“Can you believe it? That it really did turn out to be them.”

“Well, Jinhwan, sure, but Gyuri was so nice all the time.”

“Are you kidding? She was a . Jinhwan was the nice one.”

The students bicker within themselves but fall silent as the professor knocks on the blackboard. “Time to settle down,” he warns, turning back to write out the exam review. “No more talking.”

But the gossip continues, and someone person jokes that one of them should just go ahead and take one for the team so that everyone else can pass the exam.

The room falls silent.

***

He stands in front of Room 0219, not knowing what to do or how to feel. He’s heard things about this school before, about the serial killings fifty years back over IQ points. Apparently, this room used to belong to one of the people who died. Well, two of them, actually.

Suddenly, with a squeak, the door opens, startling him from his thoughts. He jumps backwards, nearly dropping the books in his arms.

“Hey, you must be my roommate!” The boy in front of him has messy black hair and dark smiley eyes. “I’m Hwanhee Lee, and you are?”

He smiles, relieved by the friendliness of his new roommate. “Jinhwan Kim.” The air solidifies for a moment as a wave of something akin to nostalgia washes over him. Jinhwan drops his books, his arms giving out, but neither of them moves. Hwanhee’s smile has disappeared, replaced by a faint hint of sorrow.

“I forgive you,” he whispers, voice ragged. It breaks the moment, and Jinhwan scrambles to pick up his books.

“You’re okay, it was my fault.” Hwanhee helps too, and Jinhwan can’t help but glance at him in curiosity. “But why did you phrase it like that?”

The other boy shrugs, a smile returning to his face. “I don’t know. It just felt right.”

***

The school is huge, and Gyuri might be lost. She’s not even sure she’s in the right dorm building, much less on the right floor. Oh well, since she’s already here, might as well try to find the room, right?

She keeps running into other people on her search for Room 0901. Then, suddenly, she sees it, the huge sign pointing to ‘Rooms 0890 - 0910’. In her glee of hurrying towards it, Gyuri bumps into someone else. This time, she knocks the person over.

“O-oh gosh, I’m so sorry!” She’s not sure how to help him when he’s trapped underneath a large electrical keyboard, but she hears a laugh and hopes that everything is okay.

“It’s okay,” the voice - obviously a male - says. Then, the keyboard rises, and a boy with a bunny face smiles at her. “I don’t blame you.”

That’s an odd way to forgive someone. Curious, Gyuri meets the boy’s gaze. Deep brown, warm and friendly with an odd sense of familiarity. Something stirs within her heart, something like an ancient sadness. “Have we met before?” she blurts out, and the boy tilts his head in confusion.

“I don’t think so,” he says, and holds out his hand with a bright grin. “Jungkook Jeon.”

“Gyuri Jang.” A huge smile spreads over Gyuri’s face, although she’s not entirely sure why. She only knows - somehow, someway - that everything will turn out alright.