Woohyun’s POV

The dog was attacking her. All of us had different reactions about the situation almost immediately when we saw that the girl was in trouble.

“The dog is attacking her!” Dongwoo freaked out, sandwiching his face with both his hands. His eyes went wide, his jaws hanging from his mouth.

“Omo!” was all I could say, covering my mouth with my hands.

“Ottoke?!” Sungyeol cried out, flailing his arms.

“The dog might scratch her!” Sung Jong moaned, puffing his cheeks out, his eyebrows pulled with worry.

“Or maul her to death,” Sunggyu choked, his face going pale. He was swaying from side-to-side almost as if he was going to faint from imagining a dead body.

“Oh, gross,” Myungsoo looked like he was going to vomit. He closed his eyes.

“We have to save her!” Hoya exclaimed, throwing his hands out, his wide-eyes looking at us.

“Nuh-uh. No way, I’m not going anywhere near that dog,” Dongwoo replied, shaking his head adamantly. He folded his arms across his chest. “Have fun.”

I groaned. “Don’t be such a , hyung,” I chastised him.

He looked offended. “Did you just call me a , Nam Woohyun?”

“Yes, I did,” I retorted.

“Guys, shut up,” Hoya advised us, looking back at the gate. We could hear the dog growling and the girl shrieking. “Can’t you see that the dog is going to drag her away while you two stand there, arguing?”

“So stop scolding me for not doing anything and go do something about it then!” Dongwoo and I screamed at him, our voices going high-pitch.

“Kyaaah! Faster!” Sung Jong cried out.

Sungyeol grabbed a fallen stick from an old tree that was nearby and all of us ran to the entrance gates to help the poor girl from getting mauled by the crazy dog, with Sunggyu in the lead.

Somehow, I managed to be in the lead. I stopped short in my tracks and the others crashed into me. But I didn’t notice the heavy weight suddenly upon me as I watched the girl with the dog.

The dog wasn’t attacking her.

It was playfully tugging on her shoes and she wasn’t mauled away: she let it dragged her away.

She giggled and patted its head gently. She whispered something affectionately into its ear and smiled lightly. When the dog let her go, she tied her shoelace that was out. “There,” she said softly to the dog. “Happy?”

“Woof!” the dog wagged his tail.

She sighed and shook her head.

“Woof!”

She looked and blinked, startled to see seven of us hovering above her — especially with Sungyeol holding a stick above his head, ready to hit the dog. Myungsoo nudged him and he dropped the stick.

Thud.

It landed on the ground.

The dog snarled at us and she backed away until the dog was in front of her, ready to protect her.

We all glared at Sungyeol, whose eyes went wide. “What?”

“Couldn’t you have dropped it a little gentler?” Hoya asked, irritated.

“Oops. Sorry.”

I facepalmed.

“Uh, hyung, the dog’s going to attack us soon,” Sung Jong whispered, nudging Sunggyu with his elbows.

“Why me?”

“Cos you’re the leader,” all six of us replied.

He made a face and turned toward Kasumi, who was still staring us with wide eyes, her dog ready to attack us. “Uh, sorry,” Sunggyu said sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck. “We thought it was attacking you.”

“Grrrr . . .”

The girl blinked before she patted its head. “Good boy,” she murmured and he stopped growling. He looked up to her and sat down but it wasn’t relaxed; it was still on guard in case we attacked. She kneeled down and hugged his neck.

“I don’t think they will hurt us,” she said softly.

‘We won’t and we don’t,” Dongwoo quickly reassured her. He glanced back toward the rest of us, suddenly alarmed, as if he was scared he might have said the wrong thing. “We won’t . . . right? I mean, so we don’t get attacked?”

“We won’t,” Myungsoo confirmed, nodding once, but keeping a sharp eye on the dog.

Dongwoo smiled brightly at her. “Yeah, we won’t,” he said with full confidence.

“Pabo,” Sunggyu and I muttered.

She didn’t say anything but she did shake her head at Dongwoo. She turned back to her dog who was looking up to her.

I got a quick but good look at her. She had her brown hair in a bob-cut but it made her look really cute, especially with her bangs. She had dark, brown, almond-shaped eyes and fair skin. She was a bit petite, in a cute way, with a slim frame. I noticed she had long eyelashes too. But she did not look Korean. I saw that she was wearing a maroon blazer, which meant she was in middle school. I looked at her nametag.

I couldn’t read it because her dog covered it but I saw that it was orange in color.

She was in the same year as Sung Jong.

As if on cue, Sung Jong snapped his fingers and beamed at her. “Hey, I know you!” he exclaimed ardently. “You sit at the back row in my class. You’re . . .” He struggled to remember her name. He frowned thoughtfully but then his eyes lit up and he snapped his fingers. “Aha! Tanaka Kasumi!”

She nodded.

Kasumi . . . what a cute name.

Sungyeol blinked and leaned down to take a good look at her and from the look in his eyes, he recognized her as well. “Hey! Wait! I think I saw you before,” he said enthusiastically. He grinned at her. “You were in the library, reading a book, by yourself.” He was a librarian, so he would know.

She nodded, looking hesitantly at the rest of us, before her eyes darted back to him. “I love reading,” she replied softly. She had a quiet, soft voice that sounded really soothing. It was definitely pleasant to hear.

Sung Jong beamed at her. I knew what he was thinking: new friends.

“I’m Lee Sung Jong. This is Kim Myungsoo,” he said, pointing to Myungsoo. Then he pointed to Hoya. “That’s Lee Ho Won, but we call him Hoya. Jang Dongwoo is next to him. Standing next to Dongwoo is Kim Sunggyu, the leader.” Sunggyu waved friendlily at her. “You already know Lee Sungyeol, the librarian.” He gestured to me. “And this is Nam Woohyun. We are Infinite, kingkas of the school.”

Kasumi looked at me before she turned to look over at Hoya, who was ing his top button since it was so hot. She blushed a deep shade of red (like how all girls always did whenever he did that, poor girl) before looking down to her dog. “Annyeonghasaeyo,” she said timidly.

She’s shy, I thought.

“I don’t remember seeing you in this school before,” Hoya spoke up. “I mean, I remember all my hoobaes’ faces. I’ve seen a couple of unfamiliar faces, though, so I’m guessing they’re new. You must be new too.”

She nodded. “I am.”

“From where?” Sung Jong wanted to know.

She didn’t answer. Instead, she played with the hem of her blazer, tucking her hands inside the long sleeves. I noticed she refused to look at us in the face directly. Was she really that painfully shy?

“Are you Japanese, Kasumi-sshi?” Dongwoo wanted to know curiously. He smiled warmly at her. “Your name sounds Japanese.”

“You look Japanese, too,” Hoya added.

She glanced at them before glancing down at her feet. She scuffled her legs before she nodded. “Yes, but I speak little Japanese,” she replied softly. “My parents are Japanese but I grew up here in Korea so I am not really familiar with Japanese.”

“You have a cool name,” Sunggyu said helpfully. He smiled warmly at her (behind hi