C R O O K E D

CHAPTER 5:

P A R K   C H A N Y E O L

CHANYEOL'S POINT OF VIEW

It’s been 9 months since I’ve been admitted to the ‘Boarding School’— Crooked High. And like everyone else’s story, I didn’t come here on my own accord. I was dragged into this hellhole, insisting that I’m Crooked. That I’m some sort of ‘thing’ that needs to be straightened out. 

A few months before my admission, the government released a demographic showing the decline of the population. They told the populace that these declines would lead to future complications for the nation— So they encourage families to procreate. Though the families today are becoming more diverse— the rise of homouals and non-hetero partners are on the loose— which means that they won’t be able to give off the offspring’s that the government wants. 

The government didn’t seem to mind it before— but now they treat it as a dilemma. Hence, they’re rounding up the teenagers that are in the spectrum and placing them at correctional facilities such as the Boarding School to straighten the Crookedness out of them. 

I can’t seem to understand the algorithm that the government uses in order to scout the Crooked ones. And ever since I got here, I kept questioning them. How can they determine it? What is it based upon? 

I kept telling myself that I’m not Crooked— yet here I am... 

“Tough night?” I peered on my left and saw Suho leaning on the wall beside me. I winced and looked back at the crowd. We’re at the Club right now— you read that right— a club inside a correctional facility. 

The Club’s open every night. And it’s open for everyone— everyone willing to lose 500 points on their accounts— and that’s only for the admission itself. Drugs and Booze come at different points. 

Students are not allowed to leave the facility at any cost, for there will be impending sanctions to those who tried— tried because the success rate of leaving this place is zero. So, to pacify the raging hormones of the students, the government opened a club within the proximity of the facility. Though one must pay a price in order to get in. 

“Look at all of these people— they’re all wasting their points in here when they should be saving them to rank up” My jaw clenches as I watch two underaged girls grinding at each other. I took out my phone and opened the scanner app. I hovered it up at the girl’s direction. The phone scanned them and minutes after, their information loaded at the screen of my phone. 

I was about to file an offense on the two of them when Chen grabbed the phone out of my hand. I gave him a furious look as I snatched my phone back. 

“That’s an Act of Indecency,” I said as a matter of fact. Chen grinned at me as he hooked his right arm on my neck, forcing me to crouch a little. 

“It’d take you forever if you’re going to file an offense on everyone— plus they already lost enough points by just being admitted in here. Give them some leeway Park Chanyeol— and chill the fck out” he tugged me lower before he finally let go. I craned my neck as I let out a growl. 

“Don’t mind Chen, he’s just messing with you” I almost forgot that Suho’s still beside me. I looked at him and saw that his eyes were glued to the crowd. He’s the only sensible person with an Exo status— and he made it his job to look after the other Exo’s, as well as the other students at Crooked High. 

In a way, he’s like the president of the student council of Crooked High. But you see Crooked High doesn’t have a council. Instead, they have this ranking system— and you can do almost anything to those students you outrank. Whereas the Exo reigns supreme. 

Students are classified into 3 groups— the first one is the students with a Probationary Status, they’re usually newly admitted ones, or they’re probably students who fell from the Ordinary Status. The second group is the students with  Ordinary Status. The last one is the students with an Exo Status, they’re the students who managed to get past the Ordinary status, deeming them as Extraordinaire’s— Exo. 

After obtaining the Exo status, we among the Exo are further ranked and assessed in different ways, bet it academically, physically, biologically and emotionally to ensure that there’s no hint of crookedness left in us— after that, the government chooses who to process. 

“I’