Kim Do-Young and the Philosopher's Stone

- CHAPTER THREE -

Letters from No One

THE escape of the Brazilian boa constrictor earned Doyoung his longest-ever punishment. By the time he was allowed out of his cupboard again, the summer holidays had started and Hoseok had already broken his new video camera, crashed his remote control airplane, and, first time out on his racing bike, knocked down old Mrs. Shin as she crossed Privet Drive on her crutches.

Doyoung was glad school was over, but there was no escaping Hoseok's gang, who visited the house every single day. Jongin, Sehun, Haechan, and Taemin were all big and stupid, but as Hoseok was the biggest and stupidest of the lot, he was the leader. The rest of them were all quite happy to join in Hoseok's favorite sport: Doyoung Hunting.

This was why Doyoung spent as much time as possible out of the house, wandering around and thinking about the end of the holidays, where he could see a tiny ray of hope. When September came he would be going off to secondary school and, for the first time in his life, he wouldn't be with Hoseok. Hoseok had been accepted at Uncle Vernon's old private school, Smeltings. Kim Jongin was going there too. Doyoung, on the other hand, was going to Stonewall High, the local public school. Hoseok thought this was very funny.

"They stuff people's heads down the toilet the first day at Stonewall," he told Doyoung. "Want to come upstairs and practice?"

"No, thanks," said Doyoung. "The poor toilet's never had anything as horrible as your head down it -- it might be sick. " Then he ran, before Hoseok could work out what he'd said.

One day in July, Aunt Jihyo took Hoseok to London to buy his Smeltings uniform, leaving Doyoung at Mrs. Shin's. Mrs. Shin wasn't as bad as usual. It turned out she'd broken her leg tripping over one of her cats, and she didn't seem quite as fond of them as before. She let Doyoung watch television and gave him a bit of chocolate cake that tasted as though she'd had it for several years.

That evening, Hoseok paraded around the living room for the family in his brand-new uniform. Smeltings' boys wore maroon tailcoats, orange knickerbockers, and flat straw hats called boaters. They also carried knobbly sticks, used for hitting each other while the teachers weren't looking. This was supposed to be good training for later life.

As he looked at Hoseok in his new knickerbockers, Uncle Vernon said gruffly that it was the proudest moment of his life. Aunt Jihyo burst into tears and said she couldn't believe it was her J Hope, he looked so handsome and grown-up. Doyoung didn't trust himself to speak. He thought two of his ribs might already have cracked from trying not to laugh.

There was a horrible smell in the kitchen the next morning when Doyoung went in for breakfast. It seemed to be coming from a large metal tub in the sink. He went to have a look. The tub was full of what looked like dirty rags swimming in gray water.

"What's this?" he asked Aunt Jihyo. Her lips tightened as they always did if he dared to ask a question.

"Your new school uniform," she said.

Doyoung looked in the bowl again.

"Oh," he said, "I didn't realize it had to be so wet. "

"Don't be stupid," snapped Aunt Jihyo. "I'm dyeing some of Hoseok's old things gray for you. It'll look just like everyone else's when I've finished. "

Doyoung seriously doubted this, but thought it best not to argue. He sat down at the table and tried not to think about how he was going to look on his first day at Stonewall High -- like he was wearing bits of old elephant skin, probably.