"How do you survive in a school where every smile feels like a threat… and every secret
could destroy you?"
Ji-eun sat frozen in her seat, her pencil unmoving. Though the math teacher scribbled
equations on the board, her eyes weren't on the numbers they were scanning the room.
Every laugh, every glance, every shift of a chair made her stomach twist.
She could feel it.
Someone was watching her.
And it wasn't just once. It had been happening since yesterday eyes on her in the hallway,
murmurs when she walked past, that same name whispered too many times behind cupped
hands.
"Ji-eun."
She flinched at the sound of her name but it wasn't a whisper this time. It was the teacher.
"Can you solve this problem?"
The entire class turned toward her.
She stood slowly, her hands clammy. The numbers on the board danced, blurry. She opened
her mouth, but no words came. Someone chuckled. Then another. Laughter rippled across the
room.
She sat down without answering. The teacher sighed and moved on.
From the back row, Min-ho watched quietly.
After class, Ji-eun hurried down the hallway, hugging her books to her chest. She didn't want
to cry not here, not in front of them. Not when they already thought she was weak.
She turned a corner and stopped short.
Min-ho stood there, leaning against the lockers like he had all the time in the world. He
looked up slowly, dark eyes unreadable.
"You're shaking," he said.
Ji-eun blinked. "W-what?"
"You look like a scared rabbit."
She stepped back. "Leave me alone."
Didn't say I was following you." He pushed off the locker and walked past her.
But not before whispering something she couldn't shake:
"They always watch the new ones."
Her blood ran cold.
She turned to ask what he meant, but he was already gone, disappearing around the corner
like a shadow.
That night, she couldn't sleep. Min-ho's words echoed in her head.
They always watch the new ones.
Who was "they"?
Why did he sound like he wasn't warning her… but remembering something?
Ji-eun stared at the ceiling of her small apartment, the moonlight casting pale patterns across
the floor. Her mother had already gone to bed, tired from working two shifts just to afford
Ji-eun's transfer to Seoul High. She couldn't tell her. Not about the bullying, the whispers, or
Min-ho.
Especially not Min-ho.
There was something about him a darkness in his eyes that didn't just come from
arrogance or cruelty. It felt deeper, heavier… like he carried secrets he never intended to
share.
The next day at school, the tension thickened.
Her locker was covered in sticky notes.
"Go back to where you came from."
"Freak."
"Trying too hard."
Her hands trembled as she peeled them off one by one. Tears threatened, but she bit them
back. She was tired of crying.
"Looks like they noticed you," a voice said behind her.
Ji-eun turned sharply.
Min-ho.
His hands were in his pockets. His eyes scanned the notes, then flicked to hers. "They're just
bored. You'll either survive… or break."
"Why do you care?" she asked, her voice shaking.
He didn't answer. Just smirked faintly and walked away.
But she saw it just for a second in his eyes: sadness. Regret. Maybe even guilt.
Later that day, Ji-eun entered the classroom early and found something strange.
A paper. Folded neatly and placed on her desk.
She opened it slowly.
"You don't belong here. Be careful who you trust."
There was no name. No handwriting she recognized. No one else was in the room.
But as she looked out the window, she saw Min-ho standing in the courtyard alone… staring
up at her.
Watching.
To be continued…