Work Text
Panic rises within the casino, people pushing and running. Bodyguards run through the area frantically. A figure swiftly moves above the crowd, leaping around the hanging lights and decor.
“Wha-”
“T-There’s someone here…!”
A girl stands on top of a chandelier, fully revealing herself to the crowd. A smirk on her face and a silver briefcase in her right hand.
“Look! Up there!”
“We need backup immediately, she’s here-”
The girl jumps off from the chandelier and continues her escape.
“Great job, now get running!” Wolf exclaimed through their intercoms.
“I’ve got a new route open for you, Ace,” Madam reported. Ace watches as a holographic map appears in front of her, a ding with a route lined out for her in blue.
“We’ll retrieve the briefcase on our end,” Queen chimes in, “just-”
She’s abruptly caught off by static interfering in the connection, an odd transmission coming through the network.
“Suspects.. not confirmed.. hold.. positions..”
“What-” Madam murmurs, confused at the sudden disruption, “ugh, don’t worry about that. Just keep running, Ace.”
Nodding to no one, Ace continues towards her escape out of the casino. She leaps across the fancy ceiling lights and decor, following the path that Madam outlined for her.
“I must say though, showing yourself to the crowd was a good move,” Wolf compliments as Ace uses her grappling hook to propel herself onto another light, landing on her knees, “Good work as always.”
“You know I love my dramatics,” Ace grinned, swinging onto another chandelier.
“I bet Keeper wouldn’t be able to pull it off that smoothly,” Star snickers. There’s a faint smack in the background followed by a yelp. Ace hears something that sounds like Star whining and she chuckles.
“Well, she is short,” Rain jokes. Another smack, louder this time, “
OW
-”
“Rude ass,” Keeper hisses.
Ace slides across another ceiling decoration, backflipping onto a carpeted balcony of the third floor of the casino. She lands on her feet, scanning her surroundings.
Looks okay-
Guards then suddenly appeared before her, blocking the exit.
Nevermind.
One of the guards leap at her, Ace easily dodging the attack and kicking the guard right over the railing. She dusts herself off as the other guards position themselves for attack.
“Get her!!”
A guard yells and more pour out of the doors.
She dodged their attacks, jumping off the railing and landing onto the second floor of the casino. She watches as her holographic map pop ups once again with a ding, showing the route change and amount of enemies after her.
“I’ve changed your route, keep running,” Madam says.
Ace uses her grappling hook to propel herself up onto another ceiling light. The yelling and shouting of the guards soon dissipates as she makes her way further away from them. The yelling is soon replaced by the casino’s loud music and the people’s panic.
“The enemy’s focus is on her, we should start heading out,” Star says, more serious than before, “make sure to split up.”
“We all know where to meet up, right?” Queen taps in.
“Of course,” Doll chimes, “if anything, I can help Rogue out.”
“Yah! I’m not directionally challenged, you know!” Rogue argues loudly.
Ace climbs over the railing onto the third floor of the casino, landing onto the red carpet.
“Stop right there!!”
Guards burst out of the ground, their humanoid forms shifting and contorting, turning into monsters. One lunges at Ace, she expertly dodges the monster, slashing it with her daggers. She pulls back into a defensive position.
“You’ve got these Shadows, right?” Madam taps back in.
“What do you take me for?” Ace responds, a little too smug. She calls out for her Persona, finishing the Shadows off with an easy attack. More appear out of thin air and she’s back into a corner with railing behind her.
Never one to give up, Ace jumps over the ledge, landing onto another floor where there’s a door labeled ‘Fire Exit’ right in front of her.
“Go right through the fire exit, more are coming after you,” Madam informs. “Everyone else, use Route B, doors are closing.”
As ordered, Ace makes a sprint for the fire exit, slamming the door shut before any more of those guards could catch up to her.
“Path updated,” Madam says, “follow it and stay-”
Suddenly, static cuts through the connection, cutting Madam off abruptly. It leaves Ace feeling worried, but she shakes the feeling off. Her goal is to get out of here as soon as possible while playing distraction. Her teammates can handle themselves, she’s sure of it.
She pulls up her holographic map, taking a few moments to look over her new path. She continues running through the backrooms of the casino, avoiding detection. She enters a room with a large window, through the window she spots a guard running by, instinctively, she drops down, crouching behind the wall away from sight.
“Shit! Where the hell did she go?” the guard gives a frustrated groan. “I can’t confirm the intruder’s location."
Jokes on him, she has no idea where she is either.
“Guard up ahead,” Madam, thankfully, taps back in, “wait for him to leave.”
Ace leaps to take cover behind one of the large crates within the room, watching the guard blocking her path out. He’s murmuring something on his earpiece.
“Geez, where did she go? Weren’t you just with her, Doll?” Ace hears Madam faintly sigh in the background. She raises an eyebrow at this but doesn’t ponder much longer for she has to get out of this casino before guards swarm the place and trap her in.
The guard soon leaves, with the goal of tracking her down. She gets up from hiding and runs into the next room only to stop when there’s another guard taking on his radio and blocking her path. Unlike the previous guy, it doesn’t look like he’s going to leave anytime soon.
Ace darts back, hiding behind some boxes, “How many of these guys are here?”
“More than I can count,” Madam says with an audible sigh, “which is a lot, because I can count high.”
“Weird flex, unnie, but okay,” Rain comments. “By the way, try not to take too long, Ace. The Security Level might rise if we don’t get out soon.”
“It’ll be fine, just give me a sec,” Madam murmurs more to herself than Rain. There’s that familiar ding that pops up on Ace’s map, once again showing a new route, “Look up. Can you grapple hook up there?”
“I can,” Ace answers, swiping the map away.
She whips out her grappling hook, firing it and propeling herself up onto the railing above her. She pulls herself into the air and lands onto the path above. When she lands, she pulls the map back up, quickly looking over it before swiping it away.
It shouldn’t be too much trouble.
She keeps running into the next area of the backrooms of the casino, that is until Madam suddenly comes back into the network.
“Ace-
stop
!”
Ace screeched to a halt.
“What?”
“There’s a lot of enemies, right now-”
Just then guards appear out of the ground from a black and red sludge, surrounding Ace and effectively trapping her in the room. She counts a total of eight, too much for her to take down on her own even with her skills.
There’s two places to escape, from where she came in and where she’s supposed to get out. There’s multiple boxes and crates stacked up high, so she could get onto higher ground to use ranged attacks. But even then, that’ll cause too much of a ruckus and attract more enemies to her location.
Madam gives a frustrated groan, “This is going to be trouble-
wait
, that better not be-”
And comes in all her pretty phantom thief glory-
“YAH KANG YE-
NOIR
!!”
Both Noir and Ace flinch at the yell that Madam had just transmitted through the whole line.
That was probably the loudest that Ace has ever heard the older girl speak and right into her ear too.
“Surprise?” Noir says cheekily, covering her affected ear. She easily draws her lance, spinning it in her hand before hurling it right towards Ace. It barely misses the phantom thief, instead piercing right through the guard behind her.
The guard crumbles and the other seven immediately charge at Noir. She gracefully maneuvers around their messy, uncoordinated attacks, shooting them down with her carbine without breaking a sweat. Ace watches, just a bit awed as Noir takes part in her own dramatics, spins and whatnot, as the guards stutter and thrash.
“Miss me?” Noir smirks walking towards Ace as the guards burst and meld into their true monster forms in an explosion of red and black.
“Not one bit,” Ace smiles without missing a beat.
“So that’s where she went…” Doll murmurs. “Well, I guess we found her then, Madam-unnie?”
“She’s
such
a pain,” Madam sighs despite the affectionate tone in the back of her throat. “You two, take them down, I’ll find alternative routes for you guys.”
“Gotcha,” Ace nods before summon her Persona in a fury of blue. “
Persona
!”
The Persona slashes through the enemies, knocking down the Shadows without much trouble. Noir comes in with her lance, cutting right through the Shadows before doing a backflip and pushing Ace, who pulls out her pistol, right towards the Shadows. She lands three perfect headshots, killing them instantly.
“Good job, team,” Noir states once the Shadows are down, crumbling away. She puts her lance away, “We make a good duo.”
“We’re the
best
duo,” Ace says confidently, high-fiving Noir who just laughs at what sounds like disagreement and arguing from their teammates in the network.
“You two are wrong, but anyway,” Madam interrupts. “Backup’s coming your way and you don’t wanna get caught up in that mess, seriously.”
Ace with a nod as their maps pop up with different routes.
“See you later?” Noir asks.
Ace pats Noir’s shoulder, “Seeya.”
With that, Noir grapples away and Ace continues through on her path. She sneaks around multiple guards that are running after her on a wild goose chase. She continues her escape, stopping right on the third floor balcony that overlooks the dining area of the casino.
She stops.
“The exit’s right up ahead,” Madam tells her.
Ace looks over at the balcony, spotting a few guards within the crowd. She looks up, right ahead of her is a giant colored glass mosaic right in front of her. She blinks, did Madam mean the
mosaic
was her exit?
“…You mean
that
?”
“We gotta do what we gotta do,” Madam says. “After all that commotion, the bottom floor is completely off-limits and we can’t have you and Noir taking the same route, that’d get too many guards in one area which you two can’t take down yourselves. You think you can do it?”
Before Ace could respond, doors slam open, footsteps running closer to her.
“Over there!”
“There’s nowhere to run!”
The phantom thief looks back.
“It’s nothing I can’t manage.”
She pulls out her grappling hook, turning towards the guards. She smirks at her pursuers before aiming her grappling hook up at the big chandelier that oversaw the space.
“So long, losers!”
She propels herself right through the mosaic, colorful glass smashing around her into tiny pieces. People gasp and scream as she makes her descent.
“You’re such a show off,” Queen comments.
“And reckless,” Doll adds.
Ace snickers to herself-
Bright white lights flash, blinding her. They’re blaring and intense, headache-inducing. Through squinted eyes, she scans her surroundings. There’s hundreds of people, police officers, swat teams, all armed.
They aren’t the casino guards.
“Wha- enemies here?!” Madam exclaimed, there’s the sound of avid movement on her side. “These readings- it can’t be, it’s impossible!”
“What’s wrong?!” Star immediately asks. “Is it an ambush?!”
“Ace, can you handle this?!” Wolf calls out.
Probably not.
“Capture her!”
Ace sprints away from the armed men to make her escape. She spots a ladder nearby, lifting herself up to climb onto it. Hopefully this was her way out-
She’s met by the back of an assault rifle.
Fuck.
“Suspect secured!” one of the officers calls out, shoving an already on the ground Ace into the ground. “Cuff her!
The police lieutenant walks up to her.
“Didn’t expect some kid,” he says, kneeling down before Ace. He grabs her by the collar. “You have your teammate to thank for this.”
“You were sold out.”
—
Mugshots are taken the moment she is taken into police custody.
She’s escorted with a gun to her head into some underground interrogation room where the most heinous criminals are kept. To be honest, she had no idea this kind of place existed in the police station, or were they even in the police station? The whole trip here was a blur and she had been thrown into some van with no remorse.
Some kind of drug is injected into her, two syringes of it. There’s a sting followed by numbness and a harsh kick to her ribs.
Her vision blurs.
Her brain fogs, every single memory just melding together into a mush of headache. What’s real and what’s not? She doesn’t know anymore. Her mind is foggy, hazy, she can barely even remember her own name.
It’s so hard to grasp onto a single coherent thought.
Her wrists are cuffed behind the chair she’s in, her whole body aches and feels so uncomfortably stiff. She barely can keep her eyes open. Just what the hell did they inject into her?
There’s a faint taste of iron in her mouth,
blood
, no doubt.
“Guess the drug was too strong,” the lead investigator says, it’s more of a cold observation than anything.
It hurts.
Cold, frigid water is splashed onto her, ice cubes and all. The ice cubes hit her, sliding down with a cold clink. The water soaks into her school uniform and there’s a loud clang of the bucket being thrown aside.
Black spots invade her vision as water drips down her chin. Everything hurts, she aches, sore from the beating, the kick to her ribs, face being smashed against the wall. She counts three men when her vision clears the just the tiniest of bits, they all glower down at her.
Government men, police investigators?
“No dozing off,” the man commands.
She attempts to move her wrists, but it’s futile. She’s cuffed and her wrists are awfully raw, the movement sends jolts of pain up her. She looks up, eyes narrowed in a glare.
The man doesn’t seem to take too kindly to that.
"You still don’t get it, do you?” he growls. She gets kicked right off the chair, the chair hitting the floor with a loud clatter.
She coughs hoarsely at the impact.
The man steps on the handcuffs, digging them into her red and raw wrists.
“
Cooperate
,” he hisses, “or what, you want another dose?”
She holds in a wince, eyes scanning around the room. Her eyes land on a red light in the corner, a
camera
. But even then, everything captured in this room will only be used against her. Any evidence from here will be used against her. She might be drugged and beaten, but even then she’s smart enough to recognize that.
The man caught her eye.
“What about the camera?” he looked at the red light. “Are you thinking it could be used as video evidence?”
Another cough.
“…Of course not.”
It hurts.
The man scoffs and roughly tosses her aside. He walks towards one of the other men in the room, taking a clipboard from the man.
“Obstruction of justice, blackmail, defamation, possession of weapons… manslaughter too? To think all those crimes were led by a brat like this,” he glares right at her. “And you must’ve enjoyed every second of it…
huh
?”
She couldn’t remember even if she wanted to.
Was… Was I enjoying it?
No… right?
It hurts to breathe.
The man scowled, “You should know your place.”
He makes a gesture for one of the other officers in the room to uncuff her. When he does, she takes a look at her wrists. As expected they were raw and swollen. She herself probably looks really rough too. There’s a throbbing pain in her abdomen that’s familiar, probably a cracked rib or something.
She’s abruptly thrown over to sit up.
“Sign here,” the man hands the clipboard to her, crouching to eye level. “It’s a confession under your name.”
“…Okay,” she manages to murmur just loud enough for the man to hear.
She has no power or energy to retaliate. Not to mention, she’ll probably lose a hand or two if she doesn’t cooperate with these guys. They don’t seem to be above cutting off a limb or two. After all, they did just nearly overdose her with some unknown drug.
“Don’t expect to walk out of here in one piece. We are going to make you understand that one must take full responsibility for their actions.”
He hands over a black pen before walking away.
She writes her name in a weak scribe.
Seo Youngeun.
—
A woman with short brown hair walks down the hall, approaching the investigation room. She’s dressed in a black suit, a cold expression on her face.
“Excuse me ma’am, but this area is off-”
“I’m Jo Haseul, from the Public Prosecutor’s Office.”
“The Public Prosecutor’s Office?” the young police detective’s eyes narrow at her. “What business do you have here?”
“Let me through, it’s urgent,” Haseul says, her expression hardening. Her tone becomes cold, “There is something I need to confirm with the suspect.”
“Haseul-nim, I believe this case is no longer in your jurisdiction,” the young detective responds, crossing his arms. “Besides-”
“Are you Prosecutor Jo Haseul?” another older detective cuts in, approaching the two. The man pockets his phone, looking at Haseul, “I just got off your phone with your director, just hurry up and get it done with. To be frank, you’re being an inconvenience.”
Before Haseul could reply, her phone rings with a call.
“I thought I told you to stand by,” the SIU Director, her boss, sighs.
“I’m responsible for this case yet I’m being denied an interrogation?” Haseul shot back.
“I called because I knew you’d bring it up.”
“I won’t be convinced until I confirm it for myself,” Haseul declares. “This is
my
case.”
The director gives a tired sigh, “Then good luck with that, I’m not expecting too much, though.”
With that he hangs up and Haseul places her phone back into her bag.
“And one thing before you go in, prosecutor,” the older detective speaks up again, “your time with the suspect will be cut short, we cannot permit you to talk with her for too long.”
Haseul frowns.
“It’s for your own sake. The suspect’s methods are unknown and we have no idea if it’s safe to even meet and speak with her.”
“…I understand.”
Haseul enters the interrogation room where the prime suspect of the Phantom Thieves case is held. The moment she opens the door, she freezes, her eyes widening.
No way.
It can’t be.
It
can’t
.
The girl that sits across the table, beaten and disheveled is familiar. Far too familiar. Brown hair is similar to Haseul’s own hair color. Her eyes were fox-shaped, but they looked dull, dull in the way that society had destroyed her, failed her as a whole. Her features were sharp yet soft, looking up at the prosecutor.
She looks like a younger version of Haseul.
It can’t be.
“…
Youngeunie
?”
Never in a million years did she expect
this
. She never thought her baby sister would be the main suspect of the very case that she herself was looking into. She never expected for her little sister of all people to be part of…
this
. This crime, this case, this...
everything
. And Youngeun knew all this, she knew that Haseul was looking into the Phantom Thieves case.
Just what did her little sister get herself into?
And just what the hell did these damned police officers do to make Youngeun lose the light in her eyes? Her once bright sister, eyes bright and full of life, looking so lifeless and dull.
It horribly reminds Haseul of the time when she first saw Youngeun land in Seoul. Empty, numb, and bitter. Her heart aches for the teenage girl in front of her.
What the hell did they do to her?
“Why…”
Haseul swallows thickly. She pushes her personal feelings down. She can’t let something like this deter her, even if the main suspect was her dear baby sister.
She has to find out the truth.
For her justice.
“I… wasn’t expecting to see you.”
She sits down across from Youngeun, setting down a collection of files from the Phantom Thieves case. She looks around the room, her eyes ultimately spotting on a used medical syringe, two actually, both completely empty of the drug inside of it.
Anger bubbles up in Haseul.
Could you blame her, though?
Her little sister, her
baby
sister, is sitting right across from her, beaten black and blue, looking so dull, it hurts. She knows that their parents would kill whoever did this to their youngest. She has half a mind to get Yeojin to find whoever did this to Youngeun and deal with them.
Hell, Haseul is seconds away from beating up those investigators that did this to her.
Youngeun might be a criminal suspect, but she was still Haseul’s little sister. The little girl who clung to her side during their childhood, the one who reveried Haseul with such bright, sparkling eyes. And now… she’s the girl sitting across the table from Haseul in this underground investigation room. Bruised, beaten, with red and raw wrists, and a look in her eyes that hurts so hard because it’s so painfully dull.
Society had truly failed Youngeun.
“Can you hear me, Youngeunie?” Haseul allows for her just to soften a tiny bit. It’s her little sister, how could she not? “So much has happened and anything can happen here to you…” she exhales, “and I… I can’t stop them.”
Youngeun looks up, her gaze unfocused.
They did this to her.
“I need you to answer me honestly, please. I don’t have much time here.”
“What was your objective? And why did you cause such a big incident?” Haseul clenches her hands. “I didn’t think it was a prank from the start, but I couldn’t assemble a case for prosecution. I couldn’t figure out the method behind it.”
“…Of course you couldn't, unnie,” Youngeun rasped.
“Fair point,” Haseul’s heart ached just hearing her. Her voice sounded so hoarse, raw, they hadn’t given her any water, had they? “It’s hard to even believe that a ‘world’ like that exists just by reading reports. But, it looks like you’re coherent.”
“When and where did you find out about this world? How is it even possible to steal someone’s heart? Tell me your account of everything. Starting from the very beginning.”
Youngeun felt a headache coming in.
It was difficult to grasp a single coherent thought. Her mind didn’t feel like it was hers. Hell, she could barely even focus on Haseul’s face right before her-
A flicker of light.
A white silhouette of a butterfly caught Youngeun’s eye. Her gaze trailed the butterfly as it fluttered past her, emitting a blue glow.
“
You are held captive. A prisoner of fate to a future that has been sealed in advance. This is truly an unjust game. Your chances of winning are almost zero. But if my voice is reaching you, then there may be a possibility open for you. I beg of you, please overcome this game and save the world.
”
“
The key to victory lies within the memories of your bonds, the truth that you and your friends have grasped. It all began that day.. when the game started half a year ago. For the sake of your world’s future, as well as your own.
”
“
You must remember.
”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for riding with us today, we will be arriving in Seoul shortly.
”
Youngeun wakes at the train announcement, groggily opening her eyes with a yawn. She tunes out the rest of the announcement, instead looking down at her hands in her lap.
“Damn brat, I’ll sue!”
She frowned, reliving the memory. This was what led her to Seoul. It wasn’t anything good, in fact, the completely opposite of good.
A bitter feeling settled in her chest.
She was heading home after hanging out with a friend at night. Down the street, there was a man trying to force a woman into his car. He reeked of expensive alcohol, and Youngeun, being a teenager with an inflated sense of justice, couldn’t just stand by and watch this assault happen. So she intervened, forcing herself between the woman and man. But in the process, the man had gotten injured, falling flat on his face.
And then she was apprehended by police officers.
She couldn’t do anything as the policemen cuffed her like she was some rowdy criminal. She was shocked, barely able to understand what just happened.
She was just trying to help.
Was it so wrong of her to try and help?
That shock ended up turning into anger and frustration, nights spent crying in solitary confinement, days of prosecutors and officers poking and probing at her until they got what they wanted. It ended up with her feeling so horribly bitter and empty at the trial, just wishing that it’d be over with.
Now, here she was, in Seoul due to the guilty verdict of her trial. She was here on a probation order from the court. She had been expelled from her old school for the crime and ended up enrolled into a college prep academy somewhere in Seoul.
It’s surprising that a
college prep
academy of all things, took her in.
“Seriously- a mental shutdown?”
“It’s the truth!!”
“But to a person? Areum, that’s gotta be some joke.”
Youngeun looks up to see some girls in a school uniform to doesn’t recognize- well, that’s about all of them now, isn’t it?
The train comes to a stop and she gets off, looking to find where her sisters asked to meet up.
There’s a lot of people, Youngeun then finally realizes as people passed her in flocks. A boy bumps into her but says nothing, no apology, no nothing, and just continues on his way. There’s an insane amount of people outside the station. It’s a little overwhelming, the sheer size of Seoul, that is.
Her phone pings as she exits the station, she looks down, expecting a text from Yeojin or Haseul, but instead there’s some weird eye app thing right in the center of her screen. Youngeun furrowed her eyebrows.
The hell-
She taps on it.
Time stops.
The people around her stop moving, they stop talking. Seoul becomes dead silent and time freezes. In a panic, Youngeun looks around? What did she do? Did she just mess up a whole world on accident-
What the fuc-
Amidst the crowd, dead center, there’s a blue blazing fire that was only growing bigger and bigger. A sinister grin forms in red in the fire, a dark echoey laugh-
She blinks and it’s
gone
.
And everything is back to normal.
Youngeun looked around, people were talking again, moving again as if nothing had just happened, and that fire was gone too. Seoul is bustling with life again. No one seems to be concerned or anything. It’s like time never stopped or anything. Everyone is just going about their lives like normal.
Maybe she’s just seeing things.
Youngeun promptly deletes the app and goes to find her sisters.
“Oh, Youngeunie!”
Yeojin sprints over, tackling Youngeun in a hug. Thankfully, Haseul keeps them from falling over with a hand supporting Youngeun’s back. Once Yeojin releases Youngeun, Haseul reaches over to ruffle the brunette’s hair. There’s a warm feeling that settles in her chest, shoving cold and bitter feelings one away at the sight of her sisters. Half-sisters or not, they were still her sisters who she loved dearly.
“How’ve you been?” Haseul smiled.
She’s been better.
“I’m okay,” Youngeun says instead.
They don’t touch the whole criminal record thing nor how distraught their parents were over Youngeun being arrested and sent away. Their parents were on her side for the whole thing. Their father was glad that Youngeun intervened and helped that woman, but at what cost?
Her freedom.
There’s this look in Haseul’s eyes, stressed, tired, worried. The dark circles are more prominent than Youngeun had remembered even if hidden by makeup. She’s grown up with Haseul, she can see the tiniest of changes. Maybe it’s Haseul’s job, being a prosecutor at the Public Prosecutor’s Office. Or maybe it was the news of Youngeun’s arrest.
Either way, it’s not a good look on her sister.
“By the way, Yoeun!” Yeojin pipes up again, deciding to bring up the mood. Yeojin had always been the more emotionally sensible one, “Did you hear? Vivi-unnie and Haseul-unnie are-”
Haseul’s hand clamps right over the college student’s mouth effectively shutting her up. Yeojin somehow manages to pout through her eyes and Haseul’s face tints just the slightest of reds. The prosecutor turns to the youngest.
“Have you gotten taller?” Haseul asks, changing the subject. She eyes Youngeun curiously. She could’ve sworn that Youngeun was about her height, now it looks like her baby sister is slightly taller.
“Think so?” Youngeun replies with much uncertainty, a little proud. If she’s grown, then that’s a good thing, “Mom did say she thinks I grew a little bit.”
“Mom says that all the time, though,” Yeojin interrupts, pulling Haseul’s hand off her mouth. “She’s also not very tall.”
“She’s where you get your height from,” Haseul quips, earning an offended gasp from Yeojin.
“
Unnie
!”
Haseul’s phone suddenly rings, and immediately she takes it out of her purse to get a look, a frown then adorning her features. She looks at her younger sisters with an apologetic smile.
“I’ve gotta go,” Haseul says, smiling sadly. “I’ll see you two soon?”
“Yeah,” Youngeun nods.
“Yeah! Yoeunie and I will figure out a time to meet again,” Yeojin exclaims.
Haseul pulls the two in for a quick hug before picking up her call and rushing away.
Youngeun can’t help but feel a bit sad about Haseul leaving so soon, especially since she had just gotten to Seoul, but she understood. Work calls. But it’s been a while since the three of them had been able to talk like this since Haseul and Yeojin left for work and college.
She’s shaken out of her thoughts when Yeojin gives her a hefty clap on the back.
“Hey, wipe that sad face off,” Yeojin smiles brightly. “You’ve got places to be, like with me! Your Yeojin-unnie!”
Youngeun laughs at that, “Sure, yeah, unnie, but don’t you have classes soon?”
“I do, but I wouldn’t miss the world for my baby sister, y’know?” Yeojin says. Despite her cheery tone, Youngeun could spot an almost sad look in her eyes, “C’mon, I’ll take you to the train to Myeongdong and see you off.”
Nodding, Youngeun allows Yeojin to link arms with her and lead her over like a stray lamb to the transferring line towards the train to Myeongdong.
“Here’s your train,” Yeojin says when they arrive at the platform. There’s a truly sad look in her eyes as she now knows she has to leave Youngeun again, “Call me and text Haseul-unnie when you get to the place, okay? And make sure to call mom and dad too soon, they’re probably worried sick.”
“Okay,” Youngeun nods.
“Also, eat well and don’t kick anyone in the knee,” Yeojin reminds to which Youngeun gives a small giggle. “Stay healthy, and I’ll miss you lots and let’s make plans sometime soon. So don’t die, Youngie.”
Youngeun cringes at the nickname and gives her older sister a tight hug just as her train arrives.
—
Youngeun’s first thought when she arrives in Myeongdong is that it was much calmer than Seoul, but much denser than her hometown. Stores squeezed together down a street, some shops out, selling things, people chattering amongst themselves.
The brunette looks down at her phone, the address of Son Hyeju, the woman who would be taking care of her and making sure she didn’t commit any crimes during her probation period. It’s not too hard to get to Son Hyeju’s residence, just a few pointers from a kind elderly woman and she finds herself in front of a house with a nameplate that reads ‘Son’.
Youngeun rings the doorbell once. A few seconds and no one came to the door and it didn’t seem like anyone was going to come out and answer either. Perhaps Hyeju was out, but then again, the older woman should’ve known that she was arriving.
“…Huh, looks like she’s not home.”
Youngeun turns to see a delivery man holding a parcel. The man thought to himself, “Well, Hyeju-ssi’s usually at Leblanc around this time…”
Leblanc
?
Youngeun types Leblanc into her GPS, finding a little cafe in the back alleys of Myeongdong. She arrives at a cafe tucked into an alley, a red and white cloth awning, the letters on read ‘coffee & curry’ and ‘Leblanc’ in faded black. Just across the street from the cafe was a bathhouse and laundromat.
Unsure what to expect, Youngeun enters the cafe.
The bell chimes, signifying her arrival. The first thing that Youngeun notices is the vintage aesthetic of the cafe. There were a couple of booth seats, a bar with stools, numerous coffee-brewing instruments, and shelves filled with sacks of coffee beans in the back. The atmosphere was pretty warm and comfortable.
Standing behind the bar, reading a newspaper, was a pretty and young looking woman, like somewhere around Haseul’s age. The woman had long black hair and was simply dressed in a white blouse and some black pants. The apron on her told Youngeun that the woman worked here.
Maybe this was Son Hyeju?
“A public transit bus was driven down an opposing lane with its customers still in it!” the news reporter says on the TV in the cafe. “Citizens can’t live in peace if this keeps up.”
A what-
Youngeun shakes her head.
If she’s learned anything about getting arrested it’s that if it doesn’t directly relate to her, it's not her problem. Not her business, not her problem: that’s the new motto.
Youngeun approaches the counter hesitantly, “…Son Hyeju?”
The woman acknowledges her presence when she turns to Youngeun, an eyebrow raised. It takes a second for her to process why a teenage girl was at her cafe, asking for her, “Oh, right. Today was that day.”
Very welcoming.
“It seems like you’ve got your hands full, Hyeju-ah,” an elderly man said, standing up, his wife following after. “The payment is on the table.”
“Thanks for coming,” Hyeju nods.
The elderly woman gives Youngeun a kind smile as she takes her husband’s hand. She directs her attention to Hyeju aka the owner of Leblanc, she guesses, “This cafe is in the back alley so there’s no worries of a car crashing in here.”
“A
what
now?” Hyeju looks at the couple, eyes wide and eyebrows raised.
“There’s been lots of those rampage incidents, Hyeju-ah,” the elderly woman informs, which only makes Youngeun worry. Because rampage incidents? What the hell was going on in Seoul? She already wants to go home, “I just hope none of that happens here.”
“I see…”
The elderly couple bid goodbye and leave the cafe. Hyeju’s neutral expression turns into one of mild confusion about the old woman’s words.
“Rampage incidents? Huh…” Hyeju shakes off the thought and turns her attention to Youngeun who was awkwardly standing in her cafe instead. “So you’re the kid? Seo Youngeun?”
Youngeun nodded, giving a low, polite bow just as her parents taught her.
“I’ll be in your care.”
Hyeju takes a second, analyzing the teenager.
“Polite, I’ll give you that,” she says approvingly. She offers a hand for Youngeun to shake, the brunette taking it cautiously.
“I’m Son Hyeju,” the older woman lets go of Youngeun’s hand after a simple shake, “I’ll be your guardian for the year.”
“I was wondering what kinda unruly punk was gonna show up, but you don’t seem half bad,” Hyeju mused. Youngeun decides she’ll take that as a compliment, “Follow me.”
The woman leads Youngeun towards the stairs that lead right into the attic of Leblanc. There’s a door, which is nice. Hyeju opens the door, and as expected, the attic was a dusty, cluttered, untouched mess. Youngeun spots shelves full of books and unused furniture along the walls and while the conditions aren’t the best, but she figures that she could have had it worse.
“This’ll be your room,” Hyeju doesn’t elaborate any further on why Youngeun’s been shoved into an attic.
Youngeun gives a wordless nod. If Hyeju had her reasons, she would not question it. But she’d prefer an actual room over a dusty attic any time of the day. It wasn’t
bad
, but it also wasn’t
good
. At least she didn’t have a dusty allergy or asthma or anything, otherwise she wouldn’t survive a second here.
At least there was air conditioning, not sure about heating, though.
“It’ll be up to you to clean everything up,” Hyeju says. “I have a cafe to run, so while it’s open try not to make too much noise. I trust you know how to clean up?”
“I do,” Youngeun nods.
“Your boxes came a bit ago, so I brought them up here,” Hyeju gestures to the two boxes set down in the center of the attic. “I’ll be leaving after I close up, so you’ll be alone,” she directs a stern, pointed look at Youngeun that makes her feel uneasy.
“Don’t cause any trouble, alright? I’ll kick you out if that happens.”
Youngeun takes the threat to heart, nods. It’s not hard to imagine that most people would have very little tolerance for someone with her label.
“Now, I got the gist of your situation.”
Ah, here we go.
Youngeun thinks she’s heard this too many times from her probation officer amongst other people in her hometown. About how she stuck her nose into business between two adults when she shouldn’t have. About how she caused her parents trouble at work and within town. About how no one wanted to be associated with a criminal like her.
But as long as she’s here in Seoul on probation with a criminal record stuck onto her forehead, she’ll be hearing this from everyone who knows.
“You intervened on a man forcing himself on a woman, he got hurt, sued you, and now you’re here,” Hyeju summarizes Youngeun’s life story in a matter of seconds and the look on the brunette’s face is unpleasant to say the least. “Well that’s what happens when you stick your nose into things that aren’t any of your business.”
Youngeun hides a frown.
Was it so wrong of her to intervene when that woman clearly needed help? It wasn’t
right
- that man, forcing himself on that woman. It wasn’t
right
. She knew it wasn’t and pretending like she didn’t see anything felt so wrong.
Was that so wrong of her?
To help?
“You have a criminal record and have been expelled from your old school. The courts ordered for you to transfer and move out here for your probation period,” Hyeju crosses her arms with a sharp look. “Just don’t cause a ruckus and you’ll be good and back out in the country with your parents.”
But does she even want to go back home anymore?
Everyone there hates her and avoids her like the bubonic plague.
“I understand,” Youngeun says stiffly.
Maybe Hyeju will warm up to her over the year she’s here, maybe not. She hopes the older woman does a little.
“Good,” the older woman said approvingly. “We’ll be going out to Gyodoso tomorrow to properly introduce us to the staff and get your stuff sorted. It’s a week into the school year, so that’ll make transferring easier on you.”
“You know, it’s hard to find a place that would accept someone like you, let alone a college prep academy.”
Someone like you.
Youngeun knows.
She knows that her criminal record screams loudly about the kind of person she is- or well,
should
be. The kind of person people think she is. A delinquent, rowdy, good-for-nothing. It’s really the only thing that seems to make her worth these days.
“I understand.”
Hyeju leaves and Youngeun expects herself to be full of anger, but it’s just a bitter sense of emptiness that lays in her chest.
The anger has passed. The nights of frustration punching her pillow and angry crying over the fact that she got arrested for trying to help. It’s all passed.
This was going to be her new ‘normal’ for the next year, so she better get used to it.
And it’s not like Hyeju’s cold disposition towards her was unexpected or anything. She cared enough to house Youngeun, that was really just the bare minimum. But at this rate, her standards for being treated by people were incredibly low.
Youngeun gets her things settled in, cleans up all the dust and moves some of the furniture out of the way and into corners to create more space. She sorts through some of the books to see if she could find something to entertain herself with and clears off the shelves. She clears off the desk as well, and puts the clutter into neat piles in a corner. Yeojin had always mentioned how meticulous she was at cleaning.
It was kind of therapeutic, muted out all the noise in her head as she plugged in some music and went on autopilot.
Hyeju comes back up in an hour or so.
“I heard you making all kinds of noise up here, but I didn’t think you’d actually be cleaning,” the older woman commented. She eyes Youngeun seeing a silent kind of frustration in the brunette’s eyes that she’s far too familiar with.
“It’s nice to come back to a clean home at the end of a day,” Youngeun murmurs, not facing Hyeju. The older woman makes no further comment.
“I’m locking up for the night, there’s a plate of curry and rice with you on the counter, but you should probably sleep after that,” Hyeju advises. She produces a small card from her apron pocket and places it down on the table beside the stairwell, “Here’s a member’s card for the bathhouse across the street, use it well. And call your family too, I got a text from your mother wondering if you made it here alive.”
“You should also be getting to sleep after you eat. If you get sick from staying up too late, it’s not my problem, alright?”
Youngeun nods and Hyeju leaves without any other words.
She picks up the membership card and then her phone, going straight to the messenger app, making note of the weird red eye app on her phone that she should probably delete. She forgot to call Yeojin or text her family about her arrival in Seoul or at Leblanc. Her parents are probably worried sick since she’s pretty much said nothing since she left home.
FAMILY (5 members)
Youngeun: i made it safely
Mom: You should’ve texted before I had to check in with Hyeju-ssi!
Mom: Your father and I were worried sick when you hadn’t said anything!!
Mom: I’m glad that you’re alive and well Youngeun
Not sure about well, but alive, yes.
Dad: What your mother said but I’m glad you’re okay
Dad: How was Seoul? And Hyeju-ssi?
Youngeun briefly thinks about telling her family how she feels, just letting it spill all out. She’s been trying to hold it together since her arrest. Everyone treats her like a liability, a burden. To Hyeju, she’s just work; a troublemaker she has the misfortune of looking after.
But she withholds.
She has to get it together.
Youngeun: it’s been fine
Yeojin: YAH you shouldve called!!
Yeojin: i thought you died!!
Youngeun: forgot sorry unnie
Dad: Yeojin is right
Dad: We were all worried
Haseul: Yep
Haseul: Are you good though? Everything fine?
Youngeun: yeah its fine
Mom: Hyeju-ssi mentioned that she was putting you in the loft above her cafe when I spoke with her. Is it okay there?
‘Loft’ is a very fancy way of putting it.
Youngeun: it’s fine
Youngeun: it’s getting late
Youngeun: i promise to call soon
With that, Youngeun pockets her phone and trudges downstairs to eat that curry that had smelled really good earlier. After that it’s to the bathhouse because she really needs to soak in there just to destress and then sleep like a pile of bricks.
There’s a yellow sticky note beside the plate of curry on the counter.
You can go grab some water bottles from the fridge if you’re thirsty. Bathhouse’s across the road, don’t go wandering Myeongdong. And don’t forget to lock up when you get back from the bathhouse.
-Hyeju
Where would she have to wander at night anyway?
Curry, bathhouse for over thirty minutes, lock up, sleep.
Youngeun gets settled into what can be called a bed, deletes that weird red eye app that’s redownloading itself, places her phone and plugs it in to charge on a makeshift bedside table which is really just a crate, lays in bed, broods over her arrest, and falls asleep.
—
Youngeun wakes up in a cold sweat.
She shoots upright at the sound of clinking chains, water dripping. Around her is a scene far too similar to her time in solitary confinement. Her clothes have been changed into some prisoner garb, worn, and dirty. Her wrists are shackled together and ankle bound by a ball chain.
Where is she? Did she get arrested again? What did she do wrong? Who moved her? She’s not a heavy sleeper. Is her life already gone just like that-
Breathe, breathe.
Youngeun pushes down her anxieties and gets a good survey of her surroundings.
A jail cell, clearly,
really
blue. It’s not a dream, the handcuffs around her wrist feel too real, too familiar. Why the hell is everything so blue? The tufted blue velvet walls, blue lights, blue brick. Velvet’s an odd choice for prison walls-
Her train of thought is abruptly broken when she hears a giggle come from outside her cell.
Oh shit, is this some kind of horror movie thing? Youngeun knows for a fact little girl giggles in ominous places are signs of nothing good.
Two girls come into view in front of Youngeun’s cell bars.
These girls look young, like children young, about ten years old, maybe. Both wearing some kind of police-warden outfit. Pale skin, silver hair, and piercing yellow eyes or-
eye
, both girls have an eyepatch covering one of their eyes. The girl on the right has two hair buns on the side of her head and the girl on the left has a long braid.
Youngeun assumes that there’s no other way but forward.
She stands up, approaching the cell bars, but she doesn’t get a chance to ask anything as the twins turn around, away from her. So that’s when Youngeun looks up.
Directly in front of her, sitting in the center of the prison, was a bizarre-looking man.
Old but not frail, bald yet having long white hair at the sides of his head, and an abnormally long nose, like a
really
long nose- like Pinocchio, kind of long. His eyes were wide and bloodshot, but not surprised. He had a wide toothy grin that didn’t seem forced.
There was this intimidating aura to him.
“Trickster, welcome to my Velvet Room.”
“…What?”
His voice is way deeper than expected and his mouth doesn’t even mouth one bit.
Freaky.
“It seems you’ve come to, Inmate,” the girl on the right says in a taunting manner. Youngeun narrows her eyes at the girl. She doesn’t know if she should be okay with a seven year old taunting her.
“Do not be alarmed,” the girl on her left says calmly. She sounds more monotone than what Youngeun assumes to be her sister, “The you in reality is currently fast asleep. You are only experiencing this as a dream.”
So this is a dream?
That’s… kind of scary.
That a dream like this feels so real, the cold of the cuffs against her wrist. The sound of water dripping, chains clinking. The cold feeling of the stone floor against her feet.
“You’re in the presence of our master! Stand up straight!” buns-girl demands from the right, smacking her baton against the cell aggressively.
Youngeun jumps, forcing herself to stand up straight. She scrunches her nose at the little girl who turns back to the long-nose man with a prideful expression.
If she’s going to have beef with a six year old than so be it-
“Welcome, I am delighted to be your acquaintance,” the long-nosed man says, interrupting her thoughts. “This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter. It is a room only those who are bound by a contract may enter.”
Did she sign something without reading it? She shouldn’t have. Ever since she was young, Haseul’s always told her to read a contract thoroughly before signing it so that you know what you’re getting into. Youngeun’s pretty sure she wouldn’t sign anything that said it’d give her weird dreams involving a weird-looking guy with a long nose.
“I am Igor, the master of this place. Remember it well. I have summoned you to speak of important matters. It involves your life as well.”
“…Are you threatening me?” Youngeun asks.
The angry gremlin with hair buns smacks the cell with her baton, causing Youngeun to jump back but not without an unpleasant frown.
“Still, this is a surprise…” Igor mused, looking around.
“The state of this room reflects the state of your own heart. To think a prison would appear as such. You truly are a ‘prisoner’ of fate. In the near future, there is no mistake that ruin awaits you.”
The moment she’s allowed out of this prison she's going to grab that long-nosed fool and make him say things up front. All this vague and ominous crap is really annoying. She already has enough things to deal with. She doesn’t need some ugly old man to tell her that she’ll die.
“What do you mean?”
Igor laughs lightly, “Do not worry, there is a means to oppose such a fate. You must be ‘rehabilitated’. Rehabilitated towards freedom. That is your only means to avoid ruin.”
“Do you have the resolve to challenge the distortion of the world?"
Still has no idea what this guy is talking about.
“Allow me to observe your rehabilitation.”
What.
The two girls then step out in front of Youngeun.
“Oh, pardon me for not introducing the others. To your right is Caroline, to your left is Justine. They serve as wardens here,” Igor says, introducing the girls
“Hmph, try and struggle as hard as you like,” Caroline grins sinisterly.
“The duty of wardens is to protect inmates. We are also your collaborators,” Justine says, “that is, if you remain obedient.”
“I shall explain the roles of these two at another occasion,” the girls promptly turn around to face Igor. “Now then, it seems the night is fleeting. It is almost time. Take your time to slowly come to understand this place. We will surely meet again, eventually.”
The alarms in the prison begin to ring, Youngeun jolts at the loud noise
“Time’s up, now hurry up and go back to sleep!” Caroline orders.
She blacks out.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
All things considered, Youngeun thinks she’s pretty lucky that a prestigious college prep academy such as Gyodoso Academy decided to take her in with her criminal record and all. The uniform for the school isn’t bad either; black blazer, white dress shirt, red ribbon tie, and a plaid red skirt.
“I’ll be driving you to Gyodoso just for today,” Hyeju informed her that morning. “After that you’re taking the train there, it’s in Yongsan.”
Youngeun can’t help but just space out in the principal’s office. Could you blame her, though? Principal Kim is more or less a lump of a man that’s just retelling her whole life story of arrest while also reminding her that to them, she’s nothing but a liability.
It’s nothing she hasn’t heard before.
“You
will
be expelled immediately if you cause any issues, I hope you understand that,” Principal Kim says with an unpleasant face, not that it had ever been pleasant to begin with. “In my opinion, you’re nothing more than a liability-”
There it is again.
“-however, we had our…
circumstances
to consider.”
Circumstances? Sounds suspicious. But if Youngeun’s learned anything over the past many weeks; not her monkeys, not her circus.
“Whatever you might’ve gotten away with in your hometown, those days are over.”
Youngeun never thought that hanging out with friends after school or going out to dinner with her parents or hanging out at friend’s house after school was a juvenile thing, but she guesses just about everything is when it comes to her.
This is all because of her stupid criminal record. The moment anyone gets wind of that, any hope of anything is lost. She’s a criminal, a good-for-nothing, a horrible excuse for a human being. Everyone stopped talking to her, it turned from friendly conversations to whispers behind her back. The only people that stayed by her side were her family.
But she only caused issues for them too.
And all for what?
Because she tried to help.
A mistake, really.
All Youngeun has to do is to keep her head down and follow the rules. That way she’ll get this whole thing over with painlessly.
“If you get expelled from our school, there will be no other place that’ll take you in, keep that in mind,” Principal Kim warns. It sounds more like a threat than a warning. He looks towards the woman standing beside his desk, “This is your homeroom teacher."
“I’m Kim Jiwoo,” the woman says with a kind smile. She looks young for a teacher, but that could just be the skin care. For some odd reason, Ms. Kim looks at her with something akin to empathy before placing down Youngeun’s student ID and name tag.
She tries not to think too hard about it. It’s just the pleasantries.
No one wants her here.
Youngeun notices a pink card underneath her ID, but Ms. Kim swipes it away before she could even reach to pick up her things. The brunette sees the panic on Ms. Kim’s face. She makes no comment and takes her ID and name tag wordlessly.
Not her business, not her problem.
“Please make sure to read the school rules,” Ms. Kim tells her, Youngeun notes a lack of any distaste in her tone.
“Any violations will send you straight to the guidance office,” Ms. Kim warns. It sounds more like a legitimate warning than a threat, which is appreciated, “By any chance that you cause any problems, I won’t be able to protect you.”
“That’s right,” Principal Kim nods.
Youngeun withholds from making an unpleasant expression, because she really doesn’t like Principal Kim.
Seriously
, the man went on a whole five minute speech about how Youngeun is nothing more than a liability and why he can’t believe he even accepted the brunette in the first place.
Even Hyeju kept it to a maximum of one minute.
“You are responsible for all your actions.”
Hyeju clears her throat, clearly done with this whole meeting as well, “If you’re done explaining things, mind if we go?”
Principal Kim looks at Hyeju, an expression that’s all too serious for how laid-back the cafe owner looks right about now, “Hyeju-ssi, keep a close eye on her. Do not let her cause any trouble outside of Gyodoso.”
Hyeju gives a lazy nod, as if she’s heard the same thing numerous times.
"Right…” she replies blandly, “I’ll make sure to have a talk with her.”
Ms. Kim, on the other hand, turns to Youngeun, “Come to the faculty office when you come to school tomorrow, Youngeun. I’ll show you to your classroom.”
Youngeun watches as her teacher makes brief eye contact with Hyeju. Ms. Kim gives a small smile and Hyeju nods in response.
Huh.
—
Jiwoo walks into the courtyard after the meeting; there was some real animosity with Principal Kim towards Youngeun back there.
Youngeun didn’t seem like a bad kid at all. Just misunderstood, but Jiwoo has had her fair share of misunderstood children in her lifetime. And she doesn’t know if she wants to get too involved with this one.
Youngeun reminded Jiwoo a lot of some of her friends. Maybe it was her facial features, sharp fox-like eyes that resembled two sisters Jiwoow knew. Or maybe the way that she stayed quiet, looking down at her feet, but bubbling with frustration that reminded Jiwoo starkly of a younger friend whom she had just seen earlier.
“Oh, Jiwoo-ssi,” Lee Donghyuk, the P.E. teacher at Gyodoso Academy greets as he walks towards Jiwoo. “I heard that you’ve been placed in a rather…
troublesome
situation. Criminal student?”
Jiwoo keeps a polite face. Donghyuk has more authority than her, being the principal’s favorite. She’s never particularly liked him, anyway. Something about him just irked her.
“She doesn’t seem too bad,” Jiwoo says with a placid smile.
Youngeun seemed well-mannered and polite, but the girl’s bitterness and frustration were clear.
“I think I can manage.”
“
Still
,” Donghyuk insisted, “I wonder why in the world someone like that was admitted here.”
“It was the principal's decision,” Jiwoo stated. “He said it was for the school’s reputation.”
“I would’ve thought that
my
volleyball team contributed more than enough to cover for that,” Donghyuk chuckled.
Jiwoo has to admit that his words are true.
Gyodo Academy’s volleyball team was nationally renowned throughout South Korea. It’s all thanks to Donghyuk, really. As an Olympic medalist, it was expected that with his coaching of the school’s volleyball team that they would soon rise to the top.
“Be careful with that one,” Donghyuk warned. “If anything were to happen, I’d kick a student like that out straight away.”
Jiwoo’s lips straighten into a fine line, “Right…”
“I should be getting to practice now,” Donghyuk says, effectively ending the conversation. “The tournament’s coming up and all. Having such high expectations placed on you by others is quite a problem in itself.”
“We’ll have to work hard to make up for the dance team too.”
Jiwoo holds back a frown.
“Yes… that is true.”
Both teachers part ways, one feeling more uneasy than the other.
—
Youngeun gives up on learning Seoul’s subway map and decides to just wing it for tomorrow.
“How was the school?” Hyeju asks as the car stills, stuck in a really heavy traffic jam. “Think you can manage it?”
“I’ll be fine,” Youngeun responds.
Just keep her head down and pretend like everything is fine and she’ll get through it painlessly.
The radio chimes:
“And now back to today’s top stories. A subway train has derailed, severely affecting the timetable across all of-”
Hyeju furrows her eyebrows at the news, “Another one?”
“…Another one?” Youngeun questions cautiously.
She’s really starting to lose faith in Seoul’s subway system if there’s been
another
accident.
“There’s been a string of those kinds of things recently, but this one sounds like it’s the worst one yet,” Hyeju explains, tuning out the rest of the news report. “Just a bunch of drivers going insane, hitting people and stuff.”
Ah.
That’s…
Youngeun
really
is losing faith in the public transportation system and thinks she’ll just be better off walking to Yongsan instead of taking public transportation.
The older woman taps her finger against the leather of the steering wheel, “There was a really sad month just last month.” Her expression turns solemn, “The boy who had passed away was just seventeen. His parents just gotta be...”
“Ah…” Youngeun nods stiffly and she’s already looking up reports of today's incident. She’s not liking what she’s seeing. A subway train plowing through stations at abnormal speeds with at least fifty hospitalized.
Yeah, she thinks she’s better off walking.
“Don’t it get to you, you’ll be fine getting to school tomorrow,” Hyeju says, watching Youngeun’s expression from the corner of her eye. “Just stay in line and don’t do anything stupid. Which reminds me, part of your probation is me reporting to your parole officer. I’ve got a journal for you back at the cafe, treat it like a diary, alright?”
“Oh…” Youngeun takes a moment to recompose herself, shaking off the worry from reading that news report. “Okay, yeah. By the way… can I ask something?”
Hyeju gives a raise of an eyebrow that prompts Youngeun to continue.
“…What made you decide to take me in?”
Hyeju hesitates, clearly. There’s a moment of vulnerability and softness in Hyeju's gruff facade. Youngeun barely catches it, that look of understanding that Hyeju has before her posture hardens once more and Youngeun loses it.
But it was there.
That empathy of a woman who knew what Youngeun was going through. That look of nostalgia at a teenage girl who reminds you so horribly of yourself when you were younger. That feeling that maybe, you could be that person for this kid, that someone you didn't have back then. Perhaps Youngeun is grasping at straws.
“Just… I was asked.”
She
hears
it, the hesitance in her voice. Hyeju presses on the accelerator, moving up the car to the stop light, “And I just so happened to agree.”
For how aloof Hyeju is to her and no nonsense she is, Youngeun can feel just the tiniest amounts of care that the older woman has. It’s nothing much, but it’s enough to give her just a gram of hope.
“Just live a normal life, make friends, get a new start in a new city,” Hyeju then says, she briefly glances at Youngeun. “No one at school’s gonna know about your record so you don’t hafta play prison. Make a few friends, have some fun, but don’t do anything illegal.”
Youngeun nods, but she doesn’t quite believe Hyeju, but she can try, can’t she?
“…Yeah, okay.”
—
“This is less of an operating accident and more of a crime of the company and government,” the SIU Director says thoughtfully, watching a replay of today’s subway incident. “Site inspectors apparently reported this all six months ago. The deterioration of the tracks and the ATC. Seems like the railway company and the ministry of transport have turned a blind eye to the truth.”
He crosses his arms.
“There’s no way they can hide for long. This’ll go all the way to the top.”
The newscaster continues her report, speaking about the recent, numerous accidents caused in the train that were all caused by unknown motives.
“And you think that everything is connected, no?”
Haseul stays quiet, eyes on the TV.
“Oh well,” the director sighs. He turns around on his chair towards Haseul. “Are you free anytime this week? You, I, and the other prosecutors haven’t gone out for a drink in a while. There’s this nice bar I know of.”
Haseul doesn’t mind fancy bars, but she’s loyal to this one specific bar Gangnam run by a sweet yet deadly black haired woman. Speaking of which, she should make a visit today or sometime this week, it’s been a while.
“Thank you for the offer, sir, but I’ll have to check my schedule,” Haseul says politely, but she’s not really considering the offer. She checks her wristwatch, “Ah, excuse me, but I’ll have to get going now.”
She gives the director a short bow before leaving the office.
Haseul exits the office, and down waiting for her at the end of the staircase is a teenage girl. She leans against the railing, scrolling through her phone.
The girl had long dark brown hair and bright eyes, gentle and pretty features. She looks up at the sound of Haseul’s footsteps. Her clothing is neat and formal. She quickly tucks her phone away and adjusts her gloves and posture.
“Did you ask about it for me? Is it a case?”
“Not quite, but I want your opinion on something,” Haseul responds, heels clicking against the tile as she comes near, “would you mind?”
“Not at all,” the girl responds, her tone easy and polite. “But, your judgement is usually correct, sunbaenim.”
She follows after Haseul as the woman begins walking away.
“Could we discuss this over food? I did miss lunch to meet here.”
Haseul pauses for a second.
“10,000 won.”
The girl’s face turns into a pout but she makes effort to argue and continues along.
—
“Youngeunie hasn’t called?”
“No,” Haseul pouted, cradling a glass of bourbon, “I’m worrieed.”
Wong Kahei or better known as Vivi, gave a small, sympathetic sigh as she patted the brunette’s shoulder from across the counter, “She must be busy, the move wasn’t exactly on the best terms, you know?”
Haseul gives a sad nod before downing the rest of her drink before asking for a refill. She thinks about the empty bitterness she had seen in Youngeun’s eyes, “I’m just… she doesn’t talk about her feelings…”
“She’ll come around soon,” Vivi assures. “She’s just trying to process everything, give her some time.”
The brunette sighs before downing her glass of bourbon.
“I knoww… it’s just…” Haseul slurs a bit, slightly tipsy from what’s been three glasses of hard bourbon. Vivi sighs a little, a look that’s too far adoring on her face and replaces Haseul’s empty glass with a cup of water, “She’s an’ Yeo are my baby sisters and everythin’... I don’t want ‘em to get hurt.”
“I know,” Vivi says soothingly. “She’ll talk when she’s ready, she’s been through a lot.”
“Tooo much for a teenager…” Haseul mumbles.
Vivi doesn’t get to say another word as her bar door opens once again. She looks up to see another familiar face. The black haired girl gives a smile as she greets the newcomer.
“Good to see you Jiwoo, the usual?” Vivi says with a smile.
“Something harder, actually, unnie,” Jiwoo says and Vivi can already sense some pent up frustration. She strides right up to the stool beside Haseul whose face planted into the bar counter. The brunette’s always been a lightweight, “Why’s Haseul-unnie so mopey?”
“Her baby sister’s in Seoul for probation,” Vivi answers and Haseul gives a muffled groan. The black haired woman turns to make Jiwoo’s drink, “No contact other than a text from last night. What brings you here, Jiwoo-ah? You usually come after a hard day at one of your jobs or something.
Jiwoo frowns remembering what brought her here, “Just some troubles with my side job and I just got a new transfer student in my class. The staff already hate her because of her criminal record, I feel bad for the kid.”
Vivi raises an eyebrow but nonetheless doesn’t push the topic further.
What a coincidence, that there's two girls with criminal records in Seoul now.
“When Haseul sobers up, mind giving a call to Yeojinie to pick her up?”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
First day of school at Gyodoso and all Youngeun really hopes for is not getting lost on her way. With her lackluster reputation, it’s not a good idea to be late on the first day especially if there’s going to be the eyes of the school on her. Maybe her classmates won’t be so bad, after all, there’s no way they’d be able to know about her record, right?
She finds Hyeju behind Leblanc’s counter, the fresh smell of coffee slowly spreading throughout the shop.
“Good morning,” Youngeun greets.
The older woman notices her presence and sets down a plate of curry and rice on the counter alongside a cup of water.
Youngeun blinks at her.
And then she realizes that the food is for
her
.
“Oh… thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
She downs the hellishly good curry in seconds, refills her refillable water bottle, turns the sign on the door to ‘open’ for Hyeju and heads out to Myeongdong Station.
It’s when Youngeun exits her train after about twenty minutes that she realizes she sort of screwed up. That is by forgetting an umbrella. Because as she exits the train, she hears people murmur about rain. When she leaves the station, she indeed does see that it is pouring.
As eloquently as she could put it,
Shit.
Youngeun blames the fact that Myeongdong was completely fine and sunny for her lack of an umbrella. Now she has to figure out how to book it to school without looking like a drowned kitten.
She ends up making a sprint to get under the awning of some clothing boutique. The rain isn’t letting up. She decides to take out her phone and check the forecast. That’ll decide whether or not she should just make a run for school and risk looking like a wet cat or-
The moment Youngeun unlocks her phone, she notices that weird red eye app,
again
.
The hell- I thought I deleted it?
Youngeun frowns, tapping on the app to see if it allows her to delete or open it, but alas, it doesn’t. She really hopes her phone isn’t broken, this thing’s expensive. She doesn’t get to grumble too much about the weird app as a girl soon runs under the store awning, taking a spot beside Youngeun.
The girl’s not technically soaking wet, but she’s definitely worse off than Youngeun. Water droplets dripped from her chin and clothes, and her hair was clearly damp. She wore a pout, glaring at the rain as if it personally wronged her.
She’s wearing Gyodoso Academy clothes, white dress shirt, plaid skirt, red ribbon, but a black varsity jacket instead of a blazer. Blonde hair, brown eyes, soft delicate features, a sharp jawline and-
Oh.
She’s pretty.
Wait- that’s gay.
She forces herself to stop staring because that’s creepy. But unfortunately, the pretty blonde somehow managed to catch Youngeun’s gaze. She gives the brunette a small smile (
ohmygod she has a dimple
) and Youngeun feels an incoming heart attack. The blonde girl turns away, taking her phone out of her pocket.
With a honk that startles Youngeun (
who the hell is honking this early in the morning-
), a white sedan pulls up to the two girls. The window of the passenger’s seat rolls down, revealing an older man.
He’s built with an absurdly chiseled jaw and a large chin. He was wearing a blue tracksuit and seemed to be a P.E. teacher of sorts. For some reason, Youngeun gets a really bad feeling from this man.
She doesn’t know what it is, but something about him feels wrong.
Maybe it’s his face.
“Good morning,” the man greets, he sounded friendly enough. He looks at the pretty blonde, ignoring Youngeun’s existence, “Do you need a ride to school? You’re going to be late.
There’s a moment of hesitation in the blonde girl’s eyes. She gives a tight-lipped look but she sucks it up and walks towards the passenger’s side of the car, murmuring a quiet ‘thank you’. And then that’s when the man finally decides to acknowledge Youngeun’s existence.
“How about you?”
Youngeun gets an immediate feeling that she shouldn’t get involved. A gut feeling is a gut feeling and you always trust your gut feeling. Her parents, Haseul, and Yeojin always said to never get into cars with strangers.
“Ah, no- no thank you,” Youngeun declines awkwardly, shaking her head.
The man gives a shrug and rolls up the window, Youngeun sees the pretty blonde in the car wearing an unhappy expression. Like she wasn’t glad to be in there with the man. Oddly enough, it felt
wrong
to leave her in the car alone with that man.
But alas, Youngeun shakes it off. Maybe she’s just over thinking things. She has to get to class soon anyway and meet Ms. Kim in the faculty office. It had been a week since the first day of school, that means everyone was already familiarized with each other and Youngeun had to stand in the front of the class and introduce herself.
She tries not to cringe at the thought.
Instead, Youngeun fishes her wireless earbuds out of her backpack’s side pocket, ready to cancel out everything, and just walk through the rain-
“ARgh! Wait-
crap
- that perverted craphead!”
Another student skids to a sudden stop right in front of Youngeun. The girl kicked the ground in frustration, fuming.
Was she
chasing
after that white car?
“…Perverted craphead?” Youngeun repeats.
Suddenly, leaving that girl to go in the car alone with that man felt like a horrible decision.
An uneasy feeling settles in her chest and Youngeun lowers her hand with her earbuds, her phone giving a chime of recognition that goes unnoticed by both girls.
The girl turns to Youngeun, a scowl on her face, eyebrows furrowed in a frustrated manner. She wore Gyodoso’s signature red plaid skirt and tie, with the tie loose around her neck. Her white dress shirt was left half-tucked and had the top buttons unbuttoned. The sleeves of her shirt were rolled up. On her right shoulder was her school bag, decorated with a number of pins and little keychains.
Youngeun could spot a couple of piercings in her ears too as she turned.
This was a picture-perfect delinquent and Youngeun was about to get herself mugged.
“What?” the girl gave Youngeun an unfriendly glare. More defensive rather than threatening, “Are you gonna rat me out to Donghyuk?”
Donghyuk
?
Is that the name of the guy in the car?
And what’s this about him being a ‘perverted craphead’?
“I-
what
? Donghyuk?” Youngeun blinked, obviously confused.
“Huh? Donghyuk. Lee Donghyuk, you don’t know him? He was the guy in that car just now,” the girl explained, surprised at Youngeun's lack of knowledge about who people are. “He’s always acting like he’s the king of some castle, creeping on girls-”
“King of
what
castle?” Youngeun interrupted. “Is that girl going to be okay?”
“Gyodoso!” loud girl exclaimed. She eyes the silver pin on Youngeun’s uniform, “You’re a second year, right? But I’ve never seen you around before…”
“I just transferred,” Youngeun says and that seems to make things work for the other girl.
“Oh, makes sense,” she turns towards the rain which has seemed to lighten up from earlier. “I’ll tell you about him later, we should start heading to school. Don’t wanna be late now.”
Youngeun nods in agreement, deciding that she’ll just ask this loud girl about ‘Donghyuk’ later and figure out what’s up with him and that pretty blonde girl.
The moment she takes a step forward, she’s hit with a sudden headache. It’s gone just as quickly as it came but the pain lingers and leaves Youngeun with a puzzled feeling. It looks like the loud girl was hit with the headache too based on the way she rubs her head.
“C’mon let’s go.”
Youngeun notices something about the way that the loud girl was walking. A barely noticeable limp. She eyes the black compression sleeve on the girl’s right knee.
—
Youngeun rubs her forehead, her head aching as she tries to remember what happened on her first day of school. She deeply exhaled, wincing from the pain that had settled in her jaw. The brunette places her hand down and looks at Haseul.
Her vision is just a little clearer.
“There was a horrible accident that day, remember?” Haseul attempts to jog Youngeun’s memory. “I’m sure you’ve heard of it, the ‘psychotic breakdown incidents’.”
“…I might’ve.”
“You say that like it’s none of your business. Those incidents were all over the news and some students in your school even got caught up in it,” Haseul leans back into her chair, she crosses her arms to stop herself from reaching out to Youngeun. “It looks like your memories are beginning to come back.”
She looks down at the files she brought.
“That day… were you still a ‘normal’ high school student?”'
No answer.
Haseul withholds a sigh, “Allow me to change the question then. You transferred to Gyodoso Academy, a normal prestigious college prep academy. Or at least, that’s what it should’ve been.”
Youngeun looks down at her hands.
“Tell me everything that happened then.”
—
Youngeun follows the loud short girl towards the school, it looks like they’re taking a shortcut as they enter an alley. Then it dawns on her that she has no idea what this girl’s name is. Well, too bad, Youngeun’s already labeled this girl as ‘loud girl’ in her head.
Her phone buzzes once and she puts it in her backpack without any further thought. It’s probably just a message from her mom or dad asking if she got to school safely.
From the corner of her eye, she sees a glow of pink as she steps into a puddle.
She turns around.
Nothing.
It must’ve just been her imagination-
“WHAT THE
HELL
-”
Youngeun whirls around at her companion's scream, racing over to where loud girl was. As the brunette approached, loud girl was frozen in shock, staring up at something. Youngeun turned to see what the she was looking up at in shock-
A
castle
?!
“..
What
?”
Looming over the two girls is a large stone castle, a dark pink, eerie light shining down on them, making everything feel too unsettling. The rain continues, the droplets an unusual red color, but it doesn’t feel like anything.
This wasn’t Gyodoso Academy no matter what that stone sign in front of the castle says. This wasn’t the school that Youngeun visited yesterday, for sure. Something about this felt like it wasn’t real.
That this wasn’t reality.
She swears if she somehow got high-
“What the heck is this??” Loud girl blinks. She looked around and at the way they had come from, “This was the right way..”
Youngeun looks at the girl, “Should we go inside and ask?”
“Yeah, probably.”
The two girls walk over the wooden drawbridge that laid across the moat that had surrounded a castle. The two of them enter the castle and suddenly there’s a flash of the school’s front entrance, trophies displayed at the walls in their cases before it flashes back to the castle’s entrance hall.
Youngeun has to rub her eyes and make sure she’s not hallucinating.
Whatever drug she touched, she’s never going to touch it ever again.
The hall that they’re in is really grand and fancy. Golden pillars, a large fancy painting against the back wall of the second floor balcony which was flanked by two sets of large stairs. The floor is a black and white check pattern and there’s a large golden chandelier hanging in the middle of the whole hall. There’s red curtains and drape decorations everywhere. And if Youngeun wasn’t confused as to where the hell she was, she’d be amazed.
This place was decorated so lavishly, it gives the kind of feeling like a fairytale where the royal family is full of wealth and owns a massive castle and is hosting a ball at said castle.
The loud girl looks around cautiously as they walk along the red rug. She stops and scratches her head in confusion.
“We must be trippin’ or something,” loud girl says, thoroughly convinced that her and Youngeun are hallucinating and are on some really powerful drugs, “but how do you even hallucinate the same thing as someone?”
“My thoughts exactly,” Youngeun agrees. “The sign said ‘Gyodoso Academy’, didn’t it?”
“Yeah, but like…” the black haired girl frowns, “This isn’t Gyodoso.”
The girl takes out her phone, only to be even more confused when her phone reads out of service.
“The
heck
? Out of service, where the frick are we?”
And to answer the loud girl’s questions, heavy footsteps approach them. Youngeun immediately turns around to see a hunched over suit of armor looming over them. Sword and shield clutched in their hands, and despite being hunched, this person stood very tall. Taller than anyone Youngeun had ever met before.
Unease strikes Youngeun and she freezes up, because there’s something wrong here.
“Oh god- the frick-” the black haired girl clutches her chest in shock. “Geez! You freaked me out. Who are you?”
She looks at the armored person with great interest, however the person says nothing and just stares at the two girls. Loud girl opens her mouth to say something but suddenly another armored person appears out of nowhere, cornering the two girls.
Youngeun takes a step back, feeling an odd malice from the two.
This doesn’t look too good.
“H-Hey, what’s going on?” loud girl asks, trembling a little.
Youngeun gulps nervously, “I think we should run.”
A nod and Youngeun leads the way in making a run for it from the two armored people. They don’t get far as more armored people appear out of nowhere. There’s this sickening feeling that settles in her chest that she just can’t shake.
“AGh- the hell-”
Loud girl is hit over the
head
, hard. Panic rises in Youngeun as the girl is knocked out cold right beside her. She’s next-
“Take them away!”
Is the last thing she hears before blacking out.