RASL 08

Chapter 08

“Hey, are you crazy?! What the hell is your problem all of a sudden?!”

The girl who had just been showered in cola shouted in outrage.

First-year Class 2, Kim Yeonhee.

Looking closely, she was a classmate.

“Sorry. It wasn’t you?”

“…What?”

“The one who called me a cockroach. If it wasn’t you, then sorry.”

“But it was you.”

There was certainty and confidence in her eyes.

For a moment, Kim Yeonhee was speechless. It was because of the gap between the ‘Seol Jihyo’ she knew and the one standing before her.

But the person in front of her was undeniably Seol Jihyo.

Which meant there was absolutely no reason to be afraid.

If she just raised her voice a little, Ji-hyo would surely flinch and back down, just like always.

With a mocking smile, Kim Yeonhee sneered.

“You’ve got some nerve talking bullshit.”

The warmth disappeared from Jiwoo’s face.

It wasn’t because she’d been provoked by those words.

Kim Yeonhee stood there with her arms crossed, looking at her as though she’d just heard the funniest joke in the world.

On her wrist, a bracelet with a four-leaf clover pendant glimmered.

That bracelet.

She had seen it in the video.

There’s no mistake.

This girl is…

“I called you a cockroach because you look like one. What’s the problem with that, huh?”

When Jiwoo remained silent, Kim Yeonhee assumed she’d been intimidated, and her voice grew even more confident.

Jiwoo stared fixedly at the four-leaf clover pendant swinging from her wrist before slowly lifting her gaze to meet Kim Yeonhee’s eyes.

“…Then is it a problem that I poured cola on someone who insulted me loud enough for me to hear?”

Clang!

Jiwoo dropped the empty can onto the floor.

“…What?”

“You think I was supposed to hear people calling me a cockroach behind my back and just smile while walking away?”

Crunch.

Jiwoo crushed the empty can beneath her foot as she looked down at Kim Yeonhee.

“Why aren’t you answering?”

Kim Yeonhee’s shoulders twitched.

It was purely instinctive.

“…Wait, did Kim Yeonhee just get scared of Seol Jihyo?”

“She actually got intimidated.”

Kim Yeonhee frowned deeply.

She refused to lose face in front of everyone.

Especially not to someone like Seol Jihyo.

Her voice rose even louder.

“Did you hit your head in that accident or something?”

“You think only my head got hurt?”

“The hell are you—”

Whoosh!

Kim Yeonhee swung her hand.

But Jiwoo caught it effortlessly.

“Shit, let go of me!”

“You’re not the only one allowed to curse.”

Still gripping her wrist, Jiwoo leaned in until their faces were close.

“Where does a bitch like you get off running your mouth?”

Her voice was so cold that it was impossible to believe it belonged to Seol Jihyo.

As though responding to those words, the cola can lying on the floor suddenly—

Craaang.

It crumpled inward with a metallic groan.

‘…What?’

Kim Yeonhee instinctively glanced sideways.

Why had the can suddenly…

But she didn’t have time to worry about that.

“It was you, wasn’t it? My teammate.”

“What are you—”

“The day I got bitten by an infected creature. You entered the Abyss with me that day, didn’t you?”

“What kind of bullshit are you talking about all of a sudden?”

“Answer me. Were you there or not?”

“That was ages ago! Why the hell are you bringing it up now? What are you gonna do about it? Report me to the police?”

Jiwoo let out a faint laugh.

“That won’t be enough.”

Creeak.

Her grip tightened until it felt like Kim Yeonhee’s wrist might twist apart.

By then, students had begun gathering around them like a swarm.

“Ohhh…”

“What’s going on?”

“Hey, there’s a fight!”

Kim Yeonhee’s face, soaked in cola and burning with humiliation, turned bright red.

Right now, everyone was watching her—drenched in cola while Seol Jihyo held her helplessly by the wrist.

But the most humiliating part…

She couldn’t break free.

It didn’t even seem like Jiwoo was using much strength.

So why was her grip this ridiculously powerful?

“…Hey, what’s with Seol Jihyo? She feels totally different from before.”

“No idea. I’ve never been in the same class as her. What was she like?”

“You never saw her getting bullied? Back in ninth grade, those kids even cut her hair with scissors, and she couldn’t say a single word.”

“No way…”

The murmuring crowd grew louder.

“What is all this commotion?! Is this a marketplace or something?!”

A teacher passing by noticed the disturbance and forced his way through the crowd.

It was the student affairs teacher.

Even after he arrived, Jiwoo didn’t release Kim Yeonhee’s wrist.

Instead, she leaned even closer and whispered into her ear.

“I can’t wait for the next time we enter the Abyss.”

“……!”

“I hope we’re on the same team again.”

Snap!

The four-leaf clover bracelet around Kim Yeonhee’s wrist suddenly broke apart, as though sliced by invisible scissors.

The pendant and beads scattered across the hallway floor.

“You two! Separate right now! What do you think you’re doing in the hallway?!”

Only then did Jiwoo slowly release her.

Kim Yeonhee clutched her wrist with reddened eyes.

Distinct finger marks remained on her skin.

The bones where she’d been grabbed still throbbed painfully.

“Talk. What happened here? Fighting in the hallway? Have you two lost your minds?!”

“I didn’t do anything wrong.”

Jiwoo answered calmly.

“What? Then why is there such a huge scene?”

“She started it first. I only gave back what she gave me.”

The teacher turned toward Kim Yeonhee.

“Is that true?”

Kim Yeonhee continued rubbing her aching wrist before cautiously glancing toward Jiwoo.

The instant their eyes met—

Those blue eyes.

Her shoulders shuddered.

Kim Yeonhee instinctively lowered her head.

“……”

Her lips wouldn’t move.

Damn it.

She simply couldn’t speak.

‘…I’m exhausted.’

Jiwoo returned to the dormitory around five in the afternoon.

Who would’ve thought something like that would happen in the hallway?

—Yeonhee, make sure this never happens again. You’re classmates. Learn to get along.

—…Yes.

After that, Kim Yeonhee hurried away without even looking Jiwoo in the eye.

It wasn’t as though Jiwoo felt completely satisfied.

But she hadn’t wanted things to escalate either.

Kim Yeonhee seemed far less courageous than she’d expected.

Then again, thinking about it only made Jiwoo angrier.

Someone that pathetic had managed to put Ji-hyo through all of that.

…Still, she’d made an example of her.

From now on, Kim Yeonhee would probably think twice before trying anything again.

Assuming she had any common sense.

That aside…

‘I think I stood out way too much without realizing it.’

But it couldn’t be helped.

The moment she heard Ji-hyo being insulted, she had completely lost control.

…And then there was that bracelet.

The instant she saw it sparkling on Kim Yeonhee’s wrist, it felt as though every drop of blood in her body had turned ice cold.

‘Whatever. I’ll deal with it somehow.’

Perhaps she’d been thinking too much.

An overwhelming wave of drowsiness suddenly washed over her.

It had been an incredibly long day.

After all, this was the first time she’d been outside since entering ‘that house’ at the age of six.

‘Besides, maybe it’s because I used my Core again today. I feel unusually drained.’

Somehow, she’d ended up using it twice.

Come to think of it…

She wondered if that injured boy had made it safely back to the dormitory.

As one thought led to another, her eyelids gradually grew heavier.

Just a short nap.

Then she’d wake up and sort out everything in her head…

“Huh?!”

Her eyes flew open.

It was already the next morning.

She hurriedly checked the clock on the wall.

The hands pointed to six in the morning.

How long had she slept?

At least twelve hours?

She couldn’t remember the last time she’d slept that long.

She couldn’t stay in bed any longer.

After getting ready for school, Jiwoo left the dormitory and checked the time again.

Seven o’clock in the morning.

There were still two whole hours before first period.

She might have come a little too early…

Well, arriving early wasn’t exactly a bad thing.

If she came when everyone else did, she’d probably end up having another unpleasant encounter.

Besides, she still wasn’t familiar with the campus layout.

She decided to think of it as giving herself extra time.

‘…It’s so quiet.’

At this hour, the entrance to the academic building was completely silent.

Then again, there probably weren’t many students who came to school this early.

Jiwoo walked over to the shoe lockers near the entrance on the first floor.

Just as she reached out to open her locker and change into her indoor shoes—

“Kyahhh…!”

A terrified scream echoed from somewhere nearby.

Jiwoo stopped in her tracks.