“So, all of you students probably know why you’re here. You guys have been chosen to take part in the student exchange programme...” The teacher fumbles a little as she tries to unroll the paper in her hands. “With me right now is the list of students and their guides. I’m just going to pin this on the noticeboard—”

“Ssaem! Does that mean we get to go to China, too?”

The teacher glares at the student. “We don’t know for sure, yet. But maybe—”

Cheers erupt in the auditorium, and the teacher clears as she lifts the mic to once more.

“Maybe if you guys get to go to China, please be informed that you will have to pay each and every penny of the trip as the school will not be using a single cent.”

Kim Soyeon turns to face a certain Daehyun, who is fiddling with his phone and giving no care to the teacher ahead.

She clears , wondering if she is supposed to start a conversation. Just as she opens to say something, Daehyun turns and walks away.

Fine. If that’s how you want to play it, Soyeon thinks as she follows the direction where Daehyun has just went.

On the other side of the auditorium, Kyumi stares at the haughty being that is supposedly her partner for this entire thing.

She already doesn’t like him.

“So, er... who do you think we’ll probably get for this... thingy?” She tries to start a conversation, eyeing the other person with a small tinge of dislike.

“A Chinese person,” Kim Himchan rolls his eyes before folding his arms and walks towards the direction of the noticeboard.

“Are you always like this?” Kyumi mutters angrily under her breath. Unfortunately, Himchan catches her short, uttered comment.

“I don’t want to do this either. Maybe you should go and find another partner or something. It won’t be hard.”

Kyumi scowls, wishing that she can actually give this guy a flying kick in the there.

Meanwhile, a completely different situation is happening for Hyorin. Her partner is a somewhat talkative man, with a cute baby voice, a somewhat high-pitched but still nice-sounding voice. Hyorin will have mistaken him for a vocal class dude if only he isn’t in the same class as her.

Yang Yoseob stares at the paper, scanning down the list of names before he spots their names.

“Hyorin, Hyorin! I think we got this guy, his name is... Im Siwan? But that’s Korean...”

“Isn’t that good? There won’t be language barriers then.”

“But I was actually hoping for an actual Chinese person... not a Chinese Korean...” Yoseob’s expression falls again, before all his features relights like a light bulb. “Aha! I almost forgot, we need to get presents for Siwan! I’ll leave first then, if you don’t mind...?”

“No, I don’t,” Hyorin smiles wryly at the kid-like man, “I need to go get some textbooks before I leave.”

“Aha, okay. Well then see you!”

Hyorin nods, a faint ghost of a smile trailing on her lips as she tries to squeeze out of the crowd.

She reaches her empty classroom in less than five minutes, considering that most of the student body has already cleared out, and she spots a book-like object on her table. Frowning a little, she walks to her table, feeling apprehensive as though facing an angry cat.

Her history textbook.

Hyorin frowns as she pulls off the pink post-it stuck on the glossy cover, and scans the messy handwriting;

Here’s your textbook! Sorry that I couldn’t return it personally, haha. But thanks! — Yongguk
p.s. I only had pink post-it at home.
p.p.s. And I tried to make my handwriting more legible, keke.

 

__________________

Jongup slams his laptop shut when he hears someone unlock the front door.

“I’m home!” Kyumi yells, and before Jongup can do anything else, the door to him room opens.

Kyumi stares at him suspiciously.

“Erm, so how was...?”

“Kim Himchan is a moron.”

“Oh,” Jongup’s mouth closes awkwardly, “but he’s my deskmate and I think he’s nice—”

“Tell me, have you ever tried speaking to him?”

“... No.”

“Exactly.”

Awkwardness hangs in the air until Jongup suddenly stands, his chair making screeching noises against the floor, “I’m going to the toilet.”

When he leaves, Kyumi spots the dim green lights still blinking on his laptop, signalling that the laptop isn’t shut down yet. She sighs, thinking that Jongup probably didn’t shut down his laptop properly again and lifts the cover, while swiping her finger against the mousepad.

The screen blinks to life, and Kyumi squints as she tries to read whatever that is on the screen.

Missing child, please inform the police/anyone listed here if found.

Below the headlines lies a blurry, bad quality picture of a kid. Kyumi frowns. /i Why’s Jongup looking for a missing kid? Or maybe he’s just reading the news?

She scrolls upwards, trying to find a date, but failing, scrolling down again.

Missing child. Last seen 01-02-05. About 1.3m in height. Around 10 years old. Responds to his name when called.

Her eyes widen when she reads till the part where they state the kid’s name.

Kim Jongup, 10 years old, approximately 1.35m in height, last seen wearing a red and white striped polo tee and jeans.

She can't help the uneasy feeling creeping up on her.

It isn't him. It can't be. He told me his name himself.

You're just denying the truth, something in her mind pokes at her, you just don't want this to be true.

She ignores it, scrolling downwards.

And she gasps when she sees the reward mentioned.

Five hundred million won.

___________________________________

a/n;