Where Pan Mang River Flows

1: Mysterious encounter

It was a day like any other. The sun was partly hiding behind the clouds, but a broad beam of light filled half of the 3C classroom. It shone on the large boards at the back of the classroom, where a lot of letters hung that nobody read, and it shone on the back two rows of benches where disgruntled and sleeping students passed their time in the break between two hard hours of class. 

The calendar showed Thursday, September 6, 2018. Some were happy to see their friends every day again after a long summer break, they talked vividly about their days off in different countries, but most had forgotten that joy from Tuesday. The thought of what awaited them in their final year at the elite school Peoul High and in the times that followed tormented them more than they were happy to have the end of school life in sight. Most of all, the sunlight shone on a modest group of four friends who were exuberantly talking and playing together at the back of the room, which was in complete contrast to the depressed atmosphere created by the shadow at the front. Jae Hee sat right in the middle, twiddling her thumbs, slumped in her chair. Her legs stretched out from under the couch and almost touched the back legs of the chair in front of her, which was a feat for someone just under 1.60m. Her head was barely above the table. Unlike the other classmates, she had not come home from a long trip to the Separated States or to the Thaier regions. Jae Hee was spending her fourth day at a new school after a long move during the summer holidays. Peoul High's grand corridors and breathtaking halls were new to her. She saw every mural and every ornate staircase for the first time in her life this September. It was only the fourth time she had stepped through the huge gates of the prestigious school and she was already tired of it. The reason for her move to the capital of West East Korea had not been a pleasant one. She had not wanted to move to a new city, but she had not been able to persuade her mother to stay in the old familiar village of Pan Mang, where she had spent most of her childhood. Her demotivated state had discouraged her from getting to know new people in her class, so she had secluded herself against her usual personality. There was one girl she hadn't been able to shake, a strange figure who didn't fancy the year as much as the newcomer, Lee Gyong.

"What are you doing?" she asked, turning around on the seat in front of Jae Hee to get a view of her new friend. She stood up to throw her one leg over the seat and sit on the chair with her back to the board. She soon lost interest in Jae Hee again when she noticed someone at the back of the class. Gyong suddenly lifted her chin and flirtatiously ran a hand through her dark blue hair. She was subtly trying to attract the attention of a passing boy, who was moving away from his friend group of four and taking his place at the front of the class. In a mysterious way, Jae Hee had found pleasure in Gyong's attempts to make friends with her classmate. When she had introduced herself on the first day of school, Jae Hee had been less enthusiastic about the new acquaintance. Gyong, in her natural state, exuded lethargy, a kind of laziness that was especially evident in her eyes, but throughout her four days at Peoul High, Jae Hee had understood that this disinterest was not directed at anything specific, but at the entire world around her. She seemed to find everything boring with her facial expression, although that was not the case. Gyong had made her first week at Peoul High a lot easier. She had been a guide, a familiar face in an unfamiliar class, and a friend that Jae Hee owed a lot to in those short four days.

"I was thinking," Jae Hee replied to the question. Her eyes began to sparkle cheerfully as she was distracted from the boring textbooks by Gyong's unique attempt to flirt with a classmate. Jae Hee was convinced that her sagging eyes were the reason why her endless attempts at flirting were not reciprocated by her crush.

"What about?" asked Gyong. Jae Hee put on a grin and subtly glanced at Bong Ilhoon, the handsome boy who had just stepped past. He had a neat undercut and hair up to his ears, with strips of it hanging down the sides of his forehead. He had dyed his hair too; it was reddish-brown, or auburn, with bright pink and blonde strips in between and looked strangely natural. All this combined with his good fashion sense and athletic body made him look like a bad boy of the 2000s.