Chapter 1: Who Are You?

Yawning, he covered his mouth with his right palm before sitting up on the bed while stretching his limbs. He looked at his surrounding, his new room was sure bigger than his old one. Thinking how he would survived his high school in new place, new environment and new people were not something he looked forward the most.

This was not really the first time he came to Seoul since he once came to visit his cousin two years ago so he was kind of familiar with some places. However, this was the first time he came to actually stay for a long time. Heaving a soft sigh, he stood up and proceeded to take a shower to prepare for school.

Fixing his brown hair for the last time, he stared at his reflection in the mirror. His fair complexion and his full red lips complimented well with his brown locks or so he thought. He then took his bag and went downstairs to the kitchen.

“Morning mom, dad.” With that he kissed both his parents’ cheeks and sat beside his dad, eating the breakfast his mom prepared for him. When he finished his breakfast, he took a box of strawberry milk on the table, he shoved it in his bag’s pocket before standing up. “I’m going then.”

“Do you want me to send you, sweetheart?” –His dad asked but he shook his head softly and smiled. “It’s okay, dad. I will manage.”

Standing in front of the school gate, he seemed to hesitate to step inside. I can do it. Nodding to himself, he then took a deep breath before entering. Looking at his wristwatch, he felt relieved that he came to school in time.

As a new student, he didn’t wanted to be late for his first day of high school in Seoul. He had a reputation to keep. For a moment, he was surprised to see his new school, they were huge and it looked different somehow.

Silent. Too silent.

Shrugging, he continued to walk through the hallway. The school can be all strange and anything, it had nothing to do with him. He dragged himself to his classroom that was placed near the school office and was easy to be found. He had been told by the principle that he was placed in class 11-1, the class which many students afraid of. Not that he knew of it.

Taking a couple of breath to relax himself, he straightened his school uniform before knocking on the door. He entered the classroom as he bowed to Mr. Han and introduced himself in front of the classroom.

This class… He thought, tilting his head slightly.

The class looked somewhat dark and gloomy or it was just him. He was not sure since everyone in the class didn’t seemed to be bother by it. Maybe it was just his imagination after all. A sudden cold air swept behind him as he shivered slightly. Or maybe not.

Weird. What was that?

As much as he felt bothered by it, he didn’t forget to put a smile on his face, not wanting it to be rude since he was new here so, he didn’t wanted everyone to have a bad impression of him. He really didn’t like that. He bowed 90° and spoke politely as well.

“Hello everyone, my name is Hyukjae, Lee Hyukjae. Please take care of me.” He smiled gently as everyone in the class cheered up to celebrate his arrival.

He heaved a soft sigh in relieved. Seemed like everyone felt happy and accepted him in the class without a doubt. He was overthinking as always. He had no reason to be scared anyway. Hyukjae smiled even wider than before. He felt glad because he had them as classmates.

“Okay, now. You may take a sit at any place you want.” Mr. Han announced as he turned around to begin writing on the blackboard.

“B-But there is only one place left, sir.” –One of the girls said, looking at Hyukjae and back to the teacher. Mr. Han suddenly stopped writing and turning around to look at the one, empty seat at the back of the class. “Ah! You’re right.”

Hyukjae who still stood beside the teacher, took a glance at the empty seat before looking at his teacher and the whole students in the class, who suddenly froze in shocked. They all looked at him in worried like something worse just happened, there were no more smiles curved on their faces, all of them were fading away. Why? What is happening here?

He asked in his mind repeatedly, frowning as he heard many of them said something like, ‘No! No!’, ‘It’s dangerous.’, ‘Pity on him.’ And anything about how dangerous the place was. He had no idea of what they were talking about so he just stood there awkwardly until Mr. Han cleared his throat.

“You may sit now at the empty seat over there.” He gave him a small. Hyukjae was so sure there was a slight fear reflected in his teacher’s eyes. Almost all the students eyed him to his seat with their jaws dropped, definitely