CHAPTER 02

SCHOOL

8:45 AM

It was exactly 8:45 when I got off the jeep, just as the rain stopped. The outside of the school was already quiet—almost everyone was inside the buildings.

As I walked toward the entrance, one of the guards at the gate noticed me.

“Hey, hey! Why are you late?” he asked, blocking my way with his stick.

“I was waiting for the rain to stop,” I answered with a sigh.

“Oh, come on… that’s an old excuse, kid. Even with the heavy rain earlier, a lot of students still made it on time,” he said teasingly, lightly tapping his stick against his palm.

“Here’s what you’re going to do—you’ll run around the field five times. Then at noon, you’ll clean up the tables in the canteen after your fellow students eat. Clear?” he said, writing my ID number down in a notebook.

Seriously… if I didn’t need to attend science class later, I wouldn’t have even come today, especially this late, I muttered to myself.

“So, do you agree?” the guard asked.

“Yes, sir…” I replied, swallowing nervously.

“Alright then, go on in,” he said as he opened the gate.

As soon as I got inside, my classmates were already on the field for P.E.

SCHOOL

9:00 AM

P.E. CLASS

As soon as I saw them, I went straight to my locker to put my things away. While I was there, I noticed a pair of legs behind my locker door.

“Hey, idiot… why are you late?” It was Josh—my childhood friend—standing behind it.

“None of your business…” I replied, quickly shutting my locker.

“Wait—!” he said, grabbing my arm.

“What?” I asked, frowning.

“Um… here, I bought you some medicine,” he said, placing it in my palm.

“And what’s this for?” I asked, still not really caring about his concern.

“You were late because of the rain, right? You probably got wet too. Take that after lunch,” he said gently before walking away.

Damn… since when did he start caring about me? I muttered to myself, slipping the medicine into my pocket before heading to the field.

As I was walking there, I could already hear my classmates shouting and fooling around. When I arrived, our teacher, Ma’am Anika, noticed me right away and called me over.

“Cheon, dear!” she shouted, and I quickly approached her.

“Yes, ma’am? Why?” I asked.

“You’re late! Looks like there are consequences… what did they give you?” she asked gently.

“They told me to run five laps around the field,” I answered.

“I see… so you can still get a grade, we’ll use that—but I’ll extend it by two more. It should’ve been three laps, but the guard told you five… is that okay?” she offered, which I liked.

“Yes, ma’am, that’s fine with me,” I said with a smile.

“Very good! Guys, fall in line now… count off by threes,” she instructed, turning her attention back to the class.

“Hi, Cheon… I didn’t see you in English earlier?” my classmate Milder said as we lined up.

“Ah, I was late…” I replied, forcing a smile.

“Oh, really… that’s too bad. I heard the guard has been strict with late students lately,” she said. I just nodded in response.

“Okay, class, ready… just three laps. But Cheon, I know you know your task, right? So stick to it,” Ma’am said, then blew her whistle as the signal for us to start running.

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