Chapter 2
CrowsIt was 7 A.M when Jiyong lifted his head off the pillow. He dragged himself to the bathroom and showered. He cleaned the wounds he’d gotten the day before. It was just another territorial fight, he’d won. But every battle left scars.
He stepped out, stretching tight limbs, felt a creak and then a pop in his left shoulder. The black uniform of Crows High school was picked up from the floor and dusted. He swung it over his shoulder and decided to wear the same black jeans with holes in the knees and the white blank T-shirt. He was too lazy to even change at that moment.
Three minutes later, he heard somebody knock on the door.
“It’s not locked.” Jiyong said in return. The person pushed inside. He was Youngbae, Jiyong’s best friend. He looked kind and was terribly shy around girls. But when it came to fighting, he was another man entirely. He possessed a compact musculature that relied more on quickness and endurance than sheer strength. He and Jiyong had been through so many fights they couldn’t remember.
Youngbae surveyed the room. It was small, adequate and unadorned. But the bed was simply a mattress on the floor.
“So… can we go?” He asked Jiyong. He needed to go to the hospital for a quick check-up. He’d been experiencing frequent headaches lately.
“Yeah, let’s go.” Jiyong sighed, and followed Youngbae out of the room. He wanted to accompany his friend, just in case something bad came up, even though he assumed that Youngbae was fine, and that the source of his headaches was just some punches he’d received lately.
The door clicked shut behind them.
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Meanwhile. At Crows High School.
The first thing Ellie thought of when she stepped foot onto the schoolyard was that this school looked like a junkyard. The hallways were poorly-lighted, fluorescent tubes popped and flickered. The carpet was a muddy, disfigured line on the concrete floor. And every each of the walls was covered with graffiti. Of course, she didn’t miss the sign painted on the rooftop that said: “King of Crows- Kwon Jiyong.”
Kwon Jiyong, the name interested her.
Moments later, the freshmen and newcomers were gathered up in the indoor gymnasium to celebrate the first day of the new school year. Normally, the teachers would be in charge and give a long dreadful speech while pausing occasionally to tell students to keep quiet. Things worked in the opposite way in Crows. The teachers looked miserably scared standing in front of the kids and all they could do was utter a few words, something about trying hard at studying.
Ellie closely observed the crowd. There were about 7 girls and nearly a hundred boys. Not surprisingly, the guys didn’t pay a slightest attention to their teachers. They just sat there, smoking, fiddling with their pocket knives. As for the girls, they kept it to themselves.
There was a girl in the front, long chestnut hair and a huge pair of glasses. Her eyes were glued to her laptop. Another was constantly booing at every word the teachers said, short-haired probably trying to be a tomboy. The one at the back was picking up a chemical vial that she’d dropped. And a few more but they didn’t seem interesting to Ellie.
Oh, and she noticed Seungri too. He seemed quite popular among the students. He was always talking to someone whether he knew them or not.
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“A-as a friend, I hope we will…” A frail boy was giving a speech until a bald guy stormed up on stage and kicked him out of the picture. The guy grabbed the micro.
“Crows! We all know that the only way to rule this school is to fight! And I’ll rule! Join me and we’ll be kings.” He screamed enthusiastically, possibly imagining a future when his name would be painted on the rooftop.
“Shut up, Squid head.” Seungri laughed a bit too loud, enough for the entire school to hear. But the guy hadn’t seen him.
“What!? Who said that? Show yourself!” Squid Head yelled angrily.
“I said it.” Seingri stood up from his seat. Now all the eyes were on him. Squid Head was immediately provoked. He rushed down, grabbing a chair in the process. Like usual, everyone quickly circled the two. They were used to the sight of conflict and they couldn’t help but enjoy the free show.
“You’re dead!” Squid Head roared and threw the chair right in Seungri’s direction, aiming for his head. But Panda remained calm. He ducked and avoided the hit.
Squid Head went down with just one blow across his face.
“Pathetic.” Seungri smirked.
And that meant that their fight was over, sending a signal telling everyone else to start theirs. It was normal to them. It happened every year. The chaos was uncontainable. Teachers crawled under the desks to avoid injuries, as their students engaged in battles.
Ellie stayed out of it. She figured that she should save her energy for something better. A girl was standing next to her, the one who had been sitting in the back with all the flammable chemicals.
Her name was Teller. She had the look of a typical nerd, glasses, retainers, textbooks with her all the time. But secretly, under that innocent mask, she was a complete psycho. She’d mastered the art of poisons and was a genius. At her old school, she was called the “Mad scientist”. She was also in her third year. She got transferred due to public vandalism. She blasted half of that school up.
Teller and Ellie made friends. They started exchanging pleasantries and Teller showed Ellie some projects of hers. Things were going just fine until a teacher burst in through the entrance.
“Did anyone mess with the mafias? Call the police!” He yelled frantically. The students stopped, and the precious silence filled the gymnasium. But that was short-lived.
“Let’s go see guys!” They rushed out of the doors, some went to the balcony. Among them were Ellie and Teller. They looked down at the school yard, where 6 men were standing. The leader, dressed in a ridiculous striped red and white suit, scanned the premises.
“Where is Kwon Jiyong? He sent one of ours to the hospital. And this is payback.” He stated to everyone’s surprise.
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