10 A.M.

Jiyong was leaning against the parked Honda street bike outside of the hospital. He’d refused to go in with Youngbae. He hated the sterile syringes, the beeping monitors, and mostly the gazes that people gave him, judging and eyeing him dubiously. A crow couldn’t blend in with doves. It always stood out.

“Dude, I’m totally healthy~”

Jiyong’s heart sank when he heard Youngbae almost sing his words as the boy walked out of the hospital. Although Youngbae didn’t know it, Jiyong knew that something was definitely wrong every time he spoke in an overly happy tone like that.

“Yeah, I knew you were fine.” Jiyong said quietly.  He put on the helmet and fired up the bike. He boarded the 600cc silver-and-blue motorcycle.

“What about me?” Youngbae called after him as Jiyong’d already reached the open road.

‘Liars can walk.” Jiyong mumbled under his breath, hit the gas and accelerated. It was cruel, he knew, but he didn’t want to pretend like he didn’t know anything about Youngbae’s illness all the way. If he hadn’t told him, it must have been something bad, really bad.

Meanwhile.

“Ellie, help me with this.” Seungri yanked her sleeve. She turned back, threw him a glare and shrugged his hand off.

“Why?” She asked.

“I promise I’ll stop bugging you the minute this commotion ends.” Seungri replied.

“But why me?”

“Why not? You can fight, can’t you?”

“Listen, as far as I’m concerned, this is none of my business.”

She’d been observing the men. They were a bunch of pathetic losers, she thought, and they weren’t truly professionals. They preyed on the weak and the poorly-skilled. She could tell from the way they clumsily handle their baseball bats, swinging them around, hitting the trashcans. No guns in sight, which meant that they wouldn’t be such a big problem. Of course, they still thought that they were hard men who would scare the hell out of high-school students. They would, if they had chosen another school.

“Come on. It’ll be fun.” Teller elbowed Ellie. Seungri immediately brightened up. He nodded in agreement.

“I said no.”

“Come on!” Both of Teller and Seungri insisted.

They grabbed Ellie by the arm and did their utmost to drag her away.

…

“So where is this Kwon Jiyong?” The leader of the men repeated, swung his bat over his left shoulder, cleared the yard by sight, and moved forward.

“I’m Kwon Jiyong!” Seungri shouted back, laughing, Ellie closely behind him. She couldn’t break free from his strong grip.

“You’re not Kwon Jiyong!” The man snarled. “Are you kidding me, little brat?”

“And who’s the cutie?” The second guy smirked between rotted teeth, “How come a lovely girl like you ends up in a dump like this, huh?”

He was being careless. With that close distance, he took the full force of Ellie’s kick, smashing into his stomach, driving the rest of the attached body violently to the asphalt. He wasn’t dead, but certainly unconsciously.

“Get them, boys!” The first man called out. The others were now active.

A left hook from Seungri took out one of them. That set it off.

…

After five minutes, one by one dropped to the ground, melodramatically gurgled, twitched, and then went unconscious quietly.

“Who are you…?” The first man spitted the words out, along with blood. He’d been very beat up.

“We’re Crows, idiot.” Seungri’s size-twelve shoe smashed into the man’s face, knocking him out completely.

Ellie stood close by, silent, looking down at the fallen ones.

First day at school, she had already participated in a fight with fully grown men, and had managed to stay out of one with her schoolmates.

 

--------------------------------------

Jiyong let off the gas, stopped the bike and killed the engine in the school yard, everybody’s eyes locked on him. He scanned the scene of the fight. His eyes landed on Ellie.

She must be new…, he rationalized as he got off the bike.

“Are you Kwon Jiyong?” He was surprised that she talked to him first when he reached her. He nodded.

“This was meant for you then.” She added. Six bodies lying on the ground made quite a mess.

“I never asked you to deal with them.” He shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly.

“It’s his fault.” She pointed at Seungri. The boy offered his hand as a friendly gesture to Jiyong.

“I’ve met the infamous Kwon Jiyong finally.” He said cheekily.

Jiyong didn’t shake his hand. “You’re flattering me.” He said curtly and ignored him. The king never wanted to make acquaintances with first-years. He was on another level.

“You’re a freshman?’’ He turned to Ellie. He thought he might make an exception.

“No. I got transferred.”

“What’s your name?” He continued.

“Do you need to know?”

“Yes.”

“It’s Ellie.” She surprised herself with the quick answer. For the first time in her life, she couldn’t control the redness that flooded her cheeks.

“I’m Jiyong.”

“Yes, I’ve heard.” She giggled softly. In the corner of her eyes she could see Seungri’s confused facial expression. The kid had been treated so coldly, he couldn’t believe that the girl in front of him was the same girl he’d met a couple of days before, although all she did was simply giggle.

Then, sirens were heard. The police were uncomfortably close. Soon police cars were parked in front of the main building, cops stepped out. One man in a grey tailor-made suit, bandages around his head, pointed at Jiyong as soon as he identified him.

“That’s the one! He caused me to crash my car earlier!”

Jiyong said nothing even as three cops with drawn guns approached him. They handcuffed him real fast, as if he was a global menace, just to make sure that they wouldn’t end up like the mafias on the hard ground.

“What happened?” Ellie whispered to Jiyong before they walked him to their car.

“I don’t really have a license for the bike.” He smiled with the corner of his lips which made him look so y and damn mysterious. Then he was harshly led to the car and pushed inside.

So that’s Kwon Jiyong…

Ellie was lost in thoughts of their first encounter.