Lunchtime came after an eternity of class first-day activities. It was the same thing over and over again: class rules, standards, teacher introductions, and the dreaded icebreaker activities.
Icebreaker activities.
More like soul-breaker activities.
I could have transferred here a week after school had already begun, but my parents insisted that I needed to get to know my classmates. They know that I don't like socializing. Sometimes, I feel like they just want to see me suffer.
Kyun-rin decided to eat his lunch on the school roof. He walked with his head down along the school halls and up the stairs so nobody would notice him.
It worked surprisingly well.
He overheard conversations that were—unsurprisingly—about him.
Apparently, everyone in the school knows the name of the cute new transfer student.
"Apparently, the new student's name is Kyun-rin."
"Kyun-rin is such a beautiful name!"
"There's no way someone like me can go out with someone like him!"
Every single girl wanted to talk to him, and every single boy was jealous of him. He wasn't safe around anyone. Kyun-rin started to accelerate his now almost march-like stride down the halls, and beelined towards the stairs.
His frantic footsteps alerted the nearby students, but nobody knew it was him. They just assumed that it was none of their business.
Once he made it to the stairs, he was at the home stretch. He could practically feel the cool breeze from three stories underneath in anticipation of possibly the happiest time he would ever have during school hours today.
He heard even more whispers about him as he approached the students loitering nearby the stairs.
Two stories left, and he felt the whispers became louder. He could barely hear himself think.
This is bad! They're all going to be after me! If I slip up once, it's over for me!
He was correct; it would be over for him, or at least he would have to say goodbye to his lunchtime solitude.
One story left, and he could hear people racing up the staircase behind him, which was just an auditory illusion, but it felt so real that it actually made him panic.
At this point, he didn't care if he tripped on the stairs; he just needed to run.
The flights of gray stairs seemed to go on forever, stretching upwards into infinity as the rooftop door just kept getting farther and farther away from him. The voices grew louder, almost unbearable. He was just about ready to scream when he ran straight into something with a big metal slam.
"GAH! The heck—!?" he said instinctively, falling to the ground.
He collided with the rooftop door with enough force to make a dent in it—or leave a mark on his head—but miraculously, neither suffered any damage.
When he had finally realized that he had run into the door, he slowly got up and pushed down on the cold metal handle. He had expected it to be locked, because his luck today was just as horrible as ever, but he was shocked to see that the handle would turn all the way.
Is it not locked? Am I even supposed to be up here?
Whatever. Looks like nobody is here, so that's great.
Kyun-rin let out a sigh as he sat down on a red wooden bench. Its paint was beginning to peel off, and it looked like it hadn't been maintained in in years. He was in such a catharsis that he didn't even question how or why a bench was there in the first place.
The warm breeze passed through the railing that lined the edge of the school roof, making him just a bit happier.
For him, it was euphoria.
He then spent the next twenty minutes eating his homemade lunch—he didn't trust the school's lunch enough after an incident involving mold at his last school. Since then, he has never eaten school lunch.
The rooftop was peaceful and silent—so silent that he forgot the rest of the world existed.
Who was that kid's name again?
The one that helped me...
Jung Hwan.
That was his name.
He let me borrow his notes, and I...
...forgot to return them.
Kyun-rin has broken his first promise.
This is bad—very bad, actually! He's going to think I'm a thief! A THIEF!
'This just in: Irresponsible Third-year student Cheon Kyun-rin steals notes of a friendly classmate. Students are advised not to let him borrow their notes.'
HOW COULD I FORGET!?
Wait... he said to return it by lunchtime!
I STILL HAVE TIME!
Kyun-rin jolted up from his seat, scaring the nearby birds, and swiftly made his way over to the rooftop door.
The handle didn't move.
He tried again, and a third time just to be sure.
The door was locked.
. . .
For what felt like an eternity, he froze at the door, didn't even loosen his grip on the handle.
No, it can't be locked, I just came in through here!
He tried to open it again, but just as before, it wouldn't budge.
I guess the door really is locked.
That's unfortunate...
How am I supposed to get down!? Am I stuck here!? This is not 'unfortunate', this is TERRIBLE! HORRIBLE! There's no other way to get down!
I'm going to die up here!
I'm going to DIE! I'm completely and utterly screwed! Once the staff finds out—because I'm probably going to have to get SOMEONE to open the door, I'm going to be in so much trouble! Am I going to get expelled!? What will my parents say!? They're going to disown me! I'm going to be HOMELESS!
Calm down, me
Nice, easy breaths.
GAH! I still have to return these notes!!
I should ask for help!
NO! That is the WORST thing I can do, because then I'll have to EXPLAIN MYSELF, which means I'm going to have to TALK TO PEOPLE, and I would rather DIE than have to say anything other than 'hello' and 'goodbye'!
Someone, KILL ME NOW!
He fell to his knees slowly in his extreme fit of despair and held that pose for a minute.
Suddenly, he heard footsteps that came from the stairway.
He looked up slowly in relief.
Has someone... come to save me?
The door swung open with a slam when it hit the wall, and a girl stepped out.
Oh no.
She scanned the area before her eyes snapped to him with an almost predatory glare.
NO.
"There you are!" she said as if he were something she spent years searching for.
NO, NO!
She then pulled out a communication device and said the worst possible thing that Kyun-rin could ever hear: "Attention all search party units, I have found the target. Located on the rooftop. Report immediately to my location."
SEARCH PARTIES!? MULTIPLE UNITS!?
There was one and only one thought that went through his mind at this exact moment.
Run.
He got up and, without making eye contact, dashed at an Olympic Gold Medal-winning pace, through the door, down the staircase, and halted when he saw a crowd with a big sign that had the letter 'B' on it in blue paint.
"There he is! We found him!"
He was so terrified in that moment that his pupils collapsed into a singularity.
"KYUN-KYUN!!!!!!!!!!"
Like a military-size pack of dogs let loose from their cages, they all charged toward him at once, tumbling over each other in their rush. There was no way he could escape except to run.
"He's getting away! After him!!" their commander shouted
The whole hallway shook with the force of about a hundred students all running after him like a tsunami.
Of course, every girl in school—and even some boys—had decided he was irresistible. Most just wanted to be his friend, a few hoped he'd be their boyfriend, and a tiny fraction of the 'search party' seemed to be acting as bounty hunters, chasing him for a cash reward if they caught him.
Back in his classroom, Hwan checked for the notes that were supposed to be back in his cubby by now.
"He still hasn't given them back... oh well. I wonder where he is." Hwan said.
Suddenly, a soft rumbling could be felt. His desk shuddered slightly, making him think it was an earthquake. "What could possibly be—"
Faint screaming of terror could be heard. It was getting closer.
It came from down the halls now, and there it was. A boy screaming and running down the halls stopped in front of the classroom door and dashed in.
"Oh my lord, is that you, Cheon!?" Hwan called out.
Then, a group of what looked like every single girl in the whole school and then some squeezed into a classroom like liquid being forced out of a small hole.
"LET ME HAVE YOUR PHONE NUMBER!!" one of them shrieked, and held her phone out and waved it like a murderer chasing their victim with a knife.
"What on earth is going on—?" Hwan said to himself quietly, but was interrupted by the loud sound he heard on his desk.
Kyun-rin slammed the notes he borrowed on his desk while running by, which were neatly organized now.
He wasted no time and left through the opposite door he came in, and continued screaming the entire time.
By the time they were done terrorizing the classroom, it looked as if a hurricane passed through the building. Half of the desks and chairs were overturned, and one desk even managed to get on top of another.
"WHAAAT THE HELL!?" were the only coherent words that came from Kyun-rin.
It never occurred to the horde that the person they were hunting down was actually—genuinely scared for his life.
WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!?
WHY AM I BEING CHASED!?
How do I get them to stop!?
Even if I go into the boys' restroom, I'm probably going to be trapped in there, but they're probably going to come in anyway because they have a complete lack of respect for my privacy!
I literally do not see how this day could get any worse!
The staff at this time had no idea what to do—it seemed like half of the school went into complete anarchy in a matter of minutes, and the other half were just as baffled as they were. This situation was physically impossible to control.
He rounded another corner, and just like that, he was cornered and left with nowhere to run. Search Parties A and C were on one side, and Search Party B was on the other. They have finally cornered him. It was game over for him.
Game over...?
He was getting ready to accept his fate, but he looked up and saw the Main Office door. He then had a very bad idea.
If I go through the Main Office, I can exit through the staff entrance on the other side of the counter, and I can end up on the opposite side of Party B. However, that does include jumping over the counter of the MAIN OFFICE, which I would DEFINITELY be in a lot of trouble for...
...but, if I don't, they'll likely rip me apart and kill me, so really...
...what other choice do I have?
Here goes nothing!
At this point, the groups were almost at arm's length of him, and most of them were already starting to extend their hands like zombies. He made a quick sprint, burst open through the office door without unhinging it, ran across, and made a leap of faith. He put both hands on the counter and hauled himself over.
"HEY!! You!! Get down!!" one of the staff said in a booming voice.
He was screwed. Absolutely screwed.
A teacher who was on their lunch break froze and dropped the clipboard she was holding.
He was already past the point of no return, and the people had already begun to figure out his plan, so he ran and almost bumped into another person. Once he made it to the staff entrance, he opened it with great force and ran out. He wasn't aware of the two other security personnel who were also in pursuit of him now.
"STOP RIGHT THERE!" one of them yelled.
He halted immediately.
So did the rest of the horde.
What have I done... WHAT HAVE I DONE!
What do I say!?
It's so over!
I'm going to be expelled! Kicked out!
My parents are going to be... no, no, no!
NOT AGAIN!
He felt someone grab his arm.
By now, everyone but him and the organizer of the mob had already fled the scene.
"You're coming with me," a security guard said in a harsh tone.
"Wait, wait... wait wait I-I can explain—!" Kyun-rin panicked.
The guard didn't say another word after that and dragged him back into the office.
Another security guard took the organizer—a female student around the same age as him—of the 'Search Parties' into the office too.
The door opened with a quiet creak, and once they were both ushered inside, it made a loud slam when it closed on its own. The staff stared at him like someone who had just spotted a criminal on the street. One of the teachers was reorganizing the items that had been slightly displaced from when he hauled himself over the counter. Kyun-rin felt very embarrassed.
As they were directed to the principal's office as if they were inmates, the school bells rang yet again, signaling the end of the lunch period.
The principal's office gleamed with accomplishment: nearly a hundred trophies, awards, and plaques were neatly arranged throughout the room. A nameplate on the dark, fancy wooden desk read Yoo Tae-joon. To the left of the office, a black bookshelf displayed neatly arranged textbooks, with an entire row devoted to past yearbooks. Two large windows behind the desk looked out over the school courtyard, letting in sunlight that cast sharp lines across the floor, hitting the two students' eyes at just the perfect angle to make the whole situation feel just a bit more uncomfortable.
Principal Yoo finally cleared his throat, and their attention snapped from the room to him.
"What part of 'no running in the halls' do you two not understand?"
The two froze in silent horror as they had no clue if that was a rhetorical question.