ᴮˡᵒᵒᵈ ᵒⁿ ᵒᵘʳ ᴴᵃⁿᵈˢ . ᴬˡˡ ᵒᶠ ᵁˢ ᵃʳᵉ ᴰᵉᵃᵈ ¹

ᵇᵃᶜᵏ ᵃᵍᵃⁱⁿ

"When did you start smoking?" On-jo asked Nam-ra.

"Since the eighth grade," Nam-ra answered.

"We used to go behind the school during break or if we'd had a stressful lesson," Aeja said, making everyone turn to her. "And after we'd had our lunches."

"You smoked?" Wu-jin asked.

Aeja nodded, "My older brother used to, mostly when he was stressed. I thought I'd give it a go too. I stole a box from his room one day and shared them with Nam-ra, as she was my only friend at the time. I suppose it was a distraction from the world."

"Did you ever need a friend?" On-jo asked Nam-ra.

"I'm not sure," Nam-ra admitted. "I had Aeja, which I sometimes saw as enough."

"You always put up a wall," On-jo replied. "You always wore earphones and never said a word, unless Aeja was talking to you. Was it because you didn't like the rest of us?"

Nam-ra was silent for a moment. Everyone looked at her, waiting for an answer.

"I never disliked you guys," Nam-ra answered. "I just... I only had Aeja. We've been friends since our first day of elementary school."

"To be honest, I didn't like you," Hyo-ryung admitted. "Because I thought you didn't talk to us because we were beneath you."

"There were times when I wished you weren't around," Joon-yeong nodded. "I always came second, no matter how hard I tried. But I suppose I was able to come second thanks to Nam-ra."

"Hey, second place is good too," Dae-su sighed. On-jo silently nodded in agreement. "I can't even come 20th in our class."

"Hey, don't compare yourself to Joon-yeong," Hyo-ryung said.

"I was just saying," Dae-su replied. "Why do you always jump down my throat when I say something? Do you like me?"

Hyo-ryung slapped Dae-su on his shoulder, "Screw you."

Aeja and a few others chuckled.

"I'll put it out there so you don't get hurt," Dae-su said to Hyo-ryung. "I like someone else. So don't like me."

Hyo-ryung slapped Dae-su's shoulder again, "I don't like you. I'm not interested in you at all."

"Dae-su, who do you like?" Joon-yeong asked.

"He's a total freak," Wu-jin mumbled.

Su-hyeok laughed before pointing at Wu-jin, "His sister."

"Ha-ri from Archery?" Ji-min was surprised, to say the least. "You're insane."

"I go crazy in love," Dae-su admitted with a sigh. "She's like Cupid in my eyes."

Wu-jin huffed in annoyance, "Stop it. If we get out of here alive, I'll tell my sister."

"Will you really?" Dae-su asked.

"Yeah," Wu-jin nodded. "To shoot and kill you. I said not to like my sister."

(:̲̅:̲̅:̲̅[̲̅:♡:]̲̅:̲̅:̲̅:̲̅)

"My parents prepared everything for my transfer. They said to just go to Seoul, but I didn't really want to go," Ji-min admitted. "I wouldn't have any friends and I was scared of Seoul kids. I didn't know what to do. Then On-jo gave me an idea. She said to cut school for five days. Then the principal couldn't write a recommendation. That's why I cut school. It's all thanks to On-jo that I didn't transfer. But I should've just gone. Then this wouldn't have happened to me."