Episode 6 ~ Chapter 1
The doors swung open and there she was. It was impossible to miss her as she made her way down the hall. From her high heeled boots to her sunglasses that acted as a shield from the onlookers. The same question rung in everyone's mind: who is she?
"Is she new?" one girl asked her friend.
"I didn't hear anything about a new student." the other girl replied.
"She's like an angel." a boy on the other side of the hall said to his friends, the boys all smiled in agreement.
She paid no mind to their idle whispered and pointing. She knew who they were talking about, and a mischievous smirk made its way to her lips as she realized she had the upper hand. She kept walking straight, both relishing and despising the attention she was getting. She didn't slow her pace or greet any students, she wanted them to think they were worlds apart.
Isn't this the way to survive in such a school? she said to herself.
But soon, it all become irrelevant as she walked into her first class, late. To her vindication, she had gotten lost, her pride kept her from asking for directions.
"Miss So Dal Nim, I presume?" the teacher said with a dry tone.
Dal Nim, the girl, was scared. Her heart was beating at an extensive rate, she had never been late to any class before. She closed her eyes for a second, glad that no one could see them behind her sunglasses. Before she could even open them, her mouth pulled into a smile of its own accord.
"That's right." she said in an even and playful tone. She took off her glasses, displaying her mischievous expression that filled her face.
From her peripheral vision she could see students whispering at the new information the teacher had given them.
The unamused teacher, stood from her chair, trying to assert her authority on the student that she foresaw as an agitator. "Please, introduce yourself to the class." she said, gesturing with her arm to the front of the room.
It was a challenge, one that Dal Nim was more than prepared to undertake. Her smiled never dimmed as she stood front and center for the whole class to see and judge.
"My name is So Dal Nim, pleasure to meet you." she said, followed by a respectful bow to the class in an elegant manner. "Please take good care of me."
Before she could excuse herself, a hand shoot up in the air. Without given permission, a girl began to ask her question, "What does your family do?"
Dal Nim, laughed. "Is that all you idiots care about?" she replied unimpressed. She rolled her eyes. "I'll give you one more question, and make it a good one."
The whole class was shocked, the teacher herself was taken aback. Dal Nim upheld a certain level of confidence that took the imperialistic minds that formed Jeguk High by surprise.
However, there was one individual who was not impressed or shocked, and naturally, he was the one that held up his hand.
"You're dodging the question." he said, crossing his arms over his chest as he slouched on his chair.
Dal Nim sighed annoyed, slowly moving towards the boy. "Why ask such boring questions? Don't you already know the answer?" she asked him. He just stared at her. "Hotels, corporations, enterprises, firms, old money, new money. What's the difference? We all have families that make money, so why ask the obvious?"
In the middle of her speech, she had managed to sit on the desk in front of him. Her legs crossed as she looked at him.
He smirked at her. "So we can know how well we have to treat you." he said like it was the most unmissable thing in the world.
She leaned closer to him, making his smirk slowly disappear. "Then, wouldn't it be more fun if you guessed?" she asked him, her eyebrow raised. She turned around, a smile forming at her lips at his lack of a response.
"Aish! Because it's easier if you just tell us!" he blurted out in frustration a minute later.
Dal Nim's reply was to simply look back at him and roll her eyes, "What makes you think I want to make things easy for you?" she asked him before giving the teacher her full attention. Very aware of the stare she was receiving from the boy behind her.
The rest of classes flew by, Dal Nim simply stayed quiet and listened only talking when the teacher called on her. Before she knew it, it was lunch time. The students packed up their belongings and shuffled out of class.
"May I speak to you?" the teacher asked Dal Nim before a group of girls could invite her for lunch.
"Of course, seon-sang-nim." Dal Nim said making her way to the teacher.
"I was impressed today." the teacher said. "You seem to know more than any of my average students, what school did you go before attending Jeguk High?"
"I spent a few semesters in Japan, England, and Finland." Dal Nim said listing off the places her parents had shipped her off to in the past years.
The teacher looked impressed. "Your learning reflects that." she said.
"Thank you." Dal Nim said bowing respectfully.
"You may go." the teacher dismissed her.
A group of girls waited outside for her, but she barely spared them a second look as she headed for the cafeteria. She walked right through the lunch line, very aware of the eyes that were following her as she grabbed each plate of food and made her way to an empty table. It was an odd sensation, she didn't appreciate all of the unwelcomed attention she was getting. The prying eyes trying to figure out who she was. She bared it, glad that no one yet had gathered the courage to come and sit with her to figure it for themselves.
She was enjoying her peaceful lunch, taking in the environment. Her eyes drifted from table to table until they rested on a group of four boys. On one side of the table were two boys that could be better described as lackeys, while the boy in the middle of the two lackeys looked small and weak, she could tell that the small boy did not want to be there.
Her eyes settled on the weaker boy's tormentor on the other side of the table. The bullying alone made her blood boil, the fact that he was the same boy that she had argued with in class was just icing on the dislike cake. Not only had he given her a terrible first impression, but his second and third impressions were worst than the first.
Three perky girls stood up from their table, ready to mingle and armored with friendly smiles. "Hello, I'm-" one of the girls tried to say.
"What's his name?" Dal Nim interrupted, pointing at the table she was previous glaring at.
"Choi Young Do," one of the girls replied with a giggle, Dal Nim didn't pay attention as to which one. "His father owns Hotel Zeus, isn't he dreamy?"
"More like a nightmare." Dal Nim said under her breath. "I didn't mean him." she waved the comment off. "I meant the one with the glasses."
There was a pause, as the three girls looked at one another confused before scoffing. "I-I don't know, he's one of the Social Welfare students." one of them replied. "No one keeps track of their names, it's not like they last long. They are not important."
Dal Nim finally looked at the pack of girls, with an annoyed eyebrow raised. She stood up and smiled cruelly at them. "No one in this world is unimportant." she told them before she started to walk away.
"His name is Moon Joon Young." a voice behind Dal Nim said.
Dal Nim turned, eyes passing through the three girls and towards another girl that wasn't wearing her school uniform. Both girls stared at each other for a minute before Dal Nim bowed her head respectfully. "Thank you." she said sincerely.
The girl bowed back and Dal Nim continued her pursuit, now armed with knowledge. With each step she got a lot more irritated while she watching Choi Young Do's lackeys torment Moon Joon Young. She got there just in time to prevent of the the lackeys' hands from slapping Joon Young.
Without giving the bully a second look, she grabbed his wrist while getting in between him and Joon Young. She smiled brightly at Joon Young while she twisted the lackey's wrist for kicks as she heard him whimper.
"You're Moon Joon Young, right?" she asked the boy in glasses, ignoring everyone else at the table and their confused looks.
"T-that's right." Joon Young stuttered, unsure as to what was going on.
"One of the teachers told me you could show me around." Dal Nim said sweetly, still twisting the other boy's wrist.
"He's busy." the boy on the other side of the table said. "Isn't that right, Joon Young?"
"Y-yes." Joon Young said scared.
"That's alright," Dal Nim said, waving it off as she let go of the lackey's wrist. "But could you tell the teacher for me so he can assign me a new guide?" her eyes motioning for him to leave.
"Of course he will." Young Do interrupted the conversation again when Joon Young took too long to reply.
"Great!" Dal Nim said bringing Joon Young up to his feet.
"In fact, why don't you guys go with him." Young Do said to his lackeys. A cold smile on his lips telling Dal Nim that she hadn't won.
"There's no need for that, it's not like he'll get lost." Dal Nim said pushing Joon Young away from his seat so she could sit down on his previous spot and pin the lackeys' wrists to their chairs. "You go ahead." she said to Joon Young.
Joon Young shot her an uneasy look, she replied with a fierce get-out-of-here look that sent him running.
Dal Nim smiled to herself, letting go of the lackeys' wrists. They tried getting up again, but she pulled them back down. "I said to stay." she growled, they sat back down immediately.
Young Do stared at her, and she stared back. Both of them glaring at each other before a smirk found it's way to Young Do's face as he looked at the spot she was sitting.
"I'm warning you now," he said. "Get out of that seat."
"Why?" she challenged him, voice teasing as she crossed her arms.
"This seat," he said standing up and walking behind her. "Comes with certain expectation."
"What kind of expectation?" she asked him, looking straight ahead, determined not be shaken by him. Or the audience she knew was watching her every move.
Though she didn't see it, he smirked at her. "That things will get messy." he whispered in her ear as he reached forward to the plate that Joon Young had left behind.
She knew what was going to happen, no use in stopping him. So she just smiled, and continued to smile as he dumped today's menu on her head. The sauce making its way down her uniform. She heard the audience gasp and the lackeys snickering amused, but she just kept smiling, making everyone a little uneasy.
Dal Nim stood up, turned and faced Young Do, smile on her face even though she had food everywhere. "Is that the best you can do?" she asked him. She grabbed one of the lackey's plate and throw it at Young Do's face. He tried to duck, but she had accounted for that and the food hit him square in the face. Another gasp from the audience. "Because I'm not impressed." she said coldly before walking away.
Young Do wiped the food off his face, plotting his revenge.
Dal Nim walked straight to the bathroom, proudly wearing the food on her face as she passed by other students. Proudly, that is, until she made sure she was alone in the bathroom. She then sank to her knees, eyes watering, as she began to cry.
She didn't want to pretend to be strong, but she didn't want to be this weak either. She wished she didn't care that she had food everywhere and that she probably looked like a mess. She wished she wasn't here, that she was home - better yet, that she knew where home was. She cried for all of the times she wanted to that day, using the incident in the lunch room as an excuse to be weak. Anyway, school wasn't a place to cry in, especially not on her first day.
Realizing that, she stood up and went to wash her face and whatever else she could. She laughed when she saw what a mess she looked like. When she washed the remains of food off of her face, she heard light steps enter the bathroom shyly.
It was the girl that she saw earlier, the one without a school uniform. "Here," she said handing Dal Nim a towel.
"Thanks." Dal Nim said smiling and taking the towel.
"I was impressed with what you did." the girl admitted.
"What can I say," Dal Nim said shrugging. "I'm an eye for an eye type of girl."
"I meant for getting Joon Young out of the lunch room." the girl said seriously. "I've only been here a week and I've watched them torment him everyday."
"Then why didn't you do something?" Dal Nim asked, but didn't judge. "You clearly don't seem to think like the other students here."
"I can't do it." the girl said. "I need to keep a low profile."
"I know, it's hard," Dal Nim admitted. "You have to stand up to a lot of scary people in this world, and they will try to hurt you too. But, in the end, you can't let them because they are just as scared and lost as you are."
"I'll remember that." the girl said. There was a pause. "I'm Cha Eun Sang."
"So Dal Nim." she said introduced herself. They shook hands. "I better go change before class starts." she said walking away before turning back. "It was nice to meet you."
"You too." Eun Sang said smiling as Dal Nim walked away, smiling too.
It was later in the day, when school was coming to a close, Dal Nim was putting away her school bag when she heard it.
"Choi Young Do is fighting the Welfare kid!" a boy announced excitedly to the others.
It took a minute to sink in, and when it did, Dal Nim slammed her locker shut forcefully and ran full speed trying to find the boys. She saw the crowd around the fight and the crowd saw her as they parted ways for her to get through.
She saw Young Do hit Joon Young, she also saw Eun Sang watching horrified and ready to step in at any moment. But something in Joon Young clicked when he saw the two girls, both eager to help him. Something that made him want to fight back.
Dal Nim came to a screeching halt when she saw it, Joon Young landed a punch on Young Do's face. Young Do fell down, almost hitting Dal Nim. His eyes meet hers and even though he was stunned by Joon Young standing up to him, he stood up and proceeded to beat Joon Young up efficiently.
Dal Nim wanted to do something but she also knew that physical bullying was a whole different world that she couldn't interfere with.
Young Do stepped on the boy, looking directly at Eun Sang. "I look forward to all the things that'll happen to you." he told her.
That was the final straw for Dal Nim, she stepped in between Eun Sang and Young Do. "Oh, I would like to see you try." she challenged him with a smug smile.
"What's this?" Young Do asked Eun Sang, who was shaking at his previous remark. "Another knight coming to your rescue?"
Dal Nim laughed. "I'm not exclusive." she told him.
"So you're going to step in every time I decide to play with someone?" he teased her. "Because that might get annoying."
"I promise that I'll certainly try." she told him with sarcastic chirpiness.
"Is that so?" he asked her, getting in her personal space.
"Yes." she said, never breaking eye contact. The two stood there, having a weird sort of glaring-staring contest before her thumb touched his damaged lip from Joon Young's punch. He stared at her hand quizzically, but didn't move away. "You better get that checked out."
That said, she walked away from him. He stared after her as she crouched down on the floor where Joon Young was resting. "Come," she said to him as she helped him up. Joon Young resisted her at first, eventually letting her take him away.
Young Do, along with everyone else, watched Dal Nim as she walked away with Joon Young. Eun Sang took the opportunity to also sneak away without anyone noticing.
"Where are you taking me?" Joon Young asked Dal Nim.
"To the infirmary." she told him.
"No!" he said, sounding scared. "You can't! The nurse will ask what happened to me."
"And that jerk will get in trouble," she said. "So far, I'm not seeing a down side."
"Do you really think anyone will care?" he asked, almost yelling. "I'm just a Social Welfare kid, no one in this school cares about what happens to me."
Dal Nim stayed quiet for a minute as she started to lead Joon Young in another direction. "That's not true." she told him.
"How so?" he asked sarcastically.
"Because," she started as she stopped. "From today on, I'm going to care."
"I don't want to be your charity project." he said rolling his eyes.
"You have a lot of pride." she told him. "I'm surprised you let them bully you." she said opening her locker. "Now sit."
He obeyed, seeing the first-aid kit in her locker. "I thought I could swallow my pride." he confessed. "Just one more year and I would have graduated from a top school. But I can't take it anymore."
She handed him a pill and a bottle of water. "Swallow." she said before sitting down on the floor with the first-aid kit. "I'm sorry, sometimes this type of people are worst than savages."
"How would you know?" he asked skeptically as she started disinfecting his cuts, wincing from the pain.
She let out a chuckle. "I've been on both side of this scenario." she admitted. "They don't care if you're rich or poor, all they care about is if they can make you feel small and useless as they feel. And sometimes, no matter how wrong you know it is, you join in too because anything is better than being the one they pick on."
"Do you regret it?" he asked her, sensing the remorse in her words.
"Everyday." she said letting out a sigh, putting on the last band-aid. "He'll regret it too. In the end, we all do."
"I won't forgive him for this." Joon Young said seriously, he turned to her. "And I won't forget you helping me, I don't think I'll ever be able to pay you back for this."
Dal Nim smiled sadly, standing up and putting her first-aid kit away. "If you want to pay me back," she said. "Forgive him. Not right away, maybe not even ten years from now. But someday, let it go."
"I don't think I can do that." he said.
"You're a lot stronger than you think." she said, closing her locker. "You knocked Young Do on his butt today." she said mimicking his moves on an invisible opponent, making Joon Young laugh.
"I guess." he said shrugging shyly.
"Come on," she said. "Let's get some food or something, I'm starving."
"You go ahead." he said. "I have some thinking to do."
"Okay." she said. "See you tomorrow."
"Tomorrow." he agreed as she started to walk away.
Glossary:
Aish- a Korean expression of frustration.
Seon-sang-nim- teacher