-Robert Louis Stevenson (The Secret Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde)

July 15, 2004.

“Juvenile Delinquents escape government-run observation home in Gangwon-do this morning at around seven a.m. Around twenty have been reported to have escaped, after attacking four staff-members with vegetable cutters. The injured staff, today, have been admitted to the local hospital’ two facing serious injuries. The Gangwon police have been sent out in search of these twenty juvenile delinquents.”

The boy walked down the streets casually, avoiding eye contact with anybody. He didn’t follow the other kids. “It’s only you and I now, Cheonsa” he told his friend. He was alone though, and it looked as if he was only a crazy child talking to himself. 

The outside world was a new experience. He watched people walk by with dirty looks to him probably wondering why a child is out alone in these kinds of streets, he saw others ride on bikes. People walked out of their apartments, taking out the trash, and some shopped at the local market. The streets weren't the same as the town he used to live years ago. Despite the ones who rested in corners of buildings and held cardboard signs, he couldn't separate the homeless with the common people. They all looked and dressed the same. The town was dead and depressing, especially in the dark-murky weather during the day that felt sticky after the rain.

In this dull town, the boy grinned, he was finally free. He pulled his hood over and followed the sidewalk wherever they took him.

 He stopped by the library, looking through the window of the many shelves of books, since the days he grew up in the orphanage, to when he was locked up in the observation home, he has never seen so many books in his life. He walked inside, reaching for the shelves of books. For hours he looked through each one, analyzing every title and cover, sometimes reading a page or two. The boy later traveled to the mystery-fiction books, where he spent most of his time. He could have taken almost every book in that section. The boy took two books and walked out the door with them.

“Excuse me young sir,” the librarian called before he left. He was an older man behind the big wooden desk.

 The boy hesitated before approaching him, “Don’t worry! I’m not going to hurt you.” the old man laughed. 

“Do you have a library card?” The boy nodded, no.

“I’ll give you one.” the librarian went on his computer, “Do you have a name?”

The boy's mind went blank. He took a name from a book from on the shelves, “M-Mercutio….Mercutio Jeong.”

The librarian eyed him over the glasses that fell to his nose, "Mercutio, like the character from Shakespeare's famous tragedy, Romeo and Juliet?"

The boy swallowed and nodded. The librarian made made a face. He then sighed and typed his name.

“How old are you boy?”

“I’m Thirteen.”

 “Do you know your phone number and address?”

The boy nodded, no. The librarian bit his lip, “Well, maybe you can just promise me that you’ll return the books by this date. Is that something that a thirteen year old like you can do?" He opened the books and stamped it with a date. When he closed it, he read the covers. “Frankenstein and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, eh?” he lifted a brow.

“Are you sure you want these? I have many books that children your age enjoy.” the librarian showed him Magic Tree House books, Diaries of a Wimpy Kid. “What kind of books do you enjoy?”

“Books with mystery, crime and killing. -And blood.”

The old librarian stared at him for a bit, “Uh, I see...–but these are English books, plus, I don’t think those are appropriate for your age. I was saving this for one of the college students on Saturday.” He gave the boy a look and then handed it to him, “Well as long as you return them. Enjoy.” He said, with a suspicious brow raised. 

"Th-Thanks..." the boy shyly replied and grabbed his books from the table.

“Hey kid.” The boy walked away but stopped when the librarian called. 

“Wipe that smile off your face. You can get beaten in this town with a look like that.” The librarian spat.

The boy slammed the door, so that the bell above it broke. He walked down the streets until he stopped by a near television store and watched the screens through the window.

“Gangwon juvenile delinquents found at Gyeongpo beach at noon today. Eighteen juveniles have been identified and will be returning to their observation home. As for the remaining two children, one body has been found dead in the lake reported that the juveniles had pushed them in after a heated argument. The body of the last child has yet to be found, though they claim him dead in the lake as well.”

The boy laughed loudly with his imaginary friend, “So I guess I’m dead now? Those kids are stupid for staying with each other.”

A  man on the run pushed passed him, making the boy drop his books. “Hey! Watch where you’re going!” the little boy cursed at him. The man shoved him to a corner where no one saw them, his chest holding him with a gun against his head. He sounded like he was out of breath, and couldn’t run any longer. Another man made it to them with a gun as well.

 “Let me go, *****!” the boy yelled.

“Shut up, kid, or I’ll blow your head up like a watermelon.”

“Dude! Why you gotta bring this kid up in our sh**?! I just want my money back, and every f****n' thing you stole from the shop!” the other man, that seemed smaller than the one who held him, yelled with a gun also in his hand.

The boy glared with the bigger guy behind him. He elbowed the man’s chest, holding the wrist that held the gun. The man's bullet fired to the sky as he stumbled on his feet. The blow could have drew the whole town's attention, if only they knew where it was coming from. The boy kicked the man’s hand as he stumbled to the ground, letting go of the gun, and kicked his calves making him fall.

He looked at the other man, who ran away afraid of the young delinquent that now held the gun.

The boy kneed the man’s chest, with the gun pointed to the man’s head. “What the ****, squirt?” the bigger man squealed.

The young teen shot the gravel to the left of his head, frightening the middle-aged man. Then blew to the right of him, then above him. The boy smirked whenever the man flinched. “Don’t call me squirt.”

He put the gun behind him and shot his thigh. The man screamed in pain. The boy chuckled, amused. “Can’t even take one bullet? How would this feel?” he shot his left shoulder. 

He screamed again, “I’m sorry s-sorry! Here! Take the money! I don’t want it anymore!” he cried.  The boy only laughed at his misery. Pulling into the man’s pocket for his wallet.  The teenager still laughed, listening to the man repeatedly cursing under his breath.

“See you later.” The boy left the bleeding man by the dumpster. 

He casually walked away, but suddenly found cops down the corner. "Hey kid," he heard them call behind him. He froze, his heart dropped. The boy made a run for it before they caught on. "Hey!" the cops yelled. They chased the teen, but he already had a lucky head start. 

6 Years Later

He swung his guitar case behind him, clenching the strap of it with his satchel hanging to the his other side. He took every step forward, catching many gazes and short conversations among the ones he passed. His long-shaggy hair hiding over his threatening eyes could have been something to stare. It appeared that he didn’t seem notice though, or maybe didn't seem to care, that's how others looked at it. He just kept walking forward, faster and faster after every step.

The kids ran away whenever he passed by them. He continued to walk. It's still not as worse as other days.  He bitterly sighed. 

I probably look friendlier because I'm wearing this ugly clown suite. He loosened his irritating neck-tie in his school uniform.

He reached in his back pocket and lit a cigarette, puffing clouds in the frozen morning sky. It was a daily routine he dreaded himself to. It's life, might as well do something while I'm at it.

What is he to do with his life anyway? Even at nineteen years-old, as a senior in high school, he's still viewed as a kid to an adult's eye.  

He didn't choose to go to school, he was dragged and it stuck to him.

"As kids, we gotta live up to adults' expectations, but when it's my turn, I'll rule the world." he listened to his music.  He wore his earphones like it was part of his body. The only thing he could wear, when chained to his ugly uniform. He threw his cigarette over the short fence to the grass of  his school before entering the gate.

"Hey! Jung Joon! You dirty student! Haven't we gone over this almost every morning?! Lose the earphones!"  One of the school's gate security ripped the earphones out of his ears and grabbed his music player. "I'll be taking these for the rest of the week since you haven't been cooperating with school rules. Understand?!"  He didn't reply. Instead, he looked down and scrunched up his shoulders, as if he were frightened.

"Hey, student! Answer me! Can you not talk, Jung Joon?!" the security spat at the taller student.

Jung Joon was what was on his school name tag. If it was possible to be more distant from people, it was when they called him this. Out of all the names he has used in the past; Andrew, Simon, Mercutio, and Joon, he preferred to be called by his original name, Jung Joonyoung, but that guy wasn't here at the moment, it was Joon. 

  Joon twitched and only looked up at the man with a creepy frown under his glasses, which sent a message the gate security that he wasn't going to respond.  "Get to class!" The fat security man pushed the tall student with both hands, covering his fearfulness with anger. The push made Joon step back, as if the security pushed a body of only skin and bones. 

Joon's blood boiled under his skin, clenching on the strap of his case a bit tighter, he was ready to punch this guy. Joon only pushed his glasses closer to his face and walked into campus.  Joon wasn't going to fight back. He couldn't.  This school was the closet thing that he had to normality, the only place where he could experience a real life when he can. 

Joon walked to the courtyard where the old-oak tree stood day and night. He sat under it, leaning against the trunk and read his book. This is his life.

The bell rang for class. Nobody is ever around in the courtyard in the morning, not even any teachers or staff. Joon watched students near the front of the school rushing inside the building. He slid lower so that he leaned on his elbows. He took his lighter from his back pocket and lit a cigarette. He chuckled clouds. Joon goes to school for the kick of being a teen, but going to class isn't in his "schedule". 

During these long hours, he usually stayed under his oak-tree smoking a cigarette, reading a book, listening to music, and sometimes sneaking near a teacher's window to listen to a lecture for the heck of it.

Why can't he just join the others in class like a regular student?

The voice in his head always asked him this. Joon ran away from the building and back to under the oak tree in anger.

"Shut up!! SHUT UP!!" he cried to the voice. "I just can't!" he punched the oak tree to release his pain. The voice that always spoke to him, the only one who stayed to guide him since childhood, he believed that it was his angel watching him. He called her Cheonsa. 

Joon cried with his head to his knees. All his life, surviving on his own since birth, even through orphanages, observations houses, and living on the streets,  he thought he had no such fear. Not until he came here, where everything and everyone was different. 

This was a place where students are the ones who are respectful to the adults, where no one stole from anyone or shot a gun, or attacked when they don't have it there way, where an argument between two girls and hair-pulling here and there was considered a fight. 

He couldn't understand the kids around him, so Joon decided to lone himself until he was ready. Joon didn't talk or communicate with any of them since he came here. Only sitting in the library reading a book, or pulling out his guitar under the tree during the dreadful times at lunch. He  loned school so much, that sometimes he didn't notice the students were even there.

After school some days, Joon sneaked into the music room, really the only time he ever went inside a classroom. Everyone would be gone by then and only the light from the outside lit the room. Joon pulled out his guitar to play along with the music he blasted on the speakers. He sang, giving his vocal chords a stretch from the quietness he held for too long. Music is the only time in his life when his spirits finally raise from its grave, his emotions burst out, and for once he actually feels alive. 

Sunny-warm days were the worst during lunch. Joon couldn't handle the voices of the students around him. The laughing, the giggling, and talking was freaking Joon out. The cheerleaders were out too, practicing their routines as many gathered to watch. Joon covered his ears under the oak tree and looked down to his shoes.  Joon got up, couldn't take the noises anymore. He looked down and quickly walked passed the groups of students to the school gate.

"Hey! Dude, watch where you're going! Seriously!" one of the students complained to him. Joonyoung held his breath, stumbling on words he tried to process in his head as the students eyes were on him. Instead of replying, Joon continued to run towards the gate. His expression changed when he got to the school gate. Joonyoung stared at the man from behind, with a dirty look in his eyes.

The security guard sat on a plastic chair, eating a banana as he watched the streets. No action to watch. Just the street, some trees, and trash that blew passed him. He heard the gate make a noise. It startled him and he looked back. Nothing. Probably it was just the wind that shook the gate, he thought. The security guard turned forward and ate his banana. The gate made a shaking noise again and the security guard looked back once more. The gate was open.

"What in the world...?" he stood to take a look at it. The wind had stopped. There couldn't have been a possible way that the wind did this. The security guard looked through the gate to see any suspicions.  "Who could have possibly-" He looked forward. Those dark eyes that he knew was right in front of him, his face showing his usual frown as always.

"Y-You! How did you get here, you dirty-" The frightened security held his breath when the student got his hands on him.

"Shhh..." the boy quietly responded. Joonyoung nerve-pressed the security on his collarbone and he fell unconscious. Joonyoung looked around for anyone watching. He ped the man's pocket to get his earphones and music player and dragged the big man to lean against the gate. He put his hands on his stomach to make it look as if he were sleeping. 

He left with the banana from the guard's hands, taking a bite of it. "Nighty-night." Joonyoung whispered. 

Joonyoung returned to his oak tree and by then, the students calmed down. He threw the banana peel in the garbage and then quickly walked, looking down to his shoes until he got there. As he sat under the shade of the oak tree, Joonyoung tried to turn on his music player. It was dead.

He threw it to the grass, cursing at it. He gave a big sigh, wanting a cigarette at that moment. Joonyoung looked at his feet and played with the grass. He began to hum which led to singing. There were ants that crawled around and he squished each one of them, singing along. After minutes, Joonyoung noticed legs stopping by him. People were staring. Joonyoung looked up to their faces without a word. A look from him was all that it took to scare them away. 

He decided to stop and threw the grass he picked back on the ground. He looked through his bag and occupied himself with his sketchbook. He drew himself, bored. Joonyoung listened to the students chatting amongst themselves as he cringed. He could kill to listen to his music right now. The noises seemed to be getting louder and louder again, and Joonyoung sketched faster terrified, breaking his pencil. He sighed, getting another one from his bag to add flames to his self-portrait. 

The yelling came from the meathead, Myunsik, the only guy he knew since everybody talked about him and called his name literally every minute. He was the captain of the football team, which automatically made him the leader of the his group, the students, and maybe even the school. He was the king and they were all his peasants. "Maybe you should talk to them," Cheonsa said to him in his head. Joonyoung touched the tip of his paper, angrily, the picture of himself in flames. He ripped the page off, crumpling it up and throwing it to a corner. "Aish," he whispered harshly.

Myunsik and his group of other meaty-guys with their girls walked out to the courtyard with their lunch some feet away from Joonyoung.

Two more girls followed out of the cafeteria, "Hyori! Minsu-ah!" the girls called in their squeaky voices. The guys' girlfriends stopped across the oak tree to meet up with their friends.

"Oh hey! What's up?" the girls smiled. The squeaky girls distracted Joonyoung from drawing. "I love your new hair! Thanks! I got it done last Friday!"  Joonyoung watched stared at his sketchbook with the frown on his face, disgusted. Is this how all girls are? Is this what guys like me are supposed to be attracted to? The reality, Joonyoung thought. They don't compare to the alluring, captivating genuine women he reads in books. Everyone woman here was the same. Annoying. 

Joonyoung sighed, waiting for them to leave. The four girls just had to stop here and chat. "Let's plan the party with Myunsik and the guys! Let's go!" He thanked the world that the girls were about to leave.

One of the girls looked back to the cafeteria, "Oh, wait! There's someone that I've been wanting you to meet!" she smiled. "Yah! Jang Miyeon!!" the girls waved at another female student who just walked out of the cafeteria. Joonyoung looked up.

The girl noticed her friends calling her and waved back at them with a small grin. Joonyoung swallowed. His frown suddenly faded away. 

"Come over here!" her friends laughed.

Miyeon smiled and walked down some steps to them. Joonyoung took a deep breath. He didn't know what was wrong with him, but his eyes followed her every move. The girls introduced her to their friends and chatted for a few moments. Her voice was smoother and more gentle than the others. She kept the smile on her face too, the sun light hitting her face so perfectly. Joonyoung held his chest as it beat faster. His body turned warmer than usual. It was a weird sensation, similar to how he feels when he wants to kill someone. The feeling was similar, but it was something different.

"Cheonsa," he called quietly to the voice in his head. "What's wrong with me?" There was no answer, his mind was blank. 

They all walked off, but Joonyoung's eyes glued to her until they were gone. His head fell against the tree trunk and closed his eyes, thinking about what just happened. His heartbeat slowed down when everyone left from lunch so he knew that he was fine. Though, he was worried that his face still felt warm. Joonyoung knew in the back of his head that it was only because he was still thinking about her. "Jang Miyeon."

" Jang Mi...yeon."

He watched her everyday under the old oak tree. He listened to his music as he found himself sketching her gorgeous face. Her smile that he always wished was towards him. The sun always seemed to hit her so beautifully. She looks just like angel. Her skin made him almost tear up as he admired it. 

 He would have fantasies about her everyday and make them reality in his sketchbook. The meat-head, Myunsik walked over to Miyeon in the courtyard, putting his arm around her as they both grinned at each other. Joonyoung's pencil broke as he sketched. They were together.

"Cheonsa," Joonyoung called to his friend. No voice answered.

At the end of the day, Joonyoung sneaked into the music room, climbing from a window with his backpack. There was more noise than expected when he got up from a tree. When he peeked in, there were a few students inside, messing around and playing instruments. Joonyoung cursed,quickly hiding on the side. He didn't know how long he was going to wait there until they left, but their voices and music was torturous for Joonyoung already, he thought that he would leave in just a few more minutes. Somebody started playing a tune on the piano swiftly. He suddenly looked up, recognizing the melody. 

The song was a song he used to listen to years ago, Joonyoung finally recognized with a nostalgic thought. He bobbed his head slowly to the familiar song, waiting for the first verse to come up for him to sing in his head. A voice suddenly sang along with the piano as if the words came right out of him. It was a female's voice that he heard, though. Her voice was nice, less rough than the original, but still with the same pain in her voice that he felt every time he listened to the song. 

Curiously, Joonyoung peeked through the window of the music room. The lights were off and nobody was there; besides Jang Miyeon.

Joonyoung held his breath, almost choking. She was so beautiful, even when she was crying. Angry that he didn't have any sad emotion watching her play, he forced tears down his eyes to feel how she did. Miyeon played more songs and Joonyoung sat back on the tree, he sketched her playing. He hummed along, almost grinning that she sang songs that he actually liked.

Miyeon stopped for a moment and looked out at the open window, noticing something below. She got up from her chair, suspiciously. Joonyoung quickly climbed down the tree and jumped.

Miyeon looked out the window to only see a tree, nothing else. She closed the window. Joonyoung fell to the ground on his back. Although it hurt, Joonyoung only laughed to the sky. He felt more compelled to this Jang Miyeon everyday.

Joonyoung followed Miyeon into the library once, admiring her as she studied. He could only watch from a far, distracted from reading one of his favorite books recently of Jack the Ripper. 

Why does she look so troubled? Joonyoung observed her different expressions as she looked at a textbook and paper. She tapped the bottom of her pencil to her chin. He copied her, wondering the thoughts to her actions.

Myunsik arrived in the library to find her again, which Joonyoung hated. The ugly smile that Myunsik had on his wrinkly face made Joonyoung want to smack it off. Joonyoung scoffed, shutting his book as they flirted. He took off interest for a moment and saw a spider hanging on the window. He took the spider by the web and played with it as he looked over at the two again.  Myunsik wore a short-sleeved button-up with his school tie. Even though it wasn’t the school uniform, his big arms were his reason of wearing it. Joonyoung could tell he was rich just by looking at him, probably the reason why everyone liked him too. 

"He's so hot!"  Joonyoung glanced at two girls by him. They were spying on Myunsik with their faces hidden behind books. "He has such a perfect body!" they squealed together, spitting on perfectly-good books. Myunsik flexed, lifting Miyeon's heavy textbook to his face as he put one of his meaty legs resting on another chair. Joonyoung rubbed his thin arms with his hands. He looked down to his long, but bone-like legs, disappointed at his frail figure. The spider quickly ran across the table when he was distracted, but Joonyoung quickly caught it. The spider was quite larger than the common spiders and bugs he saw around the library.

"Ew, but look at his girlfriend. The new girl!" They then trashed on Myunsik's girlfriend, with impertinent comments. "She's not even half as pretty as other girls at this school, so why her?! Her hair is so plain and look! She hasn't even had a trim to her skirt! Oh, it's so ugly how it falls down so low to her knees. It looks like something that my grandmother would where back in the sixties," they giggled. Miyeon didn't seem to notice, though, resting her head on Myunsik's shoulder. They giggled with each other and Miyeon playfully hit his chest.

 "Ugh! What is she doing?! Asking help with homework from Myunsik? She's so stupid!  And now she's trying to flirt with him?! Oh my gosh! And she hit him! Who does she think she is! She's a witch with an  evil soul!" the girls yapped in jealousy.  Joonyoung clenched his jaw, while listening to those chimps. Miyeon has a perfect soul.

Myunsik helped Miyeon clean up the table. She gathered her papers into her binder and he carried her books. As Miyeon got up from her chair, a hair snapped off of her head from a nail on the chair. “Ow!” Miyeon and Myunsik only giggled, holding the back of her head and left the library.

"Stupid girl," one of the students muttered.

After Miyeon left, Joonyoung stood too to leave. He carried the spider in a hand and placed it on one of the girls' shoulders as he walked away. Joonyoung then passed by the hair that got caught on the chair, pulling it off. He walked out the door, leaving horrified, screaming girls in the library. 

He smirked under his frowning eyes, clenching the strand of hair tightly in his hand.

________________________________________

Creep Playlist:

TRAX- 창문 (Blind)

A/N: Hello readers~  I hope you liked the story so far! I'm still deciding whether I should make the first chapter in first person or still in third.

In this story, I make connections to JY's character and the real JJY such as his super-long name; Joonyoung Andrew Simon Mercutio June/Joon/Jun Cheng/Chang Jung, his talents, and his passion for rock music. I don't think he's some violent, crazy, creep though. That part is just his character in the story :)

-Sorry for my poor grammar and spelling errors too! I'm still learning~

-Please subscribe/upvote/comment your thoughts of the prologue below! It will give me more motivation to update the official first chapter! ^^

-taegyoelf

P.S. I might kick the violence and romance a few notches in the next chapters so.. don't be surprised if suddenly;

jk...not 19, but maybe Rated ....