Wae – Why

HakSaeng – Student(s)

Seon saeng nim – Teacher

Nae – Yes

Molla – I don’t know / don’t care

UlJJang – Pretty / Handsome

He looked into her eyes, waiting as if drawing out an answer from her but Crystal could only frown and stares back to this guy in bewilderment. Seeing no realization from the girl, he turns back to the drunkard and pries off his filthy hands which were grabbing Crystal’s wrist.

“YAH! Stay away kid…”

Crystal tense as the young and old had a staring contest, both had backups standing behind them as if ready for a fight but just by looking, it was an obvious guess that the drunkards were going to win against these students her age.

“Wae wae!? I’ve already called the police!”

“Aish, just my luck…”

Ahjumma came rushing out of the kitchen, one hand holding onto the phone and another with a rubber gloves on. Thanks to the ahjumma for acting quickly, the situation was cooled down with the drunkards spatting a few curse words and storming off in a huff.

“HakSaeng! Don’t all of you have school tomorrow!?”

Ahjumma pointed to the boys with the phone and then frowns at them as if they were her sons. Crystal noticed the ahjumma’s angry tone and scurried to clear away the last few tables from before.

“Let’s go B.I-ah, we have things to settle”

Crystal was too immersed in her cleaning she didn’t notice the guy giving her looks. Pausing for a moment longer than needed, the guy that stood up for her then went off when his friends called him.

“Tsk tsk, those hak saeng creating trouble at such a young age. Gwaen chana?”

“I’m fine, ahjumma”

--

“Seon saeng nim! Why can’t we have our physical training together with the boys!?”

“Yah! PHYSICAL, P.H.Y.S.I.C.A.L. Furthermore, we’ll most probably be having games with our exchanged students from Seoul Sports High School, we have to be serious and train hard”

Crystal nodded to what the teacher said. The rumors about Seoul Arts High School is real, that the students concentrates too much in what they major and lack the skills in other area to be considered one of the outstanding school, to the extent that students from other school would do better in arts compared to the best arts school in Seoul. Perhaps this exchange program was a hoax too, to test the students’ abilities and not some get-together learning experience .

That’s how the way things work, she thought to herself. Everything is a lie and the people know about it yet wouldn’t do anything to stop it from worsening. Now that she has experienced all sorts of bad incidents, she couldn’t help but to change the mindset that working hard is everything. The world is unfair and when people do play fair, it is usually through bad means to achieve it.

“Alright! One more round”

“Ah… Saeon saeng nim, I can’t run anymore”

“Me too…”

Crystal and a few others started running, leaving the whiny ones behind. It was refreshing for her to run after such a long time, though it was tiring because of the laps but it definitely cleared out her thoughts and increased her focusing level on the run. There was this tiny feeling that prickled her although she tried to push it away.

Why are you always appearing in front of me?

Shaking her head, she charges forward with the energy in her a