𝐢𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐫 | x1

22

22 — THE ROTTEN REALITY

as the world gets tough, you gotta be ready.

—

"has it ever occurred to you that minhee has to stay as himself in order to survive a year of being a student council president if he gets elected?"

"when he gets elected." hangyul corrects him. "and yes, i do know, but i'll cross that bridge when i get there."

"yah, lee hangyul, he wouldn't last a month if he continues to become someone he isn't," yohan sighs. "why can't you just let him go with his own flow or something?"

"if he does go with his own flow, you really think he could win?"

"yeah, i do." he says confidently. "i trust him. and i trust dongpyo enough for him to choose the guy spontaneously as a candidate—"

"yah, na jaemin!"

hangyul rushes to the corridor, heading towards the pink-haired guy. the boy however wasn't as pleased to see him. jaemin sprints his way forward, pretending like he doesn't know. "jeno-yah!" he calls upon another boy, shifting the attention.

"na jaemin, why are you acting like you don't notice me!" hangyul quickly responds as he follows his from behind. "i know you can hear me, don't pretend like you don't! I have some questions for the election!"

but jaemin still acts clueless, as he grabs jeno's arm and leisurely walks off, avoiding hangyul.

"na jaemin!"

jaemin slightly turns around. "i am jeno!" the latter shoots back before he disappears himself to class.

hangyul frowns, feeling completely obliterated. "yah, what's gotten into him? why did he ignore me just like that?"

yohan crosses his arms. "he's doing exactly what i told him to do."

"which is?"

"don't interact with us." he hitched a breath. "any of us, especially when junho's around. we have to pretend like we don't know that he's an x1, and we have to make sure junho's comfortable enough to talk to him about it. that way, we'll gain information."

"how can we protect him from junho if we can't even interact with him?"

"easy," yohan shows off his phone.

".. your phone will help?"

"nope," he grins. "eunsang will."

—

"lai guanlin," junho's soft voice suddenly emerges out of the silence. "thanks for joining the conference yesterday. what did you think?"

guanlin flutters his eyes confused, his gaze heads back to dongpyo who's sitting right beside him. "uh.. yeah.. conference.. is great."

dongpyo sighs in disbelief. can this boy be any more obvious?

"sad that you weren't able to test out your dna, the earthquake came all so sudden.." junho sighs. "so misplaced, yet right at its perfect timing. some would expect that it's not a coincidence."

guanlin laughs his butt off. "hehe, yeah, hehe. earthquake. hehe." he turns to dongpyo. "seriously dude, you gotta teach me how to do it."

"what, how to lie without looking like you just killed your mom?" dongpyo mutters.

"no, how you pretended to be me!" he whispers frantically. "how the hell didn't he realize you were me?"

dongpyo shrugs. "he's just stupid."