Payback AU: What If

Act 2 - PLAY

Yoohan had never believed in luck.

He didn't want to believe in luck, because he thought he would feel that his entire life was a series of unlucky events. From being left by his father, living in poverty, being mocked and bullied until he was forced to fight back, and constantly feeling hopeless ... Yoohan hated the concept of luck.

But this time, he couldn't help but think that he had faced a snowball of bad luck after his meeting with that crazy high schooler—Yoon Jay or Jeii or whatever his fancy name was.

First, he was caught by the disciplinary committee for not wearing his name tag. Then, while they check his name, they found out Yoohan's attendance level was like a tree on a desert—abysmal. Not to mention his grade. There was almost nothing to be graded for since he wasn't even attending half the midterm exam and rarely turned in any assignment. So he had to spend the whole day getting lectured by his homeroom teacher, then the disciplinary teacher, then the head teacher, then the headmaster. Then they told him they would call his parents—parent. Yoohan said not to bother. His mother was working, and her boss didn't allow the use of a phone during work hours. And his mother really didn't pick up the school's call.

What happened next was volunteer work as an assistant librarian for the rest of his school days (for his lack of attendance) while working on his missing assignment(s), and a threat of suspension or probable expulsion if he couldn't get an adequate amount of credit after the first term finals (for his poor grade). Oh, and latrine duty for three days (for his lost name tag).

All of which Yoohan didn't really care to do actually. But when he looked at the faces of those adults, he got this feeling that they actually expecting him to escape his punishment, to prove that Yoohan was a poor excuse of a lost cause. And this was what made Yoohan ticked. Lee Yoohan, at 14 years old, had a penchant for betraying people's expectations.

Which means, for the next three days, he actually perfectly carried out his punishment to a t, albeit with a different set of motivations than what the school had intended. But while he derived satisfaction from the teachers' bewildered expression, he also felt irritated once he felt exhaustion from cleaning out the toilet and sitting around in the library seeped in. Not to mention having to stay in school from dawn to dusk.

So when on the fourth day he saw a familiar figure of a tall, handsome guy in high school uniform leaning against his school gate staring straight at him like a predator finally caught its prey, Yoohan felt like his life couldn't be even more unlucky.

Especially since the predator no longer wore a cast on his hand.

It was the last day of his latrine punishment, and Yoohan wanted nothing more than to go home and sleep. He didn't even want to hang out with the kids on the corner street today. He just wanted to be alone. But when he walked towards the gate, he noticed a crowd had gathered despite it being way past the school hour already. Most of them were girls, and they seemed to be excited for some reason. All of them giggling and whispering, stealing glances, or blatantly staring at something—or someone. Yoohan didn't want to care, but when he walked away nonchalantly from the gate toward the direction of his home, he caught sight of the source of the crowd's attention.

A pair of pale eyes, a set of dimples framing an infuriating smirk.

Yoohan almost thought he was hallucinating. But then that familiar voice called out to him.

"Hey, rabbit."

A voice that despite his attempt to forget still persistently lingered on his mind.

Yoohan decided to ignore the voice calling him, but soon he could hear a footstep following him, all the while calling out to him like a persistent nightmare.