Rednegne ✅

Peal 17

[동주]

"Are you sure you don't want to go back?" I ignored Hwanwoong as we made our way back to school. "Ju." My movements were stalled as something held me back. "What?" "Stop ignoring us. I get why you're upset and all, but are we really just going to let them die in there?" I swatted Keonhee's hand off of me then kept walking. "I'm not going to follow behind an ungrateful brat with my tail between my legs. I honestly should've let them die before." "But you didn't. Do you know why?"

I faced Hwanwoong who gave me a serious look. "I don't and I don't care. If you want, go back after them. I'm going home." I drew a tiny circle in the air then watched them fall. "Ju, have you tried looking from their point of view?" I kept moving. I wasn't going to let them reel me in. "Ju!" "Hwan, just leave him. Let's worry about your balance instead." I noticed they had stopped calling out to me and I curiously looked behind me. "They're gone..."

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I tapped my pen against my notebook as I tried to study. "What was it...Deonga*? No...Pli*?" The terms were baffling. I really started to wonder how I even got as far as my last year. I heard the door open then looked to see who had walked in. A shiver went down my spine as he stepped into the room. "Back so soon, Dongju?" "I changed my mind. I want to take the exam." He placed a hand on my shoulder and I could feel his gaze on me. "Yet you were so adamant about helping those two." "I was simply way in over my head. When am I allowed to take it?"

He leaned against my desk as he closed his eyes and crossed his arms. "You can't." "What? Why not?" "You three are a team. Majority rules." I was pissed. Objects in the room had started to rise off the floor and surfaces. "Calm down, you'll ruin the room. Repairs are expensive." "That's not the point. How could you not tell us something like that? Did you just make that up?"

He started to laugh and a chilling feeling had engulfed the room. I started to feel afraid. "If you three won't help them, they'll simply help themselves." They? Who was they? "Youre free to not help them, but just know you can't take the test without Keon and Hwan. And if they successfully awaken their powers, they'll get to graduate. You won't." He closed the door behind them just as I threw my textbook towards the door.

I collapsed into my chair in defeat and frustration. "Why is he making it so difficult? I wish I understood what goes through Mr. Lee's mind." I looked down and saw a few wet spots on the surface. "Look at me, I'm crying. So pathetic." I knew I should've rejected the invitation. I didn't think of the real nature of the school.

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I palmed a dead leaf in my hand as I sat in the courtyard. I missed its beauty. "Dongju." "Minjin hyung...?" I felt a wave of deja vu. "You don't look so good. Did you fight with your friends?" "We're not friends..." "And why is that?" "They turned on me." "I can't believe that. You three looked so close." I had thought so as well. But here I was, alone. They chose the nowols over me. What about them was better than me? "Maybe you should sit down and express your feelings." "I don't even know where they are." It wasn't a lie either. I could only sense waves within a certain amount of miles.

"Don't think, feel." "Minjun hyung..." "Don't lose precious friends over a silly fight, you hear?" He took the dead leaf from my hand then I watched as it slowly turned into a dazey*. He put it in my hair then patted my back  efire leaving. I appreciated Minjun. He always seemed to know when I was emotionally unwell. I decided to try and apply his advice.

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I traveled through the air as I followed Keonhee's steadily growing wave. "I hope I don't regret this." I was simply going back to be with Keonhee and Hwanwoong, my friends. The ones I shouldn't take for granted. I quietly hoped they hadn't run into trouble that required my help.

a/n: dazey - a brown and gray colored flower that resembles the structure that of a marguerite.

deonga - a type of magician meditation that opens the flow of magic into one's body

pli - the opposite of deonga