Chapter Ten

Jongdae narrowed his eyes while staring at the outfits which were shown to him by Baekhyun – who looked pretty much intimidated and irritated by how long Jongdae was taking to gather his opinion on the outfits. They had been standing there for almost thirty minutes, with Jongdae criticizing and pointing out the ‘sloppy mistakes’ Baekhyun made and Baekhyun glaring at Jongdae like his life depended on it. It was only lucky that Baekhyun actually enjoyed doing this kind of thing – or he would not even participate at the first place.

The art room had been occupied by Jongdae and his team since two weeks ago, starting from the day when Baekhyun and he began making costumes and props. That was one of the advantages of having a class representative slash the President of Student Council as a friend; Kyungsoo was always sneaky in the subtlest way.

Youngji had only been in the art room for a few times, since she had been very active on ditching school since two weeks ago. For the number of times she had been there, she only managed to contribute some of her ideas before she rushed out of the room when she saw the visual of the whole project. When Jongdae asked about her frequent absence from the project and school, she claimed that she needed to focus on her thesis. She felt really bad after that, though, since Jongdae’s grim expression was enough to tell her that he wasn’t really pleased by her action.  

“That one looks terrible,” Jongdae commented grumpily while pointing at the said outfit. “It doesn’t look creepy at all; it looks like a mushroom. A bald mushroom.”

Baekhyun threw that outfit on the floor before he muttered his favourite curses. He glared at Jongdae. “For somebody who claims to know nothing about costumes designing, you sure talk a lot.”

“I have eyes.”

“And zero talent.”

“Anyone with a pair of eyes can tell that the bald mushroom costume ,” Jongdae said while picking up the thrown outfit before he brushed some dusts off. “I want you to re-design it.”

“Are you sure that you don’t need to loosen up a bit?” Baekhyun asked, and then he immediately cringed. “No, I don’t mean to say that I’m concerned; it’s just you’re ing sulky and annoying these days that I feel like you need to get laid or something.”

Jongdae frowned. “I don’t need to.”

“See, that’s what I mean. You’re frowning. You’re ing frowning,” Baekhyun said frantically. “This project has taken the toll on you. Joonmyeon came yesterday – I forgot to tell you, whatever. He searched for you because he said that you guys had this plan or event or something and he wanted to bring you.”

“Did you tell him that I refuse to go?”

“I said that you’ll consider it.”

“Forget it,” Jongdae replied, sounding a bit disturbed. “I won’t go.”

“It’s been two –“

“It doesn’t matter!” he suddenly shouted at Baekhyun. “It’s not something that I could bring myself to do.”

“That won’t change a thing,” Baekhyun said, his voice sounding softer than the usual. “Doing this to yourself won’t change anything. I understand that you have this crazy logic of yours, and I respect it, but I don’t think that refraining yourself from doing the things you enjoy is necessary. She didn’t go because of that; she went because it was already her time to go.”

“You don’t understand.”

“Did you rip that off from a crappy drama or something?” Baekhyun asked while furrowing his brows. “I actually think that I understand,” he said, “because I saw you taking out that uniform from your locker. I understand, that you’re still not able to let go.”

Jongdae covered his face using his hands. “I don’t wanna talk about this,” he said weakly, voice muffled.

“Whatever,” Baekhyun said while ruffling his hair harshly. He was beyond frustrated, because Jongdae was behaving like an extremely depressed teenager. “Are you sure that you don’t want to reconsider about choosing Youngji to role-play as the queen?”

“She’s not cooperative,” Jongdae replied while ceasing his brows, and the he continued, “but I still want her to be the queen. I don’t have anybody else on my mind.”

“Well, there might be a reason why she’s not being cooperative,” Baekhyun replied before he shrugged. Then he glanced at Jongdae, and he saw the curiosity. “What? Nobody told you?”

“I’m lost.”

“Obviously,” Baekhyun retorted. “She can’t stand creepy things.”

Jongdae pressed his lips into a thin smile. And then he burst into laughter, which made Baekhyun confused – because that guy just looked so depressed before and was laughing hysterically now.

“Based from my previous experience, she wasn’t even wavered by that existence of a ghost. She didn’t even flinch, mind you.”

“I think that I’m a bit misguided now.”

“Forget that,” Jongdae said. “But I’m going to believe my own eyes and I will not believe anything until she tells me herself.

“I doubt that she will tell you,” Baekhyun whispered to himself, making sure that it was inaudible to Jongdae.  

“What did you say?”

Baekhyun gave a judgemental look. “Nothing, and that costume doesn’t look like a bald mushroom.”

From: Kim Jongdae

Come to school. We need to get some works done.

That was how she reluctantly left the Park household – her home, wore her school uniform and went to the school. She knew that she had been absent from school for at least three days, and she was sure that it would leave a bad impression, but she couldn’t possibly afford pushing herself to be involved directly with Jongdae’s project. It was terrifying. It was traumatizing, and definitely creepy from all sort of views.

Luckily, she had prepared a letter to be submitted to the school administration as a cover up – so that she won’t have to say that she was too scared to go to school right in any teacher’s face. The letter was written to notice the school administration that she was ‘sick’ during her three days of absence. She had been absent for a few times before too, but she had never ditched school for three days in a row.

She walked towards the faculty room and asked the woman at the counter to hand it to the principal. Without more word and after saying her thank you, she went out from that room and headed straight to the art room. That was where her nightmare began.

She stared at the door of the art room, thinking that she might have seen something strange through the transparent glass. The door knob was there, right beneath her fingers, but she was too hesitant to actually push it open. Something hovered in the air, and before she knew it, that thing hit the door and she shrieked.

“Youngji?” Baekhyun asked as soon as he opened the door widely and saw her pale face. He picked the thing up and rubbed at the surface before he sighed. “Chill. This is only a toy – one of the props.”

She sighed in relief, and then she tried to steal a glance at the art room. “Is Jongdae here?”

“He already went to the venue,” Baekhyun replied while stuffing the toy into a bag. “I am actually just packing some things and testing them; I’m about to go to the venue as well.”

“Do you need any help?”

Baekhyun opened his mouth to answer, but then he shut it. “Actually, no, you don’t need to help. Everything’s packed so we only need to head to the venue now.”

“Okay.”

“Does he know that you’re here?”

“Who?”

“Jongdae.”

Youngji nodded, and then she took a bag from Baekhyun’s hand and held it. She only smiled when Baekhyun lifted a brow. “Well, he texted me and asked me to come. I thought that there must be something important.”

Baekhyun didn’t answer and he only leaded Youngji towards somewhere that she didn’t know. They went to the south part of the school, and as they walked farther, Youngji noticed that the atmosphere seemed to drop. It was getting dull, with the lack of trees, buildings and objects in general. That place was almost vacant that she felt like she wanted to bring a brush and paint everything in blue. She loved blue.

They walked even farther, and she started to glance nervously at Baekhyun.

“Are you sure that this is the right place?” she asked while concealing her nervousness by sounding curious.

Baekhyun glared at her, but he looked like he wasn’t that interested to answer. He kept quiet in the end, and continued to walk even though he did notice the way Youngji fidgeted slightly.

They finally reached their destination after a few minutes walking on foot.

“Jongdae’s there,” Baekhyun finally said while pointing at the said guy who was busy jotting some things down on a paper. The guy looked at Baekhyun and the bags, and then he smiled. Then he averted his eyes at Youngji, and his excitement was a bit wavered. Youngji sensed anger, even. 

Jongdae approached them, fingers swiftly stuffing the paper into the pocket of his coat. He rummaged the inside one of the bags that was brought, and then he took something out. It was the toy that was recently stuffed inside by Baekhyun, and Youngji narrowed her eyes a little when she could finally see what it actually was. She was tempted to ask, but then she remembered that Jongdae was upset at her.

“Does this stuff work properly?” Jongdae asked Baekhyun while he was eyeing the object.

“Only if you could control it properly,” Baekhyun answered, and then he took another thing out from the bag. “Here’s the controller.”

Jongdae smiled as he happily took the controller and set the helicopter figure on the ground. “Nice man!”

“Only if you could control it properly,” Baekhyun repeated his previous words with more pressured put onto them. “I tried it before and the helicopter hit the door.”

“That’s because you don’t know anything about it,” Jongdae replied spontaneously while he was busy paying his attention on the controller, trying to figure out the command for every button. “It would be hard to control this thing, especially in the dark.”

“Maybe you could attach a small and light lamp on its body?” Youngji suggested, and then she suddenly felt the horror in her when Jongdae abruptly looked at her. “That’s only a suggestion,” she said while looking at Jongdae.

“Good suggestion,” Jongdae replied – and it came with a huge grin. “You don’t know anything about this, do you?”

Youngji sighed inwardly, because it was Jongdae, and Jongdae was always the straightforward kind of person. “No, and I’m really sorry about that.”

“You should’ve been with us for the past couple of days,” he replied, but there wasn’t really any agitation implied. “We discussed many things and made many changes – including the design of your costume and the structure of the whole project. We also re-opened the registration counter and asked for Kyungsoo to help with it.” He smiled and then looked at Youngji, and then he said, “I hope that you’re not gonna say ‘I’m sorry’ anymore. Your behaviour has been upsetting, but it’s over now and you’re here so act cool and go on with the project.”

“I understand,” she replied.

“By the way,” Jongdae said, and then he took a long breath, “this place is the venue of our project. It’s not strategic or pretty or anything like that – not at all, but looking pretty is not the purpose of our project. In fact, this place is perfect. It’s quiet and pretty much hidden from the many eyes of students. We can do the game better here, and the environment could provide more natural effects on the players’ emotion and instinct. Only those who participate will be given the instruction to this place. This helicopter figure here is going to be needed to drop hints and clues to the players. As you probably have known, we only have three people in this team and you alone can’t move around and hand all the clues to every player.”

“I really need to go inside?”

“Yes,” he answered adamantly. “You’re the most crucial detail of this project, because the players need to find you to retrieve the magical apples.”

“You’re not saying anything?” Baekhyun inquired when Youngji’s eyes remained plastered on Jongdae’s face.

“No,” she replied.

“Good,” Jongdae said, and then he made a gesture directed to Baekhyun. “Take it out now.”

Baekhyun took an outfit out from the bag, and Youngji almost fainted in horror.

“That looks amazing,” she commented half-heartedly. “Do I need to wear that?”

“Of course! Baekhyun made it just for you.”

That outfit wasn’t really anything fancy, and it was actually just a white robe with – is that blood? – being splashed messily on it. There was an additional crown and an ugly wig as well.

“Can you change and show us how you look in it?”

“Now?”

Baekhyun snorted while mumbling something that didn’t sound too nice.

Jongdae patted her shoulder. “Yes, now. Baekhyun needs to experiment with your make-up as well.”

“What do you mean by make-up? Do I” – she paused for a while to regain control – “need to have something messy applied on my face?”

Jongdae laughed hysterically. “I thought that you’re not the type to go crazy over that kind of thing?”

“That isn’t it, actually. It’s just... I just feel like it will go nicely with the outfit and the overall theme of this project.”

“Okay – so go change quickly now.”

“Alright.”

She walked away and followed the path that Baekhyun and her followed before. Jongdae was eyeing her worriedly and then he grew uncomfortable when she disappeared. This part of school wasn’t even known widely by everyone, and Youngji just transferred here. She wouldn’t be able to find her way out on her own. Jongdae decided to chase after her, because he was worried that she would be lost. But as he was about to make his first step, Baekhyun stopped him and pulled him roughly.

“She won’t be lost,” he stated confidently. “She knows the path; she went here together with me.”

Jongdae groaned. “She only went here once, so she’ll definitely forget. The path is really complicated.”

“She won’t forget,” Baekhyun replied with more confidence. “How long have you known her? A month? And you don’t even know this thing about her? What kind of friend are you? And to think that you’re actually the one she has been talking casually to – plus Kyungsoo, of course.”

“I don’t care much about her.”

Baekhyun creased his brows. “What the hell are you talking about? You’ve been sticking like glue to her since she transferred here.”   

“Let’s get back to work –“

“Damn Jongdae. You’re my friend, and she’s my friend too – although we don’t act like it. Hearing you saying those ty things actually jab me right at my stomach. Why are you even showing your concerns if she doesn’t mean that much to you? And just so you know, we are not talking from the romantic point of view. Just Youngji, as a friend.”

Jongdae ruffled his own hair while pacing back and forth. He looked up at the sky, sighed, and the he ducked his head, he sighed again before he gripped his hair and started pulling it out. “I’m going crazy – you’ve been bugging me a lot these days.”

“Because you’re being a poop, and I dislike your smell so I decided to do the right thing and do some cleaning process.”

“This is not a cleaning process, Baekhyun. You’re stressing me out.”

Baekhyun shrugged. “Then I’m gonna resort to another method. There are many options left.”

“What method? And what cleaning?” another voice – no, not Jongdae’s – appeared out of the blue. “What is it about? Care to tell me?” Kyungsoo asked while smiling. There was somebody else beside him – it was Sehun, standing there with a sulky look on his face as if somebody just splashed a beaker full of highly concentrated chemical substance at him.

“Nothing,” Jongdae answered quickly before Baekhyun managed to open his mouth and spill everything. “Go and survey the rest of this area,” he ordered, and Baekhyun spat some nasty words before leaving.

“I believe that something important – or interesting did happen,” Kyungsoo stated while looking at Baekhyun who was walking lazily around the area, doing a bad job at surveying. “But that’s not really important now, since I’m here to hand out the last registration form, since I need to close the counter to complete my student council tasks. So here –“

“Where’s Youngji?” Sehun suddenly asked, and Jongdae was startled. “Where is she? Isn’t she’s supposed to be here with you?”

“She just left to do some things,” Jongdae answered. “Why?”

Just from the look on Sehun's face, it was obvious that the reason had no nice adjectives attached to it.

“She is a nuisance, and I want her out from this school. Jooyeon has been complaining since forever and I am getting tired of this stupid drama and Chanyeol’s stupid brain and the existence of the shameless Kang Youngji –“

“I think you misunderstood,” Jongdae said. “She didn’t do anything wrong.”

Sehun scrutinized him. “Don’t tell me that you’re actually in Team Youngji as well.”

“I’m not in anyone’s team,” Jongdae clarified. “I just think that it’s really pathetic to put the blame on Youngji for Chanyeol’s and Jooyeon’s fragile and unstable relationship. She didn’t even do anything, and Jooyeon’s already freaking out and destroyed like a half of the trust she has for Chanyeol. Is it Youngji’s fault that Jooyeon doesn’t have that much faith for her lover? If this small thing can extremely affect the relationship, then do you think that the relationship even worth it?”

The air of awkwardness gushed.

“Enough,” Kyungsoo said while waving his file in the air. He motioned at Baekhyun to signal that nothing too bad happened, and then Baekhyun continued his work. “I will let the both of you to continue the discussion on some other time because I need to get this form done and finish my other tasks. Sehun, I knew that you would never come here just to scan the area. Needless to say, I’m quite disappointed at you.”

Sehun grunted. “,” he muttered under his breath.  

“So, Jongdae –“

“Do you think that this look okay,” a female voice barged in, voice unstable and shrill.

Sehun was about to bark something out, but Kyungsoo ‘accidentally’ slapped him in the face using the file. He ended up getting terrified at the blood dripping out from his nose.

“ – Kyungsoo, I need a tissue!” Sehun screeched.

Kyungsoo averted his gaze at Jongdae. “Please ignore them for a while and keep this form in somewhere safe. You can’t lose it, or else, I will deem the participant to be disqualified for the game.”

Youngji went through the angered Sehun and approached Jongdae who was scanning the form. Jongdae’s face was neutral, but then it turned stiff. She peeked at the form to take a look, and she finally understood why Jongdae looked that way.

Name(s): Park Chanyeol & Jung Jooyeon

Type of relationship: Boyfriend-Girlfriend

She pressed her lips into a thin line and looked up, and then she saw Kyungsoo staring strangely at her.