Home Gallery Wattpad Upvote monsteracademy   "To put it clearly, I'm going to a school filled with monsters?" FOURTY-EIGHT: Corpses and Kisses “Jerk,” you murmured as you watched the video footage for your project. Lu Han decided that you were going to make a video documentation all on his own. When he went to fetch you at the market for your project, he already had everything planned out for the day. All that’s left for you to do was to think of interesting questions for your interview. You never expected for him to finally be responsible about your project. But you still resented him for not telling you anything beforehand, especially since the interview questions you managed to make didn’t interest Kim Dong Guk, CEO of a successful publishing company. “Humans are pathetic little creatures,” the video went on. Kim Dong Guk was answering your question about what he thinks of humans. “With them it is always about money. They have such short lifespans yet they spend it slaving away for pieces of paper and metal coins. You can easily buy anyone with the right price. It's almost like they have no dignity and pride, those funny species,” he laughed cynically. “But you know what’s really funny? The Union lets them run this world. They always say that they are protecting the balance. Where's the balance when we have to hide and pretend to be someone else than who we really are? Those pathetic fools. We are a much powerful race and yet we let ourselves be tied down to their ridiculous ways, hiding ourselves amongst them like cowards.” “But if we expose ourselves, it’s gonna start a war against humans, just like what happened thousands of years ago,” Lu Han said in the background. A war? Between monsters and humans? Such a thing happened? Kim Dong Guk laughed all the more at what Lu Han said. “Why should we be scared of war? Even with their numbers and technology humans are still weak. They easily break and die,” he grinned maliciously. “So you’re ideal world would be?” You asked, not able to contain your agitation then. "You kids are young. You don't know how it was in ancient times. Even I haven't lived that long. But humans used to answer to us. They worship us like gods because of the power we have. Monsters didn’t have to hide like criminals. We were never hunted down. We were free to go about our ways without answering to laws that only serve to protect humans, but never us!” He said as he slammed his fist on his table, with fire burning in his eyes. But he slowly relaxed, his lips slowly twisting into a grin. “But time will come when humans will once again fear us. A time when we will once again be free and all those puny little humans can do is to shake in fear of our power.” “What a jerk,” you said again out loud as you paused the video. The reality of how monsters look down on humans like worthless pests disgusts you. “I didn’t show you the video so you could comment on his opinion. Tell me if the editing’s fine or if there are things you want to change,” Lu Han said, agitated. The two of you were sitting on one of the benches at the school grounds. Lu Han was showing you the partial edited video of the footages you took during free week before your classes started. You were seated each on both ends of the bench, meters away from each other. "Do all monsters think like that? About humans?" You asked, ignoring what he said. "People have different opinions on different things," he simply said. "And you? How about you? What do you think?" He just shrugged. "Ji Min told me most monsters don't like humans. And they hate those who are weaker than them. Why do monsters think like that?" "Look. You grew up around humans. But try to put yourself in their shoes. Try thinking as a monster growing up having to hide who you are for the rest of your life, to not always be able to do the things you can do, to be forced to blend in to a lifestyle that don't really mean anything to you, to live in discomfort just so humans can live a comfortable life." "Then what do you propose? Let monsters run around? The world is already chaotic enough without powerful monsters doing as they please." "Freedom is something everyone naturally wishes for. Even a caged animal is not a happy one. Isn't that what humans always fight for? Human history is full of stories about people fighting for their freedom. It's a basic need. Basically, the question is why can humans be free and monsters can't?" "So you agree with him?" "On some things." "But isn't the world okay as it is? I mean people are living peacefully." "Maybe. But you haven't been a monster long enough. You don't know how it feels to always have to hide who you are. When the rest of the world judges you simply because of what you are and not for who you are. That you have to pretend to be something else and live a life of someone else, every day, just to survive. It's suffocating." You thought about it for a while. You can't say you fully get what he was saying, but you tried to imagine yourself trying to be someone you're not all the time. Somehow you could also understand where they were coming from. "You think there's a chance that monsters and humans can live together peacefully? Without you - us hiding?" “Good luck on that ever happening. They'll hunt us down if they ever find out we exist." "You think?" You asked hopelessly. "Haven’t you watched enough human movies? They'll either dissect us like lab rats or kill us on the spot. Of course, you can’t expect us to just stand around and let that happen. It's gonna be a big and ugly war." You shivered, just thinking about it. "Maybe there's a chance they'll like us once they know not all of us are a threat? I mean, we've lived with them for the longest time and we didn't harm them." Lu Han laughed. "Don't be stupid. You heard the human legends about us. In their book, we are always the bad guys." You frowned dishearteningly. As much as you wanted to believe that there's a chance, you knew he was right. "People are scared of what they don't know. It's true for both humans and monsters alike. Even for animals. The world fears and hates the unknown. Whatever is different is seen as an abomination. A threat. That's just the way the world is," he said with almost a painful tone in his voice, before seemingly getting lost in his own thoughts. "Lu Han?" You said when he was still staring into space after quite a while. His focus flickered back on you. “If you’re not gonna give any useful input then give it back,” he said as he tried to grab his phone back. “No! I’m not done yet,” you answered, keeping the phone away from his reach. “Aish! You’re not helping anyway. Give it back!” He said, standing up and moving over to you to get his phone. “I said I’m not done yet!” You said, raising your arms as you simultaneously shifted the phone between your hands. Lu Han grabbed both your wrist in one hand as he tried to reach for the phone with the other, planting his knee on the bench for support. You leaned further back and eventually lost your balance. Your body slid into a lying position, while Lu Han was lunged forward on top of you, supporting his weigh with nothing but his knee and elbow. He successfully grabbed the phone from you before he realized the kind of position you two were in. The two of you stiffened while looking at each other, until Lu Han finally pulled himself up in a hurry. You also immediately sat up and looked nervously at Lu Han. What happened at the bathroom during your free week was burning at the back of your minds. He scratched his head and looked at you and scratched his head again. “What?!” You snapped. “What?!” He snapped back. “Why is your face so red?!” “It’s not! Why is your face red?!” “I told you not to think about it!” “What?! I wasn’t!” “ert!” “What?!” He said, his face turning all the more red. “I said stop thinking about it!” “I will if you stop bringing it up!” “Ugh! Despicable, erted jerk!” You fumed and walked out. “Aish! Stupid grizzly,” Lu Han huffed. You crossed the school grounds towards the main building where your classrooms were. But you noticed a cluster of students at the front of the building which was getting bigger by the minute. You swarmed along, curious of what the commotion was all about. You found out that the result of your exams were posted on the bulletin board: every single student with their corresponding total scores from all the subjects, sorted in descending order. “What the -,” you muttered. You didn’t expect it was the kind of school that posted exam scores for everyone to see. You squished in between the others to get a better look at the second year’s list. “OMG! He placed top again!” One of the students said. At the top of your year’s list is Kris, with a score of 500/500. He’s a demon, you thought in awe. How could he not get even one single mistake? Suho and Sehun came in second with a scores of 494. Lay came in third with a score of 493. “These guys are impossible,” you murmured to yourself. You scanned the list further and found more familiar names in the top ten. Queen ranked fourth, followed by Lay’s Special Project partner, Park Chae Rim. She’s pretty smart too, you mumbled, feeling a pang of insecurity upon seeing her name in the top ten. Tao ranked sixth, Xiumin ranked seventh, Chen and Baekhyun tied at rank eight, while Lu Han was on rank ten. Further down the list was Kai at rank twenty-seven, Ji Min was at rank thirty-two, while Chanyeol was far below at rank fifty-three. You were so far down the list but you still have not found your name yet. Your brows furrowed as you desperately searched for your name until you found it on rank sixty-nine, the second to the last name just above Lee Hee Jun. Lee Hee Jun’s score had a dash on it, indicating he had no scores yet as he is still unable to take the exam due to his injuries, which meant that technically, among the seventy-two students in your year, you were in the last rank. “Oh my gosh! Look at that. Class Dung’s ranked last,” one of your schoolmates said, laughing. “Shh. She’s here,” her friend whispered, but you still heard it. You lowered your head and slowly hassled away from the cluster. “Ayo Joo Ri!” Chanyeol called out. He was walking towards you alongside Baekhyun. “Hey guys,” you greeted dryly. “Morning Joo Ri,” Baehkyun greeted. “I really had fun the other night at your house. Let’s do it again next time,” Chanyeol told you as he put his arm around you. “Hey, what’s that?” He asked when he saw the cluster of students swarming in front of the bulletin board. “The exam results must be out. Let’s go take a look,” Baekhyun said rather excitedly. “Go ahead guys. I’ve already seen it,” you told them. “Really? Did you see which rank you’re at?” Chanyeol asked. “Ï’ll see you guys later,” you said, dodging the question as you removed Chanyeol’s arm on your shoulder. “Bye!” You said hastily and took the direction towards you classroom. Last rank. Why am I not born smart? You sighed as you entered your classroom and placed your things on your desk. Not that you were expecting to really do good at MA. Their curriculum is more difficult than your previous school so you already expected terrible scores. But you also didn’t think you would actually rank last. It was a first despite your terrible academic performance in the past. Maybe because Hye Bin’s not here to help me anymore, you sighed some more. Oh well. I’ll just have to do better next time. Your classmates came pouring into your classroom a while later. You received mocking stares from some of them who didn’t even bother to hide their giggling as they looked your way. You just frowned and ignored them. “Ya, Joo Ri-ya! You ranked last!” Chanyeol laughed when he came in. “You’re worse than me!” “We can’t say that yet. Lee Hee Jun still has no scores,” Sehun told him. “I’ll still probably rank last,” you sighed. “Don’t sound so pessimistic,” Sehun encouraged. “Where’s Kai?” You asked, changing he suject. “”What’s new? Either he’s late or cutting classes,” Chanyeol answered matter-of-factly. “Aish, that guy,” you mumbled. “It bothers me how he even managed to be on rank twenty-seven. I didn’t even see him study! While here I was, studying hard and I’m on fifty-three,” Chanyeol grumbled. “That just means he’s naturally smart and you’re...,” Sehun shrugged. “Mweo?!” Chanyeol fumed. “Go ahead, say it! I'm what?” “Park Chanyeol! Why is it that every time I walk into this class, the first thing I always hear is your loud voice?” Mr. Shim shook his head as he entered your classroom. Your classmates shuffled back to their seats, Sehun sticking his tongue out to Chanyeol before heading back to his. Your morning period just consisted of handing back your exam papers and going through all the questions while your teachers provided you with the correct answers. Came lunch, Kai still didn’t show up. “Ya Joo Ri, your exam scores were quite horrible,” Chen told you. “I know,” you told him. “Well, Joo Ri must still be adjusting, especially with monster classes. Not to mention all the leaves she had to take during the tennis match issue. Considering everything that happened, it’s understandable,” Lay said. “That’s right. You, on the other hand, you better work your off to make it to the upper half ranking by the end of the semester. That’s if you still want to be part of the soccer team!” Xiumin snapped at Chanyeol. “Of course I still want to be part of the soccer team. Besides, it’s only midterm. And it’s just exam scores not the overall ranking,” Chanyeol pouted. “Wait, you mean you will kick him out if he didn’t make it to the upper half of the rank?” You asked. “”Not really kick him out, but he won’t be allowed to join the club anymore,” Chen told you. “Not allowed, by who?” You asked. “The school. Didn’t you know?” “Well, for extracurricular activities that require regular activities throughout the year, say like practice time for athletes, it’s a requirement. It’s a way for the school to ensure that our studies won’t be disregarded despite our busy schedules,” Baekhyun explained. “And this idiot barely made it last year,” he groused at Chanyeol. “Ya! I did my best and I made it! Stop being such an about it! It’s not my fault I’m not as smart as you guys,” Chanyeol snapped at him. “Besides I’m smart in my own way. What do they call it? Ah! Street-smart! I may not do well in academics but I’m pretty good in other things.” “That’s not what street-smart means, idiot!” Baekhyun told him. “Wait, wait. So, since I’m part of the soccer team, so it means I have to be on the upper half of the exam scores rank?’ You asked. “No, it’s not exam scores but rather over all ranking. At the end of the term, we will be ranked academically based on our grades,” Sehun explained. “I see,” you answered glumly. “Pretty long shot, huh, grizzly?” Lu Han mocked. You were about to say something but you realized what he said was true and you didn’t really have anything to counter his argument. “Don’t worry Joo Ri, we’ll gladly help if there’s anything you’re having trouble with. I’m sure you can make it,” Lay patted your shoulder. Upper half. I did