pulling on cosmic strings ꩜ pi hanwool, study group

7. the no longer oh-so-quiet minju

She spat her gum onto the paper left on the ground and raised her hand, about to slap Heewon, when Minju stepped in. She had walked past the other desks quickly and grabbed Mihee's hand before it could come in contact with Heewon's face.

On the other hand, the boy with glasses stuck out his hand right in time before Mihee's gum hit the paper, the gum settling nicely on top of his index finger. He grabbed the crumpled paper and observed it, praising Jiwoo for how well it was written.

"What the-" Mihee grunted, before turning to look at who had stopped her.

"Minju," she croaked out. "What are you doing here?"

Everyone stared at the altercation between the two. For once, Minju, the oh-so-quiet and disinterested ace student, stood up to violence. Yusung High was full of it, violence. But Minju usually ignored it all, never finding messing in school fights worth her time.

She was whispered among students of Yusung High for being an all-star student in school, but a hidden assailant behind closed doors. Perhaps that was scarier, since they've never quite experienced her wrath in person.

But now, they were about to.

"This is my class."

"Oh." Mihee tried to rip her arm out of Minju' grasp, but failed miserably.

"What were you doing?"

"Huh?" Mihee stuttered, "I- I was just trying to put them in their place."

"And you think their place is below you?" Minju scoffed.

The girl, embarrassed, simply avoided eye contact, finding the floor particularly amusing at the moment.

Minju let go of her hold on the girl's arm, only, by shoving Mihee on the ground, the impact of her fall sending the desks behind her flying back. Before she could continue, a voice called out.

"What's going on here?"

Kim Gyujin strolled into the room. He was one of Hanwool's lackeys, but also, a student council member.

Ironic really, seeing as he was the one who killed Lee Hyunwoo in the previous timeline.

In the past, Minju remembered hearing about Hyunwoo's passing. It wasn't far from the time she was at now.

In a few months from now, there would be a fight between YB and one of the competing gangs in Incheon. Hyunwoo and a few others were sent there as standby army recruits, the one with highest contribution in the fight promised a permanent position at YB.

Minhwan had told her later on that it was Hyunwoo who came out victorious, a boy who finally felt like he could provide for his only family, his sister. The victory was short-lived when he got stabbed to death by Gyujin out of envy, who ended up earning the title.

Minju pitied Hyunwoo.

It wasn't pride, or even greed. It was just plain, simple survival. He were all just trying to survive, but was ultimately dragged down the wrong path.

It wasn't Hyunwoo's fault that he was born in such awful circumstances, just like it wasn't Minju's fault she was born in such a privileged, yet flawed background, as much as she liked to deny it.