.

Besides the teachings of magic, Jeolban has the same basic subjects as a human school, which is why Jongdae has to endure hours and hours of math. Most half-bloods end up connecting more to human society than magical society – the magic part of a half-blood is usually not strong enough to take on living in magical society. Human society is fine with half-bloods as long as they keep a low profile, but half-bloods who don’t look human enough will be outcasts. Baekhyun is a prime example of someone who would be flat-out rejected in human society for just his looks.

While stalking along the mossy stone path to their dorm building, Jongdae stuffs his hands in his pockets. The temperature has been decreasing now that fall is here, the first icy winds making their way through the school. Jongdae glances over to Baekhyun, whose upper body is covered in nothing but a thin t-shirt. He grimaces, forever jealous of Baekhyun’s cold blood.

Just as Jongdae’s hand reaches for the door handle on their dorm, a voice speaks up:

“Hold it there, Kim.”

 Sighing, Jongdae drops his hand and turns around, seeing Baekhyun roll his eyes at the two students in front of him.

Kim Joonmyun and his new sidekick Kim Minseok. Both part wizard part human. From the first year at Jeolban to the current, Joonmyun has always been an annoyance. Joonmyun is an uptight goody-two-shoes who follows every rule and protocol, always finishes his homework long before the deadline, and somehow senses it whenever a rule is broken. At first, avoiding Joonmyun was easier, but ever since Minseok joined his side they get caught before even doing something. Minseok is actually a pretty decent guy, no stick-up-his- attitude but still a follower of the rules. What these two actually do is some kind of hall monitor type of job, though also outside of school hours and at the dorms as well. Since Joonmyun and Minseok are more in touch with the students, the school gave them this job instead of hiring some actual security.

“You are supposed to be in class,” Joonmyun accuses, crossing his arms.

“I got kicked out,” Jongdae reasons.

“Then you should be in the office awaiting your punishment, not be on your merry way to your bed.”

“Just let us off, Joonmyun,” Baekhyun pipes in. “You know we’re never going to learn.”

“That does not mean that you shouldn’t answer for your crimes.”

“Crimes,” Baekhyun mocks. “All we did was slack off.”

“Please return to the office,” Joonmyun delivers politely, but his eyes are hard. “Or else I’m breaking out the walkie talkie and report it to headmaster Kang himself.”

“You’re not going to do that,” Jongdae says, chuckling.

Then, with a complete serious face, Joonmyun takes out the walkie talkie from the inner pocket of his coat, extending the antenna threateningly. “How about now?”

Jongdae and Baekhyun share a look full of hesitance. In the next second, they’re bolting off, ignoring Joonmyun’s angry spluttering.

After rushing away, they end up in the other dorm, which is specially designed for creatures who live in the night. Jongdae applied for this dorm when he registered, but since being awake only at night doesn’t come with either parts of his blood, he was directed to the regular dorm. Mostly vampires reside here, but werewolves and other students who share blood with animals of the night like foxes and owls live here as well. Though the building looks just like the other dorm, old and unlivable, it’s quite different on the inside. Every room is completely dark. Jongdae wonders why they even put windows in if they were all going to be blocked anyway. The hallway has a few candles, but one has to mostly roam in the dark.

Fortunately, they know the way to their friend’s room from their heads now. After two and a half years they ought to. Baekhyun is up front, and doesn’t even bother to knock when storming into the room and flicking on the light.

Kyungsoo sits up, glaring at Baekhyun since he’s the only one to treat him this bluntly.

“Good morning, sunshine!” Baekhyun croons, grinning at his friends.

“ off,” Kyungsoo spits back.

Like many of this dorm’s residents, Kyungsoo is half a vampire. His classes start in the evening and end early in the morning. Being a half-blood vampire might not seem bad, but it definitely comes with some cons. Kyungsoo can only drink AB-type blood, will get a sunburn when in contact with direct sunlight, and is extremely allergic to garlic. Full-blood vampires rarely have these conditions, though sunlight isn’t good for them. Kyungsoo is immune to any type of disease and won’t fall for magic that plays with your brain, and he also has the enhanced condition, which means enhanced strength, agility – that type of stuff. A full-blood vampire has these features as well, but on a greater level.

“What do you want now, Baekhyun? Did you drag Jongdae into your mess again?” Kyungsoo asks, ever being on Jongdae’s side.

“Not even! He got into this mess alone this time,” Baekhyun explains with a grin, plopping on Kyungsoo’s bed.

“Fell asleep in class?” Comes Kyungsoo’s question.

“How did you know?”

“Your scent was fresh when I went to class. I guessed you were back late from your job again.”

“You guessed correctly,” Jongdae answers, shoving Baekhyun aside to make room for himself on Kyungsoo’s bed.

“What did you get in trouble for, Baekhyun?”

As Baekhyun retells his tale of the airhorn, Jongdae gazes off to the disapproving expression on Kyungsoo’s face. How a guy like Kyungsoo ever wanted to become friends with them is still a mystery to Jongdae. Baekhyun and Jongdae hit it off easily by Baekhyun being the only one to ask about his goat-shapeshifting instead of being half of a servant of Satan. He was also the only one to laugh about it, and also the only one to inform him some snakes eat goats. They met Kyungsoo at the grand Christmas dinner, where Baekhyun had made the most garlicky spaghetti Bolognese of the century and told Kyungsoo there was no garlic in it as a joke. Then the latter ended up nearly choking to death, his lips, mouth, and neck swollen for days. Baekhyun laughed about it, but stayed with Kyungsoo at all times while he was in the infirmary, which somehow forged a friendship. Since the incident, Kyungsoo has always harbored irritation to every fiber of Baekhyun’s being, yet will never push him away.

“I want to pull a prank on Joonmyun sometime,” Baekhyun tells them, leaning back against the wall. “Imagine pulling the flour bucket on him! He’d be squealing like a pig! Oh, his face would be so red – if you could even see it with all that flour.”

“I can’t deny I like the idea of that,” Jongdae replies, chuckling at the thought of Joonmyun being both embarrassed and angry.

“As much as I don’t like your pranks, I’d love to see that.” Kyungsoo grins to himself. “Man, he really needs to loosen up his little. All that stress will make him go bald.”

“Yeah,” Baekhyun agrees, laughing. “He’s been especially tight lately. He won’t let me off with a warning anymore! It’s probably because of that stuff going down in the east wing.”

“East wing?” Jongdae asks in wonder. The east wing is closed off because it lays in ruins, as far as Jongdae knows.

“Yeah. Apparently, something happened there and they’re going to restrict all access. As in, we can no longer sneak in via the secret passage.”

“What? How could anyone have any business in this hole?” Kyungsoo asks. “Especially bad business.”

Baekhyun shrugs, “I don’t know. That’s just what I overheard when I was waiting for my punishment in the office.”

“I hope the school isn’t in any danger…” Jongdae mutters. Both Baekhyun and Kyungsoo nod their heads in agreement.

To be real, Jeolban might not be the most luxurious or prestigious school in the world, but it’s the only place where half-bloods can feel at home. Here they are safe from the never-ending judgement, harassment, and other types of discrimination. Half-bloods can grow up like any other teenager without having to feel ashamed about what’s in their blood.

“It’s probably nothing serious.” Baekhyun waves it off. The latter has never had a good sense of danger. “I think we should check it out ourselves. Maybe they’re hiding treasure or something.”

“I think we should definitely not do that,” Kyungsoo insists.

“Yeah, I agree.”

“Oh, come on you guys! It’ll be fun! Besides, they won’t be housing anything deadly. If that was the case, we would have been evacuated long ago.”

“Baekhyun, no.” Kyungsoo says sharply.

“Okay, fine.” Baekhyun sighs in defeat, pursing his lips.

While Kyungsoo starts ranting about the measly sack of blood he was given the other day, Jongdae glances over to Baekhyun.

Their eyes connect and Baekhyun sends him a smirk.

That can only mean one thing: they’re going to check out the east wing.

---

A/N: hello yall first chapter incoming
the first chapters will be a bit of an introduction to the setting/characters that kind of thing so forgive me if they are a bit boring and mostly exposition lol
idk when the next update will be, so pls be patient if it takes longer (both me and my beta are kinda busy atm)
 

if you liked it, please leave a comment it would mean a lot to me!!!
thank you for subbing, voting and commenting!!!!
I hope you will look forward to the following chapters :D

p.s if the school name seems random -- its not it means half in korean lmao