CHAPTER 1
At a high school, the orange sunset began to envelop the quiet corridors. The afternoon sun shone through the tall windows, casting long shadows on the floor, which was already beginning to empty.
However, behind the door of the second-floor bathroom, a very different atmosphere prevailed. Although white neon lights illuminated every corner brightly, revealing the clean white ceramic walls, an invisible darkness enveloped the room.
The pungent smell of disinfectant mixed with the humid air that hung in the air, creating a tense atmosphere that seemed to suffocate the breath.
Inside the second-floor bathroom, now shrouded in twilight, there was only one figure remaining among the wet white tiles. A girl with a slender, slightly short build, she appeared even smaller in the empty room.
Her straight, long black hair looked slightly tousled, with a few strands covering part of her clean, healthy face. The wet ends of her hair clung to her cheeks, causing a slow, piercing chill.
However, the beauty of her harmonious face was often obscured by the resigned expression she wore. Her gaze was empty yet gentle, like someone who had swallowed too many wounds without ever mentioning them.
Vira sighed wearily, her thin hands and slightly small fingers wringing out the last of the wet rag before putting it in a bucket of soapy water. The pale skin on her hands was red, her veins tense from too long contact with the cold water. From behind her curtain of black hair, a pair of mesmerizing sapphire blue eyes radiated exhaustion and resignation.
Her slightly slanted eyes with thick eyelashes framed her diamond blue eyeballs. The color was like the calm and beautiful surface of the sky from the outside.
But beneath it lay an invisible vortex ready to swallow anyone who stared too long.
The pungent smell of disinfectant still filled the damp air of the second-floor bathroom. With mixed feelings of exhaustion and disappointment, Vira had just finished her punishment of cleaning the toilet, a task she had to accept because she couldn't pay her class fees.
Although this was not the first time she had been punished, somehow, every time she had to clean the toilet alone, it felt like the world was laughing at her in a very subtle way.
In her pocket was a letter notifying her of her overdue school fees, which she had to give to her mother after school. The paper felt like a heavy stone at the bottom of her pocket, a constant reminder of the burden her mother had to bear, and the guilt that kept gnawing at her heart. She bit her lip gently, holding back the tears that suddenly welled up for no clear reason.
She knelt down to tie the bucket and cleaning equipment. But suddenly she remembered that today was the deadline for submitting her art assignment. She quickly opened the bag hidden behind the door and took out the sketchbook containing the drawings of the forest and waterfall that she had worked on all night.
Looking at the drawings, her gaze softened, as if she were looking at an old friend. Only on those pages could she dream without fear of being judged. Slowly, she placed it on the dry sink and resolved to take it to the teacher's room after tidying up the equipment.
As she stood up and was about to go to the teacher's room to submit her art assignment, the sound of familiar footsteps made her freeze. The sound echoed on the hard tiles, rhythmic, and each step hit Vira's chest harder than anything else.
Suddenly, the bathroom door burst open, revealing Eri standing there with a defiant attitude. Her slim yet firm posture was clearly visible beneath her neatly pressed uniform.
Her shoulder-length blonde hair was loose, and her fox-like red eyes scanned the room before settling on Vira with a sneer. That gaze made the air around her feel colder, as if every breath had frozen.
"Hey, poor thing, still here?" Eri greeted her in a cold voice that echoed in the quiet room. "Finished scrubbing the toilet? Maybe tomorrow you can become a permanent errand girl here." Her tone was like claws scratching glass, leaving a sharp echo in Vira head.
Before Vira could react, three other figures appeared behind Eri and entered the room, naturally forming a formation to surround her.
Right next to Eri, Maya stood gracefully, her long black hair cascading like a silk curtain. Her dark eyes emitted a cold, piercing gaze, as if looking down on everything in front of her.
Behind Eri was Sari, who seemed uncomfortable with the situation. Her shoulder-length brown hair fell naturally around her innocent round face, but her expression betrayed her anxiety. Her wide green eyes blinked rapidly, as if unable to bear the burden of making eye contact with Vira.
Her hands kept squeezing the cuffs of her sleeves, a nervous gesture that only emphasized her inner turmoil.
And lastly, there was Dito, the only man in the group. His tall, athletic build was clearly visible beneath his uniform. His short, bright red hair complemented his strong jawline.
From behind his sharp red eyes, satisfaction and burning enthusiasm radiated, as if he was thoroughly enjoying every second of the situation. With confidence, he stood with his back to the door, like a guard proudly ensuring there was no way out for Vira.
The air in the room suddenly felt heavy, and Vira reflexively took a few steps back until her back was pressed against the cold toilet wall.
The cold tiles penetrated her uniform, making her body shiver unconsciously. Her chest rose and fell irregularly, her heartbeat echoing in her ears like the drums of war.
Each beat seemed to count down the time to something inevitable. Although she tried to appear calm, every muscle in her body tensed, her instincts screaming that this situation would not end well.
"Hey, the floor isn't clean yet!" Eri suddenly snapped, and deliberately poured a glass of dirty water onto the wet floor that Vira had just cleaned.
The murky liquid dripped from the rim of the glass, splashing onto Vira's hand and leaving a gray stain on her skin. A satisfied smile spread across her lips as she watched the dirty water stain the still-damp floor.
The droplets rolled slowly across the white tiles, carrying traces of soap and dirt that blended together like a symbol of humiliation. "Look, even this dirty water is more useful than you, Vira! HAHAHA," she said, her cold voice making the situation even worse and Vira's heart sink even further.
The laughter echoed loudly, bouncing off the ceramic walls like chains of iron tightening around Vira's chest.
For a moment, the world felt smaller, the air heavier, and the light from the lamp seemed to dim in her eyes.
Their laughter echoed. Maya laughed lightly, her hand covering her mouth, elegant but full of contempt. Sari just stood silently, her eyes nervously looking at the floor, while Dito snorted softly while maintaining his position at the door.
The thin Vira bowed her head even lower, her straight black hair covering her sad face. Her slender hands clutched her sketchbook tightly.
"Eri... why are you here?" She whispered, her voice trembling, almost inaudible. "I just want to collect this assignment and then go home..." she added, her throat feeling dry, as if the voice she forced out had almost no energy.
Eri stepped closer, the sound of her heels echoing on the wet ceramic floor.
Her neatly styled blonde hair and her new, pristine uniform further emphasized the difference between her and Vira's worn-out uniform.
"Doing homework? What for? You'd better learn how to clean toilets properly. At least that's what you'll be doing for a living later." With a disgusted grimace, she looked at Vira's uniform. "Even your uniform smells poor. HAHAHHAHA"
Their laughter felt like sharp knives cutting into her. Every breath in that room felt like it was choking her. It had been five months since Vira first transferred to this school. One hundred and fifty days that slowly destroyed her hopes, turning the high school days she once dreamed of into a torment with no end in sight.
The reason was always the same, her family impoverished background. A simple fact that had become a powerful weapon for them.
Her thoughts drifted to her mother, a woman who had to struggle alone. She imagined her mother, who was forced to work from dawn until late at night as a seamstress and office cleaner, just so she could send her to school here. That felt more painful than all the insults she had received.
Her mother, who worked hard day and night, had no idea about the suffering her daughter was going through. Vira deliberately hid everything.
Every time she came home from school, she would clean her wounds and force a smile as if nothing had happened.
For her, her mother was already too tired from all the burdens she carried alone. And she couldn't bear to add to that burden, especially with the truth that would break her mother's heart.
"Eri, why..." Vira whispered, her eyes glistening. "What did I do wrong? Why are you treating me like this? I just need good grades for the scholarship..."
"What did you do wrong?" Eri sneered mockingly. She pretended to think for a moment, tapping her finger on her chin with a pretentious expression. "What did I do wrong?" she asked, as if she were really thinking about the answer.
Suddenly, her face turned scornful. "Of course it's because you're POOR, HAHAHA!"
Eri's friends' laughter echoed in the empty corridor, sounding hollow and cruel. Vira held her breath as Eri suddenly stepped closer threateningly. With an unexpected movement, Eri grabbed and forcibly snatched the sketchbook from Vira's arms.
"No, don't take it!" Vira shouted in a soft, panicked voice.
Her hand immediately reached out to grab the sketchbook back, her trembling fingers almost touching the cover.
But Eri quickly pulled it back. "You want it? Here, take it!"
With a satisfied evil smile, Eri threw the sketchbook on the floor, right into the puddle of dirty water that was still sitting near the cleaning bucket.
The dirty water immediately splashed high, wetting the front page of the book and leaving gray stains on the colors that should have been beautiful.
Before Vira could move to pick it up, Eri had already stepped forward and stomped on it mercilessly.
Her expensive white shoes pressed hard against the wet paper, tearing it slowly and producing a faint, sharp rip that pierced the silence. The sound was like a small scream that only Vira's heart could hear.
"With a forest drawing this bad, you expect to get a scholarship? It would be more realistic if you studied to become a maid like your mother!"
In the book, Vira's drawing was not bad at all, it showed an extraordinary level of professionalism.
The work depicts a dense forest with stunning detail, each leaf and branch drawn with precision, while the waterfall in the background seems to come alive with perfect color gradation. The shading and perspective techniques used show a natural talent rarely found in students her age.
However, that valuable drawing was now being trampled mercilessly. The wet paper was torn in the part depicting an old oak tree with intricate bark texture, ruining the perfect composition that Vira had painstakingly created.
When she saw her precious work being trampled on, Vira felt as if her whole world had been shattered into pieces.
The picture she had painted with love and perseverance for hours was not just a scribble on paper, but an escape from the harshness of the life she had to live. The picture was a representation of the peaceful life Vira wanted to achieve.
Vira couldn't hold back her tears. Tears streamed down her cheeks. With her body trembling, she knelt and crawled toward the remaining pieces of paper, trying to salvage what little she could of her nearly destroyed work.
Her small hands tried to grab the pieces of the drawing scattered on the wet floor, but Eri continued to stomp on the paper with her shoes.
Without warning, Eri suddenly kicked Vira's shoulder while the girl was still kneeling to gather the remains of her drawing.
"You crybaby!" she snapped as she kicked Vira hard.
With a deafening thud, Vira's body slammed into the toilet wall.
Eri had just delivered a powerful kick to her shoulder, and now a pain like a lightning bolt spread from the point of impact, piercing her to the bone.
The side of Vira's head also hit the wall hard, adding to the dizziness she was already feeling. As a result, her world seemed to spin and her vision began to fill with spots.
Something warm and thick began to flow down her temples. She felt it wet her loose black hair, dripping slowly but surely onto the floor.
There, the red drops mixed with the dirty water Eri had spilled and the wet floor, forming a murky puddle that slowly spread.
But the sharp, piercing physical pain was almost drowned out by other sounds. Eri and the others' taunts relentlessly hurled words sharper than knives, each sentence cutting deeper into her skin than her own wounds.
Among them, only Sari looked at Vira with a pained expression. Her hands clutched the hem of her own uniform tightly, her lips pursed as if she wanted to say something, but she remained silent, powerless against the pressure from her friends.
Amidst the pain and humiliation, tears flooded her eyes, flowing uncontrollably. The clear droplets washed away the dirt on her cheeks, then mingled with
Blood dripped from her temple before finally falling, mixing with the pool of tears and blood on the floor.
In her chaotic mind, there was only one question spinning around, 'Why...? What did I do to deserve this treatment?' 'Why...' Vira whispered to herself. Every word of "why" seemed to lose its meaning, becoming empty whispers that drowned out the screams of her heart that had no answers.
Suddenly, the entire ceramic floor of the toilet began to emit a faint light. Blue-green lines appeared from between the tiles, quickly forming a complex pattern of concentric circles that covered the entire floor.
A strong wind suddenly blew through the closed room, tossing their hair and uniforms, while the light from the magical circle grew brighter and more blinding. Eri and her friends, who had been laughing moments ago, now looked confused and a little frightened.
"What... what's happening?" Sari exclaimed, her voice trembling, her face pale with fear.
The light grew brighter and brighter, blindingly so.
Vira felt a strange pull from below, as if the toilet floor was no longer solid. Eri and her friends' screams were drowned out by a sudden roar.
The entire room spun, colors blending into a white haze. Vira felt as though she were being pulled out of reality, her body alternately feeling light and heavy. The last thing she heard was Eri's prolonged scream before everything went dark.