PART TWO

“Oh my gosh! What happened to you?” Hyejin was about to take a sip of her soda when she took a second glance of Luhan. He was standing in front of our table in the cafeteria where she, Philip, and I had just started eating lunch at.

“You look like you had just dove into a pool of spaghetti sauce.” Philip scrunched his eyebrows, scanning Luhan’s appearance from his seat.

Luhan sat on Hyejin’s vacant right, an irritated expression painted on his face. He wiped the massive red stain on his school blazer, and some off of his white uniform top with his white handkerchief. It looked like a map of some Caribbean island. “There’s a blond turd with some bizarre kind of albinism, who just bumped onto me and my tray of lunch. He didn’t apologize and even called me TWT loser.”

“Who? Who? I’ll beat some sense into him,” Hyejin started rolling her sleeves up.

Luhan whipped his head around, scanning some tables. He pointed at the table where the soccer team was seated. “That one in the blue soccer jersey. The one with blond hair.”

The four of us went to see for ourselves.

“There are two of them with blond hair. Which one?”

“The one laughing with the tanned guy.”

Ah, he's referring to Oh Sehun.

"If ever I come up close with that brat again, I’ll punch that lisp away from him.” He lightly pounded a fist against the table. “Thi-double-you-thi lother.”

Who knew Luhan could do great in impersonations? We laughed among ourselves. 

“That’s so true, Luhan. So true.” Hyejin hit the table with a palm, cackling.

After the White Tablet was shut down three days ago, my teammates and I spent more time together. Right now, we were basically outsiders, without any club to belong to. Well, okay, not all of us. I was basically the only outsider in our group. Aside from TWT, Philip was in the Debate Team, Luhan was in the Math Club,  and Hyejin was in the Women’s Taekwondo team. My other teammates also had their own clubs. In addition, since the soccer finals was coming near, Baekhyun and Chanyeol had been spending more time with the soccer team, probably due to extended training. 

So I, Seo Myunjae, was a self-proclaimed loner at the moment. However, these three had been keeping me company during our free time. I really feel so flattered. Really.

“So are we gonna pursue the plan?” Philip gathered his trash, placing it on his tray.

“Of course. We have to get that room back. It’s not like we are going to publish stories again. You know, we need a place for some lounging.” On the other hand, Hyejin merely placed her trash on Philip’s tray. Philip placed it back on hers, but Hyejin countered the flow. This time, the trash merely cycled between their trays even as we stood up. Luhan even joined the muddling.

“So we’ll just see each other later. Headmaster’s room after class.” I shoved my trash into the bin and placed the used tray on its respective stack. Philip ended up throwing the other two’s garbage.

“You go first.” I pushed Luhan towards the headmaster’s room as we stood outside.

“Why me? You’re the editor-in-chief. You go first.” Luhan went behind to push me this time.

“Former editor-in-chief.” I literally spelled it out. “So we’re of equal ranking now.”

“Why me? Just let Hyejin do it.” Luhan pushed Hyejin this time.

“No. Why me?” Hyejin jerked her shoulder away from Luhan.

“Not me. You.”

“No. You.”

“Why me? You-”

“Ugh . . . knock it off, children.” Philip rolled his eyes like a diva, literally flipping us away with a hand. “I’ll do it, you cowards.”

Philip was about to turn the knob but the door opened. Our eyes shot wide in surprise upon seeing Headmaster Choi.

“Uh . . . hello, Mr. Choi. Uh . . . Myunjae wants to tell you something.” Philip pushed me forward. 

I looked at him in disbelief before turning to Headmaster Choi. So much for the ‘I’ll do it, you cowards’.

After half an hour of talking, I walked out of the headmaster’s room. The negotiation with Mr. Choi went well except for that single thing that he had to bring up. Do I really have to?

The three stood up from their Indian seats. Board game companies should definitely watch out because these three could sit anywhere and entertain themselves with any game that they had just invented. They stood up and piled around me.

Luhan immediately noticed my downcast expression. “He didn’t approve, did he?”

“Well . . . he did actually.” I forced a smile out.

“Really?!” Hyejin's face lit up upon hearing the words, clapping her hands once.

“But why is your expression like that?” Philip pointed out.

“The headmaster said I need to find an organization. An official one. He said it’s mandatory if I want to graduate.” 

I’ve achieved many things when I was in TWT. Isn’t that enough? By that I meant many juicy gossips. The only problem was, the White Tablet is an unofficial organization. I mean, who would approve a gossip tabloid as an official school publication? We weren’t actually entitled to use any room in the school. Our room was merely situated at the end of the ground floor hallway, right beside the janitor’s closet. It was an overflow desk storage for broken desks and chairs, and even school props that the respective clubs promised to dispose of but still hadn’t. We got to move things around the room and were able to transform it into a more decent working-slash-lounging place. The faculty knew of this but they didn’t pull us out of the room. As long as we accepted the broken desks with open arms, we would be fine. Besides, I heard even the faculty enjoyed reading our publication.

“Maybe you can join the Math Club,” Luhan placed a hand on my shoulder, angling his face to my side. “How’s your grade in math?”

I merely looked at him, blinking blankly. You don’t really wanna know, Luhan. Math hates me. Should I just put it that way? It’s not that low. It’s just that it’s not that confident-high. Here goes my alibi again.

Luhan got my message with the look I gave him. He merely nodded, reassuring me with a couple of pats on the shoulder. “I’ll take that as normal.”

Hyejin’s eyes suddenly twinkled in excitement. She squeezed onto my side, throwing an arm around my neck. “Oh, I know! You can join the Taekwondo Club!” 

Wait. Wait. Taekwondo Club? Oh my gosh! This is just destiny! Maybe fate took me away from TWT so I can become part of the Taekwondo club — Do Kyungsoo’s club!

This will be just perfect! Not only will I see him often, but during practical drills, maybe we can be partners. I have zero knowledge of taekwondo but he’s a master at it — I’ll just choose him to be my instructor if there’s a pairing system. You know — he would stand behind me, direct my moves and teach me some techniques. Or maybe if he accidentally tackles me on the ground . . . he will stare at me in the eyes while we lie on the mattress. Oh my gosh! I can’t take this —

“Uh . . . Myunjae, what the heck are you doing?” Luhan waved a hand in front of my face.

“Huh . . . what? What?” I shrugged, but unsure whether to nod or shrug. I got lost there for a moment.

“You were like spacing out with dreamy eyes.” Hyejin seemed to imitate my expression just now. Did I look that crazy? But yeah, she better be exaggerating, because I looked stupid for a second.

“Oh that. Nothing.” I assumed a blank expression, shaking the thoughts off. But, I was still giddy and amped up about the idea.

Philip pressed onto my other side, linking an arm with mine. “Gracious heavens. Your suggestions are terrible. Myunjae is math’s archenemy. And the only thing Myunjae will get from your barbaric club is a broken wrist and crippled leg.”

“I can make math and Myunjae become bestfriends.”

“I'm there. Why would I let Myunjae get hurt?”

Luhan and Hyejin countered Philip with a pun but Philip merely ignored them. “You’re good with words and ideas. This may be more of oral instead of written but how about the Debate Club?”

Wait. Debate Club . . . Debate Club . . . Now I remember it . . . NO! No way! 

Mr. Two-Faced Hulck is also a member of that club. Instead of developing my debating skills, I might enhance my profanity vocabulary because it was a sure thing that I would be seeing him more often. Therefore, Debate Club is NOT included in my options.

“Uh . . . are you okay? You’re spacing out again.” Philip’s snap garnered my attention.

“Yeah. This time, with a murderous gaze.” Hyejin tried to imitate what I may have looked like just now. 

“Huh. Oh. That was nothing.” I simply fended them off. But they couldn’t blame me — a mere thought of that two-faced jerk really makes me furious.

“Oh gosh. She’s gone insane since the shutdown.” Luhan shook his head, joking with an expression pitiful of me. 

“I’ll just take care of it myself. Don’t stress yourselves about it. Just go ahead without me.” I merely prompted them with a small nod.

We just waved goodbye to each other after to head back to our dorms . . . Scratch that — their dorms. I still had to head to the fifth floor to find myself some good organization to join.

I was not the type of student to have many extracurricular activities or organizations except for The White Tablet publication, of course. I was just not a physical exercise-inclined person. I had always loved writing, a passion imparted by my father who used to be a column writer in the local newspaper. This passion propagated into serious and simple stuff, the latter pertaining to diaries, planner and doodling. I always felt free and refreshed whenever I vented out my wheel-like emotions and crazy imagination. All I needed was a pen, a piece of paper, and a clear, fuelled mind, and maybe a bit of inspiration. Cough. Do Kyungsoo. Cough. I stopped writing in diaries in the seventh grade — my sister “accidentally” read my diary. She didn’t stop teasing me about my first crush - just some cute kid down the block of our house. A Canadian-Korean if I may add. She was unstoppable even if we were upfront interacting with each other.

I could have joined the club for athletic runners. Unfortunately, our school didn’t have one. Or maybe, I was the only one considering joining one, since everybody knew that I wasn’t really that much of an athlete to start with. Still, I could outrun jerks.

I also didn’t have any thoughts of joining the official publication of the school. I just didn’t find the interest in documenting current events in school and formal editorials. But every time we released the publication, it thrilled me, like someone would just pounce on me and strangle me to death for releasing his or her story. I did receive a couple of threats, but after a few days, they would stop. Because our TWT can give you one thing that you wouldn’t get any other way — spotlight. 

I was starting to think that this abrupt club hunt would give me a hard time. I did not have any defined interest if I excluded writing and outrunning jerks. 

Finally, I just stepped on the fifth floor.

Phew.

I think I had just climbed Mt. Everest.

It was like a zoo on the fifth floor — noisy and chaotic. Being four floors above the faculty and headmaster’s rooms really did give that freedom of movement. Students sifted in and out of their club rooms. As I walked through the hallway, the girls whispered among themselves and the guys mocked. Oh, and hadn’t I told you that guys were experts in giving irritating remarks?

“Hey, Kungfu boy’s lover girl.” Whatever. I bet you don't even have a lovelife, turd.

“Look! We have Kyungfu’s girl over here!”

“Where’s Kungfu boy? Has he responded to your confession yet?”

Continue mocking me, I don’t care . . . okay, maybe a bit. I was just hoping Do Kyungsoo wouldn’t hear it since the Taekwondo Club’s room was also on the same floor.

Since I was not here to listen to their “insults”, yes, it really comes as an insult for me, let us just proceed with the club hunt, shall we?

With the window side on the left, the first room on the right was the Dance Club. I peeked through the small window of the door. They were in the middle of some sort of practice. Okay, maybe this I can do. I mastered Gangnam Style.  It’s a secret. In the midst of the horse-riding choreography, two guys did backhand springs . . . okay, maybe not. The Dance Club was notorious anyway for throwing in complicated stunts since everybody thought they were a bunch of show-offs. Dance Club, crossed-out. The nearest hospital was two districts away anyway.

The second room was the Young Musicians Club. I didn’t even peek through the glass since everybody in the whole school knew that they were real prodigies. I wouldn’t have a chance to join. Not unless playing the tambourine qualifies.

The third room was the Debate Club. What made this room unique was their Hall of Fame beside the door. The faculty and students said that it was to acknowledge the people who had given glory to the school in the field of debate. But I could perfectly see through that — it was for boasting their awards, what else? And, it was so freaking obvious since Captain Two-Face is their club president. I mean, the guy is obviously made of muscles, wits and arrogance. If that Hall of Fame was mandatory, why didn’t the other clubs have it outside their rooms? It was pretty obvious. Only an idiot would fall for that gig.

And surprise, surprise. On top of the Hall of Fame pyramid was ‘Kim Joonmyeon, Captain’, followed by his list of grand slam for three consecutive years. You know what I hated about his picture here? He looked so photogenic — so photogenic that I wanted to pull my sharpie out and draw a fugly moustache on his face. If it weren’t for the students roaming around this hallway. Even though Kim Joonmyeon might not probably be in there at the moment due to soccer cup practice, I wouldn’t take a look. Debate Club: crossed-out.

The two succeeding rooms were the Theater Club and Science Club. With the former, I really was not fond of acting because I laughed easily. The producer or the director would kick me out eventually in the middle of the project. With the latter, I had no comment. My grades in my science subjects are . . . um . . . well . . . ’average’. To put it, I was more inclined to arts and literature.

Then . . . the Taekwondo Club room came into view.

I could instantly hear those Taekwondo cantrips being chanted inside the room. The members were obviously having a drill. I peered through the small opening. What I saw next made me not want to proceed with my club hunt.

There Do Kyungsoo was, looking like the gorgeous guy he always was. He was sparring with another teammate in the middle of a circle that the others formed as they watched on the floor. Two coaches supervised the execution of his kicks.

Gosh. He looked really cool in that white Taekwondo uniform. The splendid black belt around his waist screamed only the champ. A huge plus about him was, he was not arrogant like the other athletes. His gaze would definitely scare tigers away. If I were his opponent, I might just die with him staring at me like that, even before he could land a fist on me. His forehead trickled with sweat. He was one of those guys who get more handsome the more they look exhausted. He was like an animated Greek god statue made with fine diamond. I was really tempted to wipe his face with my own handkerchief. I bet even his sweat smelled like a luxurious men’s perfume.

He flipped his opponent in such a fascinating speed. I could not help but leave my jaw agape. He’s like a real-life version of James Bond. He was endowed with the looks, the brains, and the skills – fighting skills. Don’t girls want a guy who can protect them? Without realizing it, I thought I was repeatedly chanting in my mind: I have to marry this guy. How I wish.

But, I wouldn’t even dare join the Taekwondo club, even as a novice of all novices. First, I didn’t have the skill. Second, I would really have a hard time concentrating with Do Kyungsoo being in the same room. I couldn’t even control myself with Do Kyungsoo being in the same building. Third, I was afraid that one of these days, some female student might get accused on the grounds of acts of lasciviousness. It was dangerous – I’m eighteen with raging hormones. Well, whenever Do Kyungsoo is around. But, I was not going to those extreme acts. Seoul