41. Unreality (1)
Within a wave of thoughts where even light and time had lost their direction and wandered, Flame kept walking endlessly forward.
As if someone had pressed the power button on a television, Flame’s consciousness—which had been completely switched off in perfect blackness—returned.
“Ah.”
She stopped.
Then, startled, she hurriedly looked around.
Murmur murmur.
Honk honk—!
Noise, and the stale smell of the city.
Gray buildings rising high into the sky, cars belching exhaust, people and students moving toward their daily lives.
“Uh……”
Bump!
“Watch it. I’m busy as hell.”
An office worker bumped into Flame’s shoulder as he passed, and only then did she realize she was carrying a bag.
“What is this…?”
[Ilwol High School, Class 3-7, Flame]
It was a name tag.
“Ah, right.”
Only then did her memory return.
I’m Flame, a third-year student at Ilwol High School in Seoul. Wasn’t I on my way to school just now?
Really.
She must have blanked out for a second.
Maybe it was because she had stayed up almost all night studying yesterday too.
Her head felt fuzzy and inconsistent.
To think she’d dream something so fantastical.
…But what was the dream about?
They said the harder you tried to remember a dream after waking, the farther it slipped away.
And now she could not remember a single thing.
“Well, whatever.”
She shook off the memories of that dream world and pulled out her smartphone.
Opening the bus-route app and checking it, she saw that the bus would arrive in five minutes.
…Why does handling my phone feel a little awkward?
Why does it feel like I’m not used to using a smartphone?
She was standing at the bus stop, tilting her head and tapping at her phone, when someone suddenly threw themselves around her in a hug.
“Heyyy, Flaaame~ why’ve you been ignoring my KakaoTalks all day today~?”
“Uh, huh?”
To her, it was an incredibly startling hug, but the other girl seemed perfectly used to it.
The girl with long black hair was named Han Choyeon.
Contrary to her neat and gentle appearance, she had a very nasty streak, but ever since first year she and Flame had been best friends.
“Hm? You’re even on your phone right now. What’re you looking at? YoTube? Oh my god, what’s this? Since when did you start keeping up with Gappa Boys? You always acted like you weren’t interested in celebrities.”
“I wasn’t watching it! I just kept tapping stuff and it popped up in the YoTube algorithm…!”
“Yeah right. Like I’d never notice? I’ve seen you watching those oppas’ variety clips all the time.”
“I told you, that’s not it! I didn’t even subscribe, and at the very least I don’t watch the live broadcasts! I just click on them out of curiosity whenever they pop up!”
The words came spilling out of her mouth, somehow awkward yet strangely familiar.
“Hmmm~ really? I figured even on YoTube you’d only ever watch English lectures or math lectures. Turns out you’re human after all.”
“I told you it’s not like that……”
It was unfair, though not exactly unfair.
Because the truth was that she really had been secretly keeping up with Gappa Boys’ videos behind everyone’s back…
She just had not wanted to get caught like this.
Her face burned.
Maybe because she had tried to pretend otherwise and then gotten exposed, the embarrassment felt several times worse.
“Oh, the bus is here!”
“Trying to change the subject~”
Fortunately, the bus arrived at the perfect moment, and Flame practically fled into it.
…Of course, once she got on, Han Choyeon sat down right next to her, so it wasn’t as though the teasing actually stopped.
…This is our school?
Ilwol High School was a five-story building.
An utterly ordinary high school, the kind one could find anywhere in Seoul, with a plain straight-line structure and the school emblem engraved on the rooftop.
“Why’d you suddenly stop? Hurry up. We’re gonna be late.”
“Uh, right.”
Han Choyeon was urging her on, so Flame walked toward the school, but something kept catching at her and feeling wrong.
“Hey, Choyeon.”
“Why are you saying my name so sweetly? Creepy.”
“Was our school always this small…?”
“Yeah. It is kinda tiny, isn’t it? The school in the next neighborhood is freaking huge.”
“No, that’s not what I mean. It feels smaller than usual.”
“Like your height?”
“You psycho bitch, seriously asking to die……”
“Heheh. Poke your height and you immediately get all nasty? I thought you were acting weird this morning, but now you’re complaining about the size of the school?”
Han Choyeon’s reaction was the normal one.
The other students on the way to school were all laughing and chatting like usual too, with nothing visibly strange.
Maybe I’m the only one taking this too seriously.
Am I just too sensitive these days…?
Maybe the stress of being a third-year really was harsher than expected.
Ding-dong-daeng!
By the time the incredibly old-fashioned school bell from what felt like the twentieth century rang, Flame barely made it in time for zero period.
Even then, zero period was not an official class anyway, just time to preview the English listening exam, so most of the students were sleeping with their heads down.
The teacher did not particularly bother them either.
Third-years or not, the ones who studied would study.
Something felt strange.
There was nobody but her studying properly.
Well, if she really wanted to be precise, there were some…
But at most, four or five.
There were nearly forty students in one classroom, and only four or five were studying?
Was that normal?
Wasn’t everyone supposed to be throwing themselves into studying like their lives depended on it?
I’m sure… yesterday it was like that…
No, maybe that’s too “fantastical”…?
Is this what real “reality” looks like?
Ding—dong~
The class bell rang, and first period began.
Flame was in the science track, and her class was Life Science.
Because she was short, she always insisted on sitting in the very front row. If a male student sat in front of her, the chalkboard was hard to see.
“Open to page thirty-nine.”
Without a greeting or even a joke, the Life Science teacher began class immediately in a sleepy voice.
As she reached into her bag to take out her book, Flame saw the name tag and widened her eyes.
[Iwol High School, Class 3-7, Flame]
“Huh?”
Was the school name supposed to be that?
“Regarding the origin of life……”
But because the teacher had already begun lecturing, she had no time to think about it deeply.
The lesson moved quickly, but as expected, almost no one was actually listening.
Some of them were already sprawled out in the back fast asleep.
She decided not to care about that anymore.
Those were their lives.
She would live hers.
“Ugh, look at that bitch acting all annoying.”
“She’s doing that whole teacher’s-pet act again.”
“In a dump school like this, what’s she even studying for? Makes me wanna smash the back of her head.”
Thunk!
A wad of paper flew over and hit her on the head.
Flame frowned and turned around.
Some delinquent girls in the back were giggling.
“Hey, hey, she’s glaring.”
“Ooh, I’m shaking in my boots.”
Those little shits…
For a second, her temper nearly snapped, but she held back because class was still in session.
Life Science was one of Flame’s weak subjects, so she actually needed to listen.
Ding—dong~
But just because she held back during class did not mean she was going to hold back afterward.
Wham!
Crash!
“Keh! Y-you crazy bitch!”
“You little bastards. I told you not to mess with me while I’m listening in class, didn’t I?”
“W-wait, Flame! If you hit someone with a chair, they could actually die!”
“That’s the point.”
“Has she gone insane?!”
Flame does not let things slide.
Especially not when someone interrupts her studying.
“High school delinquents? Hey, are you idiots actually good at fighting? Huh, you sons of bitches?”
“Y-you’re really going to regret this……”
“Try pulling that shit one more time and I’ll really kill you.”
She was past the age of getting scared over children playing gangster.
Honestly, after getting older and working, how much had she regretted ever being intimidated by bratty punks like these…!
…Working?
Had she ever done something like that?
She froze.
The instant Flame hesitated while swinging the chair, the delinquents took the opportunity and scattered out of the room.
With a worried expression, Han Choyeon lowered the chair Flame was holding.
Then she abruptly asked:
“You on your period?”
“No, you psycho bitch.”
“You’re crazy sensitive today.”
“Yeah, whatever. I just feel like smashing everything.”
“But seriously, what are you gonna do? If they call their oppas over……”
The oppas?
Then she remembered.
The delinquents in their school were protected by a group of thugs they called “oppa.”
“…Right.”
She suddenly realized, belatedly, how screwed she was.
But there was still plenty of the day left, so there was enough time to figure something out.
Ding-dong~!
The dismissal bell rang.
…Huh?
Already?
Flame hurriedly looked at Han Choyeon.
She was already happily packing up to leave, even humming to herself.
“W-wait… it’s over already?”
“Hm? What is?”
“It was only first period just now.”
“Ah~ ahhh! I guess so. I fell asleep during first period and when I woke up it was already time to go home~ Wanna go to karaoke?”
“…No.”
“Hmmm, figures. You don’t like singing. Anyway, get home safe. Might not happen, but judging from the look on their faces earlier, those bitches are seriously pissed.”
Han Choyeon casually gestured toward the delinquents, then disappeared out of the classroom.
“Sigh……”
At this point she had no idea what was what anymore.
As she was packing her bag to head home, the name tag caught her eye.
[Samwol High School, Class 3-7, Flame]
“Huh…?”
What was with that?
Was the school name really supposed to be like this?
She hurriedly looked for Han Choyeon, but she was already gone.
Am I seriously that sensitive these days…?
Slipping her bag over her shoulder, Flame trudged toward the main gate.
…She realized what was wrong about five minutes later.
“Hey. Is this the bitch?”
“Yeah. That’s her.”
Just as expected, the delinquent girls had brought their oppas with them.
Apparently they were quite serious about playing thug, because they had even rolled in on motorcycles to show off their power.
“Pwahaha! So you’re supposed to be some model student, but you’re dumb as hell, huh? We set the boys up in case you tried sneaking out the back gate, so what kind of balls made you come out the front?”
Keeping her head lowered, Flame quietly looked around.
Even the teachers who happened to make eye contact with the gang quickly pretended not to see and hurried away.
The students did not even look this way at all.
For a moment she wondered if there was anyone who might call the police for her, but it did not seem like it would matter much.
My school life is completely fucked.
After being dragged into an alley, Flame lowered her head and clasped her hands behind her back.
The escape routes were already blocked by the gang, who were squatting there smoking and spitting all over the place.
I need to study…
As she let out a sigh, a delinquent girl from her class tapped her forehead.
“Hey. You’re sighing? You still haven’t gotten your head on straight?”
Feeling sick of it, Flame looked up and glared, making the girl flinch and step back.
Embarrassed by her own reaction, the girl instead shouted angrily.
“This bitch really wants to die!”
Flame saw it.
The raised palm.
The thick veins standing out on the hand.
That arrogant little bitch was about to hit her.
But if she tried to stand on pride here again, she might really have no idea what the oppas would do to her.
So she decided…
That she would just take the hit.
And with that thought, Flame squeezed her eyes shut.
…But nothing happened.
What?
She cautiously opened one eye and looked at the delinquent girl.
For some reason, the girl was staring toward the alley with a baffled expression.
“…What the hell is that crazy bastard now?”
“D-did oppa bring some other group?”
“No. That asshole’s wearing your school uniform. You know him?”
“No. First time I’ve seen him……”
What were they talking about?
Turning her head toward one corner of the alley, Flame saw—
A boy in sunglasses walking toward them in an absurdly imposing pose, like the lead of some third-rate movie.
He looked about seventeen on the outside, but since he was wearing the same name tag as her, he was presumably a third-year too.
The boy’s name was…
Baek… Yuseol…?
The name felt oddly familiar.
And yet she could not remember who he was.
“Stop. Who the hell are you?”
One of the thugs stepped in front of Baek Yuseol, who was approaching with his hands still tucked in his pockets.
Baek Yuseol lowered his sunglasses slightly, glanced sideways at the thug, and grinned.
Then—
Wham! Wham! Pow!
In a single exchange, he knocked down all three of them.
This is like some male lead from a 2000s internet novel or something…
It was definitely a cool scene, but somehow it was not cool at all.
The situation and the direction are way too contrived!
She could practically hear some cheap background music from a low-budget nineties movie playing.
Still, tacky or not, there was no doubt Baek Yuseol had come to save her…
So she was grateful.
“Hey! Stop that bastard!”
“I’ll take him, hyungnim!”
The bargain-bin thugs rushed him while spouting bargain-bin thug lines, but they were not even enough to warm him up.
With his small frame, Baek Yuseol displayed terrifying monstrous strength, and one by one the thugs were arranged around the alley like modern art.
Then at last, he reached Flame.
“You little……”
The leader of the gang hesitated and backed away.
Baek Yuseol strode forward—
And suddenly lifted a motorcycle onto one shoulder.
“Huh?”
“What?”
“…Eh?”
Logically speaking, was it even possible to lift a motorcycle with one hand?
And more importantly, why was he suddenly lifting it?
Was he going to beat someone with the motorcycle?
Baek Yuseol’s bizarre misconduct did not end there.
He lowered his sunglasses slightly again, flashed that same greasy look, and bared his white teeth in a grin.
“The truth is, this is what I wanted.”
And then he just bolted from the scene with it.
…
“…What the hell is wrong with that guy?”
“I-I don’t know, hyungnim……”
The entire situation had become so unreal so quickly that the thugs all dropped to the ground in a daze and merely stared in the direction Baek Yuseol had vanished.
This is my chance!
In the moment the idiots left an opening, Flame hurriedly snatched up her bag and ran.
[Iwol High School, Class 3-7, Flame]
Even in the middle of all this chaos, why was it that the name tag on her bag stood out so clearly?
Flame no longer wanted to think about anything at all.
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