A Virus That Kills

“Seo Jiyoon!” Soojung practically screeched, tackling her friend into a hug. “You scared the out of me,” she mumbled, holding Jiyoon tightly, almost as if she didn’t believe her friend was really alive.

Jiyoon smiled a little and hugged her friend back. “Sorry, Soojung. I’m real sorry.”

Sniffling a little, Soojung pulled away. “You idiot. You should be.” The older of the two wiped her eyes, determined to not let any tears escape from her chocolate brown eyes. “Eunkwang called me last night… he was so scared… You jerk, how could you do that to us?”

Softening at her friend’s tears, the light-haired girl wiped her friend’s tears away. “C’mon, Soojung,” she said softly. “Let’s get to class.”

Soojung nodded, still attempting to keep her tears from streaming down her face, although she failed. Several tears fell down her face, falling towards the ground. She took Jiyoon’s hand, squeezing it tightly as they walked through the halls of school together.

As class began, the two friends sat in the back of the room.

They talked about the homework they’d had over the weekend. Jiyoon helped Soojung with some of the math homework that she’d had issues with.

The classroom was noisy.

“Well, if it isn’t little miss -yoon,” sang a familiar, snide voice.

Both girls looked up to see Shin Jiho, or Xero, as he liked to be called, one of their classmates. He smirked a little, sneering down at Jiyoon. The shorter girl bit her lip, practically sinking into her chair in an attempt to avoid his knife-like gaze. Soojung, however, glared at him.

She practically growled, “What the are you doing, Jiho? Leave us alone! Go with someone else!” Soojung sounded feral, dangerous in the defense of her much more timid friend.

“What if I don’t want to?” Jiho scoffed. His lip curled in disgust as he stared down at the smaller girl. “This fat, ugly pig deserves every damn word I say.”

Jiyoon practically attempted to disappear, unable to say anything to defend herself against the spiteful words thrown at her by the taller boy. She whimpered, feeling the helplessness once again start to sink in.

“You , shut your ing face before I shut it for you!” Soojung snarled, standing from her seat threateningly.

Jiho simply ignored Soojung, not at all fazed by her threat. He smirked down at Jiyoon, who looked smaller than she ever did in front of him.

“You. Seo Jiyoon. I heard from a little birdie that you were flirting with college kids a few days ago. You have anything to say about that?” He grinned widely, mockingly, awaiting her answer. Soojung looked at her friend, who was trembling in fear, looking down at her hands, which were curled into fists and shaking on her knees.

She stuttered, “I-I… they were just my brother’s friends.”

Her answer and voice were both weak. Even she knew it. She knew that she had no way to defend herself against what was coming next. No matter what she could’ve said, Jiho’s answer would have been the same.

Jiho just scoffed in reply, clearly choosing not to believe her. “You’re such an unbelievable .”

.

“I mean, flirting with guys just because they wouldn’t look at you otherwise? You’re ing desperate.”

Desperate.

“Even if you were the last girl alive, I wouldn’t date you. You’re fat. You’re ugly. You probably wouldn’t even be a good .”

Fat.

Ugly.

He said those things, those derogatory words, to describe Jiyoon so casually. He didn’t care about the effect the words had on her. It was like he was informing her of the weather or about a television show.

“You should just kill yourself.”

Jiyoon froze.

Everything else froze, too.

The one who exploded was Soojung. She screamed, “You bastard! You son of a ! Why would you even say that?!” Tears threatened to escape her eyes, Jiyoon’s recent brush with death still lingering in her mind. “How would you feel if she actually ever did try to kill herself?! Wouldn’t you feel bad…?”

Jiho didn’t answer. He just watched Jiyoon.

Then, Jiyoon smiled at him. It seemed like his words hadn’t bothered him at all. “Maybe I should die… Or maybe, I shouldn’t,” she murmured.

He raised an eyebrow at her. “What the ?” he demanded, his voice harsh against her softer tone.

“It’s nothing. Just that… you’re right.”

Tao walked the streets of Garosugil, window shopping as he went. He was sure to note the things he liked, just in case he was able to get Kris to bring him back with more money.

He even bought a few things, like a nice snapback and a faux leather jacket to replace his old one that had been completely ruined in a fight a few days prior. He also picked up a nice pair of aviators, a new backpack, and a nice pair of silver colored headphones. He blew quite a bit of his spare spending cash, but it was worth it.

His phone rang