6.
Revenge of School Hopeful
"Finally back to the dorm room!"
Sanghyuk jumped up and down.
"Shh. It's the middle of the night. You wouldn't want to wake them up."
Hongbin placed his finger on his lips and smiled.
"I'll be going back into my dorm now. Bye!"
They waved to each other as Hyuk silently entered his room. He gently closed the door and saw Hakyeon sleeping peacefully on his bed.
"Tsk, why is he on my bed?"
He puffed his cheeks and laid beside Hakyeon.
"...I missed you hyung."
He hugged him and covered their body with the blankets.
"Hyukkie...Come back...Hyung needs you..."
Hakyeon softly mumbled those words in his sleep.
-----
Hongbin drifted through the door to Taekwoon and Jaehwan's room. He saw both of them lying on one bed, leaving the other empty.
"Jung Taekwoon. How could you forget your best friend just like that and find another guy to fill in my spot?"
Hongbin slightly frowned and sat on his bed.
"Hyung...I feel really cold right now. Did it rain or something?"
Jaehwan softly mumbled to Taekwoon as he slowly woke up and looked out of the window.
"No..."
He placed the back of his hand on Jaehwan's forehead. His temperature was slowly decreasing.
But he also felt that the room had became colder than usual.
Suddenly, he felt a light smack on his forehead and a dim light with a figure of a guy appeared infront of him.
"H-Hongbin?"
He softly spoke as he furrowed his eyebrows.
He got up from the bed and covered Jaehwan with the blankets as he walked towards Hongbin.
"Bin...Is that you?"
He placed his hand on Hongbin's cheek. His face was so cold...like a dead body.
"Hyung...I missed you."
He hugged Taekwoon and brightly smiled.
"I...I thought you were..."
"Dead. Yes , I am. And I'm here to tell you something."
"What is it?"
"Sit on the bed."
He listened to his words and sat on the bed.
"Jung Taekwoon. Do you still treat me as a bestfriend?"
Hongbin smiled to him and slightly tilted his head.
"Yeah..."
"Then let me tell you a secret that you probably forgot. Remember that day when I fell down the stairs? Have you wondered who was the one who pushed me down? It was you, Jung Taekwoon. It was YOU."
He suddenly faded away.
"Hongbin!"
He loudly screamed. But fortunately, Jaehwan wasn't awaken by him.
"It...It was me?"
He stood up and his eyes were wide open.
"I-Impossible..."
He lied back down beside Jaehwan and hugged him tightly.
"It seriously can't be me...Why would I even want to kill my own best friend?"
He softly muttered and his grip grew tighter.
"Hyung, you're hurting me."
Jaehwan whined as he slowly opened his eyes.
He immediately let go and softly sighed.
"S-Sorry."
He pursed his lips and gently hugged Jaehwan again.
"What's the matter? Did you have a bad nightmare?"
They both faced each other and their faces were just a few inches away from each other.
"Yeah...By the way, feeling better?"
"Kinda..."
Jaehwan chuckled and covered Taekwoon's body with the blankets.
"Jaehwan ah...What does Narase mean?"
"It means Saranghae backwards! Why? Did someone confess to you?"
He slyly smiled and raised an eyebrow at him.
He probably didn't remember telling Taekwoon at all.
"It's nothing...Just saw a couple saying that to each other."
"I can say that too! Hyung narase narase narase!~"
He happily sang.
"You might get a cough if you keep on singing when you're sick."
"Alright...Let's get back to sleep."
Jaehwan rested his head on Taekwoon's chest and closed his eyes.
-----
*Rrring rrring*
"God...Who's even calling at this time..."
Taekwoon groaned and picked up the phone call.
It was a call from his mother. He felt that it was really weird, since his parents rarely call him.
"Hello? Taekwoon ah, your father and I have good news for you."
"Spit it out."
He immediately growled back.
"We're planning to transfer you into another school. So you can finally leave that horrible and useless school!"
"What?!"
He shouted to the phone.
"We're already planning to send you into a school named Loen High. You're surely going to love it there! We'll discuss about this next week, alright?"
His mother immediately hung up before he could even say anything back, since she knew that he would disagree.
He looked at his phone for a second and then slammed it on the table.
"Hyung..."
He looked behind and saw Jaehwan looking at him sadly.
"You heard everything...didn't you."
"I'm sorry. But I really don't want you to leave me. You promised hyung!"
Jaehwan hugged him tightly and bit his bottom lip.
"It's not your choice...So shut your mouth."
He shoved him away and left the room, slamming the door shut.
"But you promised you would take care of me..."
Jaehwan slightly frowned and sighed.
-----
"First, Hongbin. Second, my parents. Now what?"
Taekwoon growled and clenched his fists.
"Hyung, don't punch things to vent your anger. You should just count to five and relax. It really helps for me!"
Jaehwan's sentence suddenly echoed in his mind.
"One...Two...Three...Four...Five..."
He softly counted and took a deep breath after that. He really did feel relaxed. He had always thought that Jaehwan was joking around with him.
"And I'm really afraid that you'll leave soon...since you've been here for so long. Hyung...don't ever leave me...Promise?"
"...Promise."
Right after the day he had promised Jaehwan.
But it wasn't his choice whether he wanted to stay or leave either. He had been in this school for such a long time. He spent lots of memories and childhood in this school. And he had to leave just like that.
"Hyung..."
Jaehwan walked down the stairs weakly. His legs were trembling, like he was about to fall any moment.
"Jaehwan. Go back to your room. You're having a high fever, you don't want to go around passing it to others."
Taekwoon hung his head down and played with his fingers. It reminded him of Jaehwan, who was also playing with his fingers on his left hand yesterday.
"Hyung...Don't go."
"Look, I don't have a god damn choice to choose right now. Even if I object to this decision, my parents will still force me no matter what. They'll find a way that I can't argue with."
He rolled his eyes. His parents had never given him a choice to choose. Everything was planned all by his parents. Even sending him into this school was all planned by his parents.
But this school was the only choice that he was contented with. He entered a school with his interest, met new friends that liked him for who he was, and Hongbin. Hongbin made a huge impact in his life. Even Jaehwan, he never had a friend which he liked to be annoyed by or teased by.
"Go away. I don't want to see you. You should be caring more about your health instead."
The atmosphere suddenly turned silent.
Why wasn't Jaehwan talking back?
He looked up and saw Jaehwan lying on the ground once again.
"Jaehwan, I know you're pretending so that I'll pity you."
He rolled his eyes and folded his arms as he glared at Jaehwan.
"Just get up already Jaehwan."
He lightly kicked his arm.
"Aish you stupid pabo. Fine! If that's what you want. You can even lie all day on the ground if you want to."
Taekwoon walked away and hid behind the wall.
He suddenly saw Hongbin running down the stairs and looking at Jaehwan.
'W-Why is Hongbin even there?! What the hell does he want from my friends?'
He thought to himself and ran towards them.
"Look Bin, I don't exactly know what you want from my friends, but you better not harm them."
Taekwoon growled at him. Hongbin just kept quiet and slightly smirked.
"If I do harm them, what can you even do anyway?"
Hongbin was right, he's a ghost. Taekwoon can't even do anything to him.
"You better not hurt them, especially Jaehwan."
He carried Jaehwan up and brought him back to their room.
"Don't you realise that someone leaves every 3 months? Do you know who's behind all these?"
Hongbin walked beside Taekwoon while they were walking up the stairs.
"It was...you, wasn't it?"
Taekwoon immediately stopped and glared at him.
"Everyone who left the school knows your secret, my dear friend. That's why they all left, one by one. And now, my target is YOUR friends."
He faded away again.
"Bin...What have you became?"
Taekwoon sighed and continue bringing Jaehwan back their dorm room.
-----
Jaehwan's temperature rised up again. He was feeling way hotter than the first time.
*Knock knock*
The door slightly opened by itself.
"Taekwoon ah! How's Jaehwan?"
Hakyeon walked into the room and sat on Jaehwan's bed, since Jaehwan was lying on Taekwoon's bed.
"His temperature rose up."
Taekwoon placed the back of his hand on Jaehwan's forehead.
"Was it hot?"
Hakyeon jokingly asked and chuckled.
"This isn't the time to joke around, Hakyeon."
"Alright, sorry."
He coughed and his face turned serious again.
"I have great news to tell you, by the way."
"What is it?"
"Hyukkie finally returned. I was so happy and worried when I saw him sleeping beside me this morning."
He chuckled and clasped his hands together.
'Hongbin probably targeted someone else...J-Jaehwan?'
Taekwoon thought to himself.
"Taekwoon ah, your face always look so funny when you daydream!"
Hakyeon laughed at him and fell on the pillow.
"Shut up. Not finding Wonshik today?"
"He's meeting me at the cafe later on. You know...I think I'm in love with Wonshik."
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