Prologue: It begins

Choi Deok Soong slammed her backpack on her desk gracelessly and slumped into her chair, letting her head hang back and closing her eyes.

“Aaaaaaahhh, I’m dead!” she whined, extending her arms to either side of her like an airplane for a few seconds before letting them fall.

A giggle erupted from the seat behind her and when Deok Soong opened her eyes, a cute, cheerful face was blinking back at her, smiling, way too close for comfort.

“Did you finish your paper last minute again, Boksoongie?” asked the pint-sized girl, poking her friend’s forehead repetitively with one finger.

Deok Soong wiggled out from under her friend’s badgering to sit properly in her seat and sigh. If anyone should be called Boksoong here, it should be her best friend of 10 years, Seo Hye Rim, who, at the height of her 158 centimeters, and with a round face that looked like it still belonged in elementary school, did indeed have the appearance of a peach, but sadly, since the Korean name for the fruit closely resembled her name (and she had sported a rather round pair of cheeks herself until puberty had blessedly hit her in middle-school), she was the one stuck with the monicker.

“This is nothing to joke about, Rim-Rim! You know my parents have been making me hit cram school every single day now that we’re seniors!” the taller girl sighed deeply.

“It it wouldn’t be such a big deal if you didn’t insist on continuing to be part of the broadcasting club…” retorted her cute short friend, popping a lollipop that had materialized seemingly out of nowhere into .

Deok Soong was about to reply that her belonging to that club was non-negotiable; her love of talking into a microphone, along with how good it would look on college applications, making it a non-issue, but she stopped mid-thought, mouth hanging open, staring at the classroom doorway where two incredibly good-looking boys were standing in apparent friendly conversation.

All around her, in both the classroom and the hallway - which she could see through a series of large windows lining the inner wall - the usual early morning bustle at Cheonsa High was in full swing, as students were heading to their classes, popping-in to neighbour classrooms to drop off borrowed books, or chatting with their classmates as they got ready for homeroom. It was just another typical day. Even her complaining about her lack of sleep to Hye Rim, and her friend’s casual teasing was typical.

The two boys at the door, however, were not.

First of all, they were way too good-looking. She was pretty sure there were no guys that hot at Cheonsa High (ok, maybe there were a couple, but she knew them all by name and sight, just like every other female at school) and these guys stood out like two sore thumbs. Wait. Bad analogy. They stood out like two beautiful flowers in a garden full of weeds. The taller, dark-haired one was handing papers to the shorter one, a serious expression never really leaving his face, which made him look, along with the cut of his uniform, almost like a prince. His conversation partner on the other hand looked much less stiff. He was short, but no less attractive. He had longish blonde hair, parted to the side and kept nodding at the other boy’s words, a smile occasionally creeping over his enormously lush lips.

“Are… where… are they new?” Deok Soong stuttered, managing to form a full sentence while still staring at the two boys.

Hye Rim followed her gazes to the door and then paused, her lollipop by , to give her friend a flat stare.

“Is this a joke?” she asked her friend.

“Why would I joke about this?” the taller girl turned around, looking frustrated, “They’re so hot! Who are they??”

Her friend gave her a worried look and then - popping her lollipop back in - leaned over her own desk to place a hand on her friend’s forehead, and her own forehead to compare.

“I’m not sick, will you stop it!” she grunted, slapping her hand away.

“Well if you’re not sick, why are you asking me who the school council president and our class representative are like you’ve never seen them before???” the short girl crossed her arms under her chest, giving her a sassy look.

“Class… school… huh?” she turned back to stare at the two strangers, trying to reconcile her fuzzy memories with her friend’s words. It made no sense.

“I mean ok, forgetting president Kogyeol, fine… I’ll blame it on your lack of sleep. But how could you forget cutechie-woochie-Jinhoo-chi??? He’s our class leader?”

Deok Soong ce again towards her friend, this time to cast her a look of confused disdain, “Cutechie-woochie?” but her friend was basically shooting hearts out of her eyes and didn’t notice anything.

She looked back at the duo; their image did seem clearer now, but it was still so fuzzy… could it just be because of the lack of sleep? She had forgotten two entire people? As she stared at them, Hye Rim’s babbling just a buzz in her ear, she thought she saw the taller one look up at her and the corner of his mouth twitch into a smirk. But at the exact same moment, her vision became blurry and she was hit with a piercing headache. She screamed out involuntarily, clutching at the sides of her head in pain, and making her friend jump out of her seat to ask if she was ok, but it only lasted a second.

Once it was over, the president was simply talking to Jinhoo by the door again. Deok Soong looked around the room, trying to get her bearings.

“Oh my god, you’re really scaring me… maybe I should take you to the nurse’s office...” her friend was saying, having discarded her lollipop in her fright.

“I’m fine…” answered the dark-haired girl, still in a slight daze, “Kogyeol and Jinhoo. Of course.” she repeated, as if she was trying to convince herself.

As she let her eyes glide across the room, several more figures seemed to strike out to her, as if there were a slight halo around them, making them stand out. She looked to the right, and called out, in a dream-like voice, “There’s Hwanhee.”

She paused to look at the smiling boy - body bent halfway through the hall window - who was laughing loudly at something a boy on the other side seemed to have said. “Yes, Hwanhee.” she repeated, as if to make sure.

“Yes, and the underclassman he’s talking to is Xiao.” Hye Rim went on. And she repeated “Xiao” nodding to herself.

Her friend cast her a really weird look but she missed it as she continued her analysis of the room. “That’s Sunyoul…” she passed a pretty boy, doodling quietly in a sketchbook and then turned around all the way back til she was facing her friend, but looking over her head, at a bespectacled boy hunched over his phone, fingers wagging madly“... and that’s Wei.”

“Sure, but why do you care about him?” asked her friend dismissively… but Deok Soong didn’t even seem to hear her.

Continuing her observation of the room, going clockwise, she stopped in the corner window to stare at a boy who was chatting with a crowd of other students, smile on his face and making everyone around him laugh. “There’s Gyujin…” she said, before moving along to another boy a few seats away, a very pretty boy, apparently busy taking selcas of himself with his phone, “and Wooshin.”

“Aaaah… yes….” for an instant Hye Rim forgot her concern as she sighed dreamily, staring at the red-haired boy.

“Safe!!” someone screamed, making both girls turn as one to the front of the room, to stare at the boy who had made the deafening noise. A tall, rather fit-looking specimen was dropping his backpack loudly on his desk and grinning as he high-fived some friends, who glanced at the clock and shook their heads at him.

“Kuhn.” she said aloud, as if confirming something. And then she looked around the room once more, left and right, around the mass of boys and girls filling in and out the classroom, only to declare, “and Bitto’s not there”.

“Yes, thanks for the recap princess.” said Hye Rim, sarcastically. Her lollipop having magically reappeared. “Is there a reason you just went about naming every hot guy in our class? Or did lack of sleep finally just make you crazy?”

“HA-HA” retorted Deok Soong, making an ugly face at her.

“Well that at least makes you sound normal…” replied the shorter girl, still eyeing her suspiciously.

Both girls took their seat as they spotted Mrs. Kim, their homeroom teacher, make her way towards the lectern, knowing class was just about to begin. Everyone else seemed to be having the same idea as boys and girls left and right could be seen scrambling into their seats.

“You’d be acting crazy too if you were running on just one hour of sleep and instant coffee.” Deok Soong back-whispered to her friend, who shushed her as the bell finally rang.

Jinhoo, who was sitting at the front of the class, stood up in his seat and declared in a sweet but powerful voice: “Everyone, please greet the teacher.”

“Good morning Mrs. Kim.” 36 voices echoed in unison.

“Good morning class. Now, let’s start the homeroom.”

The girl casts one last look around the room. For some reason, the 7 boys she had pointed out earlier still seemed to shimmer vaguely and stand out to her. She closed her eyes, giving her head a little shake and once she opened them, the feeling was gone. All she could think about was:

“It’s gonna be another loooooong day.”

Continue?

Yes / No

Choose your story.

Which boy will you pick?

* Kogyeol*

* Kuhn*

* Sunyoul*

*Gyujin*

*Wooshin*

*Wei*

*Jinhoo*

*Hwanhee*

*Bitto*

*Xiao*