to somewhere ( the haunted house )

Second Semester

It was peak Seoul temperature this month, which was why Harin woke up so early. It was so humid in August, and the forecast had said today's highest temperature could reach to 29 degrees Celsius, but the girl knew that must be fake. It seems much more hot in the summer. Certainly not 29 degrees. Harin started reaching for her phone, and her mother started yelling from the kitchen, which surprised the life out of Harin, who realized that 7am was not early, and it was her first day back at school. In addition, she had to meet up with Siwoo at 7:30 as she promised the night before yesterday.

When she just woke up, she slowly got memories of the weekend, which consisted of her mother closely monitoring Harin and her older brother Hajoon doing summer break homework. And guess who had to spend time finishing homework for 6 more hours after the other person was done. Yes... it was Harin.

Now, a normal person would ask how Harin and Hajoon's personalities are so distinct from each other, but the rest know that it is because of the amount of time Harin spends with her childhood best friend Siwoo. Those days consisted of Siwoo beating Harin at every game in existence, while Hajoon mostly hung out with the nerd seniors at his school. It was like the phrase "You are who you hang out with" could be explained just by looking at the two siblings.

"Rinny, eat your food properly!" Hari scolded her daughter after she started rushing to eat after multitasking the entire morning to be on time.

"No time for that, Mom!" she said, almost choking on her breakfast. "I promised to meet Siwoo at the bus stop! He got the new portable console and I really wanna see it!"

"Don't you already hang out a lot with him already?" the mother asked, but let it go. "Okay, fine. I'll let it go for today. But, don't scare me like that again!"

Hajoon finished his breakfast at the same time as Harin, so for the first time in a while, Hajoon walked with his sister to school. "Hm. You and I walking to school. Rare. Anyway, I'll be going this way."

"Yeah, I know," Harin sighed. "I'm not that forgetful. I know where your school is." Then, she saw Siwoo and ran over to him. "Siwoo! It's me, Harin!"

"Hey, Harin!" Siwoo called back. "Look at this!" he took out his new PortableSuper S8. "I got some games in here too! Let's play with this at lunch. I'll get Seungjin to watch for teachers." He put the console back in his backpack and the two crossed the street to the station. Harin checked her bag one last time and saw that she brought everything. Phew.

"Chinese cram school was hard," Siwoo groaned. "I just asked Yiren to translate my homework in exchange for rare knives in Hearts and Battle. I miss my rares, but I have to do good in cram school somehow."

"You're lucky that you have Yiren as a friend," Harin sulked. "But either way, my mom watches me while I do my homework, so there's nothing I can do. She's so strict!"

They boarded the train to the area that their school is, and they kept quiet for the ride. They went out of the station and up the hill, where their school was. "Oh yeah, and Harin!" Siwoo tapped her shoulder. "There's a rumor that there's going to be a new student in your class! It's just a rumor, but I heard he's from Canada!"

"Canada?" Harin gasped. "THAT Canada?"

"Yeah!" Siwoo nodded. "And he's supposed to be super handsome! Like... more handsome than Seungjin, they say!"

Harin laughed it off. "I bet they say he's handsome just because he's from Canada."

"Yeah!" Siwoo agreed. "After all, no one is more charming than the greatest, Siwoo-"

"Anyway," Harin purposely interrupted Siwoo. "When is this guy coming?"

"According to Yura Han..." Siwoo checked his phone as sneakily as he could. "He's coming over tomorrow. Naturally, because he JUST arrived yesterday."

"Oh, so now you listen to Yura," Harin rolled her eyes. "You're always like: Oh, well Sanggeol is more trustworthy than Yura."

"I just pick the ones that are available!" Siwoo argued. "Sanggeol hasn't reported on this, why do you think I chose her source anyway?"

For those confused, in this particular school, there is a lot of talking, and news spread quickly through friend groups. Students have the freedom to go practically anywhere in this odd middle school, and that means that people hear things easily, so even the most unpopular know the current events. The school does not do much about these "news sources" because they aren't spreading harmful lies about other people.

The news sources are mainly online (and this is what the teachers don't know), and for the safety of students, only members of "certified friend groups" can access the secret news sites. For a month, Siwoo was trying to get his group certified, although it's only him that will check the sites. Harin and Seungjin aren't the types to be into petty gossip. Despite the rest of his group not being very impressed with the site, his group became certified and Siwoo was always looking at the latest "news." Even if there wasn't a website, it would still somehow make its way across the school, but 3 seconds later.

Back to the present, when Harin and Siwoo saw Seungjin, they immediately went over to him and requested in unison, "Seungjin, watch teachers for us during lunch!"

Upon hearing the request, Seungjin apologized. "I'm so sorry, Siwoo, Harin. The truth is, I'm getting picked up early. My parents want me to visit my aunt later."

"....Oh..." was what Harin could only say. "I'm sorry, Seungjin."

"S-Same here," Siwoo apologized. "We didn't know."

"It's totally fine!" Seungjin smiled at them. "Usually, the days we visit her are on weekends, but this time, it was on a weekday for some reason." After a moment of silence, they walked together to their classrooms.

"So, guess we can't play today," Siwoo looked up at the ceiling. "I'm not losing THIS today."

"Let's play a little bit while we do homework at the library," Harin said. "That is... if you did your Chinese cram school homework already."

"Wait, today's Monday?!" Siwoo exclaimed. "No way! I didn't do any of it the past week!"

"Oh, for goodness sake, Siwoo!" Harin facepalmed.