PART 2
THE BYSTANDER
"DETENTION letter, huh? What a surprise!"
After got dragged by the almightly counselor teacher, Ms. Choi, Jung Taerin's arrival interrupted Mr. Kang's Biology lesson. She gave him an innocent grin by showing a letter of detention.
"I bet you have a good excuse to tell, not overslept after watching some KDrama about stupid mafia game that become real life, just like your last attempt!"
Tiny laugh spread in between the air of Mr. Kang remark.
"I expect better from you, Miss Jung. Triple homework for this week, any objection?" Despite his punishment, she just hope her cheerful grin and polite nods melted him apart.
"No objection then," he replied at her forcibly nods, Taerin's grin almost looks like an uncanny valley from the dark web funny videos Kang secretly likes to watch. "Triple homework it is. Maybe it will help you to learn time management."
The violet bomber jacket figure walked with slumped shoulder to her seat. A shame of exhausted yet dissapointment by her own action showered her thoughts, poked in her pores. The tiny laughs still latched her wired throat. Despite the familiarity, she still spare a second to take a look, and yet, the cranky annoying voice was came from someone she expected - the stupid class clown with tongue wriggle that stop only when his shoulder getting slapped by Eunha beside him.
Seriously, Jung Stupid Taerin? You were asleep at 2 AM and wake on 8 AM? Where do you think you live in? The Sims world?
The fact that her eye bags clear as a day, only a reminder for her mistake to chatting with an anonymous boy on the stupid viral dating app.
This is the first time in history, I got a detention because of just a lewd thing for an adult.
And she’s not even an official adult yet. She needs to wait until June to turn officially nineteen and that’s two months from now.
This is ridiculous!
✧══ °𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓛𝓲𝓷𝓮 𝓤𝓹 ° ══✧
"Oi, dumbass!" As the class busy to switch subject, a girl with strawberry scented hair - the shampoo she's been using for months - turned her body in front of Taerin's desk. It felt like there's a bloom of sakura petals that choked everyone's throat in every sway of Choi Seonwa's long brown locks.
A pink sweater wrapped outside the long haired's spring form. Dark brunette dyed hair, a tiny bracelet with flower beads, and the creamy lotions of others fruit flavour layered on her porcelain skin. In Taerin's eyes, Seonwa was the figure of a choco-strawberry-ice-cream if it can breath.
"How can you get into this new mess today?" The smirk on her lips was also as pink as a rabbit tongue. Seonwa's slow and soft gesture of checking the wrist-watch only filled her feminine yet mischief aura. "You step inside the class on 9:27. Isn't that a bit too much for your standard?"
The bob-haired with lavender perfume who's being questioned chuckled as she propped her head, start doing the triple-large-homework from Mr. Kang. Standard? Even doing delinquency become a new normal to Taerin's friends. She grinned in proud, "Overslept. Forced myself to finish a novel until 2 AM."
When the word of "novel" poped up, a shadow of long haired ghost flashed from Taerin's right shoulder. "Wait, you stayed up for a book? What novel was it?"
"Ah, this worm right here." Reacted to the innocent ghost interference, Taerin's smug widened, her bob that hang like a curtain shaked softly on her cheeks.
Lee Yoonseo's black medium hair sit straight on her shoulder. No strange hairstyle. A little scent of a vanilla clouding the neat of her collar. She's sweet, but more plain compared to Seonwa's bright choices of accesorries. Yoonseo's style was just like a shy decent girl, just felt right in place.
But is she actually a decent girl? Well, it's not unusual for everyone to catch a red cover of a book titled The Shining in between the notes on Yoonseo's desk. For few days, she changed it to The Crime and Punishment and Sherlock Holmes to help her to zone out at the corridor's bench. Is that actually what a decent girl read?
Whatever the answer is, today, the girl had Murder on the Orient Express under her arms. Making the decent aura glitched as her pupils became dark whenever her brain swallowed something that attract those frowsty sharp detective radar. Especially the moment when she talked about literatures.
"Heaven by Meiko Kawakami," Taerin finally responded. Flat, tried to supress any despair, but still admit, "It was hell, I bawl like a crazy by the ending."
"Oh, that book!" Yoonseo's eyes lighting even further as Taerin mention the title. She close her "O" mouth with Agatha Christie under the delicate soft grip of her fingers. It's more weird if she wasn't familiar with it. A dark psycologycal novel, with beautifuly written theme of bullying. Her type of genre to destroy herself from the inside. "I remember reading it a while ago. It was intense, wasn't it?"
"Omo! Omo! What is it?" A soft high pitch piped in again. "Bawling? Oh, no, no! Don't know a warrior could cry!"
A heartwarming themes might not usual to heard by the one who just brought up the title, especially not in front of these two curious cats who constantly frowned up their eyebrows higher than the Namsan tower.
"Hm?" The hypertension of the-so-called warrior only need one call to frown her eyebrows and shoved the pen off her fingers. "What's wrong?" Taerin's tone was sharp. "Is crying only for the drama enjoyer?"
The pink sweater girl mirrored the bob hair act to prop her chin. Seonwa's excitement rised by how easy her friend got provoked. "No, you just said you're bawling. Is that even possible? You ain't even cry when I forced you to watch my Kdrama collections."
They had always do this, teasing each other until one of them screetch their lungs up to stop one other. But this time, ironically, Taerin couldn't promise if she still capable of handling any jokes. All thanks to the backpack thing, the detention letter, even this slavery triple-homeworks.
"Oh, your drama are just trash, that's why," Taerin sneered, the crude of her words followed by rolled eyeballs. "I can finish Jurassic World and throw more bawl on how the brachiosaurs tried to escape a vulcanic eruption on the edge of a shore, instead of bleeding my eyes upon your fluffy, whinny, unrational romantic plots! The Heaven novel was just hit differe-"
"YAH!" They only need a mere second. Taerin only need one second to triggered Seonwa in a shocking slam on the desk. The busy classmates who sank themseld in books and their own dialogues jolted by the girl's impulsive explosion. Now, now, who was getting provoked again?
"You're just a cold blooded troll, monster, and ugly things maniac! Drama and romance ain't even same! Yoonie was better at telling the difference between them! You didn't even take your time watching properly and dare say anything about my taste--"
"Oh, for the love of Father, guys!" The escalated yapping interupted by the detective who push herself off the seat to lash out between the girls who almost jumbled into an peerless argument. "Girls? C'mon! What is this?" Yoonseo's fractic eyes lurked around the class as they also take a little glance at the two grumpies before continuing with their own business. The dark violet fox, the pink strawberry rabbit. Everyone knew these two shenanigan only need one pull of a string to combust.
"What? You wanna scold us again?" The violet girl threw herself at the backrest, trying so hard to not pout, but her glossy lips only make it failed to stay swag. "Well, go on, lecture us, Mam! My already bleeding ear from Ms. Choi's lecture of detention shit still can take it!"
Listened to her, there's no serious panic in Yoonseo's face, instead, she giggled at how two of her polar opposite babies who glare and pout on each others. "It's just a book and a drama, why lashed like this?" the vanila girl continued, placed her palms on both of the girls shoulder. "We're not on the street, just lower your voices, okay?"
"Nye, nye, nye." Seonwa clicked her tongue as the puffy pout on her cheeks getting cutely swollen. Different from Taerin, this blossom girl fractically never try to hide any of her intentional bad mood. "Yes, Mam."
Before Taerin could lash another gibes at how ridiculous Seonwa looks, three of the book maniacs heard a stragled noise of someone's rage outside the class. They glanced towards the window simultaniously, but didn't care enough as they still drown in their own resentment. Everyone had been tolerating on how easly an individual go berserk these days, especially at the floor of the third year.
The third grade of senior high school's life was translated as: a chaotic examination schedule that clashed on each other, the parasyte who became a ghost whenever a group project is needed, the unhinged amounth of study for CSAT, also the period of watching anime and kdrama getting cut off. All of those short things were more than enough to pile every rampage inside the slave of third year's sanity.
Yet, there were somebody who still inovatively added a new problem? Nah, thanks handle those by yourself.
"Damn, Taerin! Why you always love a plot about something chasing someone?" Seonwa continue her snickers. "No matter what genre. The thrillers like The Jurassic Park, The Hunger Games, even some romances like Titanic? I'm afraid you have a kink for being chased--"
"Did you came to school while being drunk?" This time, Taerin reach up her clenched fist, ruffled her hair in frustation. "Just stop it, enough! I need a moment to continue the slavery job from Mr. Kang! Just please, Choi Beautiful-Talented-Magnificent Seonwa! Shut your crazy mouth, will ya?"
Ignoring Taerin's noisy plea, Seonwa stick out her tongue, rolled eyes, and finally turn back to her desk. "Yeah, yeah, goodluck with your Bio slavery!" Yoonseo also followed the rebel's order. "Hope your face won't looks like the wriggling thing powerhouse of cells!"
"That's called mitocondria!"
Not only the bookrowm trio, sometimes, the classmates still wonder why were the three of them could become a close knit despite their different personality. Their only similarity were just books, let alone those are not even at the same direction; Yoonseo with her crimes to solve, Seonwa with her fluffy drama thingy, and Taerin with her bloody battlefields.
Switched off all the noise and stress, in a moment of silent, Taerin unlocks her phone with the most decent casual movements. Trying not to act suspicious under everyone's gaze, especially Yoonseo who sat on the right side of Taerin's desk. At least not with those sweet surveillance eyes lurking like the telescreen from 1984 novel that will kill if it caught you doing weird things to oppose the govern.
Hm, no answer?
Distracting herself, since few minutes ago, she actually waits for somebody's reply. A message from unknown person to be exact.
[Purple02 | Monday 10:30 AM]
- Hey, you up?
- You know what? Looks like my bawling activity last night have a consequence on this morning😔😔
- My morning was doomed.
She exhaled in silent. Nibble her knuckle in concern. She doesn't understand. She can tell her two bitches about her misfortune, but why does the first thing that comes to her mind has to be an alter account named "Red Punch"? Someone she barely even knows.
The mysterious guy said he's a guy on legal age, but not his specific age, and Taerin doesn't mind that. So the bustle she can guess for him to jumbled in were whether he's busy in college classes or work time.
But, hell? Does a girl who message in the morning feels botheri-
BUGH-
"There you are, you filthy bitch!"
Before Taerin had a chance to continue her daydream, out of everyone's awarness, her head getting smacked by someone's backpack that striked abruptly upon her nape. Hair jerked off, head almost slammed towards her desk under the shock crude of the attack.
"Oh my God! Taerin-ah, you okay?" Seonwa and Yoonseo furiously jumped off from their spot. Reached in to touch Taerin, but only got blocked by two guys in colorful attire.
"What the hell is happening?" The other's also stood up and watched in distraught.
The furious dizzy stinged at the back of her head. Taerin hissed in pain, only to catch bunch of bastards she'd meet earlier.
Shibal, I'm waiting for someone's message! Not these idiot again!
-
"Three of them ... weren't on Mr. Kang class, right?"
The fact that no one questioned why the sudden violence bolted as if they're already familiar with it, tension overtook the entire class's consciousness as Taerin watch both of her girls froze in fear. Their expressions filled with terror as they watch the giant statue approached behind her like a gigantic killer machine.
"You still have the audacity to sit and chill, huh?" The intruder glared at her, his voice dripping with venom.
For a moment, her butt still plastered on the seat, Taerin's pores paused in silent. Watched how the morning beam outside the window casted a soft, spring honey with golden hue upon the room.
The metalic scent of wood and steel of the desk stabed her limbic more sharper than before. Her sense snappy. Only to watch how calm the trees sway gently, their leaves created a dance of mocking peaceful shadows on the floor. Opposite from how her stomatch whirled in turnmoil.
"Did you even heard me?" The raspy low groans strap her neck again. This time, almost slice a blade down her spine, almost. His large palms reach out to grip her back collar. "Shibal, you little-"
However, before Kyungjun touch her, Taerin rised from her seat. Her chest pounded in a loud beat as she positoned herself in front of his detested glare. A sting of menthol, mixed with dark coffee and capucino rake of his odor slit down to her throat.
"What is it? Are you still mad at my words?" She shrug uninterestedly. "Is it because you couldn't throw a punch on a girl? So you used a backpack?"
"Michin amkae ..." Kyungjun's eyes widens in bewildered. A knife felt scatch inside his throat. Showing a disbelieve at her nonchalant respond. "You're really asking for it, huh? If I ever do that, just remember you're the one who ask for it."
"Hey, what is going on here?" Just as things seem to reach the boiling point, the voice of their Class President, Kim Junhee, interrupts the scene. He shouts, exerting his authoritative step between the desks.
Kyungjun turns his attention to the President. "None of your damn business."
Junhee steped closer. "You just happen to threw a bag on her head," he repeats, "This is our classroom. You can't just cause chaos here!"
"Oh, yeah? I thought you'd always turned a blind eye. I never see you stand up for the guys I had fun with," Kyungjun sneers, curving his mouth with a terrifying uncanny grin closer to the president. "What? You have a secret affair with this chick?"
Meanwhile, Taerin take a moment to shut her eyes. A glimpse of torture from the Heaven novel oozing inside her brain.
Bullying this, bullying that. Fuck off!
With Kyungjun's presence only one breath away, she felt like it's only one eyelids apart from those torture to happen in her life.
"Alright, lets settle this!" She suddenly raise both of her hand. "I don't like small talk. Especially useless talk like trying to intimidate someone. What the hell do you want me to do?"
"Kneel."
Without waiting for her to proceed, Kyungjun's fist already gripped the bob haired shoulder. It was a giant, rough, and harsh nip that sting an electric on her flesh.
"I said, get on your knees. Apologize to me."
"Wah, Kyungjun, she's strong!" Behind his towering figure, Seungbin jawdropped. "How the hell is she still standing by your grip?" He start to record on how almost impossible it was for her body to stand straight.
"Whoa, this is messed up, man!" The room becomes a cauldron of chaos as Jang Hyunho intervere. He nipped his fist on Kyungjun's muscle. Even Taerin can see Hyunho's knuckles vein bulge under the beam of morning light. "Get your hand off her!"
"You really have thing with so many guys, hm?" Kyungjun glares at Hyunho for one mere second. The sieze on his prey's shoulder still robust. "I'm still politely asking, you know? Or you want something rougher than this?"
With only one push, Taerin's knees finally crash through the floor.
The wounds on her knees that she got from jumped off from the wall sting in harsh cut when it's connect to the cold tiles. Her shoulder got numb after he throw it like a damn trash. But the pain couldn't be compared with how her honor being tormented under all the bystanders.
The bystanders?
"Wah, I thought she's too stubborn to stand like a colossal titan, Kyungjun?" Jinha snickers, focusing on Seungbin's camera. "In fact, she's nothing than a fragile sand castle."
"You son of a bitch! What the hell is wrong with you?" Hyunho furiously want to grab Kyungjun's collar, but getting snaged by Jinha. "Taerin, get off the floor!"
Yes, the bystanders.
"Hyunho, stop!" she snapped, trying to stop anyone from getting wounded. "Don't get into it, it's my business!"
"So?" Kyungjun's figure fully towering the prey under his shadow. All she can stare was his basket shoes. The dark red soles mocked back her in the fact that it's remind her to the color of her reddened knuckles everytime she punched something.
Blood. His shoes colored precisely similar as the crimson liquid of human essence that flow down on every single slice of her wounds.
I don't know whether I should stab his head because he's abusing me now or ...
"Anything you need to say?"
Or because I'm getting a karma for always being ...
"Fuck it, Taerin, stand up!" Hyunho kept restrain her.
Shibal, lets just finish this as the way he wants!
"I'm sorry!" she exclaimed under the clump of everyone's whispers. An apology latched with fake stragled plea. "So sorry for today ... for what was happening this morning!"
Slowly, she feel his palm gently interwined into her scalp. A thrill of warm shudders as her head being held on the place.
"Aaah, seriously?" he groans, his voice drops lower and husky. With hint of unknown intention.."You're still faking it?"
"Taerin, stop!" Now I heard Yoonseo snapped.
Damn it, I just want it to finish quickly!
"I'm sorry ... okay?" Trying to block all the murmur around, Taerin voice become more stragled with hostile. "You want more of my apology? Alright, sorry to give you a high voice when you're literally doing a mistake! Sorry to fight you on the alley just to catch back what's mine! Sorry to kick your balls--"
Her ears stabbed by Kyungjun's growls as his grip on her hair tightens. With one power, he pulled her head closer to his--
"Mmhh, seriously, Jung Taerin?" His raspy voice keep giggled in fleer. "Too much words, no meaning. I'd rather see you apologizing in other way ...."
Fuck!
Her forehead almost touch the fabric of his pants. Everyone gasp in dread silent. The harsh cologne of his body stronger than before. She stare straight on his spot with bewildered of shame and shocked.
Taerin's eardrums catch Seungbin and Jinha chimes a vulgar whispers. Triggers her body burn into a heated mess. All the outlookers in the room also whisper something's suggestive, but all she can hear is ...
What the fuck?
"YAH!"
Why the hell is he suddenly moaned?
"YOU SON OF A-"
With one powerful clutch, Taerin didn't think twice to throw a harsh punch on his-
"GOD-" he bamboozleed. Taken aback and crumbled back from her sudden sieze on his crotch. This is the second time he got punched in balls in the same day. His head violetly stung with fury under everyone's sight.
Every bystander sight.
"So this is your purpose?" She rush to stand up. Hurt, humiliation. All mixed in resentment to snatch an axe to the guy in front her. Her heart ripped, internal blood scattered around her organs.
"Sexually assaulting me in front of the public?"
Despite crouching and groans in agony, Kyungjun only strike her with a lunatic mocking grin. "You're enough of a bitch to mess with me! You deserve nothing than a-"
"Oh, Go Fucking Kyungjun! Let me tell you a real thing, I'm not the one who's messing with you right now! You're playing with the wrong person!"
"YAH, TAERIN! DON'T GET INTO IT!"
She can heard Seonwa and Yoonseo taunts, tries to pull her presence. But before anyone can stop her, Taerin rush towards him.
"JUNG TAERIN, WHAT ARE YOU-"
Her step ended with one blow kick on his stomatch. A violent push of her front kick enough to make him blast off to the air.
That's it.
That's the moment of their class become a boxing ring on a slaughterhouse.
THE LINE UP 25.02.03