[It’s exhausting...]

 

Common thought, or isn’t it? Well, in any case, it’s the first thing that Bae Joohyun said every morning as she wakes up. However she has an image to output as a good daughter or, through her father’s words, “daddy’s strong girl” so she can’t keep it in her mind for too long. Plus today she doesn’t have class until lunch hence everything’s fine, right? But when she prepared her bag with the other students’ assignments this sentence came back to her mind.

 

[It’s exhausting...]

 

And when she stood in front of her school gate, knowing very well how the others are judging or mocking her, it grew stronger.

 

[So exhausting...]

 

Yet it is only when she got cornered by a bunch of them that this word became a whole part of her, like every other days.

 

[I’m exhausted...]

 

"Hey Pretty! Where were you this morning!?"

 

She didn’t answer and, instead, directly pull out the homework from her bag. She was innocently hoping it would’ve been enough until the girl in front of her throw the folder away.

 

"Are you kidding me!? It was due for this morning I got a 0 because of you!!!"

 

The bully grabbed Joohyun’s collar and pushed her against the lockers but she kept quiet. Frustrating? Maybe. Strange? Not if you know how, sadly, all those years of harassment did at least taught a few things to the raven. One of them being that there’s no point in apologizing. They never care about your excuses and sometimes it even fuels their rage. The wise behaviour is always to remain silent, let them hit you once or twice after they pushed you against the wall a couple of times and that’s it. Hence here she is, eyes closed, waiting for the pain to come but it never did. Instead she found herself floating in the air and taken away from that horrible situation.

 

[Was it another nightmare...?]

 

Once she managed to open her eyes, she saw two arms; one around her knees and the other one around her waist holding her tightly as she was transported through the hallway. When their owner spotted a corner out of sight, he finally put her down. Then he shouted, despite his shaky breathing which slightly startled her.

 

"Safe!”

 

This boy... She knew him, Ryu Tae-Joon; Joohyun knew him very well and that terrified her. She should escape before something bad could happen. Even if Joohyun knew how already doomed she was for they saw him carrying her through the school and also because Nancy didn't get to put her anger somewhere... She had to escape.

 

"Hi, I’m- No! Wait!"

 

She ran away, well tried; walked very fast in TJ’s opinion.

 

"Does it means that you prefer to talk about it later?! I have a free period at three!" He shouted to her back. [Is she even listening…? I guess not...] He thought.

 

The young boy sighed and walked, hands in the pockets, to his next class; Math.

 

"Mr. Ryu! You’re late!"

"I know, I’m sorry sir, I-"

"Seems like our last conversation in the principal’s office didn’t affect you that much, huh?"

 

[blah, blah, blah... He should already be happy I gave his course the credit of my presen- OH!]

"YOU’RE HERE TOO?!"

 

The late student abruptly interrupted his professor by pointing the girl at the last row. Bae Joohyun didn’t dare to look back at him, she stared at her desk hoping it would’ve been of any help.

 

[No no no no no! What should I do?! First, don’t look at him! Don’t! Maybe he’s talking to the wall! Yeah let’s just stop breathing just in case and he’ll- ]

 

But TJ was already bending next to her and smiling warmly with his head a few centimetres away. "Hi! As expected you’re very pretty! Remember me? Yeah...Sorry, it's stupid... since we met just a few seconds ago. Anyway, can I sit next to you?"

 

[He’s here! He’s close! Too close! Let’s pray! Please! If I ever did something nice in my life it’s the perfect moment to get rewarded! Take this man away from me!]

 

"Mr Ryu!!!”

 

[Thank You So Much!] She mentally cried.

 

"Ouch... forgot about that one... Um... yes?"

"OUT! And you’ll have 2 hours of detention after school!"

"Huh!? Why!?"

"Should I make it a whole week!?"

"You have no right to do this! I’m innocent!! I know my rights!!!"

"A whole week it will be then!"

 

"Nooo..." He whined.

 

"Now, out." Ended the teacher.

 

Against all odds, Tae-Joon knew better than debate with his worse enemy so he silently left followed by the laugh of his classmates and the internal relief sigh from a certain scared girl.

Math was his last subject of the day, 2 whole periods of integrals so honestly it was probably for the best. But then it means that he won’t have the opportunity to train in the swimming pool today nor the whole week. He walked aimlessly in the hallway for quite a moment, unwilling to face the headmaster anytime soon.

 

“Dang it! My stupid mouth!"

 

[He’s gonna lecture me and call my parents, I just know it! Dad and mom are so going to kill me for having detention again! Unless… If the coach hears the news before... Then she will probably pre-empt them by making me stay under the water until I die... The worst is that I think I scared Pretty... Now there’s no way she’s gonna help me!UGH I JUST HATE ME!]

 

"Tae-Joon?"

"Hm? Oh...Hey uncle..."

The old man laughed lightly at the sight "Why are you moping around this time? Did you mistakenly take your sister swimming equipment again?"

"What!? No! Uncle please!" TJ facepalmed.

"Hey you’re the one who wore that thing despite-"

"I swear it was a man swim suit! It just happen to be very... pink!"

"And short."

"I know!"

"With unicorns..."

"..."

"Hahaha okay okay, I got it, sorry, enough with the teasing. Now grab the broom and help me clean the entrance while you'll tell me why did Mr. Jeon throw you out this time."

“How!? ... Nevermind...”

 

The teenager followed his elder as he started explaining his situation to the janitor. The old man laughed so much that he had to sit on the stairs.

 

“Uncle...”

“Your adventures always get crazier each time!"

"... Yeah go ahead, just laugh over my sorrow..."

"Hahaha I’m sorry kid but it was hilarious!"

"Whatever... I’m done cleaning my side. I gotta go; class are about to end..."

"Hey, stop sulking. Come with me, I’ll convince them to let you bring me some support in cleaning instead of staying at your desk faking a study session."

"As you... Wait! Does that mean-"

"And if you’re very useful I’ll let you swim after that."

"Really?!?!"

"Yeah But let’s not mention it in front of the headmaster Okay?"

"Thank you uncle!!" He shouted, hugging his elder.

 

It is quite evident that the relationship between those two is very unique. Indeed, despite their respective status or the , they managed to create a strong bond alike the one carrying by a father and his son. The craziest is that it all started by a simple gesture; one day TJ was in detention because he didn’t do his homework’s for the umpteenth time and he saw the old man struggling outside. Hence he faked the need of going to the restroom so that he could bring some water to the worker. Then he took the plastic bag and ran through the court, picking up all the trash by himself. Hopefully the teacher who was in charge that day was miss Kang so she let him be. After all; he was doing, for once, his homework... As a citizen but she settled with those crumbs.

-----

 

The rest of day passed really fast; the coach heard the news and told the hothead to come one hour before his first class every day to run 45 minutes for the rest of the week. Then when he arrived home his parents grounded him and finally but not least; Wendy.

 

“I can’t believe you just aren’t man enough to fight for your will!”

“What the-”

“Hush! I’ll take care of the situation. I don’t know much about her but I know for sure that every girls of our grade have PE Thursday morning so we’ll get on it that day.”

“I don’t think we’ll be able to. The coach has eagle’s eyes if I stop running around the court for a second she’ll kill me.”

“Not you dummy! I mean the girls and me!”

“Oh…”

“Now shoo. I must study.”

 

The blond head pushed her brother to the door until he abruptly stopped and by the way he called her, she sensed that he was getting serious.

 

“Seungwan…”

“Ye-yes?”

“This girl… Just… Go easy on her, ok?”

 

At first Wendy, intrigued by his request, decided to stay quiet and simply nod once, but right before he could step off the room she spoke up.

 

“…TJ!”

“Hm?”

“Joohyun; her name is Bae Joohyun.”

He smiled. “I doubt I’ll get to use it much.”

“Don’t be so pessimist!”

“Well since the mission depends on you… Goodnight chips!”

“HEY!”

 

Days passed, Thursday came and per se the long-awaited E.P class. Awaited by everyone except Joohyun. She managed to avoid school for two days straights by forcefully making herself throw up on her room’s floor. However the act couldn’t keep going forever and now she has to return there against her will. But she wasn’t ready to face the reality through an unfortunate encounter so she came earlier with the aim to find an appropriate hideout at least until the first lesson. And the best place was indeed the locker room where she nervously waited after slipping in her tracksuit.

 

[So many people are after me… Nancy, she still didn’t get her payback… Jihyo was probably counting on me to exchange answers of yesterday’s history test… But the worse is -]

 

“Oh!? We met again!”

 

Well… A man… Appearing out of nowhere… Inside the locker room… Normally reserved for the girls... Right behind Joohyun… who was alone and deeply lost in her thoughts... Yes, it results with quite a deafening scream from the petite woman. And if it wasn’t for Tae-Joon’s hands catching her back before, said girl would’ve probably crash on the floor. But it came with a sacrifice.

 

“OH MY! MY EARS!” The boy shook his head, in a pointless attempt to ease his pain then he slowly turned her so they could face each other. Fortunately when she opened her eyes, no tears were to be found. “Wow! That was mad! ”

 

[Mad? He’s mad?! No, I… I don’t want to be hit… I should run!]

 

The Bae child was slowly backing up from the unexpected guest making him instinctively grab her back again.

 

“Wait; don’t go. It was clearly my fault. I’m sorry I know that I have nothing to do here. I mean; I normally shouldn’t be here but I have a good reason though! See my bag? I’m sentenced to run every morning for a week because Mr Jeon told the coach about “my misbehaviour” in his class...”

 

[Sorry? He… Apologized? But if it’s because of what happened Monday then he should hate me, no? Maybe he’s just pretending and he’ll hit me later…]

 

“… And you probably don’t care.” He sighed. “Sorry, I’m leaving. I just thought I could change here if I came before anyone.”

She held his hand back. [It doesn’t look like he’s lying...]

“Yes?”

“I-I’ll go. You can change here...”

“No way. You were here first. You stay, okay?”

 

Silence filled the room before one of them spoke up and surprisingly it was Joohyun.

“... What about the showers room? I’ll wait there while you change. It’s... a good compromise...”

 

The other student was a bit taken a back by the thoughtful proposition as he was thinking she would rather avoid him as much as possible but he quickly hid a hold on himself. “Hmm. You’re not gonna peak right?”

 

“NO! Never!”

“Hahaha good! Then please go there. I’ll be quick.”

 

She nodded once, head low, and Tae-Joon couldn’t help but ruffle her hair with a smile before she entered the other room.

[Ryu Tae-Joon, why…?]

 

When they were done, TJ wanted to take advantage of this unique chance and start something. Anything that could eventually lead to his wish but the voices in the hallway reminded him that he shouldn’t press his luck too much.

 

“I should go before someone comes and misinterpret our situation... Bye! I’ll see you on the court!”

 

And so he ruffled her hair once more as he ran away to the said place, leaving the pretty girl dumbfounded.

 

“Bye...” She said as he was already long gone.

 

Forty minutes passed, the lockers started to get full and Joohyun uncomfortable. It felt like everyone was watching her and, truth to be told, a lot of students were indeed keeping an eye on the quiet girl; not always for a good purpose. The pressure was becoming so unbearable yet she couldn’t do anything else than trying to hide behind her glasses and hugging her bag tightly. To her relief, the coach finally came but then...

 

“Okay girls! I want you all on the court, right now. Two laps then you go grab a ball and a partner for the warm up. We’ll be doing some volleyball today! Go go!”

 

As the students went out, the prettiest make sure to be the last one so that she could avoid the “accidental” bumpings from her classmates while running. Hopefully, Joohyun’s very reserved personality made her go unnoticed by the coach who was busy chasing the other girls from the room. When she finally did join the group, she was surprised to see that the others had almost finished their two laps. There was only a couple of girls left whom were still at it and Tae-joon doing his punishment.

 

“Bae! You’re late! What’s your excuse this time?!”

“My- my shoelace w-was untied?”

“...”

“...”

“Are you making fun of me?!”

“No..”

“You’ve been late at all the past lessons! I always turned a blind eye to it because you’re not a bad one but it’s enough! Being a smart head doesn’t allow you to disregard my class!”

“I.. It wasn’t my purpose to give this impression.. I’m sorry.. ”

The old woman sighed. “I know Bae, but it doesn’t go unnoticed by your classmates. I have no other choice than to act in consequence.”

“I understand...”

“15 laps then you can continue the lesson.”

“15?!”

“Now. No discussion. You should already be grateful it’s not 15 laps plus the two regular.”

“Okay..”

 

But as Joohyun was about to run, she found herself trapped in the arm of someone.

 

“Wait a second!”

The teacher pinched the bridge of her nose. “Yeri it doesn’t even concern you... Why do you always have to negotiate everything!? Why are you even here, you’re under certificate!”

“To laugh at my friends but let’s not be drawn out ma’am. You can’t just give her fifteen laps, she’ll be dead by the end of it! Even Seulgi wouldn’t be able to do that much, right?”

 

[Okay now what’s with this day getting weirder and weirder...] thought Joohyun

 

“Actually I co-” tried to intervene the monolid girl.

“See our Sport-Ace couldn’t. Now imagine this poor girl. She’s so small, petite, fragile and”-she grabbed and shook joohyun’s arms- “Look at those arms!”

“Yeri let go of your classmate’s arms.”

 

[I’m not small... I have the average height... Heck! She isn’t that big neither!] Joohyun stared at the younger girl asking herself why on earth would she get in trouble for someone she barely knows.

 

“Stop changing the subject; we’re negotiating her amount of laps. Ma’am this is real business.” Threw back the youngest before quickly turning to Joohyun. “Don’t worry oldie, I got your back.”

 

[OLDIE?! Just because she passed 2 class doesn’t mean I’m old!]

 

“Fine. How about you share the task with her then? For each lap you’ll run she’ll have one less to do. What do you think Kim Yerim?”

 

The youngest eyes widened as she turned to Joohyun. “Sorry grandma. I tried but looks like you’ll be on your own for that one, Coach is too strong. Though it was nice meeting ya!” And she ran away to the bench.

 

“... Thank you? Brat?”

“Bae. Go.” The old women pointed to the court with her chin.

“Yes..”

 

And so the doll like girl started her punishment. One, two, five, eight, eleven laps and she could barely go anymore, her legs were slowly giving up, gallons of sweat were running down her face and just when she was about to stop she felt a big hand strongly grabbing hers.

 

“You’re too close to give up!”

 

Once again, it was TJ who came out of nowhere to save her. Joohyun didn’t say a word, mostly because of the fatigue yet it didn’t prevent the torrent of questions inside her mind..

 

[Tae-Joon? Why is he here? I thought he had a punishment himself.. and what’s this thing he’s wearing? It looks like a bulletproof vest... ]

 

Truth to be told the young Bae was happy seeing him by her side and rather than scared she felt good at that very moment. Hence she decided to silently watch him drag them for two more laps until she couldn’t keep up at all.

“T... Tae...”

“Hm?”

“I can’t... please stop...”

“But there’s only one lap left!”

“Sorry...”

“Don’t be, I’ll manage.”

 

The boy thought hard about what to do while watching his classmate being closer to walking than anything. He wasn’t a genius and didn’t want to come with something that might hurt the girl so he went with the only idea he seems able to think of ; carrying the lady!

 

“Alright!” He gulped while grabbing Joohyun’s tiny waist and slightly lifting her, just as much he was allowed to without making it obvious to their teacher.

“Ryu?!”

“Move your legs!”

“W-what?”

“Pretend that you’re running or the coach will see through us! Crap! She’s already looking! Do it!”

 

It took a moment for the smart head to figure his intentions but once she did, she felt something warm strangely growing in her stomach. However she was quick to brush it off, thinking that it was probably due to the fear of being caught red handed.

 

“Aaaaand... SAFE!” He shouted then held his hand. “Gimme five!”

“Thank you..” Joohyun shyly smile and high-fived her classmate.

“You’re welcome!”

 

He responded and ruffled the raven’s hair. The young bae used this opportunity to check the boy. His smile never fade yet he was sweating bullets and still wearing the strange jacket.

 

“What is it?”

“What’s what?”

“The jacket you’re wearing. It looks heavy..”

“Hahaha because it is mean to be so. Running one hour is too easy for me. I’ve been doing sports since I’m a toddler. Hence the coach makes me wear a weight vest of 20 KG; she’s a monster.”

 

[Oh... We're having a conversation! Should I ask her? Or will it be too direct?]

 

“Yes! She made me run 15 laps...”

“Hahaha yeah that’s insane...” He manages to said despite being lost in his thoughts.

 

[Come on TJ say it! Stop being a loser! You’ll never get another chance like this!]

 

”Um... can I ask you something? A favour thing...”

 

Joohyun hummed as she bite the inside of her cheeks.

[Of course he does... They all do... And in the end, he isn’t that different from them... What was I thinking...? Well at least he tried to go with a pacifist yet hypocrite way at first... But if I refuse, how long will he be able to hold this hoax...?]

 

"Alright... So... I would like to propose you... Um... a deal."

 

[Why do they always use that word...A deal? No the word they should use is blackmail...]

 

"Please no..."

"Wh- but! I still haven't said what it was about!"

 

[There it comes, the boundaries of his masquerade...]

 

"You need "help" with your classes."

"Y-yeah... How do you know?" He asked pretty impressed.

"I'm sorry, please don't inflict that on me... I already have so much to do for the others, I can barely sleep..."

She tried to go but he held her back. "Wait. At least give me a listening... It's probably not what you think! It will be good for you too!"

 

[Good for me? Lately only one solution seems to get better and better for me...]

 

"How?"

"You won't have to do the others' homework, I'll make sure no one bully you anymore! I just need you to help me cause I'm failing all my courses. I know it's gonna be a burden more than a help for you but I promise that I'll do my best to learn quick and even if I nail my exams, I'll keep protecting you!"

"...We will have to see each other outside the school, right?"

"Maybe... My scores are terrible... I'm not the smart type..."

 

[Now I see where this is going... He's worst than I imagined...]

 

"Please don't approach me anymore..."

"W-why? Did I say or do something wrong!?" She tried once more to go but he didn't let her.

"Please! Let me go!"

"...Fine. I'm sorry Joohyun. I'm really sorry if I offended you. Forget about the offer. I'll leave you alone but could you just tell me what I did wrong so that I'll be more careful next time."

 

[Did he...?]

 

"You-you called me Joohyun?"

"Yeah? Why!? I shouldn't have!? I'm sorry! Oh I’m so sorry! Man I'm horrible at this!"

"No, no, it's just... No one does..."

"Hm... Well if it's okay with you, I rather call you Joohyun since... It's your name. It is, right?"

 

[Seungwan I swear if you pranked me, I'll rip your manen!]

 

"Thank you."

"Huh?"

"For calling me by my name... It’s been a while...  I think that I misjudged you..."

"Depends. If you thought I was stupid, then no; you didn't."

The raven softly shook her head before proceeding to explain. "Someone already proposed me the same “deal” than you... I blindly believed him... but he lied...It was a trap..."

"A trap? What kind of trap?”

“...”

“Oh you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to! But... Whoever it was, I'm not like him or her. The thing is that if I can't get better grades, they won't allow me to participate to the championship and I'm too broke to get a particular teacher. It's not a trap; I can show you my reports, I'm really dumb. And you can also ask the coach or miss Kang, they’re nice so they will tell you."

"I-"

"Wait! You don't have to answer me now! Think about it then come back to me, alright?"

"I'm sorry but there's no need to think. Even if you're honest, I can't agree with this..."

"Why!?"

 

Unfortunately, the young Ryu stayed clueless. She didn't give him any answer and just ran away to join the rest of her class. Of course the welcome committee wasn't the finest, she couldn't count how many girls were willing to beat the hell out of her... Maybe she should've accepted his proposition but she knew better. Plus if she managed to support all the bickering until now, there was no reason she wouldn't be able to go through, one more year, right?

 

"Bae, take this ball, find yourself a partner, do 10 blocks, 10 pass and you'll join Park's team, right there. Tell them to get ready, you'll be on the field in 15 minutes."

"A-A partner?"

"Didn't you get enough rest with Ryu?"

"Sure..." She answered, blushing like never.

 

[That wasn't why I asked... How will I found a partner that won't try to kill me with the ball...?]

 

The pretty girl walked to the bench, tightly holding the ball against her small body and looked up to her teamates but strangely they didn't pull out any form of austerity. In fact they seemed pretty nice.

 

------

FLASHBACK, 37 minutes before:

 

“Sorry grandma I tried but looks like you’ll be on your own for that one. Though it was nice meeting ya!” Said the youngest before she ran away to the bench.

 

Witnessing the whole scene, the three other girls that were also a part of the plan quickly started discussing on a new way to reach their purpose.

 

Joy: "Looks like our first idea became a failure. Yeri ran away faster than the light."

Wendy: "I knew we couldn't count on this demon to carry the "save pretty to get her trust" plan!"

Seulgi: "That's a long title for a plan... What do we do now?"

Joy: "Do we really need plans? You should just let me talk to her! You know I always get my ways with people."

Wendy: "So that you end up in jail? Or worse; scare her for the rest of the year and ruin all our chances? No way! Here's the second plan; we are actually 25 students but since Yeri's under certificate, we'll be 24. A volley team is composed by 6 players, we are three, with Pretty we will be four. Hence we need to find two other girls but we'll have to make sure they never hurt nor care about Pretty so that we will have her all for ourselves. But before that since she will join us later, the coach will probably tell her to find a partner and do some warm-up, we can't let anyone else take the place or it will ruin everything."

Seulgi: ...

Joy: ...

Wendy: ...

Joy: "And I'm the one who might end up in jail?!"

Wendy: "Yes."

Joy: "You sounded like a psycho!"

Wendy: "Well you act like a psycho!"

Seulgi: "TJ told me that in his opinion both of you are psychos who will most certainly end up in jail."

Both pyschos: "He said what!?"

Seulgi: "I know why you're surprised. I asked him about Yeri but he explained me that even if she was worst than you, she's too 'Yeri' to get caught."

Joy: “I can’t say that he’s wrong but how dares he?!”

Wendy: "... Anyway, let's head back to our plan. Joy, make sure that only two nice girls join us, just two. I'll talk with Pretty and Seulgi do the training nicely with her."

Seulgi: "Okay!"

Joy: "Fine but I'll be the team captain!"

Wendy: "As if it ever was a matter of discussion..."

 

END OF FLASHBACK

------

 

The raven walked to the bench, tightly holding the ball against her and looked up to her teammates but strangely... They didn't pull any form of austerity. In fact they seemed pretty nice.

 

"He-Hello... I need a partner to-"

"I'll do it!" said enthousisatically the monolid teen which startled the shy asker. "My name's Seulgi! You're Pretty, it shows because you really are."

"Thank you..."

"If this plan fail, the blame will be on her lame pick up line." whispered Joy.

"I know...” Hushed Wendy before she proceeded louder. “Seulgi, how about you just go help her and leave the talking to another time or person?"

 

However, despite Seungwan being quite clear concerning their intentions, only Seulgi didn't got it.

 

"Why not? I'm able to talk and play at the same time. Come on pretty, let's go to that corner."

The raven followed her new-found partner to the said corner and did what their teacher asked for. Of course she stayed alarm all along since she sensed that the three girls were up to something. But truth to be told, the monolid student wasn't very scary so it was kind of hard to be wary of her. She will always compliment Joohyun when she played well and cheer up if she messed up. It felt good but at the same time it made her anxiety grow ten levels up...

 

[The better is the ascension, the bitter will be the deception..]

 

"And ten! That's it! Let's rest before we have to go play against Saeron's team."

"Yes..."

 

Both girls walked to the bench and were about to sat when Joy spoke up.

 

"Pretty, bring your tiny feet here and sit next to Wendy."

"JOY! I said subtly!!!" screamed-whispered the said friend.

"Yeah well I say that I'm too lazy to think about anything so get over it!"

"You didn't do anything today!"

"UH! Excuse me?! Haven't you seen this!? You think it's effortless to maintain my beautiful self?! Unless you think that-"

 

Before things could get nasty, the top student grabbed her friend’s shoulder to interrupt the upcoming speech.

 

"I'm sorry Joy, you're the prettiest woman around here but can we please concentrate on you know what! "

"Around here?"

"On this whole planet!”

"That’s better! I like it!"

"Anyway, would you like to sit with us Pretty?"

 

[This day keeps getting weirder... Maybe I should've agreed to his proposition...]

 

"Um..."

"Don't say no to wannie, she'll be sad and Joy will be mad." Tried to advise Seulgi.

"Sure..."

 

[Definitely should've.]

 

Wendy: "Hi! I'm Seungwan but you can call me Wendy. You already know Seulgi. And finally our Joy, Sooyoung. I’m this annoying idiot down there’s sister.”

 

The raven didn’t pay much attention to what Wendy was saying. She still slowly bowed to acknowledge them while her mind and her eyes were busy noticing the familiar faces burying holes through her.

 

Joy: “Hey Pretty, listen to Seungwan!”

Irene: “Y-yes, Sorry.”

Wendy: “Joy! Stop bullying her!”

Seulgi: “Yeah! Follow the plan and let Wendy do the talk!”

Wendy: “I hope one day you’ll choke on your saliva Kang Seulgi.”

Seulgi: “I hope you’ll choke on air Son Seungwan.”

 

The tallest laughed her soul out at the fight while Joohyun felt even more uneasy than she ever had today

.

[Please just tell me what you want from me... ]

 

“PARK TEAM GET A HOLD YOURSELF AND COME HERE! IT’S YOUR TURN!” interrupted the coach.

 

Joy: “Ah she’s so noisy! Let’s go my team, we have some wigs to take off.”

Seulgi: “Yeah let’s destroy them!”

Wendy: “It’s just a game, you two... And um... Pretty? Don’t mind those two, they might get a bit aggressive during the game but they are real softies, especially Joy!”

Irene: “...Sure...”

 

The Game started and the two friends did surely show how competitive they could be. However no one in the court was blind enough to ignore where all the balls were directed. The opponents always pass the ball to their best player, Yeji, whom will lock the same target again and again aka Bae Joohyun. Their play was dirty but they weren’t cheating so it was vain to complain. That, was if you weren’t THE unbothered Park Sooyoung. She walked with firm steps to the other side of the field, grabbed Yeji’s tee and spoke through gritted teeth.

 

Joy: “You throw the ball one more time to her and I swear I’ll break your arms and make you eat your fake nails after I’ll rip them off your ugly hands!”

Coach: “Park! Get away from her and return to your spot!” Intervened the coach.

Joy: “Can’t you see what they’re doing!?”

Coach: “I said, return to your spot.”

Wendy: “No. We forfeit.”

Coach: “Where do you two think you are?! The Olympic!? This is school, you can’t forfeit. The game will continue until I said so! So get back to your bloody spots and shut your mouths! This is my last warning!”

 

Impotent to the situation, Pretty’s partisan silently complied despite the frustrations consuming them.

 

Coach: “Very well! Who’s turn was it?”

Seulgi sang cheerfully: “Their turn.” Then she turned to her playmate. “Guys when the ball will be here, pass it to Joy and I’ll do the last touch, okay?”

 

The team agreed and after Saeron’s service, Sakura, one of the two girls that were forced into Joy’s team, directed her reception to the captain. She herself positioned the ball higher in the air, very closely to the net and next thing they knew, Yeji’s was on the floor bleeding a torrent... Kang Seulgi, out of anger, directed a full power smash to the other ace’s face. How did it happened? Well, said victim was simply trying to do a block but inadvertently with the amount of force put, the ball broke the defence and hit her face. She was in a terrible state but Seulgi couldn’t know it will finish this way... Because it wasn’t like she noticed Yeji’s bad habit to spread her arms a bit too much during blocks...

 

Seulgi: “Oh no... Coach I think that now we have no other choice than put a hold on the match...”

 

The young Kang was wearing her most beautiful eye-smile leaving everyone speechless and forcing the teacher to face the reality.

 

Coach: “... Class dismiss.”

 

 

Joy “KANG SEULGI COME HERE YOU SNEAKY LOVELY  BEAR!”

 

Sooyoung as she squeezed the said person in her arms quickly joined by Seungwan.

Even Yeri came running in the embrace.

 

Yeri: “I’m so proud of you unnie!”

Seulgi: “I really don’t like to get mad but not as much as staying still in front of an injustice...”

Wendy: “Um guys... Where is pretty?”

 

This was the last time they saw her...