Enigma ➳ pjm [EDITING/HIATUS]

Act 17

Before we start this chapter I should announce that I changed the protagonist's name into Kim Soo Mi. Why? Because this story happens in South Korea and although the protagonist is half Korean half Irish, I decided to roll with a typical Korean name in order to keep things more simple. I also changed the Academy's name to Fireside Academy, also because it's easier to pronounce. Sorry about that, by the way. I changed all the names in the previous chapters already. Anyways, let's get this party started, shall we?

***

I waited patiently in front of the closed double doors that led into the biggest hall on Fireside's campus, with some kids in my group sitting right and left next to me.

Fixating my eyes onto the doors, the speed of my heartbeat accelerated with every second that passed. The feeling of Mrs. Rhee appearing at any moment to call out the two people to enter the room for evaluation perturbed me big-time. I sank deeper into the soft material of the waiting chairs and drew my knees partly covered by my shorts that were part of the everyday-uniform and rocked my body back and forth.

I trailed my empty gaze upon my fellow classmates, noticing Yoongi sitting couple feet away from me shadow-boxing with his fists. Ryon next to me who has taken time over the week to talk to me again remained silent this time and played with her fingers on her lap.

Other freshmen just sat around and talked as quietly as possible. The atmosphere seemed suppressed, as if someone cut off the air supply.

As I decided for a good minute whether I should make obligatory conversation with Ryon or not, one of the wine-red double doors swung open and outside stepped a rigid walking Mrs. Rhee who took off her round glasses and inspected each and everyone of us.

"Next up," her firm, deep voice announced while studying her clipboard briefly, "Kim Soo Mi and Kim Ye Seul."

Feeling my heart sinking to the pit of my stomach was harrowing. Immediately, all the eyes were directed on me and a short girl with neat braids, almost demanding us to get to our feet and go through that door.

I replayed Jimin's words about how the first evaluation isn't that big of a deal over and over again, until I eventually whispered them to myself, and followed Kim Ye Seul into the big practice room.

Usually, I only had the first couple offense classes in this hall, we got moved two weeks later, but the atmosphere in here made me believe I have never entered this room before. Everything was the same but the large table that had caught my eye and a large amount of teachers sitting behind it with stacks of paper laying in front of them.

This is how it feels like, I thought while letting out a deep chuckle. Pretty different than competitions, where you know exactly what you were doing. With evaluations, you have a limited amount of talent you are allowed to show. Going overboard with your abilities might seem flattering at first, but in the Martial Arts world, it only lets you be branded by the status of a stuck-up smartass.

I had received a training plan from my coach two days before the evaluation to make sure I got all my sequences in tact. Due to the fact that we were both in Group D, we ran down the same routine, unlike the last freshmen getting evaluated who might end up getting paired with someone from Group C, due to our class number being irregular.

We both stepped next to each other in front of the table, bowed and made our identities known in front of the judges. The voice inside my throat had run dry, so that I had to repeat my name twice.