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(Back to One Year Ago)

Chaewon chuckled quietly to herself as she recalled the memory of meeting her one and only friend at Miduce.

As the small girl passed through the glass doors into the library, she scanned the room:

It was a nice library, but of course not a soul was there.  The books were only touched by one set of hands which was Chaewon’s and maybe Hyunjin’s when she was trying to get the rowdy girl to study.

The library had an insane amount of books, with the shelves curling in every direction, creating a maze of sorts.  Ever since technology became a new source for research and info, the school fired the librarian and made the empty library a self-checkout.  They didn’t want to waste any money on something none of their students would use, so there wasn’t a teacher on watch or security cameras either even though it was a pretty known fact that the library was the number one hookup spot in the whole school.  Chaewon had the honor of running into one too many couples in the twists and turns of the shelves.

Chaewon shook her head at the thought of people using a library for something so… not library-like.

As she kept walking, she soon reached her favorite spot: a table isolated in the depths of the bookshelves, away from any interaction.  It was so deep in the library that not even couples dared to take the chance of getting lost. It was Chaewon’s own little nook, somewhere she could escape to and not worry about anything or anyone- well, except when she dragged Hyunjin along, then she’d have to worry about the rougher girl passing class so she could play sports.

Chaewon had decorated the little table with a lamp and a blanket for when it got cold.  It was the day before winter break after all.

“I can’t believe I made it through the first semester.”

The quiet girl smiled.  Her first semester had been rough, riddled with bullying and mistreatment, but she made it.  All she needed to do was sit through her last couple of classes, eat lunch, then walk home with Yujin and sleep and watch movies until the break was over.

Chaewon’s heart grew warm at the idea.  She got up from her seat and went to a nearby shelf, closing her eyes.

Since all of the books in the library were at her disposal, there was a game she liked to play where she would close her eyes, pick a book, and try to finish it even if it wasn’t a genre she enjoyed.

As Chaewon’s hand grazed over the books, she could hear books violently dropping some distance away.

Thump.  Thump. Thump-thump-thump.

If her eyes weren’t closed she would’ve rolled them.

Some couple are seriously getting brave now.  How loud.

Chaewon shook her head, focusing on the enjoyment of her little game.

She felt each bind of the book, her fingers dipping quickly over the indentations and spaces where one title started and the other finished.

After around thirty seconds she stopped at a book.

She nodded her head, grasping the spine and pulling it from the other, surrounding books.

She started to stand up, but before she could open her eyes to bring the book towards her face and read the title, the book was snatched away and both of her arms were grabbed.

“Well look who we found in her little cave…”

Chaewon’s eyes shot open.  Walking around her space was none other than-

“Kang Soyoung-”

“Yeah, what about it?”

Soyoung turned around.

She still had to wear a face support for her nose that basically looked like a transparent hockey mask.  There were blotches of purple that were starting to fade but still painfully obvious.

Kim Hyunjin can really do some damage…

The broken nosed girl looked down at the book in her hands.  She chuckled, holding it up to Chaewon’s face.

“‘20 Steps to Find a Soulmate’? Are you this ing pathetic?- Wait, don’t answer that, I might laugh and feel bad.”

Soyoung’s cronies cackled while Chaewon cringed.

Out of all of the books in the whole library I had to choose that one…

Soyoung circled around Chaewon, flipping through the pages.

“Step One: You Can’t Pick and Choose.  Step Two: Don’t Assume. Step Three: It’s Okay if You Didn’t Click on the First Try.  Jesus, what is this, a therapy session?”

But she kept going.

“Step Four: Reach Out Your Hand.  Step Five: Be a Shelter. Step Six: Take a Risk- this is bull.”

Soyoung slammed the book shut before approaching Chaewon, getting super close and shoving the book in her face.

“You should’ve used this while you had the chance.”

This caught Chaewon’s attention.

“Huh?”

Soyoung smiled.

“Let’s just call it ‘killing two roaches with one stone’.  See, you were right, I’m smart. Maybe not as smart as you, but I’m pretty ing clever and I love screwing around with people.  Especially you.”

Thump. THUMP.  THUMP-THUMP.

The falling books were getting closer.

Chaewon started to sweat.

“Aren’t you going to ask me how the hell I got here?  Come on, it’s not fun when you don’t say anything.”

“... you said last time that you didn’t want me to talk unless you asked me specifically-”

Soyoung glared at the pinned down girl.

“Don’t be an and ask the question.”

Chaewon froze.  Soyoung was a bully and a straight up awful human but she could feel a new evil in the air and it did not feel pleasant.

“... How did you get here?”

The evil girl’s smile returned, her movements becoming more exaggerated like a cartoon villain.

“Glad you asked!  Now, I haven’t spent a single day of my life in here and I’m happy I never have.  What a geek breeding ground. I guess that’s why you’re here.”

Chaewon rolled her eyes internally.

“Anyways, I know you’re the only person who uses this place, but even then this wasteland is huge, so I wouldn’t be able to find you.  Though I hate admitting it, I needed some help, so I finally decided to accept a new girl into my little group here.”

Chaewon looked at Soyoung’s smile.  According to little snippets she heard in the hallway, Soyoung and her five henchmen had been a group basically since birth.  There was no way she would just ‘let someone in’.

Something was up.

“Do you want to come in or are you just gonna knock over books all day?”

Soyoung yelled into the twists and turns of the hall, her fists clenched with excitement.

She turned around one last time to Chaewon, who was now shaking.

Her face formed a fake pout as she took some steps closer.

thump.

“Park Chaewon, I never want to see your face again.”

Thump.

“You disgust me.”

THUMP.

“It may seem like I’m being extreme.”

THUMP.

“But at least I’ll say that I hope you have a nice, long break.”

THUMP-THUMP-THUMP.

“Forever.”

Soyoung threw the book at Chaewon and it smashed against the smaller girl’s chest, knocking the air out.

The scariest girl Chaewon has ever encountered in her life raised her hand, motioning for all of her followers to leave.

And they did.

Soyoung grinned one last time.

“Have a nice life, Park Chaewon.”

And then she vanished into the darkness of the library shelves, not making a sound.

THUMP.

Chaewon frantically looked around.

The girls who were holding her down had left when Soyoung told them to but her body couldn’t get up to run away, she was too scared.

Who could it possibly be?

The scared girl’s mind was racing.

There wasn’t much she could think of besides the girls she had just encountered that could scare her to death.

Maybe a transfer she had never heard of?  An un