(WARNING!)

You already know this, but I'm telling you again that this is 17+.

Evelynn was lying on Jeffric's bed with her legs crossed while her head pressed onto the pillow. She was staring up at the ceiling of his room while daydreaming about something. Then, she yawned and licked her lips.

"So . . . Jeffric sleeps on this bed, huh . . ." Her voice was filled with amusement. After saying that, she laughed in a seductive manner and rubbed her body against the mattress.

Suddenly, the door opened and Akali stepped in. "Oh, there you were Eve. I just want to ask—" She stopped in mid-sentence when she saw that Evelynn was lying on Jeffric's bed. ". . . why are you lying on Jeffric's bed?"

"I absolutely have no idea," Evelynn answered in a lazy manner while closing her eyes.

Akali didn't answer for a moment. Then Evelynn heard footsteps getting closer. Then she heard Akali saying in an exasperated voice: "Please don't tell me that you're having a . . . 'fantasy' about Jeffric."

Evelynn just smirked. "Maybe I am. Maybe I'm not." When she heard Akali sighing, her smirk grew even more.

"Anyways, Ahri just left to visit her fashion designer friends. She told me that they've made something new for her."

"I already know she'd left, Rogue. I heard the front door opening and closing."

"Oh."

Suddenly, Evelynn felt a heavyweight being set onto the edge of the bed. When she opened her right eye to gaze at what the source was, she saw Akali sitting on the edge of the bed with her back facing her. If she moved her crossed legs slightly to the side, her foot might hit Akali's side.

"It's good to see Ahri returning to her usual self, am I right?" Akali asked in a relieved voice while crossing her legs that were hanging over the bed's edge. "I mean, she didn't visit those fashion designers for a long time."

"And, she started to shop at the emporiums again too," Evelynn added. "Though, she still didn't return to gracing walkways on fashion shows."

"Maybe it's too tiring for her," Akali suggested in a thoughtful voice.

"Maybe."

Akali stretched her arms into the air while slightly groaning. "Well, anyway, I think Jeffric helped her out on relieving the stress by being next to her."

"Oh? What makes you say that?"

"Didn't you see how she'd looked at Jeffric when he was still asleep?" Akali placed her hand on the bed to emphasize the event that'd happened just a few hours ago. "Something about her gaze was much happier than . . . that day. And she seems to be a lot more . . . how do I put it . . . energetic whenever she is with him."

Evelynn knew what she was talking about. A few months ago, when Ahri had told them that she needed a break, she looked as if she was drained of her usual lively-energy. She was, after all, suffering from hate mails that were sent by the anti-fans. And when Evelynn had seen her eyes, they were empty like a void; filled with emptiness. Then, she recalled how her eyes looked a few hours ago when they were staring at Jeffric's sleeping form. They were filled with affection, tenderness, joy, and . . . love?

I'm not sure about the last part . . . Evelynn thought. "I think you're right, Akali."

There was a pause for a moment.

"By the way, we should visit the K/DA house again soon. I mean, we didn't visit there for a few months." There was a hint of longing in Akali's voice.

"Yeah, I agree," Evelynn answered while touching her chin with her left hand. "The place might be filled with dust by now."

The K/DA house. It was a large and clean-looking housing that had a modern vibe to it. It had its own dance studio with mirrored walls, a workout room, a kitchen, and a karaoke room where they practiced their singing, and a living room where they sat and chatted or fooled around. They used to visit there constantly when they were creating the song POP/STARS. Evelynn still remembered their time at that place; having fun, discussing their ideas, practicing dancing, and etc. And she remembered how joyful and energized Ahri had looked.

I wonder how it'd felt like to her when she'd received hate from those monsters for just doing the thing that she loves the most . . .

Then, Evelynn thought of something. "Hey, Akali. Do you remember the day when we received an email from an anti-fan?"

"Which one?"

"The one with the disturbing digital drawings of us attached to it."

Akali shuddered when she heard what Evelynn had said as if she was remembering something unpleasant and traumatizing. "Oh . . . that one. I'm still having a hard time getting over what I'd seen."

Evelynn sighed. "It was a good thing that Ahri didn't see the drawings when we opened them. If she did . . . I'm pretty sure that she'd have quit being a pop star . . . with all those hate mails that she'd received at that time."

She saw Akali slumping forward slightly. At that moment, she looked defeated. "Evelynn . . . can I ask you something?"

"Sure, Rogue. What is it?"

She saw Akali pressing her left palm on her forehead while her right one gripped tightly on the edge of the bed, making her hand turn pale. "Why . . . why do some people find it arousing to . . . to see women getting killed or tortured brutally in an 'erotic' and disturbing way . . . ?"

Evelynn didn't answer for a moment, thinking through her answers. Finally, she answered, "There are many sick people who have sickening fetishes in this world, Rogue. And that person who sent us those drawings is just one of them."

"But . . . don't you remember what those men in those . . . 'things' did to us? And they portrayed us as . . . as . . . S-Slu—"

"Akali, as I said before, there are many people with sickening fetishes, like people who are into NTR, tentacles, rapes, and . . . gory lewds." Evelynn sat up on the bed and gently put her arms around Akali's midsection to comfort her. "Just ignore them, hon. Pretend that they do not exist in this world."

Akali nodded slowly while still not putting her hand down from her forehead. "I . . . I know," she finally said. Then, she sighed. "I'll . . . I'll try my best then."

"You go, girl," Evelynn said while smiling warmly which was rare to her. Then, she slapped Akali on the behind, making her yelp and jump off from the bed.

"Wh-What was that for?!" She yelled in a surprised voice while staring at Evelynn with a shocked expression on her face.

Evelynn just laughed while putting the back of her hand in front of her mouth. "Nothing."

Akali huffed while crossing her arms. "Anyways . . . have you ever felt as if the emails from the anti-fans weren't the only reason why she'd taken the break?"

Evelynn cocked her head sideways questioningly. "No, I haven't. Why do you say so?"

"Well, I don't know exactly," Akali said while scratching the side of her neck. "But I just have this feeling that there's something more to it."

I couldn't believe it. No, I refused to believe it. Standing in front of me was Riven, a high school bully who used to push me around at school. I felt as if I was struck by lightning while the fear that I hadn't felt for a long time got unleashed from the deep depths of my soul, feeling as if cold water was spreading everywhere inside my body. Suddenly, my vision started to flicker in and out of past experiences with her at a lightning speed as if someone was switching channels of a TV;

I was running through a crowded hallway with a plastic bag filled with some snacks that I'd bought from the school convenient store in my left hand. I was wearing my old school uniform which wasn't welcoming to me like the school that I was now in. I ran until I'd reached my classroom. I quickly opened the door and ran in, out of breath while wheezing like crazy.

Then I went straight to Riven's seat while feeling myself sweating for what was to come. "R-Riven . . . I got the snacks that you'd asked for . . ." Riven was sitting on her chair while being surrounded by some girls who were well known for their cruelty. She was wearing the school uniform; the skirt slightly shorter than normal while wearing a dark jacket over her top. She had short white hair, a clump of it tied behind her head and she had a white line tattoo under her left eye. She examined me with the usual deadpan expression on her face.

"What are you waiting for?" One of the girls said while scowling at me. "Give it to her right now, moron."

While trembling, I placed the plastic bag on her desk. Riven stared into it, and, to my horror, I saw her face contorting into annoyance. "These aren't the flavors that I'd asked for."

I felt my blood running cold as ice. "B-But didn't you tell me that y-you wanted a-a barbeque f-flavor . . . ?"

Riven set her now anger-filled eyes onto me, making me flinch. "No, I told you to get the spicy ones!" Suddenly, she threw the plastic bag filled with snacks at me, catching me off guard. It collided with my face, making me yelp while I brought both of my hands to my face as the bag fell to the ground. I felt as if I had hurt my soul instead of my face, making my eyes teary.

"I lost my appetite," Riven said in her usual hard voice. "Let's go somewhere else, guys." She sat up from her seat and went to the classroom's door, the girls following her while glancing at me as if I was a low creature. "By the way, I'll teach you a lesson later for wasting my money on the snacks that I didn't ask for, Jeffric!" I heard Riven yelling at me.

Then the door slammed shut, and I just stood there, staring down at the plastic bag on the ground while my body trembled. Tears were trying to flow out of my eyes, but I tried to prevent it from happening. Sadly, the whisperings and laughter of the students around me weren't helping because those were all directed toward me.

". . . pathetic . . ."

". . . moron . . ."

". . . loser . . ."

I felt a tear trickling down my cheek and saw it fall to the plastic bag, landing onto its surface.

I was standing on the back of the classroom while nervously looking at Riven who was standing in front of me with her arms crossed.

"So, did you bring the money?" she asked while her frown deepened.

I nodded and pulled out some paper money from my uniform pants pocket with my trembling hands. "H-Here . . ." I had to secretly pull them out from my mom's wallet, so that meant that I shouldn't go to the karaoke room for a while because if I took more, she would notice.

When I handed them to her, she counted how much there was which didn't take long. She glared at me with accusation in her eyes. "I thought that I'd asked for you to bring six thousand won, not three thousand."

"I . . . uhh . . . I-I had to t-take a small amount of money from my mom for her to not notice. . ."

Riven was silent for a moment. Then she raised her face slightly to look down at me as if I was filth on her shoes while a look of disgust spread across her face. "Pathetic," she said in her annoyance-filled voice. "What are you, a baby?"

Then, she walked toward her seat, leaving me with shame descending upon me as my shoulders slumped.

I was pinned to the wall with her right hand gripping my throat, making me choke and gag while writhing in pain. Riven was staring straight into my eyes with her brown ones that were filled with anger. We were at the back of the school building after school had ended. There was no one around us, the afternoon breeze touching our skin while the sky turned orange.

"What do you mean that you can't buy a beer?" she growled at me, her fingers digging into my throat.

"I-I'm not an a-adult," I choked out while I grasped the arm to pull her hand off my throat. "A-And I-I can't steal my parent's . . ."

"I don't care." She grasped one of my arms and twisted it, forcing a choked-up scream out of me. "All I care is you bringing me a beer!"

"Wh-Why are you d-doing this to m-me?" I suddenly blurted out while starting to cry. The frustration of being bullied for an unknown reason by her that had been building up inside me had finally broken out, making me burst out with that question. "What have I ever done to you . . . ?"

She just stared at me, not saying a word. Then, her eyes got narrower. "Do you want to know the reason? Then I'll tell you." She laughed without any humor while sounding as cold as steel. "It's because whenever I see foolish people like you who act all pure and innocent makes me feel angry." Her veins started to pop on her arm that was holding me. "Can't you see, Jeffric? People like you are just pathetic excuses of human beings to everyone around them by standing out with their revolting existence."

Her anger started to grow. Her grip tightened, even more, making my eyes bulge while I let out a silent scream. Now, she looked really mad; eyes starting to get bloodshot, jaw clenched, her breathing becoming more heavier, her whole body starting to shake in rage.

"You don't belong here, you piece of trash!" she yelled at me while shaking me violently. "You shouldn't have ever existed in this dark and merciless world! You should've died out with the rest of the hopeless dreams and longings of the rest of us!" Then, she whirled around and threw me, the releasing of her grip around my throat causing me to gasp out loud. Then, I hit the ground hard, forcing a yelp out of me. Riven trudged toward me while her body was trembling so much with rage and now hate that she seemed as if she'd burst at any moment. "WHY SHOULD PEOPLE LIKE YOU BE THE ONLY ONES WITH PURENESS STILL IN THEIR HEARTS WHEN THE PURENESS OF THE REST OF US WAS RIPPED AWAY AT AN EARLY AGE?! WHY SHOULD PEOPLE LIKE YOU STAY INNOCENT WHEN WE WERE FORCED TO FACE THE CRUEL REALITY OF THIS WORLD?!"

I stood up quickly to run, but she grabbed me by my hair and yanked upward, forcing me to face her. Now, she looked more like a beast than a human; now only savageness evident on her face while her bloodshot brown eyes were devoided of humaneness. "I'll make sure to take them away from you and make you one of us . . . just as everyone should be."

I was walking down a small and empty street while feeling empty. That day, I was harassed more than usual not just by Riven but also by other bullies. I sighed heavily as I stared at the ground. Then, I heard a scream coming from nearby. I stopped immediately and looked around, a mixture of fear and confusion filling my heart.

'What was that?' I thought.

Then, I heard the scream again, and I ran without thinking toward the direction that it'd come from. Soon, I was standing in the entrance of an alleyway, staring into it and not believing what I was witnessing.

A white-haired girl who was wearing my school's uniform was lying on the ground, and she was surrounded by other girls who all looked as if they were from a different high school with their different school uniforms. They were definitely bullies; with heavy makeup, dyed hair, and short skirts while some wore baseball jackets over their top. While laughing, they kicked the girl on the ground, making her scream in pain again and again. They were too busy beating the girl that they didn't even notice me staring at them from the entrance of the alleyway.

I stood there, not knowing what to do while my body trembled in fear.

'I should help her . . . but if I do, what if I get hurt myself . . . ? What if they start bullying me . . . ? What if by helping her, my life gets more unbearable . . . ? But just walking away isn't right . . .'

While I was pondering this, the girl raised her head, and my eyes grew wide when our eyes met.

The girl was Riven.

"Hey, Riven," one of the girls said in a taunting voice, "are you stupid? I mean, did you actually think that I'd not bring my friends to the fight?" Then, she stomped her foot on the Riven's back, making her scream again. The other girls, whom I presumed were the friends of the girl who'd just spoken, all laughed cruelly and continued beating Riven.

Riven, even though she was getting beaten, had her eyes on me. And, for the first time in my life, I saw something other than anger or coldness in them.

I saw desperation for help.

Suddenly, as if those eyes had triggered something within me, all the memories of her beating me overflowed my vision, blocking the view in front of me. They mixed together like some kind of a chaotic storm, sounds forming into a series of shouts and cries, the images blending and contorting together, causing Riven's multiple rage-filled faces to look monstrous than humane.

I stumbled back in fright. Then, I whirled around and ran blindly away, trying my best to escape from those images and the sounds as my panicked breathing intensified.

I shook my head violently, trying my best to push the memories back into the deep depths of my mind where they belonged. Riven just stood there, just staring at me with something in her eyes. Anger? No, it wasn't anger. Hatred? No, it didn't even resemble it.

Concern . . . ?

"Oh . . . Jeffric . . . welcome!" I jolted and whirled around to see the woman, the owner and the teacher of the art academy standing behind—now in front of—me. "Have . . . you . . . just . . . met . . . with . . . my . . . new . . . assistant?"

"Y-Yeah, I did." I nervously glanced back at Riven who still didn't do anything.

Now, I was sitting in a chair while staring at my sketchbook which was set on the easel that the teacher had set up for me. My palette, a bottle that was already filled with water, and a pencil case were all placed on the floor next to my chair. I was currently holding my 4B pencil in my right hand, but the hand wasn't moving at all. That was because I didn't know what to draw. Usually, my mind always came up with ideas as quick as lightning, but today . . . no idea came out. So instead, I decided to look around.

Before, the academy was empty whenever I came in late afternoons. Yes, now I came here before noon, but when I'd asked the teacher about how many people attended the before noon classes, she'd told me that there were none because all people who attended her academy came at afternoons at about 4 PM, an hour earlier than me when I was attending in late afternoon which was 5 PM. Plus, they only attended for an hour. Now, when I'd changed my schedule to before noon, there were five people in the art academy. And for some reason, they were all women who all looked as if they were around the early or late twenties.

When I looked around, I caught the eyes of the five women who all blushed and looked away. I blinked in confusion. For some reason, all the women blushed and looked away whenever they caught my eyes. I still didn't know why.

Then, I glanced toward the direction where Riven was. She was helping a woman draw on the sketchbook with the 4B pencil. I stared at her in bewilderment because I didn't know that she was into art. She must've noticed me staring because she turned her head toward my direction, so I quickly went back to looking at my sketchbook while my body trembled in fear.

After staring at the sketchbook for a few minutes, I placed the 4B pencil on my pencil case. Then, I raised my hand slightly into the air to get the attention of my teacher who was helping a woman who was putting color on the sketchbook with the brush. When she walked up to me, I asked her if I could go to the bathroom.

"Certainly . . . Jeffric . . ." she said.

I stood up while trying my best to not look at the direction where Riven was, and quickly walked across the room while passing by the five women who all seemed to have their eyes locked onto me. I opened the door, stepped out, and closed the door behind me. Then, I ran toward the door that led to the staircase.

Soon, I was running down the stairs, while panic drove me.

Riven is here . . . Riven . . . She is here . . . SHE IS HERE!

I reached the first level and ran out. There was an alleyway next to the building, so I ran in deep into it and then stopped while breathing heavily. I pressed my left hand on the side of the alleyway wall while clutching my chest with the right one. I'd been holding back my urge to run while screaming after I'd met my teacher. But I had to run out just a moment ago because it was getting too hard to hold back.

"Are you alright, Jeffric?" A familiar voice said from beside me. I glanced sideways in surprise and saw lamb standing next to me, her head cocked to one side while wolf was floating behind her. My mouth dropped open, not believing what I was seeing.

"How . . . How are you here?!"

"Well, we don't know either," the wolf answered while coiling around the lamb. "But we think it has something to do with you meeting Riven."

"Perhaps the shock of meeting her forced us to come out at daylight." While saying that, the lamb patted the wolf on the head, causing him to make a purring sound.

"Riven . . ." I stared down at the ground while. "I-I can't believe she is here . . ." My mind kept on reminding me of all the things that she'd done to me at high school, and it caused a feeling as if I was experiencing all of them at once. My body trembled uncontrollably as if it was getting electrocuted as it got worse and worse while I could no longer breathe. I tried to inhale air but I felt as though something was blocking my airway. I clutched my throat with both of my hands while my eyes grew even wider.

"Jeffric, you need to calm down." The lamb's insistent voice pierced through the veil of the memories and struck me, dispersing them slightly enough for me to breathe. I breathed heavily while unclutching both of my hands.

"Yes . . . You . . . are right."

"So, I guess we should tell Ahri that you're not going to attend that art academy from now on," the wolf said in a serious voice. "With her there."

I froze. "N-No . . . I can't," I stuttered. "I love the art academy . . . th-there's no way I'm quitting it."

The lamb stared at me in confusion. Even though she was wearing a mask I knew she was staring at me like that. "But if you don't, you have to see Riven five times a week."

I shuddered as that ugly truth hit me like a chair to my head.

What was I going to do . . . ?

I was deep in thought but was brought back to my senses when I heard someone approaching from the entrance of the alleyway. I turned around to face the entrance and saw Riven walking straight toward me.

"It's Riven!" lamb gasped in shock. "Run, Jeffric! Run!"

I squeaked in terror and started to stumble backward, but I tripped and fell, landing on my behind. As Riven came closer and closer like a reaper coming to take my soul to the afterlife, the overwhelming sensation of fear forced me to not move a muscle. Both wolf and lamb kept on yelling at me to run, but I didn't budge. No, I couldn't budge.

Soon, she was towering over me, her eyes staring down at me while the wind rustled her white hair.

"P-Please don't hurt me . . ." I whispered as I felt my eyes tearing up. "P-Please . . . I will do anything . . ."

Riven just stood there, and that was when I saw something that resembled concern in her eyes again. Then, to my surprise, I noticed that her legs were shaking slightly and her eyes were trembling. Suddenly, she fell onto her knees with her head bowed.

I stared at her, unable to believe what was happening in front of my eyes. Wh-What is going on?!

As her body shook, I heard her say, "Jeffric . . . please forgive me."

Before I could even respond, I saw something drop onto the floor from her face. It was a tear.

Riven was crying!

The man in his apartment was still sitting on the chair but had stopped sobbing. He was staring at the screen of his smartphone, his empty eyes glinting in the light that was produced by it. The screen was showing a chatting room where over fifteen people were in. He was observing the friends of the cruel man who were chatting about what'd happened on the last night at the club:

:That sl*t was so fantastic!

:lol i thought so too

:man, did u guys see how she sucked my ****?

:Yeah. And did you see the look on her face when I impaled that wh*re? That was so priceless!

:She has the perfect body in my opinion haha

:Damn her breasts were HUGE!

The man closed his eyes for a moment, feeling of disgust rising from the center of his being. This chatting room was where they communicated. Sometimes, they talked dirty things about the women who were forced to come at the nightclub and other times they posted videos that they'd taken by themselves in the nightclub when they were raping the women. When he opened his eyes, he saw that the cruel man who used to be the high school bully had sent a message to the chatting room.

:hey loser come to the nightclub at 12 AM today. dont be late or else ill personally rip out ur intestines and sell them to the black market

:Dude, tell that guy to record the video with more care this time. Seriously, the last time he was recording the video with your smartphone, I saw his hands shaking.

The man shuddered while gulping in terror. Now dread and guilt had replaced the feeling of disgust.

"Oh no . . ." he whispered helplessly as he covered his face with his free hand. "When . . . when will I be freed from this torment . . . ?"