Murder of New Love – Chapter 001

It was a normal night in the city of Seoul. Since it was a weekday, many people were either at home with their families or at work making a living. For one lady, she was on her way home from work.

The streets were not crowded since it was pretty late at night, only a couple cars passed by every few minutes and no one was walking on the street besides her.

Usually it wouldn't be scary, but she kept getting an eerie feeling, glancing behind after every step she took. She thought she heard footsteps beside her own, and she got more and more paranoid.

After turning a corner, she took off, not knowing what else to do in a stalker situation.

But it was too late.

- - - 2 Weeks Earlier - - -

The hallway was crowded with students at their lockers or walking to their class early. One student stood out amongst them all as she was the only one to not be stopping to say 'hi' to others, shout to another across the hall, or be pushed by some good-for-nothing bully. She walked with her head down, no eye-contact whatsoever with someone else as she made a quick stop to her locker before ducking around people and to her first class of the day—history, a class she didn't enjoy but had to deal with.

Walking into the room, she sat in the same seat she used last semester. She liked sitting by the window since she could see outside, and being on the third floor, there was a great view of the school's garden.

For the next few minutes the students trickled into the room. She heard her desk mate arrive from the sound of the chair moving, but she didn't say anything and just kept staring out the window.

"Good morning, class," the teacher said as she walked into the room, placing the stack of papers she carried upon her desk. She walked to the front of the room and to the podium, proceeding to take roll.

"Hwang Jaekyung?" The girl raised her hand, acknowledging that she was present before going back to staring and the beautiful flowers in the on-campus garden.

-

Walking into her next class, Jaekyung was in a slightly better mood. She went straight to her seat next to another girl who instantly gave her a bear hug.

Jaekyung laughed as she let go. "Did you miss me that much, Anna?"

"Of course! I didn't see you at all during the break!" Anna exclaimed. "Next time, you're coming with me to America."

"You know I couldn't this year; I had my internship at my dad's office."

Anna opened , ready to make a funny comeback, but was interrupted as the teacher started leading the class into the day's lesson.

Unlike Jaekyung, Anna wasn't as shy and so participated in the lesson—answering the teacher's questions, getting up to solve some of the problems on the board—yet, they were the best of friends.

When the bell rang, the two left together and made their way to the cafeteria. They stood in line to get their food, babbling the way only best friends could, when they heard a few familiar voices and turned around. They tackled their four other friends with hugs.

"Oh! You scared me!" Onew said who was just given a hug from behind. He turned his head around, only able to see the girl's hair and knowing right away who it was by its unique shade of red. He turned around to give Jaekyung a proper hug.

Meanwhile, Anna was hugging both Jonghyun and Minhowhile the latter didn't seem to enjoy the hug too well and felt uncomfortable.

Taemin stood in the middle of the two groups, feeling a left out. He squished himself between Jaekyung and Onew, stealing the girl for himself, and being the child that he is, stuck his tongue out at Onew.

Jaekyung giggled. "Come on, let's go get our lunch," she said, and dragged her friends back into the lunch line.

-

Famous in school for its fun labs and easy-going teacher, forensic science was Onew and Jaekyung's favorite class. And the fact that they were in the class together made it even better.

Briefly going over the semester's syllabus, the teacher then passed out a different worksheet for each pair.

"Today you'll be researching about the serial killer I've given you while tomorrow you'll give a short presentation. You can make either a powerpoint or a small poster, but the main key you must have answered is how he was caught."

The teacher gave the option to use the computers at the back of the room or go to the library, but since Onew never went to school without his laptop, he and Jaekyung just decided to use that and stay in the classroom.

"Oh my gosh, did you see the new student?" Behind the pair, two of the "popular girls" in the class had paired up and were gossiping the entire time, not laying a manicured finger on any of the books in front of them.

"Duh," said the blonde girl, "and he seems to be a bad boy—just my type." They ended up laughing at some joke it seemed no one but the two of them knew about. Jaekyung tuned them out and finished working on the assignment.

-

Being a senior at Seoul High meant completing a "senior project" in order to graduate. Because it was second semester, the senior were given a special class to take that allowed them to work just on that project. They were given a slip of paper telling them who their new advisory teacher was in their previous class.

Jaekyung walked to her algebra two class—which was now her advisory class—alone, and already knowing Onew wasn't in class, hoped at least one of her four other friends would be with her.

She took her normal seat near the front. When the bell finally rang and none of her friends were there, Jaekyung sighed inwardly and started coming up with ideas for her project. The teacher, Mr. Yang, took his place at the podium and explained to the class how they were watching a short video before getting started.

But before he finished talking, the door opened and a student entered late. Mr. Yang raised an eyebrow at him. "And why are you late, young man?" he asked.

"Sorry," the student said simply, not bothering to answer the question. Jaekyung looked over her shoulder and widened her eyes. This had to be the new student the two girls from her previous class were talking about, but the blonde hadn't done him justice. She titled him as a "bad boy", but no, he was more like a rebel—not really a gangster or a bully, just someone that breaks the rules and knows he can get away with it.

But there was something more, and as his wine-colored eyes met her tawny ones, she could see the mystery and darkness in them.